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Tag Archives: Rosegard

Carlos Kildare (Quickdeath Bounty Hunter)

Life has been a bit crazy recently and I haven’t posted anything for a couple of weeks but progress is being made.  I should be getting several post up over the next couple of weeks.  We start this month off with an NPC that you might encounter while traveling in the outback on Pale, Carlos Kildare.  The Death at Rosegard adventure features an opportunity for the PC’s to meet and possibly work with Carlos.  That interaction will be detailed in a different post but for now, here is his description and stats.

Carlos Kildare

Quickdeath hunter

Carlos was born on Minotaur but emigrated to Pale when the planet was first colonized. He is a first-wave colonist but has become a bit of curmudgeon as he has aged. Carlos is the classic “been there, done that and got the scars to prove it” sort of character that you might meet around the Frontier.

He grew up in Point True and was present when the sathar landed at the outset of the First Sathar War. He joined the Aletheia Resistance Band and fought the alien invaders for the duration of the war. With the defeat of the sathar fleets in space and material support from the Pan Galactic Corporation, the government of Pale inducted all the resistance fighters into ad hoc army formations. Carlos attained the rank of sergeant in one of these rag tag militia formations but left the military after the sathar infantry were wiped out on Pale.

Since that time he’s done well collecting bounties on sathar attack monsters that were let loose during the war. He uses a modified Snow Panther track vehicle (stats below) to get around. For a time right after the war, there was a glut of bounty hunters seeking quick cash but the pickings have become slim and only a few hardcore hunters remain in the business. Carlos had his crew quit after a recent run of bad luck and is seeking extra hands for his team.

He has also recently been diagnosed with a nearly inoperable cancer. He could allow the doctors to attempt to treat it but the “cure” will leave him weak and change little or nothing. He would rather spend his time going after bounties and may have a bit of a death wish.

Stats

Human, Male

Age: 140
STR/STA: 45/55
DEX/RS: 60/60
INT/LOG: 35/40
PER/LDR: 35/50
PS: +3, IM: +6, Ranged: Beam 70%, Projectile 50%, Melee: 53%
PSA: Military
Skills: Beam weapons 4, Melee weapons 3, Projectile weapons 2, Technician 2
Equipment: Military Skeinsuit, Sonic Disruptor & power belt, Machete, chronocom, ID, sun goggles, and military issue parka and snow pants.
Equipment stowed in the Snow Panther:  2 holo projectors and a type 3 parabattery, a kerosene powered type 1 generator, five 5 gallon jerry cans (for kerosene), 3 electro stunners, two pikes (pole arms), 4 solvaway, 5 tangler grenades, 5 frag grenades, 1 auto rifle, a dozen 20 SEU clips and 6 auto rifle clips, survival food & water, a single wire electric fence (100 m long with 20 SEU clip- acts as a stun stick if anything touches the wire), a depleted med kit (enough Biocort and supplies to perform first aid twice as well as 4 doses of anti-tox), and a half depleted tech kit (50% chance the kit is missing the part you need for the current skill check).

The Snow Panther

Vehicle:               Snow Panther
Cost (Cr):             17,500
Top Speed:         75 kph (125m/turn)
Cruise Speed:    60 kph (100m/turn)
Acceleration:     40m/turn
Deceleration:    30m/turn
Turn speed:       70 m/turn
Passengers:        6
Cargo Limits:      3000 kg, 8 cubic meters

The Snow Panther is a tracked working vehicle designed for the bitter cold of the planet Pale’s environment. Most that are used in the outback are optimized to be lived in with fold down cots, a small camp stove and a space heater. With a full complement of passengers, it can be a bit crowded but is still workable.

Kildare’s Snow Panther has been modified with a roof hatch and the roof has a low railing running around the roof. There is also a winch and swing arm for lifting heavy objects to the roof as well as a power port that connects to the parabattery. On the sides and back of the vehicle is a folding catwalk with railing that is just wide enough for one person to walk on. While the cat walk is deployed it is possible to walk on it entirely around the vehicle (but off the ground) except in front.

Note: The generator will operate for four hours on five gallons of fuel. It has a full tank and the jerry cans are full so the generator can be run for a total of 24 hours producing 500 SEU/hour. The snow panther uses 1 SEU/kilometer to travel. The life support systems and cook stove use 2 SEU/day.

July 4, 2018 Tom Leave a comment

Pale Tailless Squirrel

One of the encounters the PCs have while investigating the murder at the mining facility near Rosegard is a run-in with a new Sathar bio-construct, the Sathar Poison Squirrel.  Based on a native Pale species, this bio-construct is new in the Frontier, having only been released in the last year or so.  The PCs will be one of the first to encounter it.  Here is the description and stats for both the native Pale Tailless Squirrel and the Sathar Poison Squirrel.

