Wednesday, 6 April 2016

Random Space Encounter Generator

Roll on table 1, 2 and 3 to create random encounters within “normal” space (not hyperspace/black holes/warp tunnels, etc). Whatever is generated should warp/mutate slightly to fit the solar system it is encountered in. Table 1 gives the “area” that the encounter takes place in – these are intended to give interesting cover and obstacles to any potential stunt fighter battles.  Table 2 gives the descriptor for that area, possibly changing the way it operates and appears. Table 3 gives the thing encountered, which may be anything from valuable cargo, a band of space pirates or weird space entities. There is also a separate table to generate the Reaction and Actions of the other ships encountered. 

Most of the ships listed here refer to a “class”, meaning the analogue for that star ship listed in the White Star rulebook for that faction. There is also items listen in this table referred to in the White Star rulebook. If you don’t have the White Star rulebook just use your own starships and items!

The content of each table should be changed to reflect the specific of each system. Also, the “Weird Entity” table could be very specific to a system, or completely insane and unexpected – either way it’s a good way to start a new adventure…

 BTW, If you like this post, please check out some more recent sci fi generators: 

And check out my rules light Sci Fi game, Star Dogs: http://lizardmandiaries.blogspot.com/2019/11/star-dogs-players-handbook.html


Table 1:
Scenery/Obstacles/Cover:
Roll a d20:

1) Clouds of fist sized asteroids. Flying through the clouds will cause minor to moderate damage to shields and hull. The clouds vary in size from roughly that of a stunt fighter to a dreadnought.

2) Spacecraft sized cloud of asteroids, slowly drifting and colliding.  The asteroids vary in size from roughly that of a stunt fighter to a blockade runner.

3) An out of orbit moon, cracked, decaying, dead and lifeless.

4) A cluster of aged, defunct satellites, signal repeaters, landing assistors and other mechanical detritus. The cluster is approximately the size of a dreadnought spacecraft. Only ships light transport and smaller would be able to maneuver between the hunks of metal.

5) A spacestation, approximately the size of a dreadnought spacecraft. No lights, signals or transmissions are emitting from it.

6) An enormous asteroid, riddles with clearly visible caves and tunnels that a light transport or smaller spacecraft could easily enter and navigate. 

7) Clouds of stunt fighter sized chunks of ice that will melt to water when close enough to ship exhaust and energy weapon fire.  

8) Two warp portals, apart by a distance of the length of a d10 dreadnoughts. The portals are about the width and height of a terran moon. A mass of space detritus is caught in an endless loops, warping from one portal to the other, endlessly drifting from the slight push of force the portals provide on exit.

9) An enormous stone structure cubic or pyramid in shape. It is approximately the size of a dreadnought. It is riddled with entrances, windows, clear passageways and rooms indicating it was a structure for habitation. It is ancient and rotting, also clearly not intended for space travel.

10) A moon sized comet, hurtling through space with a brightly colored trail of gas and debris. Collusions with the comet would be catastrophic for most space craft.

11) An out of commission and rotting dreadnought, large holes riddling its hull. No sign of power or operation.

12)  Dead, hardened organic hive structure the size of a dreadnought. Chunks of rotting organic material trails behind the hive as it floats through space. It does not appear to be inhabited.

13) Clouds of purple and yellow ion storming that will completely dematerialize ship shield systems. The ion storm is either one moon size cloud, or several smaller clouds over a larger area.

14) Clouds of thick green gas that most rudimentary ship scanning system will indicate as extremely flammable and explosive.  The gas clouds are either one moon size cloud, or several smaller clouds over a larger area.

15) Brown green clouds of thick dust, gas and pebbles. Flying through these clouds will cause almighty din in any areas of the ship close to the external hull as stones bounce from it.  May also disrupt audio visual sensors and decrease manual visibility. The clouds are either one moon size cloud, or several smaller clouds over a larger area.

