SWN: The Sphere
A campaign of Stars Without Number.
Contents
Scream Sheets[edit]
Archibald: Attack: +2 AC: 4 HP: 21 STR: 0 INT: +1 WIS:+1 DEX: +1 CON: +1 CHA: 0 COMBAT SKILLS: Energy Weapons: 0, Perception: 1 Laser Rifle: 1D10 (Burst +2, -3 ammo), Mag: 20 NON-COM: Biopsionics 2 (Mastered 2) Telepathy 2 (Mastered 2) Precognition 1 (Mastered 1) Teleportation 5 (Primary) (Mastered 4) 80 Meters + 40 Kilos Armor: Field Uniform: AC 4 PHYSICAL:11 MENTAL:10 EVASION:13 TECH:14 LUCK:12
Abhijeet:
Attack: +2
AC: 4
HP:
STR: 0 INT: +1 WIS: 0 DEX: 0 CON: 0 CHA: +1
COMBAT SKILLS: Energy Weapons: 0
Laser Rifle: 1D10 (Burst +2, -3 ammo), Mag: 20
Armor: Field Uniform: AC 4
PHYSICAL: 14 MENTAL: 13 EVASION:10 TECH:9 LUCK:12
Col. Savage: Attack: +3 AC: 2 HP: STR:+1 INT: - WIS:0 DEX: 0 CON: +1 CHA: 0 COMBAT SKILLS: Combat/Energy: 1 Combat/Gunnery: 1 Combat/Primitive: 0 Combat/Projectile: 2 Exosuit: 0 Spike Thrower: 3d8 (burst +1, -3 ammo) Mag: 15
- Plasma Projector
- Mag Pistol
PHYSICAL: 10 MENTAL: 13 EVASION: 12 TECH:14 LUCK:11
Rand: AC: +2 Armor Class: 7 HP: STR: INT: +1 WIS: DEX: +1 CON: CHA: +1 COMBAT SKILLS: Combat/Energy - 0 Combat/Gunnery - 1 Thermal Pistol: 2d6 Armor: Undershirt: 7 PHYSICAL: 14 MENTAL: 13 EVASION:10 TECH:9 LUCK:12
Player Characters[edit]
Professor Archibald Moses Boulstridge[edit]
Level 5 Psychic XP: 20,000/32,080 AC: HP: 21 Attack:
Attributes Strength: 9 Intelligence: 17 Wisdom: 15 Dexterity: 15 Constitution: 14 Charisma: 9
Languages
Mandate English
Noram English
Del Roi
Skills Scholar + Rogue Psychic Combat/Energy 0 Culture/Criminal 0 Culture/Spacer 0 Culture/Traveler 0 Culture/World 0 History 0 Instructor 0 Perception 1 Persuade 0 Religion 0 Science 0 Stealth 0 Tech/Medical 0 Tech/Psitech 0
Psychic Powers 5PP Biopsionics 2 (Mastered 2) Telepathy 2 (Mastered 2) Precognition 1 (Mastered 1) Teleportation 5 (Primary) (Mastered 4) 80 Meters + 40 Kilos
Equipment
Readied: 4/4
185 Credits
Compad (personal, 0)
Combat Field Uniform (personal, 0)
Laser Rifle (armory, 2)
Type A Power Cells x3 (locker, 1)
TL4 Backpack (personal, 0)
Bioscanner (personal, 1)
Stowed: 7/9 Medkit (personal, 2) Vacc suit (personal, 2) Rations + Water, 1 day (personal, 2) Survival Kit (Locker, 1)
Shipboard: Stash of 200 credits.
