reality blurs presents

derelict adrift
a tremulus playset

writing

by

Sean Preston

layout and graphics

Sean Preston

editing
Lyn Harm and Brad Bell

tremulus: a storytelling game of lovecraftian horror, tremulus, derelict adrift,

associated images, and content are copyright 2012-2015, Reality Blurs, LLC..
 Derelict Adrift
The unblinking, indifferent stars hold allure to the planet bound. Wrapped
in romance and mystery, they are treated as gods by lovers, cursed by those
whose fortunes run foul, and hold dear their secrets from scientist and
shaman alike. They are simply ghosts, dead or dying, casting their light
across the aeons, beacons to those whose hearts beat, whose flesh cools in
the summer air, whose mortal frames freeze and burn while their screams
are stolen away in the vacuum of space. Who (or what) would answer any
cries for help, in all that vastness?
The loneliness of being lost amongst the stars, away from home, with
little more than a set of skills and talents fusing you to the others upon
whom you must depend for survival. This is your tribe, your clan, your
people. There is no one else to help you. Whether you are the first
to brave the void or yet another risking life and limb for knowledge,
fortune, or glory, the vacuum does not care.
“The risk is worth the reward.” Whether it’s a lie you tell yourself or
a theorem to prove, you have to cling to that belief. In the end, that’s
all you’ve got.

The Dusty Past, No More

The future is now. The dusty past is the dusty past. The exact year doesn’t
matter. Mankind is free from the shackles of earth, and our heroes are the
crew of their own ship, and this is a tale of what they encounter in the inky
blackness of space.
Using a Playset
Each playset presents a set of questions the players answer to establish a
framework for the story. Some playsets lend themselves better to pick up
and play than others, depending upon the Keeper’s familiarity with the
central subject matter in question.

-1-
Using Derelict Adrift
As Keeper, you should focus on telling your story and not be too obsessive
with the reality of any given particular facet. In other words, come to a group
consensus and fudge the facts as necessary to ensure a good experience. If
you are comfortable with such a play style, you need not worry about having
the questions answered by your group ahead of time, and can certainly use
this playset on the fly. On the other hand, if you are more comfortable with
having more details in place, you can have the group answer the questions
ahead of time, and do a touch of research to help facilitate things.
Derelict Adrift is designed to keep the pressure on the group and to
distill the situation into a very narrow slice with the potentiality for great
depth.

The Crew, the Ship, and Kitting Out

You are not playing a random crew member. You are a specific crew
member. You have a narrow range of options. You are either skilled or
talented. This choice determines your attributes and the number of moves
you get to select on your playbook. Whether you are skilled or talented
should be determined by group consensus, the Keeper, and/or the dictates
of the scenario. A crew can be a mixture of both skilled and talented
individuals.

-2-
 DERELICT ADRIFT
Adventures of the Bronte

N ame
T he C rew
K eeper

Hazards
E lders

T ownies

D oom

M ythos

W eird

-3-
 DERELICT ADRIFT
The universe, your ship, and your mission.

COLLECTED DATA
Do other intelligent life forms exist? A
Have you been in cryogenic stasis? B
Has humanity colonized known space? C
Is this a maiden voyage? D
Is your vessel presently in known space? E
Is your vessel in good shape? F
Are you responding to a distress signal? G
You MUST ANSWER YES to three and ONLY three.
JOT DOWN or CIRCLE YES ANSWERS .

-4-
 THE BRONTE
Design your exploration ship.
MED LAB/TRAUMA CENTER
A character put in the MED LAB is stabilized with a roll+reason. As long as
TURNER is in good shape and active play, the MED LAB is a TRAUMA
CENTER. A TRAUMA CENTER eliminates 1 harm/1 shock per day and
is considered a safe place on a roll+luck from the last person to enter.
R&D
Anyone can make a roll+reason to gain a d6 Data. This takes 1 hour per
data point gained. There are 2d6 available Data here in a 24 hour period.
Once per day, MIR may spend Data (she gains) to make something (as per
credits/kitting out).
DATABASE
A character may use the DATABASE to puzzle things out. Only one
character may benefit from this at a time. NEON10 may always access the
DATABASE to puzzle things out as long as the DATABASE is intact.
ARMORY
A character can poke around to find a suitable weapon ONCE per DAY.
GRINDER gains a bonus weapon when she pokes around, regardless of
the roll.
NAVIGATION
Anyone may use the NAVIGATION system to determine coordinates/set
course home. BELL turns all failures into partial successes.
BONUSES
Each area grants modifiers to associated rolls in the facility ranging from -1
to +2, depending upon how the ship’s attributes are assigned. The players
assign the numbers. The total net for the ship is +3. Bonuses are only
granted while in the given area, unless stated otherwise.
-5-
THE CREW
CURRER BELL, THE PILOT
L.T. TURNER, TRAUMA
McKENNA MIR, THE ENGINEER
NEON10, THE SCIENCE OFFICER
SAFFRON GRINDER, THE KILLER

KITTING OUT
Rather than an assigned item list, your playbook indicates how many credits
you begin play with to spend on gear.
Each selection costs 1 credit. You may buy duplicates of items (or
increase the value of an individual item, for example 1 stimpak (Heal 3)
or 3 stimpaks (Heal 1)

Stimpak Eliminates 1 + luck harm

Fuzzpatch Eliminates 1 +luck shock
Armor Light) +1
Custom Weapon +1 Harm or +1 Hit
Custom Sidekick (+1 to one MOVE, choose) when in use and CHOOSE
1 TAG (BULKY, FRAGILE, EXPERIMENTAL, or 2H) SPEND 1
ADDITIONAL CRED TO REMOVE TAG

-6-
Playset-Specific Rules
Should a crew member find themselves in a zero-g environment without
proper training or the way to offset its effects, they must act under
pressure to attempt any move. Crew members finding themselves in
a hostile environment (vacuum, exposed to direct, unfiltered starlight)
without proper protections, must roll+might or suffer a d6 harm every
minute they are in the environment until they leave the environment or
perish.
DATA is used in lieu of lore. When playing the game, substitute all LORE
references found in tremulus with DATA. Should you choose to introduce
other playbooks into Derelict Adrift, you must decide whether or not
lore remains a separate resource.
Anyone can spend DATA to gain a +1 to any move.
Variations on a Theme
The ship class is combined with the questionnaire to establish the framework.
The ship class determines the Basic Crew Composition. Derelict
Adrift comes with one ship class, the exploration ship, The Bronte ,
and the framework is completely situational. Other ships would,
naturally, have different stories to tell and, perhaps, crews wholly unique
to them.

