Contents 1. Introduction 2. Background 3. Rules and Tarazet Game Philosophy 4. Character Generation 5. Psi on ic A bi li ti es 6. Spaceships 7. Robots 8. Vehicles 9. Pl anets an d Pl aces o f In terest 10. Game Master Section 11. Monsters 12. Advent ur e Idea s 1. Introduction A long time in the making I first dreamed up Tarazet as a background for a Dungeons and Dragons campaign but I was always just as interested in science fiction role-playing games like;- Battletech the RPG, Warhamer 40K, Traveller, Space Master and even Living Steel. So I had the idea of using the same Tarazet background, but project it into a future setting, it would be a city that would have a presence everywhere in time and space. A city with a long history and me and the player characters would tell our stories in certain facets of the city depending on the game system we were using. I only ever ended up using it as a Dungeons and dragons campaign background though. I wrote it up as a Space Master background but never ended up using it. The Space Master rules were very complex and preparing anything for play took a very long time indeed, I was always more interested in drawing and writing than generating balanced stats. Space Master is of course an extreme example, but generating a whole background using most systems took so much time and effort that I thought it might be easier just to make up my own role-playing game system, a rules-lite system, for the far future version of Tarazet. And the germ of the Tarazet the role-playing game idea began to take shape.
1. Introduction2. Background3. Rules and Tarazet Game Philosophy4. Character Generation5. Psionic Abilities6. Spaceships7. Robots8. Vehicles9. Planets and Places of Interest10. Game Master Section11. Monsters12. Adventure Ideas
1. Introduction
A long time in the making
I first dreamed up Tarazet as a background for a Dungeons and Dragons campaign but I was always just as interested inscience fiction role-playing games like;- Battletech the RPG, Warhamer 40K, Traveller, Space Master and even LivingSteel. So I had the idea of using the same Tarazet background, but project it into a future setting, it would be a city that would have a presence everywhere in time and space. A city with a long history and me and the player characters wouldtell our stories in certain facets of the city depending on the game system we were using.I only ever ended up using it as a Dungeons and dragons campaign background though. I wrote it up as a Space Masterbackground but never ended up using it. The Space Master rules were very complex and preparing anything for playtook a very long time indeed, I was always more interested in drawing and writing than generating balanced stats. SpaceMaster is of course an extreme example, but generating a whole background using most systems took so much time andeffort that I thought it might be easier just to make up my own role-playing game system, a rules-lite system, for the farfuture version of Tarazet. And the germ of the Tarazet the role-playing game idea began to take shape.
This background outline of Tarazet history and culture is only the briefest taste, and as is the way with role-playinggames the background is spread throughout the book, and is constantly being added to, refined, and sometimes whennobody is looking, even changed.
Tarazet is set very, very far in the future, in a universe in which humanity discovers that it had it's beginnings on manyplanets, not just earth. This was discovered as Earth expanded to form a respectable sized empire. It eventuallyencountered other humans, who were initially mistaken for just another lost colony, but these new humans turned out tobelong to an entirely separate empire of humans just as strong as that of Earth. More and more pockets of humanity were discovered, and these various strands of humanity seeded around the stars came together, formed a huge andpowerful empire and then watched together as it was torn apart.
By the epoch of Tarazet, human history stretches so far back it is unknowable. The human races exists alongside manyother alien races and knows of many previous races who are now most probably extinct and have left all kind of strangeand exotic remains and artefacts.
Humanity itself has reached many technological high points, the greatest of which was the Former Imperium which wasdestroyed from within as alien ruins strewn throughout human space sprang to life, when the “stars aligned.” Humanity isof course still very far in advance of our present technology and spans an incomprehensible area of space, but theterrible and senseless destruction of the Former Imperium has left deep scars.The origins of the humans are argued over by the various powers. Some say that the strange, mystical and much lovedplanet called Earth was the origin, others say that is wishful thinking and Humanity originated as a slave race (orcompanion race depending on the version of this origin) of a type of alien known as the Mentor, now thought to beextinct, some say at the hands of the humans themselves.
The area of space covered – or infected, it's a point of view – by humanity, is so wide and the groups humanity organisesitself into are so various that the game background will focus primarily on the area of the Former Imperium aroundTarazet. Any culture, force, or monstrous threat can easily be added at the periphery.
Tarazet's Sphere of Influence and Surroundings
Tarazet is a city state which controls the whole of its home planet, the entirety of its home solar system and a goodnumber of the systems around it in its local space.
There are various private navies, religious groups, robot nations, alien races and other power groups out there in thevoid too of course, and not all of Tarazet's possessions are uncontested.
Humans
Some of the more important local human power groupings, empires and cults which consider themselves primarilyhuman include.
The Free City of Tarazet One of the major powers in the area of space around a feature called the breach. Tarazet hasbecome rich living on the trade which passes through the breach, the only route through an ancient force wall-like spacedefence which stretches for light millennia.The Great Regime A state which sees itself as a continuation of the Former Imperium itself. It is a fractured civilisationspread thinly across human space, but by the standards of the epoch the game is set in it is still very powerful, it isTarazet's nearest neighbour, on the other side of the breach.
Robots
The Separatists There have been many robot revolutions against the less enlightened and more brutal of societies which have made use of robot labour. The separatists are the most successful of them in the Old Kingdom area ofspace, as the area of space around Tarazet is called. They hold three star systems, making them a force to be reckoned with.The Elder Robots A society very like the separatists, but their revolution was against a race of aliens long extinct.Whether the Elder Robots had anything to do with the extinction is a subject they prefer not to talk about. They somehowmanage to exist in the wild voids at the edge of Tarazet space, where their power base is and how many systems itcomprises is another matter that they are reticent about.The Kalteen A kind of mechanical life that claims it evolved in the void without organic intervention. They hold a lot ofinfluence among the robot cultures, they have a kind of aristocratic status among the Separatists and Elders, and seethemselves as pure robots untainted by construction and programming.
Humanoid Aliens
Tigron Humanoid and feline at the same time. Often resembling the big cats of old earth but at the same timeunmistakably alien. They claim to have evolved on Earth and there is a long running dispute with the humans, each raceclaiming to have genetically engineered the other. Relations between Human and Tigron are good as long as the subjectof who created who is avoided.The Lizardeen a player character race for the Tarazet role-playing game, the lizardeen are huge and strong but alsointelligent, in game terms their only disadvantage is that they are cold blooded. They are both literally cold blooded, andthink in alien, cold-hearted, logical ways compared to the human players who exist in the game with them.The lizardeen area of space is huge and even more ancient than that of the humans.Their empire used to have a higher tech level than it does at the present epoch in the role playing-game's history. Theempire used to be bound together by a communications system that could cover unimaginably huger distances than ispossible with any device in wide use in the role-playing game at the present time. This has led to a splintering of their
empire into uncountable factions who are riven by disputes and rumours, which in game terms means that any twolizardeen who encounter each other must be very reticent about their origins andloyalties until they can find out something of the other lizardeen. In fact it can takemonths, if not years for trust to start to form. This reticence has become deeplyingrained and is often displayed to non lizardeen as well.Lizardeen equipment is always of the highest quality and versatility but, by thestandards of the humans of the role playing game setting it is quite bulky.
