Into The Sun

A pursuit of raiders into a radiation storm

Plot points/Scenes

Weapons Deployment

Simple Weapons Rules

The following tables are applicable to all ships, but become restricted to the small ships, when the rules catering to diverse weapons are utilized in a game.

Bonuses			Penalties
Rail, Close	+1		Missile, Close	-2
Missile, Medium	+2		PD, Medium	-4
PD, Long	dF*4		Rail, Long	-6

Small Weapons	Range	Dam
Boarding Action	Close	n/a
Machine Guns	Close	2d6
Rails	Medium	3d6
Missiles	Long	4d6

Here, machine guns are the same as Point-Defense. The lesser damage reflect the limitations in a smaller mountable surface area.

Starship Size	Point-Defense Damage
Medium	1d12*10
Large	2d12*10
Huge	3d12*10
Gigantic	4d12*10
Colossal	5d12*10

Diverse Weapons Rules

As ships get larger, more machine guns (PDs) can wrap around the bow and stern to protect and attack with the same bonuses and penalties depending on target distance. For intercepting missiles, defenders must succeed a DC 10 STR + attacker DEX + PD Damage.
If defenders are intercepting, after having attacked earlier with PDs, it changes to a DC 12 STR + attacker DEX + PD Damage.

Themes

Weapon	Damage	Critical	Types	Range	Min Ship Size
Chemical Missile	6d12 (39)	19-20	Ballistic	Long	Medium
Cluster Missile	4d12 (26)	19-20	Ballistic	Long	Large
Nuclear Missile	16d8 (72)	19-20	Energy	Long	Huge
Dark Matter Missile	20d8 (90)	19-20	Energy	Long	Colossal
Plasma Missile	18d8 (81)	19-20	Fire	Long	Gigantic
Needle Rail	8d12 (52)	20	Ballistic	Medium	Gigantic
Rail Cannon	6d12 (39)	20	Ballistic	Close	Large
Chemical Mine	10d8 (45)	-	Energy	-	Medium
Fusion Mine	5d100 (275)	-	Energy	-	Colossal

Structure

Exposition

Each ship in an engagement rolls ( 2d6 + DEX bonus) to determine their starting pool of moves (initiative). The ship with the greater size gains a +1 bonus to its roll.
Once per round, pilots of each fleet may make full use of the relevant modifiers for a Tactics Roll (the difference between the two initiative rolls) that are added or subtracted to the initiative.
These points are then spend in correspondence to:

how many missiles are fired in salvos of 1, 2, 6 and 12

the number of dice that are stated to be rolled for rail shots (i.e. 3, 6, 8)

10 for busts of machine gun fire; except for small ships that get it for free. PDs to incept are excluded from this restriction.

Conflict

Sighting (Long Range)

Point Defense (STR) Check	Missile Roll
Minor Failure at -6 or less	11+
Average Failure between -2 to -5	10+
Critical Failure at -1	9+

Point Defense (STR) Check	Missile Roll
Minor Success at 0	8+
Average Success between 1-5	7+
Critical Success at 6+	6+

Missile Range	Turns to Impact
Close	Immediate
Medium	1-2
Long	5-10

After the end of the determined number of turns until impact, the missiles are rendered inert. There is also the option to 'defeat' half the salvo when half the turns have past at the defender's successful DC 10 + size Defense + bonus to Defense + DEX modifier.

Rising Action

Electronic Warfare (Medium Range)

All throughout, the opposing ships are automatically moving closer and closer.

The constant encroachment adds tension to the battle, with the enemy ships' sensor arrays growing increasingly precise as distance shrinks.
Every failed electronic countermeasure or missed opportunity to disrupt the enemy’s systems means less time to act before they fall within optimal weapons range.
The opposing vessels, knowing full well the danger of close-quarters combat, spread their formation or angling their drives to create overlapping fields of fire.

Sensors (INT) Check	Encounter Distance	Mods
Fail	Boarding	n/a
8	Close	-4
9	Close	-2
10	Medium	0
10	Medium	+ d5*dF
11	Long	+1
12	Long	+2

Climax

Target Condition	DC Modifier
Every size category larger	-5
Every size category smaller	+5
Every tactical difference	-2

Size of Grappled Target	DC Pilot (DEX) Check
Colossal	5 + target’s Defense
Gigantic	10 + target’s Defense
Huge	15 + target’s Defense
Large	20 + target’s Defense
Medium	25 + target’s Defense
Small	30 + target’s Defense

Closing (Close Range)

If the pirates were not able to discourage the authorities' approach, they would deploy giant cane claws, electromagnetic pads and long tow-cables to bring themselves within 1km.
DC 10 + size modifier + pilot’s bonus to Defense + pilot’s DEX modifier
Boarding action is resolved abstractly by rolling 2d6 for both sides and add the following modifiers that reflect personnel:

1. Superior Armour: +1
2. Superior Weaponry: +1
3. Superior Skills and Tactics: +2
4. Superior Numbers: +1
5. Defender has no marines: –2

Compare the difference. If there is no difference, the battle continues next round.

