New Jack Frontier
Introduction
Crew of the heavy cruiser, Prenglar's Pride are in the thick of it
during an engagement of the Second Sathar War. The ship is heavily
damage cut off from the rest of the fleet, surrounded by
a sathar carrier and several destroyers. Their fate is sealed and they
will not survive. The commander gives the order to ram the sathar
carrier, its a gamble but its also the last measure of duty they
can perform for the UPF, taking out a significant sathar asset with
their own death. Their suicidal move catches the sathar flat footed and
as the cruiser is about to hit the carrier a the destroyers fire a massive salvo in an attempt to stop the UPF ship. Just as the engineer overloads his remaining atomic drives and the ship is
rocked by the first explosions from the sathar's weapons, the
entire crew vanishes. The Prenglar's Pride takes out the sathar carrier and her
crew are lauded for their sacrifice because the battle ends as a
UPF win.
The vanished crew experience a rush through an energy vortex
and meterialize in a massive ships hold. There is a UPF flag hanging on
the bulkhead and a noise like a generator winding down. Once the noise subsides a massive air lock
style door opens and four humans enter; one is a UPF admiral and the rest appear to be his aides. The UPF uniforms of the newcomers are recognizable for the
insignias but the cut, style and color is different. The admiral appologizes for
the method of bringing them aboard and tells them that they will all be
fully briefed after they have been processed.
Processing starts with collection of all side arms and weapons, a full
medical scan and treatment of injuries (it becomes obvious that the
medical treatment is far in advanced of UPF tech used during the SW2).
The briefings are separate for officers and
enlisted in two different auditoriums.
They learn that the ship they are on is a Space fleet vessel from 200
years in the future and that a mutated version of the Blue Plague has
very nearly wiped out the population of the Frontier and that Frontier civilization has reached the point of unsustainability.
Fortunately the new Frontier has tech that allows for time travel and
the UPF dispatched ships to travel back in time and bring forward fresh
population stock for the salvation of mankind. [The use of the word
mankind is a fruedian slip but we'll get into that more latter]. The time travellers cannot risk their present by taking just anyone so they use their
historic records of history and travel to points where large casualties
occur and teleport them out at the moment of death. Thus their past is
still preserved and they obtain fresh population stock. They then tell the
"jacked" UPF crew that their suicidal sacrifice took out the sathar
carrier and turned the tide of the battle, winning it through their sacrifice. The UPF admiral informs them that they were all
posthumously awarded medals and that he is proud to finally be able to
present those awards to them.
He understands that they never expected this but the need of the UPF is
so great in the future he hopes that they will agree to come forward and
help save the new Frontier. Anyone who does not can be transported back
to the exact moment they left their ship.
A few individuals dont want
to go to the future and ask to be transported back (one of which is a
human). The rest sign on to the proposed new life in the future, are assinged
quarters, issued new jumpsuits and briefed on the differences in basic
machinery and safety equipment.
Meanwhile a vrusk disappears mysteriously, they discover they dont have
full run of the ship, and one of the enlisted crew, a yazirian, asserts
that the UPF admiral is none other than Admiral Morgaine. He's cerain of
it because his clan has the distinciton of having the only statue on Hentz that memorializes a human in their garden of rememberance. That statue is of Admiral Morgaine and Admiral Harsvoort, two of the heros of the First Sathar War. Any yazirian of his clan would recognize that human face having grown up on the stories of the friendship forged between the human and yazirian admirals.
GM Background
The New Frontier Space Fleet Crew are Hiding Secrets
The Blue Plague never did rear its ugly head 200 years in the future, these people from the future have another motive for obtianing fresh genetic stock from the past.
They do not represent the UPF and Space Fleet.
All members of the crew from the future are human.
The admiral from the future really is Admiral Morgaine's body, its just not Admiral Morgaine that is controling it.
Outpost on the Borderlands
Place holder for me to work while I'm on the road and away from SF materials.
Preface
The title is a nod to a classic Basic D&D adventure module and is inspired by that adventure. Outpost on the Borderlands details strategic and tactical environments. The strategic environment is the outpost, detailed with maps and NPCs. It represents the last bastion of civilization before entering the deep outback on the planet Laco, Dixon's Star. While it represents civilization it may not necessarily be all that civilized.
The tactical evironment somewhat mirrors the original D&D module with some details and potential encounters on the map detailing the countryside around the castle and a mini dungeon crawl.
The first goal is to provide a home base for adventure that can be used long past the adventure portion of this module. The second is to pay homage to a classic D&D module.
Laco Brief
Going to rob my Digging in Dust of Laco article (SFman #?) but limit the brief to information that applies to this adventure.
History of Outpost named ?
___?___ began life as a mercenary base during Laco's War. It was built by PGC and abandoned after the war. It's one redeeming feature is the presence of a ceramacrete landing field rated for hull size 4 or smaller space craft.
Despite the site's abandonment it was never fully forgotten. A colonel who fought for PGC in the war bought the rights to the location seeing the potential for the site. Planning to operate it as a backwater star port and bare bones resort. The plan was to cater to tourist, scientist and former mercenaries. The reality is it attracts smugglers, possibly pirates, some scientist but very few tourist.
The colonel died and his widow sold off the hotel and bar and leases the landing field. Other businesses have sprung up and while the population has not increased much the outpost does seem to be permanent.
It represents the last bastion of civilization in the Laco wilderness and provides easy access to the Tetrarch Pyramids, the famed Fire Fountains and some historic battlefield sites.