Stars Above

Sam W

Home | Blogroll (opml)

This is a sandbox toolkit for sci-fi rpgs. Think Maze Rats, but in space.

Appendix N is Dune, Dark Matter (Syfy), Pandora’s Star (Hamilton), Hyperion, and the few episodes of Cowboy Bebop I’ve seen.

These toolkit is system-agnostic, but requires less work with a minimal ruleset. You may adapt the rules from Maze Rats, use 24XX, or one of your choice.

These tables can be used with the standard Maze Rats tables. You could, for example, use the wilderness tables to generate planet biomes, and the city tables for the cities of a planet.

Items and Possessions

Any items with limited uses or charges start with 3, or as many as make sense.

Bounty Hunter Gear

1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Electric Tether Laser Pistol Fast-acting sedative Long-range Comm Forcefield Handcuffs Respirator
2 Chameleon Coat Water Cleanser Assisted locking gloves Jumpboots Instant Stitches Omnicompass
3 Heat Mapper Skeleton e-Key Signal Scrambler Memory Wipe Pathogen Neutralizer Pocket Shovel
4 Robotic Snare Super-Silencer Concentrated Adrenaline Shot Remote Ear Synth Cord Ultralight Poncho
5 Mattress Pill Never-perish rations Holographic Double Assisted grab gloves NewSkin Topographic Mapper
6 Olfactory Booster Virus drive Assassin microbot Ultrathin gloves General antitoxin Suspension Tent

Military Gear

1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Rebreathing suit Hardened Exoskin Flashbang Sniper Rifle Stealth Bullets Geiger Counter
2 Solar System Comm Ultradense sledgehammer Electric Bayonet Short-range taser Megacandela flare Retractable boot spikes
3 Titanium Machete Force Shield Truth Serum Camo digital paint Bivuoac tent Microbladed caltrop
4 Hazmat waders Boot knife Tear gas Frangible spear Landmine Radiation visor
5 Armored drone Condensed energy pill EMP Faraday Shield Pheromone sensor Laser Binoculars
6 Mini throwing knife Chest shell Knockout chemical mix Dark-vision goggles Electric lantern Noise dampener

Expensive Items

1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Famous brain in a vat Extinct fish
2
3
4
5
6

Transportation

1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Space Freighter Solar Boat Fighter ship Solar Parachute Military Submarine Hyper steamboat
2 Biofuel Motorcycle EM slingshot Offroad vehicle Wind Wagon Gecko climbing gloves Legged walker
3 Non-combat Mecha Ornithopter Jetpack Omnidirectional jet Glide suit Burrower
4 Collapsible Car Auto zipline Water Walker Assisted grasp climbing gloves Hoverbike Trained animal
5 Aquatic Propeller Autofins Autorickshaw Insectile wings
6

Characters

How they pay the bills

1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Bartender Beggar Socialite Physicist Smuggler Ship Navigator
2 Cargo pilot Political advisor Contraband dealer Crime boss Ex-military Bodyguard
3 NeoCatholic Priest Digital Forger Autominer operator Earth Classics Scholar UltraJazz Musician FORCE officer
4 Waitress Scum Cleaner Local bureaucrat Ecologist Drug Chemist Translator
5 Hired gun Galactic Economist Xenohistorian Plasma drive technician Shuttle Handyman AI Trainer
6 Genetic Engineer MegaFarmer Remote Logger Missionary of UltraBuddha Drifter Bounty Hunter

Future Names

1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Oord Zelfu Argen Suke Choe Liyen
2 Vorkenigan Shoridif Ulimeet Quart Maigo Tucnor
3 Yoggi Zandin Arz Sennel Kotsok Keevven
4 Dorphan Vhoa Kubith Xotha Vooni Mitha
5 Yathleth Ugha Tagua Ogger Noshk Ammeninet
6 Vielen Trubzaw Helfup Atzok Otiat Dage

Tech

Tech Component

1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Plasma batteries Hyperelastic spring Steam engine Micronuclear reactor Antimatter annihilation chamber Beta radiation tube
2 Electroweak Dynamo Mercury Boiler Biokinetic sensor Biofuel engine Ultraviolet visor Magnetic levitator
3 Titanium crank Monolayer graphene sheet Nanobots AI controller 1 TB data in DNA Superconducting wire
4 Hydrogen cell Pneumatic actuator Hydraulic compressor
5
6

Tech Effect

1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Reverse gravity Electromagnetic pulse Become invisible
2
3
4
5
6