Corsairs of Terra

From RPGnet
Jump to: navigation, search

A campaign wiki for the Stars Without Number game Corsairs of Terra.

The Crew of the Persephone[edit]

  • Marching order: Fletcher, Hiro, Jason Julio, Geno

The Black Hole[edit]

Killed by a robot dog in the Alpha Centauri system while attempting to salvage an abandoned starship.

Persephone[edit]

The Persephone is a modified Free Merchant with +5 maximum Power.

Free Merchant Hull: 0/15 Power, 0/15 Mass

  • Speed 3
  • Armor 2
  • AC 6
  • HP 20/20
  • Crew 1/6


  • Atmospheric Configuration: 0/15 Power, 2/15 Mass
    • Lets the ship take off and land on the surface.
  • Ships Locker & Armory[/B]: 0/15 Power, 2/15 Mass
    • Costs no power and mass, gives us a big cache of equipment.
  • Extended Stores: 0/15 Power, 4/15 Mass.
    • Doubles the duration of our stores. Unquestionably vital for exploration.
  • Fuel Bunkers: 0/15 Power, 5/15 Mass.
    • Lets us make more than one jump. Also vital for exploration.
  • Fuel Scoops: 2/15 Power, 7/15 Mass
    • Lets us refuel in systems where fuel isn't normally available. Pretty important.
  • Spike Drive 3: 6/15 Power, 11/15 Mass
    • We go faster.
  • Advanced Nav Computer: 8/15 Power, 11/15 Mass.
    • +2 to follow charted drill routes
  • Sandthrower: 11/15 Power, 12/15 Mass
    • 2d4 damage. Double damage before applying armor when attacking Fighter-class vessels.
  • Sandthrower 2: 14/15 Power, 13/15 Mass
    • 2d4 damage. Double damage before applying armor when attacking Fighter-class vessels.
  • Cargo Hold: 14/15 Power, 15/15 Mass
    • 40 Ton Capacity

The ship is mapped out on google drawings.

Persephone's Cargo Hold[edit]

  • .5/40 tons used
    • Busted Robodog
    • Some random boxes of salvaged cargo
    • Mandate Navy sealed container
    • Recovered hard drives
    • Recovered mag rifle.

Battle Stations[edit]

Pilot - J.J.

Gunnery - Fletcher

Command - Hiro

Comms - Geno

PbP Rules[edit]

1.) GM rolls all dice

2.) Please make sure, wherever possible, that your IC posts are moving the game forward. I would much rather have a terse "Conan agrees with Spaceman Spiff's course of action" post than three paragraphs of observation and deep thoughts that don't tell me what your PC is doing next.

3.) If you've got a short OOC comment relevant to your IC post, go ahead and put it in a sblock. Otherwise, let's keep OOC comments in the OOC thread.

House Rules[edit]

1.) The cost of food, clothing, and shelter The GM automatically deduct a number of credits each month, as per the Lifestyle Costs rule, corresponding with the PCs' level. Lifestyle Costs rules can be found on p. 44 of the Core Rulebook.

This will apply even if the PCs spend the month onboard a ship. Think of it as the cost of food, books, games, holovids, recreational drugs, pleasure droids, etc... to while away the time on a long interstellar journey.

Level 1-3: 450 cr (equivalent to the "Common" lifestyle quality)

Level 4-6: 750 cr (equivalent to the "Good" lifestyle quality)

Level 7+: 3,000 cr (equivalent to the "Elite" lifestyle quality)

2.) Custom Technology Every PC begins with a custom compad called a PRISM (Personal Research and Intelligent Scanning Mechanism). The PRISM is the game equivalent of a radio, TV, iPhone (with data plan), and digital wallet all in one. Note that most of its functions work only within a modern comm grid.

Off planet, the connection will work if the PCs ship is in orbit or closer, and on the same side of the planet as the PCs. Otherwise, the standard rules for compads are in effect (can reach other compads within one km, 30 km if a Comm server is in operation).

The PRISM has a limited artificial intelligence and can perform some tasks at the same skill level as the PC (e.g. searching for information, hacking an accessible network).

3.) Character Creation There is a rule on p. 11 that says: "Some training packages also have skill listings that allow you to select any specialty for Combat, Culture, Profession, Tech, or Vehicle skills. You may choose such skills as you like, but you cannot duplicate a skill already on the training package list."

I am assuming that there's a typo here, and that it should read: "Some BACKGROUND packages also have skill listings that allow you to select any specialty for Combat, Culture, Profession, Tech, or Vehicle skills. You may choose such skills as you like, but you cannot duplicate a skill already on the training package list."