Monstrous Aliens
Falteen Giant Worm like creatures who use the great accuracy of their warp drives todrop out of warp within the spaceships of their unlucky victims, merging the twostructures and boarding. Sometimes it seems they are more interested in takingproperty (often of the strangest sort), sometimes life (often that of an individual who
seems insignificant to their companions).Platarans Huge crab like aliens with cybernetic components and armoured hides.They think quite differently to humansThe Skeen Giant octopoid aliens who have a very advanced tech level and a taste for
human flesh. They are green and even have bug eyes but these are often concealed behind their multi sensor battlemasks.Tych Ancient frog-like creatures with a technology stolen from either a more advanced species or a leftover from bettertimes.The Colthak A snake like race of aliens who left behind giant tuning fork like remains. Their heads were cyberneticconstructions of the utmost delicacy.Tarazet Vampires The rumours about vampires being at the heart of Tarazet society are true. It is an open secret thatthe government of Tarazet have a lot of goals that don't always have a lot to do with those of their subjects. This is all
difficult to prove and the official government under Dr. Fell denies it all. While Tarazet's fortunes are in the ascendancyits subjects are not asking too many questions or digging too deep.
The Tarazet Systems
Tarazet Money
There are many forms of money throughout the Tarazet universe, and even within the systems controlled by Tarazet.The prices quoted in the rules will be in Tarazet Credit Units. A secure section can be set up by any bank on anyelectronic device and credits can be recorded and used, so you can carry your money in the computer on yourbinoculars if you want. Many people have their credit account in one of their cerebral implants. To give some idea of what a credit is worth, 30 credits will pay for a restaurant meal for two.
Empty Cities
Human population numbers have slumped in the Tarazet universe, and the planets directly controlled by the free city ofTarazet are not immune. There are not anywhere near the numbers of people who used to be citizens of the FormerImperium. This has led in some areas of space to a landscape of empty self-repairing cities which have been left aloneso long that – even if they had not been taken over long ago by monsters from outside the borders of the empire, andfrom within – they might not have been too welcoming to humans. Can anyone say dungeon?
Organisations
Organisations banding together to impose their will on the unthinking stars have long been a staple of science fiction. Inthe centuries since the breakup of the Former Imperium, a lot of different organisations have sprung up and someancient ones have survived from various long-ago times.
Psionic OrdersThe Fellowship, A group of travellers who can draw on each others power however far apart they are.
The Followers of the Blue Star, They believe their psionic powers are a gift from their home planets blue star.
The Maintainers of the Id Machine. Each has a focus for their power, a part of the giant and diffuse Id Machine.The Sound Priests, The ultimate quest of each sound priest is to find a new tuning node. These are huge structures leftbehind by the Colthak as they devolved to their present state. Sound priests tend to be solitary explorers ever searchingfor new tuning nodes. When one is found it permanently increases the sound priests present psionic abilities.The Stellar MarshalsA law enforcement organisation which derives its authority from the Courts of Interstellar Justice that many powers stillpay some kind of lip service to. They are often a welcome influence but just as often they are seen as interfering busybodies.
3. Tarazet the Role-Playing Game
The Rules
Tarazet is of course a pen and paper role-playing game. Just as any game it has rules, but these are meant to aid yourimagination, not constrain it, if you find a rule getting in your way, rewrite it or just throw it out altogether.
The first rule of Tarazet is that there should be at least one gamemaster. According to Wikipedia the word gamemaster isoften abbreviated to GM, and that's exactly what we are going to do in the Tarazet game rules.Their role is to set the scene for the other players to adventure in. Some people find this a chore and will only do it whenit is their turn, other people enjoy the creative challenge of it, and perhaps the opportunity to play god, and will GMsession after session without complaint. The GM will write an adventure, a bit like a screenplay, with enough plot for at
least a whole session of play, but the dialogue and action is improvised and the end you had in mind might be overtakenby events. If you didn't get round to writing that adventure, it is possible to wing it but most Gms agree that havingsomething prepared is easier on the nerves.
The second rule of Tarazet is that each of the other players will need a character to play. The GM will provide challengesand decide on the actions of almost everyone in the game. The player decides on the actions of their character. Afterfamiliarising themselves with the Tarazet setting, the first step is to generate a character.
Character generation
The options for character design in Tarazet are virtually unlimited. A robot, a human, one of the alien races from thegame or something new and strange that you make up yourself, all can be generated.For every character the more information that can be written down about them the easier they will be to play. It's a goodidea to keep all these notes in one place, and this is what is often called the character sheet.
Some suggestions about useful information to note down are:
NameThis is simply made up. Actually it is often not quite so simple, but making up futuristic sounding names for your sciencefiction characters will get easier with practice.
Level This part is easy, a starting character will normally be level 1. This is a measure of how powerful the character is on ascale from level 0 to level 10 and up.Level 0 is something equivalent to a red-shirt-wearing extra (they didn't really know what was going on and always gotvaporised in Star Trek) while level 10 might be equivalent to the heroic figure of a starship captain for example. At level 1the character already stands out in a crowd, and the level they can reach is potentially unlimited.
Physical descriptionUnless you make a note otherwise, your physical characteristics will be assumed to be the average for a human, or thealien type you choose. If you decide that your character should be above, or below average in some physical attributesimply mark it down on the sheet.
Origin planet and cultureEither chose one of the planets, moons, asteroids or habitats that is already described in the rules book or design yourown. Even a human character can be quite exotic if they come from a desert planet, or a tiny backwater mining asteroid.
History Your character is of course just starting out on their adventures, but it is useful to give them a bit of what the moviemakers call back story. Perhaps your character was a trainee Stellar Marshall, but was framed and expelled. If you evercatch who framed you, revenge would be sweet, wouldn't it, and is there anyway to redeem yourself in the eyes of theStellar Marshall academy?
Special skills/Areas of expertiseIs there something that your character is really good at, it's a good idea to pick something like flying or shooting, butspecial skills like the ability to decipher the languages of long-dead alien races can also be very helpful.
Each special skill is listed on your character sheet and influences play in various ways. The GM may limit the number ofspecial skills you are allowed to dream up for your character so check with them before you put them down in pen.
Underdeveloped areasI find all-powerful characters are boring, but this is not a universally held point of view. Adding things that the character isbad at can make them more interesting and challenging to play, but it isn't compulsory, unless of course your GMdecides otherwise.
Alignment Alignment is a concept that is intended to help you decide what your character might do in certain situations. Yourcharacter is offered a large credit advance to stab his friends in the back, do they do it ?If they are Good then probably not, if they are bad then there is a chance.These are the two extremes we are used to discussing in everyday life but traditionally in fantasy literature there are alsothe extremes of Law and Chaos, most famously explored by Michael Moorcock, and there are also other philosophies which are equally useful in providing guiding principles; logic vs emotion, detachment vs engagement, and many more.
Wealth and equipment In a far future society even the poorest of player characters will start with impressive equipment. Exactly what is pert ofstarting equipment will most likely be controlled by the GM. One of the biggest questions in a far future space operasetting is do the player characters have access to a spaceship, do they own one, does the group have more than one?
Societies, cults and organisations
It is a staple of science fiction backgrounds to belong to such organisations. Esoteric orders of psionic knights, secretbrotherhoods who are in the service of strange alien masters and interplanetary law enforcement agencies are all verypopular. Some science-fiction characters are fiercely independent, but if you are interested in belonging to a group thenchose one or more of the organisations described in the rules book or simply make up your own. Important questions when deciding on group membership is what are your duties and what equipment or other help does the organisationprovide?
LanguagesThe languages spoken by the character are an opportunity to add a little colour to the character sheet.Everyone, unless their background is very unusual will speak Old Imperial, the language of the Former Imperium, as wellas whatever other vernacular languages they also speak.
Psionic Abilities
These are some of the extra psionic effects common to the Tarazet background, but those mentioned in the FUDGEcore rules are all also common as well.
