Vehicles (Part 1)

Today, we’re kicking off a two-part series on vehicles—those narrative conveyances that get your Teams from one Place to another.

In Part 1, we’re going to show you how to use a Place as a vehicle. In Part 2, we’ll talk about how to use a Thing as a vehicle.   

A Place That Moves?

Let’s say you want your crew of smugglers to board a starship and blast off from the Smugglers Hideout to Kessel, hopefully avoiding Imperial entanglements and poor life choices.

You could just create a “Move to Kessel” Choice and call it a day. That's just fine.  But what if your narrative requires something more elaborate?

Enter our new set piece: 🛸 The Starship On The Kessel Run. This is a Place, not a Thing. That might feel unintuitive. A starship sounds like a Thing, right? But we want Teams to move into it and through it. And for that we need a Place.

Simulating the Journey

You’re not actually flying anyone across the galaxy. You’re faking motion with a chain of Choices, each revealing the next in line—like pulling a towel through a magician’s hand. Let’s walk through it.

Step 1: Set the Stage

You’ll need these Places:

• Smugglers Hideout (starting location)

• The Starship On The Kessel Run (your faux-vehicle)

• Kessel (final destination)

Step 2: Move People Onto the Ship

Create a Choice in Smugglers Hideout that moves your Team to The Starship.

Step 3: Plan the Chain

Here’s where it gets deliciously recursive.

You’ll need to build your Choices from last to first:

• Choice 4: "Debark to Kessel" ← revealed by 
• Choice 3: “Orbit Kessel” ← revealed by 
• Choice 2: “Enter Hyperspace” ← revealed by 
• Choice 1: "Leave Orbit”

Every Choice must exist before another Choice can reveal it.

Step 4: Set Hidden (Trust Issues Optional)

Unless you’re showing off or prototyping, it’s safest to start these Choices hidden. That way, other players won’t stumble across your half-finished space odyssey and click something that hurls them into the void.

Step 5: Add Drama

Role-based locks on the Choices (requires +1 in Pilot, etc.) are all fair game. You can even throw in some scripted consequences. Whatever you need to sell the illusion that The Starship is doing something besides just being a Place wearing a trench coat.

In Summary

You’re not moving a ship. You’re moving Teams through a chain of Choices that pretend to be a journey.

Next time in Vehicles (Part 2), we’ll look at how to use a Thing as a vehicle.

Until then: build responsibly and chain your Choices backwards.

– The Scribarchy Team (still just me)