d20 Ronin Arts Future Starship 13 - Ghost Ship.pdf - Ronin Arts - R5700

Requires the use of the d20 Modern™ Roleplaying Game, published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

GHOST SHIP

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Ronin Arts’ Future: Starship 13 –

Ghost Ship , the thirteenth in a series of PDFs for

use with futuristic D20 System campaigns. This

series makes some assumptions about your cam-

paign; the starship designs in this series will be

most useful in campaigns in which the following

statements are true:

• The campaign is not a “hard” science setting.

Campaigns that are more space opera/adventure

movie are the intended target for this series.

• Starships are not rare or unusual. All of the

starships in this series assume that space travel is a

standard and common occurrence – individuals

either fly their own ships or ride on passenger ships.

Starships and space travel are as common for char-

acters as a plane ride is for people of our reality.

• Space combat is not uncommon. It’s just

another exciting adventure when the player charac-

ters have to engage the enemy while fleeing from

some world or other.

• The campaign is packed with action. If things

aren’t exploding, how much fun can the game real-

ly be?

Most of the starships in this series are designed

to fill an even number of pages. This is so that you

can print the pages – back-to-back if you wish – and

drop them into a binder. This introduction, and the

page of new starship equipment and assorted infor-

mation, can also be printed separately and added to

your binder. The schematic and silhouette page is

designed to be used as a player handout – it’s what

flashes up on their ship systems when they attempt

to ID a ship – and GMs need only give the players

the page when they encounter a ship from this

series.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael Hammes has been freelancing in the

role-playing industry since 2001. Starting small, he

has steadily built his repertoire, and reputation, by

working for such companies as Ronin Arts, Alderac

Entertainment Group, Dark Quest Games, and E.N.

Publishing. He is currently trying to balance his

writing schedule with his role as stay-at-home

father. To catch the latest from

Michael’s Imagination, please visit www.michael-

hammes.com.

E-FUTURE TILES

The Ghost Ship design is based on SkeletonKey

Games’ e-Future Tiles. While this PDF can be eas-

ily used on its own you will get a lot more use out

of it in your game sessions if you construct the ship

– at miniatures scale – using the printable tiles. The

only tile you will need that are not available in e-

Future Tiles is the right side connector on the main

deck – which has been thoughtfully included at the

end of this PDF.

To learn more about SkeletonKey Games please

visit their website at www.skeletonkeygames.com .

FOREWORD

What exactly is a ghost ship? There is no one

true definition of the term. The term ghost ship has

been applied to everything from spectral vessels

crewed by actual ghosts to ships found without

their crews to real-world raiding vessels that swoop

down upon their prey as if out of nowhere and then

disappear.

The one thing that all of these ships have in

common is that they appear and disappear under

mysterious or eerie circumstances. For the purpos-

es of this PDF, a ghost ship is a mysterious starship

that the PCs come across and whose sole purpose is

to serve as an adventure location.

The ghost ship in this PDF is the Kapteyn , a

missing and presumed lost Fusion Age long-range

exploration vessel that no one has heard from until

the PCs encounter it (although they certainly may

have heard about it; see the PC Knowledge About

The Kapteyn boxed text). That being said, let’s

take a closer look at the history of the Kapteyn .

Please note that, while the history presented herein

is ready for the GM to use, as with all things in this

and any of the other Starship series PDFs, the GM

should feel free to modify or ignore any of the pre-

sented information and material in order to make

the ghost ship compatible with his or her campaign.

GHOST SHIP

THE KAPTEYN

Commissioned in the early Fusion Age under

the financial sponsorship of several governments,

universities, and corporations, the Kapteyn was

named after the renowned Dutch astronomer

Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn and tasked with explor-

ing the Alpha Centauri system in the name of scien-

tific research.

