Blaster Colors by Noble Gases

Art @Nick Gindraux

I've always been real curious about how blasters from Star Wars are supposed to work. I think they're probably one of the most staple and iconic sci-fi weapons (besides maybe the lightsaber); works as a perfect general energy weapon gun replacer.

But I always felt the element of what color or the exact explanation of how the bolts work was somewhat lacking.  Red for the common or normal bolts, green for good ones, blue for ionized for use against bots, etc. I don't care, I don't know shit about Star Wars, sorry.

Obviously it doesn't matter, given its a movie or whatever, but I like to think of their implementation in setting if you wanted to copy them for something else. This suddenly gave me an idea.

Blaster Colors by Noble Gas
The color of a blaster bolt is based on whatever noble gas is used to fill it; after all, they are energized plasma bolts of gas, so the same principles of neon lights apply here. Pure gases are usually used by matter of convenience and because it looks cooler, even though you could realistically get almost any color by combining them.

Why use noble gases instead of a more common gas? Simple; they don't react to things. This makes them ideal for blaster ammunition, as they won't suddenly oxidize the inside of the gun barrel or try to molecular-bond with each other while being charged.

Now you may think that this means each gas-color is really unique and has some really specific function, but no, I actually think it's cooler if they don't. Instead, their molecular mass is the most important aspect, and greatly influences their properties like flight speed, accuracy, how much heat it produces, and how much energy from the firing mechanism they can store. The more energy is applied to the bolt, the stronger its heat and explosive effects will be.

Helium bolts (yellow) are super lightweight, and as such fly the fastest and are extremely accurate, but do almost no damage. At low power settings they're ideal for training and target shooting; getting hit by one is like a spitball. At high power, they scatter the molecules too fast to be of much explosive use, but rapidly pushing out air can still knock lightweight objects out of the air, meaning they're used for sport shooting and shooting down fast moving targets like drones or small animals for game hunting without destroying the meat or pelt. Continuous beam style blasters also use this because it generates the least waste heat; you can use these for your mining lasers.

Xenon bolts are the opposite, ultra-heavy atomically and slow, most effected by gravity and wind resistance giving them a slight spread, but are very powerful. The blue bolts are synonymous with stun bolts used at low power settings, which is like getting slapped with a ton of wet blankets, but are so slow a skilled human might actually be able to dodge these with a head start and a diving leap. At high power settings? Become explosive and blow the fuck out of fortifications and used against heavily armored vehicles and orbital bombardment; being more synonymous with artillery. Use these for your blaster grenade launchers.

The colors in-between are on this spectrum; Neon (red) are fast and accurate enough to be used for sniping and low power enough to be used for handheld weapons without melting the gun in your hands or blowing a hole through the inside hull of a ship. White-Blue Krypton bolts are used for heavily armored targets and vehicles who might be too fast for a Xenon bolt to hit easily, like aircraft or spaceships. Argon bolts are right in the middle, being a perfect purple middle ground that's most used by scouts, raiders, and player-characters since they have no idea if they're going to be shooting at regular people or a rancor and need options.

In D&D terms? Blasters probably do like 4d6 damage or something. But maybe;

Gas	To-Hit Bonus	Damage Bonus	Color
Helium	+2	-4	Yellow-Orange
Neon	+1	-2	Red
Argon	0	0	Purple
Krypton	-1	+2	White-Blue
Xenon	-2	+4	Blue

Also the colors go top to bottom in order for resolving who hits first. So if two people shoot each other at the same time, the person with the lighter gas hits the other first and throws off their aim and wins the duel.

Galaxy Far Away - Ultralite Review + New Tables & Rule Ideas

So I usually don't do this, but today I'd like to take a look at this ruleset made by Jim over at the d66 Classless Kobolds blog. Basically he made a super simple Star Wars roleplaying game that I ended up really liking, but it felt a little bare bones. I want to stress here I'm not taking ownership of this game (obviously), but I made some content for it and wanted to share. Also: this one got a lot longer then intended, so strap in.

But first; let me get a little mini review of the game itself. It's very basic, which I suppose is the point since its an ultralight. Some of the ideas here are fun. I like the 1 in 6 chance to be Force Sensitive for player characters, it's not a perk, just a whim of fate. I guess the other nice thing about an ultralike game for Star Wars is you can depict the force in any way you want.