The way I interpret this rule is that if the training package says, for example, Vehicle/Space and the background package also says Vehicle/Space, you get Vehicle/Space 1.

However, if the training package says Vehicle/Space and the background package says Vehicle/Any, you cannot select Vehicle/Space twice and must choose a different Vehicle specialization for the background package.

Sector Map[edit]

Sol Sector.png

Sol Sector with drill routes.jpg

Drill Chart Ages[edit]

Age in months

Sol -> Alpha Centauri 1

Sol -> Barnard's Star 10

Alpha Centauri -> Ross 248 12

Alpha Centauri -> Ross 154 5

Ross 248 -> Ross 128 24

Ross 248 -> Wolf 359 4

Ross 128 -> B2 Eridani 3

Wolf 359 -> Gliese 1 8

Wolf 359 -> Sirius 24

Sirius -> Procyon 24

Sirius -> Lalande 21185 9

Lalande 21185 -> Epsilon Eridani 9

Epsilon Eridani -> Tau Ceti 24

Ross 154 -> Lacaille 9352 2

Lacaille 9352 -> Epsilon Indi 24

Lacaille 9352 -> Delta Pavonis 3

Delta Pavonis -> Arcturus 24

Barnard's Star -> EZ Aquarii 4

Barnard's Star -> Luyten 726-8 8

EZ Aquarii -> Altair 1

EZ Aquarii -> Fomalhaut 12

Luyten 726-8 -> Van Maanen's Star 11

Luyten 726-8 -> Struve 2398 7

Struve 2398 -> 61 Cygni 24

Van Maanen's Star -> 61 Cygni 7


System Details[edit]

Many planets are generated with the Donjon Star System Generator. These systems will list a system seed, and whether or not you should check the box for "force this system to include a terrestrial world." While I am including a picture of the system to let you make sure you get the right one, additional information is available if you actually go to the site and click on a given world.


Sol System[edit]

Eight planets and a substantial asteroid belt. Original home of the Terran race.

  • Mercury - Rumor has it that the Mandate had a couple of bases on Mercury, deep in the bottom of craters at the poles so as not to be exposed to direct sunlight. The research was supposedly into fusion-based weaponry, harnessing the power of Sol. No one knows if the bases are still operational, post-Scream.
  • Venus - Home to a couple thousand scientists and atmo-miners in orbital bases, Venus' atmosphere is too hostile for colonization. Note: Atmo-miners collect rare chemicals from the upper atmosphere of the planet.
  • Terra - Earth is a shadow of her former self. Global warming, due both to the effects of 19th-22nd Century industry and a series of nuclear exchanges right after the discovery of the spike drive, has caused the complete meltdown of the polar ice caps. Flooding, subsequent loss of arable land, warfare, and a mass exodus of colonists off-planet has left the global population at about one billion. Once you leave Terra, the Mandate rules, but on Terra, there are five major political entities.
    • Pan-African Confederacy - Main language is Bantu, multiple political parties dominated by Nigerians and Egyptians, control all of Africa.
    • America, Inc. - Main language is Spanglish (formal combination of English and Spanish), corporations are the government, control all of North, Central, and South America
    • Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere - Main language is Mandarin Chinese, government is a bureaucracy with Emperor at its head, control all of China and eastern Russia, plus the remnants of Japan and Asian island chains.
    • Holy Roman Union - Main language is German, government is a theocracy with the Pope at its head, controls eastern and western Europe, including European Russia.
    • United Council of India - Main language is Hindi, government is a democratic republic, controls south Asia from Thailand to the Middle East, and north to Kazakhstan.
    • Luna (aka the Moon) - Home to roughly 20 million colonists. Most of the civilian cities are at the poles, where lunar ice deposits make permanent colonies possible. The Mandate has a number of military bases on the dark side of Luna.
  • Mars - Home to about 50 million colonists. Pre-Scream terraforming (and before that, atmosphere-forming) enabled Martian colonists to live on the surface of Mars without vacc suits and actually grow food in Martian soil. The massive engines, powered by heat captured from rising magma, are mostly self-healing, which is good since they are of a pre-Scream tech level and no one really understands how they work or how to build more. Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos
    • Phobos has a couple hundred miners.
    • Deimos has a Mandate military base and is off-limits to civilians.
  • Jupiter - Being a gas giant, there are no colonists on the planet itself.
    • Each of its Galilean moons, however, have small settlements with populations numbering in the low thousands.
    • Europa, in particular, seems the most promising due to its extensive ice layer.
  • Saturn - Like Jupiter, there are no colonists on Saturn itself.
    • There is a sizable atmo-miner community on Titan, Saturn's largest moon, and rumor has it that the Mandate is conducting experiments on creating life in Titan's methane lakes.
  • Uranus - The coldest planet in the system, there are no known settlements on Uranus, although it's suspected that the Mandate has some sort of early warning system installed on one or more of its 27 moons.
  • Neptune - An ice giant like Uranus, Neptune is also barren of human colonization.
    • Triton, Neptune's largest moon, has a Mandate military base where civilians are forbidden.

