Traveling At the Speed of Plot: Difference between revisions

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== Tabletop Games ==
== Tabletop Games ==
* The ''[[Star Wars]]'' Roleplaying Game released by West End Games in the late Eighties had detailed rules for hyperspace travel and even "standard duration" travel times between systems mentioned or seen in the original trilogy, but it also says in the gamemaster section that travel between any two planets takes "as long as you want it to" so that the gamemaster can make travel times serve the plot. The section goes on to suggest reasons that the travel time might be longer (intervening gas clouds, energy storms, rogue planets) or shorter (a better route was found).
* The ''[[Star Wars]]'' Roleplaying Game released by West End Games in the late Eighties had detailed rules for what can make hyperspace travel ''faster'' (using a major travel route, having a faster ship) or ''slower'' (traveling through regions with poor charting), but never actually gives a way to determine base time and outright says in the gamemaster section that travel between any two planets takes "as long as you want it to" so that the gamemaster can make travel times serve the plot. The section goes on to suggest reasons that the travel time might be longer (intervening gas clouds, energy storms, rogue planets) or shorter (a better route was found).
* In the ''[[Shadowrun]]'' novel ''The Lucifer Deck'', a snooping character is trapped behind an office desk by an Awakened guard dog, and calls a friend for help. In a Speed-of-Plot demo that exceeds even the [[A-Team]] example (above), the friend calls a shaman he barely knows, persuades her to help, drives ''across town to meet her'', and sets up an experimental ritual, allowing the shaman to send a spirit to assist the cornered snoop ... all in the time it takes a hellhound to muscle its way past a desk. Worst of all, the book even gushes about the spirit's ''incredible speed of travel'' when it flies to the rescue, never mind how long took to get the summons underway!
* In the ''[[Shadowrun]]'' novel ''The Lucifer Deck'', a snooping character is trapped behind an office desk by an Awakened guard dog, and calls a friend for help. In a Speed-of-Plot demo that exceeds even the [[A-Team]] example (above), the friend calls a shaman he barely knows, persuades her to help, drives ''across town to meet her'', and sets up an experimental ritual, allowing the shaman to send a spirit to assist the cornered snoop ... all in the time it takes a hellhound to muscle its way past a desk. Worst of all, the book even gushes about the spirit's ''incredible speed of travel'' when it flies to the rescue, never mind how long took to get the summons underway!
* Role-Playing Games in general follow this rule, at least in practice.
* Role-Playing Games in general follow this rule, at least in practice.
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