But first; let's discuss the elephant in the room. Some of the only real meat and potatoes of this game is in your starting equipment, rolled on a random table. One of these is a weapon table; which lists "Frag Grenade" as a possible outcome.

Now I don't really like this because I don't really consider a grenade a "weapon", I mean it is but, it's a one-and-done kind of deal. Obviously you're given some starting credits which specifically says you can buy a cheap blaster, so that isn't a serious problem. But I feel like starting weapons should be a little more lasting then that. If it was a bandolier of grenades that would be fine- but I would rather put this in as a "tool", a more generic explosive that can be used to destroy barricades, damage large vehicles, or kill and damage things out of the character's weight class like a Rancor.

But the real problem with this ruleset? Look at the random equipment tables. Frag Grenade? Really? In Star Wars? Why isn't it a Thermal Detonator? Are you kidding me?

Now jokes aside; I get that it's an ultralight, but without any sort of real mechanics to go on I feel it fails a bit as a game. The idea of realistic damage based on where and how you attack is great fodder for good fight scenes and, in my opinion, works fine for tabletop games, but the way you actually go about making the attacks are 2d6 contested rolls. This means pretty much everything is a 50/50 toss up, with a smaller chance to tie then something like a d6 vs d6 roll since you have more possible outcomes. With this in mind, there's no reason player characters wouldn't be ending every NPC they are fighting in a single roll- and vice versa, if the NPCs are smart. Obviously you could argue that you can just adjudicate the low winning rolls of a 2d6 as being weaker successes, with say a roll of 12 over an enemy roll of 2 being a major success- but frankly at that point you're making things harder for yourself.

Art @ukitakumuki

Now obviously there's not a focus on combat in this game, but I like the idea of variable damage rolls; just a little bit of crunch to bring to the combat system, which tends to be the part of roleplaying games people want and need the most solid rules for. So here are some blaster tables. Whenever you hit an enemy with a blaster, roll a d6.

#	Pistol / Holdout	Blaster Rifle	Heavy Blaster
1	Miss / Ineffective	Environmental	Environmental
2	Environmental	Glance	Scorch
3	Glance	Scorch	Injury
4	Scorch	Injury	Debilitating
5	Injury	Debilitating	Lethal
6	Debilitating	Lethal	Vaporize

Explanations-

Getting an Environmental hit means that the enemy is not damage directly, but something around them is damage; if it be their personal combat droid, target they're trying to protect, destroys part of their cover, or hits a door access panel and forces it shut (or open). Whatever the effect, it should be beneficial to the shooter.

Getting a Glance or Scorch means the target was clipped but not seriously injured or brought out of the fight. Glance may just mean a small scorch mark or minor damage- their helmet could be hit on the visor, thus blackening it and making it useless until they take it off or maybe their weapon is damage somehow. Scorch is a more serious version of a glance, causing a small flesh wound and pain. If you want to get more crunchy, maybe getting scorched causes a -1 to future rolls made until it is healed.

Injuries are more serious. If hit on a limb it may stop use of that limb, or if hit in the body will cause you to fall over. If hit by this you can only barely move away to escape, and are not in fighting shape at all- you'd only be able to do a few missing shots as a fighting retreat. Debilitating is the same, except in this version you can't even move or fight back at all- if the debilitating shot hit a limb, that limb is blasted away or charred beyond repair and will need a cybornetic prosthetic. Unless if you have medical attention; Debilitating means you will die within a few hours. Finally, if the Debilitating hit was aimed from the head, the target will die in a few minutes instead, and be totally unconscious.

Any blast marked Lethal will kill if aimed for the head, neck, or chest. Even if the bolt itself didn't go through or vaporize it, it caused enough concussive force to kill. If you roll a Lethal hit but were aiming to capture or stun (and not using the stun setting?), then that happens instead.

Finally, the Vaporize is unique to the heavy blaster and essentially means the target is not only dead, but either vaporized into a smoking cadaver or turned to dust. You can get the same effect with a Blaster Rifle, but only with many repeating shots to an already defeated opponent- just what happened to Luke's aunt and uncle. Any damage this serious will probably cause other opponents to surrender or at least become fearful.

Once damage is rolled, a player may freely flip over a light-side token to a dark side token to go up one slot on the damage table. They could turn a lethal roll into an injury for an important NPC or themselves, but by doing so shift the destiny of the universe more towards the Dark side (DM).

