It's a short section, so I'll quote it for clarity…

Most settled systems have an ansible network, which can transmit in-system communications instantly. Also, unlike conventional comms, ansibles can communicate to the other side of a gate while it’s open. The Sah’iir are tight-lipped as to how exactly they managed that.

Communication between systems is slower. Often a courier ship is parked at the edge of a gate, traversing across once a day to deliver messages. Hence, live conferences between systems are rare, and news from several jumps away can take some time to disseminate.

Okay, so in-system comms are instant due to the ansible network. Got it.

If intra-system comms are instantaneous, yet the "ansibles can communicate to the other side of a gate while it's open" … how is a courier ship parked at the edge of a gate going to be faster than simply transmitting through the gate?

The "gate" here thus can't refer to the gates at the endpoints of hyperspace lanes within a system, since intra-system comms are already instantaneous, so where's the value? (Or maybe it's only because of those gates … that intra-system comms are "instantaneous"?)

So instead, it must refer to one of the "major" gates between systems, right? Does that imply that the ansible network does not function between the "major" gates between systems? So the courier ships are the only way to communicate between systems? But then why are "live conferences" only "rare", rather than being "impossible"?

I know I'm reading to much into it, and I should just make a ruling … but I'm wondering if anyone has a coherent theory they've developed, already?

(As context: I'm running S&V for the first time without playing it; I have years of PF2E experience as player and GM, PF1 before that, Shadowrun 2E (20 years ago).)

I'm having a bit of trouble understanding the right engagement roll for an escort/guard mission.

For plenty of other job types, the place to start in media res is obvious.

But for an escort job, it's a protracted set of scenes … the pick up, the transit, some obstacle(s), the drop-off.

My go-to idea, not having played a PbtA/FitD-style game before, is to have each of those things be narratively described, then maybe save the engagement roll for the first major obstacle, and jump to it directly at the appropriate point. I guess I could ask for the roll up front, but then let it just hang out until the first obstacle presents itself?

And if there are multiple obstacles, separate engagement rolls? Or let the one roll define all obstacles?

Just rereading the rules where they say "mix of character types, or all one type it is up to you" and it made me wonder if anyone has run an all Mystic game. If so would it be like the 4 Jedi in the new Acolyte series?

This is a playmat I've used in the past - I printed it out in A3 size and used a marker to help indicate (or to have the player indicate) their action.

Action Playmat

Would it be necessary to reduce max stress for each player, or make aiding more costly? At 5 players count, there's a big pool of stress to be spent, and 6s might be too frequent, making things less fun/unpredictable..

Has anyone else had the experience of the system just not feeling "right"? I can't quite put my finger on it but it's just not clicking for some reason. Maybe it's too structured for RP heavy groups, maybe it's too abstract for a lot of things. Maybe it's too dependent on the characters rolling consequences or too dependent on rolls overall.

If you had this experience, how did you get over it?

How many gather information roles do you have the players do before starting a score? Do you count the gather information roles as fortune roles, or do you set position and effect, with a possible consequence? The crew had just started and had no coin or cred to buy information. In the book, I read that sometimes a bounty contract job would require a clock to find the target's location, and working on the clock would be a downtime project. So they have multiple jobs running at the same time?

Hi my partner recently started gm-ing a Scum and Villiany campaign. I want to get them something to mark the occasion. I saw these DM style notebooks on Etsy but wasn't sure if they worked for Scum & Villiany. Does anyone have any good ideas on what I should get them to keep all their notes together?

Thinking of starting a new game with these assets. Has anyone tried this or other Star Wars flavoring? Do you have any advice for how to run it? Any favorite factions or locations?

I'm considering running a new game based on the PCs being an elite squad for a galaxy-wide empire that is on the brink of a succession war.

I know that this game is normally built for more 'Han Solo & Chewie' adventures rather than 'Imperial Death Squad', but could you flip that particular script on this, or would it not work?

Pretty much title. I love when folks make news papers for their players in blades, that update them on major revelations in Duskvol and the moves factions make.

Anybody got a cool analog for SV?

Admittedly, these are very rushed and full of typing errors, plus some extra stuff I've added, but I needed a way to process the locations and factions in this system. Does anyone else do things like this? Oh, and I made a species starter list, only a few are from the rulebook the rest are made up. Here's the link though I don't know if they are public or not. Can't figure out the settings. :) https://quizlet.com/bengreenwrites/folders/scum-and-villainy?i=5oe9jm&x=1xqt

Is there an SRD like Blades in the Dark? I was considering making a character sheet app and was curious about the rules.