Control Rolls

A vehicle operator must make a
“control roll” – against Boating,
Driving, Piloting, etc., as appropriate –
in any potentially hazardous situation.
The GM may require a roll every few
hours in an ongoing situation such as
a fierce storm, or every few seconds in
combat!
Modifiers: The vehicle’s Handling
(Hnd) statistic modifies all control
rolls. For sudden deceleration or tight
turns, see Pushing the Envelope
(p. 395). Visibility modifiers (-1 to -9
for darkness, fog, etc.; -10 for total
darkness) apply if there is risk of colli-
sion; they aren’t important when try-
ing to weather a storm at 30,000 feet
or in the mid-Atlantic, but they’re cru-
cial if you’re zigzagging through
mountains, landing or taking off in an
aircraft, sailing just off a rocky coast,
etc. See the relevant vehicle skill for
other modifiers. The GM may assess
situational modifiers as he sees fit.
On a failure, the operator does not
perform the maneuver properly, or
fails to avoid the hazard. Failure by no
more than the vehicle’s Stability
Rating (SR) is a minor problem; e.g., a
car skids off the road, or a ship loses a
few hours of travel. More severe fail-
ure means a major problem; e.g., a
crash. The GM may allow a second
control roll, at a hefty penalty, to keep
a major problem from becoming a
total disaster; the modifiers should
depend on the exact action(s) the
operator takes. On a critical failure,
disaster is inevitable!
Large vehicles may require a
roll
against
both
the
master’s
Shiphandling skill and the crew’s aver-
age Crewman skill. Use the average
margin of success or failure.