Deep Space Encounters
From SSDC, Inc.
Of course, the chances to encounter something in deep space are incredibly slim.
The following table is used for these rare facts where the GM rolls a 1 on a d100000000 -- or when he decides that something will happen.
Note that the chances to have a deep space encounter increase with the amount of attention the PCs draw to themselves (like broadcasting an emergency signal). Therefore, you'll find two tables here: One detailing random encounters no one asked for, and the other for determining who or what will react to an emergency broadcast signal in deep space.
Contents |
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Table 1: Chance Encounters
Roll first on this table, then go to the specific encounter table (subtable) given below
| Roll | Random Encounter |
| 01-30 | Mini-Meteors A swarm of very fast mini-meteors is hitting the vessel. Make a lev14 Sensor check to spot the approaching threat and a lev6 piloting check to evade them. If they are not evaded, roll 1d10 for the number of "possibly fatal" hits. Roll for hit location and apply d100x10 damage to the location. |
| 31-33 | Gravitational Pull The ship's sensors register a strange, gravitational pull. The pull is a soft "tug" that the ship can easily evade, if it's still maneuverable. The pull comes from a yet undiscovered Shade World that is just "appearing" in the area. |
| 34-43 | Energy Fluctuations The ship's sensors register fluctuations in all systems, the source of which seem to be an energy field the ship is drifting into/through. Roll 15% for each of the ship's systems (sensors, propulsion, steering, shields, weapon control, lights, artificial gravitation, air supply, heating) to see if it's knocked out. |
| 44-47 | Something Strange The ship's sensors pick up something strange. Roll 1d10: 1 a weird radio broadcast from a long time ago. 2 an alien ship appearing just at the edge of sensor range, hanging around for a while, then disappearing again. 3 a sudden energy peak quickly passing. 4 an electronic distortion in the radio sounding like a soft chuckle. 5 an Arachnid ship passing in the distance. 6 a "ghost ship". 7 a 1d10 minute total blackout of all systems. 8 all crew members (including PCs) just fell asleep and are just now waking up. All onboard security tapes show white noise. 9 the board computer detects that there's one additional living being on board (just a computer glitch). 10 the ship goes in full alarm, all automated weapon systems start shooting around likke crazy (computer error) |
| 48-50 | Strange Dreams When the PCs fall asleep (which they will, sooner or later) they enter a kind of dreamscape where they can have a little adventure (BM's discretion). Funny enough, they cannot die in the dream (they just wake up, but don't tell them this) but their weapons and armor arre damaged/ammo used up according to the dream they just had. |
| 51-53 | Apple Pie? The smell of fresh apple pie fills the ship until filtered away by the air system. |
| 54-57 | Pirates Pirates have picked up the PCs vessel with their long range sensors. Continue on Pirates Table, below |
| 58 | Aedronians One or more Aedronian vessels approach the PCs ship. Note that their reaction will strongly depend on the ship the PCs are travelling in. Don't expect any mercy from Aedronians if they find a vessel carrying factory parts or belonging to megacorporations like Erectus, SSDC or Telydyne. Continue on Aedronian Table, below |
| 59-61 | Bounty Hunter A bounty hunter shows up. He will help the ship, but only after having received a whole list of crew and passengers to scan for possible people on the Wanted list. And of course, he'll haggle for a reward of some kind. Continue on Bounty Hunters Table, below |
| 62-65 | Hostiles You really don't want this to happen if you're stranded in space. If you're lucky, the Hostiles approaching will just blow you apart. Beware of vicious BM. Continue on Hostiles Table, below |
| 66 | Non-Aligned Some vessel with no Alliance affiliation shows up. Roll on Independents Table, below |
| 67-79 | Other The ship has been detected by a "normal" craft. Continue with Space Vessel Encounters. As the PCs ship doesn't broadcast any emergency signal, most of these will just pass, but police/military ships just might take an active interest in the vessel. |
| 80-00 | Ultra-Nothing Well, the chance that something would happen was slim, anyway. This result says not only that nothing happens (that's what the BM does by rolling a d10000000, anyway) but that nothing WILL happen. EVER. The only way out of this is if the PCs would somehow activate the emergency broadcast signal. If that is not possible, roll up new characters. |
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Table 2: Emergency Broadcast Reaction Table
Roll first on this table, then go to the specific encounter table givenn below
| Roll | Random Encounter |
| 01-20 | Pirates Oh, rats. The emergency signal was picked up by Pirates. Continue on Pirates Table, below |
| 21-28 | Aedronians The signal has lured one or more Aedronian vessels to the PCs. Note that their reaction will strongly depend on the ship the PCs are travelling in. Don't expect any mercy from Aedronians if they find a vessel carrying factory parts or belonging to megacorporations like Erectus, SSDC or Telydyne. Continue on Aedronian Table, below |
| 29-35 | Bounty Hunter A bounty hunter shows up. He will help the ship, but only after having received a whole list of crew and passengers to scan for possible people on the Wanted list. And of course, he'll haggle for a reward of some kind. Continue on Bounty Hunters Table, below |
| 36-39 | Hostiles You really don't want this to happen if you're stranded in space. If you're lucky, the Hostiles approaching will just blow you apart. Beware of vicious BM. Continue on Hostiles Table, below |
| 40-44 | Non-Aligned Some vessel with no Alliance affiliation shows up. Roll on Independents Table, below |
| 45-59 | Other Your signal was received by a "normal" craft. Continue with Space Vessel Encounters. The vessel(s) were in transit along the nearest transit/trade route when they received the emergency broadcast. Against all odds, they followed Alliance regulations to see if they can help (if that makes sense for the exact encounter rolled on the Vessel Table, that is). |
| 60-00 | Nothing Oh, pooh. No one is coming, even though you invited half the galaxy to shoot fish in a barrel. Roll again in d6 days (if a 6 comes up, roll again and add the result to 6. Repeat doing this until no more 6 comes up. Pray that your oxygen and supplies will last that long). |
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Subtable 1: Pirates
| Roll | Random Encounter |
| 01-02 | Event 1 |
| 03-23 | Event 2 |
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Subtable 2: Aedronians
| Roll | Random Encounter |
| 01-02 | Event 1 |
| 03-23 | Event 2 |
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Subtable 3: Bounty Hunters
| Roll | Random Encounter |
| 01-02 | Event 1 |
| 03-23 | Event 2 |
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Subtable 4: Independents
| Roll | Random Encounter |
| 01-02 | Event 1 |
| 03-23 | Event 2 |
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Subtable 5: Hostiles
| Roll | Random Encounter |
| 01-35 | Arachnids Okay, kiss your ass goodbye. The Arachnids are heading your way. If you're lucky, they'll just blow you apart. If not, then maybe you'll be imprisoned, send to the farms, be transformed into a Doltharian or you're infected with a parasite or bugged with a bomb forcing you to carry out a "mission" for the Arachnids. BMs are advised to just roll once on the Space Vessel Encounters table to find the rough size, number and strength of the vessel approaching. Remember that Arachnid vessels can beat about 3-5 Alliance vessels of the same size. If you as the BM don't have a ready idea on how to rescue the group, just let them wake up in a hospital on a nearby world. Of course the Arachnids did something to the PCs. But this way, you have time to develop a plot and module around it. |
| 35- | Event 2 |
Random Encounter Table created by Raben-AAS
With contributions from Raben-AAS and ... ?
