Immersion Event Types
Emergent Events
Three kinds of immersion events shape a campaign. Drift Cycle Events happen in the Black between points. Docking Events hit when the crew lands at a station. Intrigue Events fire when a specific trigger is met.
Type 01 // Travel
Drift Cycle Events
A drift cycle is a unit of time and a game term: the travel stretch from one point to another. The amount is nebulous — usually five to ten days — but like any game action (sorting a knapsack, making an attack, repairing an engine), it measures the move from A to B regardless of real-world distance or clock time.
A Drift Cycle Event always happens in that in-between: after a mission and before the next location. The crew leaves a mission, it takes a drift cycle to reach the station, and they may draw a Drift Cycle Event before they dock.
When it fires: between mission and next stop, while the crew is still in the Black.
Type 02 // Station
Docking Events
A Docking Event happens any time the crew lands at a space station. They almost never hit a planet first — they always hit a station. Sometimes they’re ordered down to a planet afterward, but the docking is at the station.
A docking event usually gives the crew about two drift cycles of station work: sometimes shorter, sometimes longer, but generally two.
When it fires: on arrival at a station, before or as station downtime begins.
Type 03 // Trigger
Intrigue Events
An Intrigue Event has a specific trigger. It can follow a Docking Event or a Drift Cycle Event, but it can also fire when something hits a specific tier — for example a crew member dying, the entire party dying, or losing the ship. Each of those is its own trigger, even if they all happen at once.
There can also be an Intrigue Event as soon as someone reaches a specific affiliation rank, or when they cause friction at a specific rank.
When it fires: only when its trigger is met — consequence of another event, a death or ship loss tier, or an affiliation/friction threshold.
The Difference
Drift is the travel unit between points, and Drift Cycle Events happen on that stretch. Docking is landing at a station (almost never a planet first), usually with about two drift cycles of station work. Intrigue waits for a named trigger — another event’s fallout, a death or lost ship, or an affiliation or friction tier.