Homeworld: Serilia III Breathable Mix atmosphere Temperate Human-miscible biosphere Failed Colony (!) TL4 World Tags: Gold Rush, Minimal Contact (!) Native Language: Noram English
Abhijeet Gupta, Expert[edit]
Attributes Strength: 11 Intelligence: 17 Wisdom: 9 Dexterity: 11 Constitution: 10 Charisma: 14
Languages Mandate English Indian Keptak
Skills Researcher Xenoarcheologist Combat/Energy Weapons - 0 Computer - 0 Culture/Indra III - 0 Culture/Traveler - 0 History - 0 Language - 0 Perception - +1 Persuade - 0 Science - +2 Survival - 0 Tech/Maltech - 0 Tech/Postech - +1 Tech/Pretech - +1 Vehicle/Grav - 0
Equipment
Readied: 4/5 50 credits Compad (personal, 0) Combat Field Uniform (armory, 0) Laser Rifle (armory, 2) Survey scanner (personal, 1) Type A Power Cells x3 (locker, 1) TL4 Backpack (personal, 0)
Stowed: 5/11 Dataslab (personal, 1) Rations + Water, 1 day (personal, 2) Survival Kit (locker, 1) Metatool (locker, 1)
Homeworld: Indra III Breathable Mix atmosphere Cold Human-miscible biosphere Population: 52,000 TL4 World Tags: Alien Ruins, Freak Weather Native Language: Indian
Kenneth Rand[edit]
5th level Expert
XP: 20,000/25,080 AC: HP: 20 Attack:
Attributes Strength: 13 Intelligence: 14 Wisdom: 9 Dexterity: 14 Constitution: 10 Charisma: 14
Languages Mandate English Keptak
Skills Transport Specialist Business/Trader - 0 Combat/Energy - 0 Combat/Gunnery - 1 Computer - 0 Culture/Spacer - 1 Exosuit - 0 Gambling - 0 Navigation - 2 Tech/Astronautic - 1 Tech/Postech - 0 Tech/Pretech - 0 Vehicle/Grav - 0 Vehicle/Space - 2
Equipment
Cash 60 cr
Readied: 3/6 Thermal Pistol (1) 6 "A" Power Cells (1) Armored Undersuit (1) TL 4 Backpack (0)
Stowed: 4/13 Medkit (1) Low Light Goggles (1) 6 Glowbugs (1) Compad (1)
Col. Frank Savage, Warrior[edit]
XP: 20,000/32,080 Level: 5 AC: 2 HP: 30 Attack:
Attributes Strength: 14 Intelligence: 13 Wisdom: 11 Dexterity: 11 Constitution: 15 Charisma: 11
Languages
Mandate, Spanish
Skills Armsman (Combat/Primitive: 0, Combat/Unarmed: 0, Culture/Eris: 0, Tactics: 0) Mercenary (Business: 0, Combat/Enery: 0, Combat/Projectile: 0, Culture/Spacer: 0, Perception: 0, Tactics: 0) Total skill points:10-2 (exosuit) -2 (combat/gunnery) -1 (Athletics) -3 Combat/Projectile
Athletics: 0 Business: 0 Combat/Energy: 1 Combat/Gunnery: 1 Combat/Primitive: 0 Combat/Projectile: 2 Culture/Eris: 0 Culture/Spacer: 0 Exosuit: 1 Perception: 1 Tactics: 1
- Assault Suit
- Spike Thrower plus two clips ammo
- Plasma Projector
- 3 magazines
- Mag pistol
- 3 magazines
Backpack Three days rations Low light goggles 15 credits.
The Jackalope[edit]
Free Merchant Speed 3 Armor 2 HP 20 Crew 1/6 AC: 6 (minus Pilot skill) Power 10 Free Mass 15
Modules Ship's Locker (20k) Armory (20k) Reaper Battery (Power 4, Mass 1, 100k) Atmospheric Configuration + Seaworthy (Mass 2, 50k + 50k) Drive-2 (Power 2, Mass 2, 100k)* Survey Sensor Array (Power 2, Mass 1, 50k) Fuel Bunker (Mass 1, 25k) Light Bay (Mass 1, 20k) (Fine, why not. Currently contains a gravcar. Cost is included in cargo) 140 tons pressurized cargo space.