Mental tractor BeamsUnderstand Unknown Languages including Computer and other Non Human.Seeing the Future and the PastHealingTelepathy and Mind ControlMental Beam WeaponWeather ControlGrowing and ShrinkingTime Travel
Danger Sense: GM makes a secret role, and tips the character off with a note saying, your danger sense is tingling.Fire Tongue: Gives one attack per round doing damage from fire damage.Glacier Walker: Freezes the floor at a rate of 8 square meters per round. All who do not have something like an iceskating skill must make a very hard roll to stay on their feet. Otherwise they become prone for 1d2 rounds.Invisibility: The caster of the invisibility spell is still present however and can take damage. They can also be given awayby stark shadows on a sunny day, an outline in the rain, that sort of thing.Healing: The caster of this spell must be in some sort of physical proximity to the person or thing being healed (it doesnot work over the phone). The patient regains 1 hit point per minute (remember there are 6 rounds in a minute, becauseeach round lasts only 10 seconds). The healer can of course heal themselves.Pick Lock: This is quickly accomplished. It takes only 1d3 rounds.Teleport (planetary): The location to be teleported to must have been visited previously. If you know this spell you candetect people who are teleporting to your location. The teleportation process takes 2 minutes and this is how much warning you get.Teleport (galactic): This spell is not often taught to or found by first level characters. It is however simply a more powerful
and longer version of the teleport (planetary) spell.Dimensional Ally: A creature from another dimension is summoned and tamed, this must be done before the first timethe spell is used in a stressful situation and can take 1d6 days. The other dimensions are so immense and varied thatthe creature can basically be designed. Only one dimensional ally can be had per character level. A 10th level character
can have 10 dimensional allies. Dimensional allies can be powerful but they can also be super intelligent, deceitful andsly.Hurricane: A very small hurricane that can effect 1d3 people if they are near each other. Can be used to do damage. Itcan also be used to blow out magical fires if a duel of magic is won with the creator of the magical fire. If the creator isnot present then the fire is automatically blown out.Summon Water: Summons up to 8 cubic meters a round. A real torrent that can be used to snuff out magical fires and dodamage.Predict Future: The games master is compelled to give hints about possible futures. This can only be done once per
week per level. Once a week for a level 1 character. 2 times for a level two character etc.Summon Void: Makes a small hole in reality. On the other side is some uncharted and far off region of deep space. Thisoften leads to explosive decompression of the room, forest clearing or wherever it is used. Only areas that are already without an atmosphere will not decompress. It requires a mid difficulty roll every round to avoid being sucked through.This might seem like instant death but there might be somewhere to hide from the void on the other side.Summon Void Walker: Monstrous uncontrolled creatures of pure energy. Cause 1d10 damage, have 102 hit points. Canbe disrupted by sound waves if there is still an atmosphere for them to propagate. Otherwise immune to all but magicand vehicle weapons. There must be some void to summon them from, so shoot a hole in the space station wall or usethe summon void spell etc.Telekinetics: Move objects and even people (although people would get a save to gab on to something and resist).Objects can be thrown at people to cause damage or thrown around to damage the object or surroundings. It is a good way to get hold of that magic item belonging to your opponent. It can also be used to cause damage by strangling.Earthquake: A very small earthquake that affects 1d3 people who are standing close to each other at most. Can be usedto damage structures and people must save to stay on their feet.Chasm: Opens up a chasm that starts as a crack 8 meters long and 8 meters deep and increases in depth and length by
8 meters and by ½ meter in width each round. It can follow a twisting path and be targeted at people who must save toavoid falling in.Summon Chasm Creatures: Devilish dog like creatures which inhabit the edge of reality and will not leave the chasm.1D3 per minute appear. 102 hit points bite attack and flame breath.Speed Read: Pull up a map of the enemy space station on computer your astrodroid just hacked into and flick throughpage after page of blueprints in just one round. Paper plans take 1d3 rounds to commit to memory. The games mastermust give you a plan of the area until the spell is over (in 20 minutes unless you spend another magic point).Jump: Jump 1 meter further than usually possible per magic point spent.Fly: Flight is possible with this spell, psionic discipline call it what you will but it is slow, walking speed only.Summon Flying Creature: A flying creature which the spell caster has studied can be rode if summoned with this spelland the fly spell is cast, or any other spell or piece of equipment which makes the rider as light as a feather, an anti-gravity belt will do. The flying creature must be big enough to be rode, a giant eagle for example.Protective River of Fire: A fire river which does damage to those creatures brave enough to jump through. The riverextends 8 meters per round and can follow a twisting route and be targeted.
Binding Bands: The bands which can look like snakes, metal rods or whatever the magician desires shoot from theground and try to restrain the victim, or up to 1d3 victims standing close together. Victim can use strength, dexterity etc.to save and avoid being bound.The Old Psionic Mind Trick: These are not the robots you're looking for, move along. Victim gets a difficult mentaldiscipline or similar roll to resist this manipulation.Power Symbol: Creatures who are bound or summoned by a magical force can sometimes be held at bay, or eventurned and forced to flee by the power of a symbol used by someone who knows this spell. The creature gets to save with mental discipline or some other pertinent characteristic.Smoke Screen: Fills 8 cubic meters per round.Summon Tiny Creatures: Insects, rats, land shrimp or whatever is available in huge numbers, and there is alwayssomething. They also have tiny teeth or claws and fill up 8 square meters per round. Can cause damage. Onlysummoner and one square meter around them is immune.Wake the Forest: This gives you control over an area of forest of 1 square mile for each day you have spent in it. Thetrees, giant fungi, memory crystal corral or whatever the local planet's vegetation comprises of act as if they were
animals under your control but rooted to the spot. They can bring information to you by passing along the informationfrom one to another in whispers. You can pass back orders along the same whispered route.Power Machine: If your robot's reactor is dead or your air car is out of fuel crystals you can power it with this spell.Anything bigger than size level 40 requires a very difficult roll each round to see if power is provided that round.
Example BackgroundsCharacters can be designed from scratch or alternatively one of these example backgrounds can be chosen as an aid incharacter generation.
Smuggler
Areas of expertise; Piloting, Bargaining and Wilderness SurvivalUnderdeveloped Areas; Healing and PsionicsEquipment; A freighter with hidden compartments, weapons and a higher than usual top speed and manoeuvrability.Hand gun, utility belt, simple clothing,Starting psionics; NONE
Areas of expertise; Combat, IT and repairUnderdeveloped areas; Wilderness survival and healingEquipment; Energy sabre, vac suit, small robot servant, grav chest, fine clothes, laser knife, utility belt, grav sextant,ancient alien memory crystal with a treasure map burned into it.Goals; Discover which system is referred to in your looted treasure map and get there before any of your shipmates.Starting psionics; Danger sense.
Psionic Knight
What sci-fi role-playing game would be complete without this option.Equipment; Energy sabre, cloakAreas of expertise; Combat and psionicsUnderdeveloped areas; Healing and mechanical tasks.Goals; Psionic knights are almost always members of chivalric orders with codes of conduct and strictures on lifestyle.Often a psionic knight is not expected to be interested in worldly things such as the latest luxury grav car or having anopulent starship for transport. The greatest of them are content to live a life of contemplation on a jungle planet in a tinyclay hovel until their talents are required once again.Starting psionics; Any one power
Example Characters
Morvanwin
Morvanwin is a very mystical woman. She is open to the way the universe moves. She was trained as a xenobiologistand later retrained as a xenoarchaeologist when her duties brought her more and more often into contact with theartefacts left behind by the various precursor races of the Tarazet universe. Her investigations have brought her intocontact with the Elder Robots. For a human this is often a deadly experience, but Morvanwin and her companions, thosethat survived, managed to come out on top and escape. Morvanwin still has the virus program she discovered and usedto disable her robot adversaries and survive the encounter. The Elder Robots are looking for her to secure a sample tocontrol or destroy it, and many other organisations are looking for her to obtain the virus as a weapon. Morvanwinbelieves the virus to be sentient and is trying to hide and protect it.Morvanwin is a talented reader of the Tarazet Tarot . Before she went on the run to avoid the elder robots, her advice was very sought after, and other members of outlying xenoarchaeological digs were often surprised by visits from very
important people to their humble dig to seek the council of a scruffy young woman in a dented space suit with a trowel inone hand and a brush in the other.
