d20 Ronin Arts Future Starship 17 - The Cygnus.pdf - Ronin Arts - R5700

INTRODUCTION

A BOUT THE A UTHOR

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, Green

Ronin, 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,

Welcome to Ronin Arts’ Future: Starship 17 –

The Cygnus , the 17th installment in our ongoing

series of PDFs for use with futuristic D20 cam-

paigns. This series makes some assumptions about

your campaign; the starship designs in this series

will be most useful in campaigns in which the fol-

lowing 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 stan-

dard and common occurrence – individuals

either fly their own ships or ride on passenger

ships. Starships and space travel are as common

for characters as a plane ride is for people of our

reality.

• Space combat is not uncommon. It’s just another

exciting adventure when the hero characters

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 really be?

please

visit

www.michael-

hammes.com.

F UTURE T ILES : S TARSHIP

The Cygnus design is based on SkeletonKey

Games’ Future Tiles: Starship tile set . While this

PDF can be easily used on its own you will get a lot

more use out of it in your game sessions if you con-

struct the ship – at miniatures scale – using the

printable tiles.

To learn more about SkeletonKey Games please

visit their website at

www.skeletonkeygames.com .

BASIC INFORMATION

The Cygnus is an experimental PL 7 starship fea-

turing a prototype PL 8 gravitic redirector engine.

Designed purely as a test platform the ship has

none of the features (i.e. kitchen, recreational facil-

ities, medical bay) found in ships built for interstel-

lar travel; the crew quarters and bathrooms are

there solely to provide crew comfort on extended

(48 to 72 hour) testing operations.

That’s not to say that the Cygnus stays only in its

home system, far from it; no one in their right mind

would make test runs of an engine designed to cre-

ate a black hole, even a submicroscopic one, in a

populated system. Rather, the Cygnus always

deploys with a small support fleet (i.e. civilian, mil-

GAME STATISTICS

itary, or a mix depending on the situation) that

monitors the test runs (from a “safe” distance),

attends to the crews’ comforts, carries supplies and

equipment, and provides any necessary protection.

The Cygnus is crewed exclusively by senior tech-

nicians and highly experienced pilots (although

security personnel may be on board if sabotage or

other trouble is possible).

Two complete and identically qualified crews

are assigned to the Cygnus on a rotating basis;

when one crew is conducting tests aboard the ship

the other is aboard the main support ship resting

and helping with data analysis. So far this rotating

crew system has proved to be an excellent method.

GAME STATISTICS

T HE C YGNUS (PL 7)

Type: Ultralight

Subtype: Unique

Defense: 15

Flat-footed Defense: 9

Autopilot Defense: 5

Hardness: 20 (ballistic)/40 (energy)

Hit Dice: 15d20 (300 hp)

Initiative Modifier: +12 (+6 Dexterity, +4

Improved Initiative, +2 Class V Sensor Array)

Pilot’s Class Bonus: +7

Pilot’s Dex Modifier: +6

Gunner ’s Attack Bonus: n/a

Size: Colossal (–8 size)

Tactical Speed: 4,500 ft.*/3,000 ft. (9 sq*./6

sq.)

CYGNUS-CLASS DESIGN SPECS:

Engines:

Prototype

gravitic

redirector,

thrusters

Armor: Deflective

Defense Systems: Improved damage control

(2d10), light fortification, radiation shielding,

repair drones, self-destruct system (in case the

engines go critical)

Sensors: Class V Sensor Array

Communications:

Mass transceiver,

radio

transceiver

Weapons: n/a

Grappling Systems: n/a

*assuming the prototype engine works

Length: 115 feet

Weight: 750 tons

Targeting System Bonus: n/a

Crew: 19 (ace +12)

Passenger Capacity: 0

Cargo Capacity: 20 tons

Grapple Modifier: +16

Base Purchase DC: 68

Restriction: Military (+3)

Attack: n/a

Attack of Opportunity: n/a

NEW RULES AMD IDEAS

NEW RULES AND IDEAS

P ROTOTYPE G RAVITIC R EDIRECTOR

The prototype gravitic redirector engine of the

Cygnus is presently in its development stage. While

the GM can simply assume that the engine func-

tions as a standard gravitic redirector, this would

not reflect the nature of a developmental proto-

type.

Developmental prototypes are by their nature

rough in execution, unreliable (and potentially

dangerous) in function, and high maintenance. As a

result one would expect optimal functioning of the

engine to be the exception rather than the rule.

Although the GM is encouraged to come up

with his or her own possible mishaps for the

Cygnus and the frequency with which they occur, a

simple table has been included here; any time the

engine is used the GM should roll 1d8 and consult

the table below:

As 3 above except that 1d4 ship sys-

tems are damaged beyond repair and

must be replaced.

Catastrophic

failure!

Evacuate!