-7-
 PRELIMINARY READINGS (Crew Notes)
[ABC] Overture Two
P reliminary readings : Emily, the ship’s computer, awakens you from
deep sleep. You are presently on a collision course with a massive ship of
terrestrial origin identified as the Overture Two. Emily also informs you
The Bronte’s life support system has been compromised.
K eeper N otes : [S1]

[ABD] Venture 7
P reliminary readings : You are the ninth Earth team to travel beyond
the moon. You have been asleep for sixteen years. The visual sensor array is
out, and the ship diagnostics indicate severe damage to the solar sails and a
course correction failure. The radio picks up a hushed whisper through the
static, a human voice, warning people away. “DO NOT APPROACH THE
VENTURE 7. REPEAT. DO NOT APPROACH THE VENT-”
K eeper N otes : [S2]

[ABE] Vestiges
P reliminary readings : The crew awakens at their rendezvous point
to find the way station gone. Amidst the debris, a Damascan war machine
rests. No life signs are detected aboard ship. The crew does not have
sufficient fuel to continue their journey or return home.
K eeper N otes : [S3]

[ABF] Funnel/Cake
P reliminary readings : The ship cheerily awakens the crew with a
warning they are leaving known space, as PROTOCOL OVERRIDE
18 is now in effect. A scanner picked up an alien vessel, and they are
to investigate, record, and salvage any goods on behalf of HERMES
INTERNATIONAL, the media conglomerate sponsoring the trip.
K eeper N otes : [S4]

-8-
[ABG] Pomogite
P reliminary readings : Six months ago, something called through the
static. No Terran ships ventured out so far. Linguists and biologists translated
the broken bits of words as POMOGITE (pah mah gee tye, Russian for
help). The Bronte was immediately dispatched. After three months of travel,
you arrive to find a rusting vessel with Russian markings tumbling through
space.
K eeper N otes : [S5]

[ACD] Segmented
P reliminary readings : The Bronte is the first scout ship sent into the
Fringe in the twenty years since the uneasy peace with the Imperium, an
elder allegiance of extraterrestrials. After two weeks of peaceful travel, you
discover a battered Fhtagn warship in a debris field. Your sensors detect
life signs and an unrecognizable energy signature. Is this a chance to gain
a friend or discover their secrets of FTL travel?
K eeper N otes : [S6]

[ACE] Manifest Destiny

P reliminary readings : Whilst skimming the conduit between Earth
and Keppler-7, an explosion rocked the ship, rendering you unconscious for
a few moments. Upon awakening, you discover you’re dead in the water. As
the backup systems come online, Emily, the ship’s computer, informs you of
an identical energy system to your own off the port bow.
K eeper N otes : [S7]

-9-
[ACF] The Strand
P reliminary readings : Entering its seventh year of the Alliance, you
are traveling beyond the Charter to explore the unclaimed area known as
the Strand. It is dangerous territory, but your employer, the GORMAN
GROUP seeks salvage and mineral rights, so all Bronte systems have been
upgraded. Three uneventful weeks looks to turn into four, when a ship
encased in frost appears in orbit around a planet you’ve been scanning.
No life signs are detected, though there are several unknown energy
signatures. If you find something good, you can get back to your research
in the Quadrille system.
K eeper N otes : [S8]

[ACG] Beckon
P reliminary readings : The Bronte was built with one purpose: find the
signal’s source. You’ve been traveling for five years. Your 3D printer is on
the fritz, so no more backup parts. You’re on each other’s nerves, despite
the relax lounge, and the false promise “the selection” was based upon
compatibility as much as skill. You have survived things. Finally, you find
the source: a sleek, impenetrable sphere from where the signal emanates. Is
it in distress or is this a test, a chance to find humanity’s place among the
stars?
K eeper N otes : [S9]

[ADE] Eden’s Own

P reliminary readings : The Bronte is sent to explore a new planet
for colonization. All the others have been inhospitable, and this is the last
stop on the circuit before returning home. Supplies are low. There is an
untraceable bug in the mainframe, and music comes on randomly, and
the light cycle is behaving erratically. The promise is turned into a lie: an
abandoned arc ship floats above the planet. And it didn’t come from earth.
K eeper N otes : [ S 10]

-10-
[ADF] In Saturn’s Rings
P reliminary readings : The Bronte is the first manned ship to travel
beyond the moon, and you are its first crew. Your mission is to journey
beyond the solar system’s edge to deploy a deep space probe and return,
recording any items of interest along the way. Your sensor array detects
life signs as you pass Saturn’s Rings. Slowing, you see the battered shell
of what can only be a ship, one not of terrestrial origin. At that moment,
a beam erupts from the other ship, engulfing your own.
K eeper N otes : [ S 11]

[ADG] Signs of Life

P reliminary readings : There are three main routes through the Milky
Way, as a balkanized earth balkanizes space. Corps and politics have aligned
as Factor ONE, scientists and environmentalists as EARTH FIRST, and
the people who can barely get off the ruinous home world as RATPACK.
The Bronte belongs to EARTH FIRST. The Military has morphed into the
FREELANCER UNION, and SPINNERS contract out for safe passage.
SPINNERS don’t fire upon each other, and so can make easy money
coming and going. Research vessels usually get a free pass from everybody.
As you’re making your return trip to earth to turn in some alien specimens,
you catch a distress signal. It’s off the beaten routes. Your sensors are the
latest and others might not hear it. It could be weeks before other ships pass
this route. Nobody has abused distress calls before. As you adjust course,
a voice comes in, choppy, alarmed. “This is the WHISKEY 6 RATPACK.
We are in dire straights.” The message loops in and over. You adjust course
accordingly and should be there in a day.
K eeper N otes : [S12]