16) d20 Still smoldering husks of obliterated spacecraft involved in a recent battle. There does not appear to be any survivors but some ship signals are still live but silent.

17) A clearly living organic structure approximately the size of a moon. May be tree/seaweed/fungus/sea cucumber/coral/etc-like in its formation.

18) The putrid and disintegrating carcass of some mythical, long dead space beast. Its features are rotted beyond recognition and classification. All that is left behind is flesh, bone, ichor and organs frozen and floating in space approximately the size of a dreadnought. Frozen globules of blood approximately the size of a stunt fighter orbit the carcass.

19) d20 unmanned, unpowered ancient stunt fighter class ships, drifting together connected by a web of fuel and powerlines. They are of a design and make not seen in eons.

20) Clusters of drifting, stunt fighter sized globules of a type of dark matter. While entering them will not cause lasting or physical damage, entering them will result in complete ship system failure. This dark matter will pass through any physical barriers (ship hulls/shields) as if the matter around the globule has absolutely no effect on it. Organic creatures will become unconscious for d10 minutes if they come into passing contact with a globule. Anything remaining in contact with the dark matter for more than a few minutes will disappear from existence.


Table 2:
Descriptor/mutator/weirdness:
Roll a d20:

1) The scenery, whatever it is, has clearly been nibbled/chomped/eaten by a now absent space leviathan.

2) d8 AI controlled drones, belonging to the major power in the system. They have the same stats as a Stunt fighter, but no shields and half the hit points. They are guarding/conducting surveillance on the area.

3) d8 AI controlled drones, belonging to a system specific rogue human group. They have the same stats as a Stunt fighter, but no shields and half the hit points. They are guarding/conducting surveillance on the area.

4) d8 AI controlled drones, belonging to a system specific alien menace. They have the same stats as a Stunt fighter, but no shields and half the hit points. They are guarding/conducting surveillance on the area

5)  An unexplained source or sources of gravity are dragging the scenery towards it. Ships may also be affected by this effect.  Objects and detritus will be clustered, tight and swirling towards the gravity source.

6) The scenery or part of the scenery has the alarming property of draining electronic energy systems. Ships in the vicinity/contact too long will lose power completely and drift aimlessly in space – all systems offline.

7) The scenery or part of the scenery has the alarming property causing one of the following systems to go offline, d4: 1) shields 2) scanning and targeting 3) engines 4) weapon systems.

8) Garbled/disturbing/intruging localized transmissions

9) Inhabited by system specific alien menace – along with the housing required by that race.

10) Inhabited by system specific rogue humans (rebels, pirates, anarchists, etc) - along with the housing required.

11) Floating globules of magnetic, liquid metal. Will stick to star ships leading to unusual hull shapes and possibly loss of speed.

12) The scenery is churning and swirling in a massive gravitational maelstrom. This maelstrom may affect the movement of star ships travelling through it.

13) The scenery is caught in an unexplained ring of gravity. The scenery is a slowly rotating ring (like Saturn’s) missing a central mass to cause the formation.

14) Dog sized chitinous organic life with the ability to live in the vacuum of space are thriving in the area. They are attracted to something here. 

15) Elephant sized chitinous organic life with the ability to live in the vacuum of space are thriving in the area. They are attracted to something here. 

16) The area is replete with a valuable resource that can be salvaged, mined or foraged. It may be the scenery itself, or attatched/ingrained within the scenery.

17) Space mushrooms or truffle balls of various sizes and colours coat the physical objects in the area, or float listlessly in space. They will explode in clouds of spores when coming into contact with space craft and their engine exhaust.

18) The area, or parts of it, emit hazardous levels of radiation that may seep through ship hulls depending on the craft.  

19) Space miraging causes objects in the area to multiply, shimmer, blur and other wise confuse those nearby.

20) The physical objects in the area coated in clusters of dog sized eggs. Eggs may or may not be covered in slime and goop and raised on a stalk. Obscene lifeforms may or may not be contained within.