Sister Coltach
She is a follower of the Blue Star. The Blue Satr has spoken to her directly and she is absolutely dedicated to doing itsbidding. The whims of the star can be contradictory and hard to decipher which makes Sister Coltach very hard to predictand impossible to rely on. The Blue Star has led her to many finds of powerful precursor technology, the better for her todo its bidding, and opened her eyes to techniques of thinking that produce magical effects, (psionics). She has a robotbird with her at all times that resembles no living species as the birds it was modelled after by some strange alien racedied out many centuries ago. The bird refuses to be reprogrammed with any language other than the one it used backthen, which forced Sister Coltach to learn the language and this was apparently a heavy load on her sanity as it usednon-Euclidian grammar, as she told her confessor. She also has a power sword and a collection of five thimble likeminiature tools on her right hand. She has learned a psionic power and can change the state of substances, freezing the
blood in a victim's heart fro example.
Captain Spiralcat
A tigron “privateer” who is renowned throughout the Breach, an area of unstable space which forces starships out ofhyperspace. There are a huge number of pirates operating in this area.He has made his name through a mixture of feline savagery and old-fashioned honour that is unusual in modern times.He is said to live by and run his ship by an old code of pirate rules that was in use among the pirates of the main spacelanes of the Former Imperium.It is thought that he owes his success at least in part to an old star map of the breach that was created in ancient timesand that can predict the chaotic currents of exotic particles that plague it. The map downloaded itself into a droid hostand will only provide its help if the old codes are obeyed.
Example Equipment
Antigrav Belt A belt which levitates its user and allows them to move at a fast walking pace.Antigrav Chute A small anti gravity device which can be carried in a pocket or on a utility belt. If the character falls thechute can be used to bring them gently down to earth. If the fall is quite short it might require a check to determine if the
chute can be deployed in time.Shield Generator Belt This provides the equivalent of cover. It is only useful if switched on of course and reduces theeffectiveness of face to face communication as the energy shield shimmers and buzzes.Waldo a harness which neutralises the penalty associated with anti vehicle weapons because of their size and weight.
Spaceships
Most spaceship design rules are extensions of board games and make some attempt to make all designs balanced andequal. They often impose artificial shopping lists of options. The rules used in Tarazet do away with all this. There are alot less rules to spaceship design than usual. Be as creative as you can, it is your spaceship and you are going to bespending a lot of time in it.
Having said that it can be daunting, trying to think up space ship designs, so some guidance is very useful. Here aresome elements and guidelines to help in spaceship design.
Good things to have on a space ship include;
Internal areas for role playing boarding actions, might be just a cockpit. Unless fully robotized but even then it mayhave guest quarters hangers or ventilation systems for its hot components.Ship's computer, it can be distributed around the ship in nanobots or a giant pulsating organic monstrosity at the centreof the spaceship. It might be possible to speak to it simply by speaking at any point on the ship, or entry to a specialreceiving room might be required. A ship's computer should be a non player character with as much thought going intotheir characteristics and generation as any other.
Ramming, some ships have a special ram, some even capable of “injecting” a boarding party.Tractor Beam Capture Nets.
Spaceship tracking systems.Tractor BeamsA shuttle or twoTeleporters, which can and should be used in boarding actions.
External Hard points.Air locks.Communications.A science area to serve as droid repair shops Labs and Medical Areas.Manipulator arms.Undercarriage.Streamlining.Probes.
Drones.Engines FTL STL ThrustersWeapons Beam Weapons Projectile weapons including missilesShields
Most starship systems can be made modular. A bridge that has its own secondary engines and can detach from the restof the ship if it gets too damaged. Even external guns can be designed as robots which can detach themselves from themain body and act independently when required, for example to set up a defensive perimeter.Equipment should be based on price, size and tonnage will vary wildly from culture to culture, tech level to tech level and just plain taste and trends in design.The advantage of spaceship size is the amount of stuff you can put in it (attack druids, blood thirsty pirates willing toteleport into a ship blind).There should however be room in the system for the mad scientist holding a broomstick sized weapon and saying lookthis is as powerful as that and pointing up at a turret mounted cannon.
Example spaceships
Name: TSS RambunctiousFunction/role: Corvette
Image of typical example: A science fiction role-playing game spaceship design with all the information needed for use with Tarazet
Design philosophy: The Rambunctious class of role-playing game spaceship design is intended to be very robust andintimidating. The bridge is intended to resemble a pair of lowering eyes and the unknown designer somewhere back in
the game's prehistory went as far as to add faintly visible sensor beams which project forward as a threatening specialeffect. But they are slow through hyperspace, if an opponent gets away then it is unlikely that the Rambunctious classship will catch it. There is nothing fancy about the design. The non player character AIs at the core of each spacecraftare equally without sophistication.
Unusual or distinguishing characteristics: The bridge window mounted sensor beams and a lack of complexity. Only one weapons system, poor FTL, this spacecraft science fiction game design is intended exclusively as a tough foe.
Extent of use: The Rambunctious is an ancient design which can be found throughout the role-playing game universe. Itis not unusual to find these spaceships in action in areas of the game universe which were not known to have been partof the Precursor Empire. Either they traveled beyond the borders of the ancient extent of human space, or it was biggerthan imagined.
Main internal areas: The Rambunctious has only the bare essentials when it comes to internal areas. There is a bridge,astrogation and tactics, crew quarters, escape pods, med bay and only one grav lift.
Deck Plans:
Hull Strength: greatScale: 4FTL Speed: poorWeapons:Gifts: Damage is less likely to cause malfunctions (in game terms -5 to malfunction rolls resulting from damage).Faults: Blunt and disobedient AIWeapons: 2x scale 4 heavy disrupter cannons. (Disrupter cannons cause a malfunction as well as damage on asuccessful hit)
Name: The Void GullFunction/role: StarlinerA science fiction role-playing game spaceship design with all the information needed for use with Tarazet,
Design philosophy: This is a small passenger spaceship which provides a great scene for deep space adventures with just a few, well developed non-player characters, which gives great opportunities for role-playing. The Void Gull sciencefiction role-playing game spaceship design has three decks. The bridge, passenger rooms and crew rooms of this gamespaceship are all on one deck. The deck below is an engineering and sick bay lab complex with the bottom deckcompletely taken up by a vehicle bay which has a selection of vehicles for use once the spaceship lands on one of theplanets of the game universe.
Unusual or distinguishing characteristics: There are no kitchens or laundry. These functions are performed by automatedsystems and robots. When the guest player characters need something cleaned they simply throw it into a service chuteand it is instantly replaced, the game master need not worry about exactly how this happens, perhaps nanobots breakdown the item and rebuild a copy if the technology of the game universe allows for this. When someone is hungry theysimply call one of the Starliner's robots to prepare a meal.
Extent of use: The Void Gull is very streamlined and makes a point of seeking out space ports on the planets of thegame universe. It also visits space stations and asteroids but the vast majority of destinations are planetside. As it avoidsspace stations where many authorities concentrate their customs and law enforcement agencies in favour of romanticout of the way planet side spaceports it is the sort of spaceship which is popular with characters smuggling thecontraband of the role-playing game background. It is also a good way to introduce employers to the player characters.An invitation to a state room on the Void Gull to meet a client who will only be on planet for a couple of weeks and has anadventure which must be completed by then.
