Re: crash start launch

Two possibilities: the ship either already has its fusion plant online or it
doesn't.  Most ships with fusion plants leave them running if they park for
less than about a week or so (I haven't seen the adventure you're running, so
I don't know what circumstances this A2 is in) because it takes so long to
bring the power plant up from a cold start.  In any event, the UTP for what
they're trying to do looks like this:

    To power up a parked starship and ready it for flight:
    Routine, Pilot, Dex, 30 sec (assuming warm start, 5 min otherwise)

If you're still using the old rules (the new ones are well worth it!), the pilot
needs to roll a 7+ to start the plant.  DMs: +Pilot skill, +1 if Dex 5+ or +2
if Dex 10+.  It will take 3d6x30 sec (an average of about 5 minutes) to start
if successful (or 3d6x5 min for an average of 50 (!) minutes if the A2 is
powered all the way down).  MegaTraveller gives rules for unfamiliar technology
but since I don't know what background your pilot has I'd simply suggest about
a -2 DM or so heaped on top of this.  If he fails the roll, he'll have to take
another time increment and do it again.

Oh, and also: I'm assuming that since your PC's are presumably in a rush, they
will skip the usual safety checks and such.  In which case, when they start the
ship, you should make a roll along with them.  If you both succeed, everything
is fine but if they succeed and you fail, you should implement a "warning light"
event about halfway to orbit (i.e. a plant malfunction, fuel leak, or the like)
that will require a harder, fateful task to avoid a major mishap.

Finally, if things get hot and your PC's need to get out of there in a hurry,
they can try to rush things a bit.  Double the DM's applied to the startup roll
but instead of a 7+ they now need to roll an 11+.  And so do you.... :-)

- -- Palmer Davis --

Oh, and I almost forgot: if anybody has Engineering skill, it can be used as a
DM as well.

- -- PTD --
[email removed]