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Diving into the Wreck

I haven't, though I think someone had mentioned it before. I should find a copy. What I have read recently related to this is a great true story on wreck diving that may be of interest to you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Shadows

Lots of stuff in it might be useful for a wreck diving campaign and just an all around good read imo.
 
Or wasn't there an adventure idea or something in Azhanti High Lightning about one of those ships being in the atmosphere of a gas giant and lost? Maybe you could "dive" for that or something along those lines...

A heavy grav world, dense atmosphere of gases that behave like fluids, that sort of thing might work as an analogue of sea diving. And some undiscovered critters might be lurking in those deeps too.
 
Last year I presented a paper on underwater cultural heritage at a hydrographic conference. You'd probably be surprised how protective governments are becoming about their wrecks.
 
Yes, I mentioned it last week or so in another thread. It was OK, IMO. The plotting and writing were good, the characters weren't all that strong, but I had a little problem with the central plot. Once again, brave adventurers vs. Evil Military/Government operatives.

Definitely Traveller-esque.
 
As a sometime Pubilc Safety DIver, I've given some thought to translating that sort of adventure to Traveller. Sadly, my T skills aren't strong enough to really make it a technical challenge. Story wise I'm pretyt good though.

L
 
I have the book and I'm about half way through it. It is actually three short stories combined into one novel. If I remeber correctly, part one and part two were published in ASIMOV's Science Fiction Magazine; part three was only published in the novel. I'm not usually big on first person narrative, but I actually like her writing. I had read part two in the magazine and that is what promted me to buy the book. I do like the "diving" concept and may incorprate it into a campaign I'm currently running.
 
Well, another idea I started already done. I had a story of an embattled ship with treasure that escapes, but crashes on either a gas giant or a Neptune like world. A couple centuries later the adventurers are forced to seek her out and reconstruct the mystery that brought her down.

Meh... maybe I'll write it up anyway.
 
Space Hulks

I've always liked the idea of characters happening upon a massive derelict starship of unknown designation or origin, the lure of possible profit and the potentially fatal risks in pursuing such.

Nothing against the Traveller universe as a whole but I don't see much in the sense of 'canon' materials that encourage-assist with the inclusion of space hulk type vessels that fall into the above-said category.
 
I thought about the space hulk idea a few months ago, and started getting some ideas for a campaign around it. There was some religion, hope, the usual bad guys trying to stop you, and huge honking ship with some mystery behind it all.

To simulate the earth ocean wreck diving ideas, you'd need a limited gas supply, large target, enough decay that things might move on you, and some force like shifting gravity or being near something that would cause movements. Also, it's increadibly easy to get lost in ocean wrecks. In this case, lost means "can't get out before you run out of breathing gas". When the gravity is off and you're floating around in Zero-G things really don't look the same.

L
 
Patron Zero said:
've always liked the idea of characters happening upon a massive derelict starship of unknown designation or origin, the lure of possible profit and the potentially fatal risks in pursuing such.

Nothing against the Traveller universe as a whole but I don't see much in the sense of 'canon' materials that encourage-assist with the inclusion of space hulk type vessels that fall into the above-said category.
Click to expand...

And why should there be... do you really need the game designers to do all the imagining for you?

Or do you want me to post the design I made for my Traveller game in 1984 for an alien ship... based on Arthur C. Clark's Rama, it is 115 km long, and 48 km in diameter. I had it hollow like Rama was, and air-filled, but actively occupied... but you could have it filled with decks, tall structures connecting from one side to the other (like the mother ship in Independence Day), etc.

To provide the "breathing-gas complication", it could have a non-breathable atmosphere, or be filled with a dense atmosphere (making for high pressures near the surface), or water, or whatever you like.
 
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Okay, I'm working on a campaign arc on this. What skills would be required to be able to function in a derelict that was dangerous? Zero-G, vacc suit/battle dress, hand weapons (energy/blade), hand to hand, mapping, what else? Trying to make it a bit difficult and exciting, and deadly to people who rush in.

Will post the notes on the campaign arc when I have it drafted.

L
 
One thing to emphasize will be the importance of vacc-suit skill to help maintain the suit's integrity, like patching it in case you tear it on a sharp piece of torn metal, watching your air time vs. how far into the wreck you are so you can get out again, forward basing extra air bottles and spare suits....

Zero-G Cmbt will come in handy for things not usually associated with it, but I use it IMTU for things like avoiding tearing your suit or catching on things you float past. Or for grabbing something if you don't want to float past it.