Art @AraxussYexyr

Armor Rules

Armor is unique in this game (and in Star Wars) because it's not at all explained. So instead, we'll go with some guidelines. Basic and mass produced armor up to the Clone Troopers or Storm Trooper level turns a result of 5 or 6 on a table to a 4 on its corresponding table. This is also the level of armor I'd consider starting Player Characters who rolled the "Modular Armor" result on clothing to have.

Specialist armor like the Mandalorian armor / bounty hunter armor has the ability above but also counts any weapon as the table to its left. So a Heavy Blaster is treated like a Blaster Rifle and a Blaster Rifle as a Holdout Blaster, while also reducing rolls of 5 or 6 to a 4 on that table. Blaster Pistols aren't effective against this armor at all, only dealing Scorch damage on a roll of 5 or 6. If a character aims at a specific target on the armor (like the fuel tank or jetpack controls), then they can still hit it and damage it on a roll of 6.

Armor is also locational; so armor equal to those white helmets the rebels wear might save their life, but only if shot in the head.

Also: If you're playing as a really tough species (Wookie), have a bunch of damage-absorbing Force effects on at once, a bunch of implants, or anything else that would make you tougher then average just reduce whatever result you get by -1.

Also also; I like the idea of a "Glance" actually getting deflected totally and flying off, causing collateral damage, if you're wearing some kind of armor at all. But heavy blaster bolts are too heavy and powerful to be deflectd so easily (at least without a lightsabre) so that's why its just listed as a Scorch instead.

The Force & Destiny Tokens

So in Jim's game rules, he doesn't really give a list of force powers. I really like this, as it frees up the Jedi and the Sith to use the force in ways that are unique, interesting, and once again allows for the referee and players own interpretation of The Force.

So with no other real rules to go by; I kind of like the idea of the force being balanced by the Destiny mechanic; the light side and dark side tokens. Basically as the rules describe them, it's a set of 6 tokens that are either white or black, representing the light or dark side of the force. If the player flips a white token to the dark, then they can get an advantage, but each dark token can be flipped to the light so the referee can give the players a setback. That mechanic I think is interesting, as it basically provides infinite resources to both players and, in the context of the fiction, acts as an interesting idea.

See, with how vague The Force is sometimes, I like to think the tokens represent the balance of the force in the game world. So if all the tokens are on the light side, that means the players have a massive amount of potential in every action- it's like they have the momentum of the plot. In the same way, the referee having all the tokens set to black means the dark side is currently winning, has the most resources to throw at the players- it's like evil has the upper hand.

I like to think this is a literal thing, even a thing players can feel. Whenever the referee flips a token to the light side and gets an advantage, the force-sensitive characters can literally feel it in the world. "I sense a disturbance in the force." That's fun. Of course, this only really works if the players are also good guys for the most part; if the players are aligned with the evil empire or are Sith, then it doesn't really make sense- but you could just flip the tokens colors for players/GM if you're playing an evil campaign.

Now how does this work mechanically? Simple! The power of your force abilities is influenced by the tokens in play. If all the tokens are white, then the light side of the force is more powerful. If all the tokens are black, then dark side powers are more powerful. Perhaps something like a simple d6 roll over the color of the opposing side of the force to defeat an enemy force user in some kind of context- like perhaps only for actual force powers v force powers battles, with lightsabres and stuff having their own rolls. But if ALL force user fights came down to destiny (with the winning side forced to flip a token to the other color afterwards) you can create your own dramatic tension.

I kind of like this because it makes force sensitive characters more hooked into the game rules and, perhaps a bit cheesy, able to peer through the 4th wall a bit the way Jedi seem to do. It also discourages players from actually using their light side tokens for advantages, as they can weaken the dark side by not flipping them. I also think the idea of all the other player and referee actions kind of leading and flowing into this climatic Jedi finale where the outcome is determined by destiny is very Star Warsian. I just think that's mechanically a cool idea, but narratively and in the fiction? Ehh, maybe not. You could obviously see how this takes away any force-sensitive player importance and if anybody does get to be a Jedi they'd have to work for it since you can't start the game as one; so this would kind of squash that accomplishment.