Totals:
Power 8
Mass 8
415k
Suggested Cargo Trade Metals x 100 (1k, assume 1 ton) Trade Goods x 100 (5k, assume 1 ton) Colonial Supplies x 3 (3k, 3 tons) Colonial Materials x 2 (4k, 2 tons) Postech Housewares x 1 (5k, 1 tons) Medical Supplies, Postech x 1 (25k, .1 tons) Small Arms, Projectile x 2 (10k, 2 tons) Industrial Tools x 1 (10k, 1 ton) Clothing x 2 (2k, 2 tons)
Total: 85k, 17.1 tons
The Sphere[edit]
“How big is it? A ‘standard’ sector in the Mandate days had twenty habitable worlds in it. This is 275 million sectors. Over 550 million Earths of real estate. The only reason it doesn’t collapse on itself is because it’s shunting it’s mass into variable levels of Spike-Space. There’s a forest fire that’s six Earths long right now, and it’s essentially a small scale problem. There are more beanstalks in orbit than most worlds have people. There’s a ring-hab the size of Venus’s orbit in this thing we can’t even get to, and we’re pretty sure there’s a stellar control rig around the sun. How big is it? Think of something big--and then make it much, much bigger.” --Dr. Johan Mackenzie, Harbil Academy Sphere Expedition Leader, NOW! Magazine interview
“I don’t care who built it--I just hope they never come back.” --General Shiana VonQai, leader of the Sphere Expedition Regulatory fleet.
The Megastructure known as the Sphere sits in a lonely pocket of space in the McKinney Sector. It is a Dyson Shell, with a one AU radius. When the Madate found it, it was sealed. The gates opened sometime during the Second Migration and for a century the Mandate researched it. Then the Scream happened, and the gates shut closed.
Seven hundred years later, the Airlocks opened again.
It’s been five years of research by nineteen different regional governments, some as far as three sectors away, and they’ve barely scratched the surface. Governments, mega-corps, relgions, gangs, criminal enterprises, and just plain folk are diving into this thing, finding resources and treasures and danger. There’s a 18% mortality rate, but the wealth and fame that come from the Sphere can be unimaginable. It is, quite simply, an impossible treasure filled with wonders...and it needs to be explored.
Things You Should Know about the Sphere
First, this is big. The unofficial measurement is an Earth--the surface area of Old Terra flattened out. It’s roughly 560 million Earth’s of exploration space.
LAYOUT: In the center of the Sphere is the Sun. It is surrounded by a mesh network floating on it’s heliosphere (not that you can see it--it is a Sun), which keeps the magnetic fields and flares under control by..well, the scientists aren’t really sure. After that, there’s a lot of empty space, although a few sattellites and possible orbital colonies have been detected by telescope.
At a few thousand klick’s in from a Venusian orbit, there is the Ring. It’s a massive orbital structure, that may be a city or just a stupidly insanely big particle collider. Why can’t we go there? Because of the Swarm. in between the Ring and the Surface, there’s a flittering mass of satellites, garbage, dead ships, and Gods know what else. The problem is--some of them are armed. Any attempt to go up there is quickly shot down. As a result, there is a set flight ceiling.
Just below that range is the Chandoliers--massive space stations, well over a billion of them, at least 2 per Earth of space. No only are these a cheap way to get into orbit (when they work), they also normally produce a magnetosphere like protection (just in case the stellar array breaks, or your neighbors start shooting plasma), keeps space junk from falling, and will project “night” on it’s area of domain. These might have been all timed at one point, but now it’s a bit random--some Earths have eternal night, others get minutes of darkness. What it projects doesn’t have to be “stars” either--one spot has a paticularly ass-kicking fight between two dragon-creatures going on every evening (bets must be placed before dusk).
Finally, we get into atmosphere. The air is breathable, if a bit nitrogen heavy for normal humans. There’s precipitation, coulds, seasonal varience--it feels like a world.
Once we hit the Surface, things become...weirdly normal. There are continents, mountains, oceans, lakes, plains, and zones from freezing to jungle to desert. The main equator has what appears to be a diorama of the geological plate shifting of a homeworld through at least a few hundred million years. Whoever built it built it right--there are geological strata. There are fossils--some real, some probable jokes. There’s methane pockets that will fill with oil. There are cities--some small villages, some continental-sized metropoli. Essentially--there’s a lot of there there.
Twenty kilometers beneath the surface (according to scans) is where the Shell starts. It’s the outer layer of the Sphere, and is a kilo deep. It’s made of an unknown material which is impossible to scan or scratch, and it shifts itself through the varying levels of hyperspace to keep it’s mass from collapsing in on itself.
There are 30 Airlocks, big enough to let a fleet through, evenly spaced along the Equator. There are three base camps set, each only a few kilometers from a Lock. Boomtown, Gate, and Halsonburg.
