SWN Rules Explained: How the Expert Class Works in Stars Without Number

Star Master Log

Apr 30

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Brian (Thorne's player and assistant star master) breaks down the Expert class from Stars Without Number, using scenes from "Welcome to Your Prison" as a case study.

Expert class vs. Warrior: how they're built differently and what the Specialist focus actually does
Hacking / Program skill: how difficulty and time requirements work, and what line shunts are for
NPC reaction rolls: when to roll them and how they can change a scene

New SWN Rules Explained episodes drop every other Thursday, breaking down the mechanics behind the adventure.

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[00:00:00] Brian: Hello again, AdventureCast fans, and welcome back to Stars Without Number Rules Explained with me, Assistant Star Master and occasional backup Game Master, Brian. In this series, we look behind the fiction of the AdventureCast episodes and discuss the rules and rulings that shape our stories. I'll break down some rules and give reference points for listeners who want to know more about the mechanics that drive our sessions and how they impact the way we play. This time, I'll be talking about the events of the latest AdventureCast episode, Welcome to Your Prison, where the crew runs into some trouble with an old adversary, but they still find a way to fill their pockets with credits along the way. If you haven't already listened to it, you should head over and check it out. I'll break down a few different rules that were used that maybe didn't get highlighted in the fiction, but they greatly impacted the session that we played.
[00:00:51] Brian: What is an expert, and how are they built? What purposes can they serve? We'll touch a little bit on the mechanics of hacking and the program skill and how we use that in play, plus NPC reaction rolls and how they can affect a scene unexpectedly. So let's talk about classes in Stars Without Number. Essentially there are three, Warrior, Expert, and Psychic, plus a fourth that serves as a way to mix and match the others, called Adventurer. You can find the full details of all the classes in the Stars Without Number revised rulebook starting on page 16. But for this section, I want to focus on the two basic ones, Warrior and Expert. Essentially, two sides of a coin. The Warrior class has more HP, more combat skill points, and the auto hit or miss ability. It's pretty easy to understand what they're meant to do. With the expert class, you get bonus non-combat skill points, the ability to reroll non-combat skill checks, and an extra free non-combat focus at character creation. A focus is an extra ability or tangible bonus that can apply to various parts of the game. They're a big part of what makes two experts or two warriors feel distinct from each other. Gamers with experience in other TTRPG systems might compare them to feats in D&D or Pathfinder, talents in Lancer, advantages in GURPS, or other similar mechanics. For experts in Stars Without Number, the book recommends that they start with a focus called Specialist.
[00:02:21] Brian: Skill checks in Stars Without Number are usually made by rolling 2d6 plus skill points and attribute bonus against some target difficulty. The full skill check rules are on page 47 of Stars Without Number Revised. But the specialist focus really allows an expert to shine in the area they're specialized in by rolling 3d6 and keeping the highest two numbers for checks using a skill of their choice. This, combined with the expert's ability to re-roll a check, gives them a very good chance of being successful in their area of expertise, even if the stats the character rolled aren't the best. For Felix, Scott chose to make him a specialist in the program skill, the skill that's used for hacking as well as most computer interactions. For Thorne, I chose to give him specialist in trade when I rolled him, and then I also took specialist in talk once we reached level 2, the two most important skills for a sweet-talking merchant like him. Basically, we determined the character's background and built a concept off of that when we rolled them up, and then we used our selection of foci to enhance the flavor we were going for.
[00:03:28] Brian: In the latest AdventureCast episode, I was able to make use of both of these foci, and Felix used his as well. I was able to use my enhanced trade knowledge to have some kind of legal loophole that could get the crew out of detainment and allow us to attend the auction. And then I was able to use the improved talk skill to schmooze with a bunch of executives and convince them to spend all their hard-earned credits on bids for the alien exosite. When Felix was on the GOAT, trying to search for traces of sabotage, he was able to leverage his bonus as well. It wasn't clear to us exactly how well the auction was going to go. I tried to play Thorne as cool and confident the whole time, but the dice ultimately had the final say. Luckily, the expert class is designed to make me good at what I do. As Thorne gains more character levels, I can even increase the levels of my foci and start rolling 4d6 for those skill checks, keeping the two highest. So the next time there's a deadly combat exchange where Thorne or Felix don't do a lick of damage, don't forget that each class has their area to shine. If you want to know more about all the different foci and the perks and skill points that they grant to a character, the full list can be found starting on page 20 of the revised rulebook.