Falling Action

Boarding (Close Range)

Difference	Attacker Winning	Defender Winning
1-3	Defender has no free action this round Attacker has a +2 bonus to next boarding Ship suffers one hit.	Defender has a +2 bonus to next boarding roll Ship suffers one hit.
4-6	Ship suffers 2d6 damage. Attackers may take control of the ship after another turn of pacification.	Attackers retreat to their ship or into space. If unable to do either, they are killed or captured.
7+	Attackers storm the ship and may take control immediately.	If the enemy ship is docked, then the defenders may mount a counter-attack Gain a +4 bonus in the first round of the new boarding action

Resolution

Vanish

The small fleet weaves through all obstacles towards the sun. In reality, they are racing to their ever unpredictable asteroid base. It is both a safe haven, and a trap, as the asteroid's vanishing act protects those inside but leaves no hope for rescue if they fail to reach it in time.
The fleet's only hope is to reach Dwolman before the orbital window closes and the base disappears for another cycle. When it resurfaces, its position can only be calculated by someone with the knowledge of a secret navigational key.

— Secret hideout, naturally mobile

Components

Goals

Pirates

As an established pirate gang, your goal is to escape pursuit towards your invisible asteroid base; where you can recuperate and repair your damaged ships.
Meaning it is a manner surviving a number of rounds as your ships match the incoming asteroid's speed.

Authorities

As a patrol group, acting on behalf of the pantheons, your goal is to capture the fleeing criminals to be interrogated.
Meaning you would need to disable the enemy ships and successfully board (grapple) them.

Hooks

Utilizing simplified rules for orbital mechanics, you are conceptually a spacecraft placed within an isolated system with 4 moving bodies:

1. Rotation of the Rainbow Aura: Direction can either be 1 or -1.
2. Dwolman, Direction of Travel: dF
   • If the value of 1 or -1 is the same as the aura, then it has a +1 speed bonus as it is quicker in disappearing into the star's gases
   • If not, then it is -1
   • If it is 0, then it is moving head on and gets no bonus
3. Pirate Fleet, Direction of Travel: dF
   • If the value of 1 or -1 is the same as the dwolman, then it has a -1 speed bonus as it is harder to match its speed
   • If not, then it is +1
   • If it is 0, then it is moving perpendicular to dwolman and can adjust itself
4. Pantheon Patrol, Direction of Travel: dF
   • If the value of 1 or -1 is the same as the pirates, then it has a +1 speed bonus as it is easier to catch up
   • If not, then it is -1
   • If it is 0, then it is moving perpendicular to the pirates and has a clear line of sight

The movement of these entities are only considered in relation to each other; as denoted by -1 or 1.

Moral Quandaries

Evacuations

In the event of sufficient damage, crews may be forced to eject from crippled ships and may be captured by the pursuers.
It is possible for the remaining fleet to make an impromptu rescue, while still being pursued and fired upon, to revitalize their HP and regain any loss modifiers before then.

Size(s)	Inexperienced Evacuation Time	Experienced Evacuation Time
Tiny	1d3 rounds	Move Action
Small	1d6 rounds	Full-Round
Medium	2d6 rounds	1d4 rounds
Large - Huge	3d6 rounds	2d4 rounds
Gigantic +	4d6 rounds	3d4 rounds

Cruel Tricks

Instant Death

Because the pirates are so close to an area damaging to electronics, if they miss the asteroid; their engines, alongside other systems, will permanently shut down.
The star's gravity will continue to act on them until the pirates either fall into it or are slingshotted around the star according to their momentum.

Reprimand

Conversely, the captains of the pursuing ships may simply get a verbal dressing down when they report their failing.
Depending on pantheon politics, they may be reassigned to a less prestigious posting.

Red Herrings

Objects	Def	Hard	Hit Point
Colossal Asteroid	-3	8	36,000
Gigantic Asteroid	1	8	9,000
Huge Asteroid	3	8	4,500
Large Asteroid	4	8	1,125
Colossal Debris Cloud	–3	0	1,600
Gigantic Debris Cloud	1	0	400
Colossal Iceball	-3	0	7,200
Gigantic Iceball	1	0	1,800
Huge Iceball	3	0	900
Large Iceball	4	0	225
Medium Mine	5	10	50
Colossal Spacehulk	-3	10	3,600
Gigantic Spacehulk	1	10	900
Huge Spacehulk	3	10	450

Obstructions

A fifth body may be included in the scenario for greater tactical gameplay. They are not necessarily solid masses, but clusters of smaller pieces.

