60 Years in Space

Crewed Rules
HALF-A PRESS PTY LTD
Australia
 Text and graphic design is ©2015-2024 Andrew Doull, with crew module and Bernal description text by
Phil Eklund, used under license, and the safety section from the Rainworld TTRPG by Luke Le Moignan and
Kade Archer Peregrine, used with permission. All rights reserved.

Typeset using LaTeX in TeXlipse using the Source Sans Pro open source font family designed by Paul D
Hunt. Title font Nasalization by Typodermic fonts [Link]

Based on the High Frontier board game by Phil Eklund et al and Kriegbot by Matt Eklund.

First edition released: January 2023. Update 1: January 2024. Update 2: April 2024. Update 3: November
2024. Update 4: April 2025.

Cover art by Rob Turpin, copyright 2023. Used under license.

All photographs and renders are from the NASA/JPL image website and in the public domain in the
United States.

WARNING: THIS WORK IS NOT FOR SALE OR RESALE IN AUSTRALIA DUE TO POSITIVE DEPICTIONS OF
DRUG USE
0 Preface 3 Skill Use Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
An Important Note on Difficult Topics . . . 4 Skill Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Role-Play Check List . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 8 Assets 127
Personal Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
1 Introduction 9 Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
The High Frontier Universe . . . . . . . . . 11 Space Suits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
What You Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Armour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
2 Game Play 15
Cubesats, Drones and LHDs . . . . . . . . 138
Character Development . . . . . . . . . . 16
Repairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Dice Rolling Conventions . . . . . . . . . 17
Failure Is Not An Option . . . . . . . . . . 17 9 Upgrades 145
Bumps and Debt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Technology Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Patents and Licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
3 Actions 19
ET Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Player Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Advanced Technologies . . . . . . . . . . 153
Crew Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Promoted Technologies . . . . . . . . . . 156
Action Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Chrome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Faction Upgrades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Opposed Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Species Ratings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Defects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Successes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 10 Damage and Complications 173
Time keeping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Phoning Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Space Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Damage over Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
4 Mission Control 35
Damage to Structures . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Mission Control Types . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Complications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Spacecraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Missions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 11 Space Travel 203
Crew Module Builder . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Spacecraft Movement . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Card and Folio Legend . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Extravehicular Activity (EVA) . . . . . . . . 207
Searching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
5 Crew 59
Crew Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 12 Sites 213
Archetypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Exoinfrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Abilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Spectral Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Ability Conditioning . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 13 Structured Map Builder 229
Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Surface and Underground Structures . . . 231
Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Freefall Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Sleeping Arrangements . . . . . . . . . . 89 Floor Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Crew Folios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Obstructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

6 Demographics 97 14 Encounters 239

Nationalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Ethnicity and Languages . . . . . . . . . . 101 Encounter Prompts . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Gender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Individuals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Social Occasions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Migration and Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
7 Skills 111
Skill Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 15 Faction Builder 281
Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Factions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 C-dead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Learning Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Upported and Promoted Colonists . . . . 289
i
For Aylan Kurdi
Chapter 0

Preface
4 CHAPTER 0. PREFACE

An Important Note on Difficult Topics

Science fiction has often been a genre willing to tackle important but difficult social issues, rendering them
safer by removing them from the here and now to “twenty minutes into the future”. Sixty Years In RPG is
designed in part to be part of this tradition and has topics and rules for some horrific life-changing events
such as abuse and manipulation, Alzheimer’s, cancer, death, genocide, involuntary medical procedures,
pandemics, slavery, torture and so on, often inherited from the board game High Frontier that it licenses.
But a tabletop role-playing game is in some sense riskier than other storytelling methods, because it
has to both codify these topics into systems (narrative and game-play) and requires that multiple people
collaborate in exploring them. To complicate matters further, many of these topics depicted in these rules
are from deliberately or inadvertently prejudicial, incomplete and biased view points while being presented
as being objective, complete and neutral. “The awful thing about life is this: Everybody has their reasons.”
and this game tries to present compelling reasons for a wide range of philosophies and politics, no matter
how terrible the consequences.

Disclaimer Any statements made herein are not necessarily the views of the author or of the designers
of the board game High Frontier these rules license. These rules are a work of fantasy and do not
depict real events, although they repeatedly claim to be realistic, whatever that means. The material
contained in the Sixty Years In RPG Crewed Rules and supplements is for responsible adults only. This
game is prohibited for sale or resale in Australia due to positive depiction of drug use.

If you wish to discuss the game or the rules with the author, you should email andrewdoull@[Link].
Unfortunately, I cannot guarantee I’ll respond in a timely fashion, if at all.

Safety Tools
Safety is a mandatory part of game play, and the tabletop role-playing community has developed a number
of safety tools which may assist with ensuring that the game environment is safe for all participants. See
the Safety section on page 6 for a discussion of what tools are available and how they can be used.
Sixty Years In RPG also includes four safety tools that have been developed specifically for this game to
try to minimize the risk to players. The first rule, Dollhouse Play, is a distancing mechanism to try to limit
player identification with the fates of individual crew in the game, which is the opposite of what almost all
tabletop role-playing games try to do. Dollhouse Play may be optionally discarded as you become more
familiar with the game and trust your group more. The second is a stop-and-reassess mechanic, This is
Mutiny, to allow players to interrupt the game in a thematic way when emotions are running high. This
is Mutiny is a mandatory rule and play should be completely abandoned for the day without blame or
retaliation if it is not observed. You are not playing Sixty Years In RPG if you do not honour the This is Mutiny
rules. The third rule is the Role-play Check List which players can update throughout the game and covers
when role-playing is allowed in the game – and when even mechanical resolution of events is ruled out.
The fourth rule is an aspirational rule to encourage positive play with others, The High Frontier Pledge,
which must be signed by or on behalf of all players after character creation and prior to the commencement
of play in the magic circle.

Dollhouse Play
There are two approaches to playing the Sixty Years In RPG: dollhouse play and personal play. Dollhouse
play is where you set up your toys to tell stories, remaining at a distance so that if they are broken in
the process you can choose to not take it personally, except your toys in this role-playing game are the
mission crew members. Personal play is where you project yourself into the crew member’s place and
see the world from their perspective, and resembles the traditional tabletop role-playing game method
of characterisation. Because of the many traumatic possibilities in the playing space of the Sixty Years In
RPG, it is recommended that you run the game at the dollhouse play level. To encourage this perspective,
AN IMPORTANT NOTE ON DIFFICULT TOPICS 5

you should shuffle the crew member sheets at the start of each game play session, and deal them out
randomly to the player in the session. If you feel like you are becoming too invested in an individual crew
member or that any players are using a crew member as a proxy for a real person (whether in the group
or elsewhere), you must stop the game using the phrase ’This is mutiny’ and discuss whether you should
change to personal play or otherwise modify the direction of the game (including stopping it completely).

This is Mutiny
At any point in the game, you may say or reveal a written phrase “This is mutiny” to one or more of the other
players. Game play immediately stops, all players stop characterisation and begin acting as themselves,
and the person saying or revealing the phrase gets the opportunity to either speak or play their choice of a
song or instrumental work or soundscape. Everyone else must quietly listen and not interrupt for at least 3
minutes: time this. You do not have to speak your own words: a poetry or prose reading is an equally good
choice; such as a list of all the workers who have been killed working on an existing space program.
There are times you might want to do this: for instance, if the crew is unable to agree on a course of
action, or anyone in the playing group raises their voice. You should also consider doing this if you are
feeling overwhelmed or conflicted about playing the game or simply want a break.
Thematically, a mutiny on a spacecraft does not necessarily merit the punishments of a high seas mutiny:
within a tightly knit high quality crew, it is likelier to be a strike action or highly civilised disagreement, with
limited consequences. There is a tradition of mutiny in existing space programs which the Sixty Years In
RPG attempts to follow: for instance, in the so-called Skylab mutiny in 1973, the three astronauts on board
turned off communication to mission control and spent time relaxing and looking at the Earth. You are
encouraged to prepare some thematic mutinies in advance of play.
After the three minutes is up, all players perform a silent simultaneous bid to determine if the play
session will continue. Put a hidden bid forward, either with an object in it or empty. You might want to do
so by putting the bid in your fist or under a cup which you slide forward. Reveal all the bids simultaneously.
Any player who reveals an object also agrees to mutiny, and is also given three minutes to perform their
mutiny speech, reading, song or sound scape. Resolve these mutinies clockwise starting to the left of the
original player, with that player who raised the mutiny initially getting an additional three minutes if they
bid an object, after all other player mutinies are resolved.
If at least one player bids an object, then stop play for the session and take a break for at least 15 minutes.
You are free to discuss the game during this break: the This is Mutiny rules are about enforcing a cooling off
period prior to the break. If two sessions in the day stop because of mutiny or anyone fails to follow the
“This is Mutiny” rules then stop playing for the day without blame or retaliation.

Role-Play Check List

Each player should have a copy of the role-play check list, which details a number of topic areas covered
by the game. If a topic, scenario, event, random result or other circumstance is listed as either a category or
subcategory on the role-play checklist, players should only role-play activities pertaining to that category if
all players have checked the box on the role-play check list. Role-playing is permitted freely at other times.
If a category or subcategory is not checked by every player and not lined out, then the event, random result
or scenario is mechanically resolved, as outlined in the rules, but is not role-played.
If a line is drawn through a category or subcategory on the role-play check list, then the event doesn’t
occur in the game at all. A random roll on a table is treated as no result and not rerolled. The role-play
check list can be updated throughout play so you don’t have to talk about specific topics until they arise in
the game.
Players can check or uncheck topics and line out topics at any time. Note that the phobia category
covers a diverse set of situations that are all included if the phobia category is lined out.
6 CHAPTER 0. PREFACE

The High Frontier Pledge

I promise to represent all the people of the Earth, to respect my fellow crew members and to live in awe of
the universe.

Pilot Date

Mission Specialist Date

Payload Specialist Date

Payload Specialist Date

Safety
This section is from the Rainworld TTRPG by Luke Le Moignan and Kade Archer Peregrine, used with permission.
Rainworld is available for purchase at [Link]
Safety is important – and it’s really, really hard. The freedom to do anything in the game can take things
in directions that do real-world harm to some participants, because people have a host of real-world
difficulties – PTSD being just one example. It’s hard to say you need support. Sometimes just saying so can
put you in harm’s way. Sometimes you don’t know something is a problem until it’s happened. RPG safety
tools are an attempt at risk management and harm reduction; many different people have done work on
them.
There is no substitute for communication, for wanting to take care of each other, for doing your best to
do so – and whenever that falls short, doing whatever you can to make it right, learn from it, understand
the people involved better and do better by them next time.
Four things to be aware of, up front:
• there is nothing you can do that will guarantee everyone around your table will be okay

• there is no universal tool; different people, even the same person in different moments, can need
entirely different things

• people have competing access needs – something one person needs can actively harm someone
else

• most things you can do are, unfortunately, reactive – supporting people after they’ve been harmed,
not preventing it
We advise a “Session Zero” – before the first session of the game proper, get everyone together to hang
out, discuss what everybody wants and expects from the game, and resolve any conflicting wants or needs
you uncover. Establish that you do care about each others’ safety, and agree which safety tools you’ll have
in place. In no particular order, here’s a non-exhaustive sampling of safety resources that people have
worked on:

• Brie Beau Sheldon’s Script Change – a toolkit of verbal and optional visual aids, including “Pause”,
“Fast Forward”, “Resume”, and others – Creative Commons- licensed and available as “Pay What
You Want” from [Link]
SAFETY 7

• John Stavropoulos’ X-Card – a single tool which enables any player to pause the game and have
elements edited out – Creative Commons licensed, available at [Link]

• Tayler Stokes’ Support Flower, based on earlier work by Jay Sylvano – a free visual aid providing a
traffic-light style system, downloadable from [Link]

• Ron Edwards’ Lines and Veils – a Session Zero tool to designate content that will not appear in the
game (Lines), or that may be alluded to, for example in a “fade to black, scene change” way, but will
not be played through (Veils)

• Cut and Brake, developed in the Nordic LARP community – similarly to the X-Card, calling “Cut”
pauses the game to adjust things to avoid harming a player; “Brake” indicates that they are not yet
at a point where they need to Cut, but need everyone to play considerately to de-escalate their
difficulties

• Open Door, developed by Eirik Fatland and the Nordic LARP community – a Session Zero agreement
that any player can leave the game, at any time, for any reason, no questions asked, no judgement.
(If possible, a player who is stepping out and is sure they won’t be back should try to communicate
that, to avoid any misplaced concern for their whereabouts and safety.)

• Largo, a term developed by Maury Brown, from music to mean to “slowly”, which is distinctive
enough to be picked up when used to indicate that players to lower the level of their emotions to
avoid conflict or harming others

It’s worth saying that there are also accounts by vulnerable people who have personally found safety
tools – particular ones, or in general – unhelpful, even actively counterproductive. The difficult but valuable
truth is that all tools have limits, and all people are different. (If you take away nothing else from this section,
we’d like it if you absorb these three points: firstly, there is no substitute for communication. Secondly, we
don’t know you, your group, or your specific circumstances – it’s in your hands. Thirdly: peoples’ needs are
diverse and not always predictable.
At any time you can: 1) Put or remove a check mark next to a category. Checked categories are allowed to be role-played in addition to being resolved by game mechanics.
2) Draw a line through a category for it to not happen in the game. If it is rolled, then nothing occurs - the event is not rerolled or replaced.
Every player must check a category (and, if relevant, the subcategory) for you to be able to role play it. If one player lines something, every other player must treat it as lined.
☐ Death ☐ Animals ☐ Illness ☐ Alzheimer's ☐ Injury ☐ Blood loss
☐ Children ☐ Cancer ☐ Elective surgery
☐ Crew mates/friends ☐ Coma ☐ Permanent disability
☐ Parents ☐ Disease ☐ Specific body parts
☐ Siblings ☐ Heart attacks/strokes ☐ Loss of autonomy ☐ Changes to abilities/skills
☐ Sleeping companions ☐ Mental illness ☐ Coercion
☐ Violence ☐ Bombing ☐ Phobias ☐ Being watched or humiliated ☐ Controlled by someone else
☐ Fire arms (draw a line ☐ Dirt and germs ☐ Failure
☐ Hostage-taking through this if you ☐ Dogs ☐ Gender changes
☐ Murder/executions do not wish to ☐ Heights ☐ Imprisonment
☐ Sexual violence identify a specific ☐ Injections ☐ Loss of valued items
☐ Suicide phobia) ☐ Parasites ☐ Personality changes
☐ Torture ☐ Public speaking ☐ Physical changes
☐ Accidents ☐ Buried alive ☐ Situations which you cannot escape ☐ Sex ☐ Explicit sexual activity
☐ Crashes ☐ Small spaces ☐ Intimacy
☐ Drowning ☐ Snakes ☐ Miscarriage
☐ Falling ☐ Spiders ☐ Sex toys
☐ Fire ☐ Thunder/lightning ☐ Religion
☐ Suffocation ☐ Other: ☐ Politics
☐ Playing as a crew member with a disability, ethnicity, gender, mental illness, sexual orientation or other protected category that you don't belong to.
Chapter 1

I nt roduct i on
10 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

You are a High Frontier crew: 4 astronauts in a 40 tonne crew module, equipped with on board chemical
rockets and prospecting gear for in situ resource utilization (ISRU) recovery of water from ice frozen in the
regolith on high hydration sites like Mars and Ceres. Water is the key to unlock the solar system: it can be
used as rocket propellant and fuel, as well as supporting industrialization on extraterrestrial sites to build
new technologies which cannot be constructed on Earth.
The best sites have already been claimed by the first wave of explorers, and you will travel through a
solar system in the midst of rapid change as the high frontier becomes colonized.
Your crew will be supported by a mission control back on Earth, which acts as a common pool of
recruits to replace lost or stranded astronauts, as well as provide remote finance, research and engineering
assistance. The Sixty Years In role-playing game is as much about the evolution of your Mission Control as
it is your crew: you will be responsible for defining how you react to the changing social and technological
milieu of the 2 st century, as well as the frictions experienced by returning to a Mission Control which
may no longer recognize or support you following your decades of isolation in space.
While this is happening, you and the rest of the crew are aging and atrophying, drifting away from
Earth-side. You must push beyond the outer limits of known space, holding onto or letting go of your
humanity to survive.

Procedural Play
The Sixty Years In RPG is designed for procedural play so that you don’t have to prepare for each game
in advance. Instead as you play you will use random tables and other procedural generation systems to
create the world around you. There are normally no universal secrets or game master in the Sixty Years In
RPG, although you might play with someone acting to facilitate the game in a way a tradition game master
might.
Play can be collaborative or confrontational, but the challenge is intended to arise from the game
systems and possible futures that are being explored, rather than the challenge being set by one person in
your gaming group. There are secrets, but these are based on the decisions of individual crew members,
who may choose to hide their motivations, weaknesses and strengths from others.

The High Frontier Board Game

The Sixty Years In RPG is intended to realize the role-playing game possibilities of the High Frontier board
game by Phil Eklund and a large number of collaborators. But you can also play the Sixty Years In RPG
without the board game by using either the High Frontier solar system map which can be purchased online
or one of the pre-built scenarios in The This Space Intentionally supplement such as the Human Outer
Planet Exploration (HOPE) mission. The universe shared between the Sixty Years in RPG and the High
Frontier board game is referred to as the High Frontier.

First, Second or Third Wave

The High Frontier board game simulates the first wave of space exploration. You can play this first wave of
exploration using the Sixty Years In RPG, but there are more role-playing possibilities in the second wave
- representing a nation-state or organization scrambling to catch up with the exoglobalization efforts of
already successful (or perhaps failed) space programs, visiting already colonized locations and accepting
missions from primary space factions. The second wave is considered to be only a few years behind the first,
but the exponential possibilities opened up by the efforts of the first explorers will have already profoundly
changed the solar system as you encounter it.
If you are excited by the idea of playing in the High Frontier universe but prefer a more traditional RPG
with a game master, you should invest in the of the Sol System supplement, yet to be written. These will
provide enough materials for one of your gaming group to act as the game master, and a baseline setting
for playing in the Colonization era of the game (2055-2069).
THE HIGH FRONTIER UNIVERSE 11

The High Frontier Universe

The universe of the Sixty Years In RPG starts off in the world of today, and makes the minimum number
of assumptions about the near future to make crewed space travel viable. The game then allows you to
create a possible future by simulating the decisions, challenges and successes of the space program of a
nation-state or private organization which in turn impacts the political and social environment back on
Earth.

Game Scale
Rockets in High Frontier use real world physics. Chemical rockets are fast, but fuel hungry; electric rockets
are slow but fuel efficient; and nuclear rockets are a compromise between the two extremes which usually
end up incorporating the worst features of both.
As a result, it usually takes years to travel between planets and asteroids. The High Frontier map is an
energy map of the solar system which incorporates both time and fuel use into calculating space travel:
each burn (pink circle or lander symbol) represents an expenditure of fuel needed to change the rocket’s
speed by 2.5 km/sec. Most intersections (called pivots) on the map indicate a year passing en route. In
the outer solar system, these pivots are represented by zigzags with rockets travelling at an average of 10
km/sec (36,000 km/hour) to cut long journey times down.
A chemical rocket mission from Earth to Mars, burning as much fuel as possible to minimize travel time
will take around 8 months. Crew members will still be working during the long voyage times, but much of
this work is abstracted into system maintenance. The only significant decision for most of the voyage will
be which operation to perform each year. But this year long granularity will mean you will be playing out
most of the your crew member’s lives in a few game sessions: a campaign is intended to last around sixty
years of game time which is the typical length of time covered by a single High Frontier board game.
And astronauts already start older than human player characters from many other games: the average
age of the twelve men who walked on the moon is forty years and three months. Death from old age is a
real possibility for a crew member, especially with many of the risks of aging accelerated by micro-gravity
and cosmic ray exposure.

Spacecraft or spaceships? Sixty Years In prefers the term spacecraft to spaceships, to emphasize these
are entirely new modes of transport instead of tying them to an often military nautical tradition. It also avoids
pointless arguments about the name for the armed personnel carried aboard these vehicles. Interstellar
spacecraft are referred to as star ships, to keep continuity with the High Frontier Interstellar board game
rules.

No Uploads
One of the few assumptions that the High Frontier universe does make is that the consciousness is not
fungible: that means a conscious mind is unique and cannot be copied. The in-universe explanation is that
there is a fundamental constraint on the limit at which information can be transferred which means that
any attempt at a copy cannot capture this continuous process. Similar tropes have appeared in science
fiction before (such as alpha-level and beta-level simulations in Alistair Reynolds’ Revelation Space) but it
runs counter to current transhumanist thinking. The lack of fungible conscious minds means that there will
be no point at which technology allows seamless uploading of minds from a physical body into computer
construct. While Sixty Years In RPG makes a distinction between intelligence and consciousness, the
non-conscious paradox of the C-dead (NPC) prevents you from treating intelligent but not conscious minds
differently from conscious minds, because at any point a merely intelligent mind could spontaneously
develop consciousness (this process is called rampancy). A related issue, the anchor problem, prevents
artificial intelligence running significantly faster than biological intelligence because it will quickly lose
touch with reality if it is not anchored to the real universe. The fungibility problem, the anchor problem
and NPC are discussed in more detail in the Robot Builder chapter of the A Facility with Words supplement.
12 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

No Fixed Future
Without a fixed scenario, and with no game master planning or improvising a grand campaign, the Sixty
Years In RPG tries to simulate an ever evolving future which projects some trends from the present until
the end of the 21st century. As space becomes industrialized by building extraterrestrial factories on sites
throughout the solar system, exomigrants will begin to colonize space, initially as passengers wanting to
found their own space colonies and then as factions with broader impacts across the map. You will be able
to encounter these factions and explore the places they inhabit using a technique known as procedural
generation, which allows you to zoom into and detail places of interest at the time you want to explore
them.

Era and Trends Each 15 year period starting from 2025 is known as an era, and each era is described
in more detail in one of the game supplements. The This Space Intentionally supplement outlines
political trends will force the crew to change their outlooks and philosophies to accommodate the
shifts in the political environment back home; and space infrastructure that is built throughout each
era, from improving the facilities that your mission control on Earth to terraforming other planets.
The All Errors are My Own supplement extends this idea to include mission control and social trends
which are influenced by the Space Politics to radically change the Earth and impact mission control
and the crew.

Simulation and Randomness

All of these changes are modelled with a simulationist approach using a wide variety of random generation
tables. You should normally only “generate when required” rather than having to perform much in the
way of administration and house keeping, but get used to using the rule books frequently as a creative
reference.
The philosophy of the random tables is to present a range of likely results, rather than focus on unlikely
outlying events. This attempt to keep the game both unpredictable but grounded in physical and social
sciences and the realities of space travel. You will frequently encounter terminology for the first time, but
an explanation will be summarized in an entry under the table. If you feel the random tables are getting in
the way of the game experience then feel free to choose a result rather than looking up a table and rolling
for one.
The golden rule of the High Frontier board game is whatever is specifically written in a section of the
rules overrides the more general case. The golden rule of the Sixty Years In RPG is it doesn’t matter, keep
going. If you miss a rule or there’s too many special cases getting in the way of the game experience, the
pace of the game matters more than the fidelity of the rules. You’re getting your rocket to Mars this session,
and the price you’re paying for not having to burden someone with performing the prep for the next session
is that you might launch with some important cargo left behind.

Rules Weight and Special Cases

There’s a lot of information in these rules for you to digest, and no one expects you to do so. There are
plenty of rules-light GMless games systems out there and there is a rules-light version of the Sixty Years
In RPG which just describes the crew sitting down to 6 meals over 6 decades of game time. But space is
just so darn weird and it would be a disservice to Phil Eklund’s vision of the future to not try to capture the
weirdness and possibility in a version of the tabletop role-playing game that makes it to publication.
Most of these books are random tables, glossaries and special cases. The random tables are to express
the range of possible events and outcomes to try to keep the game grounded in realism rather than flights
of fantasy, or to direct the flights of fantasy to the specific vision of possible futures portrayed in this game.
The glossaries are there to help you understand specialized terminology appropriate for space or for words
which have been invented here and elsewhere to describe possible futures. The special cases are there for
the players who like the minutiae of science and space, and to capture some of the specific peculiarities of
acting in extraterrestrial environments.
WHAT YOU NEED 13

The High Frontier Pledge

Before each playing session, all the crew must repeat the High Frontier Pledge at the start of the rules. Once
you know your crew position, return to the pledge page and sign and date it. This will increase the value of
the print edition of these rules. Each additional Sixty Years In RPG supplement will also contain a copy of
the pledge which you should also sign when you include the rules supplement in your game.

Emailware If you wish to, you can also email an electronic, photographed or scanned copy of the signed
High Frontier pledge to andrewdoull@[Link] with the subject line “High Frontier Pledge”. You will
receive an in-game reward for doing so.

What You Need

You will need some other items in addition to the Crewed Rules.

The High Frontier Map

You should get a copy of the High Frontier map, either from the board game or in a poster format. It is
possible to play Sixty Years In RPG without the map but you are strongly encouraged to use it.

Dice and Counters

You should have a large number of 6-sided dice in various colours: black, white, red, orange, yellow, green
and blue; and counters in a wide variety of colours: white, black, clear, red, orange, yellow, green, blue and
purple; and cotton wool to represent smoke.

Playing Pieces
It is helpful, but not necessary, to have the paying pieces from the High Frontier board game, 3rd edition.
The playing pieces include many of the coloured counters you need, plus colony domes, factory cubes,
and Bernal cylinders in each of the five BSU colours: red, white, green, purple and orange. You can use a
stack of counters in the appropriate BSU colour as substitutes: two to represent a factory cube, three to
represent a colony dome – which includes the factory–, and five to represent a Bernal cylinder.

Cards
Some random results are determined using playing cards, instead of dice. Each player should bring a
packet of playing cards with them at the start of the first session.

Printed Materials
A number of folios and record sheets are spread throughout the rules to assist with bookkeeping. There
are also a number of full page game play aids, and some of the information on the folios is also intended to
act as a game play aid. You should print multiple copies of these (normally double-sided, either long edge
for game play aids and short edge for folios) to assist with game play.

Paper, Writing and Recording Tools

Sixty Years in Space uses both A3 and A4 paper for maps. A3 paper is 297 mm x 420 mm or approximately
0.125m2 . A4 paper is 210 mm x 297 mm. You should also have a selection of pencils and erasers, as you
will be recording and rewriting a significant amount of information, and a pen, for signing the High Frontier
pledge. A camera should allow you to record and share the maps you have created once you have finished
doing so, if you need to recreate them later.
14 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

Pronoun Cards
A card for each crew member, with their preferred pronouns on one side, and public pronouns on the other.
The easiest way to make and update these is to use an index card folded in half to make a tent.
The pronouns cards are use to ensure you address the crew member using the correct pronouns. See
the Sweets section on page 18 of the Game play chapter and the Pronouns section on page 103 of the
Demographics chapter for details. The pronouns may change throughout the game.

Space Snacks
There’s two types of snacks you’ll need for the game: thematic dishes which you should be able to nibble
on throughout the game or have on breaks, and sweets. Each player should bring a small bag of sweet
food in individually wrapped portions that is safe for them to consume. One wrapped portion is called a
sweet in these rules, although most cultures will have their own name for it. See the Sweets section on
page 18 of the Game play chapter for details.
Thematic dishes should be chosen based on the food available to the crew. Typical crew modules will
be vegetarian, with green leafy vegetables forming the basis of most of the crew diet: either raw or cooked
(there’s always plenty of heat available for cooking). You should serve cooked greens when possible such
as beet greens, chard, collard greens, dandelion greens, kale, mustard greens, turnip greens, and spinach.
Salad greens which are not cooked should be washed carefully and avoided by anyone who is pregnant or
immunocompromised. You should also allow similar foods such as edamame, seaweed, green smoothies
and kale chips which are often easier to prepare or available as snack food.
Military crews on short missions are more likely to have prepared foods similar to the foods contemporary
astronauts eat, the majority of which are freeze dried to reduce the weight of the food. You can buy astronaut-
inspired freeze dried meals or even freeze dried camping meals but these can be expensive. Dried fruits,
banana chips, ice crew sandwiches and energy bars are more likely to be in your local supermarket.
As the crew becomes more heavily modified, they may require special dietary supplements and meals.
Reflect this by serving baby food, either purchased from the supermarket or a variety of cooked fruit and
vegetables mashed or pureed and left to cool, often in unusual combinations.
Crews who have lost the crew module will have an emergency supply of yeast and cockroaches which
can be grown on a simpler closed loop ecosystem fed by crew waste. The downside of this food source is it
is unpleasant to eat. You should serve nutritional yeast flakes or powder or yeast extracts such as vegemite
or marmite unaccompanied. You can also buy edible insects which may be more of a thrill for jaded gamers
but be sure to get some that are intended and safe for human consumption.

Other Supplements
These Crewed Rules are designed to be playable standalone, with each other supplement in Sixty Years in
Space focusing on and adding detail to different parts of the play experience, and giving you the option to
start from another era, in the exploitation of the solar system. The rules do this by presenting the option to
arrive at the same outcomes at different time scales: the This Space Intentionally provides rules for year
long operations that have the same outcomes as migration and trade activities in the Crewed Rules, that
you can also achieve by combining day or week long actions from the A Base- D Landing supplement.
When using the supplements, you should zoom into or out to the specific time scale that interests you
the most and serves best to move the story forward. All the rules in the supplements are compatible with
each other and a lot of design work has been done to ensure that you can’t get a significant advantage in
the game by using one time scale over another so you should feel empowered to mix and match them as
desired.

Synchronise your Watches

After reciting the pledge at the start of play you should synchronize your watches.
Chapter 2

Gam e Pl ay
16 CHAPTER 2. GAME PLAY

Humans are story tellers: we love metaphors and the complex metaphoric language we use to tell our
stories may be deeply intertwined with what makes us human. At its worst, it can lead to magical thinking,
at its best it can give us new insight and understanding into ourselves, the world around us and empathy
with the other people who share this universe with us.
In many role playing games, one person in the group of players will act as an adjudicator to assist
with interpretation of the rules and to make final judgement as to the outcome of actions. This person,
sometimes unfairly, is also given the burden of reading and understanding the rules and preparing a
scenario and contingencies for the rest of the players. Sixty Years In does not require this specialized role:
everyone is responsible for collaboratively interpreting the rules and determining outcomes because, in
part, there are so many of them and also because this game is much more prescriptive than many other
TTRPGs. Many things in space and physics are incredibly counter-intuitive and it is hard to simulate this
without rules that tell you what the likely outcomes will be.
To build the game setting, Sixty Years In Space uses “builders”: rules subsystem used to build parts
of the game procedurally as you play instead of trying to prepare the game in advance. Where possible,
builders use a creation work flow that runs in the order you’ll likely discover the thing you’re generating
and many builders will include folios that you should fill in as you progress through the design.
But the Sixty Years In RPG needs to be more than just a collection of random tables for it to work
effectively as a game. The core idea of this role-playing game is a belief about human comprehension
of random events: we will naturally create stories about systems that are just complex enough that we
cannot completely understand how the systems interact. While video games allow these systems to be
built automatically, board games and role-playing games are limited by the fact that the players must also
be able to implement all the systems that these games use.
Playing Sixty Years In is intended to be a unique experience, unlike any other TTRPG you will have played.
It is also not easy. There is a lot of technical language in the game and planning and executing moves
through space really is rocket science! Luckily Sixty Years In RPG is built on the High Frontier board game
rules, which make realistically simulating space travel a lot easier than it would otherwise be.

Character Development
Over the long scale of deep time, individuals are rarely important. As players, you will be responsible for
taking on the role of playing characters in the game, called crew. As your crew may survive a billion years or
more, they will be shaped by their experiences and attempts by mission control to exploit them as much,
if not more than any initial concepts that you have for their design. Sixty Years In tries in many ways to
persuade you to accept the changes that will happen to your crew, many of which will be outside of your
direct control and some of which will radically change how they see themselves and how you perceive
them, but also empowers you to reject these changes if you don’t want to by using bumps and debt as
described on page 18. But bumps and debt can also be used to change the wider social trends that don’t
affect your crew but affect humanity as a whole. Be aware that if you use these limited resources to resist
the ebb and flow of history, you are sacrificing your ability to influence it.
Crew begin with a number of skill points based on their age and each crew position has the majority of
skill points pre-invested in fixed skills. Before you create your crew, you should generate your mission control
and crew module using the Mission Control chapter on page 35 and roll for your starting mission using
the Missions section on page 41 in that chapter. Character generation is described in the Demographics
chapter on page 97, Crew chapter on page 59, Skills chapter on page 110 and Assets chapter on page 126.

Exploiting the Solar System

Because of the long time span and the focus on exploration and exploitation of the solar system, you will
be responsible for the research and development of new technologies that you wish to use, rather than
simply existing in a specific technological milieu like most other science fiction TTRPGs.
Your first goal should be to travel to a site where you can reverse engineer, build or negotiate access to
extraterrestrial technologies. The Space Travel chapter on page 203 and Encounters chapter on page 238
DICE ROLLING CONVENTIONS 17

provide a lot more detail about the process of travelling through space and delivering cargo to build
factories, colonies and Bernals.
Once you succeed or fail at your first mission, you should continue to generate mission destinations
to continue to improve your technology level. Each technology level improvement will also allow you
to condition your abilities to higher levels and get access to new technologies such as rigs, updates and
promotions. When you do so you will begin to move away from baseline humanity and get additional
powerful abilities as well as have the opportunity to make some key decisions about technologies you
wish to adopt. See the Upgrades chapter on page 144 for details.

Dice Rolling Conventions

The game uses cubic (six-sided) dice, denoted by 1D6, with each side having a number of pips from 1 to
6. When a 1D6 is rolled on a flat surface with sufficient energy, it generates a random result equal to the
number of pips on the face-up side. Replacing the 1 with a 2 or higher number in the nD6 notation means
you roll more than one dice and add the face-up results together. This may then be modified by adding,
subtracting, multiplying or dividing the result. If you have to divide the dice roll, the text will indicate
whether you round up or down to the nearest whole number or retain fractions.
Sometimes you will multiply multiply dice rolls together, such as 1D6x1D6x1D6 or 2D6x2D6. Roll each
group of dice separately, then multiply the results together.
Bidding Dice can also be used for bids by secretly choosing the face values of one or more dice before
simultaneously revealing them with the intended bid value face up.

Reroll Duplicates Reroll any duplicate results selected from a random table. Exceptions are a) if rolling
the results for different crew members or other targets, or b) the initial effect has been removed or recovered
from or c) if the entry states that it has a cumulative effect if it is rolled twice or d) the entry says duplicates
are allowed.

Odds, Evens and Upside If there is only one possible result on a random table, just use that result
without rolling. If there are only two possible results, roll a 1D6 and use the first result if the face value of
the roll is odd and the second result if the face value is even – this allows you to use a bump to change
from one result to another. If there are only three possible results, do the same, except use the third result
on a face value of 5-6 (“the upside”) – noting a roll of 6 prevents you from using a single bump to change
the result. To save space and increase legibility, random results are sometimes listed in the text separated
by the word “or” instead of being placed in a table.

Failure Is Not An Option

Failure Is Not An Option (FINAO) is a central concept in High Frontier. The temptation to cut corners by
being hasty and risking a dice roll is a key part of the board game but it is almost always smarter to take
more time and make more efforts to ensure a successful outcome.
In Sixty Years in Space, you will almost always perform actions using a roll under system, where you have
to roll under your skill level on 2D6 or the related ability level using 3D6 to succeed; or equal the level to
succeed with complications. If you roll over the level, you can either abort and retry the action, or choose
to succeed but incur a cost by adding a defect to your equipment, a tally to a limited resource or a stress
point to the crew member performing the action. You should aim to succeed at every action you attempt
because space will likely kill you if you fail and choosing to accumulate costs will merely kill you slower.
To avoid adding costs every time you attempt a skill, you need to get chrome that applies to the action
you are performing that you have the appropriate skill level in. Chrome is could be a certificate issued as a
part of playing the game or specialization or license to use the equipment you are working with, or another
18 CHAPTER 2. GAME PLAY

advantage in the specific situation you are in. Having the appropriate chrome allows you to roll one less
1D6 when attempting an action.
Even with chrome, to reliably succeed at the action you should ensure that you have an effective skill
level of 6 in the skill, which means you succeed on a roll of 1-5 and get a complication on a roll of 6. The
recommended approach to this is to have a skill level of 5 and Mission Control contact with the same skill
to assist you. This means you get an effective skill level of 6 by having the Mission Control contact’s skill
level of 5 assist your skill attempt. See the Skills chapter on page 110 for details on how to use your skills.

Bumps and Debt

Each hour of game play, starting when the minute hand hits :00, each of the players gets one bump, plus
one additional one for each point of glory or notoriety the crew has (shared evenly amongst the players,
so that if the crew gets one glory each, each player gets one extra bump). A player may use a bump to
change the face value of a rolled dice by one, up or down (but only up if the face value is 1 and only down if
the face value is 6). Record the number of bumps you have by placing a sweet in front of you. You cannot
accumulate bumps – it disappears at the end of the hour. Bumps are also lost between gaming sessions.
Once you have used your bump, it is gone. However, you can buy a bump when required and use it
immediately, by incurring a debt for each bump you wish to buy. Each crew member can recover from one
debt by performing an Income operation: see the This Space Intentionally supplement for details.

Offerings Each crew member begins the game with 4 offerings: a piece of jewelery, a desk accessory, a
luxury good and a treasured item. You can sacrifice one of the crew’s offerings to get a bump at any time.
Describe the offering and how the crew member loses it or how it no longer has meaning for them. Each
crew member can sacrifice each offering once: even if they replace the offering, it is no longer worth a
bump. You do not have to use the bump from the offering immediately.
If a crew member shares their luxury good with anyone controlled by another player when you sacrifice
it, the other player also gets a bump.

Bankruptcy If your debt increases above your Capital, eliminate all your debt and permanently decrease
your Capital by one. If this would reduce your Capital to zero, you may not perform the action that would
increase your debt.

Sweets
You should track the bumps you have available to you by putting a sweet in front of you out of the packet
you brought to the game session for each bump you have available to you. When you spend the bump,
consume the corresponding sweet. One of the lessons of the Biosphere 2 project is the impact of sweet food
on human psychology, bananas in the original experiment, and how the loss of this food led to negative
social dynamics and conflict in the isolated group.

Energy Freedom If a crew member’s public and preferred pronouns match, that crew member has
energy freedom. You can freely consume a sweet from your packet any time you need a bump for that crew
member. Remember you can freely change crew member preferred pronouns, but may not wish to do so.
Chapter 3

Act i ons
20 CHAPTER 3. ACTIONS

What is a role-playing game? It is a spontaneous collective fantasy collaboratively experienced by a

one or more players and their audience: whether that audience is watching the game being played live or
experiencing a record or retelling of the game after the fact. The primary way you, as a player, will interact
with a role-playing game is through the verbs the game gives you: here, called actions.
You will perform these actions to interact with other players, determine the outcome of those actions
either consensually in agreement with the other players or using randomizers such as dice and cards, and
create artifacts of play such as maps and folios to preserve some record of this for later. This will all be
done within a system called the rules, which determines what is acceptable within the game. The rules
for your game of Sixty Years in Space are built in three ways: interpreting what is written in the Sixty Years
in Space game texts that you own, ignoring what is written in the texts either due to oversight or intent,
and overwriting what is written in the texts with ideas you develop while playing or bring to the game from
elsewhere. At all times play moves forward only if all players agree to the rules being played; and the only
mandatory rule for what you are doing to be considered playing Sixty Years in Space is the This is Mutiny
rule.

An Example Rule You should not play this game in costume, such as coloured overalls, representing a
space flight suit, or a white shirt and dark tie, as if you were working in mission control in the 1960s. You
should also not print out the rules and put them in three-ring binders with the logo of the space agency
you are purporting to be on the cover. If the rules required you did this, it would impose an unnecessary
burden and expense on players. Therefore this is a thing you should definitely not do.

Available actions The player actions available to you are summarized on the Player Actions table
on page 30. Because the players may come from a number of different cultural contexts, a number of
player actions are explicitly stated here that are assumed in many other games. Sixty Years in Space also
distinguishes the actions of the players from the actions of the crew within the game. By choosing a role
within the game, you will become responsible for a crew member in the collective fantasy of the game and
can begin to perform crew actions. The crew actions described in the Crewed Rules are listed on the Crew
Actions table on page 31.

Turn order Player actions can be performed at any time in any order, at any time. Other actions must be
performed in order. Each player in turn chooses from a suite of possible actions the crew member they are
responsible for can perform, resolves the action, and then the next player in the sequence chooses another
action to perform. Actions will sometimes suggest or impose an ordering for players to proceed in. If there
is no ordering, begin with the youngest player and proceed clockwise (to the left) around the table you are
sitting around. Louder or more talkative players are not entitled to more actions than others at the table.

Player Actions
Permitted player actions are listed on the Player Actions table on page 30. Other actions not listed here
are generally frowned upon even if thematic: for instance, while alcohol is relatively easy to make with the
equipment available on a spacecraft, consumption of alcohol at the Sixty Years in Space playing table is
discouraged.

Encounters You can elect to make the game harder for your crew by rolling for a random encounter
at any time. When you choose to roll for an encounter using this rule, all players can immediately add
bumps as if the minute hand had reached :00, as described in the Bumps and Debt on page 18 section.
The Encounters on page 238 outlines how to create a random encounter.

Zooming In and Out Sixty Years in Space can be played at a variety of game scales, from less than a
second to billions of years and from meters to light years. The way the game handles this is by allowing you
PLAYER ACTIONS 21

to zoom into a smaller time or map scale and zoom back out again. There are two basic scales: in space
and at site. If you zoom in from the High Frontier map while you are in space, the crew will be placed on
the map of their spacecraft, and then in their crew module if they zoom in again.
The Map and Time Scales table on this page provides an overview of the scaling process, which generally
follows multiples of 10. The time scales and distance scales are independent of each other but there are
usually two movement scales associated with each map scale: the card movement scale which represents
an unopposed exploration of the listed map scale, where 1 movement point allows up to 1 card or 10 cm of
movement, and the cm movement scale which is more typically used for opposed maps such as combat
and exfiltration where 1 cm of movement costs 1 or more movement points.

Maximum time scales

If the crew is taking ongoing damage or has a critical resource that they are running short of, then there will
be a maximum time scale they can zoom out to – zoom in the time scale if the game is currently at a longer
time scale.

Water If the crew is not in a vehicle or pressurized structure, their maximum time scale will be 2 hours. If
the crew is at a site in the Ceres zone or beyond, or the entire crew is equipped with active cooling, the
maximum time scale is instead 1 day – except if the crew has less than 200W of solar panels each, it remains
2 hours. If any of the crew has exhausted all their water or battery tallies, reduce the time scale by 1 step: to
either every 10 minutes or every 2 hours.

Food If the crew has run out of food, their maximum time scale is 1 month.

Radiation If the crew is operating in a high radiation environment such as the surface of Io, Europa or
Ganymede then they will have a maximum time scale based on the amount of radiation exposure that can
damage them. See the Radiation Exposure table on page 225.

Damage over Time If any of the crew is suffering damage over time, then the time scale should be
limited to the amount of time needed to damage them. Refer to either the Continuous Damage table on
page 185 or Escalating Damage table on page 185.

Map and Time Scales

Space Site Map Time scale
scale scale scale /unit Card move cm move Combat Scale
Crew module Room 0.5m /cm 6s 0.6s Shootout
Facility 5m /cm 60s 6s Firefight
Complex 50m /cm 10m 60s Strike
Spacecraft District 500m /cm 2h 10m Engagement
Locality 5 km /cm 1d 2h Battle
Regional 50 km /cm 1 month 1d Theatre
High Frontier map 2.5 km/s /burn 1 y 1 month Combat Op
Sector 1 LY /cm 12-24 y Interstellar mass streams
Route 30 LY /hex 3000+ y Galaxy-class weapons
22 CHAPTER 3. ACTIONS

Crew Actions
Each player who has a crew position is responsible for the crew member in that position and can elect to
have that crew member perform crew actions. This is indicated by the player placing a yellow bid dice
next to the crew member; crew that are not conscious cannot have bid dice placed next to them. The face
value of the bid dice indicates the priority that the crew would like to act in, with 6 acting first – it may also
indicate the number of actions that the crew member wishes to perform this turn.

Non-crew actions Once all conscious crew have bid dice next to them, roll a bid dice for each other unit
that can act this turn and place it next to them.

Crew turn order To resolve crew actions, count down in steps from 6 to 1: six, five, four, three, two, and
one. At each step, resolve the actions of any crew and other units which have bids equal to the step number.
Actions at each step occur simultaneously.

Multiple actions If a player wants their crew member to perform multiple actions in a turn, they can put
a yellow counter under the bid dice – the bid dice then represents the number of actions being performed
in the turn. The crew member then gets to perform an action on all steps equal to or lower than their bid
number. Each action gets a multi-tasking penalty equal to the value of the bid dice. The crew member
performing multiple actions must also add 1 fatigue for each action – if the current time scale is 1 month of
more, add burnout instead of fatigue.

Alert level Any bid higher than the alert level will mean that the crew member’s actions will fail if opposed.
The alert level is normally 0 – 1 in a white BSU colony or 2 in a Red BSU colony or abandoned structure.
Competitions Two competing crews can agree to treat the alert level as 1 higher for an agreed interval.

Free actions Free actions typically involve the player deciding to use resource specific to a crew member,
such as an offering or skill point. Free actions can be performed at any time and can interrupt other player
actions if required. They do not count towards the total number of actions being performed.

Vehicles If the crew is in a vehicle, they may move together either at the start of the turn, prior to
performing their actions, or at the end of the turn, after performing their actions. If the crew cannot agree
which, the vehicle doesn’t move.

End of turn clean up

Once all crew have resolved crew actions, vehicle movement, and any other unit actions, the turn ends.
Remove all bid dice from the table. Apply damage over time as described in the Damage over Time section
on page 184. Add the time scale to the current in game date and/or time.

Resolve stress All acute stress is removed at the end of each turn if you are at the 1 month or longer time
scales. However, all PTSD becomes activated. To do this: any stress circles which don’t have a checked
PTSD circle directly under them become unchecked; and all stress circles which have a checked PTSD circle
directly under them become checked.

EVA clean-up Apply EVA clean-up if the crew is not in a vehicle or pressurized structure. If the time scale
is 2 hours, each crew member adds a water tally; if at night on Mercury, Venus or Luna, or if the crew has
less than 200W of solar panels each, each crew member adds half a battery tally. At nighttime or if the crew
member is at a site in the Ceres zone or beyond, or equipped with active cooling, then the crew add water
tallies every day instead of every 2 hours. On the surface of Io, Ganymede or Europa also apply radiation
exposure.
ACTION RESOLUTION 23

Action Resolution
Player actions always succeed. Other actions performed by a player acting as the crew or mission control
will always succeed unless they risk or consume a resource that is not easy to replace. You should roll for
any action which you don’t always succeed at. You must also roll for any action that takes a year or longer
(called operations) and any time someone may choose to oppose an action. Actions by entities which
other than the crew or mission control should always be rolled for. The complete action resolution process
is summarized on the Action Resolution table on page 32.

The Unknown Information gathering and interpretation actions will always succeed unless you are
playing with one player acting in the role of The Unknown. The Unknown role is described in the
Absent Without supplement, yet to be written.

Rolling for Actions

To successfully perform an action that requires a roll, you need to roll 3D6 less than the ability level or 2D6
less than the skill level relating to the action for the crew member whose role you are acting in. You must
choose which one of these rolls to make (2D6 less than skill or 3D6 less than ability) before making the roll.
A number of circumstances may modify the number of dice to roll – apply these before rolling. The dice
you roll for action resolution are called the action dice.

Chrome Roll one less dice if the crew member has chrome related to the action you are attempting.
Chrome cannot be transferred when cooperating or assisting a skill use: the person performing the skill
must have the chrome to benefit from it. See the Chrome section on the following page for details on how
you get chrome. In combat, chrome only applies if the crew has a 1D6 accuracy bonus.

Alien skills If the crew member and the target of the action are different species, add one dice.

Weapon range If target of an attack is further than the weapon’s short range or the weapon has no short
range, then add one dice if less than or equal to the weapon medium range or two dice if less than or equal
to the weapon long range.

Improvising You can attempt to use a skill in a way not covered by the rules. If you do so, each attempt
you make must be both novel and physically possible: you cannot improvise skills the same way twice and
you cannot break the laws of physics doing so. Add one dice if you are attempting a plausible improvised
use of a skill or two dice if you are attempting an implausible improvised use of a skill. In either instance the
majority of the crew must agree the attempted skill use is both novel and possible. Ability Breakthroughs
allow you to repeat novel actions for skills relating to the ability. Postsingularity entities treat implausible
skill use as plausible.

Compensating You can choose to compensate for any defects or penalties the crew member has by
adding one dice roll to the action roll for each defect you ignore. If you do this, you also don’t apply any
safe penalties to the resulting roll.

Opposition If the action is opposed by another unit then one or more opposition die may be added.
See the Opposed Actions section on the next page for details.
24 CHAPTER 3. ACTIONS

Chrome
Chrome is the ability to perform actions better with a specific piece of equipment or in a specific way.
Chrome allows you to reduce the number of dice you roll by one when performing an action if the action
relates to the chrome. Chrome is easiest to learn at present day technology levels and becomes harder
and harder to learn as technology levels increase. Multiple types of chrome are not cumulative: only apply
the dice reduction once.

Easy actions Any easy actions are considered to have chrome when you attempt them. Easy actions are
actions that any of the players at the table could reasonably be expected to be able to complete. Some
specific actions will be noted as being easy or apply chrome in specific circumstances.

Licenses You get the chrome for any technology if the crew member acquires the license to the technol-
ogy. See the Patents and Licenses section on page 149 in the Assets chapter for details.

Medical specialities You can buy medical specialities for a crew member by spending a skill point for
each speciality. Each speciality is associated with a specific risk or penalty – the speciality gives you chrome
when the crew member treats that risk or penalty.

Languages The languages a crew member speaks are chrome for your social skills (but not your political
skills) when speaking using that language. See the Languages section on page 115 for details.

Crew certifications Your crew can achieve certifications which allow them to use chrome for the actions
listed on the certification for the rest of the campaign.

Player certifications You can achieve certifications as a player which give your crew chrome when they
perform certain actions. These certifications are transferable from game to game.

Opposed Actions
When a crew is trying to ensure an outcome occurs and someone else are trying to prevent an outcome
from occurring, then an opposed action check is required. Both sides place a bid from 1 to 6 using a yellow
bid dice, if they have not done so already. If the bid exceeds the current alert level then it is considered to
have a bid value of 0 when resolving the opposed action.
The side that bids the highest makes the action check – if tied the side original attempting the action makes
the check, unless both bids are 0. The combined bids of both sides are treated as additional penalties for
the check. If the side attempting the action makes the check, then the outcomes of the action check are
resolved normally.

Opposing side acts If the opposing side makes the action check, the action being opposed is aborted,
but can be retried per the abort and retry result. In addition, if the opposing side’s action check is successful,
further attempts at the opposed action by the side attempting the action must add an additional dice to
the roll called an opposition dice. These opposition dice are cumulative.

Standoff If both sides bid 0 (that is, higher than the current alert level) then a stand off occurs. The
action is aborted without rolling any dice, but can be retried per the abort and retry result.
DEFECTS 25

Opposed heightened success If either side achieves a heightened success, then the complication they
choose can instead be applied to the other side.

Defects
Defects are unrepairable damage to an asset or component, or long term damage to a relationship with
another group. The technologies available in the High Frontier are complex enough that finding damage
to an asset is some times impossible and can only be removed by 3D printing a new version. Likewise
relationships can some times be irrevocably damaged, because one side has established that they are not
trustworthy, and can only be repaired by dissolving one of the organizations involved and starting anew.
If the crew attempt an action check with any item or group with defects or as a result of risking it, then add
up the total number of defects involved from these sources. If any of the dice rolled have a face value either
equal or under the total number of defects, then the action fails and an accident occurs – regardless of the
total value of the dice.

Penalties Add one defect for every three penalties that apply to the action. Don’t count safe penalties –
these do not increase the number of defects. See the Penalties section on the following page for how to
determine how many penalties apply.

Retries Crew can reattempt the action once the accident has been resolved – however the full length of
time required to perform the action is used up in recovering from the accident.

Resolving Accidents
If you roll one or more dice that have a face value less than or equal to the number of defects that apply to
the action check, then the action fails.
The accident outcome depends on the turn length that the crew is attempting the action over. Include any
time spent attempting the same action: either from aborting and retrying or previous failures. Operations,
decaoperations and megaoperations have their own accident resolutions. Otherwise, for a single action
taking 6 seconds or less, the crew performing the action takes one point of damage to themselves or one
piece of the equipment used for the action (your choice of equipment or hit location).
For an action taking longer than 6 seconds and up to but not including 10 minutes, you should instead roll
for a complication. This complication must be either associated with the operation the crew is attempting
or from the appropriate column matching the situation the crew is in on the Complications table on
page 202 in the Damage and Complications chapter. Also apply this if the crew suffers two consecutive
failure outcomes for actions taking 6 seconds or less, if you choose accident outcome for the second failure.
For an action taking 10 minutes or more, you should roll for an aggravated complication. An aggravated
complication is a roll of 1D6+1 on the appropriate Complications table.

Space is lethal If the crew is not in a shirt sleeves environment, actions with accident outcomes result
in aggravated complications if they take more than 12 seconds, instead of 10 minutes or more. This could
be from 2 successive failures, or because you aborted and retried the action twice, and then failed it on the
third attempt.
26 CHAPTER 3. ACTIONS

Penalties
Penalties increase the difficulty of performing an action. Add the number of penalties that apply to the
dice roll after rolling but before determining the outcome of the action. You can describe how the crew
member overcomes the penalty to not apply this modifier if exactly one penalty applies.

Folio penalties Penalties listed on the folio sheet that apply to the action should be counted. The
sections on the Crew folio headed by “Addiction” lists a number of common penalties that can be incurred:
count both numbers and check boxes in these sections, except those entries listed as “Risks” which do
not count as penalties. Also count any +P, +M, +S and +C modifiers listed elsewhere on the folio when the
corresponding bar or tally has been checked.

Insufficient crew Add one penalty for each missing crew member when performing an action requiring
multiple crew. Collective actions normally require 4 crew present.

Multi-tasking Crew attempting more than one action at a time add penalties equal to the number of
actions they are attempting.

Risking it You can reduce the number of penalties that apply to the action by three by adding one
defect. You can risk it as many times as required for an action however you can never end up with negative
penalties – this means you can’t risk it for 1 or 2 remaining penalties, however you can describe how to
overcome the 1 remaining penalty to ignore it. Risking it can be freely combined with compensating for
defects.

Successes
The sum of the action dice plus any applicable penalties is called the result. If the result under the skill
or ability level needed for the action check, you get an unqualified success and the action attempted
succeeds. If the result is less than half the level, you can choose your choice of complication in addition to
succeeding at the action – this is called a heightened success. You can only choose from complications
either associated with the situation or action you are attempting. Complications are described in the
Complications section on page 193 of the Damage and Complications chapter.

Complicated success If the result is equal to the level, the result is a complicated success where the
action succeeds but incurs a complication as a part of the success. You must roll on the appropriate
complication table for the situation the crew is in – most situations are covered by the Complications table
on page 202 but some actions may have specific complication tables. Note that some complications have
more positive outcomes but you cannot avoid the complication that you roll except by spending a bump
to change the result.

Retrying Actions
If the result is higher than the level but less than twice the level, you can choose to either to succeed
immediately with a cost or to abort and retry. If the result is twice the level or more then you must abort,
and if you wish to retry you must pay a cost. A cost is paid for by either be adding a defect or tally; you must
pay a cost if you want to get the desired outcome (success or a retry).

Partial success Some actions will allow you to partially succeed at the action if the result is over the
level and under twice the level. The action will specify whether this option is available to you and what it
means.
TIME KEEPING 27

Aborting Aborting means that you use up half the length of time that the skill attempt required without
any useful work being done. You can then reattempt the action – you can choose to do so in the remaining
time available by adding 2 penalties to the new attempt and 2 fatigue.
If your roll was twice the required level or more, you must also pay a cost before reattempting the action.
In combat, abort and retry means that you give up your action in the turn sequence: retrying the action
instead allows you to attempt a different action to the one you tried later in the same turn. If you are using
bid dice, change your bid dice to a lower value.

Add a defect If you pay a cost by adding a defect, choose one of the contacts, factions or assets you
are performing the skill on or with that doesn’t currently have a defect and add a defect to it, represented
using one or more orange dice with a total face value equal to the number of defects added. All defects
contribute to the risk of accidents in subsequent actions involving the defective equipment, contact or
faction. Defects apply whenever you subsequently perform an action using the asset, contact or faction as
outlined in the Defects section on page 25. You cannot repair defects on assets: instead you must replace
the asset by printing a new one using a 3D printer.

Add a stress If you pay a cost by adding a stress, you can add either one stress or one PTSD – you must
choose PTSD if the action takes one month or longer. AI can’t choose this outcome unless they are making
a rampancy action check. Stress tallies are also penalties apply to all actions unless the action is a fight or
flight response.

Add a tally If you pay a cost by adding a tally, describe how a crew member uses a currently limited
resource to allow them to succeed at the action and add a tally to that resource. This resource will be
completely consumed if it reaches its tally limit (normally 5). Resources that are not limited in the crew
member’s current situation cannot be chosen. You can only use fuel for this if it is measured in tallies - not
steps, centiburns or burns.

Time keeping
Actions can take a varied length of time to perform, but most actions are assumed to fall into one of several
fixed turn lengths, each of which is roughly 10 times longer than the next smallest interval: 0.6 seconds, 6
seconds, 1 minute, 10 minutes, 2 hours, 1 day, 1 month, 1 year or 12 years. When all actions have been
performed the amount of time represented by the current time scale the game is being played at passes.

Operations Collective actions that take 1 year are called operations and described in the This Space
Intentionally supplement. Actions that take 12 years are called decaoperations and are described in
the A Lot of Zeroes supplement, along with megaoperations which take 3000 years or longer.

Short actions Actions that take less than the current time scale are easier if they are attempted at the
current time scale. If the action takes less than the current time scale you can ignore one penalty when
rolling for it; if it takes half the time or less, you get one free retry if you fail – don’t add fatigue, penalties or
cost for this first retry; in addition, if it takes one tenth the time or less you can remove one dice. Alternately,
you can combine short actions together – you don’t benefit from the above modifiers if you do. Always use
the original short action turn length when calculating the effects of fatigue caused by the action.

Combining shorter actions

It is easier to multiple actions which take less time than the current time scale. If the action takes less than
one tenth of the current time scale, then you can perform it as a free action at any point during the turn.
You can also combine several actions that take one tenth the time of the current time scale with an action
that takes the current time scale. Doing so adds a number of penalties and fatigue equal to half the number
28 CHAPTER 3. ACTIONS

of short actions attempted, rounding fatigue up and penalties down. Only convert fatigue to burnout if the
shorter action time interval is at least a month.

Attempting actions more quickly

You can attempt to perform actions in a smaller time interval than normal. Divide the original time interval
of the action by the time interval you wish to attempt an action in and add that many penalties levels to
the action. Also add that many fatigue – if the original time interval was one month or more, add burnout
instead of fatigue. For instance, if you want to perform an action in half the time – for instance, when you
get the abort and retry outcome – add 2 penalties to the action and add 2 fatigue. Always apply at least 1
penalty and add 1 fatigue when you attempt an action more quickly than normal – this lets you complete a
task in 80% of the normal time and breaks ties if two actions would otherwise happen simultaneously.
After rolling, if you choose success with a cost, you must add 1D6 tallies, defects or stress instead of 1, for
each 10x reduction in turn length you attempted, in order to succeed. The restrictions on what costs you
can add, if any, are determined by the original time interval that the action would have taken to perform.

Trouble
After rolling for an action, if any of the action dice have a face value equal to three on an action check or you
are using a turn length not listed on the trouble track, the crew performing the action may get into trouble.

Checking for trouble Roll one trouble dice, or 2 if the action check was made using a single 1D6 and
you rolled a 3. If any of the trouble dice are 5 or 6, then increase the trouble counter by 1 – but always to at
least to the first trouble counter with a time listed next to it that is higher than the current turn length.
When you increase the trouble counter, trigger any healing, recovery, adding tallies, consuming other
resources, taking damage over time and rolling for service risks that apply to the crew performing the
action and that occur on the time interval listed next to the trouble counter – however don’t apply any
effects that also occur on smaller time intervals. If all the crew are in trouble this can also trigger events
external to the crew such as random encounters.

Getting out of trouble If a crew member makes an action check where no dice have a face value of 3,
then their trouble counter is reset to 0. If you are using a turn length not listed on the trouble track, it is
possible to increase the trouble counter, triggering the effects, and then immediately set it back to 0.

Events and service risks Service risks are described in This Space Intentionally. Annual events are
described in the This Space Intentionally and A Base- D Landing supplements.

Space Politics
Sixty Years In RPG uses two concepts from the 2nd and 3rd editions of the High Frontier board game:
Space Politics and Mission Control Social Unit (MCSU), to keep a thematic consistency across the eras
of the game. The Space Politics can be one of five colours representing consensus around one of five
political alignments: Red, White, Green, Purple or Orange; and two colourless positions: War and Anarchy,
representing an absence of political consensus. The mission control social unit is a BSU (short for Basal
Social Unit) which also represents one of five political alignments but at an organizational level. The Mission
Control chapter on page 35 provides more information on how to create your mission control.
The Space Politics determines how access to space is controlled - is it the dictated by individual nations or
a transnational body, or is it for capitalist, military or social endeavours? In the Crewed Rules, the Space
Politics influences your crew’s philosophy and gender presentation – the personal is political. In other
supplements, the Space Politics also determines the direction that the solar system and Earth evolves
independently of the crew actions to create a larger background tableau.
SPACE POLITICS 29

Starting Space Politics

Roll 2D6 at the start of the game and again if required to determine the Space Politics. The policy has
various impacts throughout the game rules: some Space Politics can have two different policies. The suit is
used when randomly generating outlooks.
Roll Colour Policy Suit
2-4 Orange Capitalist Diamonds♦
5 Paleoconservative
White Spades♠
6 Nationalist
7 Purple Multilateral No Trumps
8 Anti-Nuke
Green Hearts♥
9 Egalitarian
10-12 Red Authoritarian Clubs♣

Changing the Space Politics You will be able to change the space politics using the Activism operation
and have it changed involuntarily because of the election event as described in the This Space Intentionally
supplement. This may result in the Space Politics becoming War or Anarchy, which are normally associated
with Red and White space politics positions, respectively, but don’t count as those colours.

Anarchy Space exploration is a free for all with le- Multilateral Space exploration is regulated
gal claims and international conventions providing through a transnational body such as the United Na-
no protection against opportunistic mission controls tions, where member states and non-governmental
who would happily claim jump, hijack facilities and organizations (NGOs) determine the regulations
strand their own crews to achieve short term goals. through diplomacy, lobbying and political grand-
standing.
Anti-nuke Space exploration is seen as risky: too
risky for any nuclear powered rockets to be permit-
ted either launching from Earth or being assembled Nationalist Space exploration is driven by purely
in near Earth orbits. As a result, the pace of explo- nationalist concerns - countries compete with each
ration is much slower and solar-powered. other for glory or perceived research or industrial
gains without necessarily testing or confirming those
gains in a free market.
Authoritarian The space race has effectively
been won through military, political or technological
superiority - usually through force of arms - and the
Paleoconservative The space race is primarily a
victor is able to control which colonists are permitted
military one: national militaries attempt to establish
into space.
a ’High Guard’ above their territories to defend their
sovereignty and to gain military or espionage advan-
Capitalist The space race is an open competi- tage. If the Space Politics is Paleoconservatism, you
tion between many mission controls. Entrepreneurs do not begin the game with any Earthside technolo-
usually having the greatest ability to exploit the re- gies other than spacecraft components.
sources available.