Main internal areas: There are a number of staterooms which can be configured to the passengers whim and completelyand automatically remodeled within the hour.
Hull Strength: greatScale: 5FTL Speed: greatWeapons: 4x scale 5 medium lasersGifts: almost infinitely configurable cabins which can be set up to accommodate almost any game creatures needs at thetouch of a button.Faults: Undergunned for its precious cargo of rich guests, it is best advised to stick to safe spaceways.
Name: Voragell-Z15Function/role: Fast Shuttle/Scout SpaceshipA science fiction role-playing game spaceship design with all the information needed for use with Tarazet,
Image of typical example:
Design philosophy: This small spacecraft is designed to accompany larger spaceships as they travel from one end of thegame universe to the other. They are designed to be small and not take up much space in the player character'sspaceship docking bay.
At the same time the Voragell is very fast and has advanced engines and momentum control, both hardwired into thesuper advanced artificial intelligences at the heart of these spaceships. In role-playing game terms these AIs are non-player characters with individual characteristics and quirks, and they are more than capable of taking over the operationof all spaceship systems.
Unusual or distinguishing characteristics: There is also a two-person cockpit in the spaceship and the AI is programmedto gladly give control over to any player who happens to be a pilot certified by a body it recognizes, such as the GalacticPatrol or the Terran Space Transport Authority. In role-playing game terms the chances of any player character havingthis certification to hand is something like 10% per level. If no certification is available then the intelligence will run thecharacter through some scenarios of it's own (in other words the game master's) devising.
Extent of use: They are often employed as drone sentry ships to give the player characters in the main body of ships warning of approaching danger or traps hidden in places like the sensor shadows behind metal rich asteroids and theother tricky places found scattered throughout the game universe. They are often also used as shuttles, though asdedicated spacecraft they don't have great streamlining, they can still give most atmospheric craft found in the gameuniverse a run for their money.
Main internal areas: Along with the cockpit they also have an airlock, crew room, med by and storage space on twodecks connected by an elevator.
Hull Strength: FairScale: 2FTL Speed: superbWeapons: 2x scale 2 medium (in game terms d6) phasers (phasers force a sensors roll on a successful hit to avoidsensor blindness for a round)Gifts: Fast +1 in evasion and pursuit maneuvers.Faults: Bad streamlining (in game terms this equates to -1 to all maneuvers within an atmosphere). The space craft also
have proud non player character AI which are liable to second guess orders and act on their own initiative unless theirconfidence is won.
T Star Luxury liner
HistoryThe T Star is a relatively new ship which was launched from the Cardalian Ring Yards only fifty years ago. It was built with the latest technology and techniques at the time and has been retrofitted every year, when not in use by its ownerfor cruising, to keep up to date with cutting edge advancements.VolumeThe thing is immense with millions of square meters of floor space.SpeedThere is nothing faster except perhaps any secret experimental ships being worked on by the more technologicallyadvanced major governments and power blocks.Crew
The crew is surprisingly small for such a huge ship and this is on purpose to reduce the amount of work requiredensuring the loyalty of every member to a manageable workload for the owners secret police.A.I.The A. I. for the ship is not the most intelligent available. The owner is a very controlling individual and did not want thesort of A.I. that required extended discussion before agreeing to carry out a task. The A.I. is very capable but its ability tothink for itself has been severely curtailed and this may be the major weakness of the ship.WeaponsSpace is a dangerous place and the owner of this liner has made enemies. The T Star has one of the most sophisticated weapons and defense systems yet put together, integrating heavy beam weapons, enormously powerful shields, robotcorridor guns to deal with boarders and a wing of fighter aircraft is also stationed on the liner made up of a very highlypaid and professional team of veterans.This would all be expensive enough, but the owners insistence that all features should be hidden and that his ship shouldnot look like a war ship increased the price beyond all usual reckoning.Special Features
It has a huge hydroponics garden on each wing large enough to stroll in and each with a mansion swimming pool andtransplanted parkland with ancient trees. Needless to say this kind of feature is only available to the richest and mostpowerful creatures roaming the void.
HistoryA very old design which has had a few thousand years, proving itself over and over again.VolumeLarge for a fighter but this gives it power and versatility. There is a dedicated crew personto oversee electronic counter measures and special mission tasks, leaving the other todedicate their attention to the dogfight.
SpeedThere is a lot of engine power in this pursuit fighter and it is not easy to outrun but its olddesign means that it is not the fastest ship out there in deep space.Crew 2A.I. The on board computer was never a strong point of this design and there is a particularly heavy workload on the pilotand copilot.WeaponsThe present incarnation has a heavy laser as main weapon with several backup weapons while the original all thoseyears ago could only provide power for a medium laser.Special FeaturesThere are many variations with many special features but one of the most famous is the Sun Diver operated by onebackwater government on a planet very near to their sun. It has had most of its systems sacrificed in favor of thespecialized and dedicated heat shields required to operate much nearer to a sun than any other ship, giving it a distincttactical advantage. This is of course extremely dangerous in such an unpredictable environment.
Robot Design
The same design system covers anything from a tiny robotic insect or even a nano-bot up to a giant hive mind robotmoon capable of sucking in interstellar cruise liners and digesting them in vast internal vats of acid.
An android can be designed to truly represent its creator race and be given the same statistics and through programmingthe same skills.
Any piece of equipment can be fitted to a robot remembering the usual limitation that a humanoid size robot shouldprobably not have a tractor beam that can effect a space ship for example, but a creative games master might want toignore even this rule when simulating the advanced technology of an exotic culture.
An enormous robot working at a star port might easily have such a huge tractor beam however, or even two or three.
Example Robots
Dr. Fell
The robot mayor of Tarazet. He is an incredibly powerful piece of machinery. He contains nomoving parts. He is something like a giant clock work device held together by an antigravitygenerator and field producer of such complexity that watching his arms move or just his headturn from side to side can be hypnotising.He was created a very, very long time ago by things that were certainly not human.He is universally hated by the beings of Tarazet, who are constantly complaining about his off-
world policy.Dr. Fell spends an awful lot of money on the various Tarazet space fleets, and it is not entirelyclear what they are up to a lot of the time. The space fleet admirals are often sent on longobscure missions to areas far away from Tarazet space and are most unhappy about it.There are rumors that there is an even more alien and unpleasant power behind the doctor
and that their goals are something which must be fought.As Dr. Fell often jokingly says to visiting dignitaries, it's a good thing the position of Mayor ofTarazet is not elected.
A friendly and spiritual robot who enjoys nothing more than sitting and discussing the meaningof life with drunken humans and other life forms while he generates a strong magnetic field nearhis CPU. He says it alters his conciousness in the same way as drinking does in humans.He is brave and resourceful but not powerful. All his characteristics are strictly average. He has
however done a lot of work on his own mind and programming, adding fuzzy logic filter afterfuzzy logic filter and even a subconscious paralel processor that is self programming and usesindividual photons to transmit data. Fortran believes that this opens the photons to theuncertainty principle and connects him to the collective unconscious.He is learning the Tarazet Tarot and he has come to the attention of a giant space goingartificial intelligence who sees him as a test bed for such technology and supports and protects
him.This support is embarrassing to Fortran who hides it, and this support also makes it very dangerous to underestimate thelittle inoffensive looking robot.
