 December 12, 2017 - 4:48pm | If it happens in the real world why not the Frontier? Example 230 foot wide crater in Turkmenistan that Soviet Scientists thought they could burn off the escaping methane in a few days but instead its burned for 40 years. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 12, 2017 - 5:00pm | So my take on this Soviet era fiasco with the really cool name of Door to Hell or Gateway to Hell, is a ship (atomic or chem powered) attempted to land on a new planet and the ground collapsed, revealing a methane crater, and then the drive set off the gas. The ship was effectively destroyed and only a few crew made it out. Decades later the crater still burns, tourist, if any or if planet is now inhabited, come to see it. The wreckage of the ship is there. Plot hook: present the PCs with some reason to enter the wreckage. Hazards: heat- need an asbestos suit and noxious gases- idiot lights on the toxy rad gauge will go off. Extreme environment organism present- ok in real world these are just bacteria that can stand the heat so in SF- if bacteria could lead to infection of it could be a fire loving creature known as a "salamander" I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 December 13, 2017 - 12:11pm | Maybe some sort of 'treasure' item is in the wreck, possibly in a very robust (possibly federanium) container. The treasure may have some value other than a monetary one. Maybe it was a secret until recent history as one of the survivors either made a deathbed revelation or provided details in their will. The reasons for the secrecy could be many and varied  |
 December 13, 2017 - 2:24pm | Fun fact heat goes up. If the containers were buried in the ground a few feet or even covered by dirt in the crash then they would be spared from most of the heat. This is why it is important to put the fuel under the body when you burn it and not just douse it in accelerant and light it. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 December 13, 2017 - 11:59pm | Simple the astrogation computer is perserved under the ground (bottom of the crater) due to the impact of the crash. The deathbed confession is of a route through the vast expanse and it is stored on the computer. Or, make it a clue that leads to a clue that leads to a clue like National Treasure. The ship could be a route on the computer. But the next thing to find is a decryption key that is somewhere else in the frontier that another survivor had. This could go on and on until the big reveal. -iggy |
January 3, 2018 - 6:05am | I like the Black Box angle that iggy hinted at. could also be an etched metal plate star/system chart similar to the one in the Warmachine module. Its somewhere in the ship's wreckage. Here's a progression: Someone believes there might be something to the "stories" hires the PCs to go look One of the survivors of that crash is bat shyt nuts and rants and raves but if you believe there is something to the "stories" then his rants and raves wouldn't sound so nuts the other survivor is evasive and warns the PCs to leave it alone. PCs go to crater and enter the wreckage. forced to deal with "salamander"(s), heat, poison gas, infectious bacteria, and unstable/unsafe wreckage in pursuit of the void jump data recorder/ black box (which is actually orange). The data is somewhat corrupted (naturally, but this is just a sop to the referee to not to have to produce a lot of material for the players) but they can recover/reconstruct, fore the most part the travels of this scout ship. Alternately, while the PCs are at the "crash" site they encounter the crazy crew man who escaped the ship but was not rescued. He's been living on this planet as a hermit ever since and loses it when the PCs enter the wreckage. Rants and raves and this could be a chance for the Psych-social skilled character to get in a skill check. PCs have the jump route back trail of the ship for 4 to 5 jumps and can back track from this planet but have no idea which system the "thing" is in that they are looking for. Alternately: the sane survivor got out with "something". This thing may have made him powerful and he is now the CEO of a mega corp, PGC perhaps or Galactic Taskforce. He does not want his secret exposed nor the PCs poking around in his past. This sets up a very powerful adversary for the PCs who could easily send a ship full of mercenaries to deal with the PCs. After the PCs have visited the wreckage the evidence of the ship is obliterated, missile launched from orbit even the nuclear tipped KHs torpedo, because nothing says this just got serious like a mushroom cloud on the horizon. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 6, 2018 - 6:51am | If the survivor CEO guy had that much to hide and the means to do something about it, having the wreck destroyed at some earlier point in time would have been very easy. |
January 6, 2018 - 5:10pm | If the survivor CEO guy had that much to hide and the means to do something about it, having the wreck destroyed at some earlier point in time would have been very easy.
True. What do you recommend? Perhaps the location was lost or obscure. It comes to light and CEO survivor guy suddenly realizes he ought to do something about it. Perhaps he thought the secret was safe and that no one would dig too deeply? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 6, 2018 - 9:02pm | Being an in charge CEO does not mean you know everything. Might have thought the "important stuff" was lost in the wreck. Or that even the entire ship was lost in the crash and there was no need to cover everything up. Only when the PCs start to investigate the crash site do things go into overdrive. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
January 7, 2018 - 1:29am | If he survived the crash, he may remember that the ship was not destroyed. Also, how did he get off-world after the crash etc etc Just asking from the point of view of my players, who would start throwing these sorts of ideas and questions around  |
January 7, 2018 - 5:03am | Surviving a crash does not always mean walking away. Unless he is "Unbreakable" he was probably injured and rescued. More likely the CEO used as escape pod/life boat to leave the ship before the crash. Also being on an escape pod/life boat does not preclude being injured. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
January 8, 2018 - 12:07pm | If he left the ship before the crash, how would he know where the wreck is? |
January 8, 2018 - 5:50pm | Probably didn't know the exact location but knew the area it went down in. Then heard the characters were looking for a crashed star ship in that area and put one and three together and figured it out and did not want to take the chance what was supposed to have been destoryed might not have been. After all how many crashed star ships per square kilometer are there on a planet's surface? Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 January 8, 2018 - 10:10pm | After all how many crashed star ships per square kilometer are there on a planet's surface?