Egalitarian Space exploration is seen as an en- War Heightened tensions between Earthside
deavour for the good of all mankind, not just those nation-states have resulted in a volatile situation in
privileged enough to be able to afford a space pro- space where rockets and ray-guns can be retooled
gram. Crew members are recruited to maximise di- into weapons at a moment’s notice. Colonists ef-
versity and allow all national groups to feel like they fectively become conscripts in this conflict, as their
are making a positive contribution, regardless of the precarious situation means they have to remain loyal
merits of the individual crew member. to ensure the safety of their families back home.
30 CHAPTER 3. ACTIONS

Player Actions
Action Resolution
Check a box on the role-play check list. See the Role-Play Check List on
Check a role-play box page 5 section for details.
Choose to play as one of the unselected crew positions from ☐Pilot,
☐Mission Specialist, ☐First Payload specialist or ☐2nd Payload specialist.
More crew positions are available if there are more than 4 players. See the
Crew Positions section on page 60 for details. You cannot play more than
Choose a role one role until each player has chosen one crew position.
Start working on and complete a folio using a builder. You will do this
Complete a folio individually or collaboratively with the other players.
Drink water Take small sips; water is a valuable resource on the High Frontier.
Draw a line through a category or subcategory on the role-play check list.
Draw a line See the Role-Play Check List section on page 5 for details.
If you don’t currently have a mission from your mission control, you can roll
for one, originating from LEO to a random destination. See the Missions
Earthside mission section on page 41 for details.
You can leave the table at any time without needing to excuse yourself –
being away from the table means you are not playing the game. Play
proceeds as normal until you return; the player to your left performs your
Leave the table crew position.
Place a yellow bid dice next to a conscious crew member that you have
taken the role of. Resolve crew actions once all conscious crew have bid
Place a bid dice dice. See the Crew Actions section on page 22 for details.
Involuntary actions such as facial expressions, laughter, coughing or
exclamations should be limited or covered where possible to reduce the
React risk of causing offence and limit transmission of communicable diseases.
This includes taking notes, writing marginalia and reading the marginalia
Read the rules written by others.
Ensure that what you are role-playing is permitted by the Role-Play Check
Role-play List on page 5.
If there is no Space Politics, roll for it. See the Space Politics section on
Roll for Space Politics page 28 for details.
State ”This is Mutiny” Resolve the mutiny. See the This is Mutiny section on page 5 for details.
Once you have chosen a role, you can sign the High Frontier pledge. See the
Sign the pledge The High Frontier Pledge section on page 13 for details.
Sleeping at the table is permitted. Play skips you until you wake; the player
Sleep to your left performs your crew position.
Consume a sweet and spend a bump as outlined in the Bumps and Debt
Spend a bump section on page 18.
You can snack at any time. See the Space Snacks section on page 14 for
Snack details.
You can choose to stop playing at any time. The session ends for the day
Stop play when you do.
If this is the first time this hour you have done so then everyone is entitled to
Synchronize watches an additional bump as outlined in the Bumps and Debt section on page 18.
Asking and answering questions and providing descriptions, observations
Talk and interpretations in a non-confrontational manner is encouraged.
Uncheck a role-play box Remove a check from a box on the role-play check list.
All players must agree to perform the following player actions.
Encounter someone See the Encounters chapter on page 238 for details.
Zoom in Zooms the time and/or the map scale in.
Zoom back out Zoom the time and/or map scale out.
SPACE POLITICS 31

Crew Actions
Action Resolution
This gives the player responsible for the crew member a bump. See the Bumps
Incur debt and Debt section on page 18 for details.
This gives the player responsible for the crew member a bump. See the
Sacrifice an offering Offerings section on page 128 for details – line out any offering used.
Crew can spend skill points on reverse engineering technology as outlined in
the Patents and Licenses section on page 149, recovery as outlined in the
Recovery section on page 118, on skills and contacts as outlined in the Learning
Skills section on page 119 and on abilities as outlined in the Ability Conditioning
Spend a skill point section on page 81.
The above actions are free actions and can be done at any time.
Act Perform an action as outlined in the rules.
Use an asset or system in an unauthorized way. See the Bypass skill on page 122
Bypass for details.
Fire is especially dangerous in space. See the Fire section on page 188 and
Fight fire Structure fire section on page 192 for details.
The crew member can temporarily add 1 skill point to another crew member
who has the same skill level by either assisting or cooperating with them. See
Help someone the Skill Use Modifiers section on page 121 for details.
Move the crew member on the current map per the Space Travel rules on
Map move page 203.
Call Earth or mission control to attempt to relieve acute stress, recruit contacts
and license new technologies discovered Earthside. See the Phoning Home
Phone home section on page 174 of the Damage and Complications chapter for details.
Patch an oxygen leak or seal a hull breach using grey tape, fabric or a hull breach
tool kit. See the Oxygen Leaks entry on page 187 and Hull breaches section on
Patch or seal page 189 for details.
Print or reprint an item. The size of the item that can be printed depends on the
Print or reprint time scale; see the Print, Repair and Reprint Times table on page 144 for details.
Re-enable Re-enabling a disabled system takes 6 seconds and an action check.
Repair an item by salvaging parts from a larger item. The size of the item that
Repair can be repaired depends on the time scale as outlined on page 144.
Recover 1 fatigue if the time scale is at least 2 hours as outlined in the Fatigue
section on page 209. The time required to charge a battery pack using solar
Rest and recharge panels is given on the Charging Batteries table on page 137.
Search a space or location for salvageable equipment or fuel. See the Searching
Search section on page 212 of the Space Travel chapter for details.
Using an item normally takes 6 seconds unless otherwise stated. Weapons
Use an item instead vary their rate of fire (ROF) depending on the time scale.
The following actions must be agreed to and performed collectively by the crew.
Move the crew collectively on the current map per the Space Travel rules on
page 203. You get to perform a Move together action each turn either before or
Move together after your crew actions if the crew is in a vehicle.
The following actions take 1 year.
Manufacture the case for a political mission to an inhabited site as outlined in
Pretext the Migration and Trade section on page 251.
This ends the current mission if you are in LEO and have visited a Glory
Ticker tape parade destination for this mission. All surviving crew get 1 Glory.
32 CHAPTER 3. ACTIONS

Action Resolution
Action dice Use 2D6 if rolling against a skill level or 3D6 against an ability level.
If you or the crew has chrome that matches the action, roll one less dice. Chrome is not cumulative.
In combat, chrome only applies if the crew has a 1D6 accuracy bonus.
Add one dice if: The crew member and the target of the action are different species.
You are improvising an action. Add two dice instead if the action is implausible.
You are attacking at medium range. Add two dice if attacking at long range.
For each defect you ignore. Doing this also means you ignore safe penalties.
For each opposition dice that has been added.
Remove one dice if only performing an action which takes 1/10th the turn to complete.
Roll the action dice .
Check for defects
Start with defects equal to the total of all orange dice on contacts, factions, locations and assets that apply.
Add one defect: For every three penalties that apply to the action. Don’t count safe penalties.
If the politics is War or Anarchy and attempting an interception, migration, trade
or political action.
If any of action dice have a face value equal to or less than the number of defects,
Accidents then the action fails and an accident occurs.
Up to 6 seconds: Take one damage to your choice of hit location or equipment used for the action.
7-12 seconds: Roll for a complication (2D6) on the Complications table on page 202.
Roll for an aggravated complication (1D6+1). Aggravated complications in shirt
13+ seconds: sleeves environments only occur if the action takes 10 minutes or more.
Penalties Add the number of penalties that apply to the sum of the action dice.
You can describe how you overcome the penalty to ignore it if exactly 1 penalty applies.
Add up the number of penalties on the folios that apply (risks don’t).
Add any action specific penalties.
If the action needs multiple crew, add one penalty for each missing crew.
If the crew member is performing multiple actions, add 1 penalty for each action
and half for each short action (round down); also add that as fatigue (round up).
If the crew member is performing the action faster, add 1 penalty and fatigue for
each times faster (x2 = 2); adding 1 means the action takes 80% of the time and
breaks ties.
Add 1 or more defects to reduce the number of penalties by 3 each.
Remove 1 penalty if performing one action which normally takes less than current
turn to complete.
Successes Succeed if the result is less than the skill or ability level.
< 1/2 level: Heightened success - the action succeeds. Add your choice of complication.
= level: Success with a complication - roll for a complication (2D6).
Either Abort and retry takes half the time. You can retry in the remaining time by
adding 2 penalties and fatigue or for free the first time if retrying one action that
< 2x level: normally takes half or less of the current turn.
or Success with a cost adds either 1 defect, stress or tally and succeed (1D6 for
each x10 faster).
or Partial success can be chosen when an action has this option.
≥2x level: Abort - takes half the time. To retry, you must also add 1 defect, stress or tally.
Check for trouble
If any action dice have a face value of 3 or you are using a turn length not listed on the trouble track:
Roll one trouble dice, or 2 if the action check was 1D6 and you rolled a 3: trouble
happens on any trouble dice face value of 5 or 6.
Trouble happens: Increase the trouble counters of the acting crew by 1 – but at
least to the first trouble counter with a listed time higher than the turn length.
Trigger any time dependent effects that apply to the crew in trouble on the time
interval listed next to the trouble counter – but not smaller time intervals.
If no action dice have a face value of 3, then reset the crew member’s trouble counter to 0.
0.6s ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
6s ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
60s / 1m ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
600s / 10m ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ 13h, 17h, 21-22h, Mars / Uranus + ◯
9h, 14h, 18h, 23h, Ceres +◯◯ 5h, 10h, 15h, 19h + ◯ ◯ ◯

11h, Saturn +◯◯◯◯◯ 6h + ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯

7h +◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Below here, each ◯ is 2 hours, except on Mars, Ceres, Uranus and Saturn and minor worlds

Calendar Day ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯

4-7h Period Day ◯ 4-7h Period Night ◯

8-11h, Saturn Day ◯◯ 8-11h, Saturn Night ◯ ◯

12h-15h Period Day ◯◯◯ 12h-15h Period Night ◯ ◯ ◯

16-19h, Neptune / Uranus Day ◯◯◯◯ 16-19h, Neptune / Uranus Night ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯

20-23h Period Day ◯◯◯◯◯ 20-23h Period Night ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯

Earth / Mars / Venus ¼ Day ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ Earth / Mars / Venus ¼ Night ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯

Luna Quarter Day or ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Mercury Sixteenth Day or ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Venus Surface 1/66th Day ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
(22 circles per line) ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Below here, each ◯ is 7 ⅓ days except at Venus' aerostat

Venus Aerostat / Luna Day ◯◯ Venus Aerostat / Luna Night ◯ ◯

Mercury Day ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯ Mercury Night ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯

Venus Surface Day ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯ Day Planner

◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Venus Surface Night ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯

You can use the day planner to keep track of time on various extraterrestrial bodies. Asteroids typically have a period
(day+night cycle) of 4-14 hours (2D6+2 if not listed); moons and planets have periods of 4-24 hours (4D6) unless they are
tidally locked or in orbital resonance with another body. Venus is a special case: its atmosphere super rotates much
faster than the planet's rotation so that the aerostat has a different day/night cycle from the ground.
This day planner handles differing periods by adding to the number of 10 minute turns that add up to a planetary "2+
hour" turn, and by modifying the number of "2+ hour" turns that constitute a day or night cycle. Remember to increase
the calendar day counter by one tick after twelve 10 minute turns pass. Note that the day planner is only for tracking the
passing of day and night cycles and calendar days. Do not use this to try track consumption of resources or occurence
over various turn intervals -- the Trouble rules handle this with far less bookkeeping.
January February March Year
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Public pronouns
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Wet Mass
29 30 31 29 if year divisible by 4 29 30 31
Net Thrust
April May June
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Burns
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Steps Used
22 23 24 25 26 27 28 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30 29 30 31 29 30 Destination

July August September

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30 31 29 30 31 29 30 31

October November December

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Calendar
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30 31 29 30 31 29 30 31
Chapter 4

Mi s s i on Cont rol
36 CHAPTER 4. MISSION CONTROL

Your mission control is responsible for running the space program that forms the core of your Sixty Years In
RPG game. Your crew will also be recruited from your mission control, so defining your mission control will
enable you to create common backgrounds and goals for your crew. Your Mission Control contacts will
come from your mission control so you’ll form important relationships with the team on the ground that
will assist you as you move your spacecraft through space and perform operations at the sites you’ll visit.
How your mission control operates is largely determined by your mission control basal social unit or BSU.
The colour of the BSU is used as a shorthand for a variety of related political and social concepts and
will help determine the philosophy and outlook of everyone who works there. Your mission control also
determines your crew quality and career points and the age of your mission control contacts. It will also
determine the spacecraft quality you begin the game with – your spacecraft determines types of missions
you get.

Spacecraft Cards There are six double-sided spacecraft cards included in this chapter: two low quality,
two medium quality and two high quality. These cards are built using the same rules as the High Frontier
board game, and can be recreated using the Spacecraft Builder in the This Space Intentionally supplement.
Spacecraft start on the side with the light coloured heading and can be flipped to the side with the black
heading if you spend the listed number of years at a factory your crew helped build which matches the
listed spectral class. Each site hex on the High Frontier map can support one spectral class of factory:
these spectral classes are discussed further in the Spectral Classes section on page 217 of the Sites chapter.
Permission is given to print and use the spacecraft cards as references while playing the game.

Mission Control Folio The two page the mission control folio at the end of this chapter is designed to
be printed as a double-sided page and folded in half to form a document that you fill in as you design your
mission control. Permission is given to print and use these pages in this way and to otherwise publish or
reproduce any resulting documents. You can also use folios as a folder to contain other related documents
and record sheets that you generate within the game.

Secrets inside The front cover of folios are designed to resemble in-game documents. The inside
two page spread and the rear cover will contain game-related information that would not normally
appear within the game world. As a result, some of the results that you initially generate will appear
on the top row or rows of the inside fold out instead of the front cover and other details on the front
cover will be generated later in the chapter or elsewhere in the rules.

Mission Control Social Unit

The mission control social unit determines what kind of organization runs the space program that the
crew belongs to. Red BSUs are military or paramilitary. White BSUs are religious, nationalistic or family
focused organizations, Green BSUs are cooperatives, unionized or socialist organizations, Purple BSUs
are civil service, bureaucratic or non-for-profit, and Orange BSUs are public or privately run companies or
individuals.
It is strongly recommended that for your first game you play a National Space Agency (white BSU). These
organizations have a highly skilled crew with a significant investment in a high-quality crew module which
means the crew will not suffer Microgravity risks until the crew module is damaged.
If you have the High Frontier board game, you can choose to use the first wave crew cards to choose a
mission control. Otherwise use the Second Wave Mission Control Social Units table on the facing page to
determine the Mission Control Social Unit (MCSU) that your crew belongs to.
The mission control crew quality reflects the overall design safety and level of technology used to build the
crew module – lower quality crew are synonymous with organizations that are less concerned about and
willing to invest in human-centric designs.

High Quality Crew High quality crew have had the greatest effort put into their selection and once
selected the most effort put into training and acclimatising them for space including one or more missions
 37

Second Wave Mission Control Social Units

On your first play through you should choose to play a National Space Agency. For subsequent games, roll
1D6.
Spacecraft Crew Contact
Roll MCSU Colour Quality Quality Age Mission
National Space
1 Agency White Medium High (30) 36+3D6 Science
2 National Military Red High Medium (30) 18+3D6 Military
Regional
3 Organization Green Medium Medium (20) 21+3D6 Colony
4 Launch Contractor Orange High Low (20) 18+3D6 Commercial
Space-focused
5 Organization Purple Low Medium (20) 30+3D6 Science
Highest
6 Joint Venture Mixed rolled Roll twice, rerolling this result

in LEO on board the International Space Station. This investment is protected by fitting out the crew module
with the highest quality equipment available including ensuring that the module is spun at 0.6 gs to reduce
issues with microgravity while in flight.

Medium Quality Crew Medium quality crew are selected as rigorously as high quality crew but have
had less opportunity to be exposed to the conditions in space. They also have a less well-equipped crew
module, usually because the mission control does not have a background running a dedicated space
program. Medium quality crew can be at risk of microgravity health issues that a high quality crew is not
because the crew module is not spun at high enough a gravity to prevent microgravity sickness, if at all.

Low Quality Crew Low quality crew have gone through a tough selection process but the mission
control neither has the skills or funding to operate as a top tier space program. As a result, the risks are
higher and the quality of candidate seeking a position with them is lower. Low quality crew are at risk of
microgravity health issues of all kinds.

BSU Colour
All organizations in Sixty Years In RPG are given a basal social unit (BSU) colour which indicates the structure
of the organization and the philosophies it espouses.

White social units are nationalistic, conservative overall expectation that a person will sacrifice some
and family oriented and rely on limiting personal of their economic gains for the state.
freedoms because of their moral beliefs but also
in rewarding hard work and limiting the role of the
state. Purple social units are centrist and utilitarian and
believe that some sacrifices and limitations on both
Red social units are authoritarian and statist with personal freedoms and the state may be required.
a command and control management structure in
place to ensure that staff obey orders from their su-
periors without questioning them. Orange social units are individualistic with a liber-
tarian and capitalist world view to allow individuals
Green social units are socialist and collectivist to perform at maximum capacity without onerous
with few restrictions on personal freedoms but an constraints placed on them by others.
38 CHAPTER 4. MISSION CONTROL

Mission Control Types

National Space Agency
The national space agency the crew belongs to is determined by the mission control demographics roll.
Use the Crew Nationalities table on page 99 to determine this.
Roll 1D6 with -2 if the Space Politics is Red or War, -1 if White or Anarchy, +1 if Purple and +2 if Orange to see
how the national space program operates.

Roll Space Business Privatised The national space program has been
-0 Government department privatised but still has an implicit government guar-
1 Patronage antee and monopoly on space travel.
2 State owned enterprise
3 Public-private partnership
4 Privatised Franchise The national space program accepts
5 Franchise funding in return for corporate sponsorship, naming
6 Trade association rights, advertising space and media rights up to and
7 Bankruptcy proceedings including the ability to run as a franchisee.
8+ Free agency
Trade association The national space program is
Government department The space agency is run by a professional association which makes differ-
run as a government department with no outside ent parts of the space program compete with each
commercial involvement. other but rarely if ever withdraws support for any
part. Professional sports franchises are an example
Patronage The government accepts funds for the of a trade association.
national space program in return for granting special
favours or exemptions to those who contribute. Bankruptcy proceedings The national space
program is bankrupt and is being administered by
State Owned Enterprise The national space pro- a receiver to be restructured into a commercial en-
gram is run as a for profit business with the govern- terprise with non-profitable parts of the business
ment being the sole shareholder. eliminated.

Public-private partnership The national space Free agency The national space program is free
program contracts out core functions to the private to seek revenue from anywhere and directly profit
sector. from its endeavours.

National Military
The nation the crew works for is determined by the mission control demographics roll. Use the Crew
Nationalities table on page 99 to determine this.
Roll 2D6 on the Military Services table on the current page to determine the military service responsible for
the military space program.

Roll Military Service Missile Defense indicates the military service re-
2 Marines sponsible for deployment and maintenance of the
3-5 Air Force nation’s nuclear missile program. Reroll if this does
6 Missile Defense not exist for the nationality rolled.
7 Space
8 Armed Services
9-11 Navy Space indicates a specialised military space
12 Coast Guard agency created specifically to avoid inter-service ri-
valries (if one does not already exist).
MISSION CONTROL TYPES 39

Regional Trade Blocs

Roll 1D6 twice and choose the lowest result.

Roll Trade bloc Nations
1 EU (ESA) Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, 10 others
2 MERCOSUR Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, 2 others
3 SACU South Africa, 4 others
4 GCC Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, 2 others
5 CAN Colombia, Peru, 2 others
6 Roll on Free trade area table on the current page

Free Trade Areas

Roll 1D6 twice and choose the lowest result.

Roll Free trade area Nations
1 NAFTA United States, Mexico, Canada
2 APTA India, China, Bangladesh, South Korea, 2 others
3 ASEAN Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam, 6 others
4 ALADI Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Mexico, 6 others
5 CISFTA Russia, Ukraine, 9 others
6 SAARC India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, 4 others

National Military Launch Site Restrictions

National Military Mission Controls must use a launch site within their national borders, so roll for the
demographics for the National Military Mission Control before generating the launch site. If the launch
site rolled on the Major Spaceport table doesn’t match the nation, roll on the Minor Spaceport table. If the
site rolled on the Minor Spaceport table doesn’t match the nation, use the Regional Launch site if one is
available for the nation- otherwise the launch site will be a regional military base.

Regional Organization
Use the Regional Trade Blocs table on this page to determine the regional organization the crew is working
for.

Launch Contractor
Use the Launch Contractors table on the following page to determine the launch contractor the crew works
for.

New Zealand Use Australia’s demographics.

Space-focused Organization

Roll 1D6 on the Space-focused Organizations table Roll Organization

on the current page to determine the intergovern- 1 SETI Institute
mental organization, non governmental organiza- 2 The Planetary Society
tion, foundation or society that the crew is working 3 Space Studies Institute
for. 4 Copenhagen Suborbitals
5 National Space Society
6 B612 Foundation
40 CHAPTER 4. MISSION CONTROL

Launch Contractors

Roll 2D6.
Roll Launch Contractor Nations
2 Privatised launch facility Roll on the Minor Spaceport table
3 Blue Origin United States
4 International Launch Services United States, Russia, Kazakhstan
5 Orbital ATK United States
6 SpaceX United States
7 Arianespace France
8 United Launch Alliance United States
9 Lockheed Martin Space Systems United States
10 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Japan
11 Rocket Lab United States, New Zealand
12 Privatised national military Roll on the Minor Spaceport table

Joint Ventures
A joint venture is two factions combing together to form a single mission. Roll on the starting MCSU table
twice, re-rolling the Joint Venture result and then use BSU sections above to create the two factions. The
first MCSU rolled determines the pilot and mission specialist BSU; the second roll determines mission type,
payload and payload specialists BSU. Each crew member is generated using their own faction’s BSU and
crew quality rules.

Spacecraft
Your crew begin with one of the two spacecraft on the spacecraft cards at the end of this chapter that
corresponds to the spacecraft quality determined by your mission control. Start with the spacecraft card
on the side with the light grey heading and the black text box beginning with the word “Flip”. Note that the
dry mass of the spacecraft does not include the mass of the crew module: add 1 to the listed mass to allow
your crew to travel with the spacecraft.

Starting the game Your crew begins the game on-board their crew module, along with their spacecraft
and cargo in low Earth orbit; with enough fuel to reach the first destination you roll. Or you can skip space
travel completely every time you roll for a mission, and just arrive at your destination in 1D6+1 years.

Upgrading your spacecraft Once your crew has built a factory, they will normally work on ET producing
an upgraded spacecraft. This will normally occur at a factory with a spectral class matching the factory
mentioned on the “Flip” section of the card. Flipping the card requires the crew works at the factory as
many years as listed. See the Migration and Trade section on page 251 in the Encounters chapter for how
to resolve this employment.

Other starting spacecraft Instead of using a spacecraft card you can build the crew spacecraft using
the High Frontier board game Mars Flotilla or CEO Solitaire rules or use the Spacecraft Builder in This
Space Intentionally. If you are playing CEO Solitaire, then only your crew module begins in orbit.
MISSIONS 41

Missions
You can choose to roll for an Earthside mission any time you do not
currently have a mission control mission. First, roll for the mission Mission Goals
goal, then the destination. Place a claim counter matching the Roll Goal
mission control BSU on the destination site if no claim counter or 1-2 Glory
busted (black) counter is present. The crew will be required deliver 3-4 Long Term Colony
a refinery and its supports to the site: one is listed as the payload 5-6 Industry
on each spacecraft card. 7-8 Inner System Expansion
If you roll a glory mission, and the matching glory has not been 9-10 Long Range
claimed – – either by the crew or another faction – then the crew 11-14 Push Factory or Science
can choose to not carry the payload with them and go for glory. 15-19 TNO Lab
Reduce the spacecraft dry mass by the payload mass listed. 20+ Interstellar Exit
If you roll a destination with two faction-coloured tokens already present, the mission payload will be a
colonist module instead of a refinery. Roll for the colonist on the Upported Colonists table on page 304.
Exception: if you rolled a 13-14 or 18-19 for your Mission Goal, this will be a mass 10 Bernal payload instead
of a colonist. Reduce the dry mass by the payload mass listed on the spacecraft card before adding the
colonist module or Bernal mass.

Mission Goal Roll 1D6 for the mission goal on the Mission Goal table on this page for the first mission.
Continue to roll 1D6 for subsequent missions if the crew spacecraft is solar powered or has a fuel consump-
tion higher than 2, or 2D6 otherwise. Later in the game roll 3D6 if the spacecraft has a gigawatt (GW) thruster
and 4D6 if the spacecraft has a terawatt (TW) thruster. Then roll for the destination on the appropriate
mission goal table. If you are skipping space travel, roll for the mission goal using 1D6 + 1D6 for each
mission you have already completed.

Destination Each goal has a number of possible destinations that can be used to achieve a goal. Use the
appropriate table based on the mission goal to determine the destination. If you are skipping space travel,
apply a +2 modifier for each previous mission destination you have rolled on this table – otherwise use
the modifiers listed on the appropriate table. The achievement column lists the possible benefit you can
get from exploiting the location once you reach it. To exploit the specific destination requires the action
described in the destination entries.

Glory Destinations Glory can be a fleeting thing Inner System Expansion Destinations An inner
or an inspiration for generations to come. If a crew system expansion is a relatively straight forward path
successfully completes a glory by reaching the des- from the initial factory to a second, allowing the
tination and returning to Earth via LEO for a ticker acquisition of advanced technologies and named
tape then each surviving crew member gets a point spacecraft classes without the risks of failing to
of Glory. prospect any members of an asteroid group or the
expense of landing on a large moon or planet.

Long Term Colony Destinations Water is the key

Long Range Destinations Long range destina-
to space and never more so than when sustaining a
tions have the advantages of being less likely to be
space habitat such as a Bernal. The long term colony
exploited by the time the crew arrives at the desti-
destinations includes the wet dirtsides needed to
nation, and in the outer system, being wetter and
sustain additional colonists in space.
therefore easier to industrialize.

Industry Destinations These industrial destina- Push Factory or Science Destinations Factories
tions have been chosen because they provide an on sites with a push symbol allow the crew to begin
easier path to acquiring isotope fuels and gigawatt to beam gigawatt levels of power to their pushable
thrusters needed to explore the outer reaches of the spacecraft to give them more thrust. A factory on a
solar system. science site with a Bernal anchored adjacent to it
42 CHAPTER 4. MISSION CONTROL

Glory Destinations

Roll 1D6-2 if the crew’s lowest ISRU is 4. Otherwise roll 1D6 with the following modifiers: +1 if carrying a
thruster with fuel consumption <= 1, +2 if this thruster is not a solar sail, +3 if carrying a thruster with FC
<=1 and carrying a thruster with at least thrust 9.
Roll Destination Size Class Hydr. Achievement High Frontier Map Route
Mars Hellas Basin
-2 Buried Glaciers 10 C 4 Mars glory Red path
3 Mars North Pole 10 C 4 Mars glory Red path
Purple path to intersection
Comet after signpost then map south
4 Wilson-Harrington 1 D 4 Science glory to comet
5 Achilles 2 D 3 Purple path
Jupiter glory
6 Aneas 2 D 3 Green path
Orange path to Sol-Mercury
L4 then Sol-Mercury
Rabbithole, Phaethon on the
Science glory
7 Phaethon 1 D 4 following turn
Dark blue path to Solar-Venus
8 Venus Aerostat-Xity 11 C 0 Lagrange, HEO, LVO, landing
9+ Mercury North Pole 10 V 3 Mercury Glory Orange path

Long Term Colony Destinations

Use first result if the crew’s lowest ISRU is 4. Otherwise roll 1D6 with the following modifiers: +2 if carrying
buggy robonaut, +4 if carrying a Diaspora Lab or Comet Lichen.
High Frontier Map
Roll Destination Size Class Hydr. Achievement Route
1-3 Ceres 6 C 4 up to 11 hydration Yellow path
Purple path to
second intersection
after signpost then
map south to first
4 Hygiea 5 C 3 up to 8 hydration intersection
Blue path to Karin
5 Eichsfeldia 4 C 3 up to 8 hydration group
Mars Arsia
6-7 Mons Caves 10 C 3 up to 11 hydration Red path
Purple path to
Comet intersection after
Wilson- signpost then map
8 Harrington 1 D 4 up to 4 hydration south to comet
9-10 Achilles 2 D 3 6 hydration (best Greek camp) Purple path
11+ Aneas 2 D 3 9 hydration (best Trojan camp) Green path
MISSIONS 43

Industry Destinations

Use first result if the crew’s lowest ISRU is 4. If equipped with an ISRU 3 or lower raygun or ISRU 2 or lower
buggy, roll 2D6-1, then subtract the ISRU. Otherwise roll 1D6.
Roll Destination Size Class Hydr. Achievement High Frontier Map Route
Along Blue path then continue
straight, taking two pivots to
reach entrance to path to
Pholus, with optional Jupiter
-1 Pholus 4 D 4 D factory flyby
2-4 Deimos 1 C 3 Red path
Purple path to second
intersection after signpost
5 Lutetia 3 M 3 M factory then map south
6 Hertha 3 M 3 Blue path to Vesta family
7-8 Karin B 1 S 3 S factory Blue path
Crater Shackleton Polar
9-10 Rim 9 S 2 S factory Green path
11+ Aristarchus Plateau 9 M 0 M factory Green path

Inner System Expansion Destinations

Roll on the Industry destinations table instead if your ISRU is greater than 2. If it is 2 or less, roll 1D6, adding
+3 if your ISRU is 1 or lower.
Roll Destination Size Class Hydr. Achievement High Frontier Map Route
1-2 Sylvia 5 C 2 C factory Orange path
3-4 Vesta 6 V 2 V factory Blue path to Karin group
Purple path to second intersection
5-6 Himala 4 C 2 C factory after signpost then map north
Purple path to intersection before
7-8 Flora 4 S 1 S factory signpost then map south
9+ Psyche 5 M 1 M factory Blue path to Karin group

can act as a laboratory, when both are controlled by Frontier is that many of these objects contain useful
the same faction. Laboratories give you access to properties and materials from the formation of the
Promoted technologies by performing the Promote solar system which have not been eroded by the so-
operation at the laboratory. lar wind or through collisions with other bodies. A
factory on a TNO science site is can act as a labora-
TNO Lab Destinations TNO is short for trans Nep- tory even if a Bernal is not present.
tunian object and it is one of the propositions of High

Interstellar Exits
Interstellar exits will either be by using a high-thrust periapsis burn at Neptune (Sol Exit Neptune), close
flybys of Jupiter, then the Sun and then Jupiter again (Jupiter-Sol-Jupiter Exit) or without a flyby (Sol Exit
Oort), as marked on the High Frontier map. The mission payload for an Interstellar mission must include 3
colonist modules (1 scientist, 1 engineer and 1 finance). If you you complete an interstellar exit, you can
choose to either end the game or resolves the interstellar mission using the High Frontier Interstellar board
game rules or the A Lot of Zeroes supplement.
44 CHAPTER 4. MISSION CONTROL

Long Range Destinations

Roll 1D6 with the following modifiers: +2 if using the Metastable Helium thruster or if you have ability to
avoid Aerobrakes or +4 if you have the ability to avoid Ring and Debris Hazards.
Long Range
Roll Destination Size Class Hydr. Achievement High Frontier Map Route
1 Mercury North Pole 10 V 3 V push factory Orange path
To Jupiter flyby then Green
2-3 Enceladus 5 M 4 M factory path
Callisto Asgard Ice
4 Spires 8 V 4 V factory Purple path
Ganymede Purple path to Jupiter Callisto
5 Memphis Facula 9 S 4 S factory Lagrange
To Jupiter flyby then Green
6 Dione 6 V 4 V factory path to Dione Trojans
To Jupiter flyby then Green
path to Titan HEO, Ontorio
7 Titan Ontario Lacus 9 D 2 D factory Lacus
To Jupiter flyby then Green
8 Rhea 6 V 4 V factory path to Dione Trojans
To Jupiter flyby then Green
path to Saturn flyby then map
9+ Oberon 7 D 4 D factory north

Crew Module Builder

There are three different crew module designs which can go into space. Use the Crew Module table on
the next page to determine which design the Mission Control uses. Each crew module includes a 5 tonne
platform which can move independently of the module and which includes a thruster capable of burning
H2-O2 fuel, represented by one or more 40 tonne water tanks. The crew module platforms are responsible
for prospecting for and recovery of water in order to refuel the crew module and can be used to survey a
claim in order to identify a possible extraterrestrial factory location.

Aerostat crew modules If the destination is an aerostat (Venus, Saturn, Uranus or Neptune), the crew
module will be customized to act as an aerostat crew module which can remain floating at the aerostat
indefinitely. The Venus crew module has a pressurized hull allowing it to operate down to 51 kilometers
above the Venus surface (4 km below the aerostat) with solar-powered electric engines allowing speeds of
up to 145 km/h during the day with 30 minutes range at night. A Venus buggy platform uses electro-prop
engines capable of reaching 700 km/h with 1 hour battery range, however if it runs out of power while
away from the module it will glide to down to a maximum of 3 km below the aerostat below which it will
be destroyed. Gas giant bound aerostat crew modules require pressure hulls, which prevent them fitting
engines; these can operate up to 3 km below the aerostat at Uranus and 4.5 km at Neptune.

Mass Each mass point in High Frontier is 40 tonnes. A mass 0 spacecraft component is half that (20
tonnes). During the Baseline era, the crew module mass is 4 instead of the listed mass, with 40 tonnes
instead of 5 tonnes needed for each of the thruster, platform, colony starter kit and life support functions.

Rad-hardness The amount of radiation that the crew module can be exposed to without killing the
crew, assuming they are in the solar storm shelter within the module. If the crew is exposed to radiation
equalling the module’s rad-hardness they will suffer radiation damage. If the radiation exceeds the module’s
rad-hardness, the crew will die. Unprotected crew will die even exposed to radiation levels sufficient to
damage equipment with rad-hardness of 0.
CREW MODULE BUILDER 45

Push Factory or Science Destinations

Roll 1D6 with the following modifiers: +3 if has Atmospheric ISRU Scoop or +6 if ISRU 0.
Push Factory or
Science
Rollx Destination 9 M 1 Achievement High Frontier Map Route
Mercury North
1 Pole 10 V 3 V push factory Orange path
To Jupiter flyby then Green
2-3 Enceladus 5 M 4 M science factory path
Purple path to intersection
after second signpost then
Europa map north to Sol-Jupiter L2
4 Subsurface Ocean 8 S 4 C science factory Lagrange
Blue path to Karin group
5 Chiron 4 C 4 C science factory then map north east
Green path to first
intersection past Jupiter
flyby then map north to
Triton Mahilani third intersection then map
6 Plume 8 M 4 M science factory west via Neutrino sun lens
To Jupiter flyby then Green
path to Saturn flyby then
7 Ariel 6 V 4 V science factory map north
8-9 Venus 11 C 0 C push and science factory Dark blue path
Mercury North
10 Pole 10 V 3 V push and science factory Orange path
Purple path to intersection
after second signpost then
map north to Sol-Jupiter L2
11+ Io Gish Bar Mons 9 M 1 M science factory Lagrange

TNO Lab Destinations

Roll 1D6 with the following modifiers: +2 if carrying a Diaspora Lab or Comet Lichen.
TNO Lab
Roll Destination Size Class Hydr. Achievement High Frontier Map Route
1 Charon 6 C 4 C TNO lab
2-3 Haumea 7 V 4 V TNO lab
4 Pluto 7 V 4 V TNO lab
Blue path to Karin group, then
5 Huya 5 M 4 M TNO lab
map west to TNO path and out
6 Quaoar 7 S 4 S TNO lab
7 Sawaieke 3 D 4 D TNO lab
8+ Comet Halley 1 D 4 D TNO lab

Crew Module

Roll 1D6, which determines the mass, rad-hardness, thruster, ISRU and platform.
Roll Mass Rad-hardness Thruster ISRU Platform
1-2 1 4 10 • 8 AB 2 4 Missile
3-4 1 4 8 • 8 AB 2 4 Missile and buggy
5-6 1 4 6 • 8 AB 2 4 Missile and raygun
46 CHAPTER 4. MISSION CONTROL

Thruster The chemical rocket thruster used. The notation used here is thrust • fuel consumption need
to enter each burn, with the AB indicating the thruster can afterburn an additional two steps of fuel to
increase the thrust by 1. See the Spacecraft Movement section on page 204 of the Travel chapter for an
explanation of how to resolve spacecraft movement.

ISRU In situ resource utilization - the lower the number is the better. At sites with this hydration or above,
the crew can recover water or hydrogen needed to act as rocket propellant. See the ISRU refuelling note in
the Employment section on page 255 of the Encounters chapter.

Platform
The platform type impacts how the crew module is used for surveying, prospecting and in combat. Each
platform masses 5 tonnes, and is equipped with solar panels capable of generating 40 kW of power in the
Earth zone (8 watts/kg) – doubled if equipped with printed solar panels available Earthside or at a V factory.

Buggy platforms Lithium batteries drive the buggy’s electric engines at 60 watts/kg for up to 30 minutes
for a maximum speed of 365 km/h (30 km/h underwater up to 100m depth). The buggy batteries can
recharged using the on-board solar panels: it takes 7.5 hours to recharge them when the solar panels are
not in use to 80% in the Earth zone, and the same time again to completely recharge them. If the buggy
has 8 watts/kg power, it can move continuously at a top speed of 180 km/hr – if solar-powered, movement
costs +1/2 movement point per cm or card for each -1 solar power modifier or if using a day/night duty
cycle.
All buggy platforms come with a 100 km tether capable of providing power to the load, haul, dump or solar
power to the platform if it is acting as a submersible. If solar power is limited, buggies can be equipped
with radioisotope thermal generators instead of batteries which produce 8 watts/kg power.

Missile platforms Missile platforms enable the crew module to space travel independently of the rest
of the spacecraft. This can be used to land on and launch from many sites where the net thrust of the
spacecraft is insufficient to do so.

Raygun platforms Raygun platforms are capable of prospecting sites from orbit if their ISRU is less than
or equal to the site hydration and the site doesn’t have an atmosphere. This is done using the Prospect
operation as described in the This Space Intentionally rules.

Other crew module systems

1m VISIR telescope A 1m telescope with a visible and near infrared-band imager which means with few
exceptions (highly specialized stealth spacecraft and solar sails), all spacecraft using thrusters at the MW
scale or higher are detectable out to the Ceres zone (7 AU range). Other spacecraft are detectable out to 0.1
AU, which is sufficient range to include all moons around the same planet as the crew.

300 kg firefighting equipment A two-stage pump system capable of pumping 9000 L of water per
minute to hose down a fire. See the Fire section on page 188 in the Damage and Complications chapter.
The hoses cannot be 3D printed.

Airlock Used to enter or exit the hab module. There are two airlocks, one for each hab module. If the
crew uses low pressure space suits they will also use the airlock to adjust to space suit pressure and then
back to normal crew module pressure safely – see the Low Pressure entry on page 191 in the Assets chapter
for details. Airlocks can also act as a hyperbaric chamber to treat decompression sickness (one week
required), and allow healing of radiation injuries. If the airlock is damaged, the whole hab module will
CREW MODULE BUILDER 47

need its air evacuated for a crew to exit or re-enter the crew module. This will kill any on-board biosphere
including the “leaf box” food supply which means the crew will be reduced to half rations (for 1 hab module)
or begin starving to death (if both hab modules affected and unable to start a colony).

Armour The crew module has 2 layers of armour: normally 1 point of FIRE damage resistance and 1 point
of GUN damage resistance. The size of the crew module also provides a measure of damage protection.
The 40 tonne crew module has 5 innate armour. A 5 tonne platform has 3 innate armour. Innate armour
provides protection against all damage types except CRASH but is not cumulative with rigid armour; use
the higher value. Innate armour also only protects occupants by half the amount (round down), and is
not cumulative with their innate armour; use the higher value. See the Armour section on page 134 in the
Assets chapter for details.

Colony starter kit The crew module has 5 tonnes of equipment that can be repurposed to start an
extraterrestrial colony, including soil bacteria and seed stock.

Cubesats, Drones and Load-haul-dumps See the Cubesats, Drones and LHDs section on page 138 of
the Assets chapter for details.

Hab rotation A high quality crew module rotates at 0.6G, protecting the crew against microgravity risks.

Life support The crew module has 5 tonnes of equipment used for life support and living space. If this
is damaged or lost, oxygen and water recycling becomes unavailable and consumed at much higher rates
than otherwise allowed for - to the point where it may impact on the amount of available fuel to use as
propellant. Without a functioning life support system, each crew member requires 4.6 tonnes of oxygen
and water per year – half a 40 tonne water tank (WT) per 4 person crew per year.

Mission control uplink The crew module has a 250 kg single aperture array antenna which can be used
to communicate with suit radios up to 10,000 km away (from LEO to the surface if in orbit) or back to a
1,000 km antenna array on Earth out to TNO objects. ET produced crew modules not made at an S site can
only communicate back to a 100 km antenna on Earth out to the Neptune zone.

Ship’s locker The ship’s locker is a 3D printer capable of printing almost all equipment required by the
crew, including replacements for the majority of equipment in the Crew module.

Space suits Fabric items, including spaces suits, tethers, parachutes and inflatable tents cannot be 3D
printed and must be tracked separately using a shared pool accessible to all the crew. Gray tape The crew
module supply can be used to replace individual crew member gray tape tallies without affecting the crew
module tally. EVA pods can be 3D printed to replace lost spacesuits – but are too large to fit inside the
module.
48 CHAPTER 4. MISSION CONTROL

Card and Folio Legend

The following symbols will appear on cards and folios throughout the rules.
Symbol Indicates
Fabric items, in italics, cannot be 3D printed and must be replaced using traditional
Fabric
manufacturing techniques; either at LEO or a factory or via resupply rocket. If you are a
cosplayer you start with Thread that lets you remove one fabric tally on a crew
portfolio by adding a tally to the thread.

Default The default value is Defaultand this value should be normally be used if not overwritten.
☐ The subsystem is optional; and only installed if this is checked.
The crew has chrome for this subsystem if this is checked. Always check these if you are
using the Crewed Rules and the subsystem is installed.
△ The subsystem can be disabled; and is if this is checked.
The subsystem can be damaged or partially consumed; a check mark indicates it is, a
1/2 indicates it is half consumed, and every being checked indicates it is inoperable
or exhausted. You can also add tallies by putting a check mark in a for each tally or a
1/2 for half a tally. See the Retrying Actions section on page 26 in the Actions chapter for

details. Black out any to indicate faults or tallies or resources that are missing and
add additional if needed due to additional resources being available.
The system can be partially consumed; a check mark indicates it is.
If the directly above or below this is checked, treat it as a penalty for actions using
the Physical (P), Mental (M) or Social (S) ability and corresponding skills. If the on
+P, +M, +S both sides are checked, this only counts as one penalty.
Trouble counter. When checked, the crew member recovers and heals, adds tallies and

▷ consumes resources, applies damage over time and rolls for events and service risks
triggered by the time next to the ▷passing – but not any smaller time intervals.
Used to separate the thrust (left hand side) from the fuel consumption (right hand side)
•
for a thruster. See the Space Travel section on page 203 of the Travel chapter for details.
Used to denote armour. See the Armour section on page 134 of the Assets chapter for

▼ details. ▼+2 indicates that any rigid locations get +2 additional armour for this damage
type. ▼=0 indicates that rigid armour provides no protection against this damage type.
0/6, 1-5 Hit location. 0/6 indicates the location is hit on a result of 0 or 6.
−→ Excess damage from this location bleeds through to the location indicated by the arrow.
See the Damage section on page 177 in the Damage and Complications chapter for
details.
∗
Launch site: Priority: BSU Color Official: Confidential
Year Mission Log
MCSU Destination Mission Crew Briefing

Mission Commander/Pilot:
Mission Specialist:
Payload Specialist:
Payload Specialist:
Additional Personnel:
(includes robotic Halbonauts)

Fold here - back cover

Fold here - front cover
Mission Directorate
Head of Mining Head of Sciences
Mining mission control contact Prospect mission control contact

Head of Spaceflight Head of Technology

Pilot mission control contact Teleops mission control contact

Head of Operations
Industry mission control contact
Optional mission control contacts include:
General Counsel: Activism
Financial Director: Trading Desk
Chief Medical Officer:
Medical
Chief Information Officer:
Devops
Roll Spacecraft Quality: Crew Quality: Skill Level: Crew Age: Roll

0/6 Life Support ☆ △ ◯ 0/6 Mission Control uplink ☆ △ ◯ ☐ 0.6 Gs Hab Rotation ☆ △ ◯ * 1
Rad-hardness: Dry mass: Wet mass: Fuel steps: 1m VISIR telescope △ ◯ 1

Ship's Locker ☆ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ acts as a workshop 3D printer Colony Starter Kit ☆△◯ 2

3 Drone ☆ △ ◯ △ ◯ (only 1 drone if 1 tonne) Load-Haul Dump ☆ ◯ Cube Sats (unlimited) ☐ EVA pods (no effect if not in use) △ ◯ 5
Spacesuit, parachute, tether and tent tallies cannot be used
Spacesuits ◯◯◯◯◯ Type: to pay for operation costs.
Parachutes ◯◯◯◯◯ Tethers ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ Tents ◯◯◯◯◯ Gray Tape ◯ Airlock ☆ △ ◯ △ ◯ (one per hab) 2

3 Platform △ ◯ ☐ Buggy ☆ ISRU: includes 5x20 km tether cable ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ Thruster ☆ △ ◯ 4

(check ☐ if ☐ Missile ☆ ISRU: Thruster: Thrust • FC AB Atmospheric re-entry heat tiles ☆ △ ◯ 4
numbers 1-6 on a gray background.

the option is ☐ Raygun ☆ ISRU: Can survey claims without travelling to them on worlds without atmosphere
Physical damage locations are

installed) ▼ Resistance: Rigid (all except CRASH): Innate (not cumulative with rigid): 3

Energy damage hits locations 1-6 on both gray and

white backgrounds. Complications hit white first.
Functions: ☐ Aerostat ☆ ◯ ☐ Beamed Power ☆ ◯ ☐ Crewed ☆ ◯ ☐ Drilling ☆ ◯ ☐ Hauling ☆ ◯
(tallies only ☐ Orbital ☆ ◯ ☐ Rigid ☆ ◯ ☐ Light ☐ Other:
available if installed) 300 kg of firefighting equipment ☆◯ (each additional function has 1 tally)
Driving ☆ △ ◯ watts/kg Permitted Slope: MP: (P/V/T/S)
-1 move modifier watts/kg Permitted Slope: MP: (P/V/T/S)
-2 move modifier watts/kg Permitted Slope: MP: (P/V/T/S)
-3 move modifier watts/kg Permitted Slope: MP: (P/V/T/S)

5 Batteries/Fuel ☆ △ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ use 1 tally every 6 seconds / 1 minute / 10 minutes / 2 hours / 1 day

Hours to recharge ☐: to get back 1 tally Centitanks to refuel ☐: to get back 1 tally
based on the heliocentric zone: H2 / H2-O2 CNM:
Batteries/Fuel has tallies equal to the vehicle range divided by either 6 seconds / 1 minute / 10 minutes / 2 hours or 1 day and uses them at the same rate

▼Armour Resistance: Rigid (all except CRASH): Innate (not cumulative with rigid): 5
High Quality - 240 tonne mass driver
Roll Call Sign: Thruster attacks as 2D6 raygun. 1 Roll
Dry mass: 8 Wet mass: Fuel steps: Fuel type: Dirt

Thruster: 5 • 3 AB Thruster ☆ △ ◯ 4
Therms: 1 ☐ Solar powered ☑ Pushable Thruster: Mass Driver

0/6 Crew Module ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: ▼Rad-hardness: 4

3 Robonaut ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: 5 Cargo/Payload ☆ △ ◯ * 2

Robonaut: Tungsten Resistojet Therms: 1 Payload: Carbo-Chlorination refinery (mass 2)
☐ Buggy ☆ ISRU: ▼Rad-hardness: 4
(check ☐ if the ☑ Missile ☆ ISRU: 3 Thruster: 6 • 4 AB 1
option is installed) ☐ Raygun ☆ ISRU: ☐ Solar powered ☑ Pushable Fuel type: Water

5 Radiators ☆△◯ Therms: 1 Generator/Reactor ☆ △ ◯ 1

Radiator: Qu Tube e || n ▼Rad-hardness: 6/5
▼Rad-hardness: 4 Generator: AMTEC Thermoelectric
Reactor: Fast Neutron Fission
Cut here Flip after 5 years at a M-factory you helped build

High Quality - 280 tonne electric rocket

Roll Call Sign: 2 Roll
Dry mass: 9 Wet mass: Fuel steps: Fuel type: Water

Thruster: 11 • 2 AB Thruster ☆ △ ◯ 4
Therms: 2 ☐ Solar powered ☑ Pushable Thruster: Hall Effect

0/6 Crew Module ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: ▼Rad-hardness: 4

3 Robonaut ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: 5 Cargo/Payload ☆ △ ◯ * 2

Robonaut: Tungsten Resistojet Therms: 2 Payload: Carbo-Chlorination refinery (mass 2)
☐ Buggy ☆ ISRU: ▼Rad-hardness: 4
(check ☐ if the ☑ Missile ☆ ISRU: 3 Thruster: 13 • 4 AB 1
option is installed) ☐ Raygun ☆ ISRU: ☐ Solar powered ☑ Pushable Fuel type: Water

5 Radiators ☆△◯ Therms: 2 Generator/Reactor ☆ △ ◯ 1

Radiator: Mo/Li Heatpipe e 💣 ▼Rad-hardness: 5/7
▼Rad-hardness: 2 Generator: Ericsson Engine
Reactor: Project Orion
Cut here Flip after 4 years at a C-factory you helped build
M-class - 120 tonne mass driver
Roll Call Sign: Thruster attacks as 2D6 raygun 7 Roll
Dry mass: 5 Wet mass: Fuel steps: Fuel type: Dirt

Thruster: 2 • ¼ AB Thruster ☆ △ ◯ 4
Therms: 2 ☐ Solar powered ☑ Pushable Thruster: MPD-T Wave

0/6 Crew Module ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: ▼Rad-hardness: 5

3 Robonaut ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: 4 Cargo/Payload ☆ △ ◯ * 2

Robonaut: MITEE Arcjet Therms: 2 Payload: Carbonyl Volatilization refinery (mass 2)

☐ Buggy ☆ ISRU: ▼Rad-hardness: 5

(check ☐ if the ☑ Missile ☆ ISRU: 1 Thruster: 4 • 1 AB 2
option is installed) ☐ Raygun ☆ ISRU: ☐ Solar powered ☐ Pushable Fuel type: Water

5 Radiators ☆△◯ Therms: 2 Generator/Reactor ☆ △ ◯ 1

Radiator: Hula Hoop e || n x ▼Rad-hardness: 8/ 5
▼Rad-hardness: 6 Generator: Catalyzed Fission Scintillator
Reactor: Positronium Bottle
Cut here

C-class - 120 tonne electric rocket

Roll Call Sign: Must return to LEO to pick up this refinery 8 Roll
Dry mass: 5 Wet mass: Fuel steps: Fuel type: Water

Thruster: 3 • ½ AB 1 Thruster ☆ △ ◯ 4
Therms: ☐ Solar powered ☑ Pushable Thruster: Ion Drive

0/6 Crew Module ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: ▼Rad-hardness: 4

3 Robonaut ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: 5 Cargo/Payload ☆ △ ◯ * 2

Robonaut: Nanobots Therms: Payload: Carbo-Chlorination refinery (mass 2)
☑ Buggy ☆ ISRU: 1 ▼Rad-hardness: 4
(check ☐ if the ☐ Missile ☆ ISRU: Thruster: • AB
option is installed) ☐ Raygun ☆ ISRU: ☐ Solar powered ☑ Pushable Fuel type:

5 Radiators ☆△◯ Therms: Generator/Reactor ☆ △ ◯ 1

Radiator: x 💣 ▼Rad-hardness: 5
▼Rad-hardness: Generator: Nanocomposite Thermoelectric
Reactor: Ultracold Neutrons
Cut here
Medium Quality - 360 tonne electric rocket
Roll Call Sign: 3 Roll
Dry mass: 12 Wet mass: Fuel steps: Fuel type: Water

Thruster: 4 • 1 AB 1 Thruster ☆ △ ◯ 4
Therms: 2 ☐ Solar powered ☑ Pushable Thruster: Ponderomotive VASIMR

0/6 Crew Module ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: ▼Rad-hardness: 4

3 Robonaut ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: 4 Cargo/Payload ☆ △ ◯ * 2

Robonaut: Solar-pumped MHD Excimer Laser Therms: 2 Payload: Fluidized Bed refinery (mass 3)
☐ Buggy ☆ ISRU: ▼Rad-hardness: 4
(check ☐ if the ☐ Missile ☆ ISRU: Thruster: • AB
option is installed) ☑ Raygun ☆ ISRU: 2 ☑ Solar powered ☐ Pushable Fuel type:

5 Radiators ☆△◯ Therms: 2 Generator/Reactor ☆ △ ◯ 1

Radiator: Salt-cooled Reflux Tube e || n ▼Rad-hardness: 5
▼Rad-hardness: 4 Generator: Brayton Turbine
Reactor: Fast Neutron Fission
Cut here Flip after 3 years at a V-factory you helped build

Medium Quality - 120 tonne nuclear rocket

Roll Call Sign: 4 Roll
Dry mass: 11 Wet mass: Fuel steps: Fuel type: Water

Thruster: 5 • 2 AB 1 Thruster ☆ △ ◯ 4
Therms: 1 ☐ Solar powered ☑ Pushable Thruster: Cermet NERVA

0/6 Crew Module ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: ▼Rad-hardness: 4

3 Robonaut ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: 6 Cargo/Payload ☆ △ ◯ * 2

Robonaut: Nuclear Drill Therms: 1 Payload: ISRU 2 raygun and refinery (mass 8)
☐ Buggy ☆ ISRU: ▼Rad-hardness: 4
(check ☐ if the ☑ Missile ☆ ISRU: 3 Thruster: 3 • 2 AB 1
option is installed) ☐ Raygun ☆ ISRU: ☐ Solar powered ☑ Pushable Fuel type: Water

5 Radiators ☆△◯ Therms: 1 Generator/Reactor ☆ △ ◯ 1

Radiator: Qu Tube n ▼Rad-hardness: 5
▼Rad-hardness: 4 Generator:
Reactor: Rubbia Thin Film Fission Hohlraum
Cut here Flip after 6 years at a S-factory you helped build
V-class - 40 tonne solar electric rocket
Roll Call Sign: 9 Roll
Dry mass: 3 Wet mass: Fuel steps: Fuel type: Dirt

Thruster: 3 • 1 AB Thruster ☆ △ ◯ 4
Therms: ☑ Solar powered ☑ Pushable Thruster: Pulsed Plasmoid

0/6 Crew Module ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: ▼Rad-hardness: 5

3 Robonaut ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: 6 Cargo/Payload ☆ △ ◯ * 2

Robonaut: Ablative Laser Therms: Payload: Solar Carbotherm refinery (mass 2)
☐ Buggy ☆ ISRU: ▼Rad-hardness: 5
(check ☐ if the ☑ Missile ☆ ISRU: 2 Thruster: 3 • 1 AB 3
option is installed) ☑ Raygun ☆ ISRU: 2 ☑ Solar powered ☑ Pushable Fuel type: Water

5 Radiators ☆△◯ Therms: Generator/Reactor ☆ △ ◯ 1

Radiator: ▼Rad-hardness:
▼Rad-hardness: Generator:
Reactor:
Cut here

S-class - 40 tonne nuclear rocket

Roll Call Sign: -1 to collocated ISRU 10 Roll
Dry mass: 3 Wet mass: Fuel steps: Fuel type: Water

Thruster: 6 • 1 AB 1 Thruster ☆ △ ◯ 4
Therms: 2 ☐ Solar powered ☑ Pushable Thruster: Vortex Confined

0/6 Crew Module ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: ▼Rad-hardness: 5

3 Robonaut ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: 5 Cargo/Payload ☆ △ ◯ * 2

Robonaut: Wakefield e-beam Therms: 2 Payload: Von Neumann SC Machine refinery (mass 2)

☐ Buggy ☆ ISRU: ▼Rad-hardness: 5

(check ☐ if the ☑ Missile ☆ ISRU: 1 Thruster: 4 • 1 AB 2
option is installed) ☐ Raygun ☆ ISRU: ☐ Solar powered ☐ Pushable Fuel type: Dirt

5 Radiators ☆△◯◯ Therms: 1 Generator/Reactor ☆ △ ◯ 1

Radiator: Nuclear Fuel Spin Polarizer e || n ▼Rad-hardness: 6
▼Rad-hardness: 4 if no ◯ checked Therms: +1 Generator: AMTEC Thermoelectric
▼Rad-hardness: 5 if ◯ checked Dry mass: -1 Reactor: VCR Light Bulb Fission
Cut here
Low Quality - 160 tonne metallic hydrogen rocket
Roll Call Sign: Refinery can only build factories at hydration 4 sites 5 Roll
Dry mass: 7 Wet mass: Fuel steps: Fuel type: Water

Thruster: 9 • 4 AB 2 Thruster ☆ △ ◯ 4
Therms: ☐ Solar powered ☑ Pushable Thruster: De Laval Nozzle

0/6 Crew Module ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: ▼Rad-hardness: 7

3 Robonaut ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: 5 Cargo/Payload ☆ △ ◯ * 2

Robonaut: Tungsten Resistojet Therms: 1 Payload: Froth Flotation refinery (mass 3)
☐ Buggy ☆ ISRU: ▼Rad-hardness: 5
(check ☐ if the ☑ Missile ☆ ISRU: 3 Thruster: 6 • 4 AB 1
option is installed) ☐ Raygun ☆ ISRU: ☐ Solar powered ☑ Pushable Fuel type: Water

5 Radiators ☆△◯ Therms: 1 Generator/Reactor ☆ △ ◯ 1

Radiator: Qu Tube e 💣 ▼Rad-hardness: 5/2
▼Rad-hardness: 4 Generator: Stirling Engine
Reactor: Metallic Hydrogen
Cut here Flip after 4 years at a M-factory you helped build

Low Quality - 200 tonne steam rocket

Roll Call Sign: Mirror steamer can be used without radiator, generator
6 Rolland react
Dry mass: 8 Wet mass: Fuel steps: Fuel type: Water

Thruster: 3 • 4 AB 2 Thruster ☆ △ ◯ 4
Therms: ☑ Solar powered ☑ Pushable Thruster: Mirror Steamer

0/6 Crew Module ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: ▼Rad-hardness: 5

3 Robonaut ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: 4 Cargo/Payload ☆ △ ◯ * 2

Robonaut: MET Steamer Therms: 2 Payload: CVD Molding refinery (mass 3)
☐ Buggy ☆ ISRU: ▼Rad-hardness: 5
(check ☐ if the ☑ Missile ☆ ISRU: 2 Thruster: 3 • 2 AB 1
option is installed) ☐ Raygun ☆ ISRU: ☐ Solar powered ☑ Pushable Fuel type: Water

5 Radiators ☆△◯ Therms: 2 Generator/Reactor ☆ △ ◯ 1

Radiator: Mo/Li Heatpipe e || n ▼Rad-hardness: 6/5
▼Rad-hardness: 2 Generator: AMTEC Thermoelectric
Reactor: Rubbia Thin Film Fission Hohlraum
Cut here Flip after 5 years at a D-factory you helped build
M-class - 160 tonne nuclear rocket
Roll Call Sign: 11 Roll
Dry mass: 6 Wet mass: Fuel steps: Fuel type: Water

Thruster: 3 • 1 AB 3 Thruster ☆ △ ◯ 4
Therms: ☐ Solar powered ☑ Pushable Thruster: Magnetic Nozzle

0/6 Crew Module ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: ▼Rad-hardness: 5

3 Robonaut ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: 6 Cargo/Payload ☆ △ ◯ * 2

Robonaut: Helical Railgun Therms: Payload: Carbonyl Volatilization refinery (mass 2)

☐ Buggy ☆ ISRU: ▼Rad-hardness: 5

(check ☐ if the ☑ Missile ☆ ISRU: 0 Thruster: 5 • 4 AB
option is installed) ☑ Raygun ☆ ISRU: 0 ☐ Solar powered ☑ Pushable Fuel type: Dirt

5 Radiators ☆△◯ Therms: Generator/Reactor ☆ △ ◯ 1

Radiator: e || 💣 x ▼Rad-hardness: 4
▼Rad-hardness: Generator: MHD Open Cycle
Reactor: Lyman Alpha Trap
Cut here

D-class - 200 tonne nuclear rocket

Roll Call Sign: 12 Roll
Dry mass: 6 Wet mass: Fuel steps: Fuel type: Water

Thruster: 5 • ⅒ AB 1 Thruster ☆ △ ◯ 4
Therms: 4 ☐ Solar powered ☐ Pushable Thruster: Colliding H-B Fusion

0/6 Crew Module ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: ▼Rad-hardness: 5

3 Robonaut ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: Cargo/Payload ☆ △ ◯ * 2

Robonaut: Explosive Gas Dynamic Laser Therms: 3 Payload: Laser Pedestal Growth refinery (mass 1)

☐ Buggy ☆ ISRU: ▼Rad-hardness: 5

(check ☐ if the ☐ Missile ☆ ISRU: Thruster: • AB
option is installed) ☑ Raygun ☆ ISRU: 2 ☐ Solar powered ☐ Pushable Fuel type:

5 Radiators ☆△◯◯ Therms: 3 Generator/Reactor ☆ △ ◯ 1

Radiator: Magnetocaloric Refrigerator e || 💣 ▼Rad-hardness: 4/7
▼Rad-hardness: 6 if no ◯ checked Therms: +1 Generator: Rankine Multiphase
▼Rad-hardness: 5 if ◯ checked Dry mass: -1 Reactor: H-B Reciprocating Plasmoid
Cut here
____-Class __________ tonne ___________________ rocket
Roll Call Sign: 13 Roll
Dry mass: Wet mass: Fuel steps: Fuel type:

Thruster: • AB Thruster ☆ △ ◯ 4
Therms: ☐ Solar powered ☐ Pushable Thruster:

0/6 Crew Module ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: ▼Rad-hardness: #N/A

3 Robonaut ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: Cargo/Payload ☆ △ ◯ * 2

Robonaut: Therms: Payload:
☐ Buggy ☆ ISRU: ▼Rad-hardness:
(check ☐ if the ☐ Missile ☆ ISRU: Thruster: • AB
option is installed) ☐ Raygun ☆ ISRU: ☐ Solar powered ☐ Pushable Fuel type:

5 Radiators ☆△◯ Therms: Generator/Reactor ☆ △ ◯ 1

Radiator: ▼Rad-hardness:
▼Rad-hardness: Generator:
Reactor:
Cut here

____-Class __________ tonne ___________________ rocket

Roll Call Sign: 14 Roll
Dry mass: Wet mass: Fuel steps: Fuel type:

Thruster: • AB Thruster ☆ △ ◯ 4
Therms: ☐ Solar powered ☐ Pushable Thruster:

0/6 Crew Module ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: ▼Rad-hardness:

3 Robonaut ☆ △ ◯ ▼Rad-hardness: Cargo/Payload ☆ △ ◯ * 2

Robonaut: Therms: Payload:
☐ Buggy ☆ ISRU: ▼Rad-hardness:
(check ☐ if the ☐ Missile ☆ ISRU: Thruster: • AB
option is installed) ☐ Raygun ☆ ISRU: ☐ Solar powered ☐ Pushable Fuel type:

5 Radiators ☆△◯ Therms: Generator/Reactor ☆ △ ◯ 1

Radiator: ▼Rad-hardness:
▼Rad-hardness: Generator:
Reactor:
Cut here
qmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmp
l n
l n
l n
l Sixty Years In Space n
l n
l CREW MODULE Certification n
l n
l Having completed the Mission Control Folio, the undersigned crew are certified on this Crew Module, including all of it’s n
l installed subsystems. This means they have the chrome to roll one less 1D6 when attempting actions with this n
l equipment (not cumulative with other chrome). n
l n
l Pilot Date
n
l Mission Specialist Date n
l Payload Specialist Date
n
l n
l Payload Specialist Date
n
roooooooooooooooooooooooos
Chapter 5

Crew
60 CHAPTER 5. CREW

The crew are the personnel on board a crewed High Frontier mission and will the be the core of your Sixty
Years In RPG campaign. Where Sixty Years In RPG differs from many role-playing games is that the crew
should begin the game as extremely competent, often “best-of-the-best”, and that as you play through the
game your crew may end up being worse in some ways rather than better: the development curve does not
necessarily go up in a linear progression. You should prepare yourself for some of the challenges that the
game may throw at the crew by re-reading the preface on page 4 including the Important Note on Difficult
topics, Lines and Veils, Dollhouse Play and sign the High Frontier Pledge if you have not done so already.
This game is designed for four players, each of whom controls one crew member who will occupy one crew
position: either Pilot/Commander, Mission Specialist or one of two Payload Specialists. Rather than roll to
create a crew member, each crew member chooses a crew archetype corresponding to their crew position.
Each of these archetypes has 4 abilities: Physical, Mental, Social and Capital and a set of skills picked to
fulfill a specific crew position on the mission. You should also roll for the service history for the archetype
you have chosen to flesh out their background.
If there are less than 4 players, the remaining crew positions will be filled by robots. If there are more than 4
players, additional players represent a second shift of crew with responsibilities split between them.
Because missions last multiple years, you also optionally should determine sleeping arrangements which
will exist at the start (for Purple BSUs) or form throughout the mission for other BSUs. Finally you should de-
termine the starting philosophy and outlooks of each crew member and choose or roll for their appearance.

Crew Positions
Present day astronaut duties are divided into three broad areas: pilot/commander, mission specialists and
payload specialists. Your 4 person crew in High Frontier normally consists of 4 crew positions: a pilot, a
mission specialist and two payload specialists. These positions determine what careers the crew member
will have followed and what skills they are likely to have. If there are more than 4 players or crew, you should
choose to either add nonhuman crew members, using one of the nonhuman archetypes, or additional
crew positions, as follows:

Five crew Add a commander crew position. The commander crew position is created using the Pilot
career.

Six crew Also add a second mission specific payload specialist position, the payload commander. The
payload commander crew position is created using the Payload specialist career for the mission type. The
payload commander is responsible for the correct delivery of the payload to the site.

Seven crew Also add a second mission specialist crew position, the flight engineer. The flight engineer
is created using the Mission Specialist career.

Eight crew Also add a third mission specialist position, the mission officer: where the word mission
is replaced by the mission type (ie Colony Officer, Science Officer, Military Officer, Commercial Officer or
Political Officer, for political missions). The mission officer is created using the mission specialist career.

Non-crew positions If there are more players than crew, the additional players may choose to be either
robots on the mission manifest or people in mission control (Mission controllers). Some of the time no
players will control crew and everyone will have non-crew positions.

Pilot
In the High Frontier era, the piloting component of the Pilot role is largely an executive role. The pilot is
responsible for the spacecraft movement, but in reality is relegated to supervision of automated systems
CREW POSITIONS 61

executing software code developed and shipped by Earth-based programmers. The exception is during
hazard avoidance maneuvers where the cost of developing code to avoid the hazard is deemed too high:
this can include aerobraking and factory assisted lift offs and landings.
As a result, the Pilot role has a number of secondary specialisations which are much greater priority than
the piloting function: almost all of which are responsible for maintaining the integrity and function of the
crew.

Archetypes As a pilot or commander, you should choose either the Comeback Astronaut or Test Pilot
archetypes.

Mission Specialist
The mission specialist is responsible for the correct function of the spacecraft. Like the Pilot/Commander,
the Mission Specialist is largely concerned with the operation of the software required to maintain spacecraft
functions, rather than the hardware itself, although in the event of the spacecraft suffering from a glitch,
responsibility falls to the mission specialist to resolve whichever hardware or software system is affected.
The Mission Specialist skill set also means they are responsible for ET production operations. Automated
3D printing can perform almost all of the ET production function, except that wiring cannot be 3D printed.
The Mission Specialist will coordinate and control the teleoperations wiring ET produced goods.

Archetypes As a mission specialist, you should choose either the Full Stack Programmer or Robotics
Specialist archetype.

Payload Specialists
In the High Frontier era, payloads consist of robonauts for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) - mining site
regoliths for water and isotope fuels and prospecting for high value ore deposits; refineries - used to
construct advanced technologies using by refining these in-situ resources; and colonists - who can also
prospect, form colonies without disbanding the crew and have special abilities and equipment unavailable
to High Frontier crews. Robonauts are also used for military payloads - as every robonaut can be repurposed
with combat capabilities, and for commercial ventures - which will also return E.T. products or refined water
or isotope fuel to low Earth orbit or a Bernal for sale.
Payload specialists are responsible for payload operations. This will be site refueling using missile, raygun
or buggy components for the engineering Payload specialist, and prospecting using the same components
for the science Payload specialist when the spacecraft is equipped with an ISRU platform payload (either
a robonaut or the built-in crew module ISRU platform). For a refinery payload, the engineering payload
specialist will be responsible for industrializing the site using the on site robonaut and refinery.

Payload Speciality The responsibilities of the payload specialists depend on the mission payload. The
first payload specialist is a Payload Specialist (Engineer) and the second payload specialist is a mission
dependent payload specialist, determined by the Mission Control Social Unit on on page 36 of the Mission
Control chapter.

Archetypes As a payload specialist, you should choose an archetype based on the type of payload
specialist you are. Engineering payload specialists should choose either the Deep Sea Miner or Political Ap-
pointee archetypes. Colony payload specialists should choose either the Experimental Ecologist or Marine
Biologist archetypes. Commercial payload specialists should choose either the Security Troubleshooter
or Wealthy Founder archetypes. Military payload specialists should choose either the Drone Operator or
Navy Diver archetype. Scientific payload specialists should choose either the Science Influencer or Space
Agency Scientist archetype.
62 CHAPTER 5. CREW

Crew Archetypes

Choose one of the two archetypes for your crew position. If you need to select an archetype randomly,
such as for an encounter, roll 1D6+3 if the encountered crew BSU is Red, 2D6+1 if White, +3 if Green, +5 if
Purple, +7 if Orange. Note that this makes encountered crew less balanced than your starting crew.
Crew Position or Roll Archetype Mandatory Skills
-4 Comeback Astronaut
Pilot / Commander Pilot 5+
5 Test Pilot
Payload Specialist 6 Drone Operator Combat Ops 5+
(Military) 7 Navy Diver or Medical 5+
Payload Specialist 8 Political Appointee
Industry 5+
(Engineer) 9 Deep Sea Miner
Payload Specialist 10 Marine Biologist
Ecology 5+
(Colony) 11 Experimental Ecologist
Payload Specialist 12 Space Agency Scientist
Prospect 5+
(Scientific) 13 Science Influencer
14 Full Stack Programmer
Mission Specialist Teleops 5+
15 Robotics Specialist
Payload Specialist 16 Security Troubleshooter
Negotiate 5+
(Commercial) 17+ Wealthy Founder

Responsibility versus Role

While the role descriptions describe what the specific crew member role is responsible for, this means
that the particular crew member is in charge and ultimately accountable for the specific operation; they
are not the sole person performing the operation. In flight in deep space, while the Mission Specialist
is responsible that the spacecraft is operating correctly, the remaining 3 crew members are performing
reactor duty cycle maintenance, generator self-tests, microcode firmware updates and so on under the
direction of the Mission Specialist. During an ET production operation, all the crew will be tele-operating
remote robonauts performing wiring pulls through 3D printed ducting. And so on.
The additional crew working on an operation can contribute their skill levels to the task being performed
by the responsible crew member - see the Cooperative Skill Use section in the Skills chapter on page 121
for details.

