Orbital Drift & Decay
Thoughts bouncing around my head for a future game that I want to push out the door as a very rough draft, incorporating elements from Leaves Upon the Wind. Note that I refer to characters in this in general as mercenaries, but capitalised Mercenary refers to a 1st-level character.
General inspirations include Deep Space Derelicts, Violence., Barotrauma, Stars Without Number, A Fire Upon the Deep, Alien, Mothership, and other such things.
Premise
The game takes place somewhere among the fractured, scattered colonies of a collapsed space empire, where the local tech base has regressed from performing nigh-unimaginable miracles to slightly-beyond 21st century technology. You are a mercenary scavenger, salvaging valuable components and artefacts from derelict starships, stations, and colonies, and taking on contracts from local potentates. You are not alone in the void.
Characters
There are no attributes, roll a benefit. If you choose, roll for a second and also roll a drawback. Drawbacks can cancel out benefits. Roll for a random skill.
| 1d8 | Benefit |
|---|---|
| 1 | Strong |
| 2 | Fast |
| 3 | Tough |
| 4 | Educated |
| 5 | Resolute |
| 6 | Charming |
| 7 | +1 Ambush |
| 8 | +1 Search |
| 1d8 | Drawback |
|---|---|
| 1 | Weak |
| 2 | Slow |
| 3 | Sickly |
| 4 | Illiterate |
| 5 | Weak-willed |
| 6 | Obnoxious |
| 7 | -1 Ambush |
| 8 | -1 Search |
| 1d8 | Skills |
|---|---|
| 1 | Tech |
| 2 | Piloting |
| 3 | Medicine |
| 4 | Computers |
| 5 | Electronics |
| 6 | Leadership |
| 7 | Science |
| 8 | Security |
There are no classes, begin as a Mercenary with 1 Hit, a +2 attack bonus, and knowing 1d3 languages. Extra languages may be held in reserve and you can declare you know a language upon first encountering it (this is not possible with some languages).
There are 3 saves. To make a save, roll equal to or over its rating on 1d20:
- Grit: resisting physical threats. Grit begins at 12.
- Agility: avoiding danger. Agility begins at 14.
- Weird: resisting the supernatural and alien. Weird begins at 16.
Starting equipment is rolled randomly.
Advancement
Gain XP equivalent to the credit value of salvage retrieved and sold. Gain 100XP per HD of enemy killed or otherwise defeated. The total amount of XP gained is divided equally among the mercenaries returning from an expedition, money is split as decided by the players.
Mercenaries become Veterans at 2,500XP, gaining an additional Hit and increasing their attack bonus by +2. They become Elites at 5,000XP, gaining a further Hit and +2 attack bonus. Elites cannot advance through further XP accumulation and must hone their skills, install cybernetic implants, obtain weird powers and artefacts, cultivate followings etc. to gain additional power.
Encounters
Ambushing
If one group could conceivably be unaware of another, there is a 2-in-6 chance to spring an ambush. Ambushers get a free round of actions before their opponents.
Initiative
The party states its general intentions re: movement, actions, and fighting and rolls 1d6, attempting to score higher than the Referee. Actions are resolved in accordance with the fictional situation, with priority being given to the initiative winner.
Combat
Roll 1d20 and add/subtract attack bonuses and relevant situational modifiers (most modifiers apply a +/-2) etc.. A result of 16+ is a hit.
If the target is armoured, the attacker rolls a number of d6s equal to the hits scored and the defender rolls d6s equal to their weapon's armour dice rating, comparing the results. An incoming weapon hit exceeding the value of a defending armour die removes it, reducing the effectiveness of the armour until repaired. In cases where multiple armour dice have scored lower than a single attack, remove the lowest scoring die. If the incoming attack fails to exceed any of the defender's rolls, the attack deals no damage. Fully-damaged armour provides no protection, but other functions of the armour may still work. Certain weapons may modify the above rolls.