-11-
[AEF] The Catch
P reliminary readings : While returning from a routine delivery run,
you see the Calypso under assault by a massive space squid. It flees as you
approach, leaving the vessel in ruins.
K eeper N otes : [S13]

[AEG] Revelation
P reliminary readings : Mankind has traveled through space for a decade
and has colonized a handful of planets as it masters terraforming. There is
much work to be done and ships are still works in progress, prone to failures
as speeds increase and gravity bubbles are refined. And the Monitors have
been glimpsed, alien space craft that watch before darting away, a race
as technologically superior as cars were to hand-carts. Distress signals are
common and both courtesy and law dictates a swift response. Yet, this is the
first time a Monitor is found harvesting a stranded ship. Have they done
this before? Are lost ships claimed by them? Or have they broken the code,
gained understanding of our language, and know when we are weak? The
Monitor fades from sight, leaving bodies floating in their wake.
K eeper N otes : [S14]

[AFG] Provocateur
P reliminary readings : Deep space. A distress call awakens you from
your slumber. You find a ship alone. The Pickman. No answers to your
hails. According to a quick inquiry, it’s a corporate class mining vessel that
isn’t due off planet for another six weeks. You sense it scanning you, then a
spike penetrates The Bronte, and you hear the lower decks automatically seal
off. A signal comes through. “Too late,” says a voice. “You’re doomed too.”
K eeper N otes : [S15]

-12-
[BCD] Anomaly
P reliminary readings : Seven years in stasis left you weak and weary.
Bleary-eyed, you shift from slumber as the AI awakens you. “Craft detected”,
Alice says in its almost human voice, and predicting your next question,
continues. “The Chirya is most certainly of Terran manufacture, though a
cursory database search returns no known record of such a vessel.”
K eeper N otes : [S16 ]

[BCE] Snapshot
P reliminary readings : Your university didn’t spring for amenities such
as FTL drives or interstellar instasignals. You are lucky to have somewhat
modern stall coffins, so you don’t age while you sleep, but six months here
and there still add up. And the universe spins on by. An UNPLANNED
ASTEROID ENCOUNTER alert awakens you to take over navigation
duties, and a routine scan reveals a heavily damaged mining ship (STRIKER
CLASS) attached to the asteroid.
K eeper N otes : [S17]

[BCF] Freighter Five

P reliminary readings : sThe Bronte is conducting a routine planetary
scan when a freighter erupts from a warp point in the planet’s atmosphere.
There are life signs, as well as early indications it is in a rapidly decaying
orbit. The atmospheric eruption of the warp point fried your long-distance
jump capabilities and if you don’t get replacement parts, your new home is
SECTOR 9. Hopefully, FIVE can solve the problem it created for you.
K eeper N otes : [S18]

-13-
[BCG] Signal 19
P reliminary readings : You note a funny smell in the air after getting
out of stasis. Something akin to a dusting of cayenne and mint with a hint
of cinnamon. All systems are within normal operational bounds. An alert
sounds, notifying you course corrections have been made towards a distress
signal looping every 19 seconds, and auto docking is complete.
K eeper N otes : [S19]

[BDE] The Machines Remember

P reliminary readings : The Bronte made headlines when it launched.
As the first expedition ship since the wars, it stood as a symbol of a new
golden age of peace and prosperity. Few remembered the wars, willingly
or otherwise. No weapons was a conscious design. No shields. No threat
whatsoever. The lack of shields proved problematical: the star spores clung
to the ship like a contagion, knocking out the comms and reducing the ship
to a slow crawl. Distances crossed in hours before expanded to years. The
emergency stasis chambers allowed for a respite, a slim chance of survival.
Every six months, you arise to the vast void of space, hoping this time you’ll
pick something up, anything to shorten your trip, to return home in your
lifetime. This time, your scans indicate another vessel alone and adrift.
K eeper N otes : [S20]

[BDF] Unknown Variables

P reliminary readings : You awake in darkness. Slowly, luminescence
drives away the black as you arise refreshed. Sixteen years brought you to
Mercury to rendezvous with Zen One. Already the auto docking procedures
are underway. This would all feel so routine save for the sounds of laughter
and screams originating from the space station.
K eeper N otes : [S21]

-14-
[BDG] Smolder
P reliminary readings : It took two days to receive the signal. One day
to assign the crew. One month to reach the destination. The gel is cold as
you cough it out of your body, but it beats your bones turning to mush.
The travel is the travel. And you’re out now. And you can’t get back in
for 96 hours or risk hyperoxia and toxic levels of oxygen. Though it might
be worth the risk. You see the source of the signal, the Frostfire, a hellion
class from the last war. No life signs. If there are any, they’re masked. And
why mask against a friendly, unless there are no friendlies anymore? If you
shoot it out of the sky, you’d do everyone a favor, but it would vaporize
The Bronte before the engines spun up. You’ll have to get on board, grab
the databanks, and destroy it from the inside, if you can.
K eeper N otes : [S22]

[BEF] Precursor
P reliminary readings : You awake to the sound of storm. The Bronte is
rocking as it returns fire. A moment later, silence. Stillness. You didn’t even
know it was equipped with weapons. AllCorps explained it was a simple
expedition ship, and the advance was excellent. Now, you see a burning hulk
before you. An alien craft replaces fear with academic curiosity. Already,
new orders appear across the screen. “You are complicit in six violations.
Humanity needs you. AllCorps needs you. Strip the ship of all weaponry
and ordnance and ensure there are no witnesses. In addition to making this
sector a safer place, you’ll be ensuring a comfortable future for you and
yours.”
K eeper N otes : [S23]

[BEG] Fusion
P reliminary readings : You pick up a long distance distress signal while
scanning an asteroid belt near a Type 4 planet. Sector command directs you
to investigate immediately. Three weeks of freeze and two jumps later, you
arrive in a binary star system where two ships, fused together, orbit one of
the moons. A scan indicates life signs and an unknown energy signature.
K eeper N otes : [S24]

-15-
[BFG] Time Lapse
P reliminary readings : The Bronte tracked the signal for six weeks
before waking the crew. It was of unknown origin and laced with decaying
chronitronic signals indicative of a broadcast from a past time stream. Upon
arrival, the crew makes a rare find—a ship intact, corroded, and brimming
with life. The disconcerting bit is it appears to be their future selves that they
glimpse on their vidcom for just a moment before being pulled...elsewhere.
K eeper N otes : [S25]