Pale Tailless Squirrel

The Pale Tailless Squirrel is a small rodent, native to Pale remarkably similar to squirrels of the human homeworld but lacking the signature big bushy tail.  They can be found all over Pale in any temperate, tropical, and even some arctic climates.

Pale Tailless Squirrels range in color from light tans and greys to nearly snow white depending on their environment.  They are generally skittish and shy away from members of the Frontier races although may approach if there is a chance of free food.  If cornered these creatures will fight but their small mouths and jaws, primarily designed for eating vegetation and nuts, do not do much damage (1d5 pts).

Pale Tailless Squirrel
STA: 10
RS: 70
Move: Medium (30m/turn)
Size: small
#Appearing: 1d2
Attack: 50
Damage: 1d5

 

Sathar Poison Squirrel

This is a sathar bio-construct based on the native Pale Tailless Squirrel.  This is a new creature in the Frontier that has just been released in the last year or so and is starting to invade the ecosystem. It was engineered in sathar biolab somewhere on Pale.  Although first seen near the village of Rosegard, the bio-lab in question is not near that village.

The Sathar version is more gregarious and will be much more likely to approach members of the Frontiers species.  It is more playful than the native version but will inevitably try to bite, typically fingers or toes.  While the bite only does 1d5 points worth of damage like the native creature, unlike the native squirrel, the bite is highly poisonous.  The Sathar Poison Squirrel’s bite contains a S4/T20 poison. A successful STA check results in half damage.  Standard Anti-Tox will treat the poison if properly administered.

Side by side comparison of the Pale Tailless Squirrel and the Sathar Poison Squirrel showing the faint strip down the back of the latter.
Pale Tailless Squirrel (left) compared to a Sathar Poison Squirrel (right). The only immediate difference is the faint pale stripe down the back of the Sathar Poison Squirrel which is not always obvious.

Physically, they are nearly identical to the native species. The most noticeable difference is that the bio-construct has a stripe of fur down its back that is slightly paler than the rest of the fur. The native species does not have this stripe. If examined closely there are other small details that set it apart from the native version such as stronger jaws, sharper teeth, slightly more hook like claws on its toes, and a stronger musculature.

Sathar Poison Squirrel
STA: 20
RS: 70
MV: Medium (30m/turn)
Size: small
#Appearing: 1d2
Attack: 60
Damage: 1d5
Special Attack: poisonous bite, S4/T20, current STA check for half damage.
June 19, 2018 Tom 1 Comment

Pale Background Information

What follows is player background information for the Death at Rosegard adventure.  This is information that it is assumed the PCs would know from living in the Frontier and on the planet Pale where the adventure takes place.  It covers a bit bit of history, planetary data, and socio-political information.

The adventure is written as if it takes place after the first sathar incursion into the Frontier but before the Second Sathar War begins.  As such, instead of referring to the initial sathar invasion as the First Sathar War as is common in the rule books, the text refers to it as the Great Sathar War since there hasn’t been a second one yet.  Expeptions occur when providing GM information designed to help modify the adventure for a different time period.

History

Pale is a new old planet.  It was first colonized 176 years before the founding of the United Planetary Federation.  It had a medium population before the Great Sathar War that led to the founding of the UPF.  At that time Point True had a population of several hundred thousand inhabitants.

During the war every major population center other than Point True, as well as most minor population centers were destroyed by orbital bombardment.  Even small villages and farmstead were destroyed by aerial bombing.  There is basically just a big crater at the location of every city, town, village, or farm that existed before the invasion.  In Point True, the old military base was nuked leaving several large craters and damage to remaining structures but the rest of the city was left relatively intact.  There are still signs of the Sathar occupation that can be seen throughout the older portions of Point True.

The sathar were in the process of exporting the inhabitants off-world when the Frontier forces arrived and the sathar were defeated and driven off.  Many thousands of the inhabitants of Point True were taken away in sathar ships and have never been heard from since.

After the war, the planet rebounded, partially due to the influx of people coming to help rebuild and partially due to aggressive development by Streel Corporation (known as Streele Mining Corp before the war).  At the time of the adventure, about 40-50 years after the invasion, the population has grown to nearly its pre-war level.  While the population is predominantly human, there is a significant representation of the other three major Frontier races. The racial breakdown is 46% human, 23% Yazirian, 18% Dralasite, and 13% Vrusk.  However, since the war, the population is much more concentrated around Point True.  Some portions of the planet are still completely uninhabited.

