Orbital Decay (1/2+)
We're on an express elevator to hell, going down!
We had been playing for a couple of months. My players went through a few of the official scenarios, all this time using the provided pre-generated characters from the introductory Cupbearer scenario.
After finishing a Salvage Op-Ganymede Insurance Job sequence, we had a long interlude to settle things down.
Then I asked: "Would you like to start a new series, but this time using your own characters?" I thought they would be interested in creating and customizing their own.
The answer was a flat 'no': They grew fond of those pre-rolled.
So I started to look for something to continue having fun. I wanted to preserve a big scenario like Abzu's Bounty for later on when they are in the mood to create new characters.
There I was, googling around the web, trying to find something that sticks more or less to a hard-SF context. I ended up reading a post (on Reddit?) about a `GURPS Transhuman Space` scenario that could serve that purpose: Orbital Decay. I bought it in PDF format from DriveThruRPG for a few dollars. Then I spent a bunch more on GURPS 4th edition. And I started the conversion to The Expanse...
Note: If you are playing The Expanse TTRPG and you would like your Game Master to adapt this scenario for your gaming group, please stop reading right now. What follows will unveil elements of the scenario and will spoil your fun playing it. Just ask your GM to read this post.
Synopsis
Long story short, this scenario could be summarized as a typical Weyland-Yutani Corp mission: Characters are sent to assess the status of an (officially) innocuous research lab, incommunicado for way too long. As usual in such a situation, the mission is under the titular command of someone completely out of her depth, a young junior staff member from the corporation employing the PCs.
Tasks At Hand
Adapting this scenario to The Expanse universe is not that hard. At least, that's what I thought at first. Thinking back on my attempt at it, I would summarize it this way:
Mesh the employer in *The Expanse* universe
Find a suitable location for the research lab
Get the timeline right
Find suitable TER tests
Transpose the experimental bioweapons
Adapt the NPCs
This list loosely reflects a growing order of complexity or amount of work.
The Employer
The characters are employed by Terrell-Dieskau Corp. I told you: This smells so much like Weyland-Yutani Corp, or Mao-Kwikowski mercantile.
The company as it is described in the GURPS TS settings could be a small contender in the circle of well-intentioned but wrong-doing companies working alongside Mao-Kwikowski mercantile.
I kept the background as is and located the hiring meeting on Luna in Lovell City T-D divisional HQ. Since many of the characters may be of Belter or Martian origins, the lower gravity makes for a good starting point.
The Research Lab
The original story is taking place in orbit around Earth. Some alternative places are suggested for GURPS TS but I did not find those convenient (or maybe I was just being lazy).
Where you locate it is just a matter of personal taste. Or it could also be dictated by how you intend to use this scenario.
In my case, I intended Orbital Decay to be the opening chapter of a new story arc in my group's adventures (discussed in another coming post). My goal was to set this scenario in the far reaches of Sol system so as to make the players feel their characters' isolation and absolute need for self-reliance.
Having read about Triton and its Deep Space Astronomy lab or TDSA (in The Expanse RoleplayingGame, p. 180), I decided this lab would be situated at Neptune-Triton L5 Lagrangian point whereas I located the TDSA on Triton's equatorial region on the leading side of Neptune's satellite. More on that topic in another post, as this ties into the envisioned follow-up episodes.
One thing to consider when looking for a suitable lab location: its ultimate destruction is supposed to take place due to orbital decay from a low orbit around Earth. A fiery death in the upper atmosphere for sure.
If you decide to locate it at a Lagrange point as I did, you will have to come up with a cascade systems failure and/or station breakup one way or another. This can involve the little fusion reactor powering the station.
The Timeline Onboard
One has to go through the scenario a few times to get a good grasp of the different issues and hazards the characters will face. Once things start to go sideways, the GM has to keep track of a lot of things, particularly elapsed time. Multiple things depend on it. This contributes a lot to putting pressure on the stranded group. But I also put pressure on myself as their GM. Here are some of the milestones I noted:
- Tb: Characters board the station and start exploring.
- T0: Columbia ship rams the station. Systems failures start.
- T+10hrs: Negative Growth commando boards the station.
- T+12hrs: Station destruction.
T0
As stated in the Exploration section (p. 15), T0 is triggered by the characters' actions. As the GM you have to decide. As soon as they understand that something went terribly wrong (but before they had time to unravel any of the station's secrets) it's T0! The system failures I refer to are those described in the original scenario. But as I noted previously those failures could be the deadly cascade you may need.
Bioweapons Onset Time
The weaponized bugs the lab crew was working on have different propagation modes, onset times, and effects. You have to keep track (or not) of each character vacsuit's status (helmet on or off) as some are airborne and spread everywhere.
Harrower Plague: Airborne or close contact with subjects with open sores. First symptoms within 24 hours. It won't affect the episode outcome, but surely its aftermath.
Shocktrooper Proteus Virus: Transmission by body fluids. First symptoms in 30 minutes. Serious effect within 60 minutes. Protomolecule-like bionanobots recombining DNA. Ugly. You have to seriously consider whether to use it or not. It depends on how attached your players are to their characters. I decided not to. This nasty pseudo-virus will have fully affected its host in less than 12 hours. It's irreversible or nearly so.
Propaganda Neurovirus: Transmission by body fluids. First symptoms within 4 hours. Fully effective after 12 hours.
Tests
Not being the most imaginative kind of guy, I started to go through all of the TER material at hand and noted down all the tests I came upon (short description, parameters, etc.). I ended up with a nice list of test cases. It was then easy to pick a test that would match the situation. Here is the compiled list: TER Tests List
In my next post, I will provide you with the complete list of tests needed to play this episode, the converted bioweapons mechanics as well as the main NPCs' stat blocks and the conversion method used.
Oyedang, beltalowda!