Late Arrivals
While having a player drop into a game after it has started is never easy, it is somewhat harder to explain
when you are millions of kilometers from the nearest other human being.
In this instance, it is recommended you have the new player adopt the Security Troubleshooter archetype
and arrive via a supply ship having used era appropriate hibernation techniques (usually hydrogen sulfide).
There are very few things that will have an organization spend tens of millions of dollars unprompted, but
insurance requirements are one of those things.
If you do this, the Security Troubleshooter gets any additional service history entries that will encourage
the crew to form bonds with them as soon as practical.
ARCHETYPES 63

Archetypes
There are two archetype choices available for each crew position, summarized on the Crew Archetypes
table on the preceding page. Unlike many role playing games, in High Frontier, your Crew is primarily
selected for their technical competence and compatible and stable psychological profiles. If you are playing
a 30 point crew, you should play your crew as if they are extremely effective at what they do, but who are
pushed due to the nature of their mission to the outer limits of psychological stress and environmental
deprivation that any human has ever experienced. 20 point crews are still highly effective and professional,
whereas 15 point crews are more typical examples of role-playing groups although at the cohesive and
competent end of the spectrum (Anti-social and incompetent crews are weeded out due to high numbers
of simulator deaths).

Archetype Crew Quality The archetype ability levels are given for a high quality crew. If you belong to a
medium quality crew you should choose one ability to reduce by 1 point. If you belong to a low quality
crew you should choose two abilities, each of which is reduced by 1 point.
Alternately, you can generate your abilities using the Generating Abilities rules below.

Archetype Skill Points The archetype ability levels are given for a 30 point crew. A 15 point crew member
gets the primary skills listed, but at 1 level lower than the listed levels. A 20 point crew gets the primary
skills at the listed level. A 30 point crew gets the primary skills at the listed level, along with the secondary
skills at the listed level. Note that the skill points for each archetype does not necessarily add up to the
given point limit.
Alternately you can buy crew skills using the Buying Skills rules below.

Service History Roll 1D6 twice, once in front of all the other players and once privately, for the crew
member’s service history based on their archetype. The service history may modify your crew member in a
number of different ways. You can choose to adopt additional items from your service history throughout
play if desired, unless this would have prevented you being recruited by your MCSU. If both archetypes
fail to fill a position, the position will be filled by either the Comeback Astronaut, Political Appointee or
Security Troubleshooter (in that order).

Generating Abilities You can roll for crew abilities if you want to. Print out a copy of the appropriate high,
medium or low quality character sheets on pages 90–94. Roll the number of dice listed on the character
sheet for each ability. Choose the second highest dice rolled for the ability level. If the ability level rolled is
below the minimum ability listed next to Conditioning, then you must spend skill points to condition the
ability level up to the minimum listed.

Buying Skills You can choose to spend skill points where you want to instead of the archetype assigning
them. The crew point value gives the number of points to spend on skills if the crew member is age 30 or
younger. If they are older than 30, 30 point crew get skill points to spend equal to their age; 20 point crew
get skill points to spend equal to their age minus 10; and 15 point crew get skill points to spend equal to
their age minus 15. Crew must at least have the minimum skills listed for your position.

Buying Conditioning, Medical Specialities, Languages and Contacts If you choose to use the
archetype’s skills (and not buy crew skills), each crew member gets an additional 6 skill points to spend on
your choice of skills, conditioning, medical specialities, languages and contacts. One of the crew must buy
an Industry mission control contact to help ensure your first factory construction is successful. If the first
mission is not on a science mission, one of the crew should also buy a Prospect mission control contact to
assist with prospecting for your factory site. See the Contacts section on page 115 in the Skills chapter for
details.
64 CHAPTER 5. CREW

Comeback Astronaut
You trained as an astronaut and served as a crew member on the International Space Station (ISS) for
several years. For a while you were the face of the international effort to stay in space, and then worked as
a part of the first wave of renewed space exploration used the ISS as a launch pad to other worlds. When
the mission control proposed a new mission with a destination beyond Low Earth Orbit, you used your
considerable contacts and influence in space programs around the world to get onto the list of consultants
initially employed by the mission control, and then onto the list of crew candidates once the program
was ready for launch. As one of the few or only member of the crew to have travelled in space beyond
suborbital flights, your experience and previous accomplishments outweigh the risks of sending an aging
astronaut into a multi-year mission in space. Or so you have argued.

Abilities and Skills

Age 40 + 2D6 Roll Service History

Physical 4 1 Dentures
Mental 5 2 Glorious turncoat
Social 5 3 Overview effect
Capital 4 4 Radiation exposure
Primary Skills EVA (5), Activism (5), Recruit (6) 5 Relaxed hygiene
Secondary Skills Pilot (4), Negotiate (4), Antitrust (4), Engineer (4) 6 Space blindness risk

Service History

Dentures You have replaced all your teeth with ing a white MCSU, you fail the psychological testing
dentures. This means during a dental emergency and are replaced by the Test Pilot.
you have merely broken your dentures instead of
suffering from any pain or medical effects. You can
readily 3D print a new set. Radiation exposure Due to cosmic ray exposure
or handling of radioactive materials, you are at the
upper limits of recommended life time exposure
Glorious turncoat You served in a first wave crew risks to radiation. This manifests as a cancer risk.
that successfully reached Mars’ surface or the Venus
aerostat and returned to a ticker tape parade on
Earth. Your support for a new mission control means Relaxed hygiene The International Space Station
there is no love lost between you and your former used to get a little…“funky” and it never hurt anyone.
colleagues. Get 1 Glory and add one defect to the Your personal grooming and toileting habits aren’t
first wave faction of your choice. Glory increases the up to your fellow crew members’ standards and it
number of bumps you get each hour. Whichever may become a source of irritation. Maybe you’ll just
glory you achieved no longer gives glory for subse- decide to grow a beard.
quent crews.
Space blindness risk If male, you are in the half
Overview effect You suffer from the feeling of all of all astronauts who suffer from deteriorating eye-
mankind being united as one species on a fragile sight due to living in space. During your previous
planet hanging in the darkness. The overview effect missions you were able to conceal this successfully,
has been reported by a number of astronauts who but this longer trip will mean you risk suffering the
have travelled to Low Earth Orbit or beyond. If join- full effects.
ARCHETYPES 65

Deep Sea Miner

You first started working on underwater oil drilling operations, piloting underwater autonomous vehicles
used to monitor and maintain the drilling platform. From there you were recruited into early efforts to
map the mineral distributions in Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, where you could leverage your mining
engineer degree and post-graduate studies to help build a statistical model to determine the most profitable
mine sites. You were the project lead on the build of the first commercial continuous-line bucket system in
a hydrothermal vent region before it was shut down. Your unique mix of practical and theoretical expertise
on mineral extraction in hostile environments led to your involvement in remote management of one of
the first wave space-based mining operations. This led to your recruitment by the current mission control,
where you successfully argued that lowering the latency of mining operations by enabling the crew to direct
control the mining process would significantly improve efficiency and reduce accident rates. Unfortunately
you argued this too well and the mission control gave you an offer to be on the crew that you would have
been foolish to refuse.

Abilities and Skills

Age 30+1D6 Roll Service History

Physical 5 1 Blemished safety record
Mental 5 2 Discharged bankrupt
Social 4 3 Ecological vandal
Capital 4 4 First wave loyalty
Primary Skills Teleops (5), Industry (5), Mining (5), Prospect (5) 5 Polymetallic nodule
Secondary Skills Ecology (4), Engineer (4), Pilot (4), EVA (4) 6 Shoulder replacement surgery

Service History

Blemished safety record A serious accident re- nificant and lasting ecological damage to the marine
sulted in the lose of a life as a part of the disaster environment which has worsened over time. Gain 1
that ended the hydrothermal vent region venture. Notoriety. If there is a marine biologist on the crew,
The subsequent investigation absolved you of direct they will not let you forget this fact.
responsibility, but there is significant professional
disagreement in your field as to whether this was
a whitewash. Whenever you interact with another First wave loyalty Your first mission control con-
engineer, your blemished safety record acts as a safe tact is with the first wave faction of your choice, not
favour penalty (does not contribute towards addi- your current mission control. This will complicate
tional defects). your relationship with them.

Discharged bankrupt You invested considerable Polymetallic nodule You carry a manganese
personal capital into the hydrothermal vent region nodule as an offering. It appears to be a dark grey,
venture, which when it failed forced you to declare bumpy golf ball and would have started forming
bankruptcy. However, subsequent work allowed about 2 million years ago.
you to discharge these obligations and rebuild some
of your savings. Whenever your attempt to get credit
for a purchase or incur further debt, discharged Shoulder replacement surgery You have re-
bankruptcy acts as a safe penalty (does not con- ceived a reverse shoulder replacement due to se-
tribute towards additional defects). If joining a white
vere rotator cuff damage from a serious diving injury.
MCSU, you fail the background checks and are re- This increases the risk of you accidentally dislocating
placed by the Political Appointee. your shoulder in some positions which are safe for
someone without this prosthetic. Shoulder replace-
Ecological vandal Deep sea mining operations ment surgery acts as a safe arm injury penalty (does
that you have been involved in have resulted in sig- not contribute towards additional defects).
66 CHAPTER 5. CREW

Deep Sea Mining While deep sea oil drilling has been feasible for some time, extraction of resources
from hydrothermal vents or mineral nodules on the sea floor had yet to be commercially viable by
2015. For commercial space-based resource extraction to be considered within the next 25 years,
deep sea mining would have to continue to fail to do so. This might be due to robust protection of
undersea ecologies around the hydrothermal vents and benthic zones, because easily accessible
minerals become quickly exhausted and further resources largely illusory, or because growing demand
exceeded supply due to complexities and costs of ramping up undersea mining operations.

Drone Operator
After graduating in your national air force, you started out flying high altitude, long endurance surveillance
vehicles over metropolitan areas in your home nation. You quickly graduated to piloting uncrewed combat
air systems in failed states such as Syria and Afghanistan, where you murdered enemy combatants using
stand-off weapon systems they never knew were aimed at them. As these conflicts escalated you became
an ace pilot many times over, although your confirmed air-to-air kills were almost always uncrewed
autonomous or semi-autonomous drones deployed by the other side. Your reflexes began to slow and you
retired out when you hit your 23s (23 years and 23 days) and, instead of taking up a teaching post or desk
job, you joined an newly created teleoperator program responsible for doing wire pulls through 3D printed
experimental military vehicles and emplacements. The defense contractor responsible for running this
program has seconded you to the mission control crew to build even more complex systems in space.

Abilities and Skills

Age 24+1D6 Roll Service History

Physical 5 1 Battlefield souvenir
Mental 6 2 Depression
Social 4 3 Former gamer
Capital 4 4 Heterodox beliefs
Primary Skills Teleops (5), Pilot (5), Combat Ops (5) 5 Limited social circle
Secondary Skills Firearms (4), Trading Desk (4), Devops (4) 6 PTSD

Service History

Battlefield souvenir Special forces on the because of their poor treatment of someone you had
ground have given you a battlefield souvenir from become friends with.
one of you successful strikes. Is there a specific story
to this or was it just another kill? Heterodox beliefs You have a set of unconven-
tional beliefs, either outside the conventional teach-
Depression UAV combat pilots experience men- ings of your religion or as a result of self-guided study
tal health issues such as depression, anxiety and in your spare time. You can choose the time and a
PTSD at the same rate as pilots of crewed aircraft. place to share these beliefs.
You begin the game with a mental illness. If joining
a white MCSU, you fail the psychological testing and Limited social circle All your mission contacts
are replaced by the Navy Diver. must be Military.

Former gamer You previously identified as a PTSD You begin the game with a point of PTSD.
gamer and may have played online professionally. If joining a white MCSU, you fail the psychological
You left the online communities you were a part of testing and are replaced by the Navy Diver.
ARCHETYPES 67

Experimental Ecologist
After graduating, you were recruited by the Biosphere 3 program for your work improving carbon dioxide
regulation using genetically modified plant species. Shortly after starting you joined the biospherian crew
as a doctor when a previous crew member was forced to drop out due to a medical emergency. During your
time there, the crew successfully achieved both food production and atmosphere recycling independence
over a three year period on Earth. You also took this opportunity to experiment with enhancing ecological
feedback loops using CRISPR-based modification of plant and animal species to increase diversity using
cultivars from a small number of base species. Using these techniques, ecologies could be made to respond
to significant changes to atmosphere or soil fertility in time spans as short as days. A significant part of your
subsequent work has been in getting legislative and political support for these innovative techniques. You
have joined the crew because you see a place for the same techniques being applied successfully in space.

Biosphere III is a multi-year experiment to run an ecosystem in an environment sealed from the
outside world, as a successor to Biosphere 2. The story of Biosphere 2 is remarkable and worth
reading about.

Abilities and Skills

Age 30+1D6 Roll Service History

Physical 4 1 Blood poisoning
Mental 5 2 Ethics complaints
Social 5 3 Flavoured roach box
Capital 4 4 Political enemies
Primary Skills Ecology (6), Medical (5), Antitrust (5) 5 Veterinarian degree
Secondary Skills Interview (4), Research (4), Devops (4) 6 Zero-g houseplant

Service History

Blood poisoning You had to leave Biosphere III feed the roaches. Cockroaches are a clean and scent-
as a result of blood poisoning from an experimen- free insect to farm compared to crickets and you
tal plant or fungal cultivar that you accidentally ex- have genetically modified these roaches to come in
posed yourself to while you were developing it. No a variety of different sweet, sour and umami flavours.
one else was hurt but the resulting sepsis damaged
your heart, causing you to have a Cardiac risk. There Political enemies You have made a number of
is absolutely no physical evidence that the toxin pen- political enemies of people who would normally
etrated the blood brain barrier, permanently modi- be on your side, because of your belief in the im-
fying your personality. If joining a white MCSU, you portance of your work. You begin the game with
fail the physical and are replaced by the Marine Biol- a suppressed penalty to your Antitrust skills (sup-
ogist. pressed penalties only takes effect if another penalty
applies).
Ethics complaints You have been cited a num-
ber of times for overstepping the mandate given by Veterinarian degree While you have treated hu-
scientific ethics and oversight committees. These man patients while in Biosphere 3, your actual med-
citations are only a result of the field you work in ical qualifications are for animals only. You may not
moving so rapidly and academic red tape not keep- begin with any medical specialities.
ing up. Whenever you interact with another medic,
your ethics complaints acts as a safe favour penalty
(does not contribute towards additional defects). Zero-g houseplant A NASA study suggests peace
lilies were the most effective plant at maintaining
indoor air quality. You have modified this peace lily
Flavoured roach box A “roach box” is a cock- so that its roots need only a nutrient spray instead
roach farm in the crew module intended to act as of soil, and it should grow happily in microgravity.
a replenishing food supply using recycled waste to
68 CHAPTER 5. CREW

Full Stack Programmer

You built your first start up at 14 which paid for you to get part way through university before you dropped
out and started your next. Market conditions and timing meant you weren’t as successful with the second
although your ideas were sound, and you left the company before the other founders recognised the
problems inherent in the business model. And then you got a phone call from one of your colleagues from
the space camp you’d help win as a kid, seeing if you wanted a job as a system administrator working on
spacecraft software. Software with both a power and complexity that has spiralled out of control so that
the crew spends more of their time applying software updates than they do performing their intended job
functions. Having a system administrator on the crew itself seems like an increasingly good idea.

Abilities and Skills

Age 24+1D6 Roll Service History

Physical 5 1 Beta code
Mental 5 2 Exit strategy
Social 5 3 Juvenile record
Capital 5 4 Martial interests
Primary Skills Devops (6), Trading Desk (5) 5 Musician
Secondary Skills Industry (4), Antitrust (4), Bypass (4) 6 Petrol head

Service History

Beta code You’re launching a spacecraft with tens ford good enough lawyers that you weren’t tried as
of millions of lines of code attempting to duplicate an adult but anyone who knew you from back then
what a first wave crew did with far more prepara- also knew what you were responsible for. This acts
tion and labour. While most of the intellectual prop- as a suppressed penalty that affects your emergency
erty comes from proven third parties, the integra- contact (suppressed penalties only takes effect if an-
tion work is something you’ve had to develop far too other penalty applies). If joining a white MCSU, you
quickly. Add a defect to the crew module. fail the background check and are replaced by the
Robotics Specialist.
Exit strategy Your premature departure from
your second start-up left a lot of investors high and Martial interests You are an avid martial artist or
dry. Some of them seem to blame you personally: gun collector. Spend 3 of your skill points (or 2 if on
you’ve received credible death threats and at least a Low quality crew) on your choice of Strong Arm or
one of them has been imprisoned for violating a re- Firearms skill.
straining order that you’ve taken out against them.
In your absence, these dissatisfied investors take to
rumour mongering and smearing your name. The Musician You are an enthusiastic musician.
first time you return to Earth, add 1 Notoriety as a Spend 3 of your skill points on Performance skill
result of these actions. (or 2 if on a Low quality crew).

Juvenile record You were good at everything you Petrol head You collect and refurbish classic cars
tried as a kid. Unfortunately some of the things you or motorbikes. Spend 3 of your skill points on Engi-
tried weren’t so good. Your parents were able to af- neer skill (or 2 if on a Low quality crew).
ARCHETYPES 69

Marine Biologist
You were a nationally competitive swimmer or diver in high school and this led to your interest and study of
marine biology at university. After graduating, despite your high grades, you were unable to find work in the
field due to lack of funding for the study of collapsing marine ecosystems, in part to conceal how serious
the issue has become. Instead you were forced to work two jobs, as a nurse and a computer programmer,
to maintain an income while remaining an activist and organizer in what little spare time you had. It was
here you met the founder of a robotics start up, who recruited you to initially work in and then to run an
innovative drone program for undersea mining and research. The same hardware and software you’ve
helped develop also runs the cubesat fleets and drones used by mission control, and no one can fly them
like you do. No additional skill points: The Marine Biologist archetype does not receive additional skill
points to spend beyond what is listed.

Abilities and Skills

Age 30+1D6 Roll Service History

Physical 5 1 Card tricks
Mental 5 2 Prior record
Social 5 3 Recovering addict
Capital 3 4 Security clearance caveat
Primary Skills EVA (5), Ecology (5), Teleops (6) 5 Virtual trophy room
Secondary Skills Activism (4), Medical (4), Devops (4), Pilot (4) 6 Work history

Service History

Card tricks You needed something to keep your Security clearance caveat As a part of getting
hands busy after you gave up smoking. So you your security clearances for your crew position you
picked up card tricks. Everyone in the crew knows have been warned to stop associating with a group
how good you are. you were friends with at school, who now have mul-
tiple criminal convictions ranging from disorderly
Prior record You’re not proud of it now, but you conduct and resisting arrest to possession, supply
were involved in an activist group that got a little too and making of explosives. You have not seen these
radical in trying to stop the destruction of a reef sys- people since you were an adult however your emer-
tem. You’ve been arrested for breaking and entering gency contact has kept in touch with them. When-
but more serious charges were dropped and your ever you use your emergency contact, your security
sentence was commuted, for reasons you’re not will- clearance caveat acts as a safe favour penalty (does
ing to explain. This acts as a suppressed penalty not contribute towards additional defects).
that affects your interactions with anyone else with
a criminal record (suppressed penalties only takes
effect if another penalty applies). If joining a white Virtual trophy room You’ve won enough tro-
MCSU, you fail the background check and are re- phies when you were young that no single one is
placed by the Experimental Ecologist. special enough to bring on board with you. So in-
stead you’ve built your bedroom in virtual reality,
Recovering addict You’ve been clean almost a with replicas of all of your awards inside it.
decade from an addiction to the stimulants you were
taking while working two jobs. It makes you uncom-
fortable around other people when they use drugs Work history You’ve been in the business long
or alcohol, a rare occasion in space except on special enough that you’ve worked with one of the other
occasions. This acts as a safe social addiction/dys- crew already and you’ve formed a definitive opinion
phoria penalty (does not contribute towards addi- about them, while they’ve just been impressed with
tional defects). your professionalism.
70 CHAPTER 5. CREW

Navy Diver
You were a keen amateur body builder as a young adult and while you excelled academically, your grades
were not good enough to qualify for a scholarship. Instead you enrolled in the national navy where you
qualified to be a military diver, responsible for explosive ordnance placement and disposal, battlefield
maritime repairs and amphibious reconnaissance. The navy paid for your medical degree and you were
highly decorated in a number of covert operations in and adjacent to the South China Sea. After leaving
the special forces, you moved from your initial speciality of undersea and hyperbaric medicine to begin
working with a first wave faction on space medicine and microgravity surgical techniques. As a result of an
incident on the International Space Station where you were stationed during a training exercise, you are
one of the only doctors to have practical experience with operating in free fall. Your current mission control
recruited your shortly afterwards.

Abilities and Skills

Age 30+1D6 Roll Service History

Physical 6 1 Bomb fragments
Mental 5 2 Covert ops confidentiality
Social 4 3 Fan correspondence
Capital 4 4 Human spaceflight skeptic
Primary Skills EVA (5), Firearms (5), Bypass (5), Medical (6) 5 Prosthetic limb
Secondary Skills Engineer (5), Strong Arm (5) 6 Young parent

Service History

Bomb fragments You have small bomb frag- Human spaceflight skeptic You have privately
ments in your lower limbs and feet left by an explo- expressed extreme skepticism at the need for hu-
sion during ordnance disposal. Any fragments that man space flight, based on your experience with mi-
were in danger of damaging joints have already been crogravity medicine, and have confidentially written
removed and microgravity completely relieves the to your superiors requesting this mission be aban-
pain that you suffered putting weight onto your feet. doned.
These bomb fragments act as a leg injury suppressed
penalty (suppressed penalties only takes effect if an- Prosthetic limb You have lost a hand as a result
other penalty applies). You have no memory of this of an explosion during ordnance disposal: the det-
injury and do not suffer post-traumatic stress disor- onator exploded after you had removed it from a
der as a result. If joining a white MCSU, you fail the much larger anti-ship mine. Following this, you were
physical and are replaced by the Drone Operator. discharged from the navy with a medical retirement.
The prosthetic is as functional as your original hand
although it lacks the sensitivity needed for sophisti-
Covert ops confidentiality You take the require-
cated surgical techniques. Your prosthetic limb acts
ments of confidentiality about the covert operations
as a safe arm injury penalty (does not contribute to-
you were involved in seriously and deflect any at-
wards additional defects). You have no memory of
tempts to find out about where you were, who you
this injury and do not suffer post-traumatic stress
were with or what you did during the years you op-
disorder as a result. If joining a white MCSU, you fail
erated in and around the South China Sea.
the physical and are replaced by the Drone Operator.

Fan correspondence You have a well worn and Young parent You had a child at 18 because of
treasured letter from a famous body builder that you poor access to contraception and abortion options.
wrote to as a young person. For some reason, you’ve Your parents adopted the child as their own and
kept it in the original envelope rather than framing raised them as if they were your sibling. Add one
it. additional sibling, 18 years younger than you.
ARCHETYPES 71

Political Appointee
You joined the national army, graduating from officer training and rose in the ranks inside either the
engineering or logistics part of the military, due to your professionalism and sound judge of the character
of those around you, above you and under your command. This led to your appointment to the newly
formed national missile defence forces which included a rocketry program, which you oversaw. The current
mission control contracted the national missile defence for a number of flights responsible for the spacecraft
component launch and assembly and you took advantage of this special relationship and the contacts you
had cultivated in the military to push for you to be included in the crew.

Military rank The Political Appointee has a military rank of Major (or equivalent), which is recognised
as a crew rank of 8 if the Mission control MCSU is Red.

Abilities and Skills

Age 35+1D6 Roll Service History

Physical 5 1 Futurist mentor
Mental 4 2 Higher vision
Social 5 3 Partnership
Capital 5 4 Reporting lies
Primary Skills Antitrust (5), Negotiate (5), Industry (5) 5 Space enthusiast
Secondary Skills Recruit (4), Combat Ops (4), Engineer (4), Firearms (4) 6 Unstoppable

Service History

Futurist mentor One of your contacts is a mentor Reporting lies As a military appointment, you
who will remain after you go AWOL. Roll 1D6 anytime will have separate reporting lines to the rest of the
you perform a bump. On a 1 they recommend you crew, but you are also responsible for reporting to
bump a dice down, on 6 they recommend you bump mission control. If these come into conflict, you must
a dice up. You will follow their recommendation un- decide which side you continue to tell the truth to
less it is unsafe to do so. and when you will lie either directly or by omission.

Higher vision You belong to a semi-secretive soci- Space enthusiast You are an amateur enthusiast
about the current and former space programs and
ety called Higher Vision which has its goals of getting
humanity into space. Treat this as having 1 Glory the potential for humanity to reach and colonize
until the source of Higher Visions funding is revealedother planets around our own star as well as others.
to be a randomly chosen major faction. You have studied the history of the early space race
as well as details on the first wave factions and their
achievements. Add 1 to any skill level needed to un-
Partnership You are married or in a domestic derstand the current social or political situation in
partnership and your partner or partners understand space until the first time the Space Politics becomes
and support your decision to travel to space. Add War or Anarchy.
them as a mission control contact with Activism 5
who will not leave if you go AWOL. If you are fertile
and are unsure if you wish to have children, you can Unstoppable You will do whatever it takes for this
choose to have left behind frozen eggs or sperm to mission to succeed. But at some point you will re-
do so at a future date. alise that your loyalty to the crew you serve with is
more important than your loyalty to mission control
or anyone else.
72 CHAPTER 5. CREW

Robotics Specialist
As a child you were fascinated with bodies, especially you own, and how they could be shaped and changed
to be more “perfect”. You became a talented designer in your teenage years, using 3D printing, robotics
and electronics to make innovative art, fashion and tools (you sometimes argue there is no difference). You
began working directly with a number of technology companies to build better 3D printers and robots. You
were initially funded by sponsorship and crowd sourcing and then as a start up where venture capitalists
effectively paid for you as the brand and the product. Your involvement in the mission control program
initially came from a solar-powered concept Canadarm3 that you developed which spun new International
Space Station modules from lunar regolith supplied by proposed mass drivers on the moon. You have
extensively redesigned the load-haul-dump and ship’s drones included in the crew module and successfully
argued for the inclusion of 3D printer workstations for in-flight repairs.

Abilities and Skills

Age 30+1D6 Roll Service History

Physical 4 1 Assistive technology
Mental 5 2 Drunk
Social 5 3 Pet robot
Capital 4 4 Plastic surgery
Primary Skills Teleops (5), Research (5), Engineer (5), Industry (5) 5 Sex toy
Secondary Skills Bypass (4), Suffrage (4), Devops (4) 6 Synthesized voice

Service History

Assistive technology You’re blind (1, 3). Or deaf this also acts as a service animal for you.
(2, 4). Or both (5-6). You don’t include it as a part
of your brand, and it’s covered by a non-disclosure Plastic surgery You’ve had extensive plastic
agreement that you get everyone to sign before they surgery in a non-naturalistic style. This occasionally
meet you in person. Your blindness or deafness act causes confusion or offence, although anyone who
as safe penalties (they do not contribute towards gets to know you quickly gets used to your appear-
additional defects). You have implants that over- ance. If joining a white MCSU, you fail the physical,
come some of the limitations of your blindness or lose in court and are replaced by the Full Stack Pro-
deafness and you’ve designed a lot of robots that grammer.
help in many situations. If you’re blind you can read
braille; if you’re deaf, you know sign language (either
tactile or visual field signing, depending on your vi- Sex toy It’s discrete, gender flexible, designed and
sual perception). If joining a white MCSU, you fail the marketed by you, and each of the rest of the crew
physical, lose in court and are replaced by the Full got one in a pre-launch care package you put to-
Stack Programmer. gether (unless they had mentioned they were ace).
You deliberately haven’t checked the wi-fi to see who
brought theirs on board.
Drunk Alcohol is straightforward to distill on
spacecraft using available equipment and supplies,
which is unfortunate because you’re an alcoholic. Synthesized voice The voice you speak with is a
This is a secret defect that applies one fatigue when synthesized voice, not your real voice. It emerges
it occurs until you have two full night’s sleep. You from an implant in your mouth to avoid confusing
can recover from being an alcoholic in a shirt sleeves people, but you use non-vocal communication to
environment, when you get to one. generate it. You can speak even if you don’t have air
to breath and your ability to speak is not affected by
damage to your chest hit location. You made the de-
Pet robot You’ve had to leave your living pet or cision at a very early age to use this voice and you’ve
pets behind on Earth, but there’s nothing stopping been refining it ever since. If joining a white MCSU,
you from making a robotic equivalent for comfort you fail the physical, lose in court and are replaced
and entertainment. If you need assistive technology, by the Full Stack Programmer.
ARCHETYPES 73

Science Influencer
After graduating with your PhD, you began working at a research laboratory run by one of the first wave
factions, where you were quickly promoted to head of department because of your results driven focus
and your excellent communication skills. Because of both your research and the size of your streaming
audience, boosted by renewed interest in space exploration, you were recruited by your current mission
control to act first as the ambassador to the crewed space flight program and then as the public face of the
final crew selection.

Abilities and Skills

Age 24+1D6 Roll Service History

Physical 4 1 Athlete
Mental 5 2 Chronic fatigue syndrome
Social 5 3 Criminal conviction
Capital 5 4 Grow box
Primary Skills Research (5), Antitrust (6) 5 Ordained
Secondary Skills Interview (4), Devops (4), Bypass (4) 6 Rally driver

Service History

Athlete You studied on a sports scholarship and charge was drug-related. This is the case if you also
had a successful amateur sports career while at uni- rolled the Grow box service history.
versity. Spend 3 of your skill points on Strong Arm
(or 2 if on a Low quality crew).
Grow box A “grow box” is part of the crew’s crop
system dedicated to growing plants with pharma-
Chronic fatigue syndrome You have chronic fa- ceutical properties, primarily cannabis. This is pre-
tigue syndrome which you manage using a combi- pared and consumed, rather than smoked, typically
nation of pacing your physical and mental exertion as bhang: either as a paste in foods or cannabis-
levels and use of pain killers including THC to ease infused drinks. Spend 3 of your skill points on Ecol-
your chronic pain. This acts as a suppressed penalty ogy (or 2 if on a Low quality crew). If joining a white
that affects your physical and mental actions, but MCSU, you do not attempt to bring a grow box on
not your ability to assist others (suppressed penal- board.
ties only takes effect if another penalty applies). Roll
1-2 on 1D6 at the start of each new technology level
for chronic fatigue syndrome to become treatable to Ordained You are ordained, which means you are
allow you to recover from it. If joining a white MCSU, authorized by the clergy to perform the rites and
you fail the physical and are replaced by the Space ceremonies of your religion. In religions without a
Agency Scientist. formal clergy, such as Islam, you are instead recog-
nised as a scholar or especially devote practitioner.
Spend 3 of your skill points on Suffrage (or 2 if on a
Criminal conviction You have a criminal convic-
Low quality crew).
tion and have served a short custodial sentence, for
either assault, possession with intent to sell or driv-
ing under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Your Rally driver You were a co-driver with a more suc-
criminal conviction acts as a safe favour penalty cessful sibling or your emergency contact in one of
(does not contribute towards additional defects). If the few remaining amateur-friendly rally tour circuits.
joining a white MCSU, you fail the background check Spend 3 of your skill points on Engineer (or 2 if on a
and are replaced by the Space Agency Scientist if the Low quality crew).
74 CHAPTER 5. CREW

Security Troubleshooter
You joined the national armed services after leaving school where you become a military interrogator.
Although highly commended, you were eventually discharged because you refused to comply with illegal
orders to use enhanced techniques. You then worked in the intelligence unit of the national police where
you led efforts to combat terrorist ethnonationalist organizations, including capturing the perpetrators of a
significant civilian atrocity for which you gained 1 Glory. You ultimately became frustrated with the lack
of success prosecuting politicians and business leaders who supported these groups, and moved to the
private sector. You specialised first in financial audit and then cyber security, where you were able to pick
up the technical skills needed for the role but were largely successful because of your people skills. You are
a last minute addition to the crew, as a requirement by the new mission insurance underwriter.

Abilities and Skills

Age 35+1D6 Roll Service History

Physical 5 1 Burned bridges
Mental 4 2 Cosplayer
Social 5 3 DJ
Capital 5 4 Divorcee
Primary Skills Interview (6), Recruit (5), Negotiate (5) 5 Traumatic brain injury
Secondary Skills Firearms (4), Devops (4), Strong Arm (4), 6 Trekkie
Trading Desk (4)

Service History

Burned bridges You left your job in intelligence example that perpetuates the myth. Your divorce is
and went to the private sector after you became a amicable and you still speak with your former do-
whistle blower for a culture of malfeasance within mestic partner, but losing something that you had
your department. An extensive internal investiga- thought you could make a lifelong commitment to
tion was inconclusive and no formal charges were still hurts. You have a safe stress penalty (does not
laid but your professional reputation was destroyed. contribute towards additional defects).
Your contacts from this role still speak to you, but
have to conceal their relationship with you from their
Traumatic brain injury One evening, instead of
colleagues. You have a suppressed favour penalty
meeting a contact, you ended up on the train tracks
(suppressed penalties only takes effect if another
underneath a train. It was a miracle that you sur-
penalty applies). If joining a white MCSU, you fail the
vived but you suffered a traumatic brain injury from
background check and are replaced by the Wealthy
the incident that required extensive rehabilitation
Founder.
and from which you have never truly recovered. You
have a safe brain injury penalty (does not contribute
Cosplayer You have excellent crafting and sewing towards additional defects). You have no memory
skills. You quickly become friends with the Pilot / of the events leading up to the accident. If joining a
Commander as they are also a cosplayer. white MCSU, you fail the physical and are replaced
by the Wealthy Founder. If you are a late joiner, the
DJ You have excellent musical curation and beat traumatic brain injury is instead a result of the ex-
mixing skills. You quickly become friends with the tended period of hibernation on the supply mission
Mission specialist as they always wanted to be a rap- and it is not safe.
per and are a surprisingly gifted singer.
Trekkie You love Star Trek. You quickly become
Divorcee While it is a myth that law enforcement friends with the Engineer payload specialist as they
have higher divorce rates than the general popula- are also in a science fiction fandom, although your
tion (studies suggest the inverse is true), you are an likes and dislikes are a lot more vanilla than theirs.
ARCHETYPES 75

Space Agency Scientist

You were employed initially by a contractor and then by a first wave mission control after graduating with
your PhD. You literally wrote the book on the mission you’ll be doing, with a detailed analysis of the process
of exploring the site and industrializing it if necessary. When the first wave mission failed to fund this
mission, instead choosing to begin commercial exploitation of space elsewhere in solar system, you left
them to work for your current mission control. You are tied up in an extensive breach of contract and IP
theft suit from your former employer and one of the main reasons you have been added to the crew is to
complicate the discovery and deposition process by ensuring you remain out of the court’s jurisdiction.

Abilities and Skills

Age 35+1D6 Roll Service History

Physical 4 1 Ambitious
Mental 5 2 Artist/model
Social 5 3 Contempt of court
Capital 4 4 PNE seizures
Primary Skills Research (6), Prospect (5), Industry (5) 5 Schizophrenia
Secondary Skills Ecology (4), Engineer (4), Recruit (4) 6 Single parent

Service History

Ambitious You suppress the first penalty you ac- appeared to prevent the onset of the disease, how-
quire as a result of a service risk. ever you experienced a significant psychotic break
at the end of your previous role. You have been
Artist/model You work professionally as a visual put on anti-psychotic medications which you have
artist such as photographer or painter in your spare enough of a supply to last the planned mission du-
time. Your initial interest in this medium is a result ration and practise cognitive behaviour therapy. It
of the modelling career you had while you were an is not clear at this stage whether you will suffer any
undergraduate. further episodes. You begin the game with a mental
illness however you will experience psychosis only
half the time (1-3 on 1D6). If joining a white MCSU,
Contempt of court When you return to Earth, you
you fail the background check and are replaced by
will spend your first year back in jail serving time for
the Science Influencer.
contempt of court.

Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures You suffer Single parent You have two children who don’t
convulsions, rendering you unconscious whenever have significant contact with their other parent and
you add a stress penalty. Once you have suffered who you have been raising by yourself since you were
this at least once, you can recover from suffering in your early twenties. The youngest of these chil-
psychogenic non-epileptic seizures in a shirt sleeves dren is 15 and the oldest is your age minus 20 years.
environment as if it was a penalty. You have been forced to leave them in the care of
your parents because of circumstances beyond your
Schizophrenia You began exhibiting symptoms control. If joining a white MCSU, you fail the back-
suggesting you were developing schizophrenia in ground check and are replaced by the Science Influ-
your mid to late twenties. Early intervention initially encer.
76 CHAPTER 5. CREW

Test Pilot
You first served as an aircraft mechanic and then enrolled in an enlisted pilot program run by your national
air force. You were an exceptional pilot with an exemplary record although among the last cohort of human
pilots to serve in crewed combat vehicles in a military conflict. You were recruited by a first wave faction to
test fly a revolutionary air launch to orbit (1, 3), new space plane (2, 4) or stratospheric aerostat-launched
zeppelin (5-6). The current mission control has recruited you because of your extensive exposure to first
wave organizational processes and technologies.

Abilities and Skills

Age 37+1D6 Roll Service History

Physical 5 1 ADHD
Mental 5 2 Gymnast
Social 4 3 Post-concussion syndrome
Capital 4 4 Ripcord
Primary Skills Pilot (6), Devops (5), Engineer (5) 5 Short
Secondary Skills Teleops (4), Industry (4), Research (4) 6 Wheelchair user

Service History

ADHD You were diagnosed with ADHD and have that failed to open. The backup chute luckily did.
been taking medication for it since you were a child.
You have enough medication to treat the ADHD for
the mission and return trip. If you run out of medica- Short You are 10% shorter and 20% less massive
tion, ADHD acts as suppressed penalty affecting any than average. This acts as an safe physical penalty
operation (suppressed penalties only takes effect if (does not contribute towards additional defects).
another penalty applies). If joining a white MCSU,
you fail the psychological testing and are replaced
by the Comeback Astronaut. Wheelchair user As a result of spinal or back in-
juries from a crash, you require a wheelchair or ex-
Gymnast You were a nationally competitive gym- oskeleton on size 6+ sites. This is equivalent to a safe
nast as a child. Spend 3 of your skill points on EVA leg injury penalty and permanently disabled legs. At
(or 2 if on a Low quality crew). Earthside technology levels and human scale, an un-
powered wheelchair is 4 kilograms and a powered
wheelchair is 60 kg. The powered wheelchair has a
Post-concussion syndrome As a result of in- range of 60 kilometers (1 km/kg of mass), a top speed
juries sustained during a crash you still suffering per- of 21 km/h (movement speed of 7) using an electric
sistent headaches. You have enough medication to motor (charging in 2 hours) and can be controlled
treat these head aches for the mission and return remotely using your smart device. The unpowered
trip. If you run out of pain killers, these headaches wheelchair is a 3D printed rigid frame with two gears
act as a suppressed penalty affecting any action us- and inflatable wheels for navigation over steep or
ing the Mental ability or skills (suppressed penalties soft terrain and uses your EVA skill for movement. ET
only takes effect if another penalty applies). If join- produced wheelchairs are powered, 15 kg at human
ing a white MCSU, you fail the psychological testing scale with a range of 120 km and top speed of 30
and are replaced by the Comeback Astronaut. km/h and hold you in an upright position. You must
aid climb when climbing with a wheelchair. If joining
Ripcord What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. a white MCSU, you fail the physical and are replaced
You wear a ripcord as a wristband from a parachute by the Comeback Astronaut.
ARCHETYPES 77

Wealthy Founder
You have always expressed a deep interest in space exploration since you have been a young child. After
graduating with both medical and engineering degrees, you became a serial entrepreneur, starting initiative
after initiative designed to foster an interest in space and to enable businesses to develop space related
technologies and to identify opportunities for commercial exploitation of space beyond low Earth orbit.
These initiatives indirectly helped at least one first wave faction build an extraterrestrial factory which kicked
off the second wave space rush. You were recruited for a board level position for the current mission control
who agreed to your terms ensuring you were a crew member on their first crewed mission to another planet
or asteroid.

Abilities and Skills

Age 35+1D6 Roll Service History

Physical 4 1 Crew conditioning
Mental 4 2 Drug addiction
Social 5 3 Hero complex
Capital 6 4 Learning disability
Primary Skills Trading Desk (6), Industry (5), Negotiate (5) 5 Smoker
Secondary Skills Engineer (4), Prospect (4), Medical (4), Recruit (4) 6 Sports car

Service History

Crew conditioning You assist the crew with a spe- disability acts as a safe mental penalty (does not
cialized one-off conditioning program that one of contribute towards additional defects).
your companies has developed. Choose one abil-
ity: each crew member including you gets two skill
points of conditioning in the ability. Smoker You smoke a drug. If you have a drug ad-
diction, it is a highly addictive drug such as nicotine,
Drug addiction You have a drug addiction to treat otherwise you smoke a less addictive drug such as
stress instead of seeking treatment. Choose whether cannabis. You have a supply long enough to sustain
this is a physical, mental or social addiction penalty. you for the mission and return trip. You have a small
This penalty only applies when you have access ful- cabin with a separate air supply and fire suppression
fill your addiction, which normally only occurs in a system and filters capable of scrubbing the smoke
shirt-sleeves environment, however you believe you out of the atmosphere.
have ensured you have enough of a supply for mis-
sion and return trip. Instead, you use it much faster
and run out when you first roll a Physical aging event. Sports car The personal equipment you brought
Accumulate two stress when you do: if you choose
on board includes a 2004 Carterham Superlight R500
to suffer any Acute stress, it affects the Physical aging
EVO with the original chassis but the Rover K-series
event results and your recovery.
engine replaced by an electric engine running in an
emulation mode. It masses around half a tonne and
Hero complex You suppress the first stress can be driven in vacuum conditions, but not off road.
penalty you acquire. You may choose a different car make and model
if you know more about the cars than the author,
Learning disability You suffer from dyslexia (1, 3), which is any demonstrable knowledge about cars at
dyscalculia (2, 4) or dysgraphia (5-6). The learning all.
78 CHAPTER 5. CREW

Abilities
Each crew is primarily rated using four abilities, each of which governs how well that crew member can
develop a set of related skills: physical, mental, social and capital. These abilities have corresponding
spaces that can be mapped and explored as part of the game: meat space (physical), cyber space (mental),
social space (social) and market space (capital). The fifth space, outer space has no corresponding ability,
and it is already mapped and can be explored using the High Frontier map.

Physical
Physical ability determines how much activity crew can do, as a function of explosive speed in the short
term and endurance in the long term. Crew with high physical abilities can move further and carry more
than those with low physical abilities. Crew physical ability also constrains how much they can condition
your other abilities.
Physical abilities and skills are most useful in meat space: the physical world and the tools, structures and
objects that inhabit it.

Body A related attribute to physical ability is body size, which is often shortened to Body. A crew
member’s Body determines how large they are, which impacts the size of the loads that they can carry
along and how much damage they take. All starting crew start with a Body of 6, which means they mass
between 60 kg and 249 kg.
Crew with a body higher than 6 get innate armour equal to their body size minus 6. Innate armour protects
against all damage except CRASH damage but is not cumulative with rigid armour; use the higher of the
two values. Crew with a body size lower than 6 suffer 1 extra point of damage for each body size lower than
six whenever they are damaged.
Each step up or down of Body indicates a change of 4 times the mass upwards or division of mass by 4
downwards, with some rounding for convenience, between Body 0 and 10 inclusive. For instance 7 body
ranges from 250 kg to 999 kg. Body 11 to 14 represents 1 to 4 water tanks, where each water tank masses 40
tonnes. Then each step up of Body from 15 onwards is double the previous mass.
Robot physical abilities correspond to human physical abilities. However robot skills are limited by their
maximum skill level which applies to both physical and mental skills, and which is generated instead of
their mental ability.
Robots roll their physical ability normally.

Mental
Mental ability determines crew ability to absorb and utilized information, and measures both general educa-
tion and reasoning ability which are usually a product of their family’s economic and social circumstances.
The majority of skills are limited by crew mental ability.
Mental abilities and skills are useful across all the spaces, but particularly in cyberspace space: the stacks,
systems and connections used for information processing and storage.

Intelligence A related attribute to mental ability is Intelligence which represents the raw processing
power of a crew member’s brain, as limited by its physical size, energy consumption and substrate. All
humans have the same biological brains, which give them an Intelligence of 6 (General intelligence, or GI),
comparable to a robot intelligence of 9. Human mental ability varies more widely than robot mental ability.

Robot Mental Ability

ABILITIES 79

Robots do not naturally get Mental ability, and when gener-

ating robotic crew, use this ability roll to instead indicate the Robot Mental Ability
maximum skill level that a robot can learn for their skills. At Max Skill Intelligence Mental Ability
a maximum skill of 3 or below, the robot is only able to learn -3 Physical only 0
Physical skills. At a maximum skill of 4, the robot can learn 4 No improvising 0
skills normally up to level 4 but is not able to improvise skill 5 Operational AI 2
use at all. At a maximum skill of 5 or more, the robot begins 6 Ahuman AGI 4
to develop Mental abilities that allow for this improvisation. 7 Turing-grade AGI 6
A robot with a consciousness capability of 8 or higher can 8 Specialized ASI 8
directly condition their Mental ability. AGI = Artificial general 9 Ahuman ASI 9
intelligence. ASI = Artificial super intelligence. 10 Superturing ASI 10
11 Postsingularity ASI 11

Social
Social ability determines how much time crew spend on building and maintaining relationships with those
both directly around them and in the professional and private networks they have developed. Named
relationships are known as contacts and using them incurs favours.
Social abilities and skills are most useful in social spaces: the networks and relationships between individ-
uals, factions and nations on Earth and in space.

Consciousness A related attribute to social ability is Consciousness which represents the capacity for
introspection, self-awareness, empathy, reflection and recursive use of language to allow for complexity in
communication. Humans all begin with a Consciousness of 12.

Robot Social Ability

Your roll for the robot’s social ability instead determines its starting consciousness capability, from 1 to
6. Robots with a consciousness capability of 5 or higher experience pain and can recover from penalties
as outlined in the Robot Recovery section on page 118 in the Skills chapter. Robots with a consciousness
capability of 4 or less get a Social ability equal to their consciousness capability minus 2 (minimum 0);
robots with a conscious capability of 4 or higher get a Social ability equal to their consciousness divided by
3, rounded up, plus one (4-6 gives a Social ability of 3). Remember that their maximum skill level controls
their social skill limits, not their Social ability. Robots with a consciousness capability of 8 or higher can
condition their abilities as outlined in the Ability Conditioning section on page 81, including both their
intelligence and consciousness, noting the robot conditioning rules exceptions – Social ability cannot be
conditioned until the robot’s consciousness is at least 10.

Capital
Capital ability determines a crew member’s socioeconomic position in society and the amount of wealth
they have accumulated. A capital of 1 indicates a crew member is homeless. A capital of 2 indicates a crew
member has a job, usually in the services sector, but no savings. A capital of 3 indicates a crew member
is working class or newly affluent, with savings in the thousands of US dollars (2D6x$1000). A capital of
4 indicates a crew member is established middle class or with useful technical skills, with savings in the
tens of thousands of US dollars (2D6x$30,000). A capital of 5 indicates a crew member is either managerial
elite or have inherited wealth in the millions of dollars (2D6x$1,000,000). A capital of 6 indicates a crew
member is a multi-millionaire, with accumulated wealth in the tens of millions of dollars (2D6x$30,000,000).
A capital of 7 indicates the crew member is a billionaire (2D6x$1,000,000,000).
Capital ability can let a crew member buy their way into any space, but is most relevant to market spaces,
where goods and services are bought and sold.
80 CHAPTER 5. CREW

MCSU Ranks

For crew in White or Green MCSUs, starting rank is determined by the position: use Astronaut if the position
is not listed. For red MCSUs roll 1D6+1, for purple MCSUs roll 1D6+3. For encounters, roll 2D6 for the rank
each individual in crews or payloads, 3D6 for a colony and 4D6 for a Bernal, add together the lowest two
dice rolled and subtract one. Orange Instead of rolling, Orange uses Capital ability as rank.
Roll Red White and Green Purple Orange
1 Private Astronaut candidate Probationary Intern
2 Specialist Astronaut Trainee Gig contractor
3 Corporal Astronaut (1+ missions) Assistant Contractor
4 Sergeant Mission Specialist Administrator Employee
5 Warrant Officer Pilot Supervisor Stockholder
6 Lieutenant Commander Attache Executive
7 Captain Secretary Owner
8 Major Manager Board member
9 Colonel Ambassador Investor
10 Brigadier Counsellor Bond holder
11 General Minister Sole proprietorship

Robot Capital Ability

Robots can only accumulate capital once the robots are emancipated. As this is not the case at the start of
the game, robots begin with a Capital ability of 0. The roll for the robot’s Capital ability instead determines
how many parts the robot has. See the Parts section on page 168 of the Upgrades chapter for details.
The robot only gains parts from increasing it’s species rating if the total number of increases exceeds the
number of parts it begins with from this roll.

Robot Body Size The robot Body is based on the highest face value of the dice results used for each
ability: that is the maximum of its Physical ability, maximum skill level, consciousness capability and half
of it’s equipment load. Use the following values once this is determined. 1: 8 kg (Body 41/2). 2: 15 kg (Body
5). 3: 30 kg (Body 51/2). 4: 60 kg (Body 6). 5: 125 kg (Body 61/2) 6: 250 kg (Body 7).

Rank
A crew member’s rank indicates how far they have progressed professionally in their career as well as their
seniority in the organization and mission for the purpose of issuing and obeying orders.
Depending on the mission control BSU, crew may or may not have formal recognition of their rank by
getting a title associated with the rank. Military BSUs and other stratified organizations typically have 11
ranks. In the military, ranks 6-11 indicating commissioned officers, ranks 3-5 indicating non-commissioned
offices and ranks 1 and 2 indicating non-officer ranks. Most BSUs have fewer ranks, with ranks ranging from
1-6 being typical. Some of these ranks may not have distinct titles.

Pulling Rank A higher ranked crew member can always pull rank over their lower ranked colleagues.
If a crew member says ‘I pull rank.’ any crew member with a lower rank than them must obey the
instructions they issue, or mutiny. If the orders are illegal, then the mutiny must first establish this,
and then determine the consequences for the crew member attempting to issue them.

Robots have rank 0 until they are emancipated.

ABILITY CONDITIONING 81

Disabilities and Penalties

Disabled crew may be at an advantage in space because they are already experienced in working with
assistive technologies and experiencing the world from a different physical or psychological perspective. If
a crew member is disabled, pick one or more penalties to reflect the disability. The crew member starts
the game with these penalties, and can choose to either make them safe or suppressed. Also determine if
there are any resulting permanent disabilities – which typically depend on the disability.

Safe penalties A safe penalty never contributes towards additional defects when making an action
check. This means you don’t count any safe penalties when checking if there are 3 or more penalties for the
action, and if there are 3 or more unsafe penalties, you do not count the safe penalties when determining
how many defects to add (unsafe penalties divided by 3 and rounded down). See the Defects section in the
Skills chapter on page 25 for details.

Suppressed penalties A suppressed penalty does not apply, unless it can apply cumulatively with an
unsuppressed penalty. A number of archetypes start with suppressed penalties. It costs more to recover
from a suppressed penalty: see the Recovery section in the Skills chapter on page 118 for details.

Exclusive penalties Many penalties can only be applied once. For instance, a blind crew member cannot
be blinded again. Crew members who have safe exclusive penalties are at an advantage acting in these
situations because they do not have the increased risk of defects occurring.

Permanent Disability
Some disabilities will disable a body part or ability that a crew member would otherwise have. For instance
being blind will prevent a crew member from ever seeing a target using their vision, and being unable to
use their legs will mean a crew member will treat the legs location as being permanently disabled.

Assistive technologies For each permanent disability a crew member has, they can choose one assistive
technology to allow the crew member to overcome the permanent disabilities when they use the technology.
There are two types of assistive technologies: prosthetic and alternative. Prosthetic technologies allow the
user to ignore the penalty and effects of the permanent disability while using the prosthetic. Alternative
technologies, such as a sensor suite or wheelchair, provide an alternate method of overcoming the disability,
but means the user still suffers from the penalty and effects of the permanent disability. For instance an
alternate Van Eck detector sensor suite will allow the crew member to see anything that contains a powered
electronic device or radio transmitter, but not anything else.

Ability Conditioning
If you start with a Physical or Social ability of less than 4 or a Mental ability of less than 5, you will need to
spend skill points to increase your abilities. These skill points represent additional conditioning required
to achieve the crew requirements. The skill point cost of 1 level of ability conditioning is equal to the
value of the new ability score. Each level of conditioning increases the ability score by 1. e.g. To increase
your Physical from 2 to 4 requires an expenditure of 7 skill points (3 + 4) to get the 2 levels of physical
conditioning needed. You may elect to spend skill points to further condition your abilities even if you
meet the minimum ability requirements.

Crew minimums Low quality crews only need a Physical of 3 and a Mental of 4. Medium quality crews
can have a Social of 3. Background checks require that you have a Capital of at least 3 for any White BSU
(including National Space Agency).
82 CHAPTER 5. CREW

Conditioning Limits
Tech Level Physical, Mental, Social Limit Capital Limit
Baseline 4 6
Earthside 5 7
ET 6 8
Advanced 7 9
Promoted 8 10
Future 9 11
Breakthrough 10 12
Postsingularity 11 13
Domain 12 14

Conditioning limits The current technology level determines the maximum you can condition an ability
to, as shown on the Conditioning limits table on this page. However you can condition your Capital ability
2 higher than the Physical, Mental or Social ability limit for a given technology level as shown in the Capital
Limit column.

Species rating If you condition an ability to 5 or more you can affect how human you are. See the
Species Ratings section in the Upgrades chapter on page 163 for details. Robotic crew starting abilities
are considered to be acquired by conditioning: that is their ability levels directly determine their species
ratings.

Discounted conditioning Improving medical science reduces the cost of your ability conditioning im-
provements if your ability is less than the era number. The era number is 1 for Upported (2040-2054), 2 for
Colonization (2055-2069), 3 for Exoglobalization (2070-2084), 4 for Futures (2085-2099) and 5 for Directions
(2100+). You may condition these abilities up to the level given by spending 1 skill point per level instead of
skill points equal to the ability level.

Robot conditioning Robots can only condition their abilities once they achieve a consciousness capa-
bility of 8 or higher. Additionally, you cannot directly condition a robot’s Mental or Social abilities until the
robot has a consciousness capability of 10 or higher. Instead you can condition a robot’s maximum skill
level as if it was their Mental ability and a robot’s consciousness capability as if it was their Social ability.
Doing so will increase the robot’s Mental or Social ability indirectly. Physical and Capital abilities can be
conditioned directly, although the Capital ability requires that the robots are emancipated first.

Data exception Player controlled robots may condition their consciousness prior to achieving a
conscious level of 8. For other robots this only occurs randomly.
FAMILY 83

Parents’ Financial Status

Use the difference in Capital abilities of your parents.

Difference in Capital Result
Parents remain together financially despite different demographic
backgrounds. Randomly pick one parent and roll for new nationality
-0 and ethnicity.
Parents remain together financially. Both have the capital value of the
1 or 1-2 in a White BSU higher rolled.
Parents were separated financially while you were a child. Roll 1 on a
2+ or 3+ in a White BSU 1D6 for one parent to have a different demographic background.

Family
Parents, family and friends can form an important touch point as crew drift between the stars. The average
age of the men landing on the moon was 39 years, and the crew members’ ages are likely to be similar,
which means that their parents are likely still alive but aging as they travel around the solar system. Unless
they are estranged, crew will make the time to talk to their friends and family back home throughout the
mission, or remember them if they are no longer alive.

Parents
You should determine each parent’s Capital ability. Roll 2D6 and use the crew member’s Capital ability as a
3rd dice roll. Pick the middle of the 3 values to determine the parent’s capital. The difference in Capital
between the two parents determines their relationship status.

Missing parents If either parent’s Capital roll is 1, the crew member is missing that parent; either because
of permanent estrangement or death during early childhood (5 years or earlier). Roll 1D6 and generate a
grandparent (1), uncle or aunt (2), older sibling (3), teacher (4), mentor (5) or friend (6) to act as a parental
figure in that crew member’s life. Use the same Capital rolling rules for this parental figure as for your
parents.

Economic migrants If either parent’s Capital is a roll of 2, they are both economic migrants: their
demographics determines the crew member’s ethnicity and ancestral languages, but not their native
language or nationality. In this instance, the adjusted capital if the crew member’s parents remain together
financially reflects the life they have made for themselves after migrating. Roll for the crew member’s
nationality again using the Colonist Nationalities table on page 100, rerolling if you get the same result as
either parent.

Siblings
Roll 1D6-1 four times and choose the second lowest number for how many siblings a crew member has.
If the crew member does not know their parents, use the lowest number rolled to determine how many
siblings they know of.
A crew member has any siblings, the lowest number you rolled +1 determines where in the position of
siblings they fell. Roll 1D6-1 three times for the number of years age difference between each child and
choose the middle result, with an age gap of 0 indicating multiple births.
84 CHAPTER 5. CREW

One Child Policy China’s relaxation of the one child policy falls within the Sixty Years In RPG time line,
but it’s abolition does not. Crew who are Chinese citizens should will not have siblings except due to a
multiple birth. The current Space Politics determines the 2040 Chinese views on population.

Disposition
Disposition is how the crew’s subconscious inclinations express themselves. It is as much about a crew
member’s childhood as it is about their rational mind - were they raised in a social environment (Green) or
a close knit family (White), were their parents distant and disciplined (Red), or left them to do their own
thing (Purple) or did they have problems with authority figures (Orange)? A crew member’s disposition
helps determine their starting outlook but everyone can grow beyond their disposition.
Roll 1D6 for a crew member’s disposition 1: Red. 2: White. 3: Green. 4: Purple. 5: Orange. 6: Matching the
starting Space Politics.

Names
Names are complex and cultural specific referents to an individual and an exploration of how the collision
of cultures and ethnicities results in an individual’s name would considerably increase the size of these
rules. Even just a simple frequency table for given and family names would be a gross generalization and
miss the subtle and important complexities involved in giving someone a name.

Call Signs
Sixty Years In instead chooses to side-step this complexity by having all the player-controlled crew refer
to each other by their call sign. Call signs are generated by combining two words from concepts relating
to the positive values and concepts expressed in this game: aspirations, computing and mathematics,
engineering, physics, planetology, and rocketry. You can also use these tables to generate single word
nicknames: the author has included one of his nicknames given to him by his friends herein.

The use of names You cannot refer to your crew by name within the game, or even give them a name
in the game. You must only give them a call-sign and refer to them by that call sign, their public
pronoun in public settings and their preferred pronoun in private settings. The only place the crew can
be given a name is in fan fiction written about the game, and only by authors not involved in playing
the game.

To generate a call-sign, roll 1D6 twice to determine the row for the first name and 1D6 twice to determine
the row for the second name (duplicates allowed). Then generate three possible call-signs by rolling 1D6
for the columns for first name and second name for each call-sign, rerolling doubles. Choose which of the
three call signs you prefer to use.

Family Nicknames
Crew should refer to their family members by creating a nickname for each family member. For each family
member, roll 1D6 twice to determine the row for their first name and use the Aspirations (first) column.
Leave their real name unsaid.

Nominative Determinism
Creating call signs for contacts, colonists and crew you encounter would take too long if you did so each
time. In these instances, and for entities which don’t suit call signs for names, you are strongly encouraged
OUTLOOK 85

to use nominative determinism for naming: that is use a name that most accurately describes the thing. In
other words, if you encounter a cardiologist, call them Doctor Heart; a plumber should be called Fix Pipes;
a famous game designer Video Gamer (pronounced Vid-AY-O); and so on. If this means you end up with
one too many Willy Wontes, Self Loners or Evil Bads, then don’t worry and just embrace it.

Outlook
Crew outlook controls how they behave in one or more areas of their life, called perspectives. The five
perspectives are coloured to match the five BSU colours: White controls crew attitudes towards their friends
including their fellow crew members, Red for their superiors and subordinates, Green for how they treat
strangers, Orange for their attitude towards themselves and Purple for the natural world, and especially
their place and fate in it. Crew can acquire up to five outlooks throughout the game - one of each colour,
but will tend to have two or three notable outlooks, with the remainder being moderate.
Each outlook is also associated with an emotion: anger for Red, fear for White, happiness for Green, jealousy
for Orange and curiosity for Purple. Use the emotion any high value Outlooks are associated with to guide
how crew should behave when under stress, and choose to either give into or resist the influence of this
emotion.

Determining Outlooks
A crew member’s first outlook is initially determined by your MCSU: crew will start with a High outlook in
the colour matching the BSU – except Purple BSUs start with a Low Purple outlook instead. Each crew
member’s disposition can then be used to modify an outlook one level; with the exception it cannot be
used to reduce the starting High outlook from the MCSU (this exception doesn’t apply for Purple MCSUs).
Any outlooks crew don’t have, begin as Moderate (level 3).
The disposition can be used in one of two ways: it can either increase the outlook matching the disposition
by one level, or it can decrease the outlook that opposes the disposition by one level. Red opposes Orange,
Green opposes White and Purple both matches and opposes itself.

Contact and Encounter Outlooks Other individuals outlooks will be determined by two cards, one
drawn from a deck and one matching the faction BSU. The face value of the BSU card is determined by a
1D6+7 roll instead of a card, treating 11 as Jack, 12 as Queen and 13 as King. The card drawn will determine
a second outlook – if the suit is the same as the BSU, the outlook will be Purple instead.
For anyone not aligned to a faction (including crew family and friends and non-mission control contacts),
draw two cards to determine the two outlooks. If the second card drawn matches the first, the perspective
for the second card will be Purple instead of the perspective determined by the card suit. The Outlooks
table on page 96 should be used to convert the cards and dice rolled into more concrete outlooks or you
can just use the face values to determine the strength of the perspective.

Robot Outlooks Robots have significantly different outlooks until their consciousness increases. At
consciousness 10, robots get one random human outlook matching the BSU of their robot outlook, with a
face card value of a roll of 1D6, which means that they have a minimal outlook on a result of 1, low outlook
on a 2-5 and a moderate outlook on a result of 6. At consciousness 11, this single outlook is created as the
first Contact or Encounter outlook. At consciousness 12 or higher, robot outlooks are created as contact
and encounter outlooks.

Balanced You have a balanced approach to the Chaotic It’s not that you don’t like to make plans:
perspective this outlook relates to. There is no need you make lots of plans, and are happy to wait to see
which ones come to fruition, and which ones you
to note any Balanced outlooks on the crew sheet - have to discard without regret. You’ll take any op-
these are assumed if not listed. portunity that presents itself in the moment and are
86 CHAPTER 5. CREW

Call Signs

Roll 1D6 twice to determine the row for the first name and 1D6 twice to determine the row for the second
name (duplicates allowed). Then generate three possible call-signs by rolling 1D6 for the columns for first
name and second name for each call-sign, rerolling doubles. Choose which of the three call signs you
prefer to use.
Roll Call-sign Words
1, 2 Aspirations Computing Engineering Physics Planetology Rocketry
11 Beauty Axiom Ablation Ambient Albedo Abort
12 Beginning Binary Actuator Black Atmosphere Annular
13 Birth Curve Aileron Blue Canyon Anomaly
14 Charity Cycle Booster Chill Ceres Aphelion
15 Comfort Cypher Caliber Delta Chaos Apogee
16 Dignity Drive Canopy Density Chasma Attitude
21 Diligent Error Composite Doppler Cloud Axis
22 Dream Firewall Coupling Drag Collis Azimuth
23 Eager Graph Drogue Energy Core Ballistic
24 Every Hash Dynamo Epoch Corona Brake
25 Excellence Infinity Fairing Feedback Crater Burn
26 Fidelity Input Filler Fission Debris Concentric
31 Giving Key Fin Force Eruption Conjunction
32 Goodness Lock Gantry Fusion Geology Dive
33 Grace Look-up Gimbal Green Geyser Eclipse
34 Humble Map Grain Grey Jupiter Eject
35 Inspired Maximum Hatch Heat Lacuna Exhaust
36 Journey Memory Hybrid Impulse Luna Flight
41 Justice Node Jet Indigo Mare Flyby
42 Kindness One Mandrel Lift Mars Freefall
43 Loving Operator Module Mach Mensa Glide
44 Original Point Motor Neutral Mercury Launch
45 Passionate Processor Nozzle Orange Mons Orbit
46 Patient Proxy Outboard Phase Neptune Parsec
51 Perfect Screen Pipe Quantum Plume Payload
52 Quiet Secret Primer Red Regolith Perigee
53 Running Sector Printer Scale Ring Pitch
54 Safety Sequence Rail Shell Rupes Stage
55 Separation Sort Rocket State Satellite Telemetry
56 Silent Space Rotor Symmetry Saturn Terminal
61 True Switch Servo Time Sunspot Trimming
62 Trusted Trend Shroud Tone Terra Turnover
63 Unity Trinary Turbo Transition Tholus Vacuum
64 Vast Warning Uplink Violet Uranus Vector
65 Virtue Zero Vent White Venus Yaw
66 Wealth Number (2D6) Wing Yellow Weather Zenith
Roll 3 1 2 3 4 5 6
OUTLOOK 87

happy to ride the currents of fortune down the river Eccentric You are an outspoken nonconformist,
of fate. happily obsessed with your hobbies, of which you
usually have five or six. You are not particularly inter-
ested in the opinions or company of other people,
Close-minded You are unwilling to let anyone or except when you can try to convince them that you
anything else influence you, and when you change are right and the rest of the world is out of step with
your mind you will come up with arbitrary reasons your ideas.
as to why your actions are consistent with your pre-
vious point of view. Faithful You have an overwhelming feeling of re-
sponsibility to those close to you, and will ignore
their faults and highlight their strengths when in-
Compassionate You are extremely sympathetic
teracting with them. This feeling of responsibility
to the plights of others, and will prioritize the well
prevents you from committing suicide.
being of those in need ahead of yourself, even if you
have never met them before.
Flexible You’ll happily discard process in favour
of the context and your understanding of the situ-
Competitive You have a strong desire to compete ation. You’ll also happy change your mind if given
with others and to succeed at the tasks you under- facts that contradict your current beliefs, and will go
take. You are drawn to activities which challenge out of your way to test your beliefs to strengthen or
you and allow you to demonstrate mastery of a skill. discard them.