Planetary Rotation and Timekeeping

Snow-covered landscape with a small river and the sun low on the horizon.

Pale orbits its primary, Truane’s Star, in the outer portions of the star’s habitable zone. This causes the average temperature on Pale to be fairly low resulting in cold and severe winters and cool summers. Pale is also a slightly smaller world with a surface gravity of only 0.9 g.

In addition to the cool weather, Pale rotates very slowly on its axis, completing one revolution every 55 standard hours. As such the local population has divided the day into four working time periods:

  • Day-day: Corresponds to the 13 hours starting roughly 1 hour after sunrise on the planet’s vernal equinox at Point True. This is the typical working time when the sun is up.
  • Day-night: This corresponds to the next 14 hour period and is typically a rest period although the sun is still shining. Because this rest period occurs during daylight hours, all houses on Pale have windows or curtains allowing rooms to be completely “blacked out” to simulate darkness and nighttime even though the sun is still up.
  • Night-day: This is the 13 hour work period occurring during the local night. Since this is a time of major work and transportation, all the streets and buildings of Pale are well lit to provide a semblance of daylight during this work period. When seen from orbit, the cities and towns of Pale in the Night-day part of the cycle blaze with light.
  • Night-night: This is the final 14 hour rest period that occurs during the local night time.

The extra hour is added in to either the Day-day or Night-day period depending on the season, the hour being added to the Day-day in the summer when the days are longer and the Night-day in the winter when the nights are longer.

Typical work periods are 10 hours long during the Day-day and Night-day periods although there are many graveyard and swing shift positions that run during other hours.

Sathar Presence on the Planet

As part of their invasion, the sathar seeded the biosphere around the planet, especially around Point True, with a number of their bio-constructs and attack monsters. Despite efforts to clean up after the war, some of these creatures are still loose on the planet. While quickdeaths and slithers are the most common, there are also a few other creatures that can be encountered when ranging away from the population centers. There are even still some cybodragons (and their descendants) running around although the cyber features are no longer functional due to lack of power. There are bounties for the elimination of these creatures paid for by the Pale government.

In addition to sathar bio-constructs, there are rumored to be some small pockets of sathar still living on the planet.  These are remnants from the sathar army that was driven off and mostly destroyed when the planet was liberated.  They survive by foraging and by hypnotizing and controlling members of the population to provide food and materials as needed.  It is unknown how many of these sathar still survive and how active they are but the numbers range from a few dozen to several hundreds.

While rare, it is still possible to find some sathar technology from the war.  It is rarely intact or functioning but any such finds are almost immediately collected by Star Law as soon as the discovery becomes known.

Politics and Corporations

Streel Corporate logoStreel is by far the dominant force on the planet.  After the war, Hilo Headrow took over Steele Mining and expanded its operations – first on Pale and then across the Frontier.  While Streel doesn’t officially control the government, the government and its policies are fairly favorable towards the company and it is rumored that a majority of the government’s officials are “owned” by Streel in one way or another.  Despite the potential negative aspects of this situation, Streel’s touch on the government is surprisingly light-handed given the tactics the company employs elsewhere around the Frontier.  Much of the work of the government is environmentally sound and intelligent.  Thoughtful practices are put into place that benefit all companies on the planet not just Streel.  In fact, the planet is strong on fostering new ideas and companies.

While Streel is the dominant player, Pan Galactic Corporation still has a sizeable presence and even dominates in a few areas on the planet’s surface.  In addition, a number of new emerging corporations have offices and operations on the planet.  Names like StarPlay, WarTech, TransTravel, and Universal Households are becoming more common.

Miscellaneous GM Notes

The adventure takes place during the events of Laco’s War, the corporate war between Streel and PGC.  While that conflict actually has no impact on the adventure, it should be kept in mind when PCs are interacting with outside agents.  There is some tension between to two corporations.

Most of the other corporations listed in either the Knight Hawks Campaign Book or Zebulon’s Guide to the Frontier exist at this point although they are not yet considered mega-corps.  Only Streel and PGC currently have that status.  That said, they are growing and their presence is being felt on Pale.

By the time of the Second Sathar War, the population has rebounded to its pre-war level and is pushing into the heavy population category.   If you set the adventure at another time period, adjust the size/number of towns and the population accordingly.

 

That’s it for the general background.  I have a whole other section of background and detail information on the village of Rosegard itself but that will be another post.  Feel free to share your thoughts on the planetary background in the comments below.