Example: a space pirate shoots a mercenary with a slug rifle, hitting them. The mercenary is wearing void armour, which has an armour dice value of 2. A slug rifle deals 1 hit. The pirate rolls 1d6, scoring a 4. The mercenary rolls 2d6, scoring a 3 and a 2. The incoming hit of 4 beats both defending dice, but as it is a single hit only the lowest scoring result is removed, damaging the armour and reducing its rating by 1.
If struck while unarmoured, or with fully damaged armour, the targeted mercenary rolls d6s equal to the hits taken, interpreted as follows:
| 1d6 | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | Major wound, suffer 2 Hits |
| 2-3 | Wounded, suffer 1 Hit |
| 4-6 | Flesh wound, no effect |
For each Hit lost, a mercenary takes an ongoing -2 penalty to all rolls.
When losing their last Hit, a mercenary is downed. When an ally attends to them, the downed mercenary must roll a Grit save - a failure means they are dead, otherwise they are mortally wounded and will die without medical attention.
Combat Minutiae
Burst/autofire
Burst fire deals 3 hits with a -4 penalty to hit. Full-auto deals 2d6 hits with a -8 penalty to hit.
Suppression
Generally requires either an automatic weapon or at least 4 people firing other weapons. Normal weapons expend their entire magazine capacity, machine-guns use 25%. If suppressing an area, anyone leaving cover must pass an Agility save or suffer 1d6 hits.
Grenades
Resolve as a normal attack roll: success means it hits the mark, failure means it's off by a variable distance (depending on how bad the roll was) in a random direction. Affected targets suffer a variable number of hits. Grenades can be thrown on a flat trajectory in zero-G and the blast radius is effectively doubled in these environments.
Other Resolutions
Searching
Mercenaries have a default 2-in-6 chance to locate concealed passages, traps/hidden hazards, and other concealed things.
Skills
Will use the Turn Undead table to gauge success on 2d6 based on skill ratings (0-3).
Derelict Exploration
Time is tracked in 10 minute turns.
Light & Power
Electric torches are readily available and consumed negligible power, generally only failing due to EMP or other electrical interference - although derelicts are dark, light is normally not a concern. Certain items of equipment, or installations aboard a derelict, will require power to use - this can be sourced from portable energy cells or fixed power generators, depending on the amount needed.
Vacuum & Oxygen
Mercenaries commonly explore areas of hard vacuum. Exposure to vacuum is traumatic and will require a save to keep functioning for a time before losing consciousness. An O2 cylinder lasts 2 hours in a vacuum suit. Breather masks will suffice for higher-pressure low-O2 environments.
Zero-G
Mercenaries are skilled at manoeuvring in zero-G. Manoeuvres away from handholds/surfaces require the use of EVA equipment. Movement speed is not a concern in zero-G, delta-V is - when moving/evading in low-gravity, focus will be paid on the force used to take-off and the intended path of travel.
Radiation
It'll kill you. Rad exposure applies cumulative penalties culminating in unpleasant death.
Ship Combat
Will probably use a variation on the aerial combat rules.
Magic
Many spells can be packaged into advanced items - artefacts of the lost galactic civilisations resurfacing as powerful objects, some of which may be recreated given advanced enough manufacturing techniques. This has a fair crossover with wands and other magic items. Some examples:
- Charm Person: Sequestration laser which imprints a command directive via the target's visual cortex.
- Detect Magic: Anomaly scanner.
- Hold Portal: Nano-bond reinforcement spray.
- Fireball: It's a flamethrower.
- Lightning Bolt: Tesla cannon.
- Animate Dead: Puppeteer nanites.
- Cloudkill: Nerve gas canister.
- Death Spell: Deathwand, a la Hyperion.
Actual magic (binding monsters, communing etc.) will be heinous shit in the vein of Carcosa.
Other bits to do
Rulers send out space patrols to extract tribute.
OD&D space monster interpretations.
Psionic powers, mutations, and augmentations.