This is part of an ongoing series about the preparations I've made to
run Mongoose's revised edition of the Bayern campaign for 2300AD.
Spoilers for Adventure Seed 2.
Two more advances since last time. And again, this Adventure Seed
can also do with significant expansion. This is my version.
(The previous adventure seed, Derelict, occupies about as much space
in the book as this one, one full page. But that took Whartson Hall
six sessions, and this took one. Well, this is a bit more reactive
rather than investigative.)
Entdecker is struck by the particle component of a small solar flare
while about to enter atmosphere, which produces a localised
electromagnetic pulse. All the lights go out, there's a solid thump as
the hull bounces off the slightly denser gas region it was about to
enter (there aren't many molecules but they're moving very fast), and
the ship starts rotating. Emergency lighting comes on, but main
systems are dead and there's smoke through most spaces. Many of the
crew are unconscious, and the ship is tumbling in multiple axes…
(I called for END rolls just to see how people were coping with that.
Low results indicate some vomiting.)
Failures are to be found in:
- General hull structure (sprung seams)
- Power plant (breakers)
- Bridge (isolated by pressure loss)
- Avionics (sensor burnout from EMP)
- Reaction drive (fuel leaks)
- Stutterwarp
Things to do, and some relevant skills, though this is really a
problem-solving exercise:
-
Get main power back on. Circuit breaker trips in engineering thanks
to very high acceleration, restart by hand (Engineer (Power)).
-
Stop the tumbling. Find affected sections (broadly the upper port
hull), specifically rec area and galley; get any crew out, and
depressurise them or patch from inside. Later, patch the holes in
the hull. (This is leaks at stress points, caused by the atmospheric
collision.) Then get attitude jets back online. Pilot (Spaceship)
-
Reaction drive damage: this is fuel feeds mostly. Needs internal and
external fixes. Mechanic, Engineer (M-drive).
-
Stutterwarp damage: calibration damaged by impact. It will work, but
will make sad noises, and going up to anything like normal operating
frequencies won't work at all. A full fix will need Bayern's
engineering resources. Engineer (Stutterwarp).
-
Don't crash into the planet. The ship is in an unsustainable low
elliptical orbit having bounced off the upper atmosphere. Get the
drive back on to stabilise, or use the stutterwarp to get out of
danger. (Which probably means lining up individual jumps manually,
until the tumbling is fixed, rather than the usual multi-terahertz
rate.) Pilot (Spaceship).
-
Loss of pressure in rec area (which isolates the bridge).
-
Restart bridge systems and avionics (some component replacement
needed). Electronics (Sensors).
-
Resolve the fuel leaks. Hydrogen is venting through the port VTOL
engine housing into the cargo bay, and out into space. Eventually an
environmental alarm will go off. Or there will be a spark, e.g. when
the reaction drive goes on. Best fixed with an EVA to the fuel
lines, and venting the cargo bay, though someone sufficiently bold
could go into the VTOL engine housing and use a sealant gun before
they freeze to death from adiabatic cooling as the liquid hydrogen
expands into the housing. (Shipsuits are not heavily insulated;
taking time to change into one of the heavy-duty exploration suits
might be worth it.) Mechanic.
-
Save the crew, who are inhaling insulation smoke. Everyone has a
helmet bag in a standard pouch on their ship suit, which will be
fine as long as they aren't vomiting. Medic, Vacc Suit.