[CDE] Progenitor
P reliminary readings : You encounter a drifting colony ship, the
Sebastian, en route to earth after six months out. Bits of broken bodies float
about it as if someone opened all the airlocks at once. Strangely, the airlocks
are closed and the ship looks to be in good shape. Elevated radiation levels
interfere with getting any clear indicator of whether there’s life aboard the
Sebastian or not.
K eeper N otes : [S26]

[CDF] Fringe Science

P reliminary readings : The Bronte emerges from a warp gate at its
designated rendezvous point, and a massive warbird, the Orion, is a twisted
burning hulk of metal. The flames appear to be contained to the lower
decks presently, but blue geysers flare as oxygen tanks are being struck. The
damaged warp transceiver signifies a return jump is not possible. Were The
Bronte as big as the Orion, it would have the ability to jump independently.
Should the fires breach the nuclear reactor, the entire quadrant shall be
decimated in the subsequent explosion, including the nearby colony of
Tahoma 459.
K eeper N otes : [S27]

-16-
[CDG] Real as Starlight
P reliminary readings : The signal came on a photon beam. Clean and
quick. It was on the proper frequency, but the made little sense. “BURN
DON’T BURN” You arrive on the scene in hours. The cruise ship, Starlight,
is there. The signal stops automatically as the ships exchange protocols.
Then the lights flicker. Then music plays. You’re aboard the Starlight in
a ballroom. The lights flicker again. You’re back on the bridge. A thready
voice responds to your hails. “Here. Not Here. Hurry. Don’t Hurry.” then
laughter. Then silence. And all the lights on the Starlight come on at once
and then fade to nothing. Even its energy signature disappears as all systems
go offline.
K eeper N otes : [S28]

[CEF] Corridor 4
P reliminary readings : The solar winds blow strongest along four major
routes. The Bronte sets out to find why Corridor 4 experiences the least
traffic, despite being the most reliable. One week in, you begin to experience
“Sky Sickness”. Second week in, you acclimate. Midway through the third
week, the ship shudders and shakes, and then you’re suddenly, jarringly, no
longer moving. The stars have gone out. You detect one other ship with life,
though you are a carcass in a massive den. You can hear things moving,
groaning, mewling, through the thick, soundless hull, and an eye blinks,
massive and mind-bendingly real.
K eeper N otes : [S29]

-17-
[CEG] Within
P reliminary readings : The Bronte was not the first to respond, nor
the last. As you arrive, another ship shatters into shrapnel after the massive
railgun atop the Resilient reduces it to so much dust. You wonder for no
more than a moment about why you were spared until you here a muttering
over an open channel. “You thought I’d *want* to be a humanitarian?
Oversight? Design flaw, my --” Then the channel goes cold, quiet. The
Resilient is a converted CRUCIAL class armed ship painted with the colors
of any of a dozen splinter factions rising up since the Quelling. You have a
little time. Not much, but a little. And you’ll likely not be going far. Your
FTL is offline, after all.
K eeper N otes : [S30]

[CFG] Rhythm
P reliminary readings : The ruins attracted salvagers. The salvagers
attracted raiders. Then came the warriors to the signal. Next came the
cleaners. Then came you. That was the ebb and flow. The rhythm. This
time, the cleaners didn’t make it. Nor the warriors. Just you. The raiders fell
fast to The Bronte’s autofire. Almost as if they were distracted. Then you
see it. Massive. Terrible. The Dark Sea. Then you realize the raiders sent
the signal.
K eeper N otes : [S31]

[DEF] Glimpse
P reliminary readings : The stars hold secrets, and The Bronte is built
to discover them. No expense was spared on its hull, or its crew, or in
creating the technology allowing it to fold space. And you arrive in an
unknown sea of stars, the first bits of humanity to go beyond the well-
traveled star charts to only a set of coordinates randomly selected by Central
Command. You find you are not far from a dying planet. Strange silvery
fish navigate the vacuum. A rusting hulk of a majestic vessel reveals itself as
it makes its turn. You may not have been the first to see such sights after all.
K eeper N otes : [S32]

-18-
[DEG] Finality
P reliminary readings : The colonies prosper these days, even the far
ones. No one watches a new ship take off. No one cares. It is minor. It is
mundane. You shut out these thoughts. You have a mission. You are to
find the Terrapin. You’re the first chaser class ship. You are faster than
other ships. The bubble distorts time outside. It is not shiny, not glamorous,
simply essential. In one week’s time, you reach the signal, something that
might take another lesser ship a decade, if lucky. As you see the gleaming
ship before you, you read no life signs, and discover a hideous side effect.
Years are beginning to accumulate upon you like snow on a hill, and as
the ship reads the measure of normal space you’ve been traveling for two
hundred and twelve years.
K eeper N otes : [S33]

[DFG] Driving Force

P reliminary readings : The Bronte is an experimental spacecraft
designed to travel faster than any known ship. It could make history. It
could become history if one calculation was off. To eliminate variables,
the ship’s jump coordinates used a chain of quantum computers overseen
by a machine intelligence. No room for error allowed. And the point was
triangulated to two active probes sent out six months prior. One active
probe detected a distress call of non-terrestrial origin. You say your good-
byes. You board the ship. Ignition. You black out. Only moments later, you
awaken. The sky is full of stars save for a small cubic void in the distance.
The source of the signal awaits.
K eeper N otes : [S34]

-19-
[EFG] Eponymous
P reliminary readings : Built with the express purpose of finding the
source, The Bronte is outfitted with a fast engine, sharp crew, and given
a limitless budget. For the decade since its discovery, the source eluded
humanity. It seemed to be a cry for help that constantly moved, like a lost
boy stumbling about in the woods. Yet the woods were space and the limits
of engineering and humanity made it an impossible challenge. Today, that
ended as you find the source. A matte-black monolith stops in space before
you. It’s existence delineated by the string of distorted stars around it. There
is a palpable hum. A vibration in your bones. A small panel opens and pulls
you in. And then darkness. Then stillness. Then silence.
K eeper N otes : [S35]