Art @BossLogic

Lightsaber Rules

Now, I can see Lightsabers being a bit of an issue with this ultralite. You see, the idea is to make the rules go with the fiction, and that's easy enough to understand. The problem here is with lightsabers, and since at least one player is almost certainly going to be a Jedi, and you'll probably fight Sith at some point, then Lightsabers upset this balance. The problem here is that according to the fiction, Lightsabers just kill everything. If somebody slashes you with a lightsaber up close, even if they aren't a Jedi, you'd just die. Now that's not necessarily a bad thing, but when it comes to the idea of a game not having rules for things like this and being a conversation between players and a DM, then the issue of why you can or cannot just run down everything and cut them apart with a lightsaber (or how enemies won't just shoot you on the way over) could be a problem in a narrative game like this.

So instead, we use a little mechanic called Momentum. Momentum is a numerical counter of a Jedi or Sith's "battle trance", or otherwise how powerfully they are moving forward, deflecting blaster fire, and pushing towards their enemies as a dervish of flying energy sword swings. Momentum is both a force-users attack and defensive power in combat, though this never overrides the fiction. If a combat roll is called and it is failed, your momentum drops down one step. If a combat roll is called and is successful, then you move up one step. The force user can cut thru a swathe of opponents of their momentum or less, and a force user can deflect any attack made at their deflection level or less.

Everyone who picks up a lightsaber fights at their training level. If two lightsaber users meet at equal levels (the same momentum) they cannot overcome each other, unless one uses the force, a trick, or an ally to help distract their opponent, etc. Also, whatever "tier" of Momentum a character has gives them all defenses on both their tier and everything about it, whatever makes sense.

M	Ranking	Cuts Thru	Deflects
-1	Nonforce User	X	X
0	Force Sensitive	Womp Rats	Training Bolts
1	Padawan	Battle Droids	Blaster Pistol
2	Jedi / Sith	Storm / Clone Troopers	A few pistols / Blaster Rifle
3	Knight / Inquisitor	Droidakas	Many Blaster Rifles
4	Jedi Master / Sith Lord	Monsters / Bounty Hunters	Heavy Blaster
5	Heroic / Starkiller	Regular Jedi / Sith	Repeating Blaster

To stat up different fighting styles; simply change what rank each column has. For example, if you've got Obi Wan using Form III, you could say that whatever momentum level he is fighting on is moved one down on deflection, but moved one up on cut thru, since it's a defensive focused form.

Finally- if all of this game's destiny tokens are flipped to one side; then all force users of that alignment gain a momentum of +1 in combat while using lightsabers. If this is too powerful, just move up down a stage for cut thru for Sith if all dark side tokens are up, and move down a stage for deflect for Jedi if all the light side tokens are up to make the characters more thematically appropriate.

Gonzo Derelict Ship Encounters

Dead ship giving off SOS signal

 Gonzo Derelict Ship Encounters

Roll 1d20

[1] An extremely primitive robot greets you in a very quiet voice. It lacks any form of locomotion; it all appears to have been damaged or removed a long time ago. It now comprises only of a sensor area/”head” and speaker. It asks you for your name. If any character responds with a name, either true or false, the robot will immediately shout “DANGER X YOU ARE IN DANGER!”. This makes enough noise to make one roll on the wandering monsters table unless the head is smashed immediately when the noise begins.

[2] Within a small housing unit or kitchen. There is a very large vat or pot that contains a strange, squirming blue liquid. It's a gigantic amoeba, though only about the cize of a very fat house cat. It is extremely slow but also hungry, and will follow the party in an attempt to digest them.

It cannot digest anything it can't fully encapsulate. Only a little green man, a young child, a pet, or someone in the fetal position could be eaten by the creature. If fed any organic material and led around it may become a pet.

[3] Gravity Distortion! The ship's artificial gravity is messed up in this area. Roll 1d8

1. Gravity is normal (down)
2. Gravity is reversed (up)
3. Gravity is off
4. Gravity is localized; all pulling towards one random point in the center of the area. Tiny ball of soot, dust, and small debris float there as a 'core'.
5. Gravity is 3x heavier. All exploration is slower and acrobatics are extremely hard.
6. Moon Gravity- much lighter. Everyone moves faster and can acrobatics with ease.
7. Gravity is set as to whatever is most useful for the highest Charisma character.
8. Gravity is whatever is most debilitating for the lowest Charisma character.

[4] Roll on wandering monster table. That group is all here, but dead.. The only injury they all share is two tiny holes in the head. Look peaceful.

[5] Armory found! Either the ship's old security station or a private collection from a paranoid crew member; this armory contains several weapons. Roll 1d6 once for each party member.