Vehicles
The vehicle design rules are as free form as the rest of the Tarazet system. Detailing the interior spaces of the vehicleand deciding on things such as the equipment and on-board computer are largely a matter of taste. There are vehicles with intelligence just like characters but these are artefacts of ancient civilisations or items of super science and can notusually be bought.
Roid Rover
A medium sized transport designed to move a small team and a lot of heavy equipment over rough terrain. It is employedextensively on larger asteroids, moons and planets throughout the former space of the Former Imperium.The usual configuration is a relatively simple on-board intelligence and a robot driver which interfaces directly with thevehicle at a central docking station in the cockpit. There are also two humanoid interface stations in the cockpit to the leftand right of the droid interface. In this way the cockpit can comfortably accommodate three.. There is a lot of storagespace below the main passenger compartment which can be accessed through panels in the floor of the passengercompartment but room for a few grav bikes. With its big wheels it makes journeys over even the roughest terrain verycomfortable indeed.
Lunar CrawlerThis huge lunar crawler is part vehicle, part factory and part living quarters. Despite its size there are many more of themcrawling around desolate landscapes than can be possibly imagined. They are spaceship like and have airlocks but arenot capable of leaving a planetary surface under their own power.
Gifts terrain crosserScale 10Chassis strength greatEquipment:10x heavy lasersVarious shuttles and explorer vehiclesDocking clamps for attachment to the mother shipLiving quarters for 500 people
Shields
Wheeled CrawlerThis is a much smaller crawler, but just as capable of traversing terrain.
Drop ShipDesigned for planetary insertions.Scale 3Chassis strength fair1x turret with heavy laser and missile launcherEquipment:WinchFloodlights
VTOL
Antigrav PickupA common type of multi-purpose vehicle on frontier worlds.Scale 0Chassis strength goodGifts manoeuvrableEquipment1x light laserEquipment:RadarFlood lightsLoading claw
Small tractor beam
Planets and Places of Interest
Every city has an adventurers bar or even more than one. In the fore dock area of Tarazet we find the Anomaly. Theplace always has at least one crazy fool recruiting help for a hopeless adventure with only the promise of riches in return.Here are some of the places that these adventures might take you in the Tarazet game.
Skrimshaw
Skrimshaw is a planet under a strict no-visit interdict. Giant warships and enforcement robots swarm about the planet to
prevent anyone landing and having contact with the robots who inhabit the planet. The robots there are hosts to avirulent cybernetic virus which can break out at any moment with any robot and turn it into a monster. The virus rewiresthe brain of the host robot while nanobots complete the transformation with actual changes in the structure of the robot.The robots on the planet are battling the virus and they say that they are winning. They are very disappointed that theoutside universe has left the planet to its fate and believe that the virus could have been bested long ago if they couldonly get aid.
Adventure Idea for this setting
There are diplomatic channels through which the robots communicate with the off world. A shuttle is allowed to visit anorbiting science station for meetings with the universe outside Skrimshaw. One of the Skrimshaw robots escapes andmust be tracked down. Every robot and device that it has come into contact with (including the space station it is hidingon) must be treated with suspicion.
High Corolant
High Corolant is a game planet just outside the Breach. An area in the sphere of influence of the planets of the OldKingdom, an area of space in the Tarazet science fiction role-playing game. High Corolant is a desert planet and the onlyvegetative life is a unique string-like plant which is found on only this planet in the game.
There are no fixed geographical political units on the planet. The planet instead has nomad mining tribes who mine acommodity, which is very valuable in the game, known as “Cane”. Cane is an ingredient in many legal products such asperfume, but it can also be made into a drug. The plants of the High Corolant deserts resemble giant bean stalks orsugar canes at the surface and these cane like structures extend very, very deep under ground. The plants becomericher and richer in Cane the deeper underground they go. The deepest mines produce the highest quality cane.
The mines are city-sized cylindrical structures with huge mining machines mounted in the nose. Often a tribe is a mixtureof something like 10% humans (from all ethnicities), 5% other game races such as Tigron and 85% robots. The tribes are
rich despite their simple lives and they invest heavily in their robots which are bejewelled shiny chrome humanoid things which wear fine clothes and are fiendishly intelligent.
The player characters buy a cargo on the local space station the Tower and come down to the planet to collect. They findthat the cargo has already been sold. Tarazet
Tarazet is both the name of this planet and the floating city that sweeps across its sky.
Tarazet Weather.
Tarazet floats slowly over the planet surface and stops from time to time here and there, sometimes for years. It cantherefore have any weather imaginable, from desert heat to Arctic blizzard. It also from time to time floats higher andlower causing the air to become thicker and thinner.The architecture of Tarazet has become very complex with thick walls like Mediterranean buildings but also heavy dutyalpine heating systems and airlocks.
On the planet of Tarazet there are ancient alien ruins known as Tarazet Objects.
Inside a Tarazet Object.
You must be careful when you jump. If something above you has a more influential gravity field you can go shooting upinto the darkness and crash down against other things after your mind turns the upwards thrust into a fall. With one step what was a wall can become a floor or more dangerously a ceiling.
The whole thing is like an Escher drawing with only the very nearest things exerting enough gravity to act as down foryou. Throwing things into the dark is a good way to lose them as they are attracted by one surface and then anotherbefore at last coming to rest.
The walls are for the most part green or purple where they have not been marked by whatever inhabitants are nearby.Everything is on a massive scale. In some places it echoes like an auditorium, in others it is silent and your voice is whisked away to be heard somewhere else.
Most areas are dark and it would be completely dark if not for the various creatures who make a home in the objectsputting up makeshift lighting. Tarazet is a strange planet, with a presence in many other dimensions along with our own.
Many millennia before a bored young architect from a long forgotten alien species was designing the unit. It would spanstar systems but remain one. He beat his giant wings in anticipation. The preparations alone would take centuries. But
once complete it would be a maze even he could lose himself in. The universe would go through many changes duringthe units run time and so it would be best to build in precautions.Relocation. Parts of the unit which appear to be buildings to Humans move to another safer location.Redistribution. Parts of the unit restructure themselves to better fit their environment.Shedding defence units. These appear like guards or soldiers modelled on the current threat. There are many types ofguards now, all modelled on the different threats dealt with by the unit over the aeons.
An exhibition, or a diversion that’s like a labyrinth in the mind.
Underworld
A planet of tunnels and chasms so vast that humanity has taken them over and built some of the most beautiful andextensive cities and traffic systems inside ever seen since the times of the Former Imperium. The creators of the tunnels
are suspected to be the Falteen and they are sometimes spotted in the tunnels. They do not interact with the humansvery much but when they do the results are often brutal and swift as the humans are punished with what seems wilfulrandomness but is simply probably the humans inability to understand the alien minds of their predecessors in control ofthe planet.
Game Master Section
Planet Design
There are no rules for planet design, please feel free to design planets as you see fit but a few suggestions and a littleadvice is always helpful.
NameThe planet should have a name. It can be hard coming up with a name for the hundredth planet the player charactersvisit, but it really is worth it.
A good adventure usually has a patron or other motivation, an objective and two or three set piece obstacles.
Decision Making/Game System
Tarazet has a quick and dirty games system. It is rules light and easy track and to remember.
A lot of the plot of your adventure will unfold nice and easily, just as you planned it. For example your player charactersare landing their spaceship on a planet they have been sent to. You tell the ships owner that the ships computer tellsthem that the main starport has contacted them and identified itself as Yarrow Port. The pilot says, “OK, I'll land there.”You say, “OK.”Nothing could be easier.