-20-
 DETAILS (Keeper Notes)
[S1] Overture Two
D etails : The Bronte crew has been asleep for seventy-five years, having
overshot its destination point to Tahoma 452, a small orbital station on the
outer edge of known space. Overture Two is a lost colony ship sent out a
century ago. Both ships went through the warp anomaly placing them in
uncharted space. The scant twenty surviving descendants are twisted and
malformed from a radiation leak in the fusion reactor.
Hazards
E lders : Jill the Untouched
T ownies : The Warped
L andscape : The Entropy Field, Reactor Room
D oom : Reactor Overload
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [ABC]

[S2] Venture 7
D etails : The Bronte went through a heavy debris field two years into the
mission and is presently in decaying orbit around an unknown gas giant.
The corroding husk of Venture 7, an early joint US-JAPAN exploratory
ship, floats nearby. Fin, an early model echo, sabotaged his ship to prevent
the infected Rourke from returning to civilization after the madman killed
everyone on board except him. They have been playing cat and mouse for
years. Rourke compromised the ship’s magnetic shielding to prevent Fin
from directly reaching him, and he controls the upper decks, while Fin
confines himself largely to the lower decks. Fin is the one who reached out
before Rourke severed communications.
Hazards
E lders : Fin
L andscape : Harvest Ship
M ythos : The Vector
W eird : Rourke
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [ABD]

-21-
[S3] Vestiges
D etails : The Damascene war machine is a massive relic of another age.
Little is known of the aliens, save for scattered remnants found on planets
throughout the Hold. They descended from feline stock, possessed opposable
thumbs, and were roughly of human build, though averaging over 8’ tall.
The droid is on standby, its anti-tampering protocols awaiting any who seek
to plumb its secrets. The engine suffered serious damage from the valiant,
futile efforts of the way station, and no maintenance droids survived contact.
An unexploded warhead blocks access to the fuel rods necessary to get the
Bronte up and running once more.
Hazards
E lders : The Last Damascan
L andscape : Engine Room
D oom : Warhead Explodes, Fuel Leak
W eird : Security Droids
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [ABE]

[S4] Funnel/Cake
D etails : Protocol Override 18 is known among spacers as funnel/cake.
Corporations provide hearty incentives to entice the best and brightest
academics to participate in some of their riskier propositions. In a sense, it’s
a cross between getting a grant and a game of Russian roulette. The astronav
overrides prevent it from leaving “an area of interest” until 72 hours of
footage is recorded, sent to Earth, and a confirmation code is returned. The
alien vessel is a prison ship containing two dangerous psychopathic twins,
an insane robot, and a basilisk.
Hazards
L andscape : The Furnace Room
W eird : Robot, The Eldar Twins, Basilisk
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [ABF]

-22-
[S5] Pomogite
D etails : During the tumultuous uprising that closed out the past century,
a handful of privileged individuals fled into space. Most vessels never broke
atmosphere, destroyed by missiles or deceit. The Parabola managed to
survive and traveled across the recesses of space in a great orbit until things
died down back on earth. Somewhere on its travels, The Parabola picked up
a psychic symbiote that has been sleeping soundly in its host. The cryo-beds,
though primitive by today’s standards, are still functional, though all the
inhabitants suffered severe mental trauma and heart attacks (after rejecting
the Burrower), leaving Banks intact. Maya is capable of providing some
insights if permissions are given or the security system is directly hacked
(from the Dark Room).
Hazards
E lders : Maya the AI
L andscape : The Dark Room
M ythos : The Burrower
W eird : Banks
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [ABG]

[S6] Segmented
D etails : The Fhtagn are an ancient, intelligent race spread across a massive
swath of the galaxy after pledging themselves to the glory of the Elders. In
return, the Elders taught them how to bind quantum creatures to power
their ship. Sometimes, the bonds break. The Void-Thing, a four-dimensional
creature, is roughly canine-shaped when it reveals its form. It is a cunning
beast that hunts the Emissary. The Emissary cocooned itself to lower its life
signs to avoid detection. The Round Room is where the Void-Thing makes
its nest.
Hazards
E lders : The Emissary
L andscape : The Fringe, the Round Room
M ythos : The Void-Thing
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [ACD]

-23-
[S7] Manifest Destiny
D etails : A rogue planet knocked The Bronte out of the conduit into
unknown space and twinned the ship and its crew. Both ships are trapped
in the gravity field of the still traveling planet. The other ship and crew
are comprised of dark matter, and both cannot survive in the same
universe. One must destroy the other before nullification of both occurs.
Hazards
E lders : The Others
L andscape : Rogue Planet, Gravity Field
D oom : Nullification
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [ACE]

[S8] The Strand

D etails : The Strand is an experimental time ship, and this was its maiden
voyage. All the crew devolved into atavistic lizard folk with the exception
of Neon19, that had its memory banks and OS completely fried. They
give off strange energy signatures, as they are in a complete flux state.
The chronitrons (energy molecules) generated alerted the Hounds, inter-
dimensional warships that maintain the continuum with extreme prejudice.
Hazards
L andscape : The Strand
W eird : The Throwbacks
D oom : The Hounds
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [ACF]

-24-
[S9] Beckon
D etails : The Sphere is a puzzle cast out from a dying race. Within it are
secrets and great danger. A silicon life form, black, squalid, inhuman, flows
throw the veins of the living ship. The ship is a beast which must be tamed.
And the signal still broadcasts, drawing other life that would have the prize
for itself and its kind.
Hazards
L andscape : The Sphere, The Centrifuge
W eird : The Dying
D oom : The Others
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [ACG]

[S10] Eden’s Own

D etails : The arc ship is a thousand years old. The reptoid race traveling
to the planet died off after colonization. The ship is in standby mode. It
has hybrid energy systems and is fully charged. Upon boarding it, any
warmblooded life form is treated as a hostile. The temperature is very
hot. A contingent of soldiers awakens upon intrusion. A force barrier
precludes communication or exiting the ship without overcoming the
security protocols. The weapons array suffers from long disuse and didn’t
immediately deploy, but is in process.
Hazards
L andscape : The Arc Ship
M ythos : Reptoids
D oom : Automated Weapons System
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [ADE]