A GM might use space objects to:

Hide Suprises from View

Force Dramatic Diversions

Shield against Weapons
Conversely, it is possible to fly through them; at the GM's discretion.

Hazard Size	DC Pilot (DEX) Check
Colossal	5
Gigantic	20
Huge	15
Large	10

Ramming

The following table applies to any structural collisions including between ships.

Size of Smaller Object	Collision Damage on Both
Colossal	12d6*10
Gigantic	6d6*10
Huge	3d6*10
Large	1d6*10
Medium or smaller	Automatically Destroyed

Relations

Protagonists

Ship Choice

Basics

Size(s)	Length	Hull Hard	Def	Crew	Examples
Tiny	5m	1	7	1-2	Escape Pods Dox Hopper
Small	10m	1d3	6	1-2	Shuttle/Skiff Oumuamua
Medium	25m	1d6	5	2-4	Boat/Drop ship Trireme Class Drone Boat
Large	50m	2d6	4	d20min4	Frigate
Huge	100m	3d6	3	d100min20	Destroyer
Gigantic	250m	4d6	1	d500min100	Cruiser
Colossal	500m +	5d6	-3	d2000min500	Battleship Honorius
Pearl-Built	4 km +	6d6	-5	2000-8000	Quarantine Class

Propulsion

Ship Modifiers

Starship Size	Size Modifier on all attack rolls and Defense	Targeting System Bonus on all attack rolls	Auto System Bonus to Defense
Colossal	-8	+3	+3
Gigantic	-4	+2	+2
Huge	-2	+1	+1
Large	-1	0	0
Medium	0	-1	+2
Small	+1	-2	+4
Tiny	+2	-3	+8

Crew Modifiers

Crew Quality	Skill Modifier	Pilot Bonus to Defense	Pilot DEX Modifier	Gunner Bonus to Attack
Untrained 0-5 months	+0	+1	+0	–4
Trained 6-11 months 12-35 Battles	+4	+3	+2	+2
Expert 6-11 months 4-11 Battles	+8	+5	+4	+4
Ace 3 years + 12 + Battles	+12	+7	+6	+8/+3

Crew Distribution

Position Order	Minimum Crew	Effects
Pilot	d3	-2 penalty for sizes medium and lower -4 penalty for sizes gigantic and up
Navigator	d%max5+d3	INT bonus for 10 rounds -2 INT check
Engineer	d%max50	Gives 10 rounds to endure failed repair checks
Medics	0 or d%max25	INT bonus for quick aid INT check to restore morale for d6 rounds
Gunner	d4+1	DEX or INT bonus to fire -2 DEX when intercepting
Steward	0 or d%max5	WIS bonus for morale -2 CHA for morale
Officers	0 or d%max10	+6 INT bonus +7 DEX bonus

Notes

Hull Stress: The hull value reflects ship toughness. One way it can be improved is by selecting a ship size smaller than the hull hardness and gaining a +2 modifier to every size category difference, provided the smaller size has the max capacity to fit them. Similarly, there is a -2 penalty in the other direction.
Difficulty: Generally, the larger the size disparity, the greater the combat challenge will be for the side escaping.
Crew Composition:

1. The number of crew acts as the ship's hp pool.
2. Once a ship's total crew count is determined, they are assigned positions in the order of distribution
3. Those same crew members contribute their own modifiers depending on the distribution and their level of experience.
4. However, these modifiers decrease categorically as these crew subgroups are killed.

Alternatively

d100 + Relevant Skill + Modifiers ± Bonuses/Penalties

• ⅔ hp loss: -10 to all Crew Rolls. Each PC aboard rolls a d10.
  • On a 1 they take d10+2 damage
• ⅓ hp loss: - 20 to all Crew Rolls. Each PC aboard rolls a d5.
  • On a 1 they take d10+4 damage

Allies

Kamikaze Drones

Once pirates are at close range to Dwolman, they are sent aid in the form of d13min3 sacrificial drones to distract their pursuers.

Armour Class: 20
Hit Points: 45 ( 6d8+18 )
Speed: Close
Saving Throws: DEX +8

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
20 (+5)	20 (+5)	16 (+3)	11 (+0)	11 (+0)	11 (+0)

Lock-On

Locks onto an object at close range and remains so until redirected out of range.

Ram:

No chance for a save against 2d10+5 damage.

