Science Fiction

Cities Generate

A city's relative Size denotes its population range, and possible numbers of establishments and factions:

1. Tiny: population 100–1,000.
2. Small: population 1,000–10,000, and:
   • one well-known Establishment.
3. Medium: population 10,000–100,000, and:
   • one well-known Establishment,
   • one opposing Faction.
4. Large: population 100,000–1,000,000, and:
   • two well-known Establishments,
   • one opposing Faction.
5. Huge: population 1,000,000–10,000,000, and:
   • three well-known Establishments,
   • one opposing Faction.

The Tech Level of a city determines a lot about daily life there:

1. 20th Century: barebones technology to support spaceflight.
2. 21st Century: sustained livelihood in space, diverse energy utilization.
3. Standard: able to traverse star system; fusion drives, energy weapons.
4. Interstellar: faster-than-light, capable of navigating between star systems.
5. Intergalactic: space-folding, near-instantaneous travel, advanced weaponry, strange sciences.

Every city has some level of infrastructure (or lack thereof) to support making its citizens feel safe, denoted as Security Level:

1. Lawless: no central authorities regarding law enforcement.
2. Unsafe: minimal security personnel, able to be averted easily.
3. Protected: law enforcement present but not overt.
4. Safe: well-equipped security presence, abundant surveillance.
5. Oppressive: omnipresent personnel, well armed and highly active.

Any city of note has a starport open for space traffic, at least at a basic level. Roll for Port Quality:

1. Poor: no services besides docking and fueling, not well maintained.
2. Basic: elementary docks, simple repairs.
3. Average: decent facilities, personnel and specialized repairs.
4. Great: very nice facilities, concierge services, advanced maintenance.
5. Excellent: outstanding and secure docks, usually incorporated shipyard.

Cybernetics Generate

Cybernetic equipment grants special abilities or talent-like advantages to characters. Installation incurs a cost of attribute points, depending on the location and nature of the equipment. The type of equipment is generally linked to its enhancement effect.

The max value of the installation's attribute is reduced while the item is installed, with the amount of reduction determined by the quality:

1. Poor: -25 points.
2. Basic: -20 points.
3. Average: -15 points.
4. Great: -10 points.
5. Excellent: -5 points.

Installing cybernetics is always risky. A successful Medicine (Cybernetics) roll is required, with a fumble resulting in permanent attribute loss. Removing or upgrading a cybernetic typically carries the same risks.

Equipment

Establishments Generate

An establishment falls into a Category:

1. Business (e.g., restaurants, stores)
2. Corporate (e.g., company headquarters, office parks)
3. Education (e.g., academies, universities)
4. Engineering (e.g., factories, plants, refineries)
5. Entertainment (e.g., attractions, stadiums, theme parks)
6. Habitat (e.g., hotels, resorts, campsites)
7. Landmark (e.g., cultural sites, unique geography)
8. Market (e.g., bazaars, malls)
9. Nature (e.g., parks, preserves)
10. Science (e.g., laboratories, research facilities)

The Quality of the establishment denotes its general state of safety, cleanliness, and level of clientele:

1. Poor
2. Basic
3. Average
4. Great
5. Excellent

Each establishment has some Oddity that makes it stand out from similar locations:

1. Altered Legality: some activity normally illegal is legal here, or vice versa.
2. High Quality: known for excellent goods, output, or facilities.
3. Renowned Event/Person: something (in)famous happened here, or someone well-known is connected in some way.
4. Strange Custom(s): social norms here are odd in some way to newcomers or visitors.
5. Unique Content: offers surprising goods, services, or experiences beyond the normal.

Factions Generate

A faction's relative Size describes its number of members and potential local impact:

1. Tiny: tens of members, a relatively insignificant but adamant group.
2. Small: hundreds of members, gaining strength in numbers.
3. Medium: thousands of members, substantial local influence.
4. Large: tens of thousands of members, a major impact in politics and economy.
5. Huge: hundreds of thousands of members, rivals regional authorities in most matters.

The faction's Type describes its nature of organization and activities:

1. Activists: a group of like-minded people focused on change.
2. Corporation: a corporate entity with their own ideals.
3. Government: a state separate from the local authorities.
4. Mafia: a gang with local interests and dealings.
5. Militia: an armed group acting as vigilantes.

The Leadership of a faction describes how it's lead and decisions are made:

1. Anarchy: no member is in charge of any other; internal strife is likely.
2. Individual: a single leader is in charge of the faction.
3. Small Council: a small group of members makes decisions.
4. Large Council: a large group of members, as a board or committee, leads the group.
5. Democracy: each member has a voice in decision making.

