Starfaring Adventures
In the Five Galaxies starfaring travel is as commons as traveling by plane nowadays.
- Planets, regions and nation communicate and trade through routes, which are discovered continuously through the oddspace.
- Due to the limit capacity of fuel tanks, it is commonly recommend to trace routes to end travel in well-known star systems, or at least in one served by a base to refuel.
- Venture out on a mission is a risky business that involves facing uncharted expanses, landing on unknown planets facing its alien culture, or face the dangers of an abandoned installation or a derelict, or even face the risk of encountering hostile ships and pirates.
The referee will provide a map of the local sub-sector with a clear indication of the presence of service stations and the known dangers. Assumed that the Charted Space map was purchased and installed on the ship’s systems, but this obviously will not contain data on uncharted star systems, or secret or illegal installations.
Contingencies in space
Each time a starship exits oddspace, the referee should determine a random event that will affect the next moves of the adventure.
| 2D6 | Event |
|---|---|
| 2-3 | Ship malfunction (deactivate one module) |
| 4-6 | Space Anomaly |
| 7 | Encounter (roll on reaction) |
| 8-10 | Distress call |
| 11-12 | Advantage |
- This system is intended as a guideline. The referee will interpret the result in a way that best suits the fiction.
- Space anomalies should be interpreted according to the fiction. Events such as solar storms or asteroid fields can have equally important effects on the course of the adventure (e.g., a storm disrupts the ship’s systems, the asteroid field must be bypassed or crossed at reduced speed adding 1d6 hours to the journey, etc.).
- An advantage is anything positive to the mission or to travel purpose (such a patron’s call with an offer, appearing on the sensors of an allied base, etc.).
Landing & Exploration
Not only explorers and trailblazers will face situations in which they will have to land and explore unknown and potentially hostile planets.
| 2D6 | Event |
|---|---|
| 2-3 | Transport malfunction |
| 4-6 | Shift weather |
| 7 | Encounter (roll on reaction) |
| 8-10 | Clue regarding next encounter |
| 11-12 | Advantage |
- In these cases it is possible that the group needs to cross unknown territories.
- Every travel day, the referee should roll on the following events to determine contingencies.
- An advantage is anything positive to the mission or to travel purpose (such as meeting a friendly population, finding game, finding a healing compound, etc.).
Salvaging
On salvaging mission, the referee should roll on the following event table, for each room or environment explored.
| 2D6 | Event |
|---|---|
| 2-3 | Exhaustion (need to rest) |
| 4-6 | Local change |
| 7 | Encounter (roll on reaction) |
| 8-10 | Clue regarding next encounter |
| 11-12 | Advantage |
- Some missions require the boarding of derelict for their salvage or dispossession.
- Also distress calls could lead to dealing with similar environments.
- Encounter tables should be built thematically based on the type of mission and derelict explored (such as an alien infestation, a terrorist boarding, a failed experiment in a laboratory that released pathogens or psychotropics, etc.).
Trade
Trade is the backbone of the intergalactic economy. The routes established through the star systems guarantee the supply of materials impossible to produce on one planet, by importing them from others.
Usually, the most profitable routes are drawn between agricultural and industrial planets, speculating on the difference in price that each type of economy is willing to pay to import the materials produced by the others.
| Goods | Average Price | Supplier World | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food | 50 cr/t | Agricultural | 1d20x50 t |
| Textiles | 70 cr/t | Agricultural | 1d20x50 t |
| Spirits | 300 cr/t | Agricultural | 1d20x20 t |
| Luxuries | 900 cr/t | Central* | 1d20x10 t |
| Drugs | 50 cr/kg | Industrial | 1d20x20 kg |
| Electronics | 800 cr/kg | Industrial | 1d20x50 kg |
| Machinery | 600 cr/t | Industrial | 1d20x50 t |
| Alloys | 400 cr/t | Mining | 1d20x40 t |
| Weapons | 700 cr/kg | Industrial | 1d20x20 kg |
| Raws | 120 cr/t | Mining | 1d20x100 t |
| Ores | 250 cr/t | Mining | 1d20x100 t |
| Artifacts | 50,000 ea. | Central* | 1d6 |
| Fuel | 200 cr/bbl | Any | 1d20x10 bbl |
* A Central world is either a Political/Religious Center or a Finance world.
The base price therefore undergoes variations in relation to planetary GDP level.
| --- | Poor | Low | Average | Good | High | Rich |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purchase | 120% | 110% | 100% | 90% | 80% | 70% |
| Sale | 80% | 90% | 100% | 110% | 120% | 130% |
Missions
If you need to build a Mission on the fly or you are looking for inspiration you can pull on the following tables to build the outline.
Who
- An organization
- A local authority
- An old friend or relative
- An old mentor
- A local population in need
- Someone malicious who can blackmail the party
What
- Recover an Artifact
- Stop the pirates
- Salvage a derelict
- Extinguish a debt
- Escort or delivering something
- Rescue someone
Why
- To help the inquirer
- To get your hands on the Prize
- An oracle has foreseen it
- Your coscience urges you to do so
- To seek fortune and glory
- To avenge a wrong (to you or someone else)
Where
- Pirate Base
- Nearby Colony
- Faraway System
- Derelict Ship
- Government Facility
- Drifter Fleet
How
- During a quiet moment someone comes looking for you
- An old acquaintance asks you
- Have you heard any rumors where you are now
- You have been arrested or imprisoned and this is the condition of release
- It wasn’t planned, but it happened
- You have found an object that pushes you towards the Mission
Obstacle
- Someone wants to stop you (1-2: ship malfunction 3-4: another party 5-6: an authority)
- You have been deceived, the mission is not what it seems
- The target is different from what was planned
- Someone in your party is not who they seem
- You arrived too late/early
- The target is somewhere else
Artifacts
Artifacts are rare and powerful items lost in legend and found in the ruins of ancient civilizations or on the market at exorbitant prices. The Five Galaxies are ancient and the amount of artifacts left behind by vanished civilizations is incalculable. Here are some examples:
- Infinity Sphere: This artifact is a perfect sphere the size of a palm that can instantly transport its user wherever he wants. Its use requires a WIL greater than 15 (by succeeding on a saving throw) and can be used once every 30 days.
- Seer Eye: anyone wearing it can temporarily acquire clairvoyance powers while not being a psionic. To use it, you must save vs WIL. In case of failure the user will lose his eye.
- Neutralizer: A dangerous artifact that destroyed the civilization that created it. It is capable of instantly killing any life form in any biosphere. One use only.
- Precursor Remembrance: It looks like a banal little casket, but it contains the collective memories of the First Born. An ordinary mind (WIL less than 17) cannot bear its weight. Those who are, have access to advanced knowledge and unlimited mental powers.It can be used only once. Thereafter the user will ascend to a higher plane of existence.