The chief purpose of this mission was to defini-

tively answer whether Alpha Centauri could, and

did, support life (especially intelligent life) on one

or more of its planets. Assuming the former, it was

planned that a colony ship would start out for Alpha

Centauri once a suitable world had been found.

Should the latter also prove to be correct, the crew

of the Kapteyn was to make first contact with any

intelligent species discovered and pave the way for

eventual diplomatic relations with Earth.

To complete this mission the Kapteyn was

equipped to handle everything from astronomy to

specimen collection and its crew included scientists

from disciplines such as astrophysics, psychology,

and xenobiology.

Staffed with a robot crew (see the Robot Crew

section) that would operate the ship while the

Kapteyn’s human crew spent the long journey in

cryonic stasis, the ship set out for Alpha Centauri.

Initially all went well and the ship sent back reg-

ular communications to Earth. But then, shortly

upon reaching Alpha Centauri, all communication

with the ship ceased. Subsequent attempts to

reestablish communications with the Kapteyn failed

and, although it took several years after the initial

loss of communications for the Kapteyn to be

declared lost in space, it was eventually forgotten.

GHOST SHIP

GAME STATISTICS

KAPTEYN (PL 6)

Type: Light

Subtype: Unique

Defense: 15

Flat-footed Defense: 9

Autopilot Defense: 7

Hardness: 20

Hit Dice: 40d20 (800 hp)

Initiative Modifier: +8

Pilot’s Class Bonus: +7

Pilot’s Dex Modifier: +6

Gunner’s Attack Bonus: +8/+3

Size: Colossal (–8 size)

Tactical Speed: 3,500 ft. (7 sq.)

Length: 275 feet

Weight: 5,000 tons

Targeting System Bonus: +3

Crew: 10 (ace +12) living, 13 robot

Passenger Capacity: 29 living, 8 robot

Cargo Capacity: 2,200 tons

Grapple Modifier: +16

Base Purchase DC: 58

Restriction: Restricted (+2)

Attack: 2 fire-linked lasers +3 ranged (9d8)

Attack of Opportunity: N/A

that, due to the nature of their campaigns, wish to

have the Kapteyn be a Gravity Age vessel.

KAPTEYN UPGRADE

TEMPLATE (PL 7)

The Kapteyn template can be applied only to the

Kapteyn . The ship’s design specs should be adjusted

as follows:

Engine Upgrade: Particle Impulse Engine,

thrusters (tactical speed +1,000 feet).

Armor Upgrade: Cerametal

Defense System Upgrade: N/A.

Sensors Upgrade: Class V sensor array (as Class

IV sensor array and ship gains a +2 equipment bonus

on all initiative checks, replaces PL 6 Class III sensor

array), improved targeting system (+5 equipment

bonus on attack rolls; replaces PL 6 targeting system)

Communications Upgrade: Mass transceiver

(replaces PL 6 laser transceiver).

Weapons Upgrade: N/A

Grappling System Upgrade: 2 Tractor beams

(replace PL 6 grapplers)

R OBOT C REW I N C HARGE

The game statistics for the Kapteyn presented

above assume that the ship is being crewed by its liv-

ing crew. When piloted by the ship’s robot crew (see

the Robot Crew section), the following adjustments

take place. Please note that when under robot crew

control the ship relies on its improved autopilot sys-

tem for its defense, as its robotic crew does not

receive the pilot’s class bonus to Defense. The ship

does rely on the pilot robots to deal with unexpected

situations (i.e. meteors, engine damage, etc.):

Defense: 3

Flat-footed Defense: 2

Autopilot Defense: 7

Initiative Modifier: +3

Pilot’s Class Bonus: N/A

Pilot’s Dex Modifier: +1

Gunner’s Attack Bonus: +1

Attack: 2 fire-linked lasers -4 ranged (9d8)

DESIGN SPECS:

Engines: Fusion torch, thrusters

Armor: Polymeric

Defense Systems: Improved autopilot system

(+5), improved damage control (3d10), magnetic

field, radiation shielding

Sensors: Class III Sensor Array, Targeting System

(+3)

Communications: Laser transceiver, radio trans-

ceiver

Weapons: Turret of 2 fire-linked lasers (range

incr. 3,000 ft.)