On Jakku, quite a few. Wait, each of those Star Destroyers were born 1.6km long... |
January 9, 2018 - 6:58am | 1.6 km is an American mile. Wonder what design system they used to determine that since the prodction was split between the US and England. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
January 9, 2018 - 10:24am | My original idea was that the atomic or chem powered ship was landing and as it touched down it ignited the methane reserves and collapsed the unstable ground beneath it forming a methane crater beneath it similar to this soviet era fiasco. The ship collapses into the crater and is effectively wrecked. This is not the same as a ship crashing into the planet. Crew could very well survive by: A. ejecting in an escape pod which will not go far obviously but would propel the character away form the crater but possibly bang him up some with injuries B. ships launch if there is one- wont really work in gravity but it will have some propulsion to get a character a short distance from the ship with some injuries from its crash into the ground possible as well as burns a distinct possibility. C. pop the hatch and jump and run as best you can- burns likely D. life boat should have similar results as A & B above Note: presence of escape pods, lifeboat, or launch kind of nix this being an assualt scout. Any NPC talked to that survived the crash could detail all of these things for the PCs ship considered destroy but again its not really destroyed in the same manner as slamming it into the planet. Possible for somethings to have survived like basic structure of the craft is somewhat intact allowing for it to be esplored. computer should be destroyed by heat if nothing else over the years so nothing to be found here but a "black box" should be a different story. Question is why hasn't the big bad in this realized the black boxes are a problem? Maybe he just didn't think of them till the PCs start poking around. But we can also write in that Prior to FY # few black boxes on star ships were federanium encased. the old style were engineered to survive lots of disasters but would not be likely to survive the heat and fire in this methane crater but it turns out this ship underwent a major overhaul and it got the new federanium alloy encased black boxes but no one really knew till the researcher that starts the PCs on this investigation digs up that fact and realizes that if these black boxes are rated to survive almost anything short of a nuclear bomb then it could have survived the wreck and fire of the methane crater. The question as to who knows where this ship is: I dont think its a big deal if its on an established colony the crater is an extreme and hostile environment. no one is really going to have a motivation to mess around in there. so escaped crew would could espect rescue. but if its on a world not colonized then we have to assume the crew got picked up because some ship happened along or in the emergency supplies were a sub space radio. or lets assume a ship like the eleanor mores had previously landed on planet, not far from the crater site, and had left its landing module and that the survivors managed to trek to it and use the comm gear on that landing module (hand wave the presence of a sub space radio if there isnt one in the Eleanor mores module) Good questions all around. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 9, 2018 - 10:36am | Lets suppose this methane crater is no Laco and dates from when it was an outpost to light population colony. The ship was not destroyed but during Laco's war it got bombed. the researcher looking into this found a mercenary who told of a mysterious bombing mission to bomb the ship and crater. Archived orbital images taken by orbiting star ships from that time show clear evidence that the crater was enlarged at some point during the 10 year Laco's War. The mercenary worked for an outfit was was subcontracted to Streel but has ties back to the big bad. The point is that someone has gone to great lengths to ensure that there is nothing left but a federanium protected black box just might have survived. in the interest of making entering the crater a challenge organism present? 1. heat loving bacteria- which poses a flesh eating attack on PCs as they remove their asbestos suits? 2. Fire Manders- a unique Laco organism (small sized) that is attracted to hot environments like the fire fountains, volcanic fissures and this crater. 3. heat does bad things with bullet and gyrojet ammo and beam weapons cease to work after a certain time I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 9, 2018 - 12:41pm | 1.6 km is an American mile. Wonder what design system they used to determine that since the prodction was split between the US and England. "They" used GDW's system that whipped up the Star Wars RPG. Nothing was ever specced out in the original trilogy until GDW had to undertake the task. This is evident when you see how GDW states said Destroyer has over 100 guns yet in the original movies we rarely see more than two or three firing at their targeted/escaping ships. |
 February 8, 2018 - 7:19am | Nothing was ever specced out in the original trilogy until GDW had to undertake the task. This is evident when you see how GDW states said Destroyer has over 100 guns yet in the original movies we rarely see more than two or three firing at their targeted/escaping ships. Well, most of the weapons must have been really small guns... or maybe the gun crews were on vacation... or they weren't used because they weren't trying to destroy their target... they have very small firing arcs... Joe Cabadas |
February 8, 2018 - 11:04am | ...or as Family Guy establishes, "They charge by the laser." ;) |