[00:04:44] Brian: So it's thanks to their skills as experts that Thorne and Felix are so good at trading and hacking. But let's talk a little more about how hacking works exactly. Starting on page 54 of the revised rules, the book gives a good explanation of how the system works. In a sci-fi tabletop RPG, it's inevitable that someone's going to try to bend the software around them to their will. Looking up intel, finding maps or key locations, unlocking doors, accessing security, the list goes on. But the mechanics are relatively straightforward. The hacker is generally making a program skill check modified by their intelligence attribute, or program int for short. This skill check is made against some target number, depending on the task. And page 55 has a table that gives a great breakdown of how difficult different actions might be. Just looking up where to find something specific in a small, undefended system might be as simple as rolling a 7.
[00:05:39] Brian: But hacking into Omnitek's secure orbital data vault? Well, that might be anywhere as high as a 14. Generally, the rules describe hacking as something that takes a fair amount of time. You can execute a hack as a main action on your turn, but that's assuming the character has already spent an hour of time working on writing the code. Trying to execute a hack that wasn't planned can take as long as 10 minutes, which is more like 100 main actions in standard combat, much longer than your average combat engagement. It's up to the GM exactly how long or how challenging a particular hack is going to be. Sometimes Scott will mention that Felix's attempts are something that he does regularly, and Jeff will allow it as a simple main action, some script that he's already written that he's running again. Other times, like in the latest episode, Felix will need to spend a significant amount of time just focusing on writing new code and learning systems. This is all combined into a single program roll, but the time it takes him has a real narrative impact. In this case, Felix had to spend the entire auction on the GOAT, so he wasn't able to be there when Haley and Thorne were working the room.
[00:06:50] Brian: Sometimes the GM may say that a hack is impossible without first putting down some number of line shunts. These are basically a physical consumable item that needs to be placed somewhere within the system to allow a hacker to get in. They can be bought for about 100 credits on the black market and then placed at key locations to allow unauthorized access to those systems. You can find them in the equipment chapter on page 72 of the revised rules. The hacking rules give some examples of when to require a line shunt, but enforcing them allows the GM to control the flow of the game a bit more when the obvious objective is just hack into a computer and get some kind of intel. Potentially, these locations that require a line shunt are well guarded, giving the warriors a chance to shine before the hacker makes their final move.
[00:07:42] Brian: Our last topic today, I want to touch on a mechanic that has been a part of old school RPG systems for a long time. Reaction rolls. As a player at a table, you may never see a roll like this get made. But as a GM, it can be an invaluable tool when you don't know how an NPC might treat the party, or if you want to impose a random chance that the players show up to barter when the NPC just happens to be in a bad mood. At the beginning of the Xenobestiary chapter in the revised rulebook, on page 193, there's a table for the GM to use for reactions. When the players stumble onto a new NPC, a GM could roll 2d6 to decide what sort of mood that NPC is in, ranging from hostile to friendly. Sometimes the NPC's mood should be obvious, and a reaction roll might not be needed. But even when you think you know how they'd react, a little bit of variance in play is never a bad idea. Rolling an unexpected result on the reaction table can add an exciting element to a situation, or even a much-needed relief for the party. Some foci can actually give players a chance to adjust the reaction rolls of an NPC or group. And as the book itself says, the reaction roll is not the final word on an NPC's behavior. Perhaps it's just an opportunity for a smooth talker to earn their keep. When Thorne started trying to talk up the business people at the auction, none of their reactions were too unexpected. But if a Nexus Corp NPC, for example, had rolled a hostile reaction against him, Jeff may have pivoted the whole situation and things could have gotten a lot worse.
[00:09:23] Brian: And with that, we have reached the end of our segment. Thanks, everybody, for listening to Stars Without Number Rules Explained. I hope you enjoyed this small dive into the more mechanical aspects of what happens in a Dark Star AdventureCast episode. If you like content like this and want to support us, or if you want access to new DSA episodes two weeks earlier than the other podcast platforms, come check us out on Patreon at patreon.com slash darkstaradventurecast. Drop us a comment and let us know if you like this sort of content, or if you have questions about other rules or rulings that you've heard on the show. Maybe your question could be a topic for another one of these episodes. Thank you so much again to everyone who supports us. And as always, keep following that signal.