-25-
[S11] In Saturn’s Rings
D etails : The Elder are beings of energy. They often put their energies
in scarabs, (biomechanical constructs), to conserve their strength during
long voyages, as they have not mastered FTL travel. Elder can consume
their own kind in natural form and often shun the company of others.
Possessing strong psychic energies, they can communicate with other races
and compel weak minds. Escaping pursuit damaged the Elder’s craft, and it
professes to seek repairs. In truth it wants to refit The Bronte for its own
purposes. It shan’t release the beam until it achieves its ends. The Beam is
slowly reconfiguring The Bronte while the Elder buys time. When the ship
is ready, it shall release a methane gas mix into the air, quickly eliminating
the crew.
Hazards
L andscape : The Rings, The Beam
M ythos : The Elder
D oom : Bronte Reconfiguration
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [ADF]

[S12] Signs of Life

D etails : WHISKEY 6 is a ship with a dangerous reputation. They are
murderers, scoundrels, and rogues and don’t think things through. They
discovered an alien relic planetside and decided to haul it back to earth, in
violation of a dozen home world protocols. While the relic appears to be an
intricately engraved stone roughly the size and shape of a coffin, it is a royal
cocoon. It began emitting a silent signal once in space, a signal calling out
for its kind and turning the people aboard ship into mindless, ravenous
monsters. Haze and Turn have implants granting them immunity to the
signal, and they are the sole survivors, tucked away amidst the contraband.
Hazards
E lders : Haze and Turn
L andscape : WHISKEY 6 Hangar
M ythos : The Relic (The Cocoon)
D oom : The Emergence, The Kindred
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [ADG]

-26-
[S13] The Catch
D etails : The Calypso is a registered squid-hunter. The enterprising captain
and crew thought they might take a turn at raising the blasted things and
stole several nests from the harvesting zone, something expressly forbidden.
The squids’ pituitary gland enables interstellar travel. Squids, generally docile
unless provoked, sense the harmonic resonance of the eggs and are coming
to retrieve them.
Hazards
E lders : Captain Stitch
M ythos : The Space Squid
D oom : An Array of Squid
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [AEF]

[S14] Revelation
D etails : The Monitors are ships from the future, and have returned to
alter the course humanity charts for itself. Yet, they are not selfless. The
travel wreaks havoc on their internal organs and higher brain functions,
requiring them to undergo many surgeries and devour livers and brains
for iron and seratonin to maintain energy levels and avoid madness. Some
have come to not waiting for accident and instead cause them, not realizing
they are causing the damage they wish to prevent. The survivor ship, the
Valkyrie, holds a clue in how to lure the Monitor back and get at least
this one to stop preying upon its progenitors for good. Unfortunately, the
Monitor left nanites to break the machine down into constituent parts for
later consumption. Once the Bronte is close enough, nanites begin breaking
it down as well.
Hazards
L andscape : The Valkyrie
M ythos : The Monitor
D oom : The Nanites
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [AEG]

-27-
[S15] Provocateur
D etails : The Pickman, a mining ship on a routine run, found the downed
McDermott, a lost treasure ship, and wanted to claim salvage rights. The
crew loaded up what it could, and not being trusting souls, decided to
break contract and file the claim jointly. The treasure is cursed, and a spirit
long dormant awoke and put The Pickman and its crew in peril. The
spirit, A’bhed, integrating itself into the computer’s AI program, runs large
sections of the ship. Addison is the only surviving crew member not slain,
in the throes of greed, or under the spell of A’bhed. Three serve A’bhed
while two war upon each another.
Hazards
E lders : Captain Michiko
L andscape : The Core
M ythos : A’bhed
D oom : A’bhed completes Bronte datalink
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [AFG]

[S16] Anomaly
D etails : During a period of political upheaval, Pakistan sent three ships
into space in the hopes of discovering new resources and territory to help
stabilize it planetside. Two ships never left orbit. The third ship, The Chirya,
reached escape velocity and went through a wormhole after its faulty
astronav system went off course. The crew died a slow death when the life
support system malfunctioned. The ship is haunted by their tortured spirits
that seek release
Hazards
E lders : Chirya’s AI
L andscape : The Chirya
M ythos : The ghosts of the crew
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [BCD]

-28-
[S17] Snapshot
D etails : When the space craze became affordable late last century, many
STRIKERS took to the skies. Some funded by corporations, most were
LOTTO KIDS, folks who inherited their credits and went looking for
adventure more than wealth. Of cheap construction, STRIKERS were built
prior to standardized manufacturing codes. ST-889 was funded by Billicourt
Media and featured a live feed to colonies. Reality space shows faded, but
some people got more than they bargained for when the “malfunctioning
android”, Streger6, planted aboard ST-889 went off script and killed everyone
when radiation shielding aboard the ship damaged its programming. With
the fuel cells exhausted at the edge of the Galactic Rim, Streger6 managed
to use the thrusters to attach to an asteroid with a trajectory back to known
space.
Hazards
E lders : Streger6
L andscape : ST-889
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [BCE]

-29-
[S18] Freighter Five
D etails : FIVE is part of the Ministry’s Global Defense Initiative and is
a floating lab operating beyond known space. This gives it the ability to
work on projects otherwise considered dangerous, illegal, or both without
oversight committees hindering research. Professor Strauss is a madman to
some, a visionary to others, but when he unlocked the secrets of Vector 1
by cross-contaminating its cells into test subjects, he unlocked the psychic
potential of humanity, allowing them to tap into mirror matter, and realized
there were some things man should not know. He overloaded the jump
circuits, but failed to factor in the possibility of other ships. FIVE should’ve
been destroyed instantly. Now, it is in a death spiral and Vector 1, an
ancient Elder One, is free from its prison and uses its influence over its
hybrids to save itself and its brood.
Hazards
E lders : Professor Strauss
L andscape : Deck Five
M ythos : Vector 1
W eird : The Hybrids
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [BCF]