1. Laser pistol. 2D10 shots on battery
2. Laser rifle. 1D10 shots on battery.
3. Energy Sword. (deals d6 + burns)
4. Personal Force field. (absorbs 8 damage before needing a recharge)
5. Pack of batteries, offering a full charge. (pistol = 20, rifle 10, force field 8)
6. Energy Disk Grenade. (Thrown like frisbee, deals 2d6 damage to all in radius, only used once because explodes)

[6] Small bedroom or office. Floating in the center of the room is what appears to be a tiny ball of light, orbited by colorful orbs and tiny stones; it appears as a miniature solar system. If any of the party members touch or block the movement of any of the stellar bodies; several tiny star-destroyers fly from several of the planets and bombard them with tiny lasers and bombs.

Tiny Cruisers (2d8 appearing. Successful attack rolls only deal 1 damage, unless AoE attack. Each Cruiser only has 1 HP. The whole fleet deals d4 damage in tiny weapons to each party member. If there are less ships then party members instead it deals d4 to each of the closest party members to the ships.)Capital Defense Cannon (Only one, appears only on the 2^nd planet from the star in this system. Seems to be homeworld; the dark side is totally glowing with electric lights. If party member gets close to this planet the cannon fires, dealing d6 damage in cataclysmic damage. Can only fire once as a trap.)[7] Gigantic pile of alien pornography and smut. The top layer contains human stuff, but as it goes down the female creatures become more and more alien and exotic. Any type of alien that exists in the setting can be found in the Xenoplayboy pile in 1d6 minutes.

The pile of pornography is probably not worth much except to a huge pervert.

[8] Airlock system with 4 functioning space suits still within. Outside the airlock are several astronaut suits, still floating on their taglines. Closer inspection reveals corpses inside each one, perfectly preserved without bacteria or flies to decompose them. They have little of value except the tools they hold and their suits.

10% chance each time you go out here a strange cosmic radiation wave reanimates the dead into vicious astronaut zombies. Maybe be smart enough to try and cut the tag lines or break the oxygen tanks of your characters.

[9] You find a hidden storage locker containing 'human suits'. Artificial skin, compression plates, even mechanical muscles in the face and eyes to have the illusion of emotions and facial expressions.

There are spots for 6 of them, but 2 are missing. At least two human survivors or characters on the ship are actually aliens in disguise. Your alien party members could also put these to use as well.

[10] You come across a freezer or refrigeration unit. Several chains, police tape lines, duct tape and other binders are trying to keep it closed. It also has the words 'DANGER KEEP CLOSED' written along it hastily in paint.

If opened, a Mollobster jumps out.

Mollobster (2HD+1, d4 tentacles, d6 claw, slick froth, AC +4)
This creature appears to be some rare cross between a mollusk and lobster; attacks with tentacles and large claws. It spews a slippery froth from its mouth, causing clumsy party members to fall to the floor.

It attacks hard and fast, and its shell is extremely resistant to damage. It seems very aggressive because it has eaten almost all the food that was in the fridge with it. If killed and eaten it tastes absolutely delicious. The shell can be made into a small piece of armor that grants +1 AC. If captured alive, can be sold to a gourmet chef for several hundred credits.

[11] Advanced simulation chair containing a starving human gamer within, still alive and moving, but only in the context of the simulation. He's been trapped inside there for who knows how long, and been getting an IV drip and insulin from his own cruel AI.

The AI is not self aware or disobeying its owner; the owner simply programmed the AI to not allow him to leave without beating the simulation. However whatever caused the ship to get ruined also messed up his game, causing it to become much harder. 1D4+1 remaining mind-jacks allow the party members to enter the simulation if they choose to.

The simulation is a war game. The simulation follows a large medieval kingdom under attack by extremely advanced aliens. The kid has been running through it and failing again and again trying to unite the medieval people to be able to fight their superior enemies.

Combine the intelligence of all party members jacked in + 16 for the kid. If the total >50 you win the simulation in 1d6 hours. If the total is >70 you win in the first round. Party members are trapped if not intelligent enough to succeed the simulation.

If simulation wins; the kid will join you. He starts as a level 1 specialist with good skills in programming and hacking, plus he knows the layout of the derelict.

[12] Radiation is leaking from the engine or nuclear weapons in this part of the ship. The area is somewhat dangerous but most space-suits or medkits can make someone immune to radiation.