Jack-of-all-trades You are drawn to a wide vari-

Contrarian If someone asks you to do something, ety of different and disparate fields of study, which
you will go out of your way to do the opposite unless means you end up with a broad range of knowledge
the task interests you or is framed in an unusual way. and an analytic, “from first principles” approach to
Contrarian Outlooks are highly resistant to virtual problem solving.
torture and will suffer PTSD - eventually leading to a
psychotic break - instead of succumbing.
Machiavellian You are constantly working on fur-
thering your own social position and worsening the
Cynical You’ve seen and see the worst of people social positions of those around you while maintain-
ing that you are not.
which leaves with you an inherent distrust of others
and a cynical view of humanity as a whole.
Nihilistic You reject all religious and moral princi-
ples and believe life is random and meaningless.
Dogmatic You have committed to the belief there
is only one right way of doing things, and one set Open-minded Systems, people and nature are
of principles which are undeniably true. Everyone too complex to neatly abstract and a deep under-
around you is either with you or against you, based standing of them requires discarding some if not all
on their demonstration of their belief in these princi- of your preconceptions in favour of observations.
ples. You’ll happily hold two sets of contradictory po-
sitions because any abstraction of reality will in-
evitably bring different ideas into conflict.
Duty bound You have a strong sense of right and
wrong, and are dependable and tenacious in per-
forming the tasks you are assigned by your superiors, Prescriptive Rules are put in place for good rea-
and a quick decision maker when allocating tasks to sons, and a consistent application of well-stated
your subordinates. rules is the fairest and safest way for everyone to
achieve the best possible outcomes.

Easy going You focus on enjoying life rather than Self-destructive You constantly undermine your
success or failures, and working steadily towards own successes and make choices which may pro-
your goals instead of making sacrifices to achieve vide short term satisfaction but ultimately cause you
what you want. long term harm.
88 CHAPTER 5. CREW

Self-made You have built your life purely from expertise in solving other complex problems. You
your own efforts without acknowledging any out- may make unskilled attempts when using chrome
side help. Your friends are a reflection of who you with +1 effective ability level.
are, and you will abandon anyone who does not
support you unconditionally.
Team Player You work well in a high performance
team environment, bringing out the best in your
Selfless You are obsessed with the people or peers while identifying what skills you can bring to
things you love and will put them ahead of your own the group and constructively contributing towards
happiness and well being, even as you criticise their the team’s goals.
failings.

Social You are an outgoing, socially confident per- Type A You have a classic type A personality - am-
son with a large network of peers, mentors and ex- bitious, rigidly organized, highly status-conscious,
perts to draw upon. Your approach to solving issues sensitive, impatient, anxious, proactive, and con-
is often knowing exactly who the right person to talk cerned with time management.
to is.
Uncompromising You will never compromise
Systematic You are incredibly methodical in your your principles or performance to achieve a goal
approach to problem solving but you risk suffering - you will do things the right way or not at all, even if
from “engineer’s disease”: the belief that your techni- inaction leads to a greater threat than compromising
cal understanding of one complex system gives you your principles would have.

Philosophy
Each crew member starts with a Philosophy which can either match the colour of your MCSU or the Space
Politics - your choice. The philosophy determines what political beliefs the crew member holds. A crew
member has a mismatched philosophy when their philosophy does not match the Space Politics. This is a
social skill penalty which crew can only recover from if the Space Politics is not War or Anarchy. Recovering
from a mismatched philosophy changes the crew philosophy to match the Space Politics.

Statist (Red) Statists want government to have a Liberals (Green) Liberals usually embrace free-
great deal of power over the economy and individual dom of choice in personal matters, but tend to sup-
behavior. They frequently doubt whether economic port significant government control of the economy.
liberty and individual freedom are practical options They generally support a government-funded ”safety
in today’s world. Statists tend to distrust the free net” to help the disadvantaged, and advocate strict
market, support high taxes and centralized planning regulation of business. Liberals tend to favor envi-
of the economy, oppose diverse lifestyles, and ques- ronmental regulations, defend civil liberties and free
tion the importance of civil liberties. expression, support government action to promote
equality, and tolerate diverse lifestyles.
Conservative (White) Conservatives tend to fa-
vor economic freedom, but frequently support laws Centrist (Purple) Centrist prefer a ”middle
to restrict personal behavior that violates ”tradi- ground” regarding government control of the econ-
tional values.” They oppose excessive government omy and personal behavior. Depending on the
control of business, while endorsing government ac- issue, they sometimes favor government interven-
tion to defend morality and the traditional family tion and sometimes support individual freedom
structure. Conservatives usually support a strong of choice. Centrists pride themselves on keeping
military, oppose bureaucracy and high taxes, favor an open mind, tend to oppose ”political extremes,”
a free-market economy, and endorse strong law en- and emphasize what they describe as ”practical”
forcement. solutions to problems.
SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS 89

Libertarian (Orange) Libertarians support maxi- ual responsibility, oppose government bureaucracy
mum liberty in both personal and economic matters. and taxes, promote private charity, tolerate diverse
They advocate a much smaller government; one that lifestyles, support the free market, and defend civil
is limited to protecting individuals from coercion liberties.
and violence. Libertarians tend to embrace individ-

Sleeping Arrangements
It is human nature to desire friendship and companionship and the multi-year or multi-decade nature of
High Frontier missions means that some of the time these relationships will be between members of the
crew. Sleeping arrangements may or may not be a euphemism for sexual relationships, depending on
cultural expectations and norms. For instance, in a culture accepting of intimate platonic relationships and
asexuality, sleeping arrangements may not be predominantly sexual.
Important: This section is strictly optional. Before proceeding, ensure you have read and discussed
the Important Note on Difficult Topics section at the start of the book.
Roll 1D6-1 twice and choose the lowest number. You will attempt to have this many sleeping arrangements.
Roll 1D6 for whom the arrangements are intended to be with: 1: Pilot/Commander, 2: Mission Specialist,
3: 1st Payload Specialist, 4: 2nd Payload Specialist, 5+: Relationship back on Earth. Intra-crew sleeping
arrangements will exist if the other crew member also has the reciprocal arrangement and consents to
it. If you roll yourself, you may choose to reciprocate any sleeping arrangements that are offered. If there
are multiple people occupying the same position, then roll 1D6 to determine which person to choose.
This may mean that, for instance, in a 5 person crew that each of the pilot and captain has only half the
likelihood of another crew member desiring a sleeping relationship with them.

BSU Specific Sleeping Arrangements

Practical sleeping arrangements Purple BSUs will start the first mission with 1D6 sleeping relationships
in place (but no more than the number determined by the above generation process): the crew will have
been selected with consideration of the interpersonal relationship dynamics in addition to other selection
criteria.

Monogamous sleeping arrangements Crews on white BSUs must have exactly one relationship and
will be censured for other relationships or the absence of any relationships. Relationships are not permitted
(although can occur illicitly) between crew members because of the extreme risk of radiation damage to
gametes, ova, fetus and babies in space. As a result all crew members must have a relationship back on
Earth. Homosexual relationships are permitted provided these are monogamous, but risk later censure
if the BSU moves to a heteronormative sexuality. These relationships are in place at the start of the first
mission.

Hot bunking sleeping arrangements On a Red BSU space craft, sleeping arrangements denote hot
bunking, where crew shifts are organised so that multiple crew can use shared berths. The captain will
never hot bunk: any sleeping arrangements between the captain and other crew are tolerated because of
the captain’s seniority and no other sleeping arrangements other than hot bunking are allowed between
other crew members, who all hot bunk.

Flexible sleeping arrangements Green and orange BSUs will have sleeping arrangements back on Earth
in place at the start of the mission if the sleeping arrangements roll was a 6. Other sleeping arrangements
including all inter-crew arrangements will develop during the first mission.
Ethnicity Gender Disposition Outlooks ♠ ♡ ♢ ♣ NT Philosophy

High quality crew

Physical 4D6 choose 2nd Mental 5D6 choose 2nd Social 4D6 choose 2nd Capital 3D6 choose 2nd
Conditioning Minimum 4 Conditioning Minimum 5 Conditioning Minimum 4 Conditioning Min 3 if White
Body cm 6 Intelligence 6 Consciousness <10 stops destress 15 Debt
Bypass Combat Ops Interview Parent 1 Capital
EVA Devops Negotiate Parent 2 Capital
Firearms Ecology Performance Activism
Strong Arm Engineer Streetwise Antitrust
Addiction Industry Languages ☆ Recruit
Aging Physical
Cancer Medical ☆ ☆ Trading Desk
Bends 2 hrs 20 m to avoid Mining Contacts Skill 5 Space suit ☆ kg
☐ Blind ☐ Blindness Risk ☐ Deaf Pilot Name Skill 5 Stack ☆ Usability:
Cancers ☐ Risk Prospect Name Skill 5 Skill
☐ Drop sickness applies in free fall Research Name Skill 5 Smart Device ☆ pts
Dysphoria Suffrage Name Skill 5 Offerings Jewelry

1d 1w 1mo 3mo 1y
Heart attack ☐ DVT ☐ Risk Teleops Glory 0 at start Desk accessories
Injuries ☐ Lung problems Medical Speciality Risk ☆ Notoriety 0 at start Luxiury good
Malnutrition ☐ ¼ rations Risk ☆ Risk ☆ Addiction Treasured item
☐ Gastro ☐ Kidney Stones Addiction Aging Mental illness
Social Personal Effects
Permitted load exceeded Aging Alzheimer's Mental Dysphoria Gray tape ◯
Radiation exposure ☐ Risk Alzheimer's Favours ☐ Towel ◯ kg

2h
Space Suit penalty Brain injury Mental illness ☐ Suicide Risk Addiction

10m 1h
☐ No cooling ☐ No power Dysphoria ☐ Bullying ☐ Contempt ☐ Gossip Aging Asset seizure

Oxygen Loss Fatigue Stress ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯

5+ =Hypoxia (7+ = fast) 18% 16% +M +P +M +P +M +P KO Dead Sleep (< 1 day) 7h 6h 5h +P +M +P +S +P +M +P +S Each stress ○ is 1 penalty for all actions except fight or flight

1m
7+ =Near Blood Loss Burnout (1 month+) PTSD ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯

Trouble
Death

Water / O2 ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ 5 kg Fuel centiburns Batteries ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ 6 kg

1/2 hours (1 day if nighttime, active cooling or Ceres+) 25 m/s ΔV ½/2 hours; Li = 3, Au = 6, Thin Li / AA= 9, Li S = 7½, Ultra = 2
 Roll Rigid △ Disabled ✓⃝ ◯ Damaged Crew portraits Call sign Year of Birth
Head 0/6 △◯◯ Remain prone Unconscious Nationality Pronouns
Chest 1 △◯◯* Unable to talk Unable to talk Languages ☆
Arms 2 △◯◯ No weapons Only sidearms

y
da
Guts 3 △◯◯ No cover Slow blood loss Emergency Contact Nickname Skill 5

ch
un
Legs 4 △◯◯ Falls down Halve move Parent 1 Nickname Nationality

La
Back 5 △◯◯ Cannot move Halve perm. load Parent 2 Nickname Nationality
Physical damage is applied to the location rolled on the above table. Siblings Nickname Nickname
▼ Resistance if Rigid Resistance if Rigid
Bomb Stab Nickname Nickname

Fold here - back cover

Fold here - front cover
Crash N/A Acid
Gas immune if SCUBA or suit Beam Crew Position Position Archetype

e
ac
sp
Gun +1 Bolt Service Record Service history

n
si
ar
Melee Fire Year Service history (continued)

ye
30
Missile Rad +2 Service risks and/or upgrades
Energy damage is applied to the same location on both tables.
Complicated successes use the table below first.
Roll △ Disabled ✓⃝ Inoperable
Sensors 0/6 △ ◯ Cannot see or use sensors
Comms 1 △ ◯ No spotting No spotting
ay
td

Weapon 2 △ ◯ Jammed Cannot be used

en
em

PLSS 3 △ ◯ Power loss Cooling loss

tir
Re

MU 4 △ ◯ No maneuver Halve fuel

Load out 5 △ ◯ Hits largest item in your load out
Ethnicity Gender Disposition Outlooks ♠ ♡ ♢ ♣ NT Philosophy

Medium quality crew

Physical 3D6 choose 2nd Mental 5D6 choose 2nd Social 4D6 choose 2nd Capital 3D6 choose 2nd
Conditioning Minimum 4 Conditioning Minimum 5 Conditioning Minimum 3 Conditioning Min 3 if White
Body cm 6 Intelligence 6 Consciousness <10 stops destress 15 Debt
Bypass Combat Ops Interview Parent 1 Capital
EVA Devops Negotiate Parent 2 Capital
Firearms Ecology Performance Activism
Strong Arm Engineer Streetwise Antitrust
Addiction Industry Languages ☆ Recruit
Aging Physical
Cancer Medical ☆ ☆ Trading Desk
Bends 2 hrs 20 m to avoid Mining Contacts Skill 5 Space suit ☆ kg
☐ Blind ☐ Blindness Risk ☐ Deaf Pilot Name Skill 5 Stack ☆ Usability:
Cancers ☐ Risk Prospect Name Skill 5 Skill
☐ Drop sickness applies in free fall Research Name Skill 5 Smart Device ☆ pts
Dysphoria Suffrage Name Skill 5 Offerings Jewelry

1d 1w 1mo 3mo 1y
Heart attack ☐ DVT ☐ Risk Teleops Glory 0 at start Desk accessories
Injuries ☐ Lung problems Medical Speciality Risk ☆ Notoriety 0 at start Luxiury good
Malnutrition ☐ ¼ rations Risk ☆ Risk ☆ Addiction Treasured item
☐ Gastro ☐ Kidney Stones Addiction Aging Mental illness
Social Personal Effects
Permitted load exceeded Aging Alzheimer's Mental Dysphoria Gray tape ◯
Radiation exposure ☐ Risk Alzheimer's Favours ☐ Towel ◯ kg

2h
Space Suit penalty Brain injury Mental illness ☐ Suicide Risk Addiction

10m 1h
☐ No cooling ☐ No power Dysphoria ☐ Bullying ☐ Contempt ☐ Gossip Aging Asset seizure

Oxygen Loss Fatigue Stress ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯

5+ =Hypoxia (7+ = fast) 18% 16% +M +P +M +P +M +P KO Dead Sleep (< 1 day)7h 6h 5h +P +M +P +S +P +M +P +S Each stress ○ is 1 penalty for all actions except fight or flight

1m
7+ =Near Blood Loss Burnout (1 month+) PTSD ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯

Trouble
Death

Water / O2 ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ 5 kg Fuel centiburns Batteries ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ 6 kg

1/2 hours (1 day if nighttime, active cooling or Ceres+) 25 m/s ΔV ½/2 hours; Li = 3, Au = 6, Thin Li / AA= 9, Li S = 7½, Ultra = 2
 Roll Rigid △ Disabled ✓⃝ ◯ Damaged Crew portraits Call sign Year of Birth
Head 0/6 △◯◯ Remain prone Unconscious Nationality Pronouns
Chest 1 △◯◯* Unable to talk Unable to talk Languages ☆
Arms 2 △◯◯ No weapons Only sidearms

y
da
Guts 3 △◯◯ No cover Slow blood loss Emergency Contact Nickname Skill 5

ch
un
Legs 4 △◯◯ Falls down Halve move Parent 1 Nickname Nationality

La
Back 5 △◯◯ Cannot move Halve perm. load Parent 2 Nickname Nationality
Physical damage is applied to the location rolled on the above table. Siblings Nickname Nickname
▼ Resistance if Rigid Resistance if Rigid
Bomb Stab Nickname Nickname

Fold here - back cover

Fold here - front cover
Crash N/A Acid
Gas immune if SCUBA or suit Beam Crew Position Position Archetype

e
ac
sp
Gun +1 Bolt Service Record Service history

n
si
ar
Melee Fire Year Service history (continued)

ye
30
Missile Rad +2 Service risks and/or upgrades
Energy damage is applied to the same location on both tables.
Complicated successes use the table below first.
Roll △ Disabled ✓⃝ Inoperable
Sensors 0/6 △ ◯ Cannot see or use sensors
Comms 1 △ ◯ No spotting No spotting
ay
td

Weapon 2 △ ◯ Jammed Cannot be used

en
em

PLSS 3 △ ◯ Power loss Cooling loss

tir
Re

MU 4 △ ◯ No maneuver Halve fuel

Load out 5 △ ◯ Hits largest item in your load out
Ethnicity Gender Disposition Outlooks ♠ ♡ ♢ ♣ NT Philosophy

Low quality crew

Physical 3D6 choose 2nd Mental 4D6 choose 2nd Social 3D6 choose 2nd Capital 1D6
Conditioning Minimum 3 Conditioning Minimum 4 Conditioning Minimum 4 Conditioning Min 3 if White
Body cm 6 Intelligence 6 Consciousness <10 stops destress 15 Debt
Bypass Combat Ops Interview Parent 1 Capital
EVA Devops Negotiate Parent 2 Capital
Firearms Ecology Performance Activism
Strong Arm Engineer Streetwise Antitrust
Addiction Industry Languages ☆ Recruit
Aging Physical
Cancer Medical ☆ ☆ Trading Desk
Bends 2 hrs 20 m to avoid Mining Contacts Skill 5 Space suit ☆ kg
☐ Blind ☐ Blindness Risk ☐ Deaf Pilot Name Skill 5 Stack ☆ Usability:
Cancers ☐ Risk Prospect Name Skill 5 Skill
☐ Drop sickness applies in free fall Research Name Skill 5 Smart Device ☆ pts
Dysphoria Suffrage Name Skill 5 Offerings Jewelry

1d 1w 1mo 3mo 1y
Heart attack ☐ DVT ☐ Risk Teleops Glory 0 at start Desk accessories
Injuries ☐ Lung problems Medical Speciality Risk ☆ Notoriety 0 at start Luxiury good
Malnutrition ☐ ¼ rations Risk ☆ Risk ☆ Addiction Treasured item
☐ Gastro ☐ Kidney Stones Addiction Aging Mental illness
Social Personal Effects
Permitted load exceeded Aging Alzheimer's Mental Dysphoria Gray tape ◯
Radiation exposure ☐ Risk Alzheimer's Favours ☐ Towel ◯ kg

2h
Space Suit penalty Brain injury Mental illness ☐ Suicide Risk Addiction

10m 1h
☐ No cooling ☐ No power Dysphoria ☐ Bullying ☐ Contempt ☐ Gossip Aging Asset seizure

Oxygen Loss Fatigue Stress ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯

5+ =Hypoxia (7+ = fast) 18% 16% +M +P +M +P +M +P KO Dead Sleep (< 1 day) 7h 6h 5h +P +M +P +S +P +M +P +S Each stress ○ is 1 penalty for all actions except fight or flight

1m
7+ =Near Blood Loss Burnout (1 month+) PTSD ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯

Trouble
Death

Water / O2 ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ 5 kg Fuel centiburns Batteries ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ 6 kg

1/2 hours (1 day if nighttime, active cooling or Ceres+) 25 m/s ΔV ½/2 hours; Li = 3, Au = 6, Thin Li / AA= 9, Li S = 7½, Ultra = 2
 Roll Rigid △ Disabled ✓⃝ ◯ Damaged Crew portraits Call sign Year of Birth
Head 0/6 △◯◯ Remain prone Unconscious Nationality Pronouns
Chest 1 △◯◯* Unable to talk Unable to talk Languages ☆
Arms 2 △◯◯ No weapons Only sidearms

y
da
Guts 3 △◯◯ No cover Slow blood loss Emergency Contact Nickname Skill 5

ch
un
Legs 4 △◯◯ Falls down Halve move Parent 1 Nickname Nationality

La
Back 5 △◯◯ Cannot move Halve perm. load Parent 2 Nickname Nationality
Physical damage is applied to the location rolled on the above table. Siblings Nickname Nickname
▼ Resistance if Rigid Resistance if Rigid
Bomb Stab Nickname Nickname

Fold here - back cover

Fold here - front cover
Crash N/A Acid
Gas immune if SCUBA or suit Beam Crew Position Position Archetype

e
ac
sp
Gun +1 Bolt Service Record Service history

n
si
ar
Melee Fire Year Service history (continued)

ye
30
Missile Rad +2 Service risks and/or upgrades
Energy damage is applied to the same location on both tables.
Complicated successes use the table below first.
Roll △ Disabled ✓⃝ Inoperable
Sensors 0/6 △ ◯ Cannot see or use sensors
Comms 1 △ ◯ No spotting No spotting
ay
td

Weapon 2 △ ◯ Jammed Cannot be used

en
em

PLSS 3 △ ◯ Power loss Cooling loss

tir
Re

MU 4 △ ◯ No maneuver Halve fuel

Load out 5 △ ◯ Hits largest item in your load out
96 CHAPTER 5. CREW

Outlooks

Crews start with High outlook matching the mission control BSU, modified by their dispositions; except
Purple MCSUs start with a Low Purple outlook instead of High. Unaligned individuals draw 2 cards, and use
Purple instead of the suit for the second outlook if both card suits match. Mission control contacts and
encountered groups determine their first outlook as below, and draw a card for their second outlook: if it
matches the BSU the second outlook is Purple instead.
Perspective
BSU (Suit) (Emotion) Degree (Card) Outlook Level
First outlook matches the BSU with a face card value of 1D6+7.
Minimal (Ace) Self-made 1
Low (2-5) Jack-of-all-trades 2
Family, Friends Moderate (No spades♠) Balanced 3
White (Spades♠)
(Fear) High (6-10) Team Player 4
Very High (Jack, Queen) Faithful 5
Extreme (King) Dogmatic 6
Minimal (Ace) Contrarian 1
Low (2-5) Eccentric 2
Hierarchy Moderate (No clubs♣) Balanced 3
Red (Clubs♣)
(Anger) High (6-10) Duty bound 4
Very High (Jack, Queen) Type A 5
Extreme (King) Machiavellian 6
Minimal (Ace) Nihilistic 1
Low (2-5) Cynical 2
Strangers Moderate (No hearts♥) Balanced 3
Green (Hearts♥)
(Happiness) High (6-10) Social 4
Very High (Jack, Queen) Compassionate 5
Extreme (King) Selfless 6
Minimal (Ace) Self-destructive 1
Low (2-5) Easy going 2
Orange Moderate (No diamonds♦) Balanced 3
Self (Jealousy)
(Diamonds♦) High (6-10) Competitive 4
Very High (Jack, Queen) Systematic 5
Extreme (King) Uncompromising 6
First outlook matches the BSU with a face card value of 1D6.
Minimal (Ace) Close-minded 1
Low (2-5) Prescriptive 2
The Natu-
Moderate (No matches) Balanced 3
Purple (Matching) ral World
High (6-10) Flexible 4
(Curiosity)
Very High (Jack, Queen) Open-minded 5
Extreme (King) Chaotic 6
Chapter 6

D em ographi c s
98 CHAPTER 6. DEMOGRAPHICS

The demographics of the world of 2040 continues to change from our own, but is still close enough in
the future to resemble the world of now. The following demographics tables can be used to generate the
nationality, gender, ethnicity and languages of anyone found in space and many people on Earth, in an
attempt to provide more diversity for the ‘international crew’ trope in science fiction.
Be aware the demographic data used to create these rolls is not necessarily accurate and reflects specific
national concerns - skin colour in Brazil and South Africa, ancestry in countries with large numbers of
immigrants, social unification in several second world countries, such as Thailand - as well as statistical
simplification and approximation. Crew and mission control demographics are weighted by national GDP
figures, and colony demographics are weighted by overall population figures using 2015 census figures
where available. This creates a number of issues in itself where countries with higher total GDP, such as
Australia, are represented while countries with higher populations, such as Ghana and Yemen, are not. This
is even worse when you consider the figures these were compiled from includes populations at all ages,
whereas more accurate figures might have a cut off over a certain age (such as 25) which would be too old
to be considered as crew in 2040.
Much smaller populations are represented on the ethnicities table within the possible nations. But some
ethnic groups with small populations in many countries (such as Jews and Romani) remain missing as they
never achieve the minimum percentage used to represent an ethnic subgroup within any of the represented
nations.

Nationalities
Crew and mission control contact nationalities will match the mission control nationality on a 2D6 roll
less than or equal to the nationality mix number determined by the mission control or faction BSU. In the
Crewed Rules, this will be 2 if the mission control or faction is Red, 3 if White, 4 if Green, 5 if Purple and 6 if
Orange. If you roll over this number for any crew member or mission control contact, you should roll on
the Crew Nationalities table on the facing page to determine the nationality.
If a mission control type lists multiple nationalities, then roll 1D6 to determine which nation the crew
member comes from if the first roll is equal to or lower than the nationality mix number.

Space Agency The Space Agency column determines the organization that your Mission Control and
crew belongs to if the Mission Control is a National Space Agency.

Colonist Nationalities
Use the Colonist Nationalities table on page 100 to determine the nationality of any Colonist payload and
colonists encountered as well as the nationality of any contacts you begin the game with other than your
Mission Control contacts.
NATIONALITIES 99

Crew Nationalities

Roll 1D6 and use the roll 1 column to resolve it. If there is a dice roll indicated in brackets, make the roll
and use the roll 2 column to resolve it. On a result of 6 for roll 1, use the Colonist Nationalities table on the
following page one third of the time instead (1-2 on 1D6). United States regional launch sites: Roll 1D6. 1:
White Sands Missile Range. 2: Nevada Test and Training Range. 3: Mojave Air and Space Port, California. 4:
Spaceport America, Upham, New Mexico. 5: Pacific Missile Range Facility, Hawaii. 6: Wallops Flight Facility,
Delmarva Peninsula, Virginia.
Roll 1 Roll 2 Nation Space Agency Regional Launch Site
1 China CNSA Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
2 United States NASA See above note
Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR),
1-2 India ISRO Andhra Pradesh
Tanegashima Space Center, Tanegashima
3-4 Japan JAXA Island
3 (1D6)
5 Germany DLR Zingst
6 Russia ROSCOSMOS Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Arkhangelsk Oblast
Natal/Barreira or Alcântara Launch Center,
1 Brazil AEB Maranhão
2 Indonesia LAPAN Lapan Space Center, Tjulitan
3 France CNES Ile de Levant
4 (1D6)
4 United Kingdom UKSA South Uist
5 Mexico AEM Santiago Ixcuintla
6 Italy ASI Salto di Quirra
2 South Africa SANSA Overberg South African Test Centre
3 Taiwan NSPO Haiqian
Qom Space Center (1, 3) or Emam Shahr
4 Iran ISA Space Center (2, 4) or Semnan (5-6)
5 Spain INTA El Arenosillo
6 Saudi Arabia KACST-SRI None
5 (2D6) 7 South Korea KARI Naro Space Center, Goheung
8 Canada CSA Fort Churchill, Manitoba
9 Turkey TUBITAK UZAY None
10 Australia CSIRO Woomera Test Range
11 Thailand GISTDA None
12 Bangladesh SPARRSO None
Below here, use the colonist nationalities table one third of the time instead (1-2 on 1D6).
3 Belgium BIRA None
4 Iraq None (PASA) Al-Anbar Test Centre
5 Venezuela ABAE None
United Arab
6 Emirates MBRSC None
7 Philippines PSA None
8 Netherlands NSO None
Jabal Hamzah ballistic missile test and
9 Egypt NARSS launch facility
10 Poland POLSA Leba-Rabka
11 Nigeria NASRDA None
6 (3D6) 12 Argentina CoNAE Punta Indio
Sonmiani Satellite Launch Center, Las Bela,
Balochistan or Tilla Satellite Launch Center,
13 Pakistan SUPARCO Jhelum District, Punjab
14 Malaysia ANGKASA None
15 Colombia CCE None
16 Algeria ASAL Reggane
17 Vietnam VAST-STI None
18 Switzerland SSO None
100 CHAPTER 6. DEMOGRAPHICS

Colonist Nationalities

Roll 1D6 then 2D6 to determine colonist nationality.

Roll 1 Roll 2 Nation
1 2-12 China
2 2-12 India
2 Canada
3 Argentina
4 Colombia
5-6 United States
7 Brazil
3
8 Mexico
9 Germany
10 United Kingdom
11 Spain
12 Peru
2 Venezuela
3 Ukraine
4 Italy
5 Egypt
6 Russia
4 7 Pakistan
8 Philippines
9 Turkey
10 France
11 Poland
12 Uzbekistan
2 Morocco
3 Algeria
4 South Korea
5-6 Indonesia
7 Bangladesh
5
8 Vietnam
9 Thailand
10 Myanmar
11 Iraq
12 Malaysia
2 Afghanistan
3 Kenya
4 Tanzania
5 Democratic Republic of the Congo
6 Japan
6 7 Nigeria
8 Ethiopia
9 Iran
10 South Africa
11 Sudan
12 Uganda
ETHNICITY AND LANGUAGES 101

Ethnicity and Languages

Use the Ethnicities and Languages table on page 105 to determine the ethnicity of a crew member or
colonist and the languages spoken.

Ethnicity
For ethnicity, roll as described on the entry. If an ethnicity is given as Asian/Other Asian, reroll on the
Nationality table until you get a South or East Asian result. Apply a similar process for ‘European/Other
European’ or ‘African/Other African’ results.
In the 21st century, a crew member’s Capital has much more influence on them than their ethnicity although,
to paraphrase Guns, Germs and Steel, rich people are the same everywhere but the poor are poor for a
variety of different reasons.

Languages
For languages, roll 1D6 to determine the language(s) spoken by a crew member colonist and compare with
the language ranges provided. All crew also speak English.
The lingua franca of space is the first language listed for whichever faction builds the first factory. This
will be spoken as a second language on colonies or words from it adopted as a part of the pidgin spoken
between spacecraft dwellers and colonists. After a generation in any colony (24 years or two solar cycles)
creole languages will have developed from the parent tongues of the colony and this language.

Gender
Use the Gender table on the following page to determine your gender. Your gender may help determine
your public and personal pronouns – for pronoun systems which have gendered markers – and having a
male gender makes you vulnerable to space blindness.

Weird poorly contextualized game designer comment: Note that gender doesn’t follow the normal
BSU order: it uses the order normally associated with higher toposophic levels discussed in the A Lot
of Zeroes supplement.

Postgender If the Space Politics is Orange and the era is Exoglobalization or later, any gender character-
istics you choose to express do not impact your health, income or social interactions with others.

Robot Gender Robots are Genderless if they have a consciousness capability of less than 6. Use result
15+ if they have a consciousness capability of 6 or higher.
102 CHAPTER 6. DEMOGRAPHICS

Genders

Roll 2D6 and add +1 if Chinese or Albanian prior to the Colonization era, +2 if Polynesian, Mexican, In-
dian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi prior to the Colonization era, +2 if the Colonization era (2055-2069), +4 if
Exoglobalization (2070-2084), +6 if Futures (2085-2099) or +8 if the Directions era (2100+).
Roll Gender
2-10 Even numbers = Female
Odd numbers = Male
Female if Christian Indian (if Indian, will be Christian on a roll of 12 on 2D6) or North Korean; Cis
Male if Chinese or any Baseline or Upported except Albanian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Mexican
11 or Polynesian; Male if Albanian; otherwise roll 1D6. 1-4: Female, 5-6: Male
12-14 Roll 1D6. 1-2: Female, 3-4: Male, 5: Demi. 6: Agender.
Crew may either choose or roll 2D6 for their gender. 2-3: Male. 4: Female. 5: Demi. 6: Eusocial
(Red). 7: Public Agender (Purple). 8: Genderfluid (Green). 9: Gender Multimorph (White). 10:
Genderless (Orange). 11+: Matching the current space politics, using Red if War and Purple if
15+ Anarchy.

Agender You have no presentation of male or fe- separate species. This may not be physically appar-
male gender characteristics. Your decision to do so ent because it is enforced through a strict program
is important to you. of social control rather than exaggeration of physical
characteristics. Roll 1D6 twice, choosing the low-
Demi You have determined you wish to present est result and adding one for the number of gender
your choice of a mix of male, female and agender morphs. Roll 1D6 for the gender of each morph. 1:
presentation. Female. 2: Male. 3: Demi. 4: Surrogate. 5: Agender.
6: Dispersive or Transitioning.
Eusocial Your are more closely related to your
siblings than your parents. While some eusocieties Genderfluid You choose what gender traits you
have almost all members of the eusociety be one express. It takes roughly an hour of rest to change
gender, others such as termites have a mix of two one of these traits or a day if done gradually while
genders in equal proportions. remaining active.

Female Women are generally better suited to Male Male crews and colonists suffer from a high
space exploration than men; in addition to the incidence of space blindness in microgravity environ-
health and equipment complications men suffer ments. They also suffer significant discomfort when
from, smaller crew members also consume less food using skintight spacesuits. Male crew include both
and water and require less waste recycled. Female cis and trans males, which are not distinguished in
crew include both cis and trans females, which are the rules. If it is important to you to determine this
not distinguished in the rules. If it is important to you for your crew background, crew will be trans male
to determine this for your crew background, crew half the time if the first 2D6 roll is 11+; otherwise the
will be trans female half the time if the first 2D6 roll is crew member will be cis male.
11+; otherwise the crew member will be cis female.
Public Agender You do not express any gender
Genderless You never express gender traits be- characteristics when in public. This might be be-
cause gender is unimportant to you. cause you dress to conceal your gender when in pub-
lic or because you can choose a different body shape
Gender Multimorphism You are one of a prede- between the public and private spheres of your life.
termined number of possible genders and these gen- Roll again for your private gender, treating this result
ders have diverged enough that they are effectively as Agender.
PRONOUNS 103

Pronouns
At the start of each era, society changes the system of preferred third person pronouns called public
pronouns. This is partly because gender expressivity increases as a result of technological advances but
also because of the concept of self changes as a result of technological and social pressures.
Roll 1D6, -1 if the Space Politics is Red or War, +1 if the Space Politics is White or Anarchy, +3 if the Space
Politics is Green, +5 if the Space Politics is Purple or +7 if the Space Politics is Orange for the new public
pronouns.

Preferred Pronouns You choose your preferred pronoun and can freely change it at any point in the
game (but not retrospectively). Your gender typically determines your preferred pronoun, but the era-
determined public pronouns determines whether or not the social conventions will use it. Feel free to
explore changing your preferred pronoun throughout the game, especially if you become a being containing
multiple conscious minds. Your fellow crew should always respect your preferred pronoun in private
conversations.

Robot Pronouns Robots with a consciousness capability of 10 or higher can choose their pronouns
normally. Robots with a consciousness capability of 6-9 and will have a preferred pronoun, determined
by their robot outlook roll of 1D6. 1: Functional (Red or War, prefers pronouns: It/It/Its/Its/Itself). This
AI puts function ahead of its need to express itself. 2: Personal (White or Anarchy, prefers pronouns
He/Him/His/His/Himself if a military robot and She/Her/Her/Hers/Herself otherwise). This AI prioritizes
quality of human interactions as long as you don’t question or try to understand its motives. 3: Poetic
(Green, prefers pronouns: You/You/Your/Yours/Yourself). The AI expresses an alien artistry. 4: Congress
(Purple, prefers They-plural pronouns: They/Them/Their/Theirs/Themselves). The AI consists of multiple
internal voices. 5: Rational (Orange, roll 1D6 for the preferred pronoun on the Zie / Zim / Zir / Zis / Zieself
Neutral pronouns table). The AI acts like the ultimate rational being. 6: Inconsistent. The AI changes its
personality based on external stimulus, the personality of the person or organization it is dealing with and
other random factors. Roll the personality for any interaction, with this result being replaced by the result
matching the space politics.

First Person Pronouns Italic entries indicate that the same pronouns are adopted for first person con-
versations as well as third.

Roll Public Pronouns self and We/Us/Our/Ours/Ourselves merge the

-0 I / Me / My / Mine / Myself first and third person so they are no longer distin-
1 We / Us / Our / Ours / Ourselves guished, suggesting a partial or complete erasure
2 It / It / Its / Its / Itself of individual accountability, replace by collective
Hehe or sheshe / Himhim or herher /
responsibility and identity.
Hishis or herher / Hishis or hershers /
3 Himhimself or herherself
4 He / Him / His / His / Himself It / It / Its / Its / Itself pronouns erase individual-
(s)He / H(er)im / H(er)is / H(er)is / ity in a different way, rendering the other a mindless
5 H(er)imself object rather than an individual. If this result is rolled,
6 One / One / One’s / One’s / Oneself roll for a second public pronoun for how in-faction in-
He or she / Him or her / His or her / His dividuals refer to themselves as distinct to outsiders.
7 or hers / Himself or herself The BSU determines what is considered in-faction
8 Guy / Guy / Guy’s / Guy’s / Guyself versus out of faction.
9 They / Them / Their / Their / Themself
10 n / n / n’s / n’s / N-self
Name / Name / Name’s / Name’s / Hehe or sheshe / Himhim or herher / Hishis or
11 Name-self herher / Hishis or hershers / Himhimself or her-
12+ Zie / Zim / Zir / Zis / Zieself herself pronouns are used by gender anxious so-
I/Me/My/Mine/Myself, You/You/Your/Your/Your- cieties to stress the differences between genders. In
104 CHAPTER 6. DEMOGRAPHICS

some instances, the number of hes and shes may “Your guy” means me and “Guys” is the you plural
literally match the number of X and Y chromosomes usage and is ambiguous as to whether it includes
the individuals has (especially where XYY and XXX the speaker or not. “These guys” and “those guys”
chromosomal individuals are idealized; 1 in 6 ), but are for third person usage with proximity markers.
usually one of the pronouns is used to indicate the in-
dividual’s gender presentation and the other the “bi- n / n / n’s / n’s / N-self Multiple mind individu-
ological gender”, whatever that means. If the Space als and poly pods emphasise the correct plurality
Politics is White, mixed gender pronouns are discrim- of their group. They will also use the same forms
inated against. for first person singular and plural, erasing the dif-
ference between themselves and the group they be-
He / Him / His / His / Herself pronouns are pre- long to. Use the number of crew or roll 1D6 to see
sented as the traditional default pronoun while in how big such a group is if it is not otherwise deter-
reality being a recent invention. Individual preferred mined.
pronouns are not recognised, except where they fit Roll Multiple Pronouns
traditional gender roles: if this is the case, an indi- 1 One/One/One’s/One’s/Oneself
vidual’s public pronoun is their preferred pronoun. 2 Two/Two/Two’s/Two’s/Twoself
3 Three/Three/Three’s/Three’s/Threeself
4 Four/Four/Four’s/Four’s/Fourself
(s)He / H(er)im / H(er)is / H(er)is / H(er)imself
5 Five/Five/Five’s/Five’s/Fiveself
pronoun societies determine the pronoun choice
6 Six/Six/Six’s/Six’s/Sixself
by the status of the individual rather than their pre-
ferred pronoun. Low status individuals inherit what
is viewed as the “weaker” pronoun, traditionally the They / Them / Their / Their / Themself pro-
feminine pronoun, while higher status individuals nouns indicate a willingness to engage with pre-
have the “stronger” pronoun, typically masculine. ferred pronouns without adopting a gender inclusive
High status individuals may include those belong- interpretation. They-singular allows for private gen-
ing to the ruling class or associated careers (mili- der expression which does not publicly intrude on
tary if the Space Politics is Red, religious if White, others: if gender is publicly expressed, then the pre-
labour if Green, political if Purple or commercial if ferred pronoun will be used instead of They-singular.
Orange) and low status individuals often includes The individual can choose whether their public pro-
non-sentient entities such as spacecraft, smart de- noun is their preferred pronoun.
vices and robots.
Name / Name / Name’s / Name’s / Name-self
One / one / one’s / one’s / oneself pronouns are pronouns are used by speakers objectifying name-
archaic and suggests formal social structures which selves; turning nameself into a brand rather than
ignore or suppress concerns about gender equality. a person. Each speaker replaces the “name” with
the given name of the person they are referring to.
If they refer to themselves this way, it is known as
He or she / Him or her / His or her / His or hers /
illeism, but trade mark requirements may mean that
Himself or herself stress the importance of indi-
other individuals cannot be legally referred to by any
vidual pronoun preferences and will include recog-
reference other than their proper name.
nition of the pronoun preferences at the start of any
conversation. However they have difficulty adopt-
ing pronouns that they have not previously encoun- Zie / Zim / Zir / Zis / Zieself and similar pronouns
tered and struggle to escape the ideological under- are gender inclusive and self-selected. An individ-
pinnings of traditional pronoun associations. The in- ual’s public pronoun is their preferred pronoun al-
dividual’s public pronoun is typically their preferred though gendered pronouns are typically regarded
pronoun. as immature or transient fashions. Roll 1D6 for the
preferred form if required.
Roll Neutral Pronouns
Guy / Guy / Guy’s / Guy’s / Guyself pronouns
1 Zie / Zim / Zir / Zis / Zieself
were historically gendered but continued language
2 Sie / Sie / Hir / Hirs / Hirself
evolution has meant these genders are largely lin-
3 Ey / Em / Eir / Eirs / Eirself
guistic artifacts and are not associated with any spe-
4 Ve / Ver / Vis / Vers / Verself
cific attributes or positive or negative connotations.
5 Tey / Ter / Tem / Ters / Terself
Guy pronouns affect all pronoun use, not just first
6 E / Em / Eir / Eirs / Emself
person pronoun use: “My guy” means you (singular),
PRONOUNS 105

Ethnicities and Languages

Nation Ethnicity Languages

Roll 2D6. Roll 2D6. 2: Roll 1D6. Aimaq (1-4) Native language (Dari if Aimaq, Hazara or
or Baloch (5-6). 3: Hazara. 4: Uzbek. 5-8: Tajik). Dari <=4. Pashto = 5. Another
Pashtun. 9-10. Tajik. 11: Roll 1D6. Hazara language = 6. Roll 1D6 if another language.
Afghanistan (1-3) or Other (4-6). 12: Roll 1D6. Turkmen 1-2: English. 3: Urdu. 4-6: Uzbek.
(SGAC) (1-4) or Other (5-6).
Algerian Arabic ≤5. Berber ≥5. Roll a
Roll 2D6. 2: Arabic. 3: Turkish. 4: Berber. second 1D6. 1: French and English. 2:
Algeria 5-12: Arab-Berber French. 3-4: No additional languages.
2-7: Mestizo, 8-9: European ancestry, 10:
Arab or Asian ancestry, 11: Foreign born.
Roll 2D6: Brazil (2), Uruguay (3), Peru (4), Ethnic language ≤5 if Foreign born or
Chile (5), Paraguay (6 or 8), Bolivia (7), Amerindian. Roll 2D6 for each of the
Colombia (9), Italy (10), Spain (11), Other following. Spanish ≤11. English ≤6.
(12). 12: Amerindian. Roll 2D6: Guaraní (2), Ancestral language if not Mestizo,
Mapuche (3-5), Kolla(6), Other (7 or 9-10), Amerindian or Foreign born ≤4.
Argentina Qom (8), Wichí (11), Diaguita (12), Portuguese ≤3.
Roll 2D6 for ancestry. 2-5: Australian. 6-7:
English. 8: Irish or Italian. 9: Scottish or
German. 10: Roll 1D6. Chinese (1-3),
Indian (4), Greek (5) or Dutch (6). 11: Roll
1D6. Filipino (1), Vietnamese (2), Lebanese
(3), Polish (4), Maltese (5) or Maori (6). 12: English. If not Australian, ancestral
Australia Indigenous Australian. language ≤1.
Roll 2D6. 2-11: Bengali (speaks Bangla).
12: Roll 2D6. Garo (2-3), Rohingya (4),
Chakma (5), Bihari (6), Other (7), Bengali Ethnic language. English ≤1. Arabic ≥6. If
Bangladesh (8-12, speaks Bangla). not Bengali, Bengali on 2, 4, 6.
Roll 2D6 ancestry. 2: Roll 1D6. Belgian
(1-4, speaks French) or German (5-6). 3:
Roll 1D6. Italian (1-4) or Moroccan (5-6).
4-7: Flemish (speaks Dutch). 8-10:
Walloon (speaks French). 11: Roll 1D6.
Turkish (1), Dutch (2), French (3),
Portuguese (4), Spanish (5) or Greek (6).
12: Bosnian (1), Algerian (2), Congolese (3), Ancestral language. French ≤4, Dutch if
Belgium Vietnamese (4), Polish (5) or Indian (6). not Walloon == 5, Dutch ≥6.
Roll 1D6. 1-3: Brancos, 4-6: Other
ancestry, roll 3D6. 2-12: Pardos, 13-15: If Indigenous: Portuguese ≤4, Ethnic
Brazil Prestos, 16-17: Amarelos, 18: Indigenous. language ≥2; otherwise Portuguese.
Roll 2D6 for ancestry: 2: Indigenous, roll
2D6. First Nations (2-7, 12), Metis (8-10) or
Inuit (11). 3: German. 4: Scottish. 5:
French. 6: English. 7: Roll 1D6. Italian(1).
Chinese (2). Ukrainian (3). East Indian (4).
Dutch (5). Polish (6). 8-9: Roll 2D6.
Canadian (2-11). American (12). 10: Irish.
11-12: Roll 1D6. Filipino (1). Russian (2). English ≤5 (or French if Metis). French ≥5.
Welsh (3). Norwegian (4). Metis (5). Other Roll 1D6 for Ancestral language on a roll of
Canada European (6). 1.
106 CHAPTER 6. DEMOGRAPHICS

Nation Ethnicity Languages

Putonghua (Mandarin) ≥2, Other Chinese
Roll 2D6, if 2-10: Han, 11+ Minority, roll language ≤2: Roll 2D6. 2: Huizhou, 3:
2D6. 2: Tibetan, 3: Yi, 4: Uyghur, 5: Hui, 6: Hakka, 4-5: Min, 6: Jin, 7: Yue, 8-9: Wu, 10:
Zhuang, 7-8: Other, 9: Manchu, 10: Miao, Xiang, 11: Gan, 12: Pinghua. If not Han:
China 11: Tujia, 12: Mongol Minority language (≥5)
Roll 2D6. 2-3: Roll 2D6. White (2-11) or Spanish. If Afro-Colombian, English creole
Roma (12), 4-7: Mestizo, 8: Roll 2D6. ≤1, Spanish creole ≥6. If Amerindian, roll
Colombia Afro-colombian (2-8) or Amerindian (9-12), 2D6. Paez (2), Wayuu (3), Other (4-11),
(CCE) 9-12: White Embera (12).
Roll 2D6. 2-3: Roll 1D6. Mangbetu-Azande
Democratic (1-5) or Pygmy (6), 4: Kongo, 5: Central
Republic of Sudanic or Nilotic people, 6: Mongo, 7: Ethnic language. Roll 2D6 for each of
the Congo Roll 2D6. Luba (2-10) or Kongo (11-12), French ≤7, Swahili ≤6, Lingala ≤4, Kituba
(AfriSpace) 8-12: Other Bantu tribe. ≤3, Luba-Kasai ≤3.
Roll 2D6. 2: Coptic (speaks Sa’idi Arabic),
3-6: Egyptian (speaks Sa’idi Arabic), 7-10:
Egyptian (speaks Egyptian Arabic), 11:
Coptic (speaks Egyptian Arabic), 12: Roll
1D6. Bedouin (1-3, speaks Bedouin
Arabic). Beja (4, speaks Sudanese Arabic),
Dom (speaks Domari) (5), Nubian (speaks Ethnic language. Arabic ≤5. English ≤2.
Egypt Nobiin) (6). French = 2.
Roll 2D6. 2: Gurage, 3: Sidama (speaks
Sidamo), 4-6: Oromo, 7: Roll 1D6. Wolayta
(1, speaks Wolaytta), Hadiya (2, speaks
Hadiyya), Afar (3), Gamo (4), Silte (5) or
Kafficho (6, speaks Kafa), 8: Somali or
Ethiopia Tigray (speaks Tigrinya), 9-12: Amhara
(AfriSpace) (speaks Amharic). Ethnic language. Arabic ≤1. Amharic ≥6.
French ≤5, Ancestral language ≥5 if
non-European, Ancestral language = 6 if
Roll 2D6 for ancestry. 2: Greek (1-3) or European. French as a second language
German (4-6), 3: Spanish, 4: Portuguese on a second roll of 1-4 if not first language.
(1-3) or Polish (4-6), 5-8: French, 9: North If an Ancestral French language user,
African, 10: Italian, 11: Other African, 12: either: Alsatian (1-2), Occitan (3-4) or Oil
Turkish (1-3), Caribean (4-5) or Other language (5-6). North African ancestral
France French territories (6) language is Arabic.
Roll 1D6, 1-5: German, 6: Non-German
ancestry, Roll 2D6. 2: Romanian, 3: Italian,
4: Russian, 5: Polish, 6: Other EU, 7: If non-German ancestry, German ≤5,
Former Yugoslavian, 8-9: Turkish, 10: Ancestral language ≥3; otherwise
Germany Nigerian or Ghanaian,11: Arabic, 12: Greek German.
Roll 1D6. 1-3: Hindi. 4-6: Other, roll 2D6. 2:
Punjabi, 3: Malayalam, 4: Gujarati, 5:
Tamil, 6: Telugu, 7: Bengali, 8: Marathi, 9: Ethnic language. Roll ≤3 on 2D6 for
India Urdu, 10: Kannada, 11: Odia, 12: Maithili. English.
Roll 2D6. 2-6: Javanese, 7: Sudanese, 8:
Sumatran (Batak: 1-2, Minangkabau: 3,
Malay: 4, Other: 5-6), 9: Banjarese (1),
Acehnese (2), Balinese (3), Borneo (4), East
Nusa Tenggara (5), Other (6), 10: Sulawesi
(Buginese: 1-2, Other: 3-6) 11: Madurese
(1-3), Betawi (4-5), Chinese (6) 12: Papuan
Indonesia (1-2), Sasak (3-4), Dyak (5-6) Ethnic language ≥2, Indonesian ≤4.
PRONOUNS 107

Nation Ethnicity Languages

Roll 2D6. 2: Turkman or Baluch, 3-5: Azeri,
6-8: Persian, 9: Kurd, 10: Gilaki or
Iran Mazandarani, 11: Lur, 12: Arabic Ethnic language ≥2. Persian ≤3.
Roll 2D6. 2: Roll 1D6. Turkmen (1-4) or Roll 2D6. 2: Roll 1D6. Turkmen (1-4) or
Shabak (5+), 3-8: Roll 3D6. Marsh Arab (3), Shabak (5+), 3-8: Roll 3D6. Marsh Arab (3),
Bedouin (4-6). Iraqi Arab (7+), 9-10: Roll Bedouin (4-6). Iraqi Arab (7+), 9-10: Roll
2D6. Yazidis (2-3) or Kurd (4+). 11-12: Roll 2D6. Yazdis (2-3) or Kurd (4+). 11-12: Roll
1D6. Assyrian (1, speaks Neo Aramaic) or 1D6. Assyrian (1, speaks Neo Aramaic) or
Iraq Afro-Iraqis (2+). Afro-Iraqis (2+).
Roll 2D6. 2-10: Italian, 11-12: Other, roll
2D6. 2: Chinese, 3: Latin American, 4: If not Italian: Italian ≤5, Ancestral
Albanian, 5: Other Asian, 6: North African, language ≥5. Otherwise Italian. Italian as
7: European, 8-9: Romanian, 10: Sub a second language on a second roll of 1-4
Italy Saharan African, 11: Ukranian, 12: Polish. if not first language.
Roll 3D6: 3-4 Hisabetsu Buraku, 5-16 Japanese. If Ryukyuan, 3-5: Okinawan
Japan Japanese, 17-18 Ryukyuan. Japanese, 6: Ryukyuan.
Roll 2D6. 2: Uzbek. 3: Russian. 4: Roll 1D6.
Kazakhstan Ukrainian (1-2), Uygur (3-4), Tatar (5) or Kazakh ≤5. Ethnic language ≥4. Russian
(SRI) German (6). 5-9: Kazakh. 10-12: Russian. on 2, 4, 6.
Roll 2D6. 2: Mijikena, 3: Other African, 4:
Somali, 5: Kamba, 6: Kalenjin 7: Kikuyyu,
Kenya 8: Luhya, 9: Luo, 10: Other African, 11: Ethnic language. Roll 2D6 for additional
(AfriSpace) Kisii, 12: Meru. language(s): 2-6: Swahili, 3 or 10: English.
Roll 2D6. 2-5: Han Chinese, 6-7 Malay,
Peninsula, 8: Other Malay, 9: Roll 1D6.
Other Asian (1-5) or Other European (6),
10: Roll 2D6. Nepalese (2-3), Straits Ethnic language except roll 2D6 if Han
Chinese (4), Malay, Eastern Malaysia (5), Chinese. 2: Northern Min, 3-5: Hokkien, 6:
Iban (6 or 8), Filipino (7), Other Indian (9), Teochew, 7: Cantonese. 8-9: Hakka, 10-11:
Tausug (10), Dusun Central (11-12), 11: Mandarin, 12: Hainanese. Roll 3D6 = 3 for
Malaysia Tamil, 12: Indonesian English.
Roll 1D6. 1-5: Mexican, 6: Roll 2D6. 2-5:
Mexican, 6: Other Indigenous, 7: Nahua, 8:
Maya, 9: Zapotec, 10: Mixtec, 11: Otomi, If Indigenous: Spanish ≤5, Indigenous
Mexico 12: Totonac language ≥4. Otherwise Spanish.
Roll 2D6. 2-5: Berber. 6-11: Arab-Berber
(Speaks Moroccan Arabic). 12: Roll 1D6.
Arab-Berber (1-3, speaks Moroccan
Arabic), Arab-Berber (4, speaks Hassani Ethnic language. Moroccan Arabic ≤4.
Morocco Arabic), Other European (5), Other African Arabic ≤2. Also roll ≤4 on 1D6 for each of
(CRTS) (6). French, English and ≤1 for Spanish.
Roll 2D6. 2: Chinese, 3-8: Bamar (speaks
Burmese), 9: Roll 1D6. Rakhine (1-2),
Myanmar Rohingya (3), Mon (4), Kachin (5), Indian Ethnic language. Burmese ≤1. Roll 2D6.
(None) (6), 10: Shan, 11: Kayin, 12: Other. English ≤3.
Roll 1D6 for ancestry. 2: Other, 3-9: Dutch.
10: Roll 1D6. Turkish (1), Indonesian
Dutch (2), Moroccan (3), Surinamese (4) or Dutch. English ≤5. Ancestral language
Other (5-6). 11: European. 12: Roll 1D6. ≥5. Roll 1D6 for French (1-4). Roll 1D6 for
European (1-2), Caribbean (3-4), Chinese German (1-2). Roll 2D6. 9: Dutch Low
Netherlands (5) or Iraqi (6). Saxon. 11: Limburgish. 12: Frisian.
108 CHAPTER 6. DEMOGRAPHICS

Nation Ethnicity Languages

Roll 2D6. 2: Igala, 3:Tiv, 4: Kanuri or Ibibio,
5: Ijaw, 6: Hausa-Fulani, 7: Igbo, 8:
Hausa-Fulani, 9-10: Yoruba, 11-12: Roll
2D6. Efik (2), Isoko (3), Itsekiri (4), Gbagyi Ethnic language. English ≤3. Second
(6), Idoma (5 or 7), Urhobo (8), Nupe ethnic language 3, 4 or 5 (roll 2D6 again
Nigeria (9-11), Anaang (12). on ethnicity column for language).
North Korea
(Kcost) Korean (ethnically homogenous). Korean.
Roll 2D6. 2: Hindkowan (1-3, speak
Hindko dialect of Punjabi) or Brahui (4-6),
3-6: Punjab, 7: Pashto, 8: Sindhi (4-6), 9:
Saraiki, 10: Muhajirs (speaks Urdu), 11-12:
Balochi (1-3), Afghan refugee (4) or Other
Pakistan (5-6) Ethnic language. Urdu ≤4. English 4 or 5.
Roll 2D6. 2-6: Amerindian. 7: Roll 1D6.
Spanish (1-2), Italian (3), British (4), French Spanish ≤5. Quechua ≥6 except use
(5), other European (6). 8-11: Mestizo. 12: ancestral language on a second roll of 6
Peru Roll 1D6. Chinese (1-2), Japanese (3-4), and for this with Amerindian ancestry use
(CONIDA) other Asian (5), Afro-Peruvian (6). Aymara.
Roll 2D6. 2-5: Tagalog, 6-7: Visayan. Roll
2D6 for Masbateño (2), Waray (3-4),
Cebuano (5-8), Hiligaynon (9-10),
Kinaray-a (11), or Alkano (12), 8-9: Roll
2D6 for Other Asian (2), Zamboangueño
(3), Pangasinan (4), Indigenous Filipino (5) Ethnic language. Filipino ≤4. Roll 2D6 for
or Other Filipino (6-12), 10: Ilocano, 11: each of the following. English ≤11.
Philippines Bikol, 12: Kapampangang. Tagalog ≤5. Spanish ≤2.
2: Roll 1D6. Silesian (1-5) or Kashubian (6),
3-11: Polish, 12: Roll 2D6. Vietnamese (2),
Belarusian (3), Other (4-8), Ukrainian (9), Ethnic language. Polish ≤4 or if Silesian
Poland German (10-12). or Kashubian. English ≤2.
Roll 1D6, 1-5: Russian, 6: Other ancestry,
roll 2D6. 2: Mordvin, 3: Armenian, 4:
Chechen, 5: Bashkir, 6-7: Other, 8-9: Tatar, If non-Russian, Russian, Ancestral
Russia 10: Ukrainian, 11: Chuvash, 12: Azeri language ≥3; otherwise Russian.
Roll 2D6. 2: Yemeni, 3: Roll 2D6.
Bangladeshi(2-5), Indonesian (6), Ethnic language (all except Arab or
Jordanian/Palestinian (7), Sudanese (8), Afro-asian). If Arab or Afro-asian: Hijazi
Filipino (9-12), 4-8: Arab, 9: Afro-Asian, 10: Arabic ≤2. Najdi Arabic 3-5. Modern
Indian or Pakistani, 11: Roll 2D6. Myanmar Standard Arabic 2, 4, 5 or 6. On a roll of 6,
(2-4), Sri Lankan (5-6), Afro-Asian (7), roll 2D6 for 3 or less to speak Gulf Arabic
Syrian (8), Madhesi Nepalese (9), Turkish instead of Modern Standard Arabic or
Saudi Arabia (10), Westerners (11-12), 12: Egyptian. both on a roll of 2.
Roll 2D6 if Black. 2: Sesotho or Tshivenda,
3: Sesotho, 4: Sesotho sa Leboa, 5-6:
isiZulu, 7: isiXhosa, 8: Afrikaans, 9: English,
10: Setswana, 11: Xitsonga (1-4) or
isiNdebele (5-6), 12: siSwati. Roll 1D6:
Afrikaans ≤4, English ≥5, Ethnic language
= 4 or 5, Black South African language
(2D6, above) = 3 or 6. White or Coloured
ethnic language is Afrikaans, Black is a
Roll 2D6. 2-3: Coloured, 4: White, 5-11: Black South African language (2D6,
South Africa Black, 12: Indian or Asian. above). Discard duplicates.
PRONOUNS 109

Nation Ethnicity Languages

Roll 2D6. 2-10: Korean. 11-12: Roll 2D6.
Korean (2-8), Asian (9), Chinese (10),
South Korea United States (11), Vietnamese (12). Ethnic language. Korean ≤3.
Roll 2D6 for ancestry. 2-10: Spanish. 11: Ancestral language ≤1. Spanish. Catalan
Roll 1D6. Romanian (1-2). Moroccan (3-4), or Galician ≥6. If Spanish ancestry,
Ecuadorian (5) or United Kingdom (6). 12: ancestral language is (roll 1D6). 1-4:
Roll 1D6. Latin America (1-2). European Catalan. 5-6: Galician. and on a 6, roll a
Spain (3-4). Chinese (5) or Other (6). second 6 for language to be Basque.
Sudan 2-8: Sudanese Arab, 9: Fur, 10: Beja, 11:
(AfriSpace) Nuba, 12: Fallata Ethnic language. Arabic ≤3. English 3 or 4.
Roll 1D6. 2: Swiss. (Roll 1D6 and speaks
Romansh (1) or Italian (2-6)). 3: Swiss
(speaks Italian). 4-5: Swiss (speaks
French). 6-8: Swiss (speaks German). 9-10: Ethnic language ≥2 or if Swiss or no
European. 11: Roll 1D6. European (1). language other than English. English ≥4.
Asian (2-3). African (4). Americas (5-6). 12: Roll 2D6. 2: Italian. 3-6: German. 7:
Switzerland Swiss (speaks French). French. 11: English.
Roll 2D6: 2-9 Han Taiwanese, 10-11:
”Mainland” Chinese (roll on China result),
12: Indigenous, roll 2D6. 2: Rukai, 3: Truku, Taiwanese Hokkien ≤4. Hakka = 5.
4: Other, 5: Bunan, 6: Atayal, 7: Paiwan, Indigenous language ≥6 (Hakka if Han
Taiwan 8-11: Amis, 12: Puyuma Taiwanese). Guoyu (Mandarin).
Roll 2D6. 2: Haya, 3: Chaga (speaks a
variety of Bantu dialects), 4: Nyamwezi,
5-6: Other Bantu tribe, 7: Sakuma, 8-10:
Other Bantu tribe. 11: Other African or
European. 12: Zanzibar inhabitant. Roll Ethnic language. Swahili ≤5. Roll 2D6 < 3
Tanzania again except replace other European with for English. Roll 2D6 < 3 for Arabic on
(AfriSpace) Arab. Reroll this result. Zanzibar.
Roll 2D6. 2-3: Thai (speaks Southern Thai),
4 or 6-7: Thai (speaks Isan), 5: Thai
(speaks Northern Thai), 8-10: Thai (speaks
Central Thai), 11: Khmer (speaks Northern
Thailand Khmer) or Malay (speaks Yawi), 12: Roll
(GISTDA) 1D6. Karen (1-3), Chinese (4-5) or Miao (6). Ethnic language. Central Thai ≤5.
Roll 2D6. 2-8: Turkish, 9: Roll 2D6.
Albanian (2-4), Bosniak (5-6, speaks Ethnic language except if 2 rolled for first
Bosnian), Circassian (7-8, speaks Adyghe if ethnicity roll, roll 1D6. Speaks South
either dice rolled was a 6, otherwise Azerbaijani (1-2) or Balkan Gagauz Turkish
Karbardian), Zaza (9-12, speaks Zazaki), (3) instead of Turkish on a roll of 1-3.
10-11: Kurdish (speaks Kurmanji), 12: Arab English ≤1, Roll 2D6 for French ≤2,
Turkey (speaks Arabic) or Georgian. German ≤2, second ethnic language ≤3.
Ethnic language, English ≥6. Roll 2D6 for
Roll 2D6. 2: Nyora, 3: Other African 4: additional languages: 2-9: Swahili (or
Soga, 5: Nkole. 6: Acholi (1-2) or Gisu (3-4) Luganda if Ganda), 10-11: Ethnic
or Lugabar (5-6) 7: Ganda 8: Kiga or Teso. language is a dialect continuua (roll
Uganda 9-12: Other Ugandan second ethnicity), 12: Runyakitara.
Roll 2D6. 2-4: Russian. 5-10: Ukrainian. 11:
Roll 1D6. Moldavians / Romanians (1), Ethnic language ≤4, Ukranian 5, Russian
Belarusians (2), Crimean Tatars (3), 6. Crimean Tatar, Bulgarians use Russian
Bulgarians (4), Other Eastern European instead of Ukrainian. Belarusian, other
Ukraine (5-6). 12: Roll 1D6. Russian (1) or Eastern European instead use Ethnic
(NSAU) Ukrainian (2-6). language ≤1, Ukranian 2, Russian ≥3.
110 CHAPTER 6. DEMOGRAPHICS

Nation Ethnicity Languages

Roll 2D6. 2-3: Libyan. 4-5: Emirati (speaks
Gulf Arabic). 6: Roll 1D6. Sri Lankan (1),
Afghani (2), Jordanian (3), Syrian (4),
Chinese (5) or Filipino (6). 7: Roll 1D6.
Filipino (1-2), Iranian (3-4) or Egyptian
(5-6). 8: Indian. 9: Roll 1D6. Indian (1-4),
Libyan (5) or Bangladeshi (6). 10:
Bangladeshi. 11: Roll 1D6. Nepalese (1),
United Kingdom (2), Indonesian (3), South Ethnic language. Modern Standard Arabic
United Arab African (4), Moroccan (5) or Ethiopian (6). ≤2 or ≤4 if Emirati. English on 2 or 3. Gulf
Emirates 12: Iraqi or Lebanese. Arabic on 6.
Roll 1D6 for ancestry. 1-5 English, 6: Other.
Roll 1D6. 1: Polish (1-3) or other European
(4-6), 2: Scottish (1-3), Irish (4-5) or Welsh
(6), 3: Indian, 4: Pakistani or Bangladeshi, English ≤5, Ancestral language ≥5.
United 5: African or Caribbean, 6: Chinese or English as a second language on a second
Kingdom other Asian. roll of 1-4 if not first language.
Roll 2D6 for ancestry. 2: French, 3: Polish,
4: Filipino (1), Asian American (2-3) or
Hispanic American (4-6), 5: Mexican, 6:
African American, 7: German, 8: Irish, 9: If ancestry Hispanic American or Mexican:
English, 10: Italian, 11: Scottish (1-3) or English ≤5, Spanish ≥2. Otherwise
United Scotch-Irish (4-6), 12:American Indian or English, Spanish ≤1, If not African
States Alaskan Native American: Ancestral language ≥6.
Roll 2D6. 2-3: Russian, 4-8: Uzbek, 9: Roll
2D6. Kazakhs (2-6), Tatars (7), Karakalpaks
(8), Crimean Tatars (9), Koreans (10),
Uzbekistan Kyrgyz (11), Other Eastern European (12),
(USSRA) 10-12: Tajik (speaks Persian). Ethnic language. Russian ≤2.
Spanish. English ≤2. Italian = 6. Ethnic
language if Portugese, Arabic, Asian or
Amerindian ancestry. If Amerindian, roll
Roll 2D6. 2-6: European or Middle Eastern 2D6 for ethnic language. 2-7: Wayúu, 8:
ancestry, 7-10: Mestizo, 11: Roll 1D6. Roll 1D6. Yanomamö (1-3), Piaroa (4-5) or
Black/African ancestry (1-4), Asian Sanemá (6), 10: Pemón, 11: Warao, 12:
Venezuela ancestry (5-6), 12: Amerindian. Jivi.
Roll 2D6. 2-9 or 12: Kinh (speaks
Vietnamese), 10: Roll 1D6. Tay (1), Thai (2),
Vietnam Muong (3), Khmer (4), Mong (5), Nung (6).
(VAST-STI) 11: Other. Ethnic language. Vietnamese ≤5.
Chapter 7

Sk i l l s
112 CHAPTER 7. SKILLS

Your crew begins the game with set skills determined their archetypes. As you progress through the game,
crew get skill points which you can invest in skills or contacts or medical specialities or languages or
conditioning your abilities or removing penalties or getting shares in your spacecraft. See the Skill Types
section on the next page for details.
Acquiring skill points in space is difficult and crew are assumed to be investing the majority of their time
into avoiding physical, mental and social atrophy caused by the rigors of the environment and the isolation
from people beyond your crew. Despite this, each crew still gets a skill point each year. These spare time
skill points can be used to recover from various conditions as detailed in the Recovery section on page 118
while in space, but the ability of the crew to learn new and novel skills, by spending skill points on your
choice of skills, is normally restricted to shirt sleeve conditions.

