To Vesper Skies V: Ship Fuel

When going out and exploring the vesper skies that is outer space, it's important to make sure you have enough fuel to get to point B. No one wants to get stranded out in space, with limited supplies and a high chance of getting boarded by pirates. So below are a set of easy rules for fuel you can use with White Star, inspired by the Black Hack usage dice.

A ship that has a full tank of fuel will have d12 as their Fuel Value. Whenever you move a certain amount of distance, roll your FV die. If you roll a 1, then it drops down a die step (d10, d8, etc), all the way to d4. If you roll a 1 on your d4, then you are out of fuel. The ship keeps going at the speed you were going in a straight line until you hit something or get caught in the orbit of a greater body (or found).

After your first roll, every consecutive unit of distance you move adds a +1 to the FV result required to drop a usage die. For example, the starship Endeavor has a FV die of 1d12. It moves 1 AU and makes the roll, succeeding. When it moves another AU, the FV die will drop a step if they roll a 1 or a 2. If it moves 3 AU, then it drops on a 3 or less. And so on.

If a ship is in combat, then you add a penalty to the FV drop result equal to half the number of rounds spent in combat (round up). For example, Endeavor is in combat for 3 rounds. Halving and rounding up 3 gives you +2. After combat ends, they roll the FV usage die. On a result of 3 or less (1+2), the FV die drops a step.

Using a Warp Drive adds +3 to the result.

All penalties from movement, Warp, and combat stack. The Endeavor moves 4 AU and gets into combat for 4 rounds, then does an Warp jump. When they make the FV roll after combat, they add +3 from consecutive movement, +2 from combat, and +3 from Warp. That means that on a roll of 9 or less, their FV die will drop a step.

The distance moved can be up to the GM depending on their setting. I used AU up there, but you can also use light years or parsecs for more advanced ships. White Star doesn't have a Warp Drive option, but I already know how I want to do that for a future post.