Also good for not losing your situational awareness in a large or unfamiliar space in low-gee....otherwise you might end up going the wrong way which takes us back to vacc-suit skill for seeing if you still have enough air to make it out once you figure out you went farther into the wreck when you thought (because you missed the roll on Zero-G Cmbt) you were coming back out of the wreck. Analogous to losing your orientation underwater, but no bubbles to watch in space for which way is "up".

Also, power packs for lights, safety lines (that wear and come apart at the most inconvenient times....or by someone on nefarious purpose), gear that malfunctions, oh the list is endless.

Good skills:

Vacc Suit obviously
Zero-G Cmbt really useful
BattleDress....maybe not so much unless you have a "hardsuit" that's powered for the players to use to get into the really dangerous (sharp edges, high rads...) parts of the ship...like the deep-diving hardsuits today only designed for industrial zero-g work...like a little spaceship

Electronics (ship systems repair, getting the lights on...)
Mechanical (getting airlocks open, fixing the hardsuit, using the powered tools for cutting through vacc-sealed locks....)

Computer....building the digital map on everyone's pocket comp to track progress in and out, etc..
Commo...never know when radios start acting up as players go deeper


Just some of the ways I've used skills in similar situations in the past that you might find useful.
 
Zero-g environments in a ship designed to have gravity are a good challenge to face: how about malfunctioning gravity generators instead? To cross a 6 foot gap is easy enough- until that gap has a localised 3g field in it?
If you want to stick with wrecks that have lost internal power, do not forget the effects of tumble; first you have to match the tumble to connect airlocks (or execute a difficult Ship's Boat or Zero-G environment task to get to the airlock or hatch)- then you have to be able to beat the nausea and disorientation induced by the motion of the wreck...
Skills required would include Engineering and Gravitics, along with Endurance, perhaps Physics to analyse the tumble?
 
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one nifty thing I've done in the past is use a vacc suit & zero G roll to determine how much air one burned; for a 30 minute block, 20+3d-(Vacc+ZeroG), DM+4 per missing skill...
 
sabredog said:
One thing to emphasize will be the importance of vacc-suit skill to help maintain the suit's integrity, like patching it in case you tear it on a sharp piece of torn metal, watching your air time vs. how far into the wreck you are so you can get out again, forward basing extra air bottles and spare suits....

Zero-G Cmbt will come in handy for things not usually associated with it, but I use it IMTU for things like avoiding tearing your suit or catching on things you float past. Or for grabbing something if you don't want to float past it.


Good skills:

Vacc Suit obviously
Zero-G Cmbt really useful
BattleDress....maybe not so much unless you have a "hardsuit" that's powered for the players to use to get into the really dangerous (sharp edges, high rads...) parts of the ship...like the deep-diving hardsuits today only designed for industrial zero-g work...like a little spaceship
Click to expand...

Hard Vacc Suit: High Passage magazine (FASA) #3 page 27-28; article Thruster Systems has a complete write-up on a T.L. 12 civilian hard vacc suit (specifically saying it is a civilian version of Battle Dress from LBB4), along with an ELSS (Extended Life Support System) and LRTP (Long Range Thruster Pack) that can be mounted on the suit (a basic life-support system & short-duration "one-shot" emergency thruster are built into the suit).


I added a Zero-G operations skill for merchants, belters, etc. It is basically the same as the military Zero-G Combat skill, except weapons use is deleted from the course, and use of repair/maintenance equipment is added.
 
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BlackBat242 said:
Hard Vacc Suit: High Passage magazine (FASA) #3 page 27-28; article Thruster Systems has a complete write-up on a T.L. 12 civilian hard vacc suit (specifically saying it is a civilian version of Battle Dress from LBB4), along with an ELSS (Extended Life Support System) and LRTP (Long Range Thruster Pack) that can be mounted on the suit (a basic life-support system & short-duration "one-shot" emergency thruster are built into the suit).
Click to expand...

In JTAS 17 they have a special Exotic Atmosphere supplement that has the info on a powered hardsuit, too. The thrusters are not included since it is designed for use on land, but FASA's design sounds similar.

Special tool kits for attaching to the suit can be included: laser/plasma cutters, powered prying/drilling gear, etc. It'd also be a good suit to carry an extra PLSS for emergencies as a rescue suit to get to guys trapped out of there quickly.
 
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