A science fiction adventure by: George Dew
ART: Minor Brothers
PIECES: Mark Hill
PLAY TESTERS: Alec Groathouse, Sean Groathouse, Tony Groathouse, Bret Winters
Copyright © 2011 Dark City Games
Nero V is a remote outpost in a lawless region of space. Its mission is to support several of the distant colonies on the periphery of the empire. Because of the distance from the empire, local government relies heavily on contractors. You have signed on as a general contractor, taking up random tasks as they are assigned. In the last several months, shipments of arms and supplies routed to the colonies have disappeared.
One day a distress signal comes in from Orion Waning, a colony three hyperspace jumps away. The signal indicates that the Orion outpost is under sporadic attack. Though fortified, the outpost has limited resources and few personnel. It can only hold out for a limited time, and requests evacuation.
Similarly short on supplies and men, the commander of Nero V asks you to fly the only available warship, a small corvette nicknamed the “Jelly Bean,” to the colony’s aid. The outpost musters a week of rations for 16 people, which will be stowed in the Jelly Bean’s cargo bay.
Though the Jelly Bean is an obsolete vessel, at the frontier, it is the best warship around. With little intelligence, questionable equipment and no training, you embark on a mission to rescue the settlers at Orion Waning.
The adventure comprises a series of numbered entries. Do not read the entries sequentially, they are intentionally scrambled. As you play, you will be directed to the different numbered entries.
While reading an entry, you will find options directly followed by numbers in parentheses. If you decide to take an option, turn immediately to the corresponding entry number. Continue playing from that point.
Occasionally, an upper case word in parentheses follows a sentence or phrase. This indicates that you have now acquired this plot word. Retain all plot words until specifically instructed to discard them. Plot words have an impact on your fate.
Letters correspond to locations on the game board. For example, you might read that “You are at A in a Type III room.” Find the Type III room on the game board and place your characters on the hexes marked A. If all A hexes are full, place your characters immediately adjacent.
Characters hiding in the space immediately behind cover are 4/DX to hit rather than 3/DX.
Players start with four 32-point characters, each with three skills. Characters are assumed to be at a low point in funds, otherwise, they wouldn’t be doing this type of work. At least one character must take PILOT+1 as a skill.
If you select the attack option, you have initiative. If you select the talk option, decide what to say before continuing. Unless otherwise stated, adversaries surrender after taking 1/2 their ST or more in damage/fatigue. Dead adversaries do not rejuvenate upon subsequent visits. Only after all adversaries are defeated can you loot bodies, search or leave through a different entrance than the one used to enter.
When the party is asked to pass a check at an encounter, the party elects one character. That character has one chance to pass the check, or he fails and the party suffers the consequences.
For record keeping purposes, time only passes while your ship travels in hyperspace. Each hyperspace jump takes one day of local time. Fighting or searching at local encounters takes no time.
If the Jelly Bean goes DIW, you have failed your mission. You turn on the distress beacon, send a message to Nero V, and enter the suspended animation pods. Your last thoughts before going to sleep are hope that you will be recover by the Empire… if at all.
While fighting at an encounter, crew are assumed to be wearing flak vests 3/0 with blasters 3D6 close by.
You are at Nero V, at X=0, Y=0, Z=0. Your objective is to get to the Orion Waning colony at X+1, Y+1, Z+1. There you must evacuate the surviving colonists, and bring them safely back to Nero V. Go to instruction 000 and begin.
Repel Boarders Starboard Copyright © 2011 Dark City Games