[S19] Signal 19
D etails : The 19 is an unlisted prison ship not showing up in any database.
One of twenty cast out into space under the Machiavellian regime of earth
tyrant, Cole, a decade ago. No human crew was aboard, only a Neon3
model and a simple machine intelligence to navigate the unknown. As
the prisoners were kept in stasis, things went well until a meteor cloud
irradiated the ship and Neon3 began conducting experiments on the crew.
The machine intelligence attempted to shut down Neon3 to no avail and
was taken offline. As all the remaining crew has been altered, Neon3 waits
for a new distraction, and keeps the distress signal broadcasting. The lower
levels contain Neon3’s progeny.
Hazards
E lders : Neon3
L andscape : The Lower Levels
W eird : The Progeny
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [BCG]
-30-
[S20] The Machines Remember
D etails : The crew aboard The Bronte contains misfits and outcasts.
Memory wipes gave them new identities, a clean slate, yet no one trusted
them with a loaded ship. The Armory is completely empty, though it was
kitted out before leaving earth. The crew is a test case to see if high stress
can be managed with their new identities intact or causes them to revert
to form. The other vessel is the Duchess, a cruise ship, unarmed as well,
though well-stocked with weapons. There are no people aboard and only
enough air for one person to survive the trip back to earth. Attempting
to make the jump with the Bronte or additional crew members is certain
doom. The Duchess AI pretends to be dumb, but treats the crew as hostile
(being older than The Bronte, it only knows them as war criminals) and
seeks to isolate and eliminate, as it did with its previous crew. If hacks are
made against the Duchess, it fragments and continues its campaign against
intruders.
Hazards
E lders : The Duchess AI
D oom : Air supply
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [BDE]

[S21] Unknown Variables

D etails : The first deep space station, Zen One, is heralded as a triumph
of design and the pinnacle of human achievement. Getting there is no easy
feat. The trip is made by those willing to abandon the world behind, to
discard the past for the future. It is a launch pad, a stepping stone, an oasis
for ever greater exploration. And regular trips are made each year, so new
people arrive and continue their journeys onward. The last two cycles, no
one came back, no slow traveling messages, nothing. The folks on Zen One
have gone quite mad, the loneliness of space twisting them all up inside.
Hazards
E lders : Commander Jackson
L andscape : Zen One, Food Vats
W eird : Oxygen Renewal Chamber
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [BDF]

-31-
[S22] Smolder
D etails : Frostfire is a HELLION class warship from a balkanized era.
Aboard are a dozen echoes, three glints, and one recursive. The AI wants to
continue the war and won’t back down from HOSTILE state, and the crew
terrorizes the spaceways as much as it can. It’s presently in a recharging
mode that lasts for 36 more hours before it can travel again. Being aboard
when the ship jumps will liquify anyone not heavily modified outside of a
freeze coffin.
Hazards
E lders : Keyes, Newman, and Throne
L andscape : Engine Room
D oom : System Reboot Complete
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [BDG]

[S23] Precursor
D etails : AllCorps is a corrupt R&D company with its hands in many
pockets. One ally fed them the location of the alien craft, and the intel was
pushed into The Bronte navsystem. Remote overrides caused The Bronte
to fire upon the vessel, making the crew complicit in “operating a self-
deterministic weapons system”. The other ship couldn’t compete. Though
massive, it is a small scout ship for an exploratory party of a warlike race
expanding its borders. Whether this puts humanity on its radar remains to
be seen. The aliens use biotechnology instead of traditional weapons and
shall attempt to repel all invaders. They have quantum computing and
mental links to each other and their ship.
Hazards
E lders : Alien Commander
L andscape : The Ship
D oom : Ship Completes Self-Repair, The Armada Arrives
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [BEF]

-32-
[S24] Fusion
D etails : A slaver ship encountered an intercept ship and a firefight broke
out just as a solar flare erupted, linking the ships together. The cascade effect
caused one reactor to explode and irradiate everyone aboard the ship. Those
were the lucky ones. The slave cells got sucked into the energy field, and
their psychic imprints fused with the ship. They haunt the survivors, who
have turned to cannibalism as the food supplies dwindled.
Hazards
E lders : Slavers and Law
L andscape : Holding Cells
W eird : The Tormentors
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [BEG]

[S25] Time Lapse

D etails : The Bronte called out to itself from the past, wishing to warn
it to not answer the signal, that it was all a trap, but it created a recursion
when the ship arrives. If the mainstream ship is destroyed, the future ship
emerging from the past shall never be, but the crew shall never suffer at the
hands of the hounds that have hunted it down. The crew emerges into the
past. Shall they destroy themselves or strive to keep the hounds at bay for
a bit longer? Or shall a timeline of crew willing to kill themselves end the
cycle for good?
Hazards
L andscape : The Rift
M ythos : Hounds of Tindalos
D oom : Alternative Selves
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [BFG]

-33-
[S26] Progenitor
D etails : The Sebastian housed seven hundred healthy and hale colonists.
They passed inspection. As did the crew. As did Captain Peake. Someone’s
pet, a gerbil named Jasmine, slipped in surreptitiously. Aboard Jasmine was
incubus, a generally benign permutation of the flu planetside, but it can
cause serious mood swings resulting from elevated testosterone levels. The
results spread rapidly and within two days of space travel, everyone aboard
was infected, save Rex. Rex was a prizefighter, a glint, and a serial abuser of
steroidal compounds such that his body merely channeled the rage through
his soothing subroutine, leveling him off to such a degree he could do little
to stop the carnage around him. Captain Peake managed to clear the ship
and kept Jasmine, now bloated and unrecognizable. She is utterly mad,
infected, and has little recollection from one moment to the next. Rex is
infected as well, but wants to get home. And there is something drawn
to the scent of blood and death in the vacuum, something ancient and
wrapped in the void’s cool light en route.
Hazards
E lders : Rex
W eird : Captain Peake, The Pet
D oom : The Void Sent
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [CDE]

[S27] Fringe Science

D etails : Whilst awaiting The Bronte’s arrival, the Orion was attacked by
a mysterious quad-dimensional entity that feeds upon fear. It has insinuated
itself into the mainframe and watches through the electronic eyes of the
ship. It has twisted the dead into ragged forms of life, and it uses this to
heighten its euphoria by terrorizing those clinging onto a slim hope of
salvation.
Hazards
E lders : Security Officer Hale
L andscape : Lower Decks (The Orion)
M ythos : The Colour
W eird : The Ragged
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [CDF]