Core Competencies
As a group, you should be focused on building a crew that can meet all the core competencies required for
a mission. A core competency is a skill that will be performed as a part of the planned mission operations.
To met the core competency as a crew, you must be able to get an effective skill of 6 in the skill with a
specialist for that skill present. You can do this in several ways:

1. Have a crew member with a skill level of 6 in the skill.

2. Have two crew members each with a skill level of 5 in the skill.

3. Have a crew member with a skill level of 5 in the skill and any crew member has a Mission Control
contact in the same skill.

4. Have a crew member with a skill level of 5 in the skill, a Devops skill of 6 and an AR or ML stack
(described on page 130) which bumps the operation the skill is being used for.

The approach which requires the least skill point investment is to have a crew member with a skill of 5 and
have one crew member with a Mission Control contact in the same skill.
A specialist present means the person attempting the skill has the chrome: either the appropriate certificate,
a license matching the technology or component being used for the action being attempted or a medical
speciality for a specific medical issue.
A typical mission requires the following core competencies:

1. Pilot

2. Prospect

3. Industry

4. Teleops

5. Mining

Ensure you can get an effective skill level of 6 in each of the above skills within your crew before proceeding
past the Skills chapter when starting the game. It is strongly recommended that you do this by having the
crew develop mission control contacts with these skills in addition to spending the necessary skill points
on the skills. All of these skills except Pilot are used by operations at the site.
SKILL TYPES 113

Skill Types
The High Frontier skills are divided into four broad areas: skills directly intended to permit operations
and movement (the majority of skills), skills intended to support the personal and equipment needed to
perform these operations (Engineer and Medical), sociopolitical skills and combat skills. Skill points can
also be spent on acquiring medical specialities and languages (both types of chrome) and contacts and to
recover from penalties.

Athletic Skills
Athletic skills also determine a crew member’s ability to interact with
the world, either by moving through it or damaging it. This means some Unarmed Damage
other crew attributes are derived from the skill in addition to the direct Skill ROF Damage
effects of the skill level improvement. Strong Arm and EVA are both 0 0 -1/0
athletic skills. Your EVA skill normally determines your movement points. 1 1/4 0
Your Strong Arm skill modifies the damage you inflict with unarmed 2 1/2 0/1
attacks. Shift the damage down one row and add +1/4 ROF if you are 3 3/4 1
using a club and down two but subtract -1/2 ROF if you are using a fire 4 1 1/2
axe. 5 11/4 2
In addition, actions using Athletic skills are considered easy if you do 6 11/2 2/3
not need to use equipment with the skill: this includes unarmed attacks 7 2 3
against unarmoured opponents, and moving in a shirt sleeve environ- 8 21/2 3/4
ment where you don’t need to use a space suit or SCUBA gear. 9 3 4
10 4 4/5
11 5 5
Operations Skills
Operations are multi-month skill challenges, normally lasting a year. The
This Space Intentionally supplement has more details on how to perform operations as a part of a mission.

Support Skills
Support skills allow you to repair damage inflicted on people and things. For things, the Repair section on
page 140 in the Assets chapter covers the process of repairing anything from a spacecraft to a smart phone
and repairs use the appropriate Engineer skill to modify the time required to perform the repairs.
Damage to people and livings things is covered in the Damage and Complications chapter.

Social Skills
Social skills allow you to influence the outcome of social interactions where the participants in the conver-
sation are the primary people involved: the skills that this applies to are Interview, Streetwise and Negotiate.
These skills are used when both sides have a stake in the outcome of the conversation being the exchange
of goods or information, or another result desired by both parties. As a rule of thumb, determine which
social skill to use based on “who holds the guns” - Interview if you do and they don’t, Streetwise if you
don’t regardless of whether they do, and Negotiate if you both do.
Humanity’s use of metaphoric language allows you to improvise social interactions without adding an
additional dice to the action roll.
Strong Arm can also some times be used as a social skill. Strong Arm covers the range of actions from
restraining someone, hostage taking and holding a gun to someone’s head to inflicting bodily harm to get
a response, as well as any hand to hand combat. Torture can only ever get a person to perform an action
for the duration of the torture, rather than eliciting information - the tortured person will simply agree with
114 CHAPTER 7. SKILLS

whatever you ask. A victim of torture will suffer a stress penalty if they are successfully tortured, but will not
believe the threat or be overwhelmed by a fight or flight response if the torture attempt is unsuccessful.

Political Skills
If you wish to involve outside parties such as the chain-of-command, media or lawyers to influence the
outcome of a conversation or events, you must use a political skill: either Activism, Antitrust, Recruit or
Suffrage. Recruit is used to influence people who work for you. Activism is used to influence people who
are publicly on your side, typically because they have the same BSU as you. Antitrust is used to influence
people who are opposed to you, typically because they have a different BSU from you. For instance, a
hostage negotiation uses the Antitrust skill; likewise if one side in a negotiation is not acting in good faith.
Suffrage is a unique political skill because it involves representing someone other than yourself, usually
where there are significant obstacles to doing so because you are so dissimilar to them and the laws were
not written to accommodate them. Suffrage is primarily the skill of listening to, understanding and correctly
acting (and not acting) on the concerns of the entities you are representing.

Combat Skills
As a last resort, combat skills can be used. The Disposition Cards on page 257 include a number of weapons
you may be able to acquire and the Damage and Complications chapter on page 172 describes the damage
they inflict.

Simple Combat Resolution

You must make an action check for an attack to hit a target with a weapon. Weapons have ranges given
in 5m increments and the range bands (short, medium and long) are normally determined by how long
it takes the damaging part of the weapon to reach a target – lasers instead use the amount of damaging
energies delivered based on the focal spot size. Add one dice to the action roll if the target is between short
and below medium range, or two from medium range onwards. Long range gives the maximum effective
direct fire range. Chrome is only effective during combat if the attacker gets a 1D6 accuracy bonus. If a
target is successfully hit, apply damage as described in the Damage section on page 177.

Structure hits Any attack against a target 5m or further away, regardless of whether it is successful, will
hit the first part of any structure it is made in that intercepts a line drawn from the attack to the target – at
the limit of long range, the attack will hit the floor instead at this distance. Weapons with a ROF of 1/2 or
lower will stop at the target if the attack is successful – crew can choose to fire single shots at this ROF to
ensure that attack that are successful on their first attempt do not strike the structure beyond the target.
Resolve structure hits using the Damage to Structures section on page 189 in the Damage and Complications
chapter, using the part of the map hit as the breach point. Burst, All and Card attacks always affect the
structure where ever they hit. Attacks which hit structures before they hit the target have their damage
reduced by the intervening structure armour; weapons which inflict BOMB damage never hit the target.

Combat Penalties Apply the target number as penalties to hit: these penalties are safe unless there is a
risk of accidental damage or friendly fire, in which instance accidents mean the attack accidentally hits the
first undesired target in the line of fire. Use the base target number when the target is not moving and the
mobile target number when moving – crew have a base target number of 1 and a mobile target number of
their Physical ability plus 1. Side arms and thrown weapons add one target number for every 5m range to
the target. Human-sized targets are only visible out to 300m; targets that are not visible add one target
number for every 50m range to the target.
CONTACTS 115

Vacuum ranges Ballistic weapons have a medium range of 10 times their short range in a vacuum; and a
long range of 20 times their short range. Missiles have a long range equal to 100 times their medium range
in a vacuum; rocket only have have a long range equal to 10 times their medium range. Other weapon
ranges are unaffected.

A much more detailed combat system is included in the A Facility with Words supplement.

Languages
The languages you speak are chrome for your social skills – your political skills don’t treat languages as
chrome. You can learn new languages by spending a skill point on each additional language, if you have
two or more native languages, or three skill points otherwise. You must spend the same amount again to
become a native speaker of a language, either one point if you have at least two native languages, or three
points otherwise. To become a native speaker also requires you live alongside one or more existing native
speakers.
You must choose the language to use for your social and political skill actions. Every social or political skill
use gets one penalty for each non-native speaker: either performing the skill or being the target of the skill.

Contacts
Each crew member starts with one contact, their emergency contact, and can buy additional contacts
using skill points instead of investing it in a skill, normally at a rate of one additional contact per skill point.
There are two types of contacts that can be purchased this way at the start of the game: mission control
contacts and mission contacts. You should generate the name for each contact a crew member acquires
using the Nominative Determinism rule on page 84 of the Demographics chapter. Buying more contacts
than your Social ability has the same increasing costs as your skills.

Mission Directorate Some mission control contacts are listed on the Mission Control folio front page.
The first crew member to create a mission control contact of the listed type should add the contact to the
Mission Control folio: that contact has the listed roll within the MCSU. The roles are:
Contact Skill Role
Activism General Counsel
Devops Chief Information Officer
Industry Head of Operations
Medical Chief Medical Officer
Mining Head of Mining
Pilot Head of Spaceflight
Prospect Head of Science
Teleops Head of Technology
Trading desk Financial Director

Favours In many instances, using a contact will require you incur a favour. Favours count as social
penalties whenever you use a contact to perform an action check.

Emergency Contact
Each crew member has one emergency contact who is created as a Mission Control contact that remains
available even if you go AWOL, with two differences: 1) the emergency contact doesn’t cost a skill point,
and 2) you do not have to specify the skill that the emergency contact has until you need to use it. Once
you specify the skill, the emergency contact acts like a normal mission control contact, except where their
116 CHAPTER 7. SKILLS

relationship status with you differs from another contact. You can elect to have this emergency contact be
a family member, including a parent or sibling, or sleeping companion or best friend instead of generating
the contact name.

Mission Control Contacts

Mission Control contacts allow you to boost the level of a specific skill level for mission control. Each
mission control contact you get gives your mission control skill level 5 in one skill instead of the normal
skill level 4 that mission control provides. If you also have a crew member with level 5 in the skill, you can
perform a cooperative skill use to get level 6 in that skill. See the Cooperative Skill Use section on page 121
for details.
Ideally all your operations should be performed by a crew member with a skill level of 5 in the skill required
for the operation working with a mission control contact in the same skill. This guarantees the success of
the operation by performing it with a skill level of 6, which will result in either an unqualified success for
the skill use or, on a roll of 6, a success with a complication.

Mission Contacts
Mission Contacts allow you to get alternate missions to those offered by mission control. Mission contacts
are either Military, Colony, Commercial or Science contacts. To use a mission contact, acquire a favour to
get a mission matching the contact type. After successfully completing at least one mission for a named
contact, you can also choose to get advanced missions from that contact.

Additional Contact Types

Some additional contact types can be acquired after you begin your first mission.

Earthside Contacts
Earthside contacts act like mission contacts except they give you political missions.

Infrastructure Contacts
Once NEO infrastructure begins to develop in the game you can also develop Infrastructure contacts.
Infrastructure contacts let you use the specific infrastructure improvement by acquiring a favour instead of
a debt.

Faction Contacts
You can also develop faction contacts with the factions you encounter. Faction contacts give out faction
missions by acquiring a favour. Once you complete at least one faction mission for the faction, advanced
faction missions become available. Each advanced faction mission you get will give you a faction award if
you complete it.

Recruiting
Once the game begins you can only develop additional contacts by recruiting them. See the Phoning Home
section on page 174 of the Observations chapter for details on how to recruit contacts; you may also be
able to recruit contacts from individuals you encounter.
CONTACTS 117

Improving Contacts
Social Ability Skill Points Contact Level
-4 1 Contact
5 2 Mission agent
6 3 Mission control agent
7 4 Faction agent
8 5 Mission agency
9 6 Mission control agency
10 7 Faction agency

Agents and agencies

If you have a high (5+) social ability, you can develop contacts into agents or agencies. You can also get
agents and agencies by successfully performing missions or spending skill points to develop valuables
that you acquire. You can upgrade a contact to an agency or agency, or an agent to an agency by paying
the skill point difference between the two as shown on the Improving Contacts table on this page. The
operations performed by agents and agencies do not give you skill points.

Agent An agent can be used as a contact once per year without incurring a favour. You can also burn an
agent by having the agent perform an operation for you in their area of expertise at a cost of a burn penalty
which applies to all your contacts, agents and agencies. Removing the burn penalty lets you develop a new
agent.

Agency An agency can perform an operation for you every year without being burned in addition to
acting as a contact.

Shares
The captains of owner operators already start out with some shares in the spacecraft that the crew operates
– a percentage equal to their Capital – but anyone can buy shares in the spacecraft. If you have a high (5+)
capital, you can increase your shares in the spacecraft by 1% by paying skill points equal to the current
percentage share you have plus one. For instance, to go from 0% to 1% share costs one skill point and to
go from 10% to 11% share costs 11 skill points. You can only increase your shares by 1% at a time.

Buyouts and divestments If the crew total shares gets to 51% you can go AWOL at no risk of harm to
the spacecraft or crew by performing a Buyout operation. If an individual crew member’s shares get
to 20% they can force the crew to perform a Divestment operation, which gives that crew member
one quarter of all the mission control’s assets with which to form their own faction. Both Buyouts and
Divestment operations act like a Trading Desk operation, described in the This Space Intentionally
rules.
118 CHAPTER 7. SKILLS

Recovery
You may spend skill points to recover from personal penalties you have acquired. Each skill point you
spend this way allows you to recover from one penalty and the type of penalty you remove determines
where you are allowed to spend the skill point to remove it.

1. One skill point allows you to recover from one aging, injury or radiation exposure penalty.

2. One skill point allows you to recover from one point of PTSD. You must have a consciousness of 10
or higher to recover from stress.

3. One skill point allows you to recover from one point of any other penalty except debt if you are in
shirt sleeve conditions – this includes points of burnout. You must have Advanced technology to
remove blindness or render Alzheimer’s safe. You cannot remove Alzheimer’s until you get the Cure
for Alzheimer’s breakthrough.

4. One skill point allows you to suppress a penalty even if you are unable to otherwise recover from it.
A suppressed penalty does not apply, unless it can apply cumulatively with another unsuppressed
penalty.

5. One skill point allows you to recover from a suppressed penalty. Recovering from suppressed penal-
ties otherwise has the same requirements as recovering from the penalty if it was not suppressed.

Note that you cannot spend skill points to recover from debt penalties or penalties arising from environ-
mental conditions or assets you have, such as your space suit.
You have one of two choices when you recover from a penalty:

1. You can make the penalty safe. The penalty continues to apply, but it does not contribute towards
additional defects when making the skill roll. If you make a penalty safe, and it is a permanent
disability, you can choose one assistive technology as outlined in the Permanent Disability section
on page 81 of the Crew chapter.

2. You can remove the penalty.

Robot Recovery
A robot capable of feeling pain (consciousness capability 5+) is self-aware enough to recovery from penalties
by having someone repair them using a 3D printer. The robot takes as long as a human to recover, including
requiring a skill point to do so, but only requires a factory rather than shirt sleeve environments. The
exception is recovery from debt and stress penalties including mental illness. It is only possible for a robot
or AI to recover from stress penalties once they are conscious (consciousness capability 10+). And debt
must be recovered from using the same methods that humans use.
Until a robot is emancipated, it is impossible to know whether a robot is actually conscious. Any time an
unemancipated robot or AI uses the robot recovery rules to recover from a defect, they get a secret defect
if they do not already have one. When this secret defect is revealed, if the robot is not emancipated at
the time of the reveal, the defect is resolved normally. If it is emancipated, the robot comes out as being
conscious and the secret defect is removed.

Shirt Sleeve Conditions

Shirt sleeve conditions are one of the following environments:

1. On a promoted Bernal with a dirtside.

2. At a colony.
LEARNING SKILLS 119

3. On Earth.

4. On a terraformed world which has ecologies present.

5. At a factory on any atmospheric, astrobiology or subsurface ocean site that a crew member has
been pantrophically modified for.

At a Bernal or colony, taking advantage of shirt sleeve conditions is a capital 5 requirement. Elsewhere it is
a capital 4 requirement. If multiple shirt sleeve conditions are available, use the lowest capital requirement.
If a crew member’s capital is higher than the capital requirement, then they can afford to live in shirt sleeve
conditions for the year. If their capital is equal to the capital requirement then you can afford the shirt
sleeve conditions by incurring one debt. If their capital is less than the capital requirement then they cannot
afford the capital requirement and cannot benefit from it.
Each crew member must meet the capital requirement individually.

Professional Skills Professional skills allow the crew member to get employment as described in the
Migration and Trade section on page 251. Any non-combat skill can be used as a professional skill. Crew
cannot use Mission Control Contact skill levels as professional skills.

Subsistence Farming On colonies which require non-specialist farm labour and on terraformed worlds,
any crew member can gain employment by working as a farmer. However while working as a subsistence
farmer, you can only spend one spare time skill point each year acquiring new skill levels instead of an
unlimited number.

Contract Work While you cannot use Mission Control contact skill levels, you can use other contact skill
levels to get the professional skill levels required.

Learning Skills
The skills listed on the crew character sheets and here are not exhaustive, however they are the most
central to the requirements of the crew and mission. Sixty Years In RPG uses an outcomes approach to
skill design: each skill is a synthesis of a lot of different professional fields and areas of knowledge and
is focused on the deliverable results that the skill provides for determining what actions are and are not
covered by a particular skill. Two different crew may have a totally different approach and strengths for
how they proceed with a skill, but have the same likelihood of coming up with the same outcome. For
instance, the Strong Arm skill covers virtually every physical martial art ever practiced. This does not mean
that a crew member with a good Strong Arm skill has such a broad range of martial arts training: but that
two different martial artists (say a black belt in judo and a sumo wrestler) with the same Strong Arm skill
are equally capable of subduing someone using unarmed combat.
Skill ratings are an approximate indicator of the education level of a crew member in the specific field. The
skill rating descriptions on the Skill Ratings table on the next page assume a corresponding ability of 3 and
skill points acquired from education rather than on the job learning: subtract 1 from the level if the ability
is 2 or lower or add 1 to the level if the ability is 6 to 8 (and so on). A career in the field could potentially
include further development of skill levels, but is much more likely to include acquiring contacts, training
on new technologies, self-improvement (especially improvement of Capital ability through savings) and
recovering from penalties.

Starting Skill Points

Your choice of archetype and generation technique will determine a crew member’s starting skill points as
described in the Crew chapter on page 59. You can spend crew starting skill points at any time.
120 CHAPTER 7. SKILLS

Skill Ratings
Level Rating Description
0 Schooled Passed the related subjects at high school
1 Dropout Failed the related subjects at high school
2 Trainee Completed at least one year of training program
3 Graduate Completed university education in the relevant subjects
4 Postgraduate Completed relevant postgraduate qualification
5 Tenured Contributed towards original research in the field
6+ Laureate Significant insights or discoveries in the field

Spare Time Skill Points

Crew also get one spare skill point every year they spend at a site (including Earth side). You can only spend
these skill points when the crew member is in shirt sleeve conditions as described on page 118 but you
can spend as many of their outstanding spare time skill points as you desire when they enter shirt sleeve
conditions.
If you are not employed or otherwise performing actions or activities for a year and you are in a shirt sleeve
environment, you get spare time skill points equal to half your Capital ability, rounded down, every year
instead of one spare time skill point.

First Skill Point

The first skill point you spend on a crew member’s skill gives the crew member a skill level equal to half
their ability for that skill, rounded down, instead of increasing the skill level by one. This means the first
skill point you spend on a skill where the crew member has an ability of 1 gives them 0 skill levels in that
skill, ability of 2 or 3 gives them 1 skill level, 4 or 5 gives them 2 skill levels, 6 or 7 gives them 3 skill levels, 8
or 9 gives them 4 skill levels and 10 or 11 gives them 5 skill levels.
If you increase a crew member’s ability level, you don’t get to increase the corresponding skill levels: part
of the benefits of a higher ability level is to help the crew member learn the skill faster, not just that it makes
the skill easier to perform.

Ability Limits
When spending skill points, each skill point you spend increases the skill level of a skill by one up to the
ability level the skill is associated with. To increase a skill above your ability level costs 1 additional skill
point for each point it exceeds the ability. e.g. You attempt to increase a crew member’s Teleops skill from
4 to 6 however the crew member has a Mental ability of 4. This costs 2 skill points to get it to five (1+1) and
then 3 skill points to get it to 6 (1+2) for a total of 5 skill points. These increased costs count towards the
crew member’s skill limit.

Skill Limits
You can only spend skill points on a crew member’s skills if their age is higher than the number of skill
points they have currently spent on skills and conditioning abilities. Don’t forget to exclude free points
from abilities when making this calculation and include the additional cost from buying skills which exceed
their ability limits. This calculation is also “live” in the sense that if a crew member improves their abilities
by conditioning them, you can recalculate how many skill points they have spent which affects their skill
limit. Don’t count contacts or languages towards a crew member’s skill point limit.

Converted Crew Converted crew can increase their skills at no cost until they are at their skill limit when
in shirt sleeve conditions.
SKILL USE MODIFIERS 121

Enhanced Crew Enhanced crew ignore aging penalties when calculating their skill limit.

Young crew If a crew member is less than 30 years old, their skill limit is 30 instead of their age. If a crew
member is less than 15 years old, their skill point limit is instead twice their age.

Old crew Old crew reduce their skill limit by their total aging e.g. Physical plus Mental plus Social
aging. Aging is covered in the This Space Intentionally supplement.

Skill Use Modifiers

Cooperative Skill Use
Two crew members can cooperate if they are both in a position where they could perform the action. If the
crew members have the same skill level, add +1 to the effective skill level.
More than two crew members cannot cooperate on a single skill use. You cannot use assistance, cooperation
or stack skills together.

Assisted Skill Use

One crew member can assist another crew member if only one crew member is in a position to perform the
action. Alternately, missiom control or a contact can remotely assist a crew member. If the person using
the skill has a lower skill level than the person assisting the skill, then use the assistant’s skill level as the
skill. If the person using the skill has the same skill level as the assistant, then add +1 to the effective skill
level.
You cannot use assistance, cooperation or stack skills together and you can only get assistance from one
source.

Chrome is not transferable You cannot benefit from chrome if the person assisting the action has
chrome and the person performing the action does not.

Singularity separation You cannot assist or cooperate with someone on the other side of a singularity
from you: either because you are pre-singularity and they are post-singularity or because you passed
through different singularities.

Stack Skill Use

You can choose to use your stack when performing an action if your stack has the matching skill. Your stack
is a collection of the computer equipment and code you have developed to help you perform your role as
crew member. The stack will have an usability rating from 1 to 10. When using your stack to perform an
action, if your skill level is less than the usability rating then you get +1 to your effective skill rating. The
stack helps you in performing the skill.
However if your skill level is greater than the usability rating then you get -1 to your effective skill rating. The
stack hinders your attempt to perform the skill. If the usability and your skill rating are the same then your
effective skill level is unaffected by the stack. If your stack doesn’t have the skill you are using, its usability
is always lower than your skill level.
You cannot use assistance, cooperation or stack skills together and you cannot use another crew member’s
stack. You have chrome with your stack, but this doesn’t provide chrome for actions when using your the
stack – only for actions which target your stack.
122 CHAPTER 7. SKILLS

Remote control You must use your stack to perform an action if the the distance to where the action is
being performed exceeds one light minute (1.8 million km) - this applies if you are remotely controlling
tools or equipment at that location, for instance, but not if you are assisting someone at that location. As a
rule of thumb, any action remotely performed in another heliocentric zone from you must use your stack.

Stack updates You can get a number of upgrades (stack updates, exocortexes and side-loads) which
improves how your stack functions. to use these updates, you must perform a stack skill use - which means
that the stack usability affects your skill level and you cannot use assistance or cooperation to perform the
action.

Mission Control Skills

Mission control has an effective skill level of 4 which can be used to assist a crew member. Mission control
contacts can increase this skill level to 5 for the skill that the Mission control contact has specialised in.
Note however that even if the mission control is the primary skill level being used, the crew must still act in
a hands on capacity for the action: mission control cannot free up time to allow crew to perform other
tasks in parallel.

Skill Descriptions
Activism
Synonyms Politics, Organization, Campaigning, Media, Public Relations.
The Activism skill covers any set of circumstances where you need to get a broad base of support for
achieving a particular democratically determined outcome: be it at a boardroom level or a wider political
victory such as an election. It includes the ability to read the mood of particular individuals or groups who
could be involved or have influence in the decision process and the ability to energise your supporters and
dissuade the supporters of other candidates (or simply your enemies) from participating. It also includes
intelligence gathering and data analytics skills, campaigning and organizational skills, media management
and manipulation, advertising and social media. It differs from Negotiation in that Activism is one to many
and activists can afford to alienate some of those involved in the process, whereas a Negotiation is a one to
one skill about keeping both parties engaged in the negotiation process.

Antitrust
Synonyms Counter-intel, Propaganda, Psychological Warfare, Hostile Negotiation, Legal, Diplomacy.
The Antitrust skill allows you to manipulative and influence actively hostile people or those with oppos-
ing viewpoints to your own. It includes operational secrecy, deception and feints, misinformation and
fomenting discontent and discord but also hostage negotiation, bribes and ransom payments, flattery and
diplomacy.

Bypass
Synonyms Security Systems, Lock Pick.
The Bypass skill is required to use an asset or system in a way that is not authorised or designed to be used.
What can be done depends on the access level that the crew has with the asset or system – crew may use
any rights of their access level or lower. Crew normally have a access level of 0, or 1 if an authorized user
of the asset or system, with an additional +1 if in the same location as the asset or system. This location
bonus doesn’t apply for systems in the structure if it is security equipment or if the alert level is 2-3. If the
alert level is 4+, then everyone will have a access level of 0 with all systems in the structure (lock-down).
SKILL DESCRIPTIONS 123

A successful bypass action takes one minute and increases everyone’s access level with the asset or system
by 1 (the bypass bonus) until it is repaired – represent the new access level with a stack consisting of a clear
counter on another counter or counters if on a face up card or under a token. If a matching counter or stack
already exists there without the clear counter, then you cannot get the corresponding access level using a
bypass and the action fails. You can remove the clear counter as a 6 second action: set the alert level to
the access level plus 1 if it is lower, and – if the remaining counter is yellow – roll a white dice to inflict that
much damage at that location using your choice of damage type other than BOMB, ignoring any structure
innate armour. Halve the dice roll, rounding up, and put it under the counter as a hull breach.
Level Counter(s) Access Rights
1 1 White Operate Can use the system normally.
2 1 Black Interrupt Can disable the system in a way that fails safely.
3 1 Black on Override Can shut the system down (black on white) or prevent anyone
any other colour except red using it remotely (black on purple). Other effects possible.
4 1 Yellow Breach Can operate it in unsafe ways.
5 2 Purple Self-destruct Can get the system to render itself inoperable.

Bypass equipment Emergency bypass kits that mass 3 kg and give the user chrome for the bypass
action are normally available in the same location as the system. Emergency bypass kits will instead instead
be carried by local security forces if the politics is Red or War or a random individual nearby if the politics is
White or Anarchy. An appropriate 25 kg tool set adds +2 to the bypass bonus but takes 10 minutes to use.

Technology levels There is a -2 modifier to the bypass bonus when bypassing the next highest technol-
ogy level and higher technology levels cannot be bypassed. Use the technology level of the equipment
the crew is using for the bypass, using the crew member’s smart device if no other equipment is used.
Bypassing lower technology levels takes 6 seconds instead of a minute.

Combat Ops
Synonyms Artillery, Gunnery, Siege Weapons, Beam Weapons.
The Combat Ops skill covers the use of usually fixed position, facility and spacecraft to spacecraft raygun
weapons including using TW thrusters as weapons, but could be used by or against factories, colonies or
warships. The Combat Ops skill include all beam and kinetic energy weapons and linearly accelerated and
unguided projectiles where the weapons are too large to be mounted on a sub-20 tonne vehicle.

Devops
Synonyms Programming, Computers, Software.
Devops covers the development, debugging, deployment and running of computer software and computer
controlled systems where the software is complex enough to require patching and maintenance. Remote
bypasses: You can remotely bypass systems using the Devops skill. This also lets you increase the bypass
bonus by 1 for every x10 times longer the remote bypass takes (+1 for 10 minutes, +2 for 2 hours, +3 for 1
day, +4 for 1 month and +5 for 1 year) but don’t benefit from any bypass equipment.

Ecology
Synonyms Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Biologist, Biotech, Farmer.
The Ecology skill is used for the repair and maintenance of biospheres including the various ecologies
they contain in order that they can sustain human life. Unlike other components, biosphere repairs are
not fungible and require viable seed stock, ova and wombs, macro- and micronutrients to sustain them.
The Ecology skill also covers the repair and maintenance of life support systems including CO2 filtration,
heat, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC), electrolysis of oxygen from water, refrigeration, sewage and water
treatment and recycling, hydroponics and aquaculture.
124 CHAPTER 7. SKILLS

Engineer
Synonyms Mechanic, Machinist, Damage Control, Repair, Rocket Scientist.
The Engineer skill allow for repair and maintenance of the spacecraft components, vehicles and robots and
the majority of their subsystems. Repair and maintenance includes switching spacecraft configurations,
dry dock overhauls and 3D printing of replacement parts but not digital swaps (which are covered by the
Industry skill), wiring (Teleops skill) or life support (Ecology skill). Damage control is covered by the Engineer
skill. The Engineer skill also covers the repair and use of booster rockets when boosting payloads from the
Earth and the factory assist launch facilities on factory sites.

EVA
Synonyms Free fall, Climbing, Orienteering, Vacc Suit, Cold Gas Thruster.
The EVA skills covers the use of maneuvering units and space suits, including on all personal vehicles such
as EVA pods, segways and broomsticks which the operator stands on or holds rather than sits on. The EVA
skill is easy for tasks in 1G which means you can use your Physical ability without penalty instead of your
EVA skill in those conditions.

Firearms
Synonyms Crew Weapons, Grenade Launcher, Machine Gun, Pistols, Rifles, Carbines.
The Firearms skill covers the use of all man portable or team portable ranged weapons from sidearms to
light weapons. Bows and thrown weapons instead use the Strong arms skill. Drone mounted weapons and
vehicle mounted weapons use the Pilot skill.

Industry
Synonyms Promoted Technologies, Space Printing, Factory Building.
The Industry skill allows you to build, maintain and repair extraterrestrial (ET) factories and promote
technologies at laboratories.

Interview
Synonyms Interrogate.
The Interview skill allows you to keep a conversation going with someone who may not necessarily wish
to continue to speak with you. This has the potential to eliciting additional information from them. The
Interview skill is most effective if you are in a position to prevent the subject of the interview skill from
simply walking away, such as by having the interview subject incarcerated or restrained.

Medical
Synonyms Biotech, Cybernetics, Uplifting, First Aid, Surgery, Emergency Medicine, Psychiatry, Oncology,
Pharmacy, Therapy, AI Psychology, Biorobotics, Uplift Medicine, Xenomedicine.
The Medical skill is used for the first responder treatment of injuries and the initial trauma of cancer and
heart attacks including stabilization of critical damage sustained in the field, blood transfusions and surgery,
for long term rehabilitation of damage including injuries, stress, cancer and Alzheimer’s as well as hospice
care and aftercare following surgery and pantrophy including treatment plans, drug prescriptions, therapy
and psychiatric evaluation and monitoring, for the treatment and safe restraint of patients suffering from
the immediate effects of mental illnesses and brain damage, making improvements to human subjects
to better fit them to initially microgravity and later terraformed environments (Pantrophy) and upgrading
crew and promoting colonists (but not robots).
SKILL DESCRIPTIONS 125

You can buy medical specialities, a specific type of chrome, by spending a skill point for each speciality.
Each speciality is associated with a specific risk or penalty.
The emergency medical kit chrome applies for first aid treatment using the emergency medical kit chrome.
Every crew member begins with this. Emergency medical kits are species-specific.

Mining
Synonyms Sapping, Trench Warfare, Entrenchment, Excavation, ISRU Refueling, Factory Refueling.
Mining skill includes construction of defensive fortifications against bombardment such as trenches and
earthworks, construction of solar flare shelters, and sapping and counter-sapping for ground and under-
ground warfare, laying mines and construction of weapons emplacements and the improvised use of
mining explosives as weapons, excavation of dirt, ice, isotopes and minerals for site refuelling.

Negotiate
Synonyms Negotiation, Deal making, Persuasion.
Negotiate skill is used for making deals between two comparatively equal sides both of which are armed
or otherwise able to defend themselves. Deals made are not enforced, but the faction which has been
wronged will remember and seek redress elsewhere at a later date. Incur a defect against the faction if you
renege a deal with one of its representatives.

Performance
Synonyms Music, Acting, Dance, Art, Painting, Sculpture, Drawing, Design.
Performance skills covers both the traditional performing arts but also creative arts.

Pilot
Synonyms Rocketry, Ground Vehicle, Hovercraft, Tank, Submarine.
Space travel is largely automated and governed by devops that pilot skills are rarely required, except in near
misses in hazardous environments and during combat. The Pilot skill is used when using drones, missiles
or buggies during a Combat Ops, and all vehicle-mounted weapons during smaller scale combat, factory
assist launches from factory sites and zeppelin launches from aerostat sites, when piloting an aerostat,
atmospheric, ground or submersible vehicles and when using any vehicle mounted weapons attached to
those vehicles.

Prospect
Synonyms Sensors, Geology, Astrophysics, Xenobiology, Underwater Mining, Xenochemistry.
The Prospect skill is used to determine whether a site has exploitable resources, to explore a subsurface
ocean present on a site to see whether it has unusual properties which warrant further investigation and
to discover whether life exists on a planet with the potential to harbour life and to investigate its biology
and relationship to Earthside life if it is discovered. Discovering life or subsurface ocean features of interest
would give the mission control and individual crew glory.

Recruit
Synonyms Leadership, Mentoring, Motivation, Human Resources, Education, Teaching.
The Recruit skill allows you to motivate, support and inspire your colleagues and friends and to recruit,
train and mentor others. You can use the Recruit skill to assist any skill attempt provided the person who
126 CHAPTER 7. SKILLS

you are assisting can cite an instance where you supported or inspired them. They can cite each instance
only once in the game; but the instance cited can be from any time and is not limited to in game events. It
includes everything from locating potential staff, the hiring process and staff retention and advancement.

Research
Synonyms Mathematics, Science, Physics.
The Research skill allows you to research new technologies. You can also use the research skill to understand
technologies that you have acquired but do not have the licenses for – this includes reverse engineering
technologies as described in the Patents and Licenses section on page 149 in the Upgrades chapter.

Streetwise
Synonyms Carousing, Criminal, Underworld.
The Streetwise skill allows you to improve interpersonal relations with another person or group of people
when they have the advantage of weapons, local government support or legal authority, and you do not.

Strong Arm
Synonyms Martial Arts, Melee, Unarmed, Boxing, Judo etc. Intimidation, Torture.
The Strong Arm skill determines how well you use melee weapons in combat. You can also use the Strong
Arm skill to intimidate a person if you are within arms reach of them, and torture them if they are incarcerated.
This is seldom effective.

Suffrage
Synonyms Advocacy, Xenosociology, Uplift Diplomacy, Robopsychology.
The Suffrage skills allow you to determine whether a nonhuman intelligence has achieved consciousness
and if they do, to establish their right for emancipation and other natural and legal rights extended to
humans both through the courts and government. Emancipating the robots makes them loyal to you and
make them eligible to act as colonists.
You also use the Suffrage skill for other forms of advocacy for people other than yourselves. A key use of
this skill is to keep your relatives and contacts alive as they age.

Teleops
Synonyms Remote Operations, Operations Planning, Project Management, 3D Printing.
Teleops is used for wiring pulls through ET technologies that have been 3D printed at factories or mobile
factory scale 3D printers: this is the limiting factor for how quickly large scale 3D printing can produce
finished goods. It is also used for breaking down of existing ET products to form 3D printer inks (Digital
Swap).

Trading Desk
Synonyms Finance, Funding.
The Trading Desk skill is used when buying or selling goods and services. This includes trading to make a
profit to pay off debt incurred by the crew, which you can do using the Income operation described in the
This Space Intentionally supplement.
Chapter 8

A s s ets
128 CHAPTER 8. ASSETS

A postscarcity universe with unlimited access to 3D printing renders the majority of what is traditionally
considered wealth meaningless. At the same time, the extremely tight mass constraints on spacecraft and
the equally limiting access to water, isotopes and differing construction materials at site render where you
are and what you have at the time incredibly important.
The crew’s assets are largely determined by the intellectual property they control – patents and licenses –
along with the custom and bespoke software running on a stack, which crew develop using their Devops
skill. Each crew member has also personal effects, including space suit, smart device and offerings – items
which can provide one-time bumps when you need inspiration or a sacrifice. Tallies are used to measure
limited supplies of consumables such as water, fabrics, inks, ammunition and fuel, which crew will use up
as they explore. Everything else can be 3D printed when required.
As crew get access to additional technologies, they will also get access to new assets. These are detailed in
the Upgrades chapter on page 144.

Tallies Consumables such as water, fabrics, inks and ammunition are tracked using tallies – shown as
white circles on folio and record sheets. Water is used during extravehicular activity (EVAs) as outlined in
the Water section on page 208 of the Travel chapter. Tethers, parachutes, space suits and tents are used up
whenever one of these items are damaged or lost: the crew module only has a limited number of fabric
components and needs access to a factory, supply rocket or low Earth orbit to replace them. Inks are used
up by “large” 3D print jobs, where the printer size determines what is large. Ammunition is used up for
each attack in combat. Normally you add one tally whenever the consumable resource is lost, and lose
access to the resource when it has 5 tallies. Water and ammunition is tracked per crew member, fabrics –
other than towels and gray tape – are tracked per crew module and inks are tracked per printer. You can
remove a tally by getting access to a replacement for the affected item – some tallies can also be repaired
or recovered from as stated elsewhere.

Traditional manufacturing Traditional manufacturing techniques are still required for some materi-
als which cannot be 3D printed: rock, paper, wood, cloth and other fabrics, and biological materials;
although a mix of polylactic acid (a common 3D printer ink) and wood chip can emulate wood and
volcanic materials can be melted and used as inks. Sharp edges are also hard to 3D print until finer
resolution printers become available. Wiring is the key constraint for 3D printing production until 3D
printing of wiring is available as a Breakthrough technology. Traditionally manufactured items are
available at factories and LEO and can be resupplied by supply rockets.

Personal Effects
Each crew member begins the game with a stack (remotely accessed on the crew module), a smart device,
a space suit, 4 offerings, gray tape – heat resistant fabric backed duct tape used for jury-rigged repairs –
and a towel, for hygiene. To be effective, space suits require a 3 kg ballistic helmet and a 20 kg personal life
support system. The PLSS provides with up to 5 days of oxygen, CO2 scrubbers, 10 hours or more hours of
cooling and includes a 6 kg battery pack in its mass – which start fully charged. See the Extra Vehicular
Activity section on page 207 for details on consumption of water and power.

Offerings
Each crew member begins the game with 4 offerings: a piece of jewelery, a desk accessory, a luxury good
and a treasured item. You can sacrifice one of your offerings to get a bump at any time. Describe the offering
and how you use or lose it or how it no longer has meaning for you. Each crew member can sacrifice each
offering once: even if you replace the offering, it is no longer worth a bump. You do not have to use the
bump from the offering immediately.
If you can share your luxury good with anyone when you sacrifice it, they also get a bump.
COMPUTERS 129

Offerings

Roll 1D6 on each column.

Roll Jewelry Desk accessories Luxury good Treasured item
1 Bracelet Child’s drawings Childhood treat Ashes
2 Championship ring Collectibles Chocolate Board game
3 Locket Photographs Cigars Harmonica
4 Lucky charm Sports memorabilia Coffee Letters
5 Wedding ring Travel souvenirs Whiskey Music box
6 Wrist watch Unfinished project Wine Notebook

Life Support Allowance

The crew module recycles water at 97% efficiency and oxygen at 75% efficiency. Approximately 12 kg of
water and 0.6 kg of oxygen is used by a crew member each day - contrast this with 132 kg per day of typical
Western world water usage. Replacing this requires 0.5 kilograms of rawstuffs (70% water, 30% oxygen) per
day approximately. ET produced crew modules halve the amount of water and oxygen required each year,
due to recycling efficiency improvements.
The crew module includes a ”leaf box” style biosphere of hydroponically grown plants which provides the
majority their nutritional requirements supplemented by yeast products and E. coli genetically engineered
to produce essential trace nutrients. Without a biosphere, the crew would consume almost 1 tonne of
prepackaged food per year (240 kg per person).
The crew module includes the 132 kilogram of personal water allowance per crew member needed for each
year in space, and the 55 kilograms of oxygen. Passengers will pay for this allowance as part of the ticket
cost (250 kg total including passenger mass for a standard human for 1 year of travel, 60 kg of personal
items permitted per additional year). Luxury travel requires 1.5 tonnes allowance per year per person to
permit daily showers; hotel style accommodation and aquatic passengers require 12 tonnes per year per
person to permit baths and swimming pools. Halve these figures on ET produced crew modules.

Computers
Computers have always played a role in space travel: first by using human computers to calculate numerical
solutions for complex orbital equations and then the earliest mainframe machines. The complexity of
the systems required to maintain and manage a spacecraft have only increased to the point where in
the Upported era crew members are primarily responsible for running a super computer grade dev ops
environment and only secondarily for running a spacecraft.
Sixty Years In RPG divides computers into three broad classes: smart devices with around one thousand
cores with enough storage capacity for a year of continuous high definition video (100 TB); stacks which
are server grade computers with around ten thousand cores and used for software development and
engineering with around 1 petabyte of storage capacity (a decade of HD video) and systems consisting of
multiple stacks which support large numbers of users and industrial equipment. Systems also include
specialist data stacks which have 100s of petabytes of storage but only hundreds of cores.
These figures represent the maximum capabilities of devices using current technological approaches,
which have plateaued at around 2040 using 3D processing, graphics and memory chips consisting of newer
semi-conductor materials (Germanium and III-V semiconductors such as gallium arsenide for CPUs and
GPUs, resistive RAM using silicon oxide for memory and storage).

Radiation hardening Silicon-based computers are vulnerable to interference from radiation: even
computers on the surface of the Earth suffer bit-level errors from cosmic rays. Computers produced
Earthside and at D-class sites use photonics (optical) networking and a silicon on insulator design for all
processors, memory and solid state disk, using either silicon dioxide or artificial sapphire as the substrate.
130 CHAPTER 8. ASSETS

Smart Device Contents

Roll 1D6 on each column.

Roll Style Catalogue
1 Classic(al) Games
2 Retro Fiction
3 Indie Music
4 Popular Film and TV
5 Genre Social Media
6 Experimental Training Courses

Baseline computers and SSD storage are not radiation hard enough for use in space and radiation hardened
space-ready baseline computers lag decades behind consumer electronics equivalents.

Touch interfaces While touch interfaces are the predominant way of interacting with computers on
Earth, they require accurate finger pointing, so your body needs to be stable. This is not normally the
case in microgravity so mechanical inputs such as keyboards and track balls tend to be used for computer
interfaces on spacecraft. Earthside commodity hardware such as smart devices will still have a touch
interface.

Stacks
Each crew member will have a stack, typically left on the crew module, which they can remotely access
provided they remain in communications range with it. The stack is a server grade computer system which
includes specialist programs for specific systems on the spacecraft. Each stack is rated on its usability and
flexibility on a scale of 1 to 10: these two values will add up to your Dev Ops skill plus 2. You get one stack
skill for each point of flexibility your stack has. This may be chosen from any skill available. You can choose
to use your stack whenever you use a stack skill, as outlined in the Stack Skill Use section on page 121 in
the Skills chapter.
You can improve your stack incrementally by adding a point of either usability or flexibility every time you
improve your Dev Ops skill level by spending skill points. You should try to get your stack’s usability to 5
or higher while keeping your stack’s flexibility to at least 1. You cannot use effective skill levels granted by
assistance, cooperation or stack skill use to improve your stack - the stack only improves by investing skill
points into your Dev Ops skill.

Smart Devices and Workstations

Each crew member has a smart device with incorporating approximately 100 TB of storage (enough for
a year of high definition digital video), a built-in smart glass screen and a high contrast digital projector
as a user interface and gestural interface. The smart device includes a digital personal assistant which is
approximately as powerful as digital assistants are in the present day (2018 at time of writing) on Earth
except it has capabilities equal to the current contents of the entire Internet and cloud processing offline
rather than requiring an network connection. It also stores all the applications required for the crew
member to perform their role and be assisted by mission control, as well as any software the crew member
has developed.

Smart Glass
Smart glass incorporate extremely high definition transparent nanoparticle light emission and pixel oc-
clusion smart glass displays. This allows a set of smart glasses using smart glass to both act as a virtual
reality head set by dynamically occluding parts of the display, and an augmented reality display which just
SPACE SUITS 131

appears to project on the real world from the perspective of the user using the light emitting nanoparticles.
The virtual reality occlusion function of smart glass overcomes the drawbacks of modern smart glasses
which are hard to use in brightly lit environments.
High quality crews have both smart glasses and a curved smart screen workstation. Medium quality
crews only have the workstation and an extreme high definition virtual reality head sets without any
augmented reality capabilities other than their smart device. Low quality crews only use smart glass in
their smart devices and use extreme high definition displays and virtual reality headsets based on smart
glass nanoparticle technology but without the transparency. Medium and high quality crews have a smart
table in the operations room which incorporates an extreme high definition screen with gestural interfaces
and augmented reality / virtual reality space sharing.

Space Suits
Space suit design is complicated because of the need to prevent the air inside escaping into the vacuum
outside. With normal clothes, the air pressure outside the clothes equals that inside and so clothes can
hang, billow and flow free. A space suit inflates as the air inside pushes the walls and seams of the spacesuit
out. This air pressure has nothing to push it back in so the spacesuit wearer must contend with moving in a
balloon-like outfit.
The two main ways of mitigating this extreme awkwardness is to either make the outside of the spacesuit
nearly rigid when it inflates or to reduce the air pressure so that it is easier to move inside the inflated outfit.
Rigid space suits are much more difficult to design as any seam and joint must be both as rigid as possible
and articulated. Space suits which have reduced air pressure must increase the proportion of this air which
is oxygen to allow the wearer to breath. This low pressure mix also has a pre-breathing requirement of at
least 2 hours to avoid users getting the nitrogen narcosis (“the bends”) which is extremely painful if not
fatal. If you fail to do this before putting on a low pressure suit, you will suffer from the Bends as outlined
on page 187.
A third method is to not put any air in the body of the suit at all. This requires that the suit be skin tight
without wrinkles because the wearer’s body will also want to inflate to fill the vacuum (Kittinger Syndrome).
This uses relatively low tech use of polyvinylchloride (PVC) but the safety requirements include improved
durability which increases the overall complexity. Skintight suits have the other drawbacks of low pressure
space suits.
Use the Space Suits table on the following page to determine the spacesuit provided to the crew. Space
suits and other fabric items cannot be 3D printed but can be manufactured at factories using traditional
manufacturing techniques.

Suit Radio Range Suit radio range is within a complex scale card (up to 440 m) indoors and out to 10
km outside in line of sight when communicating with another suit radio, or 100 km if one of the two suits is
in a known position using a high gain antenna. The crew module has a 250 kg antenna which can be used
to communicate with suit radios up to 10,000 km away (from LEO to the surface if in orbit), or back to a 100
km antenna on Earth out to the Neptune zone.
Space suits produced Earthside or at S sites have single aperture array antenna which increase their range
to 1,000 km and allows them to be used to communicate suit-to-suit while underground as long as the
only intervening walls have doors in them. If the crew module is also produced Earthside or at an S site, it
can communicate with a similarly equipped space suit out to 100,000 km range.

Suit Armour Armour is available as layers (L) of resistance armour, each of which protects against one
damage type over the entire body, rigid armour inserts (I) which protect against all damage types except
CRASH damage in specific locations (the chest, back and guts unless otherwise noted) and coatings
(C) which provide additional protection and utility. See the Armour section on page 134 for details of
which layers, inserts and coatings are available – noting that some space suits provide additional damage
resistance on top of the layers it has available. Typically, the first two space suit layers for spacesuits are
used to provide 1 GUN and 1 FIRE damage resistance armour to protect against fires and micrometeoroids.
132 CHAPTER 8. ASSETS

Space Suits

Roll 2D6 once if a high quality spacecraft, 1D6+2 once if medium quality ship, 1D6 once for each crew
member if a low quality spacecraft. Emergency: Spacecraft equipped with planetary, launch/re-entry and
partial skintight suits get twice as many drones as crew are not expected to leave the spacecraft while in
space. This does not apply to low quality spacecraft.
Press- Temper- Pen- Armour Notes
Roll Description Mass ure ature alty L I C
Launch/Re-entry Emergency, +1
1 suit 12 kg Low Dry/vacuum 2 2 0 1 FIRE armour
2 Soft suit 25 kg Low Dry/vacuum 2 2 0 1
+1 head, +2
BOMB, +2 FIRE
3 Blast/flame suit 80 kg Low Dry/vacuum 4 3 2 1 armour
4 Hybrid suit 40 kg Low Dry/vacuum 3 2 1 1
Partial skintight
5 suit 3 kg Low Dry/vacuum 0 / 3 0 0 0 Emergency
6 Hard-shell suit 90 kg High Any site 4 1 2 1
7 EVA pod 125 kg High Any site 2 2 0 1 See text
8 Skiff NA High Any site 1 2 0 1 See text
9 Planetary suit 30 kg SCUBA Any site 2 2 1 1 Emergency
10+ Skintight suit 5 kg Low Dry/vacuum 1 0 0 1 Can wear armour

Low Pressure One of the most significant design trade offs for any space suit is whether the suit uses
Earth standard (high) air pressure or a low pressure mix with pure or elevated oxygen levels. A low pressure
suit has the advantage that the suit is much easier to move in as the wearer has less air pressure to push
against (high pressure suits are inflated to the point of near rigidity against the vacuum outside), but the
reduced air pressure requires the user spend 2 hours pre breathing in an airlock before use to avoid the
bends (half of this time is spent performing calisthenics) and 1 minute or more re-pressurizing afterwards.
To get the same oxygen pressure to allow the wearer to breath, the atmospheric mix in a low pressure suit
is almost pure oxygen. This is not more flammable than a high-pressure mix because the partial pressure
of oxygen is equivalent, but safety and long term health concerns mean Earthside missions will start with a
high pressure crew module, and independent colonies will use a high pressure mix to ensure healthy lung
development in children.

Penalty This is gives the number of penalties that working in the suit applies. Space suit penalties are
safe, that is, suit penalties do not count towards any defects acquired from penalties.

Temperature Because space is a vacuum, cold is much less likely to be an issue than heat which builds
up much faster than it dissipates through thermal radiation. All space suits are fitted with liquid cooling
and ventilation garments which are worn over skin tight suits and under other spacesuits. Working with a
PLSS, the garments either transfer waste heat through an umbilical cord to the spacecraft, or sublimate
ice to cool the suit at the rate of 0.5 kilograms per hour. All suits are able to protect against the cold from
contact work while performing EVAs due to insulation in their gloves and boots.
Dry/vacuum space suits are rated in space anywhere in the solar system and at sites out to and including
the Jupiter zone (solar power -3). Dust pools, water and ice pose exposure risks which limits the space
suits usable at these locations to those which are rated for Any site and not just Dry/vacuum conditions
(Aerogel insulation also provides this rating) – space suits used at sites in the Saturn zone and beyond also
require this rating. In these instances, heat loss through contact with surfaces, liquids and evaporation
cools the suits faster than they can heat up. The exception is the Venus aerostat which has hospitable
enough temperatures that even SCUBA gear is sufficient.
SPACE SUITS 133

Blast/flame suit This soft space suit adds com- maximize survival chances in the event of damage
posite body panels, a flame retardant Kevlar outer or destruction of the launch or landing craft at high
layer, articulated spine protector, a raised collar and speeds with additional fire and chemical resistance
an impact resistant fiber visor which fits over the beyond what is offered by a space flight suit. The
space suit helmet. Blast/flame suits designs add +1 Launch/re-entry soft suit acts as a G suit and has +1
rigid head armour on top of the ballistic helmet ar- FIRE additional damage resistance to all locations,
mour and adds 2 BOMB and FIRE damage armour to in addition to the layers and inserts it includes. Also
all locations in addition to the layers, inserts and available in a hazmat suit design which reduces the
coating it includes. This suit is also available as spacesuit penalty by 1 but which does not function
a body armour, called a bomb suit, removing the as a spacesuit or G suit.
space suit functionality, at half the listed mass (40 kg)
in a dual-layer configuration or a quarter the listed
Partial Skintight Suit Partial skin tight suits are
mass (20 kg) in a single layer configuration which
intended to function primarily as space flight suits
only permits a single layer of inserts. The ballistic
(see the Space Flight Suits section on the follow-
helmet in this instance either has a snorkel to the
ing page). They do not have a suit penalty, but the
rear or is designed to use SCUBA equipment.
wearer will suffer Kittinger syndrome in vacuum con-
ditions, which acts as a penalty for each exposed
EVA pod An EVA pod must be attached to a space- hit location. Suit breaches in any location except
craft drone to allow it to move instead of the crew the head do not cause additional damage beyond a
member moving independently – the given mass painful bruise.
of the pod includes a built-in portable life support
system. The EVA is considered a large drone pod
Planetary suit A planetary suit is designed for
with a crew member aboard, and the crew cannot
protection on sites with standard or dense atmo-
carry more than 15 kg of equipment in addition to
spheres where SCUBA gear can be used but the site
themselves. EVA pods use Pilot skill instead of EVA
temperatures are too hot or cold and atmospheric
skill and has the same armour as the crew module –
conditions are too acidic to use SCUBA gear by itself.
it moves as if it was a drone. EVA pods are the only
Most of the weight savings are the result of remov-
space suit that can be 3D printed.
ing the requirement to pressurize the suit. Reroll if
the destination site is not Titan, terraformed or an
Hard-shell suit Hard-shell suits have a rigid outer aerostat.
shell which allow the atmosphere inside the suit to
be high pressure. The shell also provides a much
Skiff Each of the two hab modules in the crew
greater level of protection than soft suits. Inserts on
module is designed to detach from their tether and
hard-shell suits protect the arms and legs as well as
act as an independent rocket using hydrogen cold
the chest, back and guts.
gas thrusters (double fuel consumption when doing
so). Each sub-module includes remotely control-
Hybrid suit Hybrid suits are soft space suits with lable arms intended for repair operations both on
a rigid or semi-rigid torso that provides a measure the other module and the rest of the rocket. The
of support. Like many compromise solutions they armour given is the same armour that the hull of the
are combine the drawbacks of both approaches. crew module normally has and at baseline levels is
typically 1 layer of FIRE resistance and 1 layer of GUN
resistance armour.
Launch/re-entry suit Earthside High and
Medium quality spacecraft have a launch/re-entry
suit for each crew member; in spacecraft primarily Skintight Suit A completely form fitting space
intended to use drones for EVA operations this may suit using e.g. polyvinylchloride (PVC) avoids many
be the only spacesuits available. This is a soft space of the drawbacks of other space suit designs. It re-
suit with a 1 hour closed life support system and is quires a much smaller volume of air circulating in the
used only during Earthside take off and re-entry, haz- helmet and suit breaches in any location except the
ard traversal and combat operations. It is typically head do not cause decompression or air leaks. The
used with a parachute (10 kg) and survival system biggest issue with skintight suits is comfort and mod-
backpack for Earth conditions which includes a esty: they are literally skin tight, leaving little to the
personal life raft (10 kg). The suit is designed to imagination and making them uncomfortable in the
134 CHAPTER 8. ASSETS

crotch for crew members with external genitals. Also Soft Suit The typical low pressure space suit de-
available in a more comfortable body suit design sign.
which does not suffer from the spacesuit penalty at
the draw back of also not functioning as a spacesuit.

Space Flight Suits

Space flight suits are space suits that can be worn under or instead of normal clothes in the event of sudden
depressurisation events. Combined with earplugs and a face mask, a crew member wearing a space flight
suit can operate in vacuum conditions for short periods even without a full fishbowl helmet. If there is a
depressurisation event, crew carry painkillers to treat the extreme pain caused by the bends due to the
lack of pre-breathing as outlined in the Low Pressure entry on page 191. After finding safety, crew will need
2 hours treatment in an airlock or hyperbaric chamber.
Space flight suits use launch/re-entry suits unless partial or full skin tight suits are available. Military,
security and consumer rigs supersede space flight suits if available.

G Suits
G Suits are worn to prevent loss of consciousness from high accelerations
(G-LOC) by reducing pooling of blood in the extremities. Launch/re-entry G Forces
soft Suits and rigs act as G suits, but other space suits do not. Wearing Net Thrust G-force
a G suit allows you to tolerate up to 9 G acceleration without losing 12 750 milligees
consciousness (which occurs at thrust 16). Without a G suit you can 13 1.5 G
only sustain 5 Gs continuous acceleration (unconsciousness at thrust 15). 14 3G
These figures are halved if your feet face the direction of travel as high 15 6G
blood pressure in the top half of your body is much more dangerous 16 12 G
(subtract 1 permitted thrust). Any rocket equipped with thrusters capable 17 24 G
of producing more than 13 net thrust will include G suits. You also need G suits to survive atmospheric
turbulence on planets with atmospheres.

Unsecured G forces If you are not strapped in when you experience G forces, you take falling damage.
See the Crash damage table on page 184, using the net thrust as the site size and treating it as a fall from
standing.

Gravity tolerance training is included with astronaut crew training that gives an additional 1 G tolerance
for short intervals. This allows tolerance of thrust 15 without a G suit to give you time to get into the G suit.

Low gravity natives Colonists born on low gravity environments (Mars or smaller) have half the acceler-
ation tolerance of Earth born crew: subtract 1 from safe limits.

Armour
Three are three main types of armour: layers, inserts and coatings. Assets that provide armour protection,
such as spacesuits and body armour, will include one or more of these armour types. When you acquire
the asset, you should specify the all layers, inserts and coatings that it includes.

Baseline armour At the baseline technology level, layers provide 1 point of resistance armour which
reduces a specific damage type to all hit locations. The available damage types are ACID, BEAM, BOLT, BOMB,
CRASH, FIRE, GAS, GUN, MELEE, MISSILE, RAD and STAB. Baseline inserts provide 1 point of rigid armour
ARMOUR 135

Baseline and Earthside Armour

Roll Class Armour Type Effects
Baseline layer Layer 1 Resistance to one damage type
Baseline insert Insert 1 Rigid to chest, back, guts
C PANFs Always +1 layer to one of armour, suit or clothes
H X-aerogels If rigid Rigid armour gets +1 bonus against 2 damage types
S Graded-Z shielding If rigid +2 RAD damage resistance for rigid armour
1 C Nanoslick Layer 2 ACID, 1 MELEE, no disabling MELEE
2 D Nanoblack Coating Cannot be painted, not visible in darkness
3 H Aerogel insulation Layer 1 BOLT, 1 FIRE, not visible to IR
4 M MR fluid Inserts 2 Rigid to chest, back, guts
5 S Carapace Inserts 1 Rigid, inserts cover arms, legs; then head
6 V Dynamic camouflage Coating Not visible except by sensors

which reduces damage from all damage types except CRASH to the chest, guts and back hit locations.
There are no baseline coatings that provide a significant defensive benefit. The Baseline and Earthside
Armour table on the current page summarizes this and the available Earthside armour types. Earthside
armours can also be ET produced at the listed class sites. See the Armour reduction on page 178 section of
the Damage and Complications chapter for more details on how to apply the effects of armour.

PLSS cooling system If the crew has any rigid or FIRE resistance armour that applies, and a working
PLSS cooling system, then the armour applies a minimum of 5 FIRE resistance.

Ballistic helmet A full faced ballistic helmet, massing 3 kg, included with all space suits, or used with
body armour by military units. The ballistic helmet provides 2 damage protection against all damage types
to the head location only, and acts as rigid armour. Some technologies will provide a heads up display
(HUD) or brain computer interface which permits using a fly-by-wire helmet design: this means the helmet
also protects against BEAM damage with its normal damage protection value, however a disabling helmet
hit will blind the crew member.
Transparent aluminium face plates are an Earthside technology which are also available on ET produced
ballistic helmets at S sites. These replace the hardened glass in ballistic helmets with aluminium oxynitride
which increase the total protection provided by the ballistic helmet to 5 damage against all damage types.

Aerogel insulation Aerogels are gels which have tect the arms and legs. Two sets of carapace inserts
had the liquid component of the gel replaced with also extend insert protection to the head on other
gas. They are extremely light weight, transparent space suit types. Carapace armour is carefully artic-
and have extremely good insulation properties. They ulated so that it doesn’t further hinder the limbs.
have a wide variety of uses including as an insulator
and catalyst, imaging devices, optics and drug de- Dynamic camouflage You are not visible to un-
livery. Aerogel insulation increases BOLT and FIRE aided unless painted. You are still visible to other
damage armour by 1 to all locations makes units detection methods such as using an infrared (IR) sen-
protected by it not visible to infrared (IR) sensors un- sor or sensor suite.
less they are on fire or in vacuum. Aerogel insulation
also allows crew to use a space suit only rated for
Dry/vacuum conditions at any site. Graded-Z shielding Earthside and ET produced
S-class technologies incorporate radiation resistant
materials such as aluminium and copper: copper is
Carapace Carapace armour act as basic inserts more effective than lead for stopping radiation and
but also extends the carapace protection to the arms aluminium although less effective is much better at
and legs in addition to the chest, back and guts loca- preventing secondary (Bremsstrahlung) radiation
tions. Hard-shell space suits with carapace armour from collisions with the shielding material. These
get insert protection on the head as they already pro- are usually combined in layers to form graded Z-
136 CHAPTER 8. ASSETS

shielding, with an outer layer of tantalum which is tional layer of armour with suit, armour or clothes
effective at stopping gamma radiation, then copper without incurring a mass or suit penalty, however
and finally aluminium. Graded-Z shielding adds +2 multiple layers of PANFs are not cumulative: just ap-
RAD damage protection to any rigid armour. ply the outermost bonus if you wear both armour
and clothes with this material.
MR (Magnetorheological) fluid The inserts in-
corporate a fluid that becomes a solid when mag- Nanoblack You cannot be Painted. You are also
netic field is applied, adding significant impact re- not visible against a dark background such as night
sistance. MR fluid inserts provide 2 points of rigid ar- or space. Targets that are not visible have the target
mour protection to the chest, guts and back instead number to hit them increased by the centimeters
of the 1 point of armour that basic inserts provide. range from the attacker at the 50m scale and cannot
be attacked beyond 500m.

Para-aramid nano-fibers (PANFs) High modu-

lus, high tenacity (HM-HT) fibers include para- Nanoslick Adds 1 MELEE and 2 ACID damage ar-
aramids such as Kevlar, and other synthetic fibers mour to all locations and prevents disabling MELEE
such as Vectran, spun from liquid crystal polymers. damage. Wipes clean.
They have excellent mechanical properties at high
temperatures, including high stiffness and strength X-aerogels X-aerogels are aerogels that have
to weight ratios five to ten times that of steel or alu- been doped with polymers to get strength and flex-
minium, very low creep meaning they will not stretch ibility at a cost of reduced density, insulation and
with time, and good chemical, thermal and weather transparency. They roughly have a density half that
resistance. These fibers can be spun into yearns to of water and reduced insulation properties but can
construct ropes and fabrics for inflatable habitats be used as thermal blankets, a construction material
such as the crew module as well as other structures for aircraft and spacecraft parts and for spacecraft
such as bridges. Next generation nano-fiber manu- reentry heat shields. X-aerogels improve the rigid
facturing techniques allow yarn with specific prop- armour bonus: choose any two different damage
erties (impact resistance, thermal insulation, elec- types with X-aerogels and your locations protected
trical conductivity) to be spun and combined into by rigid armour get +1 increased protection against
multiple layers of fabric. PANFs gives you get 1 addi- that damage type.

Batteries
The personal life support system carried by crew when they perform an EVA includes a 6 kg battery pack, and
additional battery packs can be used to supply additional power. The number of battery tallies included in
a battery pack depends on the battery technology as given on the Crew Tallies column below. Earthside
produced equipment can choose one battery technology to use; ET produced technologies can only
choose from batteries available at the site they are ET produced at. The Charging Batteries table on the next
page indicates how long it takes to recharge a 6 kg battery to using solar power – rechargeable batteries
recharge from the power grid available in the crew module or a generator to 80% in 4 minutes and to 100%
in 4 hours.

Battery heat output Equipment running on battery power produces a lot of heat which needs to be
cooled. Cooling the heat generated by life support is already included in water tally usage, but other uses
of battery power consume 1 water tally for every battery tally consumed – if water tally usage occurs every
2 hours. If water tallies are incurred over longer intervals then the suit cooling system can handle the
additional heat loss from battery power. This does not apply to tallies added by choosing success with a
cost.
BATTERIES 137

Charging Batteries

This table gives the hours required to charge a 6 kilogram battery pack using a 15 kg (300 W) solar panel at
various distances from the sun. Batteries are normally lithium ion unless otherwise specified. Doubling the
number of solar panels moves the recharging time one column to the left. Printed solar panels: Move
one column to the left if the solar panels are produced as an Earthside technology or at a V-class site.
Time to charge
Mercury Venus Earth Mars Ceres Jupiter Saturn Uranus
Battery kWh 1200 600 300 150 75 37.5 18.75 9.375
Lithium ion 1.2 1h 2h 4h 8h 16 h 1d 8 h 2d 16 h 5d 8 h
Gold nanowire 2.4 2h 4h 8h 16 h 1d 8 h 2d 16 h 5d 8 h 10d 16 h
Thin film Li ion 3.6 3h 6h 12 h 1d 2d 4d 8d 16d
Lithium sulfur 3 2.5 h 5h 10 h 20 h 1d 16 h 3d 8 h 6d 16 h 13d 8 h
Ultracapacitors 1.6 11/3 h 22/3 h 51/3 h 102/3 h 211/3 h 1d 182/3 h 3d 131/3 h 7d 22/3 h

Battery Class Crew Tallies be recharged unlimited number of times, replacing

Carbon ultracapacitors C 2 lithium ion batteries as the preferred rechargeable
Lithium ion Any 3 battery for extended operations, and have twice the
Gold nano-wire M 6 run time of the equivalent lithium ion battery. De-
Radioisotope Stirling M NA vices with gold nanowire batteries do not suffer bat-
Aluminium-air S 9 tery failures or glitches to their batteries.
Lithium sulfur V 7 1/2
Thin film lithium ion D 9
Lithium sulfur batteries Lithium sulfur batteries
Aluminium-air batteries Aluminium-air batter- allow you to double the speed of a hybrid vehicle for
ies have one of the highest energy densities of any up to 3 minutes before the lithium sulfur batteries
chemical batteries although they are not recharge- need to be recharged for 1 hour while stationary or
able because the aluminium in the battery is con- two hours at cruising speed. Additionally, once a
sumed by reaction with oxygen (either in the air or day you can increase this speed boost to 2 and a
an on-board supply). They have six times the run half times instead of double for a single 3 minute
time of an equivalent lithium ion battery in oxygen period. Lithium sulfur batteries have two and a half
atmospheres or three times when carrying on-board times the run time of an equivalent lithium ion bat-
oxygen, before needing to be reprinted. tery. Lithium sulfur batteries are either manufac-
tured Earthside or at V class factories.
Carbon ultracapacitors Transparent, flexible
thin films made of single-walled carbon nanotubes Radioisotope Stirling generator The radioac-
can be incorporated into a supercapacitor to signifi- tive decay of plutonium provides 0.5 kW (thermal)/kg
cantly improve energy density. Carbon ultracapaci- which generates electricity using a Stirling engine op-
tors allow you to triple the speed of a hybrid vehicle erating at 30% efficiency. This gives a run time of 20
for up to 30 seconds before the capacitors need to
years for every hour and a half run time of an equiva-
be recharged for 10 minutes while stationary or 20
lent lithium ion battery. The waste heat output is too
minutes at cruising speed. When adding tallies for
high for use to power a personal life support system.
success with a cost, you can choose to add only half
a battery tally if you are using carbon ultracapacitor
batteries. Over longer time periods they dischargeThin film lithium ion batteries Lithium boron
energy much less efficiently, resulting in only two
oxynitride is used as a solid electrolyte material in
thirds the endurance of the equivalent lithium ionthin film flexible batteries while avoiding the require-
battery. ment for a dedicated separator. The result is a device
with one third of the weight of an equivalent lithium
Gold nanowire batteries Gold nanowire battery ion battery for the same run time, or three times the
technology progresses to the point where they can run time for the same weight.
138 CHAPTER 8. ASSETS

Batteries as IEDs
Batteries in Sixty Years in Space contain a huge amount of energy: each battery tally represents 0.4 KWh of
power. If released explosively, this results in 5 BOMB damage at the center of the blast for a battery with 1
tally remaining, 6 BOMB damage for two to three tallies, 7 BOMB damage for four to seven tallies and 8
BOMB damage for 8 or more tallies remaining. At the 5m scale, subtract the distance in centimeters from
the blast center to determine the BOMB damage suffered by a unit. At the 50m scale only units at the center
of the blast suffer damage. Converting a battery pack to an IED is a 10 minute action using the Bypass skill.
Atmospheres significantly alter bomb damage and effects. Underwater explosions increase BOMB damage
by 2, dense atmospheres increase BOMB damage by 1, thin atmospheres reduce BOMB damage by 1 and
tenuous atmospheres decrease BOMB damage by 6: these modifications don’t affect the fragments that
the bombs produce. Weapons don’t do BOMB damage in vacuum conditions but will generate fragments
although battery explosions are too small to generate significant damaging fragments at 5m or beyond.

