Spacecraft

In Beyond, spacecraft are built like characters: simple, purposeful, and defined by what they can do. A ship is not an accounting exercise. It is a vehicle for adventure.

A ship is defined by:

Attributes — core capabilities
Roles — what the ship is built for
Edges — special advantages and useful features
Drawbacks — flaws and complications
Tags — descriptive traits
Weapons — generic combat profiles

Ship Creation

Step One: Concept

Decide what the ship is.

Examples include:

Fast smuggler
Patrol corvette
Deep-space explorer
Mining barge
Passenger liner
Scout cutter
Frontier gunship

The concept guides every choice that follows.

Step Two: Attributes

Each ship has four Attributes.

Hull: Durability, armor, structure, and ability to survive damage.

Drive: Speed, maneuverability, acceleration, and ability to control range.

Sensors: Detection, targeting support, scanning, communication, and electronic warfare.

Firepower: Ability to bring weapons to bear effectively.

Distribute 4 points among these Attributes.

All ship Attributes begin at 0
No Attribute may be lower than 0
No Attribute may begin higher than 4

A typical PC ship has 4 total Attribute points.

Step Three: Roles

Assign 4 ranks across one or more ship Roles.

Roles describe what the ship is built to do.

Examples include:

Courier
Explorer
Fighter
Freighter
Mining Vessel
Passenger Liner
Patrol Ship
Scout
Smuggler
Warship

Roles do not add flat bonuses to every roll. When a Role clearly applies, it may grant a Signal Die, allow an action that would otherwise be questionable, or establish what the ship is capable of in the fiction.

Step Four: Ship Edges

Choose 2 Ship Edges.

Ship Edges are mechanical advantages.

Advanced Sensors: Gain a Signal Die when scanning, detecting, or analyzing.

Armored Hull: Ignore the first damage step the ship would suffer each combat.

Booster Rockets: Gain a Signal Die when rapidly changing range, escaping pursuit, or making sudden maneuvers.

Cargo Handling Systems: Gain a Signal Die when loading, unloading, securing, or transferring cargo.

Drone Bay: The ship carries operational drones and may deploy them in combat.

Extra Energy: Gain a Signal Die when boosting systems, powering special equipment, or sustaining high-output operations.

Extended Fuel: Gain a Signal Die on long-duration travel, endurance situations, or operations far from support.

Fast Drive: Gain a Signal Die when changing range, fleeing pursuit, or making a high-speed approach.

Hardened Systems: Gain a Signal Die when resisting electronic attack, radiation, or system disruption.

Heavy Armor: Gain a Signal Die when resisting damage or hazardous environments, but suffer a Noise Die when changing range due to added mass.

Military Targeting: Gain a Signal Die when attacking at Short or Medium range.

Passenger Accommodations: Gain a Signal Die when transporting passengers in comfort or maintaining morale over long voyages.

Reinforced Hull: Gain a Signal Die on repair and damage-control rolls.

Smuggling Compartments: Gain a Signal Die when hiding cargo, passengers, or contraband.

Stealth Systems: Gain a Signal Die when avoiding detection.

Step Five: Drawbacks

Choose 0–2 Drawbacks.

Drawbacks are flaws, liabilities, and complications.

Cramped: Long voyages are uncomfortable and stressful.

Debt-Laden: Someone has a financial, legal, or criminal claim on the vessel.

High Signature: The ship is easier to detect and track.

Old Ship: Breakdowns occur at inconvenient times.

Unreliable Drive: Risk complications when pushing the engines.

Wanted Transponder: The ship’s identity is known to authorities, criminals, or enemies.

Step Six: Tags

Choose or write a few Tags.

Tags are descriptive. They do not grant automatic mechanical benefits.

Examples:

Ancient
Blocky
Cargo Vessel
Civilian
Factory Standard
Famous
Heavily Modified
Illegal
Jury-Rigged
Luxury
Military
Obsolete
Organic
Passenger Vessel
Prototype
Rugged
Stolen
Streamlined
Ugly
Unstreamlined

Tags help everyone picture the ship and may suggest when an Edge, Drawback, or Role matters.

Step Seven: Weapons

Choose the ship’s weapon profile.

Weapons are listed generically. The exact weapon depends on the setting. A Close Weapon might be a pulse cannon, railgun, laser cluster, plasma sprayer, missile pod, or something stranger.

Weapon Profile	Best Range	Notes
Close Weapon	Close	Dogfighting and point-blank attacks
Short Weapon	Short	Standard ship-to-ship combat
Medium Weapon	Medium	Long-range engagement
Long Weapon	Long	Extreme-range or capital-scale attack
Defensive Weapon	Close	Anti-missile, anti-drone, or anti-fighter defense

A typical PC ship begins with one weapon profile.

A weapon used outside its Best Range suffers 1 Noise Die per range band of difference. The Referee may forbid attacks that are clearly impractical.

Additional weapon profiles may come from Edges, upgrades, military status, or the ship’s concept.

Step Eight: Final Details

Give the ship a name, appearance, owner, history, and current problem.

A good ship should feel like a place as well as a machine.

Using Ships

A ship action uses the operator’s training and either the operator’s natural ability or the ship’s capability, whichever is better.