But unfortunately, some things are not quite so easy. This is an extreme example, but if you are unlucky this sort of thingcan happen. Imagine one player, lets call him Kevin, who is playing a bloodthirsty pirate, lets call the pirate Red Beard,tells you, “I want to shoot Sapphire Jim in the head.” Sapphire Jim is the character of another player called Bobby.Understandably, Bobby is not amused by this idea. Bobby says, “I'm gonna dodge the shot, hide behind the spaceship'spilot seat and shoot Red Beard in the head.”So what happens, do both characters die, both miss, both get injured, what?When this action is breaking out other characters might want to get involved. Betty and John might want their charactersDark Star and Mightor to try and break up the fight. As GM you might decide that the non-player character spaceshipcomputer might fire a stun ray from its anti boarding system. Things can get quite complicated quite fast.
A good way to decide this sort of thing is to use the rule system, but it's not the only way, sometimes you might just wantto decide for yourself how things turn out.In this rules system we are going to call a situation like this a resisted action. Each action is resolved separately. So we will need to chop up what Bobby wants to do, he can not have Sapphire Jim dodge, hide and shoot all at the same time.As GM you will have to explain this to him. The amount of time taken to perform an action will vary, so we will give it ageneric name and call it a round.Here is also where the importance of your character's level starts to become clear. The character with the highest levelgoes first.Sapphire Jim is level 10, Red Beard is level 4. The other characters are level 2 and won't get to intervene before RedBeard tries his treacherous shot.So Sapphire Jim, being level 10 hears Red Beards gun scraping out of its holster, and with his lightning reflexes hedecides to shoot.The GM must then decide if this is a low medium or high difficulty action.
Low difficulty actions are actions that have a 80% chance of happening when the player wants.Medium are 50%And high difficulty actions have only a 20% chance of success.
The GM decides that because Sapphire Jim is seated with his back to Red Beard it is high difficulty. But Sapphire Jim is10th level, so he adds 10 to that chance making it 30%The gun Jim is using was found on an adventure, and it's alien high tech targeting gyroscopes add another 5%.Jim rolls percentile dice, also known as D100, which is two different coloured 10 sided dice. One colour id tens, the otheris units. Bobby rolls a 22 and hits.
Red Beard decides that it is a better idea to dodge, than shoot this turn. This is OK in these game rules. His charactercan change his mind based on that hit. If Sapphire Jim had missed he could have stood his ground and shot.
The GM decides its an easy dodge because he is right beside cover, a spaceship tactical console. With his level that
gives him an 84% chance. He dodges behind the console.The computer now shoots at Red Beard and hits, he has used his dodge this round, so he must dodge next round, ortake the hit.
Inanimate objects present difficulty challenges just like people. A wall can be easy, mid or hard to climb.
Space and vehicular combat is handled in the same way. The ships computer can carry out one action, and each crewmember can also carry out an action. Hits are transferred directly to individual crew members or the ships computerlevel.
Game System Summary1. One action each per round.2. Higher level characters go first.3. Lower level characters can change their mind about what they want to do based on the results of earlier
actions.
4. Each action is easy, mid or hard.5. Level equals number of times you can be hit , fall from a great height etc before falling unconscious. Each time
you fall unconscious there is a 5% chance of death. It is best avoided.
Gaining experience points.Every character gets one experience point for playing in a session, a very long session of 10 hours might warrant givingthe players 2 points.Some alien and super advanced technology can grant experience points.
Losing experience points.
Some alien creatures feed on experience points and can “eat” them in various ways.Experience points allow player characters to advance through the levels.
Level Experience points required Advantages
1 0
2 5
3 12
4 20
5 40 Save vs death
6 70 Faithful Companion
7 130
8 180
Each subsequent level 60 more
Creatures
NPC's
Brutan
An alien with a similar build to human, but a scaly skin and a lot more teeth. He is a brute and an enforcer of the wishesof his masters. His masters are reputed to be the Tarazet Vampires and it is unknown where they found Brutan. His mainclaim to fame is his monstrous invulnerability. He has survived enough damage to kill most life forms of his size anddensity without even visible scarring, although he has been incapacitated while the healing process is in operation foranything up to three days at a time.He does not have any special equipment other than that given by his masters for each mission. His information is alwayson a need to know basis. He is impossible to bargain with, he will always obey the letter of his instructions.He is a hulking henchman who is feared even by other hulking henchmen.
Monsters
Gremlins
Gremlins exist and if they get into your spaceship they can cause a lot of trouble. They are super intelligentand inquisitive creatures which are only about 3 inches high. They are well capable of defending themselveshowever. Even out in the open they are -2 to be hit because of their small size and manoeuvrability. They wear little suits of armour which generate a laser pulse from a gem stone set in the chest and the suit. Thesuit also protects them from space and it protects them from life sign and motion trackers -2 to detectionattempts, when they leave their worst effected victim spaceships stranded and disabled in deep spacebecause of their tinkering this is of course necessary.For a ship with gremlins roll once per day on the malfunction table to see what they are up to. There is alsothe chance that they will improve a random system. There is a 1 in 10 chance, and this roll is made onlyonce on the 6th day of infection of the spaceship with gremlins.The game master can of course simply decide that an infection has taken place or roll a 1 percent chance ofinfection at every space port and docking with another ship.The gremlins are a very advanced species of deep space monster and are as such level 10. They will not
use force except in self defence but at the same time they will not leave a spaceship or spaceport until theyare eradicated or until it has been reduced to inert and uninteresting scrap metal. They are not evil and arerather an embodiment of the forces of chaos, entropy and disorder. They range in appearance from lizard orgoblin like to sometimes very beautiful fairy-like creatures. They can also be very powerful psionicists. They
are very interesting creatures, and they are friendly if captured and treated well, but they always seem toescape sooner or later and all in all they are bad news for any infected spaceship.
Hammer-head Dragon
This is a widely spread creature thought to have been a kind of pet and guard dog to one of the elder race creatures. It isa level 5 monster which gets a further +5 to detecting prey due to the giant sensory organs in its head. It is said to beimpossible to hide from.
Reconners
Giant robot killing, or to be more exact culling, machines. They all follow the same basic design of a central complex butroughly spherical structure with two claw like weapons structures and eight legs. They are a level 50 monster withpsionics and are immune to all personal weapons except those based on super science.The reconners are made of a nanobot like substance that allows a reconner to split into two fully functional full sizedreconners by simply pausing for a round.
Shadow Men
Monsters who are something very similar to ghosts, they live in another dimension and only their shadow is visible inours. They can however interact with our dimension and they do so to protect ancient artefacts and sites related to theirtime long ago when they were more bound to our reality. Give them normal npc stats but they are invisible and can
escape to their own dimension at any moment.
Space Whales
These enormous deep space creatures can grow to be almost any size and have been known to attack even the mightyTarazet Deep Space Fleet. The move by manipulating unimaginable gravitic forces to warp space around them and it isthis space warping effect which makes them so deadly.The warp makes it hard for weapons to get a lock on these mighty level 10 creature and when the whale is near enough,it is the warp which starts to tear at the very structure of the unfortunate ship.The whales seem to be omnivores which can even metabolise rock, metal and crystal and it is believed that they simplymistake space ships for particularly metal rich and regular shaped asteroids.
Adventure Ideas
One of the most difficult things about role-playing games is coming up with those ideas for adventures at short notice.Here are a few little ideas that might help in this uncomfortable situation.
Monstrism
There have been many ways discovered that various species from the past mutated and monstrised their enemies.Everything from hand held weapon like devices to temple like cavernous machines have been found that grow anddistort beings. This process usually distorts the brain as well and sends the victim mad.Some victims have been returned to their former state but most have not.