If more then 2 turns or twenty minutes are spent here, the party will encounter 1d6 Giant Cockroach men, made from the radiation. You will encounter another 1d6 each ten minutes further.

Cockroach Men (1HD, 1d4 bite, AC +2, 50% chance to not die when reaching 0 HP) The cockroach men will use any weapons they found, but aren't smart enough to reload or repair them.

[13] Robotic police enforcers have been set up in this area. The robots do not have any lethal weapons, but do posses tasers and pepper spray. Their criminal scanning systems have been compromised after the lawlessness on this station for the many years of looting, now even simple acts of aggression or picking up dropped goods count as theft. The police bots will do this to both party members and enemies, but will also follow anyone around that seems the most latent criminal.

Law Bots (3HD, nonlethal weapons only, AC +4)
The law bots will pepper spray and taser anyone who attacks them, but cannot fight back harder then that and could be destroyed by continued assault.

[14] Hologram generator. It creates holographic copies of scanned into it, including party members. The holograms last for 1d8x10 minutes divided by the number of holograms.

Intelligent enemies can also use this to make themselves appear like there are more of them, or some other clever trick like fake equipment on the ground for a trap.

[15] Small group of survivors hiding out in a storage container. They are snacking on a couple of deep-dehydrated rations. The survivors have a 50% chance to be here from when the ship was originally here, or they are another group of scavengers who were trying to raid the ship too but got trapped.

They are neutral in temperament, or make a reaction roll. Add +1 to the roll if the whole party is human.

[16] Part of the ship is seemingly in great repair. Artificial gravity and oxygen is perfect, and the walls even appear clean and smooth. The ship is repairing itself here, metal slowly bending back into shape, wires and cords fixing themselves. Anyone that damages the ship here, even indirectly, is subject to the security system's wrath.

There is also a stuck door, that must be forced open to find treasure inside. Will trigger alarm.

[17] An insane man growls at your party like an animal. He's defensive, prefers to run instead of fight but is naked and doesn't appear to have any intelligence.

The next encounter you roll, add in a two legged dog that speaks and appears very concerned. He claims he was body-swapped with his dog. This is true, but if he finds out you killed his old body he will be very angry, attacking the person responsible. However even if found alive, it seems unlikely that he knows how to switch.

Regardless, if friendly enough the dog-scientist will join your party.

[18] Four men cower in four corners of a large and comfortable living space. The entire room is covered in blood, blast marks, knife cuts, and other symbols of damage. The four men say that they are only allowed to leave if they kill each other.

The men usually argue about trying to work together, but will eventually start fighting regardless of party intervention, end up dying. When all four end up dying, a subtle mist descends on the room and make the corpses shamble back to their starting positions, restores their wounds, and makes it start over again.

Each cycle plays a little differently, but all the men usually end up dying within an hour and a half or so. If their bodies are removed from the room the fog will travel outwards and eventually try to reanimate the corpse. If taken away or blocked somehow, instead the cycle will continue with only three men.

[19] Praying mantis like alien being that has developed god-like powers over everything within a single room of the space ship. The entire room hums like a rainforest and the floor is a giant leaf. He is currently engaged in intercourse with several females of his species.

The door will fade away and be nearly impossible to find again without either gaining the mantis-god's favor or killing him.

[20] Cryogenic freezing room. There are three kinds of tanks here; ones with a gray or dim light to show the subject with is dead, ones with a blue light to show subject is alive and will return to normal when unfrozen, and finally tanks with red lights indicated that the subject will go berserk when frozen. There is no obvious instruction showing what the colors of the light means, it must be learned by trail and error.

In this room are 1d4 Dim light tanks, 1d4 Blue tanks, and 1d6 Red Tanks. A small button on the far away console is an 'all clear' button; opening and unfreezing all the tanks at once.

There are spots for 1d8 other tanks that appear missing. They are hidden around the ship, but without lights above them there is no way of knowing what their occupants are like without unfreezing them and finding out. When you open a tank, roll 1d20 on the Cryogenic Statis Tank table.