Self-Destruct (once):

Everything within close range must make a DC 17 DEX saving throw or take 6d8 impact and 6d8 fire damage on a fail. Half damage on a success.
The explosion deals double damage against objects and structures.

Backdrops

Locations

Theodqueyne

Þeodcwéne is a binary star group at the center of a ring of highly irradiated space that scrambles and obscures monitoring instruments. It is composed of the modest and stable Coşmar star (Class A), which is subservient to the much larger and less stable Cereasca (Class O).
See the "Table on the Degree of Ionizing Radiation from Stars" for when they become a factor
See the "Exposure to Irradiated Area and Sickness" for when they become a factor

Threats

Meteor Impacts

Roll	Meteoroid Size	Impact Damage	DC Auto Check	DC Piloting Check	Defense	Hardness	Hit Points
01–75	None	-	-	-	-	-	-
76–80	Diminutive	1d6	35	5	9	8	15
81–85	Tiny	2d6	30	10	7	8	30
86–88	Small	3d6	25	15	6	8	90
89–91	Medium	4d6	20	20	5	8	225
92–94	Large	1d6*5	15	25	4	8	1,125
95–97	Huge	3d6*5	10	30	3	8	4,500
98–99	Gargantuan	6d6*5	5	35	1	8	9,000
100	Colossal	12d6*5	0	40	-3	8	36,000

Plot type

Stand Alone One-on-One

Related Characters

• Bambu Cane

Related Locations

• Dwolman
• Nataraja System
• Þeodcwéne

Damages

Breach Size	Decompression Time
Fine (1 in²)	3 rounds per 10ft³ of air
Diminutive (3 in²)	3 rounds per 10ft³ of air
Tiny (6 in²)	2 rounds per 10ft³ of air
Small (1 ft²)	2 rounds per 10ft³ of air
Medium (2½ ft²)	1 round per 10ft³ of air
Large (5 ft²)	1 round per 10ft³ of air
Huge (10 ft²)	1 round per 20ft³ of air
Gigantic (15 ft²)	1 round per 30ft³ of air
Colossal (20 ft²)	1 round per 40ft³ of air

Impromptu Repair

Every medium and higher breech requires a DC 30 repair attempt to patch battle damage to the hull. It is a jury-rig solution to stretch the ship's survivability just long enough to complete their respective mission.
Long-term repairs or replacements are only available when their are dock at their base.

Breech Size	HP Restored
Tiny	1d10
Small	2d10
Medium	3d10
Large-Huge	4d10
Gigantic+	5d10

Critical hits follow their own standards.

Repair (Example)	DC Repair (INT+DEX)	Time
Simple (Tools, Small Weapons)	10	1min.
Moderate (Comms, Sensors)	15	10 mins.
Complex (Targeting Systems, Weapons)	20	1hr.
Advanced (Engines, Defense Systems)	25	10hrs.

Critical Hits

Roll d%	Effect(s)
01–35	Normal Critical Hit On a nat 20, the attack hits regardless of target’s defense Then roll again with all the same modifiers to determine damage
36–50	Normal Critical Hit, Casualties: d10 among crew and d10 among passengers (if any) At half normal complement, take -2 penalty on all attack rolls and checks At less than a quarter normal complement, take -4 penalty on all attack rolls and checks
51–55	Severe Critical Hit, Gravity Disabled: For d10 rounds: Untrained crew takes a -4 penalty on all attack rolls and skill checks. Trained, expert, or ace crews take no penalties
56–60	Severe Critical Hit, Casualties: Effects from "Normal Critical Hit" x10 Crew are shaken for 1 round
61–65	Damaged System: Comm System -2 penalty to relevant checks Lose benefits from tactics rolls
66–70	Damaged System: Defense System First Hit: All attacks suffer a -2 penalty. Second Hit: All turreted weapons are disabled. Third Hit: All turreted weapons are destroyed. Subsequent Hits: Count as Hull hits.
71–75	Damaged System: Engines First Hit: Lose one round of actions. Second Hit: Reduce movement by 50%. Third Hit: Destroyed, disabling the ship and inflicting 1d6 damage to the hull thereafter.
76–80	Damaged System: Sensors Blinded until repaired 50% chance to miss when attacking targets
81–85	Damaged System: Targeting System Bonuses on attack rolls are negated until repaired
86–90	Damaged System: Weapon -1 dice roll to one weapon option of the attacker's choice until repaired
91–95	Destroyed Defensive System -1 dice roll or multiplier to one defensive option of the attacker's choice (cannot be repaired)
96–100	Destroyed Weapon -1 dice roll or multiplier to one weapon option of the attacker's choice (cannot be repaired)