2d6 + Career + higher of Character Attribute or Ship Attribute

Only one Attribute is used.

Examples:

Change Range: 2d6 + Spacer + higher of Agility or Drive

Fire Weapons: 2d6 + Soldier or Spacer + higher of Agility or Firepower

Scan Target: 2d6 + Scout, Scientist, or Technician + higher of Intellect or Sensors

Repair Damage: 2d6 + Technician + higher of Intellect or Hull

Command the Ship: 2d6 + Officer + higher of Presence or the ship’s relevant Attribute

Ship Edges may grant Signal Dice when relevant. Drawbacks may impose Noise Dice.

Drones

Some ships carry drones: small remote craft used for attack, defense, scouting, repair, or support.

A ship must usually have the Drone Bay Edge to deploy drones in combat.

Launching a drone is an action:

2d6 + Technician or Spacer + higher of Intellect or Sensors

On a success, deploy one drone with a defined role.

Attack Drone: Makes one attack at Short range using the ship’s Firepower.

Defense Drone: Imposes a Noise Die on one incoming attack.

Scout Drone: Grants a Signal Die to scan, detection, or targeting actions.

Utility Drone: Grants a Signal Die to one repair or technical action.

Drones are fragile. A single hit, focused defensive fire, or harsh environmental hazard usually removes them from play.

Example Ship

The Red Comet — Fast Smuggler

Concept: Fast smuggling courier with a dubious registry and a temperamental drive.

Attributes: Hull 1, Drive 2, Sensors 1, Firepower 0

Roles: Courier 2, Smuggler 1, Freighter 1

Edges: Fast Drive, Smuggling Compartments

Drawbacks: Unreliable Drive, Wanted Transponder

Tags: Stolen, Ugly, Heavily Modified

Weapons: Close Weapon

The Red Comet is quick, slippery, and useful for illegal work, but it is not built for a fair fight.

Starship Combat

Starship combat in Beyond is fast, cinematic, and decisive. It uses range bands instead of maps, facing, thrust, or vectors.

Position matters, but only at the level that affects choices in play.

Range Bands

Range	Effect
Close	Signal Die to attacks
Short	No modifier
Medium	1 Noise Die
Long	2 Noise Dice

Close: Dogfighting distance. Boarding, point defense, and knife-fight maneuvers happen here.

Short: Standard engagement range.

Medium: Extended combat distance.

Long: Extreme range. Only suitable weapons and sensors are useful here.

Changing Range

The pilot rolls:

2d6 + Spacer + higher of Agility or Drive

On a success, shift one range band closer or farther.

On a strong success, shift two range bands or gain an additional advantage.

On a failure, range does not change, or the Referee introduces a complication.

Attacking

The gunner rolls:

2d6 + Soldier or Spacer + higher of Agility or Firepower

Apply range modifiers.

A ship must have a weapon profile capable of attacking at the current range, unless the Referee allows a desperate or improvised shot with Noise Dice.

The usual target number is:

9 + target Defense

Target Defense may come from evasive action, Drive, scale, armor, cover, stealth, or circumstances.

Aiming

A gunner may spend an action to aim.

The next attack with that weapon gains a Signal Die.

Evasive Maneuvers

The pilot may take evasive maneuvers.

Until the next round, attacks against the ship suffer a Noise Die.

The ship may also suffer a Noise Die on its own attacks while evading, at the Referee’s discretion.

Defensive Weapons

A Defensive Weapon may be used against missiles, drones, boarding craft, or small attackers at Close range.

Defensive fire may cancel an incoming attack, impose a Noise Die, or reduce damage, depending on the situation.

Armor and Damage

Armor and defensive Edges may reduce or ignore damage steps, but most attacks still inflict at least one step unless clearly ineffective.

Ships with armor Edges are typically slower, heavier, or less efficient. This may be reflected through Tags or Drawbacks.

Damage Track

Ships use a simple damage track.

State	Effect
Operational	No penalty
Strained	Noise Die to one category of ship action
Damaged	Noise Die to all ship actions
Disabled	Ship cannot fight

Most successful attacks inflict one damage step.

Strong hits, heavy weapons, scale advantage, or a well-positioned attack may inflict additional steps.

Strained Systems

When a ship becomes Strained, choose or roll which part of the ship is affected.

System	Effect
Hull	Noise Die on repair and damage-control rolls
Drive	Noise Die on changing range or evasive maneuvers
Sensors	Noise Die on scans, targeting support, and communications
Firepower	Noise Die on attacks

Repairs

The engineer rolls:

2d6 + Technician + higher of Intellect or Hull

On a success, restore one damage step.

Repairs made during combat are temporary. Full repairs require time, tools, parts, and a safe location.

Boarding

Boarding requires Close range and a plausible method of contact.

Once boarding begins, resolve the action at personal scale.

The attacking crew may need to overcome locks, pressure doors, defensive weapons, hostile boarders, security systems, or vacuum hazards.

Ending Combat

Starship combat ends when:

One ship is Disabled
One side disengages
A ship surrenders
Boarding begins
The situation changes

Guiding Rule

Control the range, control the fight.

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