Message:Bad Moon Monsters Rising
As your reputation grows, so does the challenge. Fiends will start to avoid you. Systems could declare you a claim-jumper and start confiscating cargo. Yet the mindset of monsters and civilized system laws are too complicated to model in OSR. We need that one rule of rulez to define the limitation.
Space Pyrates OSR play is all about XPs.
After reaching level four you no longer gain XPs, unless the Fiend-Based Threat is Aliens or worse. At level seven you must face a threat of at least Scary Monsters or no XPs. In this MMO, there comes a time to leave the starter dungeons. Hunt easy pickings, those Banditeers, may still award loot but not XPs. Same for Aliens later on.
The best place to find greater threats is in the strata of Apricot (6, 7 or 8) and Poppy (9 or 10). Reaching there within the game mechanics can be a random pain or require some Telepathic magic. Instead, the boss of the crew may decide to come out of R&R at strata six or strata nine. Someone must be level four+ or level seven+ respectively. That would be you, solo. Or the highest-level character of the group.
In group play the level of the player character rolling exploration Big D6 and Little D6 out of R&R may declare the strata jump. If you want XP and even better Plunder & Salvage, you must go closer toward the Galactic Centre (11). The galaxy grows ever darker, more sinister.
You may not use this shift to reset your vessel further from the core. If your ship is already in Apricot, say strata seven or eight or higher, you do not come out of R&R magically back at default six. Same for Poppy. If you are strata ten, you would not at level seven+ move to strata nine out of R&R. That core and near certain death awaits. But rejoice. After your ship gets demolished there (possibly), by going to strata eleven, you may with failure be sent to the Lifeboats. After that, in Verdigris (strata one), you can come out of R&R across the Milky Way.
Pro Tip: Don’t commit too soon. Explore the Canary systems (strata 2, 3, 4 or 5) and find loot. Build your ship, gets some cash, buy your gear and then decide to advance past level four. The choice is yours; you might like fleeing to Lifeboats.
Yours,
IronRed
15-Jul-2022