Alpha Centauri System[edit]

First system colonized by Terrans, contains four planets, all naturally capable of supporting human life.

  • Tiberius - The first planet settled by Terrans outside of Sol system, Tiberius is home to about 250 million Terrans. It is the breadbasket of the system, supplying the vast majority of the foodstuffs for all Terran settlements. Domestic issues are handled by a democratic republic system of government, while the Terran Mandate supersedes any local authority when it comes to issues of security and space travel. The official language is English, which is not coincidentally the official language of the Mandate.
  • Crohn - The second planet settled by Terrans outside of Sol system, Crohn is the industrial backbone of the Mandate and the ex-Sol colonies. Here you will find the only shipbuilders capable of making military-class warships, as well as the Mandate's central HQ. You'll also find a number of "company towns" dedicated to this manufacturing enclave or that mining company. On Crohn, the Mandate runs the domestic gov't, which can be somewhat accurately described as a enlightened dictatorship. Fleet Admiral Viktor Kurnikov is the current Director of the Terran Oversight Board, making him the most powerful man in the galaxy. Hindi is a popular second language on Crohn, due to the number of original colonists having arrived on ships launched from Indian base stations.
  • AC Gamma - The third planet discovered in the system, AC Gamma (or just 'Gamma') is currently unoccupied. The atmosphere is notoriously unpredictable, with the land constantly ravaged by storm systems hundreds of kilometers wide. There are rumors of ruined alien cities planet-side that pre-date even the Armada races but few have risked the trip and even fewer have returned. The Mandate strongly discourages civilians from making landfall but it's not actually prohibited.
  • AC Delta - The fourth planet discovered in the system, AC Delta (aka 'Delta' or 'D-Train') is officially unpopulated but there are a number of small settlements led by Terrans who wanted to avoid the control of a central government. They are a mix of cultists, religious extremists, mad scientists, and adventurers (think 'extreme outdoorsmen'). The Mandate also uses the planet for training some of its more elite troops. While no exhaustive guidebook has been written on the planet, its native flora and fauna are notoriously unfriendly, if not outright lethal, to the unprepared visitor.


Ross 248[edit]

  • System Seed: 629049475 + Terrestrial World
  • ???

Ross 248.jpg

Ross 128[edit]

  • System Seed: 2069268169 + Terrestrial World
  • There may be valuable plants in this system. We have photographs and so forth.

Ross 128.jpg

Lacaille 9352[edit]

  • System Seed: 1214926006 + Terrestrial World
  • There is some kind of smuggling operation here. We found the destroyed ship of some smugglers, who had been trading food and machinery for pretech goods. We aren't sure if we know enough to step into their shoes.

Lacaille 9352.jpg

Salvage[edit]

Anyone with Culture/Spacer 0 or higher knows that the law is:

  • Mandate Navy ships can never be salvaged without prior Navy permission unless A. title has been relinquished by the Navy or B. there's imminent danger to Mandate lives and/or property if the ship is not salvaged (e.g. a reactor core about to melt down, or a hulk that's on a collision course with a station in orbit).
  • The Navy maintains a Salvage List of private ships reported lost. If a ship on this List is salvaged, there are legal details to be ironed out but generally the salvage is split 50/50 between original owner and salvager.
  • Any private ship not on the List is abandoned and can be freely salvaged for 100% recovered value. There is no "waiting period" for lost or missing ships to be declared on the List so most owners tend to put their ships on there as soon as they leave the system (Sol or Alpha Centauri), just to be covered.
  • The salvager must report any attempt at salvage as soon as they dock at any Navy port or encounter any Navy ship. Otherwise, they run the risk of being accused of piracy.


If this ship turns out to have "intelligence" value, as is most likely if it's an Armada ship, the Navy will confiscate it under existing law. There's a reasonable chance you may receive a finder's fee if this occurs but there are no guarantees.

The Navy will attempt to identify the ship to see if A. it's on the List and B. if it has "intelligence" value.

The salvage law currently only extends to the Sol and Alpha Centauri systems. The law hasn't yet evolved to cover other systems. It's an open question as to whether or not the 600+ year old laws that existed before The Scream still apply here. Essentially, all other systems are the Wild Wild West right now.