Every faction has a Goal for its existence, and focus of its activities:

1. Chaos: they revel in, or benefit from, societal disorder.
2. Independence: desire freedom from governence, laws, discriminatory policies, etc.
3. Peace: social and economic changes to benefit livelihood of allies.
4. Power: desire political, economic, or militaristic strength.
5. Wealth: want money, or economic resources, and influence gained by it.

A faction's Tactics denote how it accomplishes its goal:

1. Advanced: uses high technology to assert their strength.
2. Popular: employs community support from the populace.
3. Secretive: utilizes subterfuge and shady deals.
4. Violent: asserts its influence with heavy-handed violence.
5. Wealthy: well connected with money and contacts.

Fauna Generate

Creatures have 10 Mind and 10 Will by default.

Size determines the creature's Body rating:

1. Tiny: size of a rat or smaller; 10 Body.
2. Small: size of a dog; 25 Body.
3. Medium: size of a human; 50 Body.
4. Large: size of a large bear; 75 Body.
5. Huge: size of a horse or larger; 90 Body.

Form describes the creature's physical appearance:

1. Amphibious: covered in moist skin.
2. Avian: covered in feathers, has wing-like appendages but might not fly.
3. Insectoid: has an exoskeleton or carapace, antennae, and usually complex eyes.
4. Mammal: covered in fur or hair, usually in distinctive patterns.
5. Reptilian: covered in scales.

The creature's Behavior denotes how it interacts with other beings:

1. Docile: non-aggressive and typically won't defend itself effectively.
2. Hive: acts as a collective with others of its kind, seemingly intelligently.
3. Hunter: preys on other creatures, and will attack anything viewed as prey.
4. Scavenger: feeds on the remains of other animals and/or plants.
5. Territorial: protects its own territory with violence.

Locomotion describes the way the creature moves:

1. Crawling: moves limbs close the ground and pulls itself along.
2. Flying: uses its limbs to propel itself through the air; gains Flying tag.
3. Marine: primarily moves through liquid, by swimming, floating, etc.
4. Sliding: "rectilinear" movement, sliding its body along the ground.
5. Walking: walks on the surface with primary limbs.

Each creature has an Adaptation:

1. Armor: has naturally resistant layer(s); gains Armored (X) tag, where X is its Body rating.
2. Camouflage: evolved to hide itself and move discreetly throughout its environment; gains a strength in Subterfuge.
3. Intelligence: not sentient, but is able to reason; increases Mind and Will to 25.
4. Strength: physically stronger than expected; gains strengths in Athletics, Combat, and/or Presence.
5. Venom: evolved a powerful venom for survival; gains an attack with Toxic damage.

Flora Generate

Roll for relative Size:

1. Tiny: grasses and similar that grow in clusters.
2. Small: flowering plants and individual organisms.
3. Medium: shrubs, bushes, and vines that spread over and around surfaces.
4. Large: trees that reach upwards and propagate as individuals.
5. Huge: megaflora, gargantuan "trees" and adaptive, structured plants.

Roll for Propagation:

1. Division: parts of the plant can be grown as new individuals.
2. Flowers: attracts fauna to spread its pollen.
3. Roots: propagates new individuals from its own root system.
4. Seeds: via fruit or vegetables.
5. Spores: produces airborne particles that spread distantly.

Roll for Oddity:

1. Alternative Nutrition: feeds from something other than chlorophyll.
2. Prolific: grows at a highly increased rate.
3. Symbiotic Relationship: benefits from a cooperative trade-off with another organism.
4. Unique Visual: colored or shaped differently for an adaptive reason; attracts insects, phosphorescense, etc.
5. Weaponized Defenses: produces a toxin or poison, or has a hazardous exterior or some other defense.

Gas Giants Generate

Gas giants have Size that determines its number of orbit slots:

1. Tiny: 1 orbit slots.
2. Small: 2 orbit slots.
3. Medium: 3 orbit slots.
4. Large: 4 orbit slots.
5. Huge: 5 orbit slots.

For each orbit, determine what's there:

1. Empty.
2. Debris Field: the remnants of a struggle, either ongoing or in the past.
3. Ring: a ring of small rocky bodies/material.
4. Station: roll a Station, usually one per planet.
5. Moon: roll a World.

Psionics

Introduce a new Will skill, Psionics, used to perform a set of paranormal abilities for individuals naturally attuned to the fabric of reality. Training in Psionics requires specialized material and/or a skilled mentor.