Grappling Systems: 2 Grapplers

K APTEYN U PGRADE T EMPLATE

(PL 7)

The following template is included for those GMs

GHOST SHIP

ROBOT CREW

The following section contains information and

statistics on the Kapteyn’s robot crew. Although the

background information for the ship states that the

Kaptyen was outfitted with a robot crew and the robot

crew can be used by the GM during PC exploration of

the Kapteyn as friend or foe (see the Scenarios and

Our Friends, The Robots section), the ship does not

actually need a robot crew; it is perfectly acceptable for

the GM to decide that the ship travels from Earth to

Alpha Centauri using its autopilot system.

taking this additional step it would make the ship’s liv-

ing crewmembers more comfortable with being in con-

stant contact with robots.

There are three types of CrewBots aboard the ship,

each one classified by its primary function.

Admin CrewBot (8)

The admin CrewBots serve as secretaries, lab assis-

tants, and sensor operators.

Admin CrewBots have a smaller frame than main-

tenance or pilot CrewBots (due to lacking a survivor

array). Their exterior has been fashioned to resemble

an individual wearing a lab coat.

W HY H AVE

A R OBOT C REW ?

The sponsors’ rationale for including the robot

crew was twofold. The first was to provide for an addi-

tional safety measure during the Kapteyn’s journey; it

is the robot crew that takes care of the ship while its

living crew is in cryostasis, pursues its studies, experi-

ments, sleeps, eats, etc. The second was to increase the

crew complement aboard the Kapteyn without increas-

ing the need for air, food, water, etc.

As crewmembers the robots are designed to, and

only capable of, performing simple and mundane tasks

(i.e. data entry, sensor monitoring, scheduled mainte-

nance, basic flying); their main function is to free the

Kapteyn’s living crew from these ordinary tasks so that

they can more easily perform the more important func-

tions (i.e. scientific research, experimentation). While

the robot crew can operate the ship efficiently

(although not nearly as effectively as its living crew),

the robot crew cannot perform any other tasks (i.e.

exploring a planet’s surface, making first contact with

any aliens, etc.) without instructions and supervision

from the crew.

Each admin CrewBot is identified by its own des-

ignation (A1, A2, A3, etc.).

Maintenance CrewBot (10)

It is the job of the maintenance CrewBots to per-

form basic maintenance and repairs on ship systems

both inside and outside the Kapteyn .

Maintenance CrewBots have an exterior fashioned

to resemble an individual wearing coveralls.

Each maintenance CrewBot is identified by its own

designation (M1, M2, etc.)

Pilot CrewBot (3)

The three pilot CrewBots are there to serve as

backup to the Autopilot during journeys where the

crew enters a cryogenic state as well as to perform rou-

tine in-system piloting functions. Pilot CrewBots are

almost always on the bridge except for when in need of

maintenance.

Pilot CrewBots have an exterior fashioned to

resemble an individual wearing a flight suit and each

one is identified by its own designation (P1, P2, etc.)

In addition to CrewBot statistics for PL 6, PL 7 sta-

tistics have been included. The PL 7 statistics can be

used if the Kapteyn is a Gravity Age vessel or during

the Fusion Age if the CrewBots represent experimen-

tal robots that will become commonplace in the

Gravity Age.

C REW B OT

(PL 6 AND 7)

The Kapteyn is crewed by the latest in Fusion Age

robotic technology in the form of its complement of

CrewBots.

The CrewBots have been fashioned to look like

generic members of the crew by taking all of the facial

characteristics and skin tones of each crewmember and

morphing them into one. The designers hoped that by

d20 Ronin Arts Future Starship 13 - Ghost Ship.pdf

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