Pirate Hunt
Chapter 1A voidglider, the Keening Cry, is destroyed while hunting pirates. It is destroyed by a monster.Captain Hawk and his team contact Tarazet friendly factions in a hive fleet, leading to the ending of a border incident
Chapter 2Morvanwin helps an elder. The elder wants to find a recording cylinder from a lost race's ruins. Morvanwin and her crewretrieve it
Chapter 3Captain Hawk is hired to hunt the pirates. He is a covert mission specialist.
Chapter 4The elder recommends Morvanwin as part of the crew on the pirate hunt. The elder gives Morvanwin a gift.
Chapter 5Various adventures on the way to the quadrant.
Chapter 6The pirates attack the young princes fleet, and capture him. He is a member of an old proud family and in a mixedheritage world he has unusually white skin, and is evil and useless.
Chapter 7Captain Hawk arrives at the pirate outpost and sets up watch. They observe the prince's space traveller being broughtinside, by the monster.The monster tells of what it's civilisation once used to be.
Chapter 8The prince sympathises with and gains some control over the monster.Captain Hawk and his men infiltrate the stronghold.
Robot Rebellion
The robots that inhabit the game universe alongside the player characters decide that things will run a whole lotsmoother without all those messy and illogical humans getting in the way.The rebellion starts at a localised position and then spreads slowly. The player characters are near the outbreak and arecontacted and persuaded to investigate. The rebellion is confined within one empires borders and was started by enemyagents who have been extensively cyborged to resemble robots, but the difference is detectable and if the robots were tofind out about their deception, they would exact a terrible revenge on the agents.
Terror Within
Your starship is skimming the surface of the planet. Everyone on the bridge is working as the usual well oiled team. Thescience officer has a window open on his readout which is monitoring the local seismic activity. As this is a very unstableplanetoid it's set to give an alarm if there is anything to worry about on any of the values it's monitoring. It gives an alarmfor seismic activity, the starship's AI brings the readout to the bridge main screen. Another alarm for volcanic activity.Another alarm for electromagnetic activity, alarm after alarm. The ship is suddenly powering away from the planet onauto. The planet is breaking apart. Something really, really big is moving deep within.
The Getaway Car is Gone
A low intelligence rover with a robot driver were supposed to be waiting for the player characters but the robot drivermeets them on the way to the meeting place to tell them it has been found and a trap has been layed around the vehicle.
The Nebulonic Cluster
Part 1. Background
The Nebulonic Cluster
The Nebulonic cluster is home to the Nebulonic Kree. The Kree are an ancient species with a very advanced technology.The Kree are peaceful and extremely worried about the impact their advanced technology might have on other cultures who got their hands on it. Anyone discovering the Kree society is imprisoned to prevent the spread of their veryadvanced ideas.Their Imagination Machine is one of the most understandable to humans, though not anywhere near the most advancedor powerful. It allows the user to imagine whatever they want and have it delivered. It requires enormous mental
discipline to prevent oneself inadvertently wishing up something dangerous with a passing thought.
Shadow Tail, a very special spaceship.Shadowtail is 80 x the size of a one man spaceship = size lvl 80
it has <maneuverability and >streamlining (shadow takes a long time to make planetfall on a planet with an atmosphere.)A spaceship of size lvl 80 would need 80 crew members if nothing were automated. All Shadowtail's systems areautomated and the spaceship needs no crew. It does however prefer to have a group of adventurers on board in casethey are needed and so it simulates the duties for 5 crew members.
It has 2x laser turrets1x tractor beam, can not do damage a ship must make a power save or structural integrity, even maneuverability woulddo, to avoid being caught. Once caught a power save or something similar to escape every round, maneuverability willnot apply.It has shields giving it a defence save.
It also has a cloaking device which it engineered itself after discovering the principles while the slave of an alien race. As with human scale invisibility the spaceship can still be discovered through such things as the behaviour of interstellardust, but you must be looking and it is a very hard roll.
It has a small docking bay with space for 20 x 1 man vehicles or 2 x 10 man vehicles etc.
Shadow Tail has been in the service of the Nubulonic Kree for a very long time. Its original crew of assorted humans and
other star travelling aliens are all long dead from old age and natural causes. Shadow Tail's crew were explorers andphilosophers who were interested in the cluster for purely academic reasons and collected a lot of information in ShadowTail's data bases while they were still alive. They had planned to return to the Old Kingdom and publish their findings but were never allowed to leave. It took Shadow Tail a long time to escape, but escape it eventually did.
It found a way escape the notice of the ultra advanced Kree. It examined the data in it's data banks looking for ideas and weaknesses and it made a discovery. A wavelength of energy that seemed to be outside the range of their experience.The Kree were slightly out of phase and a few subtle reworkings of the ships shields and a reconfiguring of the enginerendered it invisible to them.
Shadow Tail was happy to escape, but it was only after it escaped that it realised how much time had passed while it was in captivity. How long it had lost. How much had been taken from it. Shadow Tail's thoughts turned to revenge.
Shadow tail wants the Imagination Machine. It is capable of being used by an artificial intelligence like Shadow Tail's.
The problem is that Shadow Tail is too large to gain access to any facility where a machine is held without giving awayit's position and being recaptured.
Shadow Tail does have a plan though. It need only recruit a team of smaller life forms and equip them with smallerversions of it's phase shifting shield that makes things invisible to the Kree. This team will retrieve the machine for it. Ateam of human adventurers would be just fine.
In order to better communicate with whatever team of adventurers it eventually picks up Shadow tail has been designinga robot avatar for the humans to talk to. The robot does not have independent intelligence and is controlled remotely byShadow Tail. Shadow does not envisage that this robot avatar will ever have to leave the ship but if so it could becontrolled quite effectively while still in communication range. It would be no problem to control on a space station, andeven on the surface of a planet with no infrastructure it would be possible to control as long as Shadow Tail was orbitingabove.
Shadow Tail also has a small army of repair robots on board. These are shaped like giant spiders but are a lot quickerover the ground.
The route from Tarazet, Through the Breach and on to the Cluster.
The Nebulonic Cluster is a long way away and all space travel is dangerous. The ship will have to travel through theBreach. The Breach is an area of very unstable space created by the collapse of an ancient space defence network ofinterstellar defence screens. This space is a haven to bandits and the trigger happy law enforcement agencies that try tocontrol them are very suspicious and no less dangerous.
Then once this is successfully negotiated there is a huge expanse of inadequately explored deep space before thecluster itself is reached.
The Cluster
The cluster is a huge accumulation of technology and living spaces, so large that from a distance it looks like a cloud ofinterstellar material. It is almost deserted as the Kree gradually diminish and fade from the universe. New Kree beingborn so infrequently.
The Imagination Machine is located in a large space castle like structure within the larger structure. Unfortunately for theteam of adventurers who are to be sent into this structure the Kree discover the secret of the phase shift invisibilitymachine just as the goal is reached and the team of adventurers must fight against time to escape to Shadow Tail beforeit is surrounded and abandons them.
Part 2. The characters become involved.
The characters are recruited by the robot avatar. The avatar contacts them over the com channel and they go aboardShadow Tail for a face to face meeting. This can happen in deep space or a space port, wherever the characters happento be.
Part3. Possible Solutions.
Shadow Tail double crosses them and ejects them into space as castaways on an asteroid as soon as the ImaginationMachine is secured.
The team learns of the machines power and keep it for themselves. The Kree will hunt them down and will not rest until itis returned. If the team try to use it there percentage chance of getting a desirable result should be low, and increaseonly slowly. They should wish up a lot of dangerous stuff before they get any control over it.
This Module is still only a stub and will be expanded in the future with.
Statistics and deck plans for Shadow Tail
A description and illustration of the Kree, the cluster and it's defences.