Wandering Monsters

Roll 1d6 for a wandering monster

(1) 1d8 Space Pirates (1HD, +1 To Hit and AC, d6 general laser weaponry. They like to gang up on people and are cowardly.)
There is a 50% chance one of them is carrying a heavy laser gun (d8 damage)
There is a 50% chance one of them is a medic (can heal another pirate 1d6 HP per turn)
There is a 50% chance they have a robot with them (extra enemy, 2HD, +3 AC, fists only)(2) 1d4 Psychic Wraiths (1HD, 1d4 psychic lash, takes no damage from physical attacks, takes half damage from energy weapons, cannot hurt robots or psychic 'blanks'.)
The Wraiths are leftovers from when the ship wasn't a derelict. The can be destroyed with enough energy attacks, psychic attacks, or can be put to rest by completing a task the ghost wished to complete when it was alive, but this is difficult if not impossible to determine.

(3) Nanobot Swarm (1HD total, +3 AC, each attack except for AoE only deals 1 damage to swarm, swarm deals d4 to everyone in it.) Tries to rearrange the molecules in the party's bodies. 

(4) Lobotomized Chimpanzees (1d6 appearing, stats as goblin but can throw disorienting blasts of psychic energy).(5) Security Turrets(1d4 appearing, 2HD, cannot move but can swivel 360 degrees. Fires 1d8 heavy laser at -1 To Hit)
Placed at hard points around the ship, you can usually avoid it by just moving around it, or disable its targeting systems by finding security chips off of corpses and implanting them.

(6) Clone-Vat Men (1d10 appearing, 1HD, no armor or weapons, 1d4 bites and scratches.) These vat men all appear the same, clones that come out of a few large cloning vats at one point in the station. A simple science check will reveal that the clone men come out every 2-4 years as the clone station auto-attempts to repopulate the ship with useful technicians to repair the damage, but without any educational material or people to learn from they become feral instead. If one of them could somehow be trained they would be revealed to be very naturally talented with machines.

What's in the Cryogenic Stasis Tank?

Roll 1d20

1. Extremely strong human body builder, freakishly flexible along with it.
2. Alien bounty hunter still armed with plasma gun. Very trigger happy.
3. 2d6 Raccoons, all hugging for warmth.
4. 80 year old man identical to the Clones. Has multiple stab wounds from where his DNA was extracted during his cryo-sleep.
5. First appears as a mutant, actually a man with a tremendous amount of body-modifications including horns, claws, eyebrow ridges, scales, etc.
6. Brain on a metal pan. Will jump at anyone with a Wisdom of 7 or less; trying to wiggle into their head to control them.
7. Several thousand cockroaches bust out, the pod was packed to the brim with them.
8. A skeleton. If the cosmic ray from [8] has occurred; this skeleton will also animate.
9. Forty bottles of space cola, stored here to keep them icy cold and fresh.
10. A Calico Housecat. Collar reads Princess
11. Young, nubile naked blonde women. First thing she says “Do I really need to pose like that?” before she realizes where she is.
12. Three extremely skinny mutants, all pushed inside the same pod. Spots on their skin have been marked with X's as if for later surgery or study.
13. Service droid. Because it is not organic, it has been aware this entire time while frozen. Its memory banks contain the only constant account of what happened on this ship, but only from the perspective of a tiny glass window and the noises outside it.
14. Man with a massive piece of metal stuck in his head. He screams constantly; he was frozen for later surgery. He dies within 1d6 minutes of being unfrozen.
15. Several high quality stakes of a delicious creature that has been eaten to extinction.
16. Violent space alien that lays eggs in dead bodies. Runs and stalks the party instead of fighting directly if it can.
17. Station Sheriff. Armed with a laser revolver (1d6+1 and +1 to Hit) and a security clearance badge that gives whoever wears it clearance + clearance to everyone traveling within 10ft of wearer.
18. A chimpanzee, not yet experimented upon.
19. Appears empty, but releases a faint cloud of reddish smoke. Was actually filled with frozen Neon gas.
20. Fourth dimensional being. One of its 'fingers' was stuck in this tube.

Blasters & 12 Blaster Settings

Every since I read MAGE a long time ago and read about how the school of Forces is like, all different kinds of energy combined together, I always thought that was an extremely interesting concept. However it fits better in a setting that is more scientific then a medieval fantasy one, which would care about things like elements more then wavelengths in my opinion.

So then, what about Science Fiction? What about Perfected Tyranny?