May 17, 2018 Tom Leave a comment

Outline of the Death at Rosegard Adventure Project

black and white sketch of the village of rosegardThis is the first of what will be the “Outline” series of posts.  I’ll typically do one of these for the start of each project and possibly smaller ones for major sub-projects pieces.  We’ll have to see how it goes.  In these posts my plan is to lay out the basic structure of the project, identifying what will be included, what needs to be created and so forth.  I’ll tag each of these outlines, along with the post related to that project with a tag to make them easily identifiable.  For this particular project, the tag is “Rosegard” as is called out below.

The first three outlines, for my initial projects, will probably be a bit more fleshed out than later ones since I’ve been thinking about them a bit, or in the case of this one, already mostly finished it.  Or it may be that things go on, these will get more detailed as I’ll be better about thinking of things in advance.  We’ll have to see.  Also, these first ones won’t be open to much debate as they are projects that are fairly well along.  For future projects however, I will be taking input and idea from commenters and Patreon supporters to provide direction on what is created.

This particular project, Death at Rosegard, is an adventure I ran for my on-line Star Frontiers game and I have all the major pieces in some form, I just need to clean them up and present them.  So hopefully it will go pretty quickly.  That’s not true of the other initial projects and any future projects I create.

Let’s get started.

Death at Rosegard

Project tag: Rosegard

Level

An adventure for 4-6 beginning characters.  This was literally written for a group of 6 brand new characters as their first adventure.

Premise

The PCs work for a mega-corp (Streel in this case) which has an arrangement with the small village of Rosegard to operate a mine near the town.  One of the mining staff has been murdered and the PCs are sent to investigate.

Spoiler Sidebar

These outline posts are going to be, by definition, spoilery.  It can’t be helped.  But then again, I think the main audience for this material is going to be game masters more than players.  However, if you want to be a player in these adventures and have your GM run them, I’ll try to flag out things to skip so you don’t ruin the surprise.  To do so I’ll flag spoilery sections with this blue and gold warning mark:

blue triangle with gold excalemation mark in the middle

If it appears near a heading, skip to the next section.  If it appears next to a paragraph or bullet item, you only have to skip that small bit.  Finally, when I do a post about one of these spoiler topics, I’ll put the warning icon right at the top and that means you may want to skip the entire article.  I may not always be successful in tagging everything but I’ll try.  You’ve been warned.

In this particular article, I think the only thing you need to skip is the Basic Story section coming up and a couple of bullet items in the “materials needed” section.

Basic Story spoiler warning icon

One of the mine staff is a sleeper agent for the sathar and has been recently activated.  He has been slowly over the past several months been “liberating” supplies from the mining facility and providing them to his sathar handler.  He has been aided recently by someone from the town providing supplies as well.  His actions were discovered and caught off guard, he killed the discoverer.  He then disposed of the body in a way to attempt to make it look like it was done by the native fauna but that failed.

The PC’s are sent to attempt to find the murder and in the process should uncover the sathar connection, discover another sathar agent unconnected to the town, and a small sathar base in the mountains.  In addition, they will get to interact with the village, meet the inhabitants and possibly form some connections to the village.  There is also the person in the village that is aiding the sathar agent at the mine to discover

Materials Needed for the Adventure

  • World map showing the location of Rosegard in relation to other points of interest
  • Area map of the countryside around the village and the mine
  • Village map (rough draft appears above)
  • Mining compound map
  • Stats and bios of the mining staff
  • Stats and bios of the villagers
  • spoiler warning icon Map and bio for location with the external agent and how he’s connected to the story
  • spoiler warning icon Map and stats for the sathar base
  • Various bits of background and history for the planet and area
  • A “Where to go from here” section with further story ideas

 

Last Words

And there we go, a basic outline for the adventure and a list of what is needed.  Normally that “materials needed” section would be the final bit of the outline but seeing as this is the first one, I thought I’d talk about it and how it will be used.  At a most basic level, that list is the roadmap for upcoming blog posts.  Those are the bits and pieces I’ll need to develop (and share) as I build the adventure.

The list will probably be incomplete and often a bit vague in the beginning as I’ll think of other things that need to be added along the way.  It’s not my intention to come back and edit it as we go but I might do a post at the end to compare what was made to what I originally envisioned, in part to just see how it fell out and partially as a learning tool for myself to get better at planning and estimating what is involved.

In this particular case, most of what is on that list already exists, either as notes, sketches, rough drafts as I have already run the adventure.  We’ll be working on turning those notes and drafts into final forms over the coming weeks.

What do you think about the outline format?  Are there things you’d like to see included?  Things that need more detail?  Should I not worry about the spoiler alerts?  Let me know in the comments below.

 

 

May 5, 2018 Tom 1 Comment

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