Instant atomization of the Cygnus and

all aboard (or see the Marooned

Campaign section below)

T HE M AROONED C AMPAIGN

Thanks to its prototype (experimental) gravitic

redirector engine the Cygnus provides a ready-

made excuse to launch a campaign wherein the

heroes (one of the ship’s two crews) are marooned

in some unknown corner (or quadrant if you prefer)

of space and must find their way back home.

HOW DID WE END UP HERE?

How do the heroes end up in the far corner of

the galaxy, months or even years from home (if

they can even find the direction of home)? Through

the classic plot device of an engine malfunction.

Here are some possibilities:

The engine functions normally.

The engine fails to function; it is inop-

erable until repaired.

Engine only partially functions.

Instead of providing the +1,500 tacti-

cal speed bonus roll d8 and multiply

that by 500 feet to get the total tacti-

cal speed. For example, a roll of 5 gives

a total tactical speed of 2,500 feet; the

engine is causing a tactical speed

penalty of –500 feet.

Turbo – the engine somehow manages to

propel the ship at a geometrically increas-

ing velocity, covering unbelievable dis-

tances before the crew can manage to shut

it down or it burns out. Once they’ve dealt

with any potential danger from the

engine’s massive output (i.e. fires, hull

breach, etc.) the crew find themselves far

from their navigation system’s maps.

Either right from the start or after

1d10 rounds of functioning (75% par-

tial function, 25% normal function)

the engine shuts down and must be

repaired.

Hop, Skip, and Jump – assuming that

there is no such thing as jump technology

in the campaign, or at least no jump drives

available, the engine somehow creates an

uncontrollable jump drive effect that

deposits the ship in the unknown.

As 3 above except that 1d4 additional

ship systems are damaged and must

be repaired.

NEW RULES AND IDEAS

WE’VE GOT PROBLEMS

Once the heroes realize that they are effectively

lost in outer space, they’ll have to begin focusing on

their survival needs. Some challenges they face:

Quantum Leap – the ship’s crew has

made a serendipitous discovery: they have

temporarily caused the engine to act as a

spatial compressor; the resulting “fold” in

space has potentially transported them

across the entire universe.

Food – except for any snacks and light

meals the heroes had aboard at the time of

the accident the ship has no food stores (if

the GM is kind it may have some sort of

standard “emergency” rations aboard, per-

haps in the escape pods); the heroes will

have to figure out some way to get (and

preserve) food before they starve to death.

Fortunately for them, the ship does have an

adequate water supply.

ONE-WAY TRIP

Now, one would think that all the heroes would

have to do to get home is to recreate the circum-

stances of the “accident” and travel back. Naturally,

this won’t work, at least not initially (after all, it

wouldn’t be much of a campaign if it did). Here are

some reasons why they won’t be able to book that

return ticket:

Illness – the ship is equipped with only

basic medical supplies; any real injuries

would have been treated aboard the med-

ical support ship. While the heroes can at

least supply first aid, what do they do when

they encounter more serious injuries, alien

viruses and diseases, or radiation sickness?

Repairs – except for some minor and com-

mon spare parts and emergency tools the

ship has no provisions for making its own

repairs; that’s what the support ships were

for. As a result, the heroes will have to figure

out a way gather materials and tools for

any major repairs. To make matters worse,

as an experimental ship featuring the latest

untested technology, the Cygnus is signifi-

cantly more high maintenance and prone

to breakdowns of all kinds (i.e. computer

glitches, electric system short-circuits,

plumbing back-ups, etc.); the heroes will

often be asking themselves “who designed

this mess?”

Destroyed Component – a vital engine

component was burned out in the process.

Naturally, all the spare components are on

the support vessels. Until the crew can get

another component (i.e. build one from

scratch, modify an alien component, etc.)

they have no way to duplicate the acci-

dent.

Data Crash – the journey has crashed the

ship’s computer system and vital data

about the experiment has been lost. As a

result the crew is unable to determine

what exactly went wrong, and even if they

did, they’d have no way of being sure that

they can create the exact circumstances of

the accident since there are millions of

variables involved.

Unexpected Factor – the data suggests

that the engines themselves actually per-

formed as they were supposed to.

However, some unexpected variable (i.e.

space debris, energy field, unknown space

phenomenon) interacted with the engine

and caused the accident. The crew either

can’t determine what the variable was (i.e.

the data is lost or it is a heretofore

unknown) or the variable is not present in

the part of the galaxy in which they cur-

rently find themselves.

Xenomorphs – the heroes should have

the opportunity to encounter numerous

alien species along the way. These species

can range the gamut from the most primi-

tive to the most advanced. They can be

friendly, neutral, or hostile. They may be

willing to trade with the heroes, or they

may seek to enslave them; basically, this is

an excuse for the GM to introduce whatev-

er alien species and civilizations he or she

sees fit.

d20 Ronin Arts Future Starship 17 - The Cygnus.pdf

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