Using Psionics is largely an act of intention, and as such, the results tend to be subtle. In most campaigns, for instance, characters won't be able to move a ship or simply kill someone with their mind. The practical limits should be discussed and agreed upon by the group before Psionics enter the setting.

Psionic abilities include the following fields, which can each be a talent:

• Clairaudience: sense details about a subject through extra-sensory hearing.
• Clairsentience: sense details about a subject through extra-sensory empathy.
• Clairvoyance: sense details about a subject through extra-sensory sight.
• Psychometry: obtain inherent information about an object through touch.
• Telekinesis: apply physical force to objects without contact.
• Telepathy: send abstract thoughts to another individual.

The specifics of a Psionics outcome can vary wildly based on circumstances and the result of the skill check. Difficulty is based on proximity to the target—in space and time—and should be reasonably restricted. As with other skills, failed Psionics rolls can be improved with effort by spending points from the related attribute, Will.

In general, results are interpreted as:

• Critical: the intention is especially clear, increasing its level of potency.
• Success: the action works as expected, with subtle outcome.
• Failure: the intention is unclear; needs another skill to interpret or complete.
• Fumble: the action fails, and the psion suffers d10 Mind damage.

Robots Generate

A robot's relative Size determines its Body rating:

1. Tiny: size of a small home appliance; 10 Body.
2. Small: size of a large home appliance; 25 Body.
3. Medium: up to human-sized; 50 Body.
4. Large: human-sized and slightly larger; 75 Body.
5. Huge: up to car-sized; 90 Body, gains ↑Presence.

Build Quality determines its constructed properties and Will rating:

1. Poor: construction is low quality, utilitarian at best; 10 Will.
2. Basic: cheap materials, but decent build; 25 Will.
3. Average: solid circuitry; 50 Will.
4. Great: intensively constructed, high quality components; 75 Will.
5. Excellent: no expenses spared, fully custom build; 90 Will.

Programming determines its behavior and Mind rating:

1. Minimal: capable of only hard-programmed abilities; 10 Mind.
2. Basic: aware of situations, but only to effectively focus on purpose; 25 Mind.
3. Standard: can perform basic tasks, maintain situational knowledge; 50 Mind.
4. Adaptive: uses advanced algorithms and has capacity for dynamic tasks; 75 Mind.
5. Sentient: capable of realtime deep analysis, self-learning, and growth; 90 Mind.

Form determines the robot's locomotion, and possibly some related strengths or tags:

1. Bipedal: moves on two primary limbs.
2. Flyer: has mechanism for hovering (e.g., anti-grav plates) or flying (e.g., rotors); gains Flying tag.
3. Immobile: stationary, no means of movement; suffers ↓Athletics.
4. Walker: multi-limbed, able to maneuver difficult terrain; gains ↑Athletics.
5. Wheeled: navigates surfaces on wheels or tracks to maintain stability.

Purpose determines strengths linked to why the robot was created:

1. Combat: designed to deter or deal harm; gains ↑Ballistics and/or ↑Combat.
2. Protocol: aids in communication and interpersonal activities; gains ↑Social.
3. Recon: designed to collect information; gains ↑Sense and/or ↑Subterfuge.
4. Research: aids in scientific analysis and data handling; gains ↑Engineering, ↑Knowledge, or ↑Medicine.
5. Utility: built for manufacturing or creation of specific materials; gains ↑Control or ↑Finesse.

Spacecraft

A ship's Size (in tons) determines how many points are distributed into its attributes:

• Cargo is the free space (in tons) for transporting goods and individuals aboard the craft.
• Fuel presents the amount of fuel onboard, in tons; spent for demanding maneuvers and FTL jumps.
• Hull represents ship stability and structural integrity; reduced when taking damage.
• Power represents movement capability, jump range, and shield integrity.

The Control skill is used to interface with a ship’s systems. Power can be spent reactively to mitigate damage, but requires someone active at the controls.

In settings with faster than light travel, a ship’s max Power can determine its jump/warp capabilities. This can be treated as distance-rated bands (e.g., Power 1–10 is Jump 1, Power 11–20 is Jump 2, etc.) with the Fuel cost of a jump equal to its rating×d10.