Table 3:
Contents:
Other Ship Reactions and Desires:
Whenever encountering ships from Table C and D roll on the following table to see what they are doing there and how they will react to the PC’s star ships. You can take the first result and use both Reaction and Action, or roll twice. 

Please note each broad faction category listed in the following tables has a different modifier to their reaction, reflecting their general demeanor. The PC’s prior relationship with the faction should also be taken into consideration, the modifiers below assume the PC’s are total outsiders. 

Table A:
Cargo, housed in appropriate, sealed and unlocked containers:
Roll a d20:

1) d20+10 stay alert and awake for one week pills. Require 24 hours of sleep after the dosage week.

2) d100+10 Laser rifles (Page 33 of the White Star Rulebook).

3) Room sized crate of precious or ancient stone art (statues, tablets, reliefs).

4) d20+10 extreme bliss for 24 hour pills. Require 12 hours of sleep after the dosage.
5) Commlink containing security codes for nearby space or planetary base. 

6) Commlink containing complete layout and schematics for nearby space or planetary base.

7) Commlink containing data for cutting edge, never seen before star ship modification.

8) d20+10 fully matured clone slaves in hibernation. Gene treated to be incredibly suggestable and easily trained.

9) d100 perfectly preserved, alive and operating transplant organs – ready for installation.

10) d6 suits of powered armour (page 95 of the White Star Rulebook).

11) d4 cybernetic arms (Page 95 of the White Star Rulebook) and d4 cybernetic missile weapons (Page 96 of the White Star Rulebook).

12) An Atomizer (Page 97 of the White Star Rulebook).

13) d20+10 amnesia pills that will cause the taker of the drug to forget the previous 48 hours.

14) Plastic surgery med bot bay. Able to drastically alter one human body for disguise or alteration once a week. Requires 48 hours of rest after the procedure. The med bot is a fully contained unit about the size of a tanning bed.

15) Alien organic crystal ball. This slimy basketball sized globular black pearl gives an insight into the future in exchange for sentient life. If allowed to interface with a sentient mind (via extendable tubes and tentacles that hook onto and enter brain matter) the ball will give the that sentient a glimpse into the future. The information gleaned will come out in a hysterical babbling fit as that person dies within 10 minutes of interfacing with the crystal ball.

16) d4 AI units that can be installed into any Star ship or land craft.

17) d20+5 hibernating exotic and dangerous non sentient aliens or animals.

18) A Medical Vat (Page 98 of the White Star Rulebook).

19) d20+5 X 1000 credits worth of ore.

20) d6 Starship cloaking devices (Page 57 of the White Star Rulebook).

Table B:
Weird entities:
Roll a d8:

1) d6 fleshy, multi limbed, organic star ships about the size of a stunt fighter. They look like a fleshy torpedo, with appendages and organs protruding out in all directions. They are made up of an amalgamation of vaguely human features. They have no shields or weapon systems but are very fast (use stunt fighter stats), propelled by unseen, unknown force. There fleshy, giant hand like appendages can latch onto other ships and slowly tear them apart. One of the ships will be carrying something random from Table A.  Roll on the Reaction and Action table to see what they are up to. They communicate clearly using psychic voice transmission.

2) A dreadnought sized ratty and rotting salvaged star ship. It looks like it is made up from the remains of hundreds of destroyed star ships. The salvaged ship is controlled by a self aware AI that is travelling through space to further grow itself. Roll on the Reaction and Action table to see what the ship is up to. Its constant and most pressing concern is the gathering of more scrap material to grow. Use the same stats as a Dreadnought with the following modifications: halved hitpoints and shields, weapons: 4 x Laser Cannons (4d6 ), Proton missiles X 1 (8d6), only modification is an FTL drive.

3) An ancient blockade runner sized star ship controlled by an AI (Same stats as a blockade runner, no weapons). It is a plague carrying ship, rife with a variety of diseases and viruses. Airborne contamination is constantly pumped through the air supply and many stocks of different diseases are in cyro-storage in the ships hanger.  The AI will hail and request immediate docking with any ships it encounters claiming it has gifts for those onboard. The ship was sent from a distant system on the behest an alien species that thrives in disease ridding environments.