Blaster Rifle w/ open battery chamber

Blasters

Blasters are a universal energy weapon. They can kill people, they can kill robots, they can kill weird alien goo monsters and they can kill SICOs. Smart space people in the future would probably just use nukes to kill each other, or kinetic rods launched at near lightspeed from solar systems away, but where's the fun in that? While a good old fashioned gun could probably kill most humans and fleshy monsters easier then a laser gun, it won't do shit against a living pile of rubber, or a heavily encased robot, or a being made out of energy. Plus, all it takes to fire them is a bit of energy, which can be generated in a massive number of ways.

Now one problem I had with making this post was my desire to create multiple types of sci-fi energy weapons. You know- lasers AND plasma AND ray guns AND pulse weapons and all that, but maybe it's better if they're all under a generic umbrella that can do anything.

Blaster Batteries

Blaster Batteries are wonderful pieces of technology. Just to make them a little better, they're generic 'Power Cores' that can be used for any medium range tech- you can put as many or as few as you'd like together to power bigger things. They look like pure black cylinders, and aren't really made of metal. You can bet a few developing races have made religions after finding one or two left behind on their backwater worlds.

Any type of energy that the cylinder absorbs goes into its charge. It's cool to the touch, and absorbs some amount of heat. It's black, and absorbs most light. It's dense and its weight balance is weird. Throwing these things don't go as far as you might expect, because it's absorbing much of the energy. It falls at a sluggish pace, once against absorbing its falling speed as energy. Despite being a cylinder, if rolled on its side down a slope that isn't too steep it will impossibly slow down and stop rolling, its ability to absorb its momentum at one point being too much for gravity to overcome its inertia.

The reason why these babies are so useful is because all of the above charge it, so you can see how easy it would be to keep an army or scouting team supplied with power. Leaving it out in the sun is a great way to get a passive charge. You can shake them up for a small boost if you need some power right now, or throw them into a fire and let them absorb it that way. Normal campfires are too cold, and its ability to absorb heat too quickly, for a regular fire to actually damage it.

Ray Gun Settings

Rays Guns, much like Sci-Fi itself, have many grades of technology. Some are bulky and thickly designed, with rough knobs on the side clicking to determine the Ray Gun's setting. Some are sleek, with touchscreens and security settings.

Every Ray Gun has the 'Blasting' setting, which is the generic weapon setting. Fires a small blast of energy that deals 1d6 damage to pretty much anything. While strictly military guns will just have this, most will have a few or all of these special settings.

Pew Pew

Ray Gun Settings - 1d12

[1] Heat- Soft wide-ray that slowly heats up whatever its pointed out. Melts ice, dries out fabrics, and solidifies mud. Can be focused to start fires, melt your way through a bulkhead, or boil water.

[2] Stun- Intense blast of energy that shorts out the nervous system of most creatures for a moment. Good non-lethal option, but is less effective on larger creatures. Small creatures may have their heart stopped by it. Criminals in space prison get stunned so often they build up resistance.

[3] Sound- Directional speaker- focused down a narrow path. Can play music, amplify your voice, or just be so shrill to hurt you or break glass.

[4] Light- Flashlight, projector, can be made wide angle. Some get so strong they can shoot a beam that can be seem from space, useful for SOS signals. Maybe can shoot a flare.

[5] Radio/Signal- Self explanatory. Useful for planetary communication, doesn't travel faster then the speed of light unless you hook it up to a Hyperwave reactor.

[6] Plasma- Fires out super-heated gas like a flamethrower. People love this to burn out alien infestations and shit.

[7] Hologram Projector- Produces 3d images at a distance, but will flicker and look pretty shitty. Real issue is what you can project, you'd have to program anything you'd want to project.

[8] Levitron- Point this at something to make it levitate, be pulled towards or away from you. Has a clear weight limit and doesn't work as well against moving targets.

[9] Transfer Beam- Firing this very weak beam lets it specifically seek out and recharge other power cores you point it at. You can use your gun like a battery pack for your other gear.

[10] Wave- Builds up a powerful single blast of sound, wind, or pressure. The shockwave will break glass and knock back nearby creatures. Probably the best way to defend yourself underwater.

[11] Disintegration- Fires a constant stream of energy that breaks objects down into tiny cubes of their most base elements. Pretty useful industrial applications, but against biological beings it can really fuck you up. Increase damage to d8, but its a battery sucker.

[12] Scrambler- Direct hit disrupts technology. Stuns robots, causes cloaking devices and personal protective shields to stop working. Many unsecured doors can be forced to open by blasting them with this ability. Causes cybernetic implants to be useless hunks of metal for a short time.