There are commonly ten broad Size Classes of spacecraft:

1. 1–50 tons: personal craft and shuttles.
2. 50–100 tons
3. 100–500 tons
4. 500–1,000 tons
5. 1,000–5,000 tons
6. 5,000–10,000 tons
7. 10,000–50,000 tons
8. 50,000–100,000 tons
9. 100,000–500,000 tons
10. 500,000–1,000,000 tons

Species

Attributes, skills, and talents can all be modified to build custom species. Possible customizations include:

• Free points in an attribute the species has a natural advantage in
• Free points in a skill that the species has a cultural affinity with
• Free talent tied to the species’ expertises
• New skill only accessible to the species
• Situational easy/hard action checks
• Natural protection ratings for attributes (e.g., shell as Body protection, “psionically shielded” as Will protection)

Stars Generate

Stars have a relative Size that typically align with a spectral color, and determine orbit slots (equal to result):

1. Tiny: dwarf stars, usually red; 1 orbit.
2. Small: sub-dwarf stars, orange and yellow; 2 orbits.
3. Medium: dwarf stars, main sequence and varied in colors; 3 orbits.
4. Large: giant stars, white and bluish; 4 orbits.
5. Huge: super- and hyper-giant stars, blue and deep violet; 5 orbits.

For each orbit slot, determine what's there:

1. Empty.
2. World: a terrestrial planet, with satellites of its own.
3. Gas Giant: a planet with no accessible surface, but with satellites of its own.
4. Asteroid Belt: a vast ring or spheroid containing small- to medium-sized asteroids.
5. Station: independently orbiting the star, minimum Size 3 Medium.

Stations Generate

Stations have the same properties as Cities: Size, Tech Level, Security Level, Port Quality, and possibly Establishments and an opposing Faction.

Tiny Stations, or those with the lowest 20th Century tech level, have Low Gravity (precise maneuvers become hard).

Systems Generate

Using the other generators, you can assemble a full star system.

Start with determining how many stars are in the system:

• 1–70: solitary, one lone star.
• 71–95: binary, two stars.
• 96–100: trinary, three stars.

For each, roll to generate a Star, then use the largest one to determine the orbit slots, and continue with each generated body to create a complete system.

Worlds Generate

Terrestrial worlds (planets and moons) are represented by a few properties.

Roll for Size (1 Tiny, 2 Small, 3 Medium, 4 Large, 5 Huge), which determines:

• Number of Cities on the world, and indirectly population.
• Number of orbit slots around a planet (non-moon). For each, roll:
  1. Empty
  2. Debris Field: ships, stations, machinery left from past conflicts.
  3. Ring: a ring of small rocky bodies/material.
  4. Station: roll a Station, usually one per planet.
  5. Moon: roll a World, no bigger than planet.

Roll for Biome:

1. Artificial: either the surface or planet itself has been manufactured.
2. Barren: utterly devoid of features, native life, and water.
3. Desert: lacks moisture, major temperature swings.
4. Frozen: stays very cold, resources difficult to utilize.
5. Jungle: heavily wooded, generally temperate, difficult to settle.
6. Locked: same side always faces parent star(s); extremes on opposite sides of planet, verdant ring in transition zone.
7. Oceanic: fully submerged—in water or some other liquid—requiring submarine adaptations.
8. Paradise: a hospitable, Earth-like and diverse world, with varied biomes.
9. Swamp: wet, humid, and generally uncomfortable and/or dangerous.
10. Volcanic: highly active tectonically, hazardous to inhabit.

Roll for Economy:

1. Agriculture: food of various kinds are grown/raised here.
2. Commerce: this world acts as a trade hub or center of commercial operations.
3. Culture: this world contains locations or history of significant cultural importance.
4. Education: specialized schools here are renowned for a certain curriculum.
5. Healthcare: home to especially high quality medical facilities, biotechnology, etc.
6. Industry: a certain class of goods are manufactured or produced here.
7. Politics: this world is the headquarters or capital of an important political faction.
8. Resources: unique raw resources are present and actively harvested.
9. Science: scientists work on research in laboratories studying local data.
10. Tourism: tourists come here from afar to be entertained.

Roll for Oddity:

1. Dangerous Atmosphere: either extreme pressure or toxic, harmful to unadapted life; periodic damage while exposed.
2. Doomed: the world is likely to be destroyed in the near future; through unstable orbit, geological or ecological disaster, etc.
3. Extreme Fauna: highly adapted, specialized species of animals are prevalent; see Fauna.
4. Extreme Flora: unique, strange, or especially dangerous plant life is present; see Flora.
5. Extreme Terrain: odd or drastic changes in the geology of the world exist.
6. Extreme Weather: massive storms, strong winds, floods, etc. plague the surface.
7. High Gravity: non-acclimated characters suffer hard movement rolls.
8. Low Gravity: movement rolls are easy.
9. Rare Minerals: exotic chemicals here result in an abundance of valuable minerals.
10. Warzone: a recent or ongoing conflict affects the surface.

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