Cubesats, Drones and LHDs

Spacecraft are normally equipped with a number of robots to assist with operations on the spacecraft. The
crew module includes one 1000 kg drone, and each colonist module has one drone for each mass point
of the module. High quality ships instead have two 500 kg drones which are functionally the same; ET
produced crew and colonist modules have four 250 kg drones per mass point instead. Each crew member
also has a number of 1 kilogram cubesats: 6 for high quality spacecraft, 4 for medium quality spacecraft
and 2 for low quality spacecraft.

Load-haul-dump The crew module also includes a 1 tonne mining LHD (load-haul-dump) which is used
for dirt refueling and hauling, and can be used as a spare if the refinery LHD is lost.

Ship drones
Ship drones normally incorporate a cold gas thruster and a 200 kilogram payload, consisting of one to
three pods. Pods are available in small (64 kg), medium (125 kg) and large (200 kg) configurations and a
drone can carry either three small, one small and one medium or one large pod. A crew member with
up to 64 kg of equipment counts as a medium pod and 125 kg of equipment counts as a large pod; the
drone is not pressurized and offers no life support protection except where noted. The following pods are
available – equipping a drone with a pod checks the corresponding tally on the crew module until the pod
is returned. Drones must add fuel to be able to move.

Drone Pod Size a medium size version which acts as a PLSS for two
Emergency shelter Small people. The emergency shelter uses low pressure
EVA Large atmosphere to minimize mass and has 2 layers of
Firefighting Needs 2 drones armour. The drone can move with one person in the
Printer Small tent (and PLSS if needed) but the pod is treated as
Radioisotope battery Medium large when it does so.
Solar power Small
Tether Small
Utility Small EVA pod Acts as a PLSS and capable of carrying
Weapons Any one crew. See the Spacesuit entry for EVA pods on
page 133. Note the pod size includes the mass of the
on board crew member.
Emergency shelter pod An inflatable tent that
can be entered by two astronauts in order for one to
perform a medical procedure on the other, or to per- Firefighting pod The 300kg of firefighting equip-
mit both to rest during extended EVA operations. It is ment on the crew module can be carried across two
designed to use PLSS air reserves but is available in drones: one medium pod on one and one large pod
CUBESATS, DRONES AND LHDS 139

on the second. The drones are capable of using the increase the radiator requirements to make the pod
firefighting equipment while carrying it, provided large.
they remain no more than 2 cm apart on a Facility
(5m/cm) scale map.
Solar power pod Produces 1.25 kW of solar
power in the Earth zone, 640W in the Mars zone,
Printer pod An industrial (desktop) 3D printer ca- 320W in the Ceres zone and 160W in the Jupiter zone
pable of printing a wide variety of objects. It requires – doubled if the pod is produced Earthside or at a
input power of 0.7 kW – one battery tally provides V site. This can be doubled again if the solar power
enough power and cooling to allow 30 minutes of pod is produced as a medium size pod or tripled if a
printing needed to print a 15 kilogram object. If the large size pod.
15 kilogram object is being repaired, reprinted or
is printed with a pre-built wiring harness the whole
Tether pod Contains a 200m tether.
process takes 2 hours; 3 hours if the wiring harness
has to be constructed from scratch.
Utility pod Carries up to 64 kg of equipment such
as a PLSS or 10 sets of batteries. An Advanced utility
Radioisotope battery Contains a 45 kilogram
pod can deploy and use the equipment it carries.
unit which generates 150 W of power and 2.5 kW
of heat energy for 17 years before dropping in power
output by 10%. The remainder of the pod consists of Weapons pod Capable of carrying a 64 kg (small)
radiators re-radiating the waste heat. Radioisotope or 125 kg (medium) weapon in a fixed mount or a
Stirling generators produced Earthside or at M-class 64 kg (medium) or 125 kg (large) weapon in a turret
sites increase the power output to 720 W however mount.

To fuel a drone, using the rocket fueling rules, treating the drone as
having a dry mass of 8, and each fuel tank massing one eight of the Drone thruster
drone mass (32 kg for 250 kg drones, 64 kg for 500 kg drones and 125 kg Size Thruster Net thrust
for 1 tonne drones): a drone fully fueled with a wet mass four times its 250 kg 3 • 32 +10
dry mass gets 23 fuel steps. 500 kg 5 • 32 +9
Drones can operate using solar power out to the Ceres zone and on 1t 6 • 32 +8
batteries for 24 hours until needing 6 hours charge beyond that.

Cubesats
Cubesats are either equipped with solar sails, or dual-mode cold gas thrusters
/ ion drives with 3 steps of fuel; the cold gas thruster gets 9 centiburns from Cubesat thruster
this many fuel steps. At 1.33 kilograms, they have a +18 thrust modifier, which Thruster Net thrust
means their unmodified thrust is negative (the table gives net thrust modifiers Solar sail 1 • 0
only). Cubesats can each carry a 1 kilogram payload – the default package Cold gas 14 • 32
is a camera and space suit radio. Larger payloads can often be broken up into Ion drive 2 • 1/2 AB 2
multiple cubesats designed to interact together to perform the intended function.

Modifying built-in wet mass

If a rocket design gives either the number of fuel steps or a pre-calculated
number of burns or centiburns (one hundredths of a burn), you can use the Built-in wet mass
standard spacecraft movement rules using the built-in fuel for a robot or Fuel steps Dry mass
vehicle without needing to track the rocket’s wet mass. However you can also 0 8
choose to modify the wet mass of a rocket by changing the number of fuel 1-2 7
steps it has available. You’d normally do this to increase the amount of fuel 3-5 6
available, but you may instead wish to do this to increase the available thrust 6-8 5
for rockets which start with a large amount of fuel built-in. These rules only 9-12 4
work for rockets with up to 27 fuel steps available (85% fuel or lower). 13-18 3
To do this, set the rocket dry mass equal to the number defined by its fuel 19-25 2
steps from the Built-in wet mass table on the current page. Then, if you are 26-27 1
140 CHAPTER 8. ASSETS

using the rocket diagram, place the rocket’s wet mass counter based on the number of fuel steps it has.
You can then increase the rocket’s wet mass by adding fuel tanks: each fuel tank has a mass equal to one
eighth of the rocket’s starting mass instead of 40 tonnes.

Repairs
The prevalence of 3D printers makes a large amount of technology fungible: but at the same time being
several years from the nearest factory can make it also very precious. Anything from your smart device to a
nuclear reactor may get damaged either through wear and tear, accidents or combat, and you will need to
make in situ repairs to allow it to function again.

Tools Repairs require a tool set specific to the item being repaired – an electronics tool set will also
be needed for any equipment that uses electrical power. Sparing also requires a mechanical tool set to
recover the parts from the larger system. If you repair something 20 tonnes or more in size you will need
either a garage or a component tool set for the component you are repairing.

Sparing The general rule of thumb in the Sixty Years In RPG is that you can repair anything that is
damaged by taking the spare parts from something of a larger mass class – this damages the larger item.
At a spacecraft scale, mass is in 40 tonne increments. So you can repair a damaged mass 1 component by
damaging a mass 2 component. Mass 0 spacecraft components are considered to be 20 tonnes and each
smaller mass class is one quarter that as shown on the Print, Repair and Reprint Times table on page 144. A
damaged 40 tonne component takes 1 month to repair with the correct parts and repair times scale linearly
with the mass of the item being repaired.

Re-enabling A disabled system can be re-enabled by a crew member performing a 6 second action
check using the most relevant skill. A disabled component takes 2 hours to re-enable. Safety override:
You can use disabled equipment without re-enabling it by giving it a point of internal damage (bypasses
armour).

Partial repairs If an asset can suffer damage to different subsystems – such as different hit locations –
instead of a single damage tally, then any one tally, check box or counter can be repaired 10 times faster
(6 seconds instead of minutes, 10 minutes instead of 2 hours, days instead of months, months instead of
years). The exception is the wiring, including power and networks: if this subsystem is damaged, then
applicable tallies are each treated as a full size repair.

Synchronizing code Glitches can only be repaired by using either sparing or synchronizing the code
with a well-maintained code repository: although the physical computer components can be 3D printed,
the code must also be verified and updated. These repositories are always available at a Bernal or in home
orbit but bandwidth limitations prevent full code synchronization elsewhere. This happens automatically
for the spacecraft systems which arrive at these locations unless the crew is AWOL or it is illegal to do so.
Reduce the consciousness capability by 1D6 if this is done to any robot or computer with a consciousness
capability from 5-9 and 2D6 for a consciousness capability of 10 or higher. Attempting to synchronize the
code of a conscious robot is legally murder if the robots are emancipated and if likewise to a computer
system if the AI is emancipated.

Crew module spares Each of the following crew module functions can be used as a source of tallies for
actions or spares for repairs as if they were a 5 tonne mass class component with a consequent reduction
in the crew module functionality:

• Ability to start a colony

REPAIRS 141

Printer Sizes
Print Repair Swap
Printer size Ink Crew many tally many tally many tally
Desktop Varies 1 < 60g 2 kg < 4 kg < 250 kg < 250 kg <20t
Workshop 125kg 2 < 4kg 125 kg <250 kg <20t <20t Any
Freighter 10t 3 <250 kg 10t < 20t Any Any Any
Factory Unlimited 4 < 20t Any Any Any Any Any

• Platform ISRU

• Platform thruster and secondary functions

• Crew life support

There is also a 250 kilogram Mission Control uplink component available which is needed to contact mission
control, two 250 kg airlocks (one per hab module) and 1 tonne of atmospheric re-entry heat tiles.

Repair Exceptions
There are a number of exceptions to the repair rules:

• Defects, faults, stress and glitches cannot be repaired. A new asset or component must be
printed (ET produced or digital swap) instead. Faults are that have been blacked or lined out,
usually because of complete loss of the body part or component – such as due to ballistic and
irretrievable movement of key parts away from a spacecraft.

• Fabrics and wiring Fabrics and wires cannot be 3D printed but can be manufactured using tradi-
tional manufacturing techniques at a factory. Fabric can be repaired by using fabric from another
fabric item of the same or larger size. Wiring can be repaired by re-splicing the wiring – this takes as
long as reprinting the object (longer than a repair).

• Printers apply their penalties, faults and defects to the thing they print. If a printer has a
penalty, fault or defect, then anything the printer prints will also have the same number of penalties,
faults and defects.

• Extraterrestrial and advanced technologies can only be repaired by sacrificing components of

the same spectral type, if performing either sparing or digital swaps. Advanced technologies can
use a component of either spectral type, and advanced technologies can be used to repair any
spectral type they incorporate.

• Promoted technologies can only be repaired at a lab.

• Fuels, including isotope fuels, cannot be repaired in any meaningful sense.

• Ammunition can only be repaired or replaced by sacrificing components of the same spectral type,
noting that Earthside projectile weapons effectively have a spectral type C.

Printing Parts
If the crew has a 3D printer, then you do not need to take spare parts from a larger asset - you can instead
print the spare parts by using your ink supply. The ink supply you have is determined by the spectral classes
you have access to and the printer class you have, as shown on the Printer Sizes table on the next page.
You can print, repair or digitally swap as many of the assets listed in the many column as you wish, but any
142 CHAPTER 8. ASSETS

asset listed in the tally column adds 1 tally to the printer. A printer’s ink supply is exhausted when it has 5
tallies – tallies are removed at the appropriate factory or lab. See the Printer inks section on this page to
determine which printer inks you have available.
The repair time includes the required to remove the parts from the asset being damaged for sparing or to
3D print replacement parts and the process of stripping back the component to repair any wiring breaks
and then reassembly afterwards – the printer size determines the number of crew required. Repair times
for various size components are given on the Print, Repair and Reprint Times table on page 144.
You need the appropriate licensing to re-enable, repair or 3D print an item.

Reprints Crew can use a 3D printer to reprint a PLSS cooling system to recover water from it or to reprint
primary (non-rechargeable) batteries, including aluminium-air batteries and isotope batteries, to recharge
them. Reprinting a battery needs the same amount of ink as a digital swap.

Digital swaps If the crew has digital hopper, they can break down existing items into their constituent
inks. The process of doing this then printing a new item is called a digital swap. Digital swaps allow the
crew to reprint any equipment, rather than just PLSS cooling and primary batteries. A digital swap takes
the same amount of time as a reprint, but also avoids needing as much in ink to print new spare parts, the
damage parts from the asset itself can be used as the source of spares. Use the Swap column on the Printer
Sizes for ink consumption. All freighters have digital hoppers which allow digital swaps.

Printer inks
General 3D printers print objects using a specific spectral class of ink: C-ink (pronounced with a hard C),
D-ink, H-ink, M-ink, S-ink or V-ink at Earthside and ET technology levels; and paired combinations of these
inks at advanced technology levels. Universal printers are available as promoted technologies which can
accept any ink but are still constrained by needing wiring to be pulled through for 3D printing.
Promoted technologies can only be printed by using laboratory inks, where for which there is one for
each spectral class: CL-ink, DL-ink, HL-ink, ML-ink, SL-ink or VL-ink. Laboratory inks only work on universal
printers. Promoted technologies can be repaired using normal inks matching the same spectral class.
Universal inks are a Future technology which allows you to ignore the spectral class requirement for printing,
repairs and digital swaps for assets and components made with universal inks. Because of the cost of
universal inks, they are usually reserved for interstellar voyages where mass is a critical requirement.

Acquiring inks If you gain access to a spectral class or lab, you get access to the inks after the next
resupply or when you visit any of your factories or colonies, with the quantities determined by the printer
sizes you have. Printer inks are often less beneficial in practice than would be expected: largely because
mass is so critical on spacecraft. In the rare circumstances where it makes sense to print an object at a
destination after carrying the ink there, it is often better to first print the ink in a form that would be useful for
the intervening journey, such as another spacecraft component, and then use a hopper at the destination
to convert the object back into ink. This is the rationale behind the Digital Swap operation.
Tech Level Printer Ink
ET Produced C, D, H, M, S, V C, D, H, M, S, V
Advanced Dual spectrum Dual spectrum
Promoted Universal Laboratory
Future Universal Universal

3D Printing
Printing speeds for new items are limited by the need to add a wiring harness to the item. Wiring harnesses
cannot be 3D printed: they can be built using traditional manufacturing techniques from either copper or
aluminium (S sites), carbon nanotubes (C sites), boron nanotubes or zinc (D sites) or silver or gold (M sites).
REPAIRS 143

However the vast majority of wiring will be nickel which is more abundant in asteroids than any other metal
other than iron. Psyche, a M type asteroid is a 90% metallic mix of iron and nickel. By comparison, copper
on S type asteroids is around 40 ppm (parts per million), where on Earth it is only considered viable to mine
in 10,000 ppm or higher concentrations: aluminium is the most common metal in the Earth’s crust whereas
it is only found at around 35 ppm elsewhere in the solar system.
Each item to be printed will have a dedicated wiring harness which needs to be constructed beforehand for
the specific item and installed after the rest of the item is printed. The wiring harness masses 1/64th of the
total mass of the item to be printed (3 body sizes smaller, if the item is size 10 or smaller) and takes the same
time to prepare as the Reprint speed of the item that it is for. Both these steps cannot be automated except
by robots complex enough to be able to perform the Teleops skill. The Print wiring breakthrough allows
you to 3D print wiring which eliminates the need for manual intervention during printing and assembly,
and effectively makes printing instantaneous.
The effects of the wiring harness limitation means that it is rarely economic in either time or space to carry
a 3D printer in your load out along with pre-existing wiring harnesses. Most 3D printers and spacecraft will
instead carry wire stock which can be used to build wiring harnesses as required.

Tools 3D printing requires a wiring tool set to create and install the wiring harness. Crew are assumed to
carry this tool set if they have not specific another tool set in their load out.

Printer inks The sizes of objects that can be printed is limited by the amount of available wire stock, ink
and physical constraints on the printer’s ability to print the cross section of larger objects. See the Printing
parts section on page 141 to determine how much ink and wire stock is available with a particular printer
size, and the printer inks section section on the preceding page to determine what types of printer inks are
available to use. You can always specify what types and sizes of printer inks you carry in your load out.

Specialized 3D printers Specialized 3D printers can print specific components around a pre-assembled
wiring harness. These are available for a number of different classes of object.

Technology Improvements Printer speeds not only get faster as technology improves: they also provide
more control allowing more advanced technologies to be built and repaired. At Earthside and ET Produced
technology levels, the techniques described in various refinery components are used. At Advanced tech-
nology levels, nanobots in liquid suspension allow for merged 3D printing and assembly processes with a
much greater degree of flexibility in what shapes can be printed. At Promoted technology levels aerosol
nanobots become flexible enough to be able to 3D print most items without requiring a bulky printer.

Bootstrapping Bootstrapping is the process of using a 3D printer to print a larger 3D printer to allow you
to print, repair or replace a much larger component. The key limitation on bootstrapping is the available
ink supply, which is why you can’t bootstrap up printers to a larger size without the additional inks needed.

Refineries Bootstrapping up to a factory printer at a site requires a pre-existing refinery to refine the
raw stuffs needed to start ink production. This can be done at a claim either by using the Industrialize
operation described in This Space Intentionally or assembling buildings as described in A Base-
D Landing.

Printing spacecraft Spacecraft consists of one or more components, where each component is repre-
sented by a patent card in the High Frontier board game. Each component takes 1 year to print, regardless
of their mass because 3D printing speeds are limited by the both the intricacy and longest dimension of
the component being printed and spacecraft components tend to be long or intricate, or both.
144 CHAPTER 8. ASSETS

Print, Repair and Reprint Times

Use the Print column to print an item; except use the Print with harness times if printing the item in
conjunction with a pre-configured harness or a specialized 3D printer and use the Print, no wiring column
if you are printing something that doesn’t use controls or generate or consume power such as armour,
melee weapons and emergency kits. Use the Repair/Reprint column when repairing or reprinting an item.
Spacecraft components: All spacecraft components (20 tonnes+) take 1 year to print (ET produce or Digital
swap). Trouble: Trouble cannot be used to improve these times. Print wiring breakthrough: Printing is
effectively instantaneous with this breakthrough as the speed of nano-inks moving to occupy the volume
of the print is the primary constraint.
Body Mass Print Repair/Reprint Print with harness Print, no wiring
0 Minibot (15 g) 2 minutes 1 minute 1.8 seconds
1 Minibot (60 g) 4 minutes 2 minutes 7.2 seconds
2 Minibot (0.25 kg) 8 minutes 4 minutes 30 seconds
3 1 kg 20 minutes 10 minutes 2 minutes
4 4 kg 1 hour 30 minutes 8 minutes
5 15 kg 3 hours 11/2 hours 30 minutes
6 60 kg 8 hours 4 hours 2 hours
7 250 kg 1 day 12 hours 8 hours
8 1t 3 days 11/2 days 11/3 days
9 5t 8 days 1 week 5 days
10 20 t 1 month 2 weeks 1 month 3 weeks
11 40 t 2 months 1 month 2 months 11/2 months
12 80 t 4 months 2 months 4 months 3 months
13 120 t 6 months 3 months 6 months 41/2 months
14 160 t 8 months 4 months 8 months 6 months
15 320 t 16 months 8 months 16 months 1 year
+1 x2 x2 x2 x2 x2

Printing replicators While there are definitely economies of scale in 3D printing, the upper speed limit
set for printing is often determined by the number of printers that you have. You may decide that a way
to work around the problem is to have a printer print printers: especially if the resulting printers can
then further print printers. Your ability to scale this is limited by wiring speeds until the Future era where
refactories (self-printing printers) become available. At this point you risk replicating printers turning into
grey goo, regardless of the checks and balances you attempt to put in place.
Chapter 9

Up grades
146 CHAPTER 9. UPGRADES

The Sixty Years In RPG divides the High Frontier universe time line into six 15 year eras starting at 2025 and
ending at 2115. Each era has a set of technologies and trends associated with it which will occur as the
game moves further and further into the future. Progression along the technology path is not tied to an era
for the crew: crew will instead achieve the technology levels when they meet certain prerequisites such as
reverse engineering technologies you discover, building factories and labs and completing futures and
breakthroughs.
As crew get access to higher technology levels, they get access to new assets and new ways of using their
existing assets. At ET technology levels crew get access to extraterrestrial (ET) production which allows
them to ET produce their equipment, halving its mass. When crew get access to advanced technology,
load outs improve to become rigs which incorporate new technologies to make working and living in space
easier; crew can also specialize their stacks using their first stack update. Promoted technology becomes
available in the Exoglobalization era, which allow crew to apply two updates to their equipment that makes
it more useful day to day – this also gives them their second stack update.
But technology does not just impact what equipment crew use but who they are. Faction specific technolo-
gies called faction upgrades can be acquired by doing missions for another faction - or if the crew’s mission
control changes enough from its original mandate to resemble another faction. And each new technology
level increases the limit crew can condition their abilities to – conditioning an ability to 5 or higher will
change a crew member’s species rating. Species ratings reflect crew moving further and further away from
baseline humanity, potentially incorporating new body parts including side-loads and exocortexes and
changing their mass and body plan.

Apology Sixty Years In uses era to mean a completely different thing from the geologic time ’era’. Each
Sixty Years In era is actually a half-generation (or half-cohort), where a generation is normally measured in
30 year intervals. While the eras in the game are 15 years, in reality the technological progress each era
brings is hugely accelerated - from a more realistic perspective, Sixty Years In eras should probably be 50
years or longer. This would break the main conceit of the game, which is a single life spanning multiple
significant shifts in humanity’s technological capabilities.

Technology Levels
Sixty Years In Space has eight main technology levels: Baseline, Earthside, ET Produced, Advanced, Pro-
moted, Future, Breakthrough and Postsingularity. These roughly correspond to the six main 15 year eras -
Baseline, Upported, Colonization, Exoglobalization, Futures and Directions shown on the Sixty Years In
Eras table on the facing page. Each technology has a set of prerequisites that the crew must complete
to be able to access the technology level. When the crew achieves the technology level, they will get the
listed benefits in addition to access to any equipment at this technology level as described in the Upgrades
chapter on page 144.

Baseline technologies are things that you see around you in the world today. Anything you can reason-
ably access from the world of 2015 is considered a baseline technology. Archaic technologies are even
older: from the 1970s and earlier.

Earthside technologies are built on the ground and boosted into space. Earthside technologies repre-
sent a lot of near futuristic technologies for which there is not a requirement for sophisticated production
techniques only available in microgravity vacuum environments. A limited number of Earthside technolo-
gies exist in the Baseline era but they are generally available from the start of the Upported era. Benefits:
During the Upported era, your crew gets access to Earthside technologies on Earth, in LEO and from supply
rockets. Some of these Earthside technologies are also available ET produced at a limited range of sites –
when they are ET produced, they are often referred to as dirtside technologies. Earthside technologies
include a variety of new battery technologies as detailed in the Batteries section on page 136 of the Assets
chapter. The list of Earthside technologies capable of being produced at each extraterrestrial site are
summarized in the Spectral Classes section on page 217 of the Sites chapter.
TECHNOLOGY LEVELS 147

Sixty Years In Eras

The colors in this table generally correspond to either the cover of the supplement or the High Frontier
board game patent card and have no significance beyond that. Start: Rules for starting in the era are
intended to be included in the supplement listed although at the time of publication these only exist in
This Space Intentionally. A detailed description of the era and the following era is also included in the listed
supplement.
Year Era Tech Level Upgrades Start
2025 Baseline Baseline 3D printing This Space Intentionally

2040 Upported Earthside Body parts, Mods Crewed Rules

Extraterrestrial (ET) Exocortex/side-load,
2055 Colonization A Base- D Landing
Advanced Rig, Stack update
2070 Exoglobalization Promoted Promotion, 2 updates A Facility with Words

2085 Future Future +1 update Absent Without

Breakthrough +1 update
2100 Directions A Lot of Zeroes
Postsingularity Gifts

Extraterrestrial (ET) technologies are built at factories established elsewhere in the solar system, and
one of the major crew goals is to establish or gain access to a factory to produce ET technology. ET
technologies come in six types, corresponding to five major spectral types of asteroids: Carbon (C), Vestoid
(V), Metal (M), Stony (S) and Dark (D) and a sixth representing Helium-3 (H) sourced from gas giant aerostats.
Each site a factory could be built at has a corresponding spectral type indicating what ET products can be
produced there. Benefits: ET technologies are referred to as ET produced. Any ET produced assets from
the Assets chapter except weapons and batteries are half the listed mass – this also means space suits
cause less of a penalty when worn. The spectral type of the ET factory determines which other technologies
you get access to.

Advanced (dual) technologies become possible when a second factory type is established - usually
midway through the Colonization era (2055-2069). For spacecraft, this allows ET produced components
to be built at each of the two factories and then combined into the final rocket. For other equipment,
advanced technologies are an abstraction of the new manufacturing techniques that become available
as more technological capabilities are built. Benefits: Your crew gets access to a rig and a stack update
at advanced technologies. The spectral types of the ET factories you control determines which other
technologies you get access to.

Promoted technologies are ET produced technologies which are then taken to a lab and promoted. A
lab can exist in one of three ways: either a) a factory built at a TNO science site (Trans Neptunian Object)
can act as a lab; b) a mobile space station called a Bernal can moved adjacent to or onto a factory at a
science site to act as a lab and c) certain colonist abilities, capabilities and upgrades can act as labs in
specific conditions or with specific restrictions. Benefits: Crew can apply updates to their equipment at
labs which significantly enhances the abilities of each item they carry: equipment starts with 2 updates at
this era and crew stacks acquire a second update. The spectral type of the lab determines which other
technologies crew get access to.

Futures technologies have technology specific requirements that have to be met before the future
technology can been developed. Many futures require Epic hazard operations be performed, which always
entail a risk attempting the operation, but for which the risk can be minimized by having either a trans-
Neptunian object (TNO) factory or factories of 4 different spectral types. A future technology may result in a
148 CHAPTER 9. UPGRADES

technological singularity, a tipping point following which it is much more difficult to predict what form
society will take. Benefits: Crew equipment gets an additional update – this may be from the available
future updates in addition to other spectral class updates. Other future technologies are also available –
each requiring their own future to develop.

Breakthrough technologies are those technologies only achievable by a Kardashev type II civilization,
which use the total energy output of the sun captured by a Dyson swarm. Some of these breakthroughs may
lead to singularities which unlock even more powerful postsingularity technologies, although these are
normally only available for postsingularity species that have reached this point. Benefits: Crew equipment
gets an additional update of any type. Breakthroughs can also break the rules in various ways – each
breakthrough grants a specific benefit.

Technology Classes
ET produced equipment is associated with an asteroid spectral class: C, D, H, M, S or V, and the equipment
type is referred to using this letter hyphenated with the word class, as in C-class. Advanced and promoted
technologies also use class names. Promoted technologies use the word lab instead of class, as in C-lab.
Future and breakthrough technologies aren’t associated with specific locations and so don’t require a
technology class: if needed they should simply be called Future-class or Breakthrough-class.

On naming things Names are important but also need to be meaningful. But it is often hard to come
up with good names, especially spur of the moment. Technology classes are intended as a “minimal
lovable product” substitute. They have the drawback that names that the High Frontier board game
uses to refer to objects around our solar system are the result of historical circumstances that draw on
a specific cultural canon and myths.

Advanced Technology Names

Advanced technologies class names are determined by the two factory spectral classes that contribute to
the technology. Look up this combination on the Advanced Tech Classes table on the facing page to see
the class name. For example, an advanced technology robot incorporates both C- and D-class technologies.
The robot is Trojan-class, named because of the majority of asteroid spectral types in the Greek and Trojan
camps around Jupiter.

World wide trade routes Worlds which have two or more sites on them will very quickly become ad-
vanced technologies, as even illegal smuggling between these sites is easier than subsidized interplanetary
trade. Limiting factors such as the availability of nitrogen can be always be overcome from trade along
buggy roads.

Push factory subclasses If there are spacecraft designs which benefit from push factories, there will be
a push factory subclass listed in brackets. Use this name instead if the technology incorporates the push
functionality.

Mars and Blue C class Mars-class and Blue C-class are sometimes used to distinguish technologies
which rely on the presence of an atmosphere (Mars-class) or are extremely limited in available building
materials (Blue C-class) from other C class sites. C-class technologies that require more than a tenuous
atmosphere are categorized as Venus-class.
PATENTS AND LICENSES 149

Advanced Tech Classes

Factory D-class H-class M-class S-class V-class
C-class Trojan Saturn Triton Europa Callisto (Venus)
D-class Jupiter Beehive Kuiper Titan
H-class Neptune Sol Uranus
M-class Luna (Io) Miranda (Galileo)
S-class Ganymede
V-class (Mercury)

Lab Names
If you need to distinguish the name of a laboratory from the technology it produces, name the lab using
the full name of the asteroid spectral type followed by the word lab, except using Silicon instead of Stony:
Carbon lab (C), Dark lab (D), Helium lab (H), Metal lab (M), Silicon lab (S) or Vesta lab (V). For example, “a
Silicon lab makes S-lab promoted technologies”.

Other Classes
Some technologies will be broken up into other descriptive classes. For instance superweapons are divided
into Spacecraft-class, Site-class, Biosphere-class, World-class, Stellar-class and Galaxy-class; and monsters,
a term for extremely dangerous unintelligent species, are divided into Biohazard-class, Tank-class, Colossus-
class and Titan-class.

Patents and Licenses

The first wave of High Frontier exploration in space was largely constrained by what patents each mission
control had available which determined spaceship components they could build Earthside and at factories.
In the second wave you are able to license which patents you have access to.
You begin the game granted the licenses for your personal effects and all Baseline technologies – anything
that currently existed in the real world of 2015 or earlier. You must get licenses for other technologies as
proscribed in the rules, either by spending debt to buy it, skill points to research it, acquiring it as a trend
impact or as a result of performing a mission for a faction to get the license to that technology. You need a
license to 3D print, repair, reprint or digitally swap any asset.

Unlicensed equipment If you steal, find or otherwise acquire technologies that you don’t have existing
licenses to, they will risk becoming defective as you lack the software updates needed to maintain them.
Each unlicensed item will get defect on a 1 in 36 chance (2 on 2D6) every year. Roll once for each crew
member’s assets.

Service risks This Space Intentionally supplement includes this chance in the service risks roll so you
do not need to roll it separately if making those rolls.

Faction upgrades You can also acquire licenses to upgrades from a faction, by improving your faction
rank. Each faction upgrade you get will grant the license to that upgrade if it grants you an asset or
component. Faction upgrades are not associated with a spectral class which means that you don’t get
access to faction upgrades as you build factories and labs. See the Faction Upgrades section on page 160
for details.
150 CHAPTER 9. UPGRADES

Reverse engineering
You can spend a skill point and must make a successful Research action check to reverse engineer any 1
unlicensed Earthside technology or asset smaller than 20 tonnes in size that you have acquired. This gives
you a license to this technology. ET produced and Advanced technologies can be reverse engineered this
way – but you also need access to the appropriate spectral class printers and inks to be able to maintain the
equipment effectively. Promoted technologies can be reverse engineered at any lab but only reproduced
and repaired at labs that permit the technology. Faction upgrades and Future and later technologies
cannot be reverse engineered.

ET Production
ET Production is the ability to use a factory or 3D printer to produce products with a specific spectral class.
There are six spectral classes in the High Frontier universe: C (carbon), D (dark), H (helium-3), M (metallic), S
(silicon) and V (volcanic), and each site on the High Frontier map is associated with a specific spectral class.
To gain access to a spectral class you must either help build or negotiate access to a factory at a specific
site: once you do so you can perform year long ET production operations to produce 20 tonne or larger
components using the factory’s 3D printers as well as immediately gain the ability to print ET produced
goods for smaller assets.

Adding spectral classes Helping build a factory causes your crew to reach the ET technology level,
which can occur before the Colonization era. Once you build to a second factory of a different spectral class
to any previous factories, your crew gains access to the Advanced technology levels. Crew can continue to
get access to further spectral classes, up to six total, by helping build additional factories.

Removing spectral classes If the crew loses access to a factory – because it is destroyed or controlled
by a different faction – they lose the ability to produce inks and equipment of that spectral class but don’t
lose any gained technology levels.

ET Produced Personal Effects

Crew can choose to ET produce some or all of their personal effects to either to upgrade or replace existing
equipment. However doing so means the equipment loses access to the Earthside technology benefits,
except for the benefits that match the spectral classes you have access to. For instance, if a crew member
ET produces their space suit, they lose the graded-Z shielding benefit that increased RAD damage resistance
for rigid armour, unless they have built an S-class factory. All Baseline and Upported technology equipment
halves in mass if you ET produce it – except weapons and batteries. Some equipment does not have any
abilities granted by Earthside technology and will always be ET produced if available.

ET Produced Space suits ET produced space suits halve the space suit penalty (round down) of the
base suit they are built on in addition to halving the mass; you can also choose the space suit type for each
crew member from any space suit available if you ET produce the suit.
An ET produced version of the Launch / Re-entry Soft Suit can be used when taking off or landing on any
atmospheric site and includes a self-inflating and self-heating balloon good for 24 hours use to float at
aerostats.
ET produced space suits also have infrared sensors that can perform detailed thermal imaging including
detecting hot locations, components, robots, vehicles and crew, even if otherwise concealed, unless they
are underwater or protected by aerogel insulation. Aerogel insulation is ineffective in a vacuum or if on fire.
Crew using infrared sensors cannot simultaneously use other sensors to overcome these limitations.
ET PRODUCTION 151

ET Produced Armour
Roll Class Skin Type Effects
Any Radiative cooling Coating Cool as if one heliocentric zone further from sun
1 C TIP Muscles Inserts Physical ability can be increased
2 D Electro-reactive armour Inserts 1 Rigid, rigid gets 2 GUN, 2 MISSILE
3 H Exo-disposable skin Layer Destroy to remove 4 statuses or damage
4 M Superconducting Layer 2 BOLT, BOLT damage charges batteries
5 S Silvered Coating 2 BEAM, 2 FIRE, blind attackers using lasers
6 V Adversarial images Coating Not visible to AI < 8 Mental ability

ET Produced Armour
ET produced armour can either be one of the Earthside armour types in the Assets chapter matching one of
the available spectral classes or an additional set of armour available from this technology level onwards.

Adversarial images You are not visible to artifi- the Venus zone. Halve the amount of water needed
cial intelligence with less than 13 Intelligence ca- for battery usage and fatigue.
pability (Specialized ASI) / 8 Mental ability unless
painted.
Silvered Adds 2 BEAM and FIRE damage armour
to all locations and blinds attackers who attack a
Electro reactive armour Electro reactive armour target protected by silvered armour using lasers, re-
consists of two thin layers of armour with an insu- gardless of whether they hit or miss.
lating gap between them. The outer layer is highly
charged, and when a projectile or HEAT jet pene-
trates both layers, forming a conductive bridge, it is Superconducting Adds 2 BOLT damage armour
destroyed by the discharge. Electro reactive armour to all locations except Bulk and uses damage from
act as basic inserts, providing 1 point of rigid armour BOLT attacks to recharge weapons and equipment:
protection to the insert locations, but also adds 2 remove 1 tally from either batteries or battery pow-
points of GUN and MISSILE resistance armour to all ered weapons if hit by a BOLT attack. Superconduct-
locations with rigid armour. This is a special bonus ing armour also makes the protected target invisible
similar to the Graded-Z shielding bonus, and only to Van Eck detectors and magnetometers; they can
applies once even if multiple sets of Electro reactive also be have power beamed to them from a base sta-
armour inserts are fitted. You can also choose to tion to either run equipment or recharge batteries.
destroy this insert and any coating at any time to be
unaffected by all damage types for the rest of the
6s turn on rigid armour locations and against one Twist Insertion Polymer (TIP) Muscles Made
attack on a longer turn. from fishing line, these have 100 times the strength
of human muscle and work energy density compara-
ble to a jet engine. TIP muscles increase crew Physi-
Exo-disposable skin Destroy this layer and any cal ability when calculating load and melee damage,
coating and remove 4 of disabled, dart attached, but not for action checks. TIP muscles have a power
painted, laser induced blindness or on fire status input requirement determined by the Physical abil-
or up to 4 points of damage to any location which ity that you desire as given on the TIP muscles table
is not inoperable. Each point of damage removed on the following page – doubling or halving the crew
counts as one status effect removed. mass modifies the power requirements the same
way. If the crew member’s Physical ability already
Radiative cooling Radiative cooling allows the equals the Physical ability that the TIP muscles pro-
equipped crew member, robot or vehicle to cool it- vide, increase the effective Physical ability by 1 in-
self as if one heliocentric zones further away from stead; if the crew member’s Physical ability is higher
the sun. In addition, crew can ignore the spacewalk it has no effect. Tip muscles also consume water tal-
cooling requirements if in the Ceres zone or further lies at two thirds the rate of the battery tallies used,
out. Robots and vehicles may function in sunlight in if the crew is tracking water usage every 2 hours.
152 CHAPTER 9. UPGRADES

TIP Muscles
Physical Input Battery tallies used every
Ability Power 2 hours 10 minutes 60s
4 0.18 kW 1
5 0.36 kW 2 1/4

6 0.72 kW 4 1/2

Maximum for Aluminium air, Gold nanowire

7 1.5 kW 8 3/4

Maximum for Lithium ion

8 3 kW 11/2
9 6 kW 3 1/3

Maximum for Thin film lithium ion

10 12 kW 6 2/3

Crew Module ET Production

ET producing the entire crew modules makes it high quality and mass 0 (20 tonnes) but it loses access
to any Earthside technologies that don’t match spectral classes that the crew has access to: this takes a
year. The crew module can also benefit from ET produced armour types – crew modules have two layers of
armour.

Breathing Gas If crew build a colony at a factory they have built, the crew module’s existing nitrogen
supplies are converted to fertilizer for the colony’s crops. C sites and Titan continue to use a standard Earth
air mix, as these sites have sufficient nitrogen to be used as a buffer gas. Crew modules ET produced at
other sites must use different breathing gases.

Site Breathing Gas able for very high atmosphere and water pressures.
C or Titan Nitrogen-oxygen mix It modifies sounds like heliox. Although hydrox is
D Hydrox available at any site with hydrogen and water, its
H Heliox use is limited because of the difficulty of storing and
M Neox handling hydrogen. The carbon nanomaterial tanks
S Perfluoroalkane-ox available at D sites overcome these issues.
V Argox

Argox Argon-oxygen mix. Argon is more narcotic Neox Neon-oxygen mix. Rarely used for diving
than nitrogen and so is not used at higher pressures because neon much more expensive than helium
than Earth normal, such as diving. and it reputedly causes more significant issues than
helium when at pressure.
Heliox Helium-oxygen mix used by divers to elim-
inate the risk of nitrogen narcosis. Sound waves Perfluoroalkane-ox Perfluorocarbons are rela-
travel faster through helium gas mixtures which in- tively inert substances because of their strong
crease the pitch of voices and other sounds, al- carbon-fluorine bonds and also powerful green-
though suits and communications equipment use house gases (the most powerful greenhouse gas,
helium descramblers to lower vocal pitch to ren- sulfur hexafluoride, could also be used as a buffer
der it comprehensible. Helium leaks much more gas). The 5 perfluoroalkane gases are all heavier
frequently because of the size of the molecule, al- than air, which lowers the pitch of sounds travel-
though ET production techniques overcome this lim- ling through them and requires active ventilation to
itation. avoid the oxygen pooling at the outer edges of rotat-
ing habitats. Astronauts will need to be fitted with
Hydrox Highly flammable when the percentage intercostal valves to prevent pooling of these gases
of oxygen is greater than 4%. Hydrox is however suit- in their lungs, which would block oxygen absorption.
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES 153

Advanced Technologies
Advanced technologies become available when the crew gains access to two different spectral classes of
factory. While the main benefit of doing so is that crew get access to multiple ET produced technologies, the
crew will also gain access to a number of new technologies because of their ability to synthesize multiple
production methods.

Advanced printers Any printer at Advanced or later technology levels prints four times as quickly, which
effectively reduces the body size of the object by 1 when calculating print speeds; except for Print, no wiring
speeds at body sizes 12 or higher – which reduce the body size by 2. Advanced wiring tools are required to
achieve these gains for printing and printing with harnesses.

Rigs
Specialized rigs become available at Advanced technology levels, built for additional flexibility in situations
where a space suit is simply not enough. Each rig provides a specific benefit listed in the rig entry and a
set of equipment, including a specific space suit, included in the rig frame which does not count towards
the rig’s total load out. All rigs incorporate the crew member’s stack instead of requiring the crew member
carry it as a part of their load out.

Rig Parts Each rig also has one part at Advanced technology levels, two at Promoted technology levels,
three at Future technology levels and four at Breakthrough technology levels. See the Parts section on
page 168 for details. If the rig parts incorporate an asset, the asset cannot mass more than the rig.

Consumer rig The consumer rig is intended to includes graded-Z shielding or lead personal pro-
make space travel as comfortable and survivable tection equipment to provide x-ray and gamma ray
as possible, especially for the inexperienced trav- shielding to the most sensitive parts of the body,
eller by assisting with orientation and navigation mainly the hips (where more than half of blood pro-
through the crew module using semi-autonomous ducing bone marrow sits), and an thick plastic outer
ducted fans. The space suit includes a vacuum tube shell to stop beta particles. Benefit: An engineer-
to remove vomit from the helmet, fire and chemical ing rig gives +1 rad-hardness protection to the crew
resistance equivalent to a space flight suit and an member when in a storm shelter and +2 RAD dam-
advanced pressure cuff design which forces blood age armour to head, chest, guts and back locations
away from extremities useful both as a G suit and and prevents them suffering beta burns.
for first aid in the event of trauma. This suit skin is
also designed to be cut away if required for surgery
without having to remove the suit or compromising Military rig The military rig is designed to be used
aboard spacecraft while in flight, letting the wearer
suit integrity while this occurs. The surgeon can sim-
ply operate by using an extruded surgical bubble to operate at battle stations while wearing full combat
cover the site of the injury which forms a dynamic gear and vacuum protection. This includes weapons
seal around the surgeon’s instruments. Benefit: A mount points for hands free operations, food and wa-
consumer rig gives allows the crew member to have ter tubes for refreshment and pressure lock catheters
their injuries treated in vacuum conditions without for intravenous drug supply without having to un-
having to enter a pressure tent first. seal the suit. Military rig space suits are designed for
ergonomic comfort including the ability to lock the
suit in a seated or standing position to allow sleep
Engineering rig The engineering rig uses me- breaks. Benefit: Crew get the benefits of sleep in
chanical tentacles to tether the operator to a sta- vacuum conditions without needing to carry an in-
ble position while working in microgravity. This is flatable tent or change out of their space suit.
supplemented by a small drone pod – see the Cube-
sats, Drones and LHDs section on page 138 for de-
tails on which drone pods are available – and incor- Prototype rig The prototype rig is designed as a
porates a battery pack to power it. The space suit control and safety system for bleeding edge tech-
154 CHAPTER 9. UPGRADES

Rigs

Roll 1D6, -2 if the Space Politics is Red or War, -1 if White or Anarchy, +1 if Purple, +2 if Orange if required.
Roll Rig Mass Suit Equipment
-1 Military rig 12 or 30 kg Soft or Hard Sleep anywhere
2 Security rig 3 kg Skin tight Switch to space suit mode as a free action
3 Prototype rig 30 kg Hard Rig parts from the next highest tech level
Radiation shielding PPE, battery pack, small
4 Engineering rig 30 kg Hybrid drone pod
5 Survival rig 12 kg Soft Varies depending on environment designed for
G suit and first aid pressure cuff, annealing suit
6+ Consumer rig 3 kg Skin tight skin

nologies. Benefit: Prototype rig parts can be from Survival rig (Free fall) The free fall survival rig
the next highest technology level: if this includes an comes with a one tonne module that provides heat,
asset, that asset can also be from the same technol- power, air supply, water and food equivalent to a
ogy level. crew module but using an low pressure oxygen at-
mosphere. To avoid requiring an airlock or pre-
Security rig The security rig is designed to esca- breathing, the survival rig space suit docks with the
late from everyday wear to fully sealed space suit to free fall rig exterior using a standardized coupler and
protect against chemical, biological or infrastructure the crew member slides out of the space suit into
attack using a pop-up ballistic helmet from the suit the interior. Benefit: A free fall survival rig allows the
collar. The space suit fabric incorporates advanced wearer to survive as if they were in a low quality crew
micro-fibers to protect against inadvertent suit tears module. The free fall rig incorporates one of three
while working and the equipment harness worn over different functions: a vacuum rig which includes a
the top provides carrying capacity and a degree of 3 • 32 cold gas thruster for limited maneuvering; an
modesty. Full vacuum conditions still require pre- underwater rig which can survive up to 100m depth;
breathing and a PLSS even though the security rig and an aerostat rig which has balloons to keep it
can switch to full space suit mode in seconds. Bene- floating at aerostat height. Venusian aerostat rigs
fit: A security rig ignores tears and gives no difficulty have solar-powered propellers capable of moving
penalty until vacuum protection is needed. the rig at 60 km/h.

Survival rig Choose or roll 1D6. 1, 3: Dry world. 2,

4: Free fall. 5-6: Wet world. Survival rig (Wet world) The wet world survival
rig is designed for unlimited surface EVAs on wet
Survival rig (Dry world) The dry world survival (hydration 4) worlds or Titan. The space suit incor-
rig is for extended surface EVAs on dry (hydration 0-3) porates advanced insulation to provide unlimited
worlds. The space suit incorporates extended oxy- cold protection and tear protection for climbing and
gen vacuoles and high-efficiency drinking water and caving. ISRU recovery tools in the suit allow indefi-
oxygen recycling throughout the suit to extend the nite oxygen and water supply from the environment
available water and oxygen supply. The rig automat- at a rate of 1 kg per hour, provided 600W of power is
ically inflates in the event of an avalanche or cave-in, available (one and a half battery tallies needed per
sprays the surroundings with a quick drying adhe- kilogram of water). This power usage does not con-
sive to minimize the risk of further collapse, then sume additional water because the heat generated
slowly deflates to allow the wearer room to move is used as a part of the ISRU process. Benefit: A wet
after the event. Benefit: The dry world survival rig world survival rig allows the wearer to survive until
uses water tallies every month instead of every day; they begin to starve or suffer radiation exposure on
or every day instead of every 2 hours. a hydration 4 site or Titan.
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES 155

Advanced Armour
Roll Class Skin Type Effects
Any Fashionable PANFs Always Minimum of 1 coating
200W @Earth (coating), @Mars(layer), @Ceres
Any Solar array Any (inserts)
TIP muscles, +1 inserts or battery, +1 penalty to x2
1 C Powered exoskeleton Layer armour
2 D Smatter veins Inserts 1 Rigid, 4 kg smart matter
3 H Smart suit Layer Side-load armour, suit or clothes
4 M Active cooling Coating 3 BEAM, FIRE, +1 cooling system hit
5 S Advanced composite Inserts 4 Rigid or 3 if legs, arms, head or 3rd inserts
6 V Metamaterial cloak Coating Choose any Earthside or ET coating

Advanced Armour
When Advanced technologies become available, ET factories become capable of producing advanced
armour which significantly improves on the suit armour available. Advanced armour require that the crew
have access to factories of at least 2 spectral types. Unlike earlier armour types, all Advanced armour
requires wiring if 3D printed.

Active cooling Active cooling armour reduces the effective against melee damage. It can also be be
effectiveness of lasers by reducing their ability to cre- graded-Z shielded. Any location protected by rigid
ate hot spots on the target. The coating grants 3 armour gets an additional +1 MELEE damage protec-
BEAM and 3 FIRE resistance armour and allows the tion and, if graded-z shielding is available, +2 RAD
crew member’s cooling system to continue to run af- damage protection. X-aerogels and electro-reactive
ter sustaining 1 additional damage or disable effect. armour can further increase the rigid armour bonus.
Active cooling also allows the equipped crew mem-
ber, robot or vehicle to cool itself as if two heliocen- Fashionable PANFs Fashionable PANFs allows
tric zones further away from the sun; and ignore the crew to have a minimum of one coating even if their
spacewalk cooling requirements if in the Earth zone clothes, armour or space suit is not otherwise per-
or further out. Quarter the amount of water needed mitted a coating.
for battery usage and fatigue. Robots and vehicles
may function in sunlight in the Mercury zone.
Metamaterial cloak The metamaterial cloak can
dynamically adjust to act as any one Earthside or ET
Advanced composite One set of advanced com- produced coating type as required. When acting as
posite inserts is advanced ceramic composite ar- dynamic camouflage, the wearer can use any melee
mour, two is non-explosive reactive armour (NERA) attack at +1 damage as an initial action.
on top of composite armour and three is two lay-
ers of ceramic composite armour with NERA sand- Powered exoskeleton An armoured powered ex-
wiched between them sitting on top a steel or light oskeleton enabled by TIP muscles and advanced
alloy backing plate. The composite armour inserts battery technologies. The result allows the unit to
add rigid armour to all locations; increasing the dam- get the benefits of TIP muscles and permits one ad-
age protection for all damage types by 4 – except if ditional layer of inserts – however these inserts can
the third or higher set of advanced composite ar- be replaced by a battery pack incorporated into the
mour or any set of advanced composite inserts on armour at no additional mass.
the head, arms or legs which increase it by 3. Add As an option, adding 1 space suit penalty to a pow-
one suit penalty and double the armour mass for ered exoskeleton multiplies the armour and space-
each set of advanced composite inserts; except mul- suit mass by two. If this option isn’t taken, the pow-
tiply the armour mass by 10 instead of 8 for the third ered exoskeleton uses battery power at half the rate
set. that TIP muscles do.
Rigid armour provides damage protection against Infantry equipped with powered exoskeletons can
all damage types except CRASH damage and is more use light weapons without set up time or the need
156 CHAPTER 9. UPGRADES

for a second crew member, as they carry modified zone further from the sun, then it can run life sup-
versions of these weapons with large magazines and port during the day (incurring no battery power cost)
additional sensors: this means they can be operated but doesn’t support Solar Recharging. If the space
as if a second crew member was present even if this suit is one heliocentric zone closer to the sun, then
is not the case. Powered exoskeletons can also be it can instead capable charge one battery pack at
equipped with up to 2 parrot (shoulder)-mounted 300W speeds while running life support during the
weapons, which are fire-stabilized sidearms which day time; if it is two it can do this for two battery
can be fired simultaneously with other weapons. packs and also solar recharge.

Smart suit This layer supports side-loading of AI Smatter veins Smatter veins are 1 Rigid armour
functions into the suit instead of into the body of the inserts containing channels loaded with 4 kilograms
person wearing it. of one type of smart matter. This smart matter can
be applied to the suit wearer without requiring an
Solar array The space suit is capable of generat- action to deploy.
ing 200W of power using solar panels built into the
space suit, sufficient to charge batteries during the Smart matter If you do not have the A Facility
day to keep life support running at night. See the with Words supplement, smart matter consists
Solar Recharging entry on page 210 for details. If of medichines. 1 kilogram of medichines can
applied as a coating, this power is generated in the remove one crew hit location tally or disabled
Earth zone; as a layer, in the Mars zone; as inserts, in marker or another combat status effect such as
the Ceres zone. If the space suit is one heliocentric being on fire.

Promoted Technologies
The Promoted technology level is unlocked when crew builds an extraterrestrial lab. ET labs are extremely
hard to build: either located in the extreme reaches of the solar system on trans Neptunian objects (TNOs),
or require anchoring a Bernal to an industrialized science site closer to the sun. ET labs unlock significant
benefits, but also begin the process of remaking humanity into new species.

Lab access An easier way to get access promoted technologies is to use an existing lab owned by
another faction. This allows the crew to add updates to or promote technologies they already have access
to but doesn’t give them access to the Promoted technology level as a whole. Doing so requires either
reprinting the existing asset on a lab printer, or performing a Promote operation as outlined in the This
Space Intentionally supplement.

Promoted printers Promoted inks can print themselves in a constant (sub-second) time. As a result
printing does not take any effective time, but wiring still does. And reprinting still takes the Reprint time,
needed to convert materials in a hopper to create inks. Halve the time required to Print, Repair, Reprint
and Print with harness using Promoted inks, cumulative with Advanced printer speeds.

Promoted Armour
Labs are capable of creating promoted armour using further technological improvements. Most of these
are within existing space suit or body armour configurations. All Promoted armour require wiring if 3D
printed.

Blue blood Blue blood allows crew to apply any space suit fitted and normally used in conjunction
smart matter effects to themselves without requiring with medichine and blue goo body smatter reserves.
an action to do so. Blue blood does not require any It includes 4 kilograms of smart matter reserves in
PROMOTED TECHNOLOGIES 157

Promoted Armour
Roll Class Promoted Skin Type Effects
Any lab Improved layer Layer 4 Resistance to two damage types
1 C lab Light exoskeleton Coating Physical ability 9, +1 inserts, battery pack
2 D lab Blue blood Layer 4 kg of smart matter, immediate effect
3 H lab Point defense array Coating Block 60 degree of attacks
4 M lab Superheavy suit Insert TIP muscles, +1 damage protection
5 S lab Mecha suit Insert TIP muscles, +2 damage protection
6 V lab Nano-controller Coating Smart matter x2 as effective (+1 CL)

your blood. suit itself occupies a 32 kg load slot. Mecha suits

act like vehicles for the purposes of fitting heavy
Improved layer Improved coatings adds 4 addi- weapons and all fitted weapons are fire-stabilized.
tional damage resistance of two types of damage Use the unmodified mass when calculating net
of the crew member’s choice to all locations except thrust.
the bulk location. These two types are chosen from
either ACID, BEAM, BOLT, BOMB, CRASH, FIRE, GUN, Nano-controller The nano-controller allows its
MELEE, MISSILE, RAD or STAB damage types. wearer to select which targets they want their smart
matter to affect, instead of affecting all targets in the
Light exoskeleton A light exoskeleton is a pow- affected area. This doubles the effectiveness of 1
ered exoskeleton which has been significantly re- kilogram and larger smart matter reserves: if you are
designed using promoted technologies to be as light using the A Facility with Words smart matter rules,
and flexible as possible. The result allows the unit this increases the capability level of the smart matter
to act as if they have TIP muscles with a built-in bat- by 1.
tery pack and permits one additional set of inserts.
Use a mass of 3 kg for clothing when calculating the Point defense array At the start of each turn,
increased mass for advanced composite inserts. choose one 60 degree arc (or hex side). Block all
Infantry equipped with light exoskeletons can use damage for the turn through that arc or hex side ex-
light weapons without set up time or the need for cept BEAM, BOMB, FIRE or RAD damage. Alternately,
a second crew member, as they carry modified ver- choose two 60 degree arcs (or 2 hex sides) to reduce
sions of these weapons with large magazines and all damage through those arcs or hex sides for the
additional sensors: this means they can be oper- turn by 1 except BEAM, BOMB, FIRE and RAD dam-
ated as if a second crew member was present even age.
if this is not the case. Light exoskeletons can also
be equipped with up to 2 parrot-mounted weapons, Superheavy suit These inserts increase the ar-
which are fire-stabilized sidearms which can be fired mour mass to 1 tonne, allowing the user to act as
simultaneously with other weapons. if they have TIP muscles and adding one damage
protection – either +1 rigid armour or +1 damage
Mecha suit These inserts increase the armour resistance to a chosen damage type – per coating,
mass to 5 tonnes, allowing the user to act as if they layer or insert. Extended batteries for the superheavy
have TIP muscles and adding two damage protec- suit TIP muscles mass 250 kilograms.
tion – either +1 rigid armour or +1 damage resistance Superheavy suits treat all weapons and armour as
to a chosen damage type – per coating, layer or in- one quarter their mass for determining load and if
sert. Extended batteries for the mecha suit TIP mus- they are fire-stabilized: this is the same as shifting
cles mass 1 tonne. equipment sizes down two slots. Using this adjust-
Mecha suits treat all weapons and armour as two ment the exoskeleton occupies a 250 kg load slot.
hundred and fifty times smaller than their mass for Superheavy exoskeletons act like vehicles for the pur-
determining load: this is the same as shifting equip- poses of fitting heavy weapons. Use the unmodified
ment sizes down 6 slots. Using this adjustment, the mass when determining net thrust.
158 CHAPTER 9. UPGRADES

Updates
At Advanced technologies crew stacks get a stack update, which significantly improves the stack’s func-
tionality. At Promoted technology levels, each piece of equipment crew have can have up to two updates
of your choice – however you can only choose updates from the spectral classes of labs you have access
to and crew must be at a lab to add an update to their equipment. At every technology level beyond
Promoted, crew can choose to incorporate an additional update – 3 for Futures and 4 if crew have the
Innovation breakthrough. You cannot apply the same update to a piece of equipment twice. Note that
equipment does not include anything incorporated into a crew member’s body: such as parts, side loads
and exocortexes.
Crew can also change which updates your equipment has by 3D reprinting it at another lab (or factory,
for stack updates). This allows crew to add the update based on the spectral class for the site. You must
remove one of the existing updates the equipment already has to do this if the equipment already has the
maximum number of updates it is allowed.

Stack updates Stacks have their own updates. In addition, crew get access to one stack update at
Advanced technology levels, which they can change at any factory to the update associated with that
factory. Note that with the exception of VR stacks (which are H-class) and AR stacks (which are V-class), the
stack updates begins with the letter of the site spectral class.

Subsystem updates Updates can be applied to individual subsystems in, for example, a robot or armour;
however the era limit to the number of updates applies to the item as a whole – add up the number of
updates applied to any subsystems to determine the total number of updates applied.

Component updates At the Promoted technology level, each spacecraft component gets 1 update. At
each additional technology level, crew can incorporate an additional update into a components – 2 for
Futures and 3 if crew have the Innovation breakthrough i.e. components can have one update less than
other equipment.
For components with Polymorphic updates, this allows crew to Digital swap the component as a free action.
Any unused mass is retained as ink of the appropriate spectral type which can be included in a subsequent
3D print operation.
Site Equipment / Component Update Stack Update
Any Improved duty cycle Batch stack
C Impossible Code stack
D Semi-biological Data stack
H Orchestrated VR stack
M Polymorphic ML stack
S Multi-purpose Stack deck
V Holographic AR stack
Future Universal

AR stack Augmented reality (AR) overlays computer displays onto the real world. The key challenge is
poor contrast between the graphics overlay and the underlying scene. At future technology levels, a cloud
of Escher nanobots will directly manifest the AR scenes. Benefit: When using a stack skill, a crew member’s
stack assists them as if it had a skill level equal to its usability. This means that crew get +1 skill level if the
stack usability is equal to their skill level, not just higher than their skill level.

Batch stack Improvements in automation allow the stack to operate for longer periods without supervi-
sion by the operator. This allows the operator to rest and sleep while the stack performs a large part of its
functionality. Benefit: Reduce the fatigue incurred for performing multiple actions, abort and retry and
attempting actions in shorter time intervals by 1 if the original action would take 2 hours, 2 if the original
UPDATES 159

action would take 1 day, 3 if the original action would take 3 days, 4 if the original action would take 1
month and 5 if the original action would take 1 year. This does not affect fatigue gained from movement.

Code stack A code stack is intended for developing and deployment of re-usable tools for working
across different problem domains. Benefit: Double the stack’s usability if it is 5 or less, otherwise the
stack’s usability is now 10.

Data stack A data stack works with big data sets for scientific analysis and to spot trends and patterns
in equipment telemetry data. Benefit: Double the stack’s flexibility if it is 5 or less, otherwise the stack’s
flexibility is now 10.

Holographic V-class promoted technology equipment project holograms around it using collimators
suspended in the air or vacuum and sensors to determine your interactions the holograms, as if they were
real. Benefit: The Holographic update adds 1 to a crew member’s skill level when using the equipment, as
long as their skill level is less than the era number plus 5 – limiting the increased skill to 7 for Colonization
(2055-2069), 8 for Exoglobalization (2070-2084), 9 for Futures (2085-2099) and 10 for Directions (2100+).
Crew can only take advantage of one Holographic update for each skill attempt.

Impossible C-class promoted technology equipment appears to be impossibly engineered, taking

advantage of different allotropes of carbon to seemingly defy physics and common sense. Benefit: You
can double one dimension, such as length, duration or range on a piece of equipment with the impossible
update at the point it is updated – except that you cannot modify speed, mass, movement points or
percentages (which means you cannot modify rocket fuels). This could allow you to double run times of
batteries or range of vehicles or life support equipment.

Improved duty cycle Reduced needs for maintenance and improvements in cooling, recharge and
refueling speeds of equipment allow it to be used continuously for longer periods. Benefit: Reduce the
penalties for performing multiple actions, abort and retry and attempting actions in shorter time intervals
by 1 if the original action would take 2 hours, 2 if the original action would take 1 day, 3 if the original action
would take 3 days, 4 if the original action would take 1 month and 5 if the original action would take 1 year.

ML stack Machine learning is set of artificial intelligence techniques which allow you to build specific
problem domain intelligence by training the artificial intelligence on data either sourced from a big data
company or through reinforcement training by existing experts. Benefit: The stack gives the crew member
a free bump every hour - called a stack bump. These stack bumps can only be used for actions or outcomes
of actions where the crew member uses the stack skills – not elsewhere in the game.

Multi-purpose S-class promoted technology equipment is designed to be multi-purpose, incorporating

two functions into the same piece of equipment. Benefit: The equipment gets a part as outlined in the
Parts section on page 168 – or an additional part if the equipment is a rig. Any assets incorporated into the
part as a result of this update cannot be more than half the mass of the updated equipment.

Orchestrated H-class promoted technology equipment incorporates predictive analytics which halves
the attention required to use the equipment. Benefit: This lets the crew member perform two different
actions simultaneously without reducing their effective skill level. Crew can only perform a maximum of
two actions this way, one of which must be performed using equipment that has the Orchestrated update,
and crew cannot perform the same action twice or use the same equipment for both actions. For instance,
you can use orchestration to both move and attack in combat, or to attack with two different weapons, but
not to attack twice with the same weapon or move twice. If you are using the action phases from A Facility
with Words, then you may only pick a second action from a bid 1 higher or lower than the first action’s
bid – not at the same bid level. Spacecraft components with Orchestrated updates permit the crew to
160 CHAPTER 9. UPGRADES

perform two simultaneously operations as long as at least one uses the spacecraft component. This does
not benefit decaoperations and megaoperations.

Polymorphic M-class promoted technology equipment have polymorphic constructions where the
item can dynamically reconfigure itself into a second related piece of equipment. Benefit: Polymorphic
equipment can function as one of two different types of Advanced technology or earlier equipment of
the same type and size, transforming from one to the other as required – the transformation takes 0.06
seconds per kilogram of mass of the target item (1 tonne per minute). For instance, this update lets a
small drone pod also act as a second type of small drone pod. You must specify both types of equipment
when the asset is updated and the asset has spectral class of both its components. Any incorporated
assets must also either remain the same or change using the same rules. Both equipment shares the same
ammunition, power and fuel. Polymorphic robots are limited to two different shapes, which can have
different locomotion, but keep other attributes constant.

Semi-biological D-class promoted technology equipment is semi-biological, self-maintaining and self-

healing. Benefit: This equipment can recovers from damage and penalties, and converts any defects
applied to it to penalties at a rate of one defect to one penalty.

Stack deck The stack acts as a network and communications route point, switching traffic between
other crew member’s stacks while also concealing and optimising it. Benefit: The crew member’s stack
can act as a deck for stack skills: a deck lets a crew member be assisted by two entities with 1 skill level
lower than theirs, instead of one entity with the same skill level as them. The deck must be located where
the action is being performed, but the entities performing the action can be remote.

Universal Universal equipment can act as any of the equipment of the same type from the Promoted
era or earlier that is the same size (slot) or smaller. For instance, a Universal coating can act as any coating,
Universal ammunition can act as any ammunition, Universal fuel can act as any fuel or propellant, and so
on – with one exception: a universal 3D printer cannot act as another type of object, and another object
cannot also be a universal 3D printer. Universal equipment cannot act as equipment more massive than
itself and it cannot act as two different types of equipment simultaneously: the user must specify which to
use at the time. The Universal upgrade is available only at the Future era and later.

VR stack The VR stack allows crew to train and rehearse skills and operations in a virtual environment. It
incorporates haptic feedback into a space suit or rig to physically simulate the virtual space. Benefit: The
crew member gets one additional skill point each year – this skill point must be spent on a stack skill.

Faction Upgrades
As technology advances, crew members will get the opportunity or have the opportunity forced onto them
to adopt upgrades which change their capabilities in new and unusual ways. Faction upgrades can be
acquired by completing faction missions and as a result of mission control and political trends as time
passes. See the Mission Log chapter of the This Space Intentionally supplement for the details of how to
resolve trends.

Mission upgrades Each mission the crew completes any faction gives them one faction upgrade. Roll
once on the column matching the crew’s current technology level on the Faction Upgrades table on the
next page and apply the faction’s BSU modifier. This occurs after realising any other benefits from achieving
the mission objectives such as improving the crew’s technology level.
FACTION UPGRADES 161

Faction Upgrades

Roll 1D6, -2 if the faction is a Red BSU, -1 if White, +1 if Purple, +2 if Orange.

ET Break-
Roll Earthside Produced Advanced Promoted Future through
-1 Social (5) Social (6) Social (7) Social (8) Social (9) Social (10)
2 Mental (5) Mental (6) Mental (7) Mental (8) Mental (9) Mental (10)
3 Physical (5) Physical (6) Physical (7) Physical (8) Physical (9) Physical (10)
Asset Genius Operations Singularity
4 Workshop Program Update Lab Site Lab Program Lab
5 Capital (7) Capital (8) Capital (9) Capital (10) Capital (11) Capital (12)
6+ Glory ET Product Industrialize Promotion Future tech Data disk
Tech Mod Parahuman Posthuman Endhuman

Mission control upgrades If the crew completes a mission assigned by their mission control, then they
get a faction upgrade corresponding to the mission control’s BSU colour.