The Lasburg Oversight The Sphere is surrounded by empty space --scientists think everything around it was used up. The only star nearby is Lasbug, a world that is otherwise fairly boring. They fell to a victorian lifestyle after the Scream. when star travel came from other worlds, Lasburg was the only place a Spike-3 or less could stop before getting to the Sphere. Since few people went there, it wasn’t a big deal.
Then the Sphere opened up.
Lasburg became the go-to stop for trade and dispatch to the Sphere. It became a VERY WEALTHY WORLD overnight, and volunteered to take over the bureaucratic nightmare that exploring the Sphere would become. With over nineteen multi-system governments exploring, it could become a shooting war very, very quickly. The Lasburg don’t care who succeeds, as long as they get their cut. Most of their citizens now work one way or another with the Sphere--setting up exploration details, running claims, determining pricing, keeping multiple companies in contact with each other, scrubbing data, and keeping the Outposts running. Thier fees and registrations keep the outposts running, the security flying, and the red tape grinding. Officially, they have no real power to enforce anything, but those that try to cross or refuse to pay them suddenly find contracts are delayed, clearance denied, and occasionally ships suffering critical malfunctions...all with the polite smile and stiff upper lip Lasburg is known for.
Lasburg Oversight employees are recognizable by the green and yellow banded ribbon that is placed on the throat. Culture/Lasburg can be handy in situations involving them.
The Outposts
There are three Outposts, at Airlocks 1 (First Step) , 2 (Gate), and 30 (Halonsburg). First Step is the largest, due to being the first and the most friendly environment of rolling green hills. Each are massive sprawls of pre-fab buildings, tents, and ship hulls turned into city halls and shops. They have a very “Wild West” feel--everything’s grown too fast for stability, so law enforcement, utilities, and other necessities tend to be underdeveloped. This, along with multiple nations, mega-corps, religions, Syndicates, anarcho-memes, and just plain bunches of people has led to a near-balkanization of territories, tribalism, and gangs. Something illegal on one side of the street may be perfectly acceptable on the other. The law enforcement tends to start at “please follow the rules” and escalates to severe weapons-fire at freakish pace--there’s just too many people to really coddle troublemakers. There’s not just explorers here--everything from hospitals to brothels to farms and butchers are all zooming in to get at the wealth of this area.
Purely for sake of flavor, we will be using all pricing from the core book, but note that these are boomtown pricing. Things are much more expensive here because frankly, they can be.
Investors Please decide who or what, if any, your crew plans on gaining Investments from. Quite frankly, there are a dozen planets filled with men and women who want to throw money at you to get them rare artifacts, set claims on land and resources, and find out all manner of scientific investments.
Keptak-Aanu The Keptak are a former stellar race that is common throughout the McKinney and surrounding sectors. Anthropoligists and xenopsychologists believe they had an event similar to the Scream impact their culture--their cultures normally have a legend of “the Star Queens” and the “Curse” that obliterates Heaven. Their tech level normally ranges between 1.0 to 3.0.
An amphibious race, their children start as half-meter long fish like creatures with ravenous appetites and will eat anything they can. They later grow limbs and the “upper brain”, which brings them to a sapient level of intelligence.
The Keptak are a bit shorter and broader than a normal human, with smooth dry skin ranging from pale blues to yellow-browns. They have two sets of eyes--a large set of motion detecting “far” eyes and a smaller “close” set above their nostrils. Their mouths are larger than “normal” for a head their size, with multiple rows of teeth.
Keptak are just another minority in most human wolrds--they’re just about everywhere a human being would live, and have their own culture. Most governments give them either equal rights or at least protected status as sentient.
Aboriginal Life in the Sphere The Sphere is old. No one really knows how old, but this area of space had stars in it about 6,000 years ago...and now it doesn’t. Apparently, the pattern of “Gates opening, people going through, gates closing” is a constant one. While there has been no sign of “bulders”, there are at least nine different species that qualify as “Aboriginal”--they were here when the Mandate came in. There could easily be many, many more--with only 20% of the Sphere investigated at all, and less that 4% being qualified as “mapped”, there could be all manner of creatures in here.
There are also monsters. Megafauna, hideously vicious attack animals, peak predators and nightmarish things have all been spotted, hunted, killed, or scanned out there. Keep your weapons handy.