-34-
[S28] Real as Starlight
D etails : The Starlight is a famous cruise ship. It sailed across the skies until
a comet tore it apart a hundred years ago. Every ship named Starlight fell to
the curse. SPINNERs claim the Starlight is a haunted ship now sailing the
spaceways, claiming life and hope and love whenever and wherever it can.
Some stories claim a priestess abandoned her faith and committed suicide
with all aboard ship. The truth is more sordid--a jilted lover found her
soulmate in the arms of the ship captain--and killed them, but not before
the captain entered a self-destruct code destroying the ship. Every decade
the Starlight reappears for a 20 hour cycle and the events restart. It is not a
ghost. Starlight was caught in a time bubble when it imploded and is forced
to go through this every ten years (as that’s how long it takes for the atoms
to reassemble to their original states).
Hazards
E lders : Tarragon Gulf, Lydia the Torn
L andscape : The Starlight
W eird : Perilyn Drake the Pitiful One
D oom : The Tryst
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [CDG]

[S29] Corridor 4
D etails : More ships are lost along Corridor 4 than all the others combined,
as the barriers between dimensions are thinner there than elsewhere. The
vibrations as certain smaller vessels pick up speed eventually shifts them to
a dark, sunless place, trapping them. A dimension where massive creatures
swim in the void, breathing vacuum, feeding upon the trinkets from other
space. The other ship, The Castle, is of Tindalos make and can navigate
the seas of time and space. The Warlock, keeper of The Castle, studies the
Majesty and has abandoned any desire to ever leave, directly opposing any
attempts to the contrary. The characters must abandon The Bronte and
make The Castle their new home or remove the talisman drive and integrate
it into their ship. All the while avoiding the Devourers.
Hazards
E lders : The Warlock
L andscape : The Ship Graveyard, The Castle
M ythos : The Devourers
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [CEF]
-35-
[S30] Within
D etails : Quon Tic is the petty leader of the Dabbles who managed to
capture and torture the former captain of The Resilient and take control of it
as their own. This alone makes them resourceful and extremely dangerous.
Quon is a megalomaniac with no designs on a long life, but wants fame,
infamy, or at the very least, a high body count before shuffling off to the
void. The Resilient possesses state of the art equipment, including ALICE,
the latest iteration of AI from CATAPULT INDUSTRIES. And battle suits
in the armory.
Hazards
E lders : The Resilient, Quon
T ownies : The Dabbles
L andscape : Star Field
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [CEG]

[S31] Rhythm
D etails : The Dark Sea is what legends call the terrible vessel left behind
by another age. The epitome of death and destruction. Almost alive.
Definitely godlike. Definitely deaf to all the pleas of flesh and blood. The
only sanctuary is in unbeating battlefield hearts. This warship is a crescent
sphere of death, a remnant of another age. The Bronte must be abandoned
or all life support systems must be cut to avoid immediate destruction. Only
by gaining entry into The Dark Sea and destroying it from within does the
crew of the Bronte have any chance of survival.
Hazards
E lders : Harken, Voice of the Sea
T ownies : Servants of the Sea
L andscape : The Dark Sea
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [CEG]

-36-
[S32] Glimpse
D etails : Twenty years ago Central Command sent out the Sequester
using FOLD technology. It got lost in the depths, never to return. Central
Command tracked it. The coordinates supposedly chosen at random for
The Bronte’s maiden voyage were very deliberate. Unknown to its designers,
The Bronte leaves an energy wake as it tears the fabric of space, attracting
monstrous beasts that frolic in other dimensions and consider humanity’s
normal plane of existence as warmth and food. Sequester bears the markings
of Central Command. The enormity of the trip destroyed half the crew,
demolished its FOLD engine, and left them living in cycles. Wraiths haunt
the ship, they are crew members trapped in between, in constant pain,
hungering for release. Only three crew members still survive: the cook,
the engineer, and the doctor. Each broken in their own way. The Bronte
cannot return without a confirmation code entered from Central Command.
Communication takes six hours each way, by sending a hardened datapod
through a small fold.
Hazards
E lders : Matta, Teak, and Damon
W eird : The Wraiths
D oom : The Beasts
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [DEF]

[S33] Finality
D etails : The Terrapin began as a thought experiment. A time machine
implementing a permutation of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity coupled with
Tyson’s Non-Linear Derivation based on quantum manipulations. Simply
put, fast speed created reverse time and allowed people to burrow backwards
through the folds of time. Without quantum shielding, the crew regressed
to embryonic stages and died before the ship eventually snapped back to
its original continuum. The crew sprang again to life, but something alien
inhabits them now, is a part of them.
Hazards
E lders : Captain Forty
L andscape : The Terrapin
W eird : The Crew
D oom : Time accelerates
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [DEG]
-37-
[S34] Driving Force
D etails : Each side of the cube is no more than six inches. Using advanced
microminiaturization, the aliens shunt their mass off to increase thrust
while traveling. In this instance, the ship got stuck with the crew in stasis,
activating their beacon. The ship is frozen in an opaque warp bubble. It
pulls any energies into itself, and The Bronte, having completed its jump,
cannot move again. It is as stuck as the cube is. The only choice is to find
out how to restore the cube to its full size, contend with the aliens within,
and deactivate the energy pull.
Hazards
E lders : The Aliens
L andscape : The Cube
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [DFG]

[S35] Traces of the Past

D etails : The Bronte is pulled into an ancient library ship where the
Archivist stores away intelligent life, keeping the Great Old Ones safe from
disturbances. Before its existence, races rose up and threw off the yokes of
their masters, and the Great Old Ones were forced to flee deep into space,
beyond the reach of lesser races, yet they know the races might learn secrets
on their own. The Archivist appeared because it was willed. Yet, it has
abandoned its post. Or was devoured by its creation. Its ship still sails the
depths of time and space, snatching up those that find it, no longer seeking
them out. Aeons wear it down and escape is possible, though unlikely.
Hazards
L andscape : The Monolith
M ythos : Shadow of the Archivist
S ee A lso : P reliminary readings : [EFG]

-38-