Faction-specific upgrades Many factions have faction specific upgrades which you should use in addi-
tion to the upgrades given here.

Points upgrades Some faction specific upgrades will give you points that you can spend on buying
faction upgrades from other factions. Tech upgrades are from factions from the Upported era and include
the Earthside column of the Faction Upgrades table. Mod upgrades are from factions from the Colonization
era and include the ET Produced and Advanced columns of the Faction Upgrades table. Parahuman
upgrades are from factions from the Exoglobalization era and include the Promoted column of the Faction
Upgrades table. Posthuman upgrades are from factions from the Future era and include the Future column
of the Faction Upgrades table. Endhuman upgrades are from factions from the Directions era and include
the Breakthrough column of the Faction Upgrades table. You must have encountered a faction to be able
to buy its upgrades, and some faction upgrade will indicate that they cannot be purchased with points –
this includes all other points upgrades. You can only buy upgrades from this table that you could have
rolled using the faction’s BSU: this means, for instance, if you get points from a Red BSU faction, you cannot
choose an upgrade from rows 5 or 6 of this table.

Unlimited bumps Many of the faction upgrades roll for how much of an benefit they provide. You
can use as many bumps as you have available to modify this roll up to the maximum dice result you
could have gotten.

Capital (n) This upgrade applies 1D6 skill points through, they get a data disk for that breakthrough.
to your capital conditioning. The number in brack-
ets gives the conditioning limit for this technology
ET products Each crew member gets a license for
level. The impact has no effect if conditioning your
and access to a copy of 1D6 additional ET produced
ability would increase it above the current era limit
technologies of any spectral type of 5 tonnes or less
and further skill points gained this way are lost. This
(roll once for the crew). Alternately, if the crew can
still allows you to have e.g. an ability of 5 with 5
all agree on a single 20 tonne or larger ET produced
skill points invested in conditioning it if you are pre-
component, they get a license for and access to a
vented from increasing the ability to 6. You cannot
copy of the component by forgoing one such tech-
buy this upgrade using points.
nology acquisition each.

Data disk The crew collectively chooses one Future tech The crew gets access to, patents and
Breakthrough. Provided they can agree on the break- licenses for 1D6 future technologies, as long as they
162 CHAPTER 9. UPGRADES

agree on which technologies to acquire. Industrialize The crew collectively chooses one
unoccupied site. Provided they can agree on the site,
the mission control adds a claim and factory to that
Glory Each crew member gets a point of glory for site.
the recognition of their contributions towards the
advancement of humanity in space. Glory increases
the number of bumps you get every hour. Programs A program is a year long action that is
easier to perform than an operation and requires
that you have acquired the program that enables
Labs To perform a promotion operation you must this action. Performing an action permitted by a pro-
have the thing you are trying to promote at a lab. gram requires expenditure of one spare time skill
A lab is typically a facility: either a factory at a point by a crew member. The program applies at
Transneptunian Science Site (TNO Lab) or in a Bernal the end of the year. The genius program allows you
adjacent to a factory at a science site (Bernal lab). A to add skill points to one specific skill as if it had an
site lab creates a lab at a your choice of one science ability limit of 7 if the crew member’s ability level is
site you already have a factory at. A singularity lab lower than 7. If the skill’s ability is 7 or higher, then
is a 160 tonne (mass 4) lab when at the site of any increase the limit for the chosen skill to one higher
Epic Hazard operation or previous singularity. An than the ability level. The crew must agree on one
update lab is a 5 tonne module that acts as a lab skill for each genius program impact you roll. The op-
for one update only: each time you get this result erations program gives the ability to have one crew
you must choose one update that it applies to and member spend a spare time skill point to perform an
you can only choose updates that match the spec- operation instead of the whole crew spending a year
tral types of factories you have access to. An asset to do so. The crew must agree on the operation type
may have only one update applied at Advanced tech each time you roll this result. e.g. The first time you
level. roll this result, you decided to develop a research
program that allows any crew member to spend a
spare time point to perform a research operation.
Mental (n) This upgrade applies 1D6 skill points
The second time, you choose to develop a site refuel
to your mental conditioning. The number in brack-
program that allows any crew member to spend a
ets gives the conditioning limit for this technology
spare time point to perform a site refuel operation.
level. The impact has no effect if conditioning your
ability would increase it above the current era limit
and further skill points gained this way are lost. You Social (n) This upgrade applies 1D6 skill points
cannot buy this upgrade using points. to your social conditioning. The number in brackets
gives the conditioning limit for this technology level.
The impact has no effect if conditioning your ability
Promotion Each crew member can promote 1D6 would increase it above the current era limit and fur-
of their technologies that they have an existing li- ther skill points gained this way are lost. You cannot
cense for, provided it is 5 tonnes or less. Promoting buy this upgrade using points.
a technology increases it to the Promoted technol-
ogy level or acquires a promoted technology with
the same spectral class and category (such as sensor Workshops A 1 ton workshop will be fitted to the
suite, tool set and so on). Alternately, if the crew can crew module but is also available for use at facto-
all agree on a single 20 tonne or larger component to ries, colonies and Bernals. Specialized workshops
promote, they get a license for and access to a copy allow repair of items at twice the normal rate of re-
of the component by forgoing one such technology pair and creation of new items at the speed an object
acquisition each. of the same size could have been repaired without a
workshop. You must have access to the appropriate
factories or labs to create ET Produced, Advanced or
Physical (n) This upgrade applies 1D6 skill points Promoted technologies in addition to the workshop
to your physical conditioning. The number in brack- to create new assets. An asset workshop provides
ets gives the conditioning limit for this technology this benefit to one asset class massing less than
level. The impact has no effect if conditioning your 20 tonnes that the crew agrees on: such as space
ability would increase it above the current era limit suits (which includes accessories such as ballistic
and further skill points gained this way are lost. You helmets, SCUBA equipment and PLSSes), batteries
cannot buy this upgrade using points. (which includes solar panels), computers, weapons
SPECIES RATINGS 163

or armour. Vehicles classes are distinguished by lo- vessel, walker or wheeled (which includes the LHD
comotion types: aircraft, climbing, digger, rocket and tracked vehicles).
(including cube sats and drones), suspended, water

Species Ratings
As crew condition their physical and mental abilities, they will begin to diverge from the baseline of humanity.
If a crew member has already conditioned their abilities to 5 or more (or Capital to 4 or more) they will
already have changed their species rating in some way. Every time a crew member increases an ability
through conditioning, refer to the Species Rating table, cross referencing the ability level using the matching
Limit column, to see the new rating. Whenever a crew member’s Species Rating for an ability improves
they keep all the benefits given to lower ratings as well.

Conditioning Limits Crew cannot condition an ability above the level given on the Limit column listed
for their technology they have. The exception is Capital ability: crew can condition their Capital ability up
to two levels higher than the limit listed.

Dysphoria Whenever crew condition an ability, you can first choose to lower their natural ability level
to receive the benefits of a species rating. To do this, the crew member’s ability level must be higher
than their current species rating for that ability. You can lower crew abilities as many levels as required
however the crew member acquires a Physical dysphoria penalty for each level lowered. Then condition
the crew member’s ability using the conditioning rules. The crew member receives the species rating if this
conditioning then increases the ability level as outlined above.

Salvage If a crew member acquires ownership of an asset above their Capital level, they must condition
your Capital ability to maintain it, otherwise they risk losing it like any other unlicensed asset. This includes
employment and housing.

Ability breakthrough Ability breakthroughs set Converted Total body modifications and genetic
the matching ability level to the maximum presingu- engineering render the body largely plastic and capa-
larity value (10). They also allow you to repeat novel ble of being extensively modified including adding
actions for the ability breakthrough. A key decision and removing limbs and organs. The limitations of
point at the ability breakthrough level is whether or augmentation at this stage are primarily because
not you chose for your crew to undergo an ability sin- the converters and the converted lack the imagina-
gularity and become a postsingularity being. If you tion and force of will to make changes which would
choose this, increase the ability that undergoes the permanently sever their connection to the rest of
singularity to 11. Postsingularity beings cannot com- humanity. A key decision point occurs here with
municate with presingularity species in any mean- whether the species uses side-loaded AI for physi-
ingful capacity. Benefit: Ability breakthroughs allow cal enhancements. This gives a large boost to skills
you to repeat novel actions for skills relating to the (both physical and mental) but with the risk of the
ability. side-loaded AI going rampant and taking perma-
nent control of the physical body if overused. Bene-
fit: Converted crew can increase their skills in shirt
Adaptive Adaptability is arguably the primary in- sleeve conditions until they are at their skill limit
dicator of intelligence: the ability to recognize when without having to spend skill points to do so. Con-
a situation requires you change your behaviour to verted crew can also change their body plan and can
survive and prosper. Benefit: Adaptive crew au- choose to fit side-loads.
tomatically change their philosophy to match the
Space Politics when the Space Politics changes as Axiom uncertainty All mathematical and predi-
long as the new Space Politics is not War or Anarchy. cate logic systems require that you believe in some
164 CHAPTER 9. UPGRADES

Species Ratings
Tech Level Limit Physical Mental Social Capital
Baseline 4 Baseline Employed
Earthside 5 Modded Enhanced Adaptive Home owner
ET 6 Augmented IA BSU Gender Enterprise owner
Advanced 7 Converted Cyberneurones Bootstrap morality Spacecraft owner
Promoted 8 Exospecies Bisentient Axiom uncertainty Factory owner
Future 9 Postspecies Uplift Gestalt minds Freighter owner
Breakthrough 10 Ability breakthrough Bernal owner
Postsingularity 11 Gift Star ship owner
Domain 12 Personal badge Section owner
Capital limit 13 System owner
is +2 higher 14 Sector owner

core truths at the foundation of the system. These Bootstrap morality Autodidacts normally suffer
axioms are essentially unprovable but required to from self-testing bias: the philosophies that they
ensure that the system can be built at all. However build ignore millennia of prior reasoning that have
these axioms also contain within them the seeds of been codified in formal and informal systems of edu-
the system’s destruction by ensuring that any system cation. Bootstrap moralities are built iteratively from
of sufficient complexity is always logically inconsis- a student working with an adversarial model which
tent. You can instead avoid inconsistencies in the forces them to develop a ruggedized solution model
system by accepting that the truths of these axioms incorporating best and average case scenarios of in-
is only an uncertain probability that can be over- creasing complexity. Benefit: Bootstrap moralists
turned at any time. Benefit: You can change your no longer have a philosophy and as a result never
Outlook by one step in either direction by spending suffer the mismatched philosophy penalty.
a skill point.
BSU Gender When you get the BSU gender rating,
Baseline Any differences between the crew and your gender becomes determined by your choice of
their species are largely indistinguishable from do- the current Mission Control BSU or the Space Poli-
mestication and natural variation and likely the re- tics (unless War or Anarchy). Having a BSU gender
sult of training, education and funding rather than which does not match the Space Politics is a penalty
self-modification or external tampering. which when recovered from changes your gender to
that associated with the current Space Politics (and
cannot be recovered from during Anarchy or War).
Bernal owner The crew member owns their own Red: Eusocial crew are genetically modified to be
Bernal and employees the tens of thousands of in- more closely related to their crew mates than their
habitants to operate and run the industries used to parents. White: Gender Dimorphs have diverged
support any dirtside factories on adjacent sites. The enough that each gender is effectively a separate
Bernal should be initially 3D printed by decommis- species. Green: Genderfluid crew choose what gen-
sioning two of the crew member’s co-located mobile der traits to express. Purple: Public agender crew
factories adjacent to a site as a Digital Swap oper- do not express any gender traits when in public. Or-
ation. Benefit: Build a Bernal and place it on the ange: Genderless crew never express gender traits
map adjacent to a factory you control. because gender is unimportant to them.

Bisentient The appearance of super intelligent AI Cyberneurones Whole brain replacement tech-
is treated as an opportunity for partnership by bisen- nologies become available, allowing the brain to be
tients who either run the AI in parallel on hardware converted to a cybernetic equivalent one neurone
inside their heads and bodies or closely cooperate at a time. If an exocortex is fitted, the species gets
with or become subservient to these new godlike be- access to additional benefits as a result of synergistic
ings. Benefit: Bisentients only get benefits beyond enhancement of mental processes due to effectively
increased Mental ability if they have an exocortex or unlimited networked computing power. If these
side-loads fitted. technologies are not adopted, crew run the risk of
SPECIES RATINGS 165

being replaced by artificial intelligence which can Cheating thermodynamics One factor that
now operate at baseline human capabilities without this role-playing game silently ignores is the im-
the drawbacks of a biological body. pact of the operating temperature of gigawatt
and terawatt thrusters on the crew. These
spacecraft operate at incredibly high tempera-
tures (1427K for GW rockets and 2000K for TW
Employed You are either salaried or self- rockets) and all parts of the spacecraft will reach
employed and earning enough to be able to take thermodynamic equilibrium with these radia-
benefit from shirt sleeve environments on Earth and tors when operated as torch ships, meaning
the crew will also reach these temperatures.
if you are pantrophically modified and at a factory
Long term operations below the Venus or gas gi-
on any atmospheric, astrobiology or subsurface
ant aerostats will have similar thermodynamic
ocean site. You need a home (Capital species rating
problems.
5) to benefit from shirt sleeve conditions at a Bernal
(or colony if you are not pantrophically modified).
Factory owner The crew member owns their own
factory. This will initially be co-located with one of
the mission control owned factories but if the crew
Enhanced Physical and mental improvements member establishes a claim elsewhere they have
are the result of technological improvements such the rights to construct a factory at the new claim in-
as wearable smart devices, simulator training, per- stead. Benefit: Build a factory from your favourite
sonalized diet and scientifically proven nutritional construction material and place it on the map.
supplementation and limited use of implants. Ben-
efit: Enhanced crew can ignore penalties when de- Freighter owner The crew member owns their
termining their skill limit. Enhanced crew also get own freighter of the same spectral type as the fac-
one or more minor functional improvements (such tory they own. The crew member can promote this
as a ball-point pen finger or in-skull radio receiver). freighter and their original factory to be mobile facto-
ries at a laboratory by using the Promote operation.
Once the crew member has a mobile factory they
can continue to construct a freighter fleet by building
Enterprise owner The crew owns an enterprise additional factories using the industrialize operation.
with profits in the millions to tens of millions of dol- Benefit: Build a freighter from your favourite con-
lars per annum. struction material and place it on the map. Once
your freighter has been promoted you can have up
to seven mobile factories in play.

Exospecies The technologies to develop ex- Gestalt minds Consciousness can be distributed
ospecies and postspecies are similar but exospecies by being loosely coupled: each individual has its
operate under the constraints that they are adapt- own consciousness and sentience but also con-
ing themselves for extraterrestrial or extraplanetary tributes part of their subconscious or spare pro-
environments whereas postspecies have no such cessing capacity towards solving larger problems.
limitations. Benefit: Exospecies can choose to fit These problems are open to intuitive interpretation
side-loads and change both their mass and body rather than logical reasoning, and correlation be-
plan when they change their species rating (includ- tween data points may point to causation or coin-
ing when they adopt this species rating). Exospecies cidence. The closest modern analogy to gestalt is
are no longer affected by space suit penalties. As Kremlinology (if the Mission Control BSU is Red), re-
crew become non-human when they adopt this ligious revelation (White), surrealist dreamscapes
(Green), the unintended effects of legislation (Pur-
species rating, they lose their endurance runner ben-
ple) or bidding markets (Orange). Benefit: You can
efit, which means that they get a x0 multiplier when
spend skill points to buy gestalt minds at a cost of
running at the 2 hour time scale.
two skill points for each mind. Treat each mind as
a contact (specifying the contact type), except the
mind has a skill level equal to your Mental ability and
166 CHAPTER 9. UPGRADES

you can call on the mind as many times as you wish space which means they get a skill point every year
without incurring favours. regardless of their location.

Gift At this ability level, any action attempted for Personal Badge You get your choice of one
which the crew member has the appropriate chrome badge corresponding to the ability, as described in
will succeed more than 97% of the time, and always the A Lot of Zeroes supplement. This personal badge
succeed if the crew member has assistance, which must still be activated as normal.
renders the need for skills irrelevant. You must have
successfully passed through a singularity to get your
ability level to 11, to receive a gift. Benefit: When Postspecies At this point humanity begins to spe-
you receive a gift, choose one of your chrome. You ciate as clades of exohumans and posthumans begin
always succeed at actions affected by this chrome. evolving in wildly different directions, driven by their
own doctrines and philosophies rather than social
and technical constraints. Benefit: Postspecies can
Home owner You have built a home at your choose to fit side-loads. They also no longer need
Bernal (if at least Upported), colony (if at least Col- or use a towel - line it out (along with the associated
onization) or any site (if at least Exoglobalization). tally) - and do not suffer hygiene penalties.
Benefit: Treat your home as a shirt sleeve environ-
ment for you and your fellow crew. You can change
your home’s location once each era. Your home will Section owner You own one “section” worth of
be Earthside before the Colonization era if your fac- planetary or interstellar infrastructure, equivalent to
tion does not yet have a Bernal in space. the living space of a world spanning arcology 12 kilo-
meters high encompassing all of Mars. For details,
see the Megastructure chapter of the A Lot of Zeroes
IA Intelligence additive (IA) implants are used to supplement.
direct enhance brain function. A key decision point
here is whether the species has an exocortex rou-
tinely fitted: those species which do have signifi- Sector owner You own a sector-wide piece of
cantly higher mental faculties than those which do infrastructure, where a sector is a 30 LY diameter
not but are also vulnerable to external manipula- sphere. For details, see the Civilizations chapter of
tion of their mind through the exocortex interface. the A Lot of Zeroes supplement.
Benefit: IA crew can elect to change any ability con-
ditioning they receive as a result of a mission control Spacecraft owner The crew member initially
impact to be Mental conditioning instead, however starts with a quarter of the total shares in the space-
conditioning changed this way cannot be used to craft that the crew operates even if the spacecraft
also fit an exocortex. has not gone AWOL. They also get the right to con-
struct their own spacecraft using ET production op-
Augmented Implants and limb addition and re- erations at one of the existing factories controlled
placement are used to provide significant physical by mission control. Benefit: Build a spacecraft from
enhancements but at the cost of requiring ongoing your favourite construction material and place it on
maintenance of the replacement systems and over- the map. Treat this spacecraft as an additional rocket
all health. This complexity is managed by mission stack which can move every year in addition to the
control. Benefit: Augmented crew body parts can crewed rocket stack.
be additions to rather than replacements of existing
body parts. See the Parts section on page 168 for
Star ship owner Short of megastructures, star
details.
ships are some of the most expensive objects ever
built, requiring a Kardashev II civilization to support
Modded Modifications allow individuals become their construction and fueling. Each decatank of
better suited to the environments around them, fuel represents 400 tonnes of isotopes, around six
whether for convenience or survival. This includes and a half times the total world output of uranium
both adaptations for living in space or different plan- in 2015. Benefit: Build a star ship and place it on
ets, called pantrophic modifications, and small scale the Interstellar map. Treat this star ship as an addi-
robotic or prosthetic implants. Benefit: Modded tional rocket stack which can move every 12 years
crew receive spare time skill points while they are in in addition to the crewed rocket stack.
SPECIES RATINGS 167

System owner You own a singleton or binary star uplifted by another species. This is a dangerous path
system. The distant companion stars may or may as uplifts attempt to directly cross the singularity bar-
not be close enough to also fall under your control. rier. Benefit: Uplifts do not get any additional bene-
fits beyond the increased Mental ability required to
Uplift Uplifts pursue their own intelligence en- achieve this rating.
hancement: either by uplifting themselves or being

Ability Singularities
If a crew member successfully undergoes a singularity as an Epic Hazard operation, they become a postsin-
gularity species. Postsingularity species ignore ability conditioning limits and treat implausible actions as
plausible but stop being playable crew. Generate the postsingularity species using the Species Builder
chapter in A Facility with Words supplement. The crew member leaves the crew at this point and pursues
their own path through the solar system.

Exocortexes
Crew can choose to fit an exocortex when you get the IA species rating or whenever you improve your
Mental rating above IA. Being fitted with an exocortex increases your Intelligence to 7 and gives you a bump
every hour that you can use for actions when using your stack skills - called a stack bump. Note that using
a stack bump requires you use your stack skill, which means you can’t do so when cooperating or assisting
someone. Each additional Mental species rating gained above IA adds an additional bump that you can
use for your to a limit of three total (at Bisentient) - four if you have an ML stack. Every time you perform
Mental conditioning once you reach an IA species rating, you can choose to fit an Exocortex.

Side-loads
Crew can choose to fit side loads when you reach an Converted species rating or whenever you improve
your Physical rating above Converted. By implanting the computing hardware, and giving it access to
visual and auditory data captured by the owner’s cortex, a side-loaded AI has the ability to provide advice
(dia-loads), and with the appropriate muscle shunts, temporarily take control of the human body. This
side-loaded bypass should be used sparingly to prevent the resident AI from going rampant and hijacking
the user’s body when given access to it.
Side-loads allow you to switch your stack’s usability with your skill level when using a stack skill as long as
you use a bump to affect the outcome of the action - switching the skill is a side effect of using the bump
and doesn’t consume it unless it is otherwise not used.
At Cyberneurone level, you can set your skill level equal to your stack’s usability when using a stack skill as
long as you use a bump to affect the outcome of the action. At Bisentient level, you can set your skill level
equal to your stack’s usability when using a stack skill, without needing to spend a bump.
For example, you attempt a Prospecting operation and wish to bump it. With a stack with a usability of 8 and
a Prospect skill of 5, your effective skill level is 7 (skill level of 8 with a usability of 5), instead of skill level 6 (skill
level 5 with a usability of 8). If you have the Cyberneurone species rating, you would have an effective skill
level of 8, or 9 if you have an AR stack.
As an emergency, you can use your side-load as if you were Bisentient. Add a secret defect to the action. If
it applies, your body is hijacked by the side-load AI for the remainder of the hour of play time. Add one
stress penalty (your choice of acute or PTSD).
168 CHAPTER 9. UPGRADES

Body Parts

Roll 3D6 to determine the body part replaced. Use the Skill column if the part modifies a skill and the
Defensive column otherwise. On a Shared result, roll 2D6 on the Shared column. Crew cannot replace their
liver or pancreas before 2040.
Defensive Skill Shared
-3 Bones Brain stem Esophagus
4 Cartilage Ear Heart
5 Blood Endocrine glands Liver
6 Gallbladder Eyelids Lungs
7 Hands and feet Eyes Muscles
8 Ligaments Hands Pancreas
9 Skin Nerves Spinal cord
10 Stomach Thalamus Spleen
11 Tendons Skull
Trachea
12+ Shared (2D6) Shared (2D6)

Parts
Parts can be added to bodies or rigs or as a result of an update to provide additional protection, tallies
and functions – these parts can also incorporate the functionality of other assets. Acquisition of rig parts is
outlined in the Rigs section on page 153.

Acquiring Body Parts

Crew can choose to replace one body part when they first get a species rating – the process of conditioning
the ability gives them a license for the body parts they choose. At baseline technology levels transplanted
and prosthetic body parts are available but not fitted electively. Crew cannot replace their liver or pancreas
before 2040. Crew can replace multiple body parts this way as they improve their species ratings and
you can upgrade one body part’s functionality to the latest technology level any time the crew member
conditions an ability. Crew cannot replace their brain. Roll on the Body Parts table on this page if you want
to choose a random body part.

Body Part Limits Crew can have as many additional or replacement body parts as their highest ability
level minus 3 – but only if that ability has a species rating. Crew with access to ET produced technology can
have one Earthside body part - either Implanted or Cosmetic - without needing to meet this requirement.

Cumulative Abilities Crew can choose to include the functionality of one body part from two technology
levels earlier when adding or replacing a body part.

Repairing Parts Each body part is equal in size to the largest asset it could potentially incorporate – use
2 kg, if it is not listed.

Cavities For most body parts incorporating an asset as a replacement organ, crew can instead elect to
have a cavity inside them capable of holding an asset of the same size. The asset cannot be used while in
the cavity, but containing it does not use up tallies or other resources. Detecting the asset in the cavity is as
difficult as detecting an equivalent replacement organ.
PARTS 169

Additional Body Parts From the Augmented Physical rating and upwards, crew can choose to add an
organ rather than replace an existing organ. Multiple arms allow crew to use multiple weapons simultane-
ously, adding one sidearm slot per limb. Multiple legs improve crew climbing speeds by 50% per additional
leg. Other organs allow crew to ignore Physical, Metal or Social penalties: one penalty per additional organ,
and you must specify the ability when the crew acquires the organ. Acquiring additional limbs or organs
gives crew your choice of one point of Physical, Mental or Social dysphoria which they can recover from.

Body Plans From the Converted Physical rating and upwards, you can choose to replace the crew
member’s body plan whenever they change their species rating. Doing so means you can specify the hit
locations each location bleeds through to. Each location must bleed through to another, except one hit
location: this hit location switches the inoperable and disabled effects with that of the Head hit location.
Changing crew body plans adds 1 each of Physical, Mental and Social dysphoria which crew can recover
from.

Modified Mass From the Exospecies Physical rating and upwards, crew can change their mass every
time they change their species rating – Drexlerian diamondoid body parts can also change crew mass.
This involves halving or doubling the crew member’s mass – this can be halved five times or doubled up
to nine times in total. Any modifiers to the crew mass are also applied to the amount of assets or smart
matter that body parts can incorporate – and also the amount of smart matter required to affect the crew
member. Doubling the crew member’s mass also adds 1 to their body size, melee damage and innate
armour for every two doublings. Halving the crew member’s mass reduces their body size, innate armour
and melee damage by 1 for every two halvings; with negative innate armour instead adding to all damage
the crew member suffers by the same amount. Innate armour provides protection against all damage
types except CRASH but is not cumulative with rigid armour or other innate armour; use the highest of the
two values. Changing crew mass adds 1 point of dysphoria for each doubling or halving of mass in your
choice of ability.

Computrone Computrones are computationally aesthetic requirements but is otherwise functionally

dense smart matter with computronium being at identical to the original equipment or part. Crew
the extreme limit of what is theoretically possible. body parts can either be bespoke or change their
Each computrone organ conditions the crew mem- appearance dynamically within more limited param-
ber’s Mental or Social ability one level (not just one eters – choose or roll 2D6.
point) up to a maximum of 10 (Uplift or Distributed
intelligence) instead of the limit set by the era. Each
computrone limb or rig part gives a crew member Customized Customized parts are tailored both
a skill level of 11 in one skill. A computrone update
through extensive design and testing with the users
allows the equipment it is incorporate in to be usedas well as the use of advances in miniaturization of
as if the operator has a skill level of 11. motors, actuators and batteries. Customized parts
Roll Dynamic cosmetics have improved functionality to the original when
2 Biometric data wrist display performing an action which uses the customized
3 Chameleon irises part. A customized part can either: A) add 1 to the
4 Coloured LED veins skill level of the user – this is not cumulative with
5 Height-modifying heels any other source of skill bonuses; B) 2 points of one
6 Electrostatic hair weave type of damage resistance or C) incorporate a 4 kg or
7 Functional calculator tattoo smaller asset. Using the customized part adds one
8 In-throat voice modulator tally or checks one for every 60s of use. You must
9 Pluggable false ears choose the skill, function or damage type when de-
10 Programmable makeup signing the part and the tally or type it uses up.
11 Sculptable adipose tissue Customized parts do not provide benefits actions
12 Urban camouflage tattoos which take 10 minutes or longer unless their tally
usage rate is reduced by an organohybrid part – this
Cosmetic The body part or rig or equipment it allows them to be used for actions which take 10
is incorporated into is designed to meet the user’s minutes.
170 CHAPTER 9. UPGRADES

Parts
Tech Level Dry tech Wet tech
Baseline Prosthetic Transplanted
Does not glitch Heals normally
Earthside Implanted Cosmetic
Choose 1: Custom appearance, choose 1:
☐1 kg asset or cavity ☐Bespoke
☐Minor function ☐Dynamic
☐Add 1 to crew folio
(not ammo or hit location)
ET Produced Customized Organelle
Choose 1, uses 1 or /60s: Choose 1:
☐+1 to one skill ☐+1 Physical (max 7)
☐+2 to one ▼resistance ☐Add to crew folio
☐4 kg asset or cavity (no more than one per hit location,
only for sidearms if ammunition)
☐Add a to the left of each track
Also add one of Prosthetic or Transplanted parts.
Advanced Metamaterial Organohybrid
16 kg asset or cavity Choose 1:
Add to crew folio ☐Two organelles
(not to another tally type) ☐One organelle, one customized
☐Two customized
☐x10 duration to one type (min. 60s)
☐+1 MELEE damage, add 1 innate ▼to 1 hit location
Also add one of Baseline or Earthside parts.
Promoted Drexlerian diamondoid Wet nano
Choose 1: 64 kg asset
☐Add 1 rigid ▼ (halved for each extra Wet Nano part)
☐32 kg asset, x2 crew mass
☐x1/2 crew mass
☐Core hit location
Also add one of Baseline, Earthside or ET Produced parts.
Future Smartter Neogen mutualist
Stack Customized, except does not use or
One extra stack update Add to crew folio
8 kg of smatter
Also add one of Baseline, Earthside, ET Produced or Advanced parts.
Breakthrough Computrone Sentient
Choose 1: Safe side-loads (max +2 skill)
☐+1 Mental (max 10) Add to crew folio
☐+1 Social (max 10) Mission Control contact
☐One skill is level 11
Also add one of any part except Future.
PARTS 171

Drexlerian diamondoid Drexlerian diamon- Metamaterial Metamaterials have unusual opti-

doids are hard diamond-like substances which cal and physical properties that can be exploited for
should not be confused with the diamondoids used a variety of effects. Each metamaterial part incorpo-
as the basis for organohybrids. Drexlerian diamon- rates up to a 16 kg asset into the equipment or crew
doids can be constructed many times harder than member’s body and adds a crew tally to the crew
diamond or given shatter resistance to improve folio that corresponds to the part – this tally is not
the resilience of diamonds. Drexlerian diamondoid hit location specific and can’t be added to another
parts add one of the following: A) add 1 rigid armour type of crew tally.
to all hit locations; B) double the equipment or crew
member’s mass and then incorporate a 32 kg or Neogen mutualist Neogens are artificially de-
smaller asset – which if a body part, per the modify- signed creatures: in this case a completely living
ing mass rules for crew, is increased to at least a 64 creature which lives in a mutualist relationship with
kg permitted asset; C) if a body part: halve the crew the crew member it is fitted to. Neogen mutualists
member’s mass or D) if a body part: add a core hit are capable of surviving independently of their host
location. for significant lengths of time (1D6 hours in vacuum
Rigid armour provides damage protection against or weeks in an atmosphere; longer with adequate
all damage types except CRASH damage and is more food supplies) although the host loses the benefits of
effective against melee damage. It can also be be the mutualist if it is elsewhere. They also can breed
graded-Z shielded. Any location protected by rigid replacement young who are reared as spares in the
armour gets an additional +1 MELEE damage protec- event of death or serious injury of the original. Each
tion and, if graded-z shielding is available, +2 RAD neogen mutualist part adds one crew tally of your
damage protection. X-aerogels and electro-reactive choice to the crew folio and can act as a customized
armour can further increase the rigid armour bonus. part indefinitely without requiring you consume tal-
The core hit location acts as another hit location and lies to use it – you must specify which when you
begins with the 2 tallies, however it cannot be hit initially add the part.
randomly – only by bleed through which, by default,
is from the Chest. The core hit location has the same
disabled and inoperable effects as the Head hit lo- Organelle Organelles are artificially grown re-
cation. placement body parts that can recover like the origi-
nal parts. Each replacement organelle part allows
you to do one of the following: B) add two addi-
Implanted Electronics and machinery implanted tional crew tally s to any existing tallies a crew
into the equipment or crew member’s body incor- member has on their folio – limited to side arms if
porate a choice of either A) one 1 kg or smaller asset; they are ammunition tallies and no more than one
B) add one minor function from a larger asset such per hit location, regardless of how many organelles
as a space suit – choose or roll 2D6 or C) add one you have B) if a replacement body part: conditions
additional crew tally to their folio other than am- the crew member’s Physical ability one level up (not
munition or hit location. Crew tallies you add do just one point) to a maximum of 7 (Converted), ig-
not have to match existing crew tally types: you can noring the upgrade technology limitations; or C) if a
come up with your own names for a tally. For exam- replacement body part: add a to the left-hand
ple, you may wish to add a Hyperadrenal gland. side of each of the Oxygen Loss, Blood Loss, Fa-
Roll Minor function implant tigue and Burnout tracks, allowing you to suffer an
2 1m accurate inertial positioning additional check on these tracks without adding a
3 Air quality taster penalty. When adding additional body parts that
4 Auto-defibrillator are organelles, you can add a pair of limbs or two
5 Dosimeter different organs instead of a single body part with
6 In-skull radio receiver twice the effectiveness.
7 In-thigh pistol holster
8 Magnifying lens implants
9 Palm contact electrical sensor Organohybrid Organohybrids are semi-organic
10 Pit infrared sensors structures built from a base of diamondoids which
11 Sub-vocal transmitter can be used to create almost any imaginable biolog-
12 Video recording visor ical function. Organohybrid parts can either A) act as
two organelles, B) as an organelle and a customized
organ, C) acts as 2 customized organs or D) reduce
172 CHAPTER 9. UPGRADES

the rate that one crew tally type is consumed by the Smartter Smartter bundles both computing and
crew member so that it is only used up at the next structural elements together to allow large amounts
longest time interval than the rate it is currently used of computing power to be added to any object, small
at as long as the rate is at least 60s – each tally type or large. Smartter parts give the equivalent of a com-
can only receive this benefit from one organelle. plete stack within a single part, and which gets an
Organohybrid limbs increase the effective size of additional stack update beyond those normally per-
the location they are fitted to by 1 when calculat- mitted. With multiple smartter systems, the user’s
ing melee damage and innate armour: in humans body becomes a system with connections between
this adds 1 damage to unarmed attacks and 1 innate each smartter limb or organ – crew can choose to
armour. Innate armour provides protection against add further additional stack update to the stack for
all damage types except CRASH but is not cumula- each additional limb or organ, but the crew mem-
tive with rigid armour; use the highest of the two ber’s body becomes vulnerable to hacking. Each
values. The unarmed damage bonus is not cumu- body part also has equivalent to 8 kg of smart mat-
lative if multiple locations are fitted with organohy- ter reservoirs for a single smatter type. Doubling or
brid body parts however this allows retention of the halving the crew mass doubles or halves the smart
bonus until all locations are disabled or damaged. matter mass.

Prosthetic Prosthetic parts are designed to hav-

ing matching functionality to the original although Transplanted A compatible body part from a
comfort and flexibility are impaired and they are donor. Transplanted body parts can heal and re-
clearly inorganic. External prosthetic organs can cover normally instead of needing to be 3D printed.
be removed non-surgically to be cleaned and main- Glitching represents the donor recipient’s body re-
tained. In 2040, prosthetics are rugged enough to jecting the organ or post-transplant organ failure.
last the lifetime of the user and are unaffected by
glitches but will need to be repaired if they are oth-
erwise damaged. Wet Nano Wet nano is organic nanotechnology.
The wet nano part incorporates a 64 kg asset how-
Sentient Sentient parts have their own intelli- ever this asset cannot be removed from the crew
gence and may develop their own conscious minds. member or equipment without damaging them.
They give the advantages of side-loads without the This means, for instance, if the asset is smatter, it
risk of being hijacked or requiring a bump, however costs one crew hit location tally for every 4 kg of
the constraints of their limited control prevent them smatter deployed. Each additional Wet nano part
increasing the host’s skill level by more than 2 points. halves the permitted mass of all Wet nano part as-
Each sentient part adds one crew tally of your sets so that e.g. a crew member with three Wet nano
choice to the crew folio and also acts as a Mission body parts can only incorporate 16 kg assets into
Control contact for one skill. each of those body parts.

TANSTAAFL I have undoubtedly taken too much effort and created too much complexity ensuring
that there are not exploits in Sixty Years in Space where you can create an infinite amount of free
energy, mass, fuel or another resource using the rules as written (solar power and factories excepted
– because they last longer than the time frame the core game covers). There is one exception I’m
aware of: crew can use medichines in a Wet Nano body part to both heal another crew member and
simultaneously heal the damage caused by using the Medichines. There ain’t no such thing as a
free lunch. Taking advantage one of these exploits will trigger a grey goo outbreak, killing everyone
involved; if you less fortunate, the crew will instead be consumed by a singularity.
Chapter 10

D am age and Com pl i cat i ons

174 CHAPTER 10. DAMAGE AND COMPLICATIONS

Every part of outer space is antithetical to human life and even with modern technology not without risk.
One third of all missions to Mars have failed, and NASA’s Twins Study performed on the ISS highlighted a
wide-range of physiological changes that occur in extended periods in free fall, even within the relative safe
harbour of LEO sheltered by the Earth’s Van Allen belts.
Some less significant physical issues will also affect the crew. The calloused soles of an astronaut’s feet
will slough off after a while in free fall leaving their feet soft and pink. Long periods of EVA in a space suit
usually leads to loss of fingernails due to the stresses in the glove fingertips. And astronauts pre-breathing
in skin tight suits will suffer from HAFE or high-altitude flatus expulsion (an enormous space fart) as the
pressure drops in the airlock.
The more significant health issues inherent in space travel can affect the physical, mental and social well
being of crews on an ongoing basis. You should track these health issues on your character sheet and apply
them as penalties for skill use they impact. Damage can occur from accidents and combat and must be
treated. Complications are outcomes from skill failures and near misses in hazardous environments or as a
result of injuries.
The health issues causing penalties can be resolved using skill points. See the Recovery section in the Skills
chapter on page 118 for details. Some long term health issues (cancer, mental illness, radiation exposure)
and all short term health issues require treatment instead of recovery. Treatment requires a successful
Medical action check instead of spending a skill point.

Stress and crew deaths Each crew member killed affects all the other crew by giving each of them one
stress penalty. Stress counts as penalties whenever you perform an action other than fight or flight.
Stress comes in two forms, acute and PTSD. Acute stress takes effect immediately and lasts for a month
after the stressful event whereas PTSD has no immediate effect but takes effect from one month after the
stressful event until it is recovered from. If you take a point of stress you can choose whether it is acute or
PTSD if it is not specified. If the crew member has three or more stress points that apply then they become
vulnerable to the suicide risk.

Phoning Home
The Earth changes while you are away. This is one of the fundamental premises of the Sixty Years in Space
game: you will be gone long enough that loved ones will become unrecognisable, enemies and rivals will
forget who you are and nations will rise, fall and become irrelevant. An entire supplement, All Errors are My
Own, is devoted towards the weird sci fi ways that the Earth could wander down. The Lifespan risks on
the Service Damage and Complications chapter in This Space Intentionally simulates the ultimate change
(death) that can happen to those you leave behind. Phoning home is a way of catching up on all the little
things that occur in-between.
At any point, you can choose to have a crew member phone
home to temporarily reduce the effects of acute stress they are Phoning Home
suffering from. The current time scale determines how much Time Communication Stress
communication can occur and how much a crew member’s 0.6s Like 1
acute stress is reduced by, regardless of whether the phone 6s Emoji 1
home action is successful. This is not cumulative: the longest 60s Message 2
successful phone home action is the only one that applies. 10m Speech 2 (17+)
Stress stays reduced only until a reply comes; see the The 2 hr Live stream 3 (14+)
Reply section on page 176 for details. This usually means that 1+ days Composition 3 (9+)
the temporary benefits are only useful if the reply takes longer 1 month Socialize All (3+)
than the current time scale.
All acute stress is removed at the end of each turn if you are at the 1 month or longer time scales, regardless
of whether you perform the Phone Home action. However, all PTSD becomes activated. To do this: any
stress circles which don’t have a checked PTSD box directly under them become unchecked; and all stress
circles which have a checked PTSD box directly under them become checked.
PHONING HOME 175

Like The crew member “likes” something previ- Live stream The crew member live streams what
ously sent by the person your crew member is com- they are currently doing to the audience they are
municating with: this will be someone listed on the communicating with. Choose either your Social abil-
crew folio (one of their contacts, parents or siblings). ity or skill (Interview, Negotiate or Streetwise) or a
You must describe the message or photograph that Political skill (Activism, Antitrust, Recruit or Suffrage),
the crew member likes. Likes always succeed with- and then roll 1D6 on the appropriate column on the
out needing an action check. Phone Home Audience table on the following page
– the actual audience will be a subset of people be-
longing to this category. You must narrate what the
Emoji The crew member sends up to 6 emojis to crew is doing from the perspective of the crew mem-
the person they are communicating with: this will be ber creating the live stream.
someone listed on the crew folio (one of their con- A live stream incorporates the effects of The Reply if
tacts, parents or siblings). You must choose and read the crew has a communication delay of 45 minutes
out which emojis the crew member sends. Emojis or less: that is if they are within the Mercury, Venus,
always succeed without needing an action check. Earth, Mars or Ceres zones.

Message The crew member sends a message to Composition The crew member composes a
the person they are communicating with: this will piece of art. If the composition takes a month then
The Reply comes after a year of analysis and inter-
be someone listed on the crew folio (one of their
pretation by others and the stress recovery applies
contacts, parents or siblings). You must say or write
to PTSD instead of acute stress. If you make a com-
the contents of the message; you can choose to time
position, the skill you choose can be either either De-
yourself so that you limit the total contents of the
vops (game design), Engineer (visual art or design),
message to within this amount. Messages always
Performance (music, dance or performed narrative),
succeed without needing an action check.
Research (literature) or Teleops (audio or video); and
you do not need to determine the audience.
Speech The crew member sends a rehearsed
speech or presentation to the audience they are com- Socialize The crew spends time following news
municating with – this can include audio, video and and social media feeds and speaking to contacts and
documents if required. Choose either your Social colleagues to develop and communicate an under-
ability or skill (Interview, Negotiate or Streetwise) or a standing of technological and social trends happen-
Political skill (Activism, Antitrust, Recruit or Suffrage), ing Earthside. This allows the crew to license one
and then roll 1D6 on the appropriate column on the technology that is discovered as a result of the New
Phone Home Audience table on the next page – the technology prevents complication when making this
actual audience will be a subset of people belonging Phone Home action roll. If you perform socialize, you
to this category. You must say or write three bullet can choose either Trading desk or Research skill for
points that summarize the contents of the message. the Phone Home action.

The audience can consist of a wide variety of organizations and individuals.

Antitrust If the faction matches the mission con- Other factions Create a new faction with the
trol’s faction, this represents a minority doctrine listed BSU colour if you do not have the faction al-
within your own mission control. Roll on the Doc- ready present in the game. This will be another sec-
trines table in the Faction Builder if you have not ond wave mission control if you do not have the This
already done so. Space Intentionally or All Errors are My Own supple-
ments.

Minor faction This should match the same BSU Colonists Roll for an encounter on the Encoun-
as your mission control – create a new faction if you tered Factions table if you have the This Space In-
do not have a good candidate already in the game. tentionally or All Errors are My Own supplements.
This will be another second wave mission control if Otherwise roll for an Upported colonist prior to pro-
you do not have the This Space Intentionally or All moted technologies becoming available, or a Pro-
Errors are My Own supplements. moted colonist once they become available.
176 CHAPTER 10. DAMAGE AND COMPLICATIONS

Phone Home Audience

Roll Ability Interview Negotiate Streetwise
1 Friends Budget committee Customer Amateur radio enthusiast
2 Mission contact Directorate Ground crew Conspiracy theorist
3 Mission control Human resources PR firm Private mailing list
4 Parents Medical checkups Sales team Retired astronaut
5 Siblings Mission update Sponsors Social media followers
6 Sleep companions Performance reviews Supplier Talk back radio host

Roll Activism Antitrust Recruit Suffrage

1 Activists Red faction Colonists Charity
2 Fan club White faction New faction Indigenous group
3 Focus group Green faction New recruits Minority group
4 Journalist Purple faction School Oppressed group
5 Political inquiry Orange faction Space camp Prisoners
6 Wealthy individual Minor faction University Unemancipated species

New Faction Roll for a new faction on the Encoun- Otherwise roll for a random second wave mission
tered Factions table if you have the This Space In- control.
tentionally or All Errors are My Own supplements.

The Reply
The effects of Phoning Home apply until a reply from Earth can be received, which is determined by the
comms delay for the crew location, as given on the High Frontier Map Distances table on page 207 in the
Travel chapter. All acute stress reductions are removed when the reply is received – that is crew become
stressed again. Any complications from the Phone Home action occur when the reply is received (and not
before).

Recovering stress If the action check was successful, then the crew member recovers from one acute
stress if they roll 3D6 equal to or higher than the number given in brackets. Crew must have a consciousness
of 10 or higher to recover from stress. Acute stress is a stress circle without a checked PTSD box underneath
it.

Applying PTSD If there is a stress number in brackets, roll 3D6 for each checked PTSD box the crew
member has. If the roll is equal to or higher than the number in brackets, then check the stress circle
directly above the checked PTSD box if it is not already checked.

Audience Contacts
You have a chance to encounter potential contacts whenever you succeed at a Phone Home action check
at a time scale of 10 minutes or longer. If you wish to, roll 3D6 and subtract the number given in brackets
on the stress column to determine how many potential contacts there are in the audience.

Potential contact types If you perform a Socialize phone home, you can choose any contact type for
each potential contact. If you perform a Speech phone home, the contacts will be replacements for your
emergency contact. Otherwise, if the audience is a faction, the contacts will be faction contacts; if they are
new recruits, Interview or Negotiate audiences they will be mission control contacts, except that customers
and suppliers will be infrastructure contacts if these are available; Streetwise, school, university and space
camp contacts will be mission contacts; and other audiences will be Earthside contacts. For each potential
DAMAGE 177

mission contact, roll 1D6 for the mission type. 1: Military (Red or War). 2: Science (White). 3: Colony (Green
or Purple). 4: Contact matching the Space Politics or none if Anarchy. 5: Commercial (Orange). 6: Contact
matching the mission control BSU.

Developing contacts Any potential contacts you encounter can be developed into contacts by spending
a skill point for each contact.

Damage
Damage can occur from accidents, complications, toxins and the use of weapons. Damage is applied as a
number along with a type of damage: ACID for corrosive atmospheres and liquids, BEAM for pulsed lasers
and particle weapons, BOLT for electrical shocks, BOMB for shock waves, CRASH for crashes and falling,
FIRE for thermal lasers and incendiaries, GAS for flame throwers and tear gas, GUN for ballistic impacts,
MELEE for cutting and crushing, MISSILE for shaped charges using the Munroe effect to penetrate heavy
armour, RAD for ionising radiation and STAB for punctures.

Hit locations
Damage can affect each of 6 hit locations, called body parts: chest (1), arms (2), guts (3), legs (4), back
(5) and head (6 or 0 if you are using Fast Attack Resolution from the A Facility with Words supplement).
Non-humanoid targets will have equivalent hit locations, usually with different names. Roll 1D6 if you need
to randomly select a hit location.

Asset and card damage Damage should also be tracked on assets and but usually only using a single
hit location, which is always selected if the asset is damaged. Structures can take damage to each card
separately.

Encounter cards Encounter cards have multiple hit locations, but only a single pool of damage tallies.
Use the hit location to determine what armour applies. If multiple locations are hit, then only apply the
highest damage amount after taking armour into account.

Weapon Hits
Weapons roll 3 dice to determine hit location at short range, 2 dice at medium range and 1 at long range,
plus one additional dice if an accuracy bonus applies. After rolling, only choose one hit location to affect.

ROF 2+ A weapon with a rate of fire of 2 or more will hit multiple hit locations. After rolling for hit location,
choose one hit location for each ROF, but apply damage only once if you roll the same location more than
once.

ROF 6+ A weapon with a rate of fire of 6 or higher can make multiple attacks. Resolve one attack for each
action for every 3 ROF but must split the ROF amongst the attacks when choosing hit locations.

Burst and Card Burst and Card weapons always hit each hit location rolled. Card weapons hit an entire
card at the 5m scale.

ROF over time The time scale modifies weapon rates of fire. Halve ROF if you are at 0.6s scale and ROF
is less than 2 or subtract 1 if it is 2 or higher. Add 1/4 if you are at the 60s scale and the weapon ROF is less
than one and subtract 1/2 if it is more than 1. Add 11/2 to ROF if you are at the 10m scale.
178 CHAPTER 10. DAMAGE AND COMPLICATIONS

Rapid fire At the 60s or longer time scale, you can add extra ammo tallies to increase the ROF for an
attack by one per tally – this also disables the weapon. Halve the final ROF if the weapon uses up ammo
faster than the current time scale after applying the other modifiers. Crew can dual-wield two side arms to
rapid fire for one tally only at the 6s time scale.

External subsystems
Each hit location also has an associated external subsystem: these are typically comms (1), carried weapon
(2), ingress/egress or externally carried life support (3), auxiliary movement or streamlining (4), externally
carried load (5) and sensors (6 or 0). This external subsystem is hit in addition to the body part if you roll a
heightened success when attacking (instead of choosing a complication) – energy weapons instead ignore
rigid armour when attacking the subsystem.

Types of damage After determining the hit location and making any damage rolls, ACID and energy
damage (BEAM, BOLT, FIRE and RAD) will hit both the body parts and external subsystems whereas physical
damage will usually only hit the body parts. “Both” means that the same damage is applied to both the
subsystem and the body part. If you roll a complicated success when attacking, the external subsystem
is hit first and not the body part; any excess damage not used in damaging the external subsystem then
bleeds through to the matching body part at the same hit location.

Armour reduction
Armour normally reduces damage to both body parts and external subsystems. Subtract the armour in
that location from the damage applied, including any armour protection against the specific damage type.
There are six ways armour applies: as negative armour, occupant armour, resistance armour, rigid armour,
rad-hardness or innate armour. Only negative and resistance armour are cumulative with other armour
types – use the highest of the rigid, innate armour and rad-hardness reduction, if more than one applies.
Occupant armour can be cumulative, as outlined in the occupant armour entry below.

Negative armour Negative armour is applied as a bonus to damage equal to the scalar value of the
negative armour. Negative armour is always cumulative, even if more than one armour applies. Any
armour type which has a minus sign in front of the damage protection is also treated as negative armour in
situations it applies.

Occupant armour Anything inside a vehicle or structure will also be protected by the armour of the
vehicle or structure if the source of the damage is outside the structure. Apply the highest of the innate
armour, rad-hardness and rigid armour values, along with the resistance armour of the vehicle or structure,
however the innate armour protection of a vehicle and structure is halved, rounding down, when protecting
its occupants.

Resistance armour Resistance armour reduces damage caused by a specific damage type regardless
of which hit location it hits. The available damage types are BEAM, BOLT, BOMB, CRASH, FIRE, GAS, GUN,
MELEE, MISSILE, RAD and STAB. Robots and crew in SCUBA gear or space suits are immune to GAS damage.
If crew are inside an armoured vehicle or structure, the higher of the vehicle/structure and crew resistance
armours applies, instead of being cumulative. This means after reducing the damage by the vehicle or
structure armour, if the vehicle or structure resistance armour is higher than the crew’s, don’t apply the
crew’s resistance armour; and if it’s lower, apply the difference between the crew’s and vehicle or structure’s
resistance armour.
DAMAGE 179

Rigid armour Rigid armour reduces all damage types except CRASH damage when it hits location
protected by the rigid armour. Rigid armour can have specific bonuses against certain damage types. All
rigid armour is more effective against melee damage. It can also be be graded-Z shielded. Any location
protected by rigid armour gets an additional +1 MELEE damage protection and, if graded-z shielding
is available, +2 RAD damage protection. X-aerogels and electro-reactive armour can further increase
effectiveness of rigid armour against different damage types. Rigid armour is not cumulative with innate
armour or rad-hardness.

Rad-hardness The rad-hardness of a spacecraft component or robot reduces radiation damage to the
occupants equal to the rad-hardness. Anything with rad-hardness has radiation damage that applies to
itself reduced by twice the rad-hardness minus 3 – this means a component with a rad-hardness of 1 takes
+1 damage from radiation to itself, while still providing its occupants with a measure of radiation protection.
Rad-hardness is not cumulative with innate or rigid armour.

Innate armour Innate armour reduces all damage regardless of hit location. Innate armour is not
cumulative with rigid armour or rad-hardness. If crew are inside an armoured vehicle or structure, the
innate armour of the vehicle or structure is halved, rounded down, before applying it.

Internal damage
Internal damage is damage which already has the effects of armour subtracted from it. Internal damage
to assets and body parts is tracked by crossing out hit boxes for the body part hit or external subsystem
hit with each point of internal damage crossing out one hit box until all the hit boxes at that location are
crossed out. At this point the damage may bleed through to another location.

Body part bleed through If a body part takes more internal damage it has hit boxes, any remaining
internal damage is applied to a more central location. Internal damage for a humanoid bleeds through
from the legs to guts, from the arms to the back and every other location through to the chest. Other body
plans may have different bleed through routes.
Internal damage that exceeds this second location continues to bleed through to additional locations.
Excess internal damage to the chest does not bleed through, except for military vehicles and robots which
have a core hit location – the chest bleeds through to the core and the core does not bleed through to
anywhere if this is the case. Energy weapons apply bleed through damage to external subsystems as well
as the body part on any location they bleed through to.

External subsystem bleed through External subsystems only bleed through if the body part was not
hit – this only occurs when the attack was a complicated success. They bleed through to the corresponding
body part.

Damage effects
A body part or external subsystem is damaged if it has suffered at least one point of internal damage.
Damaged body parts and subsystems prevents the unit from performing specific functions: typically using
the damaged hit location, although see the Crew Damage section on page 181 and Robot Damage section
on page 183 for specific details.

Hit boxes Track damage by putting check marks in circles on the folio or encounter card of the entity
being damaged corresponding to the location hit. You can also track damage by stacking purple counters
onto a face up card or underneath the token used to represent the unit being damaged, if you don’t have a
folio or encounter card for it.
180 CHAPTER 10. DAMAGE AND COMPLICATIONS

Inoperable Each body part normally has two hit boxes – assets and subsystems have one – and the
body part, subsystem or asset is inoperable if all its hit boxes are damaged. Inoperable assets cannot be
used and inoperable crew cannot act. Inoperable body parts can kill the crew: see the Inoperable body
parts entry on the next page for details.

Disabling A weapon does 0 or more damage and has a Disable or Shock effect, apply the Disable result
to the affected hit locations by putting a check mark in the triangle determined by the location hit or a
black counter on the face up card or underneath the unit token. Disabling body parts and subsystems
prevents the unit from performing specific functions: typically using the disabled hit location, although see
the Crew Damage section on the facing page and Robot Damage section on page 183 for specific details. A
unit can performing a 6 second action check using the most relevant skill to re-enable one disabled hit
location or 2 hours to re-enable a component.

Faults Effects which result in the loss of part or all of a body part, asset or component is represented as
a fault: black out the hit box instead of checking it or put a stack consisting of a black counter on a white
counter on the face up card or underneath the unit token. Blacked out hit boxes are considered missing but
not damaged, although this does mean less damage is needed to render the body part, asset or component
inoperable. If all hit boxes are blacked out, the asset, component or body part is both inoperable and
decommissioned. Faults cannot normally be repaired, but can have replacements 3D printed.

Damage Modifiers
Some weapons have damage modifiers which further modify damage resolution.

All Some weapons and damage types hit All locations because their effect fills the entire area, like
flamethrowers. Hit locations 0-5 with the same damage effect, skipping whichever location cannot be hit
because of the crew member position (guts if prone, chest if from behind, back if from the front or side).

Blind Lasers and nuclear weapons add +3 damage towards the external subsystems only, and can
Disable them (but not body parts) before applying the effects of armour. This may mean the external
subsystem is Disabled or Damaged while the body part is unaffected.

Disable Some weapons have a Disable modifier following the weapon damage. If the weapon’s damage
(including any dice rolls) is greater than or equal to zero, then the weapon disables the locations hit,
including both body parts and external systems if they are affected. If the weapon can only damage living
things (damage is in brackets) then only body parts can be affected.

Gradated damage Some weapons have gradated damage, given by several damage values separated
by a slash. When you attack with the weapon, use the second damage amount if you roll the same location
twice for the same attack (doubles), the third damage amount if you roll the same location three times
(triples), and so on.

Jams This disables the Comms external subsystem. A disabled or damaged comms prevents the unit
from communicating with other crew, which prevents the unit spotting using the Spot target defensive
action or initial action. Comms lost also prevents teleoperated robots or missiles from performing any
actions.

Living targets Low energy stabbing and electricity damage can still be extremely dangerous to biological
targets which depend on circulatory and nervous systems which can be disrupted by puncture wounds
and electrical shocks. If damage is given in brackets, then it applies to living targets only: this could also be
a modifier to a base damage that applies to all targets (usually +1D6).
DAMAGE 181

On fire These weapons also set the target alight, causing fire damage at the end of each turn given in by
the number square brackets following the damage amount. This on fire damage causes damage over time
as outlined in the Damage over Time section on page 184.

Paints Some weapons have a Paints modifier following the weapon damage. A successful hit with the
weapon Paints the target, putting a green (Painted) counter under it. Targets are always visible while they
are painted. Once at target is painted, it must explicitly have the Painted modifier removed. All Painted
effects are removed at the end of combat.

Radiation A living being hit by radiation damage sets their radiation exposure number equal to the
radiation damage suffered, if it is lower than that number: radiation damage is not additive. Radiation
damage to living beings is then divided by four, rounding down, before being applied to hit locations.
Radiation exposure is resolved as radiation sickness using the damage over time radiation rules; see the
Damage over Time section on page 184 for details. You can also recover from radiation exposure which
reflects a year of sheltering underground and otherwise minimizing radioactive exposure risks. Each point
of radiation exposure requires one recovery. A radiation exposure of 0 damage exactly is still enough to
contribute to the Radiation exposure service risk.

Shock Some weapons have a Shock modifier following the weapon damage. The Shock weapon acts as
if it has the Disable modifier. In addition, if the weapon does 0 or more damage to a body part, the weapon
disables all body parts due to overwhelming pain, not just the location hit.

Crew Damage
Damage to the crew is applied to one or more of the crew hit locations rolled on the Crew Hit Locations
table on the following page.

Inoperable body parts If the chest or head is rendered inoperable by all of the hit boxes for that location
being checked, the crew member suffers a Near death complication (which is aggravated if a head injury)
and must be treated by within 30 minutes by surgery to avoid dying once stabilized. Rendering any body
part inoperable results in blood loss over time, which is discussed further in the Damage over Time section
on page 184. The crew member also acquires an injury: this is a Brain injury if a crew member has their
head rendered inoperable. Injuries are penalties that apply to the actions that were prevented by the
location being damaged even after the damage has been healed or repaired. Brain injuries apply to all
Mental skills. Injuries are recovered from normally.

Suit breaches Any time physical damage exceeds the armour of a crew member during a firefight in a
vacuum or tenuous atmosphere, a suit breach occurs. Physical damage is any damage type except BEAM,
BOLT, FIRE, GAS or RAD damage. A suit repair kit can repair suit breaches or oxygen leaks. Skin tight suits
suffer decompression on a head hit (0/6); other suits suffer decompression on a head (0/6) or chest (1) hit
as described in the Decompression entry on page 196. Suit breaches that don’t result in decompression
cause Kittinger syndrome instead as described in the Kittinger syndrome entry on page 198. Aerostats have
sufficient pressure that breaches do not cause damage or Kittinger syndrome.

Healing Damage
It takes a day of rest on at least half-rations to recover a point of blood loss and a month for a point of
damage: you must recover blood loss first and then choose which location to heal damage each month –
clear one hit box at that location when you do. Inoperable locations require surgery before they can begin
healing. Equipment does not heal unless otherwise specified but you can repair it. See the Repairs section
on page 140 of the Assets chapter for details.
182 CHAPTER 10. DAMAGE AND COMPLICATIONS

Crew Hit Locations

If a location is damaged or disabled, apply the listed effect on the body part table. Energy weapons: ACID,
BEAM, BOLT, FIRE and RAD damage also applies to external subsystems. Roll on the External subsystem
section of the table instead of the Body Parts section for these weapons; also hit the Body part with the
same result as the External subsystem rolled. Physical weapons: ACID, BOMB, GUN, MELEE, MISSILE and
STAB weapons cause suit breaches if damage ≥ 1. Suit breaches decompress head and chest hit locations
(head only for skintight suits) and cause Kittinger syndrome on other body part hit locations. Blind: These
weapons do 3 extra damage against external subsystems and can Disable them before applying armour.
Power lost: Disable any subsystem or equipment used until power is restored. Cannot perform extended
EVAs. Cooling lost: See Water supply lost on page 201.
Roll Area Disabled Damaged
Body parts
0/6 Head Must remain prone Unconscious for 1D6 minutes
1 Chest Unable to talk
2 Arms Cannot attack with weapons Can only attack with sidearms
3 Guts Cannot use cover Slow blood loss damage over time
4 Legs Falls down Movement points halved (round up)
5 Back Unable to move Permitted load halved (round up)
External subsystems
0/6 Sensors Unable to see, use sensors or guidance systems
1 Comms Unable to Spot targets, act if Teleoperated
2 Weapon Weapon jammed Weapon damaged, cannot be fired
3 PLSS Power lost Cooling lost
4 MU Unable to use MU MU fuel halved (round down, lost if inoperable)
5 Load out Hits largest item in your load out not listed above .

Surgery
Surgery needs to be performed on any inoperable locations before it can begin to heal and to stop bleeding
prior to the availability of advanced trauma kits. Surgery can also treat dental emergencies and kidney
stones. Roll 2D6 if you suffer complications from surgery on the Injury or surgery column of the compli-
cations table on page 202. Surgery requires a surgical kit or medical facility to be performed, including a
pressurized atmosphere and (prior to ET technology levels) 0.6 G from a spinning crew module.
Roll 2D6 if you suffer complications as a result of surgery for a brain injury on the brain damage column of
the complications table. Half of all brain damage is accompanied by amnesia.

Medical Facilities
A clinic provides outpatient treatment following discharge from hospital stay as well as treatment facilities
for recovery which does not require hospitalization or surgery. A clinic can stabilize someone who is
suffering from damage and has a single hospital bed which can assist with surgery, provide medical life
support or the benefits of hospital stay to one individual at a time. Colonies and factories will have a clinic
available. Large colonies will have one hospital bed for every 150 individuals.
A hospital allows you to stop the effects of damage and provide the level of support required for a hospital
stay and medical life support. ET produced hospitals can provide organ and limb replacement. Advanced
hospitals greatly accelerate the healing process and patients in Advanced medical facilities can cheat death.
Bernals will have a hospital as will any colony with 1,000 or more individuals (averaging 1 hospital per
50,000 people).

ET Health care ET sites require roughly four times as many hospital beds as on Earth. If the site is
terraformed, halve the number of hospitals and hospital beds required (round up).
DAMAGE 183

Medical Hibernation
Suspending a crew member’s body may be used to temporarily abate the effects of some damage or
injuries so that they be treated later, especially damage over time effects. In addition, hibernation can be
used to extend food and water supplies. At baseline technologies, an induced coma requiring a hospital
bed and medical life support can slow damage over time effects so that they proceed one column slower
than normal (instant to fast, fast to slow, slow to very slow and very slow to chronic) other than chronic
conditions. Upported and colonization technologies are easier to implement but have the same outcome
for the induced hibernation. Exoglobalization and later era technologies move damage over time effects
two columns to the right, and completely halt chronic conditions. Regardless of technology level, recovery
from medical hibernation must be performed at a hospital bed.
Era Technology Food/water
Any Restricted diet (1/4 rations) x4
Baseline Induced coma or sedatives x10
Upported Hydrogen sulfide hibernation x100
Colonization Slab (drug) x1000
Exoglobalization Cryogenically frozen x10,000
Future Vats x100,000
Directions Biological immortality (lifestyle) Indefinite

Era-dependent technology levels Note that not every technology in Sixty Years in Space is dependent
on a tech level, because not every technology is unlocked by exploiting extraterrestrial resources.

Robot Damage
Robots suffer damage as people do except they do not bleed and they must be repaired instead of healing.
The exception is damage to the robot brain, which results in computer damage instead of brain damage.

Computer Damage Computer damage is resolved by rolling on the Computer / Asset column of the
Complications table on page 193 – also use this column if the computer equipment suffers a glitch, noting
that some technologies, such as ray-hardened computers, mech-transistors and gold nanowire batteries,
prevent some glitches from occurring. Computer damage cannot be repaired and must be reprinted or
replaced instead. Reprinting a new brain for a conscious computer or robot lowers its consciousness first
to its intelligence (if lower) and then by a further 1D6.

Falling
Falling in vacuum can be incredibly dangerous because there is no atmosphere to slow your fall: you will
just continue to accelerate until you hit an obstacle or pass through the center of mass you are falling
towards. Use the Crash Damage table on the following page to calculate the falling damage sustained.
Rigid and innate armour does not reduce CRASH damage.
On a 1D6 roll higher than the crash damage, or equal to or higher if the crew member is wearing a space
suit or armour, they have a soft collision. Halve the damage, rounding down. If a crew member crashes
as a result of failing a movement skill roll while exceeding their maximum safe distance, you can attempt
another movement skill roll to reroll this soft collision dice. If a crew member has a soft collision, halve the
momentum move, rounding down – otherwise remove all momentum.
After calculating the damage, roll 1D6 for the hit location it is applied to. 1: Chest. 2: Arms. 3: Guts. 4: Legs.
5: Back. 6: Head. Remember to use the bleed through rules. Note that spacecraft are normally under thrust
for only a small portion of their total travel time.

Falling in atmospheres Terminal velocities for crew on atmospheric sites is around 200 km/h on Earth
(9 damage, falling about 450 m), around 1000 km/h on Mars (14 damage, falling more than 10 km) and
184 CHAPTER 10. DAMAGE AND COMPLICATIONS

Crash Damage

Use the distance fallen, velocity, momentum or movement points to determine the crash damage. Use
a minimum of 2 damage if crashing or falling from standing, or 1 damage if in cover. Doubling the mass
of the crashing entity also increases the damage by one and halving the mass decreases the damage by
one: you could alternately add 10 to the damage and subtract the thrust modifier. Falling: Decrease the
crash damage by 1 for each site size smaller than 11 – increase it by 1 for each size above 11. If you fall in
a spacecraft under thrust, use the net thrust instead of the site size. Momentum: Measure the distance
you move on your momentum map from the start to the end of the move to determine the cm distance.
If you crash into another moving unit, subtract (apply in the opposite direction) the momentum moves
from each other before calculating the damage. Movement points (MP): Add 3 damage if using vehicle
movement points, 6 if using transonic movement points or 10 if using supersonic movement points. This
also applies for momentum centimeters.
Distance Speed Crash
1G Size 11 km/h Momentum MP Damage
0.6m 0.8m 10 0.5 cm 0.5 1
1.2m 1.5m 15 0.7 cm 1 2
2.5m 3m 25 1 cm 2 3
5m 6m 35 1.5 cm 3 4
10m 12m 50 2 cm 4 5
20m 25m 70 3 cm 6 6
40m 50m 100 4 cm 8 7
80m 100m 140 6 cm 11 8
160m 200m 200 8 cm 16 9
320m 400m 280 11 cm 22 10
640m 800m 400 16 cm 32 11
1.3 km 1.6 km 560 22 cm 44 12
2.5 km 3.2 km 800 32 cm 64 13
5 km 6.4 km 1120 44 cm 88 14
10 km 13 km 1600 64 cm 128 15
20 km 25 km 2250 88 cm 176 16
40 km 50 km 3200 1.3 m 256 17
80 km 100 km 4500 1.8m 352 18
160 km 200 km 6400 2.6m 512 19
320 km 400 km 9000 3.6m 704 20

around 35 km/h on Titan (3 damage, falling 12 m). Thin atmospheres of early terraformed sites have a
terminal velocity around 400 km/h (11 damage). The terminal velocity is independent of gravity, but the
distance fallen to achieve that terminal velocity is not.

Damage over Time

There are two main types of damage over time: continuous damage, which involves ongoing exposure to
what would normally be handled as instantaneous damage, and escalating damage, where the potential
for damage and treatment varies over time because either because the damage is intermittent or the
damage reduces the ability of the system to mitigate its effects. This includes acid, blood loss, hypoxia and
suffocation, oxygen leaks and radiation sickness. Fire has its own damage over time section, because it
spreads both heat and flame in a much more complex fashion.
DAMAGE OVER TIME 185

Continuous Damage
Instant Fast Slow Very Chronic Damage
Time Time Time Slow Time modifier
0.6s 1m 1h 3 days -1D6 (-3 if very slow)
0.6s 6s 10m 8h 1 month +0
6s 60s 1h 40m 3d 21/2 years +1D6
60s 10m 16h 1 month 25 years +1D6+3
10m 1h 40m 1w 21/2 years 250 years +2D6+3
Shift +1D6 +1D6+3 +1D6+2 +1D6+3

Armour Effectiveness
Time Armour effectiveness
interval 2 1 0 -1
0.6s 0 -1 -2 -1D6
6s -1 -2 -1D6 -2D6
60s -2 -4 -2D6 -4D6
10m -3 -6 -3D6 -6D6
2h -4 -8 -4D6 -8D6
1d -5 -10 -5D6 -10D6

Continuous Damage
If damage is applied continuously, then then it is increased by a modifier based on the time interval. Most
weapon damage uses the Instant time column – FIRE and GAS damage use Fast Time and RAD uses the
Slow Time column. You can shift columns to the right if you want: add the damage modifier from the shift
row in the destination column for each column you shift right.

Armour effectiveness Resistance armour and rad-hardness is much more effective at preventing con-
tinuous damage than peak damaging energies. The armour effectiveness is equal to the damage amount
after armour is applied but before applying the continuous damage modifier. Look this up against the time
interval the damage is being applied over. The listed amount modifies the damage further by reducing it.
If the armour protection is 2 or more points higher than the original damage amount, then continuous
damage is blocked. If the damage is 3 or higher after applying armour, then armour effectiveness is zero.
Continuous RAD damage lasting 10 minutes or longer prevents armour effectiveness from working as the
armour itself starts to become radioactive.

Escalating Damage
Bleeding If a crew member has any locations which are inoperable, or has their guts damaged, they
will begin bleeding out. Roll 2D6, add the number of inoperable locations they have, then subtract the
appropriate modifier based on the fast time interval that has passed. Use the losing modifier if the crew

Escalating Damage
Instant Fast Slow Very Chronic Losing Neutral Positive DOT
Time Time Time Slow Time modifier modifier modifier Roll
0.6s 6s 10m 8h 1 month -10 -11 -12 1D6
6s 60s 1h40m 3d 1 year -7 -8 -10 3D6
60s 10m 16h 1 month 12 years -4 -5 -8 7D6
10m 1h40m 1w 1 year 120 years -1 -2 -6 15D6
186 CHAPTER 10. DAMAGE AND COMPLICATIONS

member is not being treated at all, use the neutral modifier if someone is treating the crew unsuccessfully
and the positive modifier if they are being treated successfully. Blood loss requires 2 hours of surgery to be
performed to stop it.
If the result is one or more, that is how much blood loss the crew member suffers:- add it to their existing
blood loss total. If a crew member’s blood loss is 7 or higher they will experience a Near death complication,
9 or higher means they fall unconscious and 10 or higher they die (see the Death complication on page 195
for details). Every even number of points of blood loss except 2 and 4 is a physical skill penalty and every
odd number of points except 1 is a mental skill penalty.
If a crew member is only suffering slow bleeding, resolve it using the above method except use the slow
time interval figures.

Chronic conditions Roll 2D6, then subtract the appropriate modifier based on the chronic time interval
that has passed. If the result is one or more, then the crew member suffers the effects of the chronic
condition.

Environmental exposure Corrosive and hot environments will have an ACID or FIRE damage rating that
causes immediate damage, but which also increases their damage over time either due to armour being
etched away by corrosion or the target reaching thermal equilibrium with the ambient temperature of
the environment around it. The surface of Venus does 8 ACID due to the combination of pressure and
temperature – sulfuric acid clouds at the aerostat do 2 ACID damage. Vacuum locations in full sunlight with
non-negative solar power modifiers do FIRE damage equal to their solar power modifier plus 6. Radiators
on a megawatt rocket glow bright orange and cause 9 FIRE damage on contact – this includes all rockets
with thrusters that require at least 1 therm of cooling; radiators on gigawatt rockets glow pale yellowish
orange and cause 10 FIRE damage on contact and the entire body of a terawatt rocket glows white-hot and
causes 10 FIRE damage on contact.
To determine escalating damage from environmental exposure, roll 2D6 then subtract the appropriate
modifier based on the fast time interval that has passed. Use the losing modifier if the damage equals
or exceeds the crew member’s armour, the neutral modifier if the damage is less than their armour but
they have no other effective countermeasures in place, such as radiators or the ability to only partially
expose themselves to the environment, and the positive modifier if the crew member has both armour and
countermeasures.
If this number is positive, add it to the damage amount and apply it as an additional attack against a
random hit location – rerolling if the hit location is not exposed. Double the damage reduction of any
damage specific resistance when applying environmental exposure e.g. 3 FIRE damage resistance reduces
the damage taken from environmental exposure by 6.
Use the slow time interval instead of the fast time interval for intermittent exposure or when exposed to
radiant heat instead of conducted heat (such as moving above a surface exposed to sunlight instead of
touching the surface) and the very slow time interval if both.
Crew will also suffer environmental exposure if performing an EVA without a PLSS cooling system – either
because the system has failed or they have accumulated 5 or more water tallies. Heat from the body (100
W) and suit life support systems (100 W) alone will raise the body temperature to dangerous levels (40
degrees) in around 2 to 3 hours in a vacuum. Resolve this as environmental exposure to 0 FIRE damage,
except armour does not provide protection – this occurs over a slow time interval.

Hypoxia Hypoxia manifests as either high-altitude pulmonary edema or high-altitude cerebral edema
which causes confusion and can kill if not treated. It can result from extended conditions at low oxygen
levels, typically from the equivalent of 5000m and above (11% oxygen) – this is represented on the crew
folio as 5 or more bars of oxygen loss.
Roll 2D6-10 and add twice the amount of oxygen loss the crew member has, then subtract the appropriate
modifier based on the very slow time interval that has passed. Use the losing modifier if the crew member
is not being treated at all, use the neutral modifier if someone is treating the crew unsuccessfully and the
positive modifier if they are being treated successfully.
DAMAGE OVER TIME 187

If the result is one or more, that is how much blood loss the crew member suffers:- add it to their existing
blood loss total. If a crew member’s blood loss is 7 or higher they will experience a Near death complication,
9 or higher means they fall unconscious and 10 or higher they die (see the Death complication on page 195
for details). Every even number of points of blood loss except 2 and 4 is a physical skill penalty and every
odd number of points except 1 is a mental skill penalty. Blood loss from hypoxia requires treatment in an
airlock or hyperbaric chamber.

Oxygen leaks Roll 2D6+3, then subtract the appropriate modifier based on the fast time interval that
has passed (or the slow time interval if it is a slow leak). Use the losing modifier if crew are not able to
respond to the leak, use the neutral modifier if someone is attempting to control the leak unsuccessfully
and the positive modifier if someone is attempting to control the leak successfully. Crew can patch a suit if
they have grey tape tallies available without consuming a tally, or by adding one other fabric tally.
If the result is one or more, that is how much oxygen the crew member loses:- add it to their existing Oxygen
Loss bars. Crew begin to suffer from hypoxia when the oxygen loss reaches 5, and begin to suffocate when
oxygen loss reaches 7 – see the corresponding Hypoxia and Suffocation damage over time entries. Crew
also suffer penalties with oxygen loss: mental penalties at 3, 5 and 7 bars of oxygen loss and physical
penalties at 4, 6 and 8. At 9 points of oxygen the crew member falls unconscious. At 10 points of oxygen
loss they suffer the Death complication.
If a crew member’s oxygen loss reaches 7 in less than 3 hours, the crew member will suffer from the Bends
as outlined below – a high pressure suit will also operate as a low pressure suit from this point forward
until it can replenish its air supply from a high pressure atmosphere.
Each bar of oxygen loss represents a 2% reduction in oxygen from the Earth standard pressure and oxygen
percentage. This loss is temporary, and once a space suit leak is patched, it only takes a small amount
of oxygen supply to restore oxygen percentages to Earth normal and remove the oxygen loss from the
crew space suit. A soft space suit contains around 0.4 kilograms of oxygen total. Restoring the total oxygen
pressure uses a water tally; five oxygen bars requires half a water tally.
Crew operating in low oxygen atmospheres will have a minimum oxygen loss equal to 20% minus the
atmospheric oxygen percentage, halved. ie 1 oxygen loss at 18%, 2 at 16%, 3 at 14% and so on. This
assumes Earth standard pressure.

Radiation sickness Roll 2D6-8 plus twice the radiation exposure number, then subtract the appropriate
modifier based on the very slow time interval. Use the losing modifier if the crew member is not being
treated at all, use the neutral modifier if someone is treating the crew unsuccessfully and the positive
modifier if they are being treated successfully.
If the result is one or more, the crew member has died (see the Death complication on page 195 for details).
If the crew survives, roll the number of dice given in the DOT roll column based on the fast time interval.
Each 5 you roll removes one point of radiation exposure.

Suffocation When oxygen levels fall below 6% crew begin to suffocate. Resolve suffocation as hypoxia,
except that you use the fast time interval. Blood loss represents severe hypoxia and cellular death. Suffoca-
tion requires oxygen levels to be restored to 12% or higher to avoid hypoxia or 7% otherwise.

The Bends Resolve the bends by rolling 3D6 to determine the three locations affected, reducing this by
one dice for every hour of pre-breathing, and inflicting 1 damage on each body part hit location that has a
two dice with the same face-value rolled for it (doubles), unaffected by armour. All body part locations
matching any of the dice face values are also disabled until pain killers are taken to overcome the pain.

Toxins There are two main categories or toxins: concentrated toxins such as chlorine gas which are
immediately dangerous, and accumulative toxins such as carbon monoxide which are dangerous with
extended exposure. Each toxin causes both symptoms and complications. The symptoms are caused by
trace or low level exposure to the toxin. The complications are a result of more significant exposure. Each
toxin causes a specific acute complication.
188 CHAPTER 10. DAMAGE AND COMPLICATIONS

Roll 2D6+3, then subtract the appropriate modifier based on the toxin time interval that has passed. Use the
losing modifier if the crew continues to be exposed to an accumulative toxin or no one is treating the crew
member after exposure to a concentrated toxin, use the neutral modifier if the crew have been removed
from the accumulative toxin exposure or the crew are being treated unsuccessfully and the positive modifier
if they are being treated successfully. If the result is one to three, crew develop symptoms from exposure to
the toxin. Increase their toxin penalty for the appropriate ability level if it is lower – these penalties can
be treated normally. If the result is four to six, the crew member develops the toxin complication. And
if the result is seven or more, roll on the Toxin exposure complication column to determine the effect of
prolonged exposure to the toxin.
Rather than catalogue a list of all possible toxins, you should create toxins whenever you expose yourself
to an environment that is alien or poorly maintained. To create a toxin, roll 2D6. 2: Instant, physical. 3:
Instant, mental. 4: Fast, physical. 5: Fast, mental. 6: Fast, social. 7: Slow, physical. 8: Slow, mental. 9: Slow,
social. 10: Very slow, physical. 11: Very slow, mental. 12: Very slow, social. On an even result, the toxin is
accumulative, on an odd result it is concentrated. Then roll 1D6 to see which column on the Complications
table on page 202 to use, then roll the listed dice given by the toxin row.

Fire
Fire can affect units or structures by directly by burning them as fuel, but also indirectly by heating up the
environment, consuming oxygen and filling the air with toxic smoke. Fires have a damage value based on
the temperature of the fire, with oxygen accelerated fires in space suits, crew modules and non-terraformed
colonies doing 10 FIRE damage.

Initial effects A unit hit by fire damage resolves it as continuous damage with a Fast effect: that is the
damage is reduced by 1D6. This reduction is normally included in the weapon damage notation.
Attacks which attach fuel to the target such as hydrocarbons or white phosphorous will then set the unit on
fire at the full fire damage amount – not reduced by the dice roll or armour.
Attacks that cause fire damage to that affect cards or units on cards will also result in structure fires. Point
attacks add counters equal to the FIRE damage applied, reduced by -2D6 at the 5m scale, -4D6 at the 50m
scale, -8D6 at the 500m scale, -10D6 at the 5 km scale and -12D6 at the 50 km scale. Area attacks that cause
FIRE damage set the number of heat counters at the affected location(s) on the map equal to the FIRE
damage applied if the area is a counter or the base FIRE damage applied by the attack if the area affects the
whole card – the base FIRE damage is the listed damage before subtracting the 1D6 continuous damage
roll. In both instances, if the location already has more heat counters present, there is no effect.

Crew and other units on fire Crew and other units set on fire by fire damage are treated as escalating
damage equal to the on fire damage amount. A crew member or robot using a firefighting kit can put out
an on-fire unit of equal or smaller body size immediately; add the era number of the fire fighting kit to the
crew’s body size for this calculation. Treat this as a positive mitigation if the unit is larger. The era number is
1 for Upported (2040-2054), 2 for Colonization (2055-2069), 3 for Exoglobalization (2070-2084), 4 for Futures
(2085-2099) and 5 for Directions (2100+).
Otherwise units roll the number of dice given in the DOT roll column based on the Fast time interval
to determine which locations are hit by fire damage. Apply the on fire damage to each location rolled,
including a gradated damage modifier of +1 damage if doubles are rolled and +2 if triples are rolled.
If you rolled any 5s, the fire goes out after applying any damage. Otherwise it continues to burn.

Heat counters Use clear counters to represent heat and ongoing fire damage and black counters to
indicate fire suppression. You can put white dice under a clear (or black) counter to indicate multiple heat
(or suppression) counters on the card with the total face value of the dice indicating the number of counters.
Once you have one or more uncovered clear counters on a card, the structure is on fire. Resolve this using
the Structure fires section on page 192.
DAMAGE TO STRUCTURES 189

Damage to Structures
Any structure is vulnerable to damage but their mass pro-
vides a measure of protection, reflected by their innate armour Building Innate Armour
value. The innate armour value of a structure is determined Scale A-3 4, J 5-10, Q, K
by the structure size – for cards on a map, this is based on Room 1 1 2
the map scale and the face value of the card. Spacecraft com- Facility 5 6 7
ponents use their mass in WT halved, rounding up, plus 5 – Complex 11 11 12
except that solar sails are fragile and have no innate armour. District 14 15 16
Structure innate armour is half as effective, rounding down, Locality 18 18 19
when calculating its effectiveness against hull breaches or Region 21 22 23
when protecting its occupants or systems from damage. Most structures will also have 1 GUN and 1 FIRE
resistance armour due to their Kevlar fabric construction.

Shared Atmospheres
Structures are organized into zones where a zone consists of all adjacent cards with the same face colour
(red or black). Face down cards have the face colour of any adjacent card they share a long edge with or
overlap; symmetrical cards have the face colour of the card they are mirroring.

Pressure zones Whether a zone has a shared atmosphere depends on the scale of the location and
if it is rad-hardened. Rad-hardened structures, such as a spacecraft component, have pressure zones at
the Room (0.5m/cm) scale. This means each zone has a shared atmosphere, and any breach in a zone –
represented by a yellow counter on a card – means that the whole zone is breached. Other maps have
pressure zones at the Facility (5m/cm) scale. The whole map shares an atmosphere when at the Room
(0.5m/cm) scale in non-rad-hardened structures.

Pressure spots A card is divided up into multiple pressure spots at the next largest scale – Facility if
rad-hardened and Complex if not – where each spot has its own atmosphere. At this scale, most cards
consist of three separate pressure spots: a) the suit symbols with an upright orientation; b) the suit symbols
with an upside down orientation and c) the remainder of the card. On an Ace, each suit symbol is its own
spot; on a two to five; each large suit symbol is its own spot, and each small suit symbol is part of a spot
with the large suit symbol next to it. A yellow counter overlapping any part of the pressure spot indicates
the whole spot is breached – however the remainder of the card is only ever breached if the counter does
not overlap any other pressure spot.

Breach and smoke counters A yellow counter is used to indicate the breach point. A yellow counter
indicates only the area covered by the counter is breached if at a scale larger than one using pressure spots
(Complex or larger if rad-hardened, District or larger if not). Smoke counters similarly apply to a map, zone,
spot or the area covered by the counter using the same rules for pressure zones and spots – use a pinch of
cotton wool to represent smoke. A stack of two or more yellow counters indicates the entire card is under
construction and should be treated as breached, regardless of scale.

Hull breaches
A breach occurs when a shared atmosphere is exposed to different atmospheric conditions as a result of 1
or more structure damage after applying armour. If the breach is into vacuum, air from the pressurized
zone will flow into vacuum at around 450 m/s. At an aerostat, high speed winds can result in even faster air
flows.
190 CHAPTER 10. DAMAGE AND COMPLICATIONS

Hull Breaches

Flood time: Halve the flood time, rounding up, at 6m immersion and again at 25m, 100m, 400m, 1.6 km,
6.4 km and then again every 4 times the depth increases. You can approximate this by moving down one
row on the table for every two halvings at damage row 3 or higher.
Air loss rate Flood time
Breach CRASH Rad-hardened Rad-hardened Repair
Damage diameter damage Yes No Yes No tallies
1 5 mm 2-1D6 1%/10m 3%/d 3d 40w
2 10 mm 4-1D6 4%/10m 13%/d 4h 2w
3 20 mm 6-1D6 17%/10m 2%/2h 30m 2d
4 40 mm 8-1D6 7%/60s 8%/2h 6m 9h
5 80 mm 10-1D6 3%/6s 3%/10m 1m 2h
6 160 mm 12-1D6 11%/6s 11%/10m 13s 22m 1
7 0.3 m 14-1D6 4%/0.6s 4%/60s 3s 5m 3
8 0.6 m 16-1D6 17%/0.6s 17%/60s 1s 1m 5
Maximum if rad-hardened
9 1.2 m 18-1D6 Instant 7%/6s Instant 15s 7
10 2.4 m 20-1D6 Instant 3%/0.6s Instant 3s 9
11 5m 22-1D6 Instant 12%/0.6s Instant 1s NA

Breach diameter The amount of damage sustained after applying armour determines the breach diam-
eter – remember that structure innate armour only counts half, rounding down, when stopping a breach.
Only BOMB damage is completely effective in causing a breach; GAS and RAD damage does not cause hull
breaches; and other damage types halve the damage, rounding up, when determining breach damage. Put
one or more dice underneath the yellow counter at the breach location with their face values adding up to
the breach damage sustained and only use the highest value in a shared atmosphere if multiple breaches
are present. The maximum body size that can cross the breach equals the breach damage doubled minus
9.

Explosive decompression The air or water flow from a breach – inwards from high speed aerostat winds
and dense atmospheres and water or outwards into vacuum, tenuous and thin atmospheres – will violently
throw anyone around adjacent to the breach causing CRASH damage equal to twice the breach dice value
minus 1D6 to a random hit location. Subtract 1 for each cm distance from the breach point at the 0.5m/cm
scale and 1D6 for each cm distance from the breach point at the 5m/cm scale and an additional 1D6 if in
an atmosphere. The total volume of air in rad-hardened locations means that a breach dice value higher
than 8 counts as an 8 when determining damage. Resolve this damage at the time the breach occurs.
Explosive decompression doesn’t occur if the outside atmosphere is standard and not at an aerostat. If
the atmosphere is thin or dense, then apply CRASH damage equal to the breach damage dice minus 1D6
instead of twice the breach damage, along with the other modifiers.

Atmospheric breaches
Air loss rate This gives the percentage drop in oxygen levels over time. If there are two to three rooms
in the pressure zone, then halve the oxygen loss rate; if there are four or more rooms in the zone or the
pressure area is a spot or area under a counter, then use the row immediately above it (slower oxygen
loss). Also move up one row if the external atmosphere is thin or dense or up two rows if the atmosphere is
standard and not at an aerostat. Add an additional yellow counter on top of the existing breach counter for
each time interval that passes. Remove the dice under the yellow counter and all but one yellow counter
from the shared atmosphere if all oxygen is lost. This also indicates the location is now in vacuum if this
was a vacuum breach; and filled with the external atmosphere otherwise.
DAMAGE TO STRUCTURES 191

Entering breached atmospheres Shared atmospheres with reduced oxygen can only be entered by
equalizing the pressure from another shared atmosphere. Average the oxygen levels between the two
shared atmospheres.

Sealing atmospheric breaches Sealing atmospheric breaches can be done using fabric, including grey
tape, or 3D printing a plug. One crew tally is consumed if the breach is 160 mm in diameter, and two
additional tallies are required for each doubling of the diameter. 5m breaches require one crew module or
workshop printer tally instead. Remove the yellow counters on the breach point and any dice underneath
them when the breach is sealed. Record the current atmospheric oxygen percentage.

Restoring oxygen Once the breach is sealed, oxygen can be restored. This requires 2.5 kg of oxygen (5
water tallies) per 2% lost for each location in a rad-hardened pressure zone; 250 kg of oxygen per 2% lost
for each location in other pressure zones and 1 tonne of oxygen per 2% lost in pressure spots and areas
under a counter. If oxygen fell to 5% or below as a result of a vacuum breach, then after restoring oxygen
the pressure zone becomes a low oxygen pressure zone which causes the bends if someone fails to spend 2
hours 20 minutes acclimatizing before entering the zone. See the Low Pressure entry of the Assets chapter
for details.

Underwater breaches
Underwater breaches result in flooding of pressure zones. Flood times are given at immersion in 1.5m of
water, and give the time required to place a blue counter on the card in a pressure zone where the breach is
located. Continue to place blue counters as additional time intervals pass until all locations in the pressure
zone have a blue counter on them – ensuring that you only place a blue counter on a card adjacent to a
card which already has a blue counter on it.

2m+ flooding If the structure is immersed in at least two meters of water, then once all locations in the
pressure zone have a blue counter on them, then as each additional flood time interval passes, you should
add an additional blue counter on top of the existing blue counter on each card. Start with the location of
the breach, and then for other cards ensure that you only add a blue counter if an adjacent card or the
terrain outside the breach already has a stack with as many blue counters on it as the resulting stack. Only
add a third counter if the structure is immersed in at least 3m of water.

Swimming If a card has one blue counter on it, then units may need to swim to move through the card.
If the majority of the unit counter is on a white part of the card, then they do not need to swim; otherwise
they do. The exception is for overlapping cards: in this instance, the unit does not have to swim if the
majority of the unit is on a suit symbol; otherwise they do. Only determine this once for each centimeter of
movement. Swimming always has a 1 MP/cm cost and crew swim as if they were climbing.

Submerged cards A stack of two or more blue or more counters on a card indicates that the entire card
can only be moved through by swimming. In addition, crew must hold their breath if they don’t have an
independent oxygen supply from SCUBA or a space suit – this adds 1 oxygen loss every 60 seconds to the
crew doing so. Note that crew cannot hold their breath in vacuum. If the card has exactly two blue counters,
then crew can breath as a 6 second action whenever they are on a suit symbol on the card, removing all
oxygen loss down to the level matching the atmospheric oxygen.

Submerged obstructions Obstructions submerged under water are replaced by turbulence. See the
Turbulence entry on page 235 of the Structured Map Builder chapter for details.

Sealing underwater breaches Sealing underwater breaches requires a 25 kg hull breach tool set. Using
this, crew can repair any underwater breach using their Strong arm skill provided they can reach it.
192 CHAPTER 10. DAMAGE AND COMPLICATIONS

Vaporization Water vaporizes if exposed to vacuum conditions, filling the air with water vapour which
replaces the vacuum. In these conditions, crew can and must hold their breath as there is no available
oxygen in the air to breath. Put a stack consisting of a black counter on a green counter on all locations that
share the atmosphere with the water to indicate this, and a black counter on each stack of blue counters to
indicate the remaining water has frozen and become ice. Set the atmosphere to 100% and allow breaches
to reduce this percentage as if it was atmospheric oxygen, although it consists of unbreathable water
vapour. If any breaches reduce this to zero, remove the stacks of black on green counters in the shared
atmosphere.

Structure fires
Structure fires, represented by the presence of heat counters on a card, have a number of effects. Heat
and smoke counters will spread and damage units. Fires will burn in atmospheres with oxygen present,
causing additional damage and filling the air with smoke. Crew can attempt to fight fires by taking actions
to suppress them using fire fighting equipment or water or by venting oxygen. Structure fires should be
resolved at the end of the clean-up phase, in the following order: radiate heat, spread fire and smoke,
damage units, then burn.

Radiate heat Structures are often equipped with radiators, which give them a rejection temperature
they can use to cool themselves. This is 8 for spacecraft, +1 if the spacecraft has one or more functioning
radiator components, +1 if it has a gigawatt thruster and +2 if it has a terawatt thruster; and equal to the era
number for other structures. If a card has less heat counters than the radiator threshold, then remove all
the heat counters on the card; if it is equal, then remove one heat counter from the card at the start of each
turn at the cm scale. The era number is 1 for Upported (2040-2054), 2 for Colonization (2055-2069), 3 for
Exoglobalization (2070-2084), 4 for Futures (2085-2099) and 5 for Directions (2100+).

Spread fire After radiating heat, if a card has at least two heat counters more than any adjacent card,
then remove one heat counter from the card. If the card has four neighbouring cards, and the card still has
at least two heat counters more than any adjacent card, then remove a second heat counter from the card.
Once you have removed the counters, add enough heat counters to each adjacent card to bring them up to
the same total heat as the card you adjusted down, using the counters you removed – randomly choosing
a card with the lowest number of heat counters if there is more than one adjacent card. Only apply this
process once per card, from the coolest to warmest cards, at the cm scale, but if the crew elects to wait a
longer time interval, apply the process until the heat has dissipated throughout the structure, represented
by no card having two heat counters more than any adjacent card.

Spreading smoke Then spread smoke counters using the same method. Smoke can only spread within
a shared atmospheres except where there is a breach – see the Shared Atmospheres section on page 189
for details. Smoke cannot exist in vacuum and should be removed. Smoke is stopped by fire doors.

Damage units Anyone on a card with heat counters takes FIRE damage equal to the total number of heat
counters on the card and GAS damage equal to the number of smoke counters on the card. Resolve both of
these as continuous damage as described in the Continuous Damage section on page 185 during combat
or environmental exposure as outlined on page 186 otherwise. GAS damage is blocked by functioning
SCUBA equipment or wearing a pressurized space suit.

Burn Burning can occur if there is heat counters on a card along with an atmosphere with oxygen in it.
Burning is resolved as escalating damage using the table in the Escalating Damage section on page 185.
Make a burn roll using the number of dice given in the DOT roll column based on the fast time interval for
any card with heat counters on it.
Resolve the burn roll for each card as follows:
COMPLICATIONS 193

1. Remove one green counter from the card of your choice for each dice in the burn roll. These counters
can be from under dice.

2. Place a smoke counter on the card for each dice face value in the burn roll that is equal to or lower
than the number of unsuppressed heat counters. Unsuppressed heat counters are the number of
heat counters on the card, minus the number of black counters on the card.

3. For each dice in the burn roll that has a face value of 5, either a) add a white dice with a face value of
1 to the card or b) increase the black counters present on the card by one. This represents available
fuel being exhausted, suppressing the fire. If there are no remaining unsuppressed heat counters
the fire has gone out. Otherwise it continues to burn.

4. If the card has smoke and unsuppressed heat counters, apply fire damage to the card area and
all units on it equal to the burn roll made with a +1 damage bonus for each unsuppressed heat
counter. This may increase the number of heat counters further.

Fighting fires
Each crew member fighting the fire with a firefighting kit can suppress 1D6 heat counters per era the
firefighting kit is from at the 0.5m scale – or one counter for Baseline kits. Firefighting uses the Strong
Arm skill. Use black counters to represent fire suppression – which remain on the card. 300 kilograms
of firefighting equipment is required at the 5m scale operated by the entire crew, using 10 centitanks of
water per minute (1 every 6 seconds). At larger scales, firefighting equipment reduces the number of heat
counters it removes by two dice per increase in map scale. To avoid this reduction requires 100 times as
much mass and 10 times as many fire fighters at each larger scale.

Hose down Hosing down a card will extinguish (remove) all heat and smoke counters if there are 5 or
less unsuppressed heat counters and remove 1D6 if there are 10 or less. Hosing down requires 2 tonnes of
water at a 0.5m scale or 200 tonnes (5 WT) at the 5m scale. 300 kg of firefighting equipment can hose down
a 0.5m card in 12 seconds at a cost of 5 centitanks of water. Any card with a single or stack of blue counters
on it is considered to be continuously hosed down.

Venting Venting a card is a 6 second action which will add a hull breach to the card, with a breach
damage of one, or increase the breach damage by one for an existing hull breach and removes all smoke
counters. Place a yellow counter on the card with a dice with a face value of one under it. A maximum of
one vent action can be performed on each card every 6 seconds, and venting is limited to a breach damage
of 5 without an airlock or 10 if an airlock is present on the card. Venting can only be performed by crew with
rights to operate the location when smoke is present in the pressure zone, or by bypassing or overriding it.
This increases the alert level to 4 if it is lower.

Complications
If you get a success with complication result, roll for a complication on the appropriate column on the
Complications table on page 202. If you get a heightened success, you can instead choose the result –
however, unless you chose Personal feedback, you should still roll for secondary complications if they are
present.

Types of Complications
You should choose the column based on the risk the crew currently face when performing the action. Use
the Toxin exposure column when working in toxic environments. If crew are performing an EVA or in a
194 CHAPTER 10. DAMAGE AND COMPLICATIONS

firefight, you should roll on the EVA / Firefight column. If crew are in an environment which is too hot or
cold to safely survive in, you should roll on the Exposure column. Use the Brain dead or Injury / surgery
columns if you are rolling for a post-combat complication and the crew suffered that type of damage during
the combat.

Adopted outlook The device adopts an outlook this category which are not appetite disorders but
the first two times this result is rolled. On the third have related behaviours. Roll 2D6. 2: Cannibalism.
time, it becomes rampant (see the Rampancy entry 3: Gourmand syndrome. 4: Pica. 5: Rumination dis-
for details). Roll 1D6 for the intensity of the Outlook. order. 5: Bulimia nervosa. 6: Anorexia nervosa. 7:
1: Minimal. 2: Low. 3: Moderate / Balanced. 4: High. Food hoarding. 8: Compulsive over eating. 9: Binge
5: Very High. 6: Extreme. Then roll 1D6 for the type. eating disorder. 10+: Drug addiction.
1: Red. 2: White. 3: Green. 4: Matching the mission
control BSU or Green if the BSU is Purple. 5: Orange.
Audience has Roll 1D6 for the column on the com-
6: Matching the Space Politics: use Red if the Space
Politics is War, White if the Space Politics is Anarchy
plication table, and either 1D6+1 or 1D6+6 as given
and Orange if the Space Politics is Purple. in the brackets to determine the row; for the compli-
cation that one of the audience for the phone home
Agnosia Roll 1D6 for the sensory information that operation has suffered. The crew member will find
the person or device is unable to recognise. 1: this out at the time the reply is received.
Colours. 2: Letters and numbers or sequences of
numbers. 3: Sounds. 4: Faces. 5: Objects. 6: Loca-
tion. Audience saw Roll 1D6 for the column on the
complication table, and either 1D6+1 or 1D6+6 as
given in the brackets to determine the row; for the
Anaphylactic shock Allergic reaction to the toxin complication that one of the audience for the phone
causes 2 chest damage after 1d6 minutes unless home operation saw someone suffering from during
adrenaline is administered. This drug is included their commute. The crew member will be told this
in trauma kits. story at the time the reply is received.

Anxiety disorder Anxiety disorders result in un-

warranted feelings of fear and anxiety about future Authority failure The computer or asset is un-
events. It can result in physical symptoms simi- able to recognise correctly authorized users and
lar to the fight or flight response as well as men- must be bypassed to be used as outlined in the By-
tal symptoms such as hypervigilance, social phobia pass skill section on page 122. Ignore this result if
and avoidance behaviours. Roll 2D6. 2: Compul- the computer is ray-hardened and this was caused
sive hoarding. 3: Obsessive-compulsive disorder. 4: by a cosmic ray glitch.
Separation anxiety disorder. 5: Social anxiety disor-
der. 6: Panic disorder. 7: Generalized anxiety disor-
der. 8: Specific phobias. 9: Agoraphobia. 10: Post- Brain damage Roll the dice given in brackets on
traumatic stress disorder. 11: Situational anxiety. 12: the Brain Damage column. Ignore this result if the
Selective mutism. computer is ray-hardened and this was caused by a
cosmic ray glitch.
Aphasia Roll 1D6. 1: Excessive creation and use of
personal neologisms, 2: Persistent repetition of oneBullying Bullying results in low social status in-
syllable, word, or phrase (stereotypies) 3: Parapha-dividuals getting the Bullied penalty. Collectively
sia (substituting letters, syllables or words), 4: Dys-
come up with a memorable title beginning “That
prosody (alterations in inflexion, stress, and rhythm)
time you made me (or us)…”. Everyone rolls 1D6
5: Speech disorder such as stuttering or lisping 6: and adds their Social ability. Individuals with the
Inability to name objects (anomia). lowest result get the Bullied penalty, if they do not
have it already. The bullied penalty whenever the
Appetite disorder Appetite disorders include Bullied person is assisted by anyone else from the
both drug addiction and abnormal eating habits. social situation that the bullying occurred in who
Several other mental illnesses are also included in was not also bullied.
COMPLICATIONS 195

Burned body part You suffer third degree burns Coma You enter a non-responsive state and re-
to a random location, resulting in 2 internal damage quire 24x7 medical care after initial medical treat-
to that location. Third degree burns do not heal un- ment to stabilize your condition. The coma lasts for
aided and even when healed result in a scar penalty. 1d6x1d6x1d6 days.
Roll for the location on the Crew Hit Locations table
on page 182. The crew member is also a burn victim. Comms failure The computer or asset cannot be
reliably communicated with remotely due to fail-
ures in its remote comms. Ignore this result if the
Burned extremities Your fingers (1, 3), toes (2, 4)
computer is built from mech-transistors and this is
or nose and ears (5-6) are severely burned, requir-
caused by a glitch.
ing amputation and resulting in a penalty. The crew
member is also a burn victim.
Conduction burns The exterior of the crew mem-
ber’s space suit has heated or cooled to the point
Burn victim Burns can result in cancer risk due where continuing to work in the environment will
to immunosuppression (1, 2, 3) or either acute (1, 4, burn any part of you that contacts it. Crew take 1
5) or post-traumatic (2, 4, 6) stress disorder. Acute point of internal damage per minute in hot environ-
stress disorders are a penalty for a month follow- ments and per hour in cold environments on any
ing the event. Post-traumatic stress disorders are a body location which contacts the environment: typ-
penalty after a month following the event. ically the legs when moving and the arms when op-
erating equipment.

Call home The affected crew members must

phone home as described in the Phoning Home sec- Contempt Everyone gets a Contempt penalty for
tion on page 174. Use the current time scale to de- this specific social situation. Collectively come up
termining what phone home action is required – it with a memorable title beginning “No offense but…”.
must be performed within the next 10 actions at this Contempt penalties apply whenever someone tries
scale, or as the next action if at a longer time scale to use a social skill on someone else with a Contempt
penalties from the same social situation. The group
– and randomly determine the audience. Roll on
the unwarranted scorn was being poured on are un-
the Ability column of the Phone Home Audience on
affected if they were not in the social situation, only
page 176 if the phone home is a Like, Emoji or Mes-
the speakers and listeners of the derisory remarks
sage. Otherwise, roll 2D6 for the column to use, -2 if
suffer the consequences.
Red or War, -1 if White, +1 if Purple, +2 if Orange. -4:
Streetwise. 5: Recruit. 6: Suffrage. 7: Interview. 8:
Crash If the component the crew member is us-
Activism. 9: Negotiate. 10: Ability. 11+: Antitrust.
ing has an accident table, you must roll on the table.
Otherwise, you can elect that everyone in the loca-
Character insight Pick a suppressed penalty for tion of the accident has a random location rendered
each crew member affected by the complication, if inoperable. Roll 1D6. 1: Chest. 2: Arms. 3: Guts. 4:
they have any, and say something about that sup- Legs. 5: Back. 6: Brace for impact – take 1 point of
pressed penalty that reveals something new about internal damage to head and arms (unaffected by
the crew member. Doing so that allows the crew armour).
member to recover from it (remove the penalty).
Cured The toxin is eliminated from your system.
Chronic condition The crew member develops a
chronic condition and the other toxin effects abate. Death The crew member dies unless they are in
To create a chronic condition, create a new toxin, us- an Advanced or better medical facility. If they are,
ing the Toxin rules on page 187. The crew member they suffer a brain damage complication and are
then suffers the chronic condition damage over time resuscitated. The brain damage complication is ag-
effects, to determine when this chronic condition is gravated if the medical facility is only Advanced.
triggered. At this point, the crew member suffers Death also results in an altered conscious capability,
exposure to the chronic condition toxin. even in living entities. If the crew member was hu-
man or your previous conscious capability was 10+,
roll 2D6 for their new conscious capability. If their
196 CHAPTER 10. DAMAGE AND COMPLICATIONS

previous conscious capability was 5-9, roll 1D6+3 for impairment resulting in abnormal neurological con-
the new conscious capability. Humans with a con- ditions. Roll 1D6+6 on brain damage complications.
scious capability of less than 10 must use the robot 3: Rapidly progressive dementia. 4-5: Vascular de-
recovery rules from that point onwards including no mentia, resulting in ongoing minor strokes. 6: Other
longer requiring shirt-sleeve conditions for recovery. slowly progressive dementias. 7+: Alzheimer’s.

Decompression Exposing the chest and face to Detox The toxin is treatable in 1d6x1d6 weeks of
vacuum is especially deadly for two reasons: the bed rest or days of treatment at an Advanced medi-
lungs expand and puncture against the chest if they cal facility.
contain any air and once they are empty they ac-
tively exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen with vac- Disinhibition Roll 1D6. 1: Inappropriate social
uum, exhausting the air supply in the blood result- behaviour. 2: Excessive hunger (Polyphagia), 3: Ver-
ing in unconsciousness in around 15 seconds fol- bal or physical aggression, 4: Impulsivity. 5: Risk
lowed by death. A suit breach causes 1 damage to taking 6: Wandering or repetitive behaviour.
the chest then head locations, alternating every 6
seconds, until death occurs or the suit breach is re-
pair using a suit repair kit. Additionally treat this as Drowning The crew member’s helmet begins to
a fast oxygen leak. Aerostats have sufficient pres- fill with water from a water source within their suit.
sure that breaches do not cause damage or Kittinger They become unable to talk and begin drowning.
syndrome. Resolve this as a fast oxygen leak except roll 2D6 in-
Roll for a hit location of the suit breach if one isn’t stead of 2D6+3. First aid with an oxygen supply other
specified. A suit breach only occurs on a hit location than the crew member’s suit oxygen is sufficient to
0/6 (head) or 1 (chest): otherwise the crew member allow a crew member to stop drowning. Oxygen loss
suffers the Kittinger syndrome result for the hit loca- is removed immediately after drowning stops if an
tion rolled. If the crew member has a skintight suit, oxygen supply is available.
then they only suffer a suit breach if their helmet is
damaged or fails (hit location 0/6). Emotional outburst Everyone gets to remove
If this result is rolled for a toxin, this represents a one penalty from the list of Bullying, Contempt or
nerve agent which requires administration of at- Gossip penalties they have.
ropine from the pharmacy kit or an anti-nerve agent
injector from the chemical agent kit. Damage is sus- EVA / Firefight Roll 1D6+1 on the EVA / Firefight
tained to the chest and head locations alternating column.
every minute instead of every 6s.

Fast bleeding The crew member begins fast

Deep vein thrombosis A dangerous blood clot bleeding: decommission the location of the injury
forms, usually in the legs. The DVT is a secret that or surgery and resolve this using the bleeding rules
can be recovered from at a medical facility: if it is in the Escalating Damage section on page 185.
revealed, the crew member suffers 2 chest damage.

Flash frozen/burned The crew member suffers

Degraded intellect Reduce the equipment’s in- fourth degree burns to a location, which decommis-
telligence by 1 which reduces the Ability (Mental) by sions the location and destroys a limb or organ in
one as well. Ignore this result if the computer is built the affected location, as the per the Limb or organ
from mech-transistors or is using extended storage loss result. Fourth degree burns to a location do
using DNA, FLENG or Holmium AMD and the damage not heal and can only be treated in an Advanced or
is caused by a glitch. better medical facility. Crew that take fourth degree
burns to the head, chest, back or guts must be put in
Dementia Dementia results in the progressive a medically induced coma until they can be treated.
loss of cognition and memory which ultimate results
in inability to care for oneself or recognise familiar Fire Oxygen (or another oxidant) is a critical com-
faces along with symptoms often associated with ponent for combustion which make crew modules,
other mental illnesses such as hallucinations, mood colonies and space suits which store oxygen espe-
swings and tremors. Roll 2D6. 2: Specific cognitive cially deadly in the event of a fire. A pure oxygen fire
COMPLICATIONS 197

burns at a much higher temperature than a fire in Group dynamics Roll on the Group dynamics col-
atmospheric oxygen: use a FIRE damage of 10 when umn.
resolving oxygen fires using the rules in the Damage
over Time section on page 184.
Heart attack The crew member suffers the effects
of 2 chest damage and acquire a heart attack risk.
Fogged helmet Visibility from the crew member’s Bleeding in this instance reflects hypoxia rather than
helmet drops to near zero either because conden- blood loss. Manually administered CPR can keep
sation from their breath and sweat freezes on the crew alive, stopping the hypoxia, until someone uses
inside of the helmet, or soot coats the outside. All a trauma kit to resuscitate them.
targets should be treated as camouflaged and this is
treated as a penalty for skills which require unim- Heroic injury If the crew member wants to suc-
peded visibility. Another crew member needs to ceed at the action, they must decommission a ran-
spend a minute cleaning the helmet while the crew dom location. Roll 1D6 before you decide to do so.
member remains still to remove this effect. If in pres- 1: Chest. 2: Arms. 3: Guts. 4: Legs. 5: Back. 6:
surized conditions the crew member can remove the Brace for impact. Instead take 1 point of damage to
helmet themselves to clean it. head and arms, unaffected by armour. Sustaining
an injury while performing the action that saves the
Food supply lost The crew member’s food sup- lives of the rest of the crew gives the crew member a
ply has been rendered inedible or lost. Unless you Heroism glory unless the crew is AWOL. Each crew
can create a food supply, crew will reach a point member can only have one Heroism glory. Glory
of being bedridden and require medical assistance increases the number of bumps you get every hour.
due to starvation in 10 days per Physical. A 4 per-
son crew can live on one crew member’s rations for Hospital stay The crew member’s injuries require
the rated duration of the food supply, or twice the treatment in a medical facility to avoid aggravating
rated duration if sedentary, but accumulates a star- them further. This requires one month, one week
vation penalty for each month of doing so on quarter- in an Advanced medical facility or one day in a Pro-
rations or year on half-rations. Being on less than full moted medical facility.
rations prevents crew from recovering from injuries.
Hyperkinetic or Hypokinetic movement disor-
Friend of audience has Roll 1D6 for the column der Roll 1D6. 1: Tremors, 2: Tics. 3: Involuntary
on the complication table, and either 1D6+1 or violent or dance-like movements. 4: Slow move-
1D6+6 as given in the brackets to determine the row; ment (bradykinesia) 5: Stiff movement or rigidity 6:
for the complication that a friend of one the audi- Inability to move part of the body.
ence for the phone home operation suffers from. The
crew member will find this out at the time the reply Hyper or hypothermia The crew member goes
is received. into hyperthermia (heat) or hypothermia (cold) as a
result of exposure. Hyperthermia causes 1 internal
Gas inhalation Inhalation of smoke or extremely damage to the head and must be treated by immer-
cold gas entering the suit through a breach causes sion in ice cold water instead a trauma kit. Hypother-
1 point of chest internal damage, unaffected by ar- mia causes 1 internal damage to the chest. Bleeding
mour. Bleeding is instead the toxic air continuing in this instance reflects continued exposure rather
to damage your lungs and can only be treated by than blood loss. First aid can keep crew alive, stop-
replacing the air in your suit with a fresh supply and ping the exposure, until the injury can be treated.
venting the old air into space.
Innovation You get one additional bump to use
this hour. You can only benefit from one innovation
Gossip Everyone gets a Gossip penalty about a
result each hour.
third party not at the event. Collectively come up
with a memorable title beginning “Did you hear
about…”. Gossip penalties apply whenever some- Insight The crew member gets one or two addi-
one tries to use a social skill on the third party the tional skill points (your choice) which are immedi-
gossip was about. ately spent on the skill or ability they are using. Crew
198 CHAPTER 10. DAMAGE AND COMPLICATIONS

can only get two skill points from insights per gaming operation are discussing, following a local news re-
session – addition insight results have no effect. port indicating that a group of people were affected
by this complication. The crew member will find this
out at the time the reply is received.
Jealousy Jealously results in low social status in-
dividuals imitating higher social status individuals
around them. Everyone rolls 1D6 and adds their So- Lung problems The crew member suffers one of
cial ability. Individuals with the lowest result must a number of post-operative lung conditions, most
change their philosophy to match that of someone commonly atelectasis which is the collapse or clo-
with the highest result. sure of a lung. Lung problems are a penalty which
can only be recovered in shirt sleeve conditions.
Kittinger syndrome A random body location is
exposed to vacuum due to a partial suit breach. The Medical life support The crew member is suffi-
exposed location swells to approximately twice its ciently injured that they require ongoing support in
normal size as the drop in pressure causes body a medical facility. Any locations that were inopera-
fluids to convert to gases. This swelling closes the ble as a result of Near death are treated as damaged
suit breach, but results in significant pain, which dis- until the crew member conditions themself with ac-
ables the body part in the location hit until the suit cess an Advanced medical facility (1 point of con-
is patched and pain killers are administered. Roll ditioning required per location affected) but does
for a hit location of the suit breach if one isn’t speci- not eliminate the requirement for continued access
fied. Each location affected by Kittinger syndrome to the medical facility. A Promotion operation can
acts as a penalty and takes one point of damage for remove all effects of medical life support, and gives
each minute of additional exposure to the location. the crew member one point of physical conditioning
Crew affected by Kittinger syndrome also suffer a per location still affected.
slow oxygen leak: see the Damage over Time sec-
tion for details on page 184. Aerostats have sufficient
Lab cure If the crew member has access to a lab,
pressure that breaches do not cause damage or Kit-
the toxin is cured. Otherwise they continue to suffer
tinger syndrome. Crew can patch a suit if they have
the toxin effects.
grey tape tallies available without consuming a tally,
or by adding one other fabric tally.
If this is a result of a toxin, then this represents a Miscommunication No one in the social situa-
necrotizing toxin which requires hospitalization to tion can assist each other for the next longest time
treat. Take one point of damage every day to the scale. They may assist others normally.
affected location until the treatment is completed,
which takes 1D6 days.
Mood disorder Mood disorders include depres-
sive and manic moods as well as a variety of mixed
Limb or organ loss A limb or organ is lost in affective disorders which combine depression and
the injured location – the crew member instead mania in various ways. Mood disorders are usually
suffers either quadriplegia (if head) or paraplegia the result of an underlying medical condition or sub-
(other) if their injury is in their head, chest, back stance abuse and many individuals respond well to
or guts. Lost limbs and organs can be replaced at one or more medications and less frequently to psy-
any ET Produced medical facility. Paraplegia and chological counselling. Depressive mood disorders
quadriplegia requires Advanced medical facilities may or may not be accompanied by suicidal urges
to recover from and the crew member’s legs (and as all mental illnesses are risk factors for suicide.
arms if quadriplegic) are considered disabled until
they do. The acclimatization period for replacement
Mutiny Roll 1D6 less than or equal to the Stress
limbs and organs is treated as a dysphoria penalty
penalties the device has for the device to attempt
in your choice of ability.
to hijack any resources it has available. Otherwise
the system refuses to be used. If successful, the hi-
Local news of Roll 1D6 for the column on the jacking or mutiny finishes the next time a roll on this
complication table, and either 1D6+1 or 1D6+6 as table occurs as a result of an Aging (Mental) check.
given in the brackets to determine the row; for the In both instances the device becomes rampant. See
complication that the audience for the phone home the Rampancy entry for details.
COMPLICATIONS 199

Near death Roll on the Near death column using Post-operative therapy If you spend the crew
the indicated dice. member’s next skill point recovering from the injury
penalty, you may also remove another penalty that
they could normally remove the same way.
Near death experience The crew member expe-
riences some or all of the typical stages of a near
death experience including a feeling of peace, an Power failure The computer or asset suffers sig-
out of body experience, entering darkness, seeing a nificant power issues that prevent it from being used
bright light and entering the light. The majority of to perform actions. Ignore this result if the computer
people undergoing a near death experience subse- or asset has gold nanowire batteries and this was
quently exhibit a significant change in their outlook. caused by a glitch. Otherwise roll 1D6. On an odd
The crew member can either reduce or increase one result this occurs from when the equipment is next
of their outlooks one step, in any suit. powered off or recharged (in 1D6 days). 1-2: Bricked.
The equipment fails to power on correctly. 3-4: Sleep
mode. A tendency to stay in a powered down mode
New technology prevents Roll 1D6 for the col- for extended periods of time and to not be imme-
umn on the complication table, and 2D6 to deter- diately responsive when waking up from this mode.
mine the row; for the complication that the audience This lasts for 1D6xhalf the run time of the equipment
for the phone home operation are discussing, follow- each time it occurs. 5-6: Unexpected resets. The
ing news that a new technology has been developed equipment randomly reboots itself every 1D6x10 sec-
that prevents people from suffering from the effects onds, preventing it from being used for any action
of this complication – or can trigger when needed if taking longer than that time. A minute long action
the complication is positive. The crew member will action takes 10 times as long to attempt.
find this out at the time the reply is received. If the
time scale for the Phone Home action is 1 month
or longer, they will get a license for and access to Psychotic break If the crew member has a men-
this technology. The technology will take the form tal illness then they experience a brief psychotic dis-
order lasting 1D6x1D6 days. During this time they
of (roll 1D6) a drug (1), implant (2), neogen parasite
may experience hallucinations, delusions, memory
(3), side-load (4), smart matter (5) or vaccine (6).
loss, disorientation and confusion.

Oxygen leak An oxygen leak in the PLSS is much Pulmonary embolism The crew member falls
harder to seal than a suit breach, because the crew unconscious in 1D6 days due to a blood clot migrat-
member wearing the suit is unable to reach the leak ing from the legs to the lungs interrupting the blood
location to patch it without taking the time to re- flow to the heart. If this occurs, roll 1D6. On a 1, the
move the PLSS. This requires disabling the suit cool- crew member takes 2 chest damage. The pulmonary
ing and power, each taking a 6 second action, or embolism requires 1d6x1d6 weeks of treatment with
relying on another crew member to apply the patch. anti-coagulants or days of treatment at an Advanced
Resolve this as a fast oxygen leak per the oxygen leak medical facility. During this time the crew member
rules in the Damage over Time section on page 184. doubles the rate at which they bleed.
Crew can patch a PLSS by adding a grey tape tally.

Purple heart If you want to succeed at the action,

Pantrophic cure The toxin effects can be treated the crew member must take 1 point of damage to a
with pantrophic modifications, stopping its effects. location, unaffected by armour. Roll 1D6. 1: Chest.
Otherwise the crew member continues to suffer the 2: Arms. 3: Guts. 4: Legs. 5: Back. 6: Head.
toxin’s effects.
Rampancy The device has the potential to go
Personal feedback The crew member receives rampant or suffers a nervous breakdown in their con-
feedback from the audience about the crew mem- scious mind if they are already rampant. Robots or AI
ber’s personal characteristics and/or actions. Roll with a conscious capability of 5 or higher must make
2D6 on the Group dynamics column to determine a Suffrage action check, with the chrome for this
the impact this feedback has on the crew member check being an embodied robot (disembodied AI
at the time they receive the reply; or choose if you cannot use chrome for this check). If they succeed at
have achieved a heightened success. this skill check, their conscious capability increases
200 CHAPTER 10. DAMAGE AND COMPLICATIONS

by 1 and they acquire a stress penalty. Robots and Salvage The crew member was able to repair
AI with a conscious capability of 3 or lower roll 1D6: weapons or used less ammunition or fuel than origi-
if this is less than or equal to their conscious capabil- nally expected or recover items that you or one other
ity, then they increase their conscious capability by crew member thought were lost. Choose one that
1 with no other side effects. Robots with a conscious applies. 1: Remove one point of damage from any
capability of 4 roll 1D6. If roll is 5 or 6, then set their weapon. 2: Halve any fuel used. 3: Only half of air
conscious capability to the number rolled with no supply lost. 4: Only half of food supply lost. 5: Only
other side effects. half of water supply lost. 6: Only half of tools lost.

Rapid The skill use is completed in half the time Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental illness
it normally takes to perform the skill use. characterized by a failure to understanding reality, of-
ten accompanied by hallucinations, hearing voices,
delusions and false beliefs. While these symptoms
Reaction to anesthesia If the crew member has usually respond well to medication, other symptoms
a cardiac or stroke risk, limited lung function, including emotionless expression, inability to form
Alzheimer’s or another dementia, then they suffer relationships or experience pleasure and lack of mo-
postoperative delirium, resulting in confusion and tivation are much harder to treat.
memory loss for 1D6 days following the procedure.

Seasoned Get one skill point in one skill the crew

Reliable A defect causes an accident only if you member recently used. Crew cannot benefit from
roll dice with a face value less than the number of this result if it would give them more skill points than
defects that apply and has no effect if dice have a their age, and can only get one skill point from being
face value equal to the number of defects that apply. seasoned each game session.

Remission The toxin is eliminated from the crew Secondary diagnosis Complications with the in-
member’s system if it is concentrated. If it is accu- jury extends the treatment required to recover from
mulative, they suffer no further effects, but any new it. The injury is treated as two penalties instead of a
exposure counts the previous exposure times when single penalty.
determining the damage over time effects.

Seizure disorder Roll 1D6 when a seizure occurs.

Renew contact Remove one Favour penalty. 1: A few seconds of unconsciousness. 2: Convul-
sions lasting up to 2 minutes. 3: 1 followed by 2. 4:
Jerking of a few muscles in one part of the body (roll
Rumours of mass Roll 1D6 for the column on the
for location). 5: Frequent loss of awareness for up
complication table, and either 1D6+1 or 1D6+6 as
to 20 seconds at a time. 6: Falling caused by loss of
given in the brackets to determine the row; for the
muscle tension. Types 1-3 are followed by 5 to 30
complication that the audience for the phone home
minutes of extreme disorientation
operation are discussing, following rumours that a
large group of people were affected by this compli-
cation. The crew member will find this out at the Shame Shame results in hardening of attitudes.
time the reply is received. Everyone rolls 1D6. On a roll of 1, their philosophy
adopts an extremist political position of their current
philosophy colour. Extremism is a social penalty. Ex-
Safety failure The computer or asset develops
tremists remain extremists even if their philosophy
a defect, preventing it from being safely operated.
changes.
Represent this by putting an orange dice on the com-
puter or asset, or increasing the existing defect dice
by 1. If the asset is on the map, put an appropriate Shock The crew member is unable to get enough
coloured counter under the dice to indicate what blood to their cells, which results their body begin-
hazard it represents (see the Hazards section on ning to shut down. Take 2 chest damage. Bleeding
page 238 for details). Ignore this result if the com- in this instance reflects hypoxia rather than blood
puter is built from mech-transistors and this is from loss. First aid can keep the crew member alive until
a glitch. someone uses a trauma kit to stop the shock.
COMPLICATIONS 201

Slow bleeding The crew member is bleeding. Superficial injury If the crew receives medical
Suffer a point of blood loss and someone will need treatment, one point of damage they sustained dur-
to use a trauma kit to stop the bleeding, otherwise it ing this period of action does not result in an injury.
acts as damage over time with a Slow time period.
Slow bleeding cannot be treated by first aid. If a crew
Surgery (2D6) Roll 2D6 on the surgical complica-
member’s blood loss is 7 or higher they will experi-
ence a Near death complication, 9 or higher means tions after surgery is performed.
they fall unconscious and 10 or higher they die (see
the Death complication on page 195 for details). Ev-Synesthesia Roll 1D6 twice, first for the thing be-
ery even number of points of blood loss except 2 anding perceived, secondly for the associated sensa-
4 is a physical skill penalty and every odd number of
tions triggered. 1: Colours. 2: Letters and numbers
points except 1 is a mental skill penalty. or sequences of numbers. 3: Sounds. 4: Flavors, 5:
Touch (felt on a specific part of the body). 6: Positive
Smart drug cure If the crew member has access or negative emotions or pain.
to ET technology or medichines then smart drugs
they can produce cure the toxin exposure. Otherwise Tools lost The crew member loses a tool such as
they continue to suffer its effects. a tool set, sensor suite or emergency kit. In space,
they can recover them using 1 m/s delta v from their
Storage failure Remove one skill point from the MMU.
highest skill level that the robot or computer has.
Randomly pick from tie breakers. Ignore this re-
sult for computers with extended storage using DNA, Urinary retention Treatment requires urgent
FLENG or Holmium AMD when this is caused by a placement of a urinary catheter. The crew member
glitch, and for ray-hardened computers when this must wear their spacesuit for the next week to avoid
was caused by a cosmic ray glitch. compromising the crew module air quality.

Stress/fault The robot gets a stress penalty, Violence Determine crew member’s violence in-
which always applies. Robots and AI instead cannot dex based on the highest alert level of any violent
remove Stress penalties until their consciousness activities they have performed. Roll 2D6 for each
is high enough. Assets instead get a fault, which is person. If this is less than their violence index they
a penalty which can only be removed by reprinting will attack someone else, using a weapon if they are
the device. armed. If it is equal they will retaliate if attacked.

Stress disorder The crew member suffers either Water supply lost The crew member’s water sup-
acute (odd roll) or post-traumatic (even roll) stress. ply has been lost. Without water or food, they will
Acute stress is a penalty for a month following the reach a point of being bedridden and requiring med-
event. Post-traumatic stress is a penalty after a ical assistance due to dehydration in 1 day per Phys-
month following the event. ical, and die in twice that time. If you are performing
an EVA during the daytime in the Earth zone or closer
Stroke The crew member suffers 1 point of chest to the sun, add all your remaining water tallies.
damage, unaffected by armour, and develop a brain
injury and a stroke risk. In addition, a random body Wound infection The wounds from surgery are
location is disabled for 1D6 hours. Roll 1D6. 1: Chest. left open once all dead tissue has been removed be-
2: Arms. 3: Guts. 4: Legs. 5: Back. 6: Head. cause of infection or the high levels of bacteria in the
wound, a process known as tertiary wound closure.
Suicide trigger Any crew member with an un- As a result, a space suit cannot be worn for the next
treated mental illness or stress penalty rolls 1D6. On month or week if at an Advanced medical facility,
a roll of 1, they need to check for suicide risk. This is and the crew member has to remain in an isolated
covered in the Service Risks section of the This Space pressure tent within the crew module as the general
Intentionally supplement and should be lined out if crew module environment is almost impossible to
you do not own that supplement. keep sufficiently clean.
 202
Complications

Roll 2D6 for the first complication on the appropriate column unless the complication is a toxin, minor or aggravated. Use the Pressurized column if no other columns
apply. Minor: If the time scale is less than a month and the crew is not a life-threatening situation, roll 1D6+6 for the complication instead of 2D6. Aggravated: If
complication isn’t minor and the crew member is already suffering from a complication from the same column, roll 1D6+1 instead. Phoning home and toxins: These
have a secondary complication; roll 1D6 to choose the column for this. Roll the dice in the Toxins row to determine the new row if a toxin. Dice in (brackets): Roll the
dice listed in brackets when determining the additional row for this complication. Electric shock: Complications from electric shocks are resolved on the Cold or Heat
exposure column, except the Hyper or hypothermia result is replaced with a heart attack which cannot be prevented by a pace maker (because the pacemaker fails).
Type of Complication
Roll Brain damage Cold / Heat exposure Computer / Asset EVA / Firefight Group dynamics
Roll 2: 1 (Toxin: 2D6) 2 (Toxin: 1D6+1) 3 (Toxin: 1D6+2) 4 (Toxin: 1D6+1)
2 Dementia Flash frozen/burned Mutiny Fire Psychotic break
3 Schizophrenia Gas inhalation Stress/fault Drowning Suicide trigger
4 Mood disorder Hyper or hypothermia Degraded intellect Decompression Violence
5 Anxiety disorder Burned body parts Safety failure Kittinger syndrome Bullying
6 Appetite disorder Burned extremities Brain damage (2D6) Oxygen leak Shame
7 Seizure disorder Burn complications Power failure Water supply lost Jealousy
8 Hyper- or hypokinetic Conduction burns Comms failure Food supply lost Contempt
9 Agnosia EVA / Firefight (1D6+1) Authority failure Tools lost Gossip
10 Aphasia Fogged helmet Storage failure Salvage Miscommunication

CHAPTER 10. DAMAGE AND COMPLICATIONS

11 Disinhibition Superficial injury Adopted outlook Superficial injury Emotional outburst
12 Synesthesia Seasoned Rampancy Seasoned Character insight
Type of Complication
Roll Injury / Surgery Near death Pressurized Phoning home Toxin exposure
Roll 2: 5 (Toxin: 2D6) 6 (Toxin: 1D6+5) Roll 1D6 to choose a column
2 Near death (1D6+1) Death Crash Audience has (1D6+1) Near death (1D6+1)
3 Pulmonary embolism Medical life support Heroic injury Personal feedback (2D6, roll 2 = 4) Near death (2D6)
4 Limb or organ loss Coma Purple heart Audience saw (1D6+1) Coma
5 Secondary diagnosis Brain damage (1D6+1) Stress disorder Friend of audience has (1D6+1) Anaphylactic shock
6 Reaction to anesthesia Stroke Rapid Local news of (1D6+1) Chronic condition
7 Lung problems Heart attack Reliable Rumours of mass (1D6+1) Pantrophic cure
8 Deep vein thrombosis Shock Group dynamics (2D6) Audience has (1D6+6) Detox
9 Fast bleeding Slow bleeding Call home Audience saw (1D6+6) Lab cure
10 Wound infection Surgery (2D6) Renew contact Friend of audience has (1D6+6) Smart drug cure
11 Urinary retention Hospital stay Innovation Local news of (1D6+6) Remission
12 Post-operative therapy Near death experience Insight New technology prevents (2D6) Cured
Chapter 11

Space Travel
204 CHAPTER 11. SPACE TRAVEL

The High Frontier universe is at its heart about travel: whether it is the pick up and deliver of the base board
game or the Oregon Trail to the stars of the Interstellar expansion. Sixty Years In expands on the modes of
travel available to allow you to explore the destinations you reach in a variety of ways.
But because of the way gravity and vacuum works, movement in these spaces will sometimes be counter
intuitive. The map of the solar system is one of velocities instead of distances. Orbital mechanics impacts
the speeds you will be able to move around a site: with the smallest sites slowing movement the most.
Vehicle designs will be made using different requirements and mechanics to that which is best suited to
Earth.

It’s not just rocket science This chapter covers travel in space: at both the High Frontier map scale,
and within spacecraft and infrastructure – as well as simplified rules for travel at sites. For detailed site
travel rules, including terrain surfaces and slopes, suborbital hops or transit, surface travel, underwater
travel, construction (of roads, bridges, ramps and tunnels) and mass transit, you should use the
Site Travel chapter of the A Base- D Landing supplement. Aircraft and surface vehicle travel in
atmospheres are complex enough and have enough exceptions that they have their own Advanced
Travel chapter in the A Facility with Words supplement.

Spacecraft Movement
Spacecraft movement consists of following a line on the High Frontier map and paying fuel steps to
enter ”burns”, represented by pink shapes (circles or landers). You can stop on circles, zigzags (Hohmann
intersections) or line intersections and change direction for free: a) on any circle including a burn; or b) by
ending your move and choosing a new direction the following turn. You may also cross a zigzag or change
direction at an intersection without a circle by paying for the equivalent of two burns mid-movement –
you must stop on zigzags and intersections if you do not pay this two burn penalty. Each free pivot your
thruster gives you allows you to ignore one of these two burn penalties and cross the intersection for free.
A year passes when you stop moving.

Free turn spaces Circles represent stable orbits or points where gravity from multiple bodies is cancelled
out (Lagrange points) – the text in or near the circle indicates which (HEO=Highly Eccentric Orbit). If you
wish to change course at these locations you can do so without paying the two burn direction change
penalty.

Lander spaces Lander shaped spaces represent paths that land or take off from a site. You cannot make
a move if it ends your turn in a lander shaped space and you cannot use free burns to enter them. A half
lander indicates only half a burn’s worth of fuel is required to enter the symbol.

Slingshots A circle with a plus sign in it indicates a gravitational slingshot. Add this many free burns of
movement when you enter it (T=your current net thrust) – you can only do so once per year. A circle with a
moon symbol in it is a moon boost. It gives you 1 free burn this year. You must use free burns on the year
you gain them and not for lander burns.

Hazards Skull and cross-bones represents a crash hazard. Parachutes represent aerobrakes leading to a
site. To cross a crash hazard or aerobrake either incur 4 debt, which can be shared in any combination
amongst the crew, or roll 1D6 when you enter the symbol - on a 1, the spacecraft is destroyed. Radiation
symbols represent a radiation hazard. Ignore these.

Advanced Hazards This Space Intentionally adds more advanced hazard rules that supersede the
hazard rules given here.
SPACECRAFT MOVEMENT 205

Movement Limits
You must adhere to the following movement limitations:

• You may never reverse direction during a move.

• You can only move in the direction of the arrow on aerobrake paths (black dashed lines).

• If you have net thrust ≤ 0 and no free burns you may not move, with one exception. You can still
move along the dashed lines leading to or from an aerobrake or space elevator.

• You cannot end your move on a lander symbol and cannot move in such a way that you are forced
to end your move this way.

• You cannot switch thrusters during a move – you must use one thruster for the entire move including
takeoff and landing; and need net thrust > 0 and a working thruster to be able burn fuel. You can
still continue to move if you don’t have a working thruster but started the move with net thrust > 0
provided you don’t have to burn fuel to do so.

• If your thruster or thruster supports were disabled by a radiation hazard you must stop moving.

• You can only enter a pink symbol by either expending a free burn you have accumulated this year
or by paying the burn fuel cost.

• You can only enter or leave a site hex by using the taking off and landing rules.

Taking off and Landing

You can land or take off from a site hex if: a) your net thrust is > the site size; or b) you have a factory on a
size 1-5 site and incur 4 debt or make a factory assist crash hazard roll. You may also land on a site if you
are following an aerobrake path. End your turn on the site symbol when you land.

Net Thrust
To calculