A science fiction role-playing adventure by George Dew
Cover by Danijel Firak
Illustrations by Danijel Firak
Pieces by Mark Hill, Jake Minor, George Dew
Board by Dark City Games
Copyright © 2011 Dark City Games
Weary to the bone, your eyes look over to the communication screen. “The distress signal is new,” the officer tells you. Thinking deeply, you ask, “What are the details again?”
Patiently, he repeats. “Less than an hour ago, remote sensors under the control of Void Station 90 reported a distress signal in the area of Lemm. What makes it odd is that it’s a distress signal only. It has no details about the actual event.” The officer continues. “What is your response? We really need to know.”
Tired, weary, and reluctantly, you agree. Sometimes there’s just no one else qualified to pull these people out of their predicaments. “OK,” you say. You gather your clothes, pull on your boots, and put a call in to your team. Another routine rescue on the periphery…
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.
The board is divided into playing areas of different sizes. If you read: “You are at A on board III,” find board III and place your characters on A. If all A hexes are full, place your characters immediately adjacent. Characters can look through, but cannot enter half-hexes.
Characters cannot enter spaces containing tree trunks. Entering a rock or scrub space uses all remaining movement. Tree trunks and scrub block line of sight. Firing over intervening rocks and furniture require 4/DX to hit (unless the obstacle is adjacent to the character firing).
Players start with four beginning characters, each with $400, which is about one work week of unskilled labor. In addition to skills of choice, every character is literate and has Swimming+1.
Enemies attack the closest player characters first. Unless otherwise stated, adversaries (except the undead) flee upon suffering half their ST or more in damage points.
If you select the attack option, you have initiative. If you select the talk option, decide what to say before continuing. Dead adversaries do not rejuvenate upon subsequent visits. Only after all adversaries are defeated can you loot bodies, search or depart 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.
A party may leave companions behind, but upon returning to that entry, roll one die. On a one or two, the companion is still there in the same condition as before. Otherwise the companion is gone, never to be heard from again.
Only record the passage of time while the party is in transit or overnighting. A party can visit three locations per day (morning, afternoon, evening), though it takes an entire day to travel from island to island. A party must camp for the night following encounters at their last location of the day. Exploring different rooms or buildings of a complex does not use up time.
One ration feeds one character for one day.
You come out of hyperspace around the barren, rocky, waste-planet of Lemm. It orbits a distant star, and lacks an atmosphere. As a result, the inhospitable grey surface boasts temperatures hundreds of degrees below zero (000).
S.O.S. Copyright © 2011 Dark City Games