4) An organic and sentient space station is set up in the area. It is manned by humanoid shaped drone workers devoid of features who work tirelessly to create a good from Table A. The station looks like a massive amalgamation of human internal organs. The station is also armed with d20 organic starships listed on result 1 on this table. Roll on the reaction table above to see how the sentient space station communicates physically with those it encounters.

5) Heavy transport, inhabited by d30 Myconid Walker aliens (Mushroom octopi that use mind control spores to take over hosts). The heavy transport is floating slowly, engines unpowered. The ship will hail passer byes and report in stilted, warped voices that they are having trouble piloting their craft and require assistance. The Myconid Walker’s require more hosts. If boarded the Heavy Transport is choked with spores and fungi growth. Though they want more hosts, the aliens would also appreciate knowledge on how to operate the ship…

6) A blockade runner sized space creature that resembles a mix of a bat and an eagle. It has the same stats as a blockade runner, minus shields. It manifests an energy beam from its hoary beak that does the same amount of damage as a heavy laser (6d6). It communicates physically in a shrilly manifesting voice. Roll on the reaction and action table to find out what it is up to.



Table C:
Single ships:
Roll a d10:

1) Alien menace stunt fighter class.

2) Major power in the system stunt fighter class.

3) Rogue humans (rebels, pirates, anarchists, etc) stunt fighter class.

4) Rogue humans (rebels, pirates, anarchists, etc) blockade runner class.

5) Independent merchant/trader/smuggler light transport class.
Area of expertise, d6: 1) Ore/Salvage 2) Ship parts 3) Weaponry/Armour
4) Cybernetics/Computers 5) Medical Equipment 6) Exotic life forms/Clones/Slaves.  

6) Independent merchant/trader/smuggler medium transport class
Area of expertise, d6: 1) Ore/Salvage 2) Ship parts 3) Weaponry/Armour
4) Cybernetics/Computers 5) Medical Equipment 6) Exotic life forms/Clones/Slaves.  

7) Alien menace blockade runner class.

8) Prominent individual space yacht.
Individual type, d6: 1) Celebrity 2) Gangster/criminal 3) General/Security Head
4) Politician 5) Scientist/researcher 6) Religious figure

9) Major power in the system star cruiser class.

10) Major power in the system dreadnought cruiser class.

Table D:
Group of ships:
Roll a d10:

1) d8 Alien menace stunt fighter class.

2) d8 major power in the system stunt fighter class.

3) d8 Rogue humans (rebels, pirates, anarchists, etc) stunt fighter class.

4) Rogue humans (rebels, pirates, anarchists, etc) blockade runner class + d8 Rogue humans (rebels, pirates, anarchists, etc) stunt fighter class.

5) d6 Independent merchant/trader/smuggler light transport class.
Area of expertise, d6: 1) Ore/Salvage 2) Ship parts 3) Weaponry/Armour
4) Cybernetics/Computers 5) Medical Equipment 6) Exotic life forms/Clones/Slaves.  

6) d6 Independent merchant/trader/smuggler medium transport class
Area of expertise, d6: 1) Ore/Salvage 2) Ship parts 3) Weaponry/Armour
4) Cybernetics/Computers 5) Medical Equipment 6) Exotic life forms/Clones/Slaves.  

7) Alien menace blockade runner class + d8 Alien menace stunt fighter class.

8) Prominent individual space yacht + d8 major power in the system stunt fighter class.
Individual type, d6: 1) Celebrity 2) Gangster/criminal 3) General/Security Head
4) Politician 5) Scientist/researcher 6) Religious figure.

9) Major power in the system star cruiser class + d8 major power in the system stunt fighter class.

10) Major power in the system dreadnought cruiser class + d8 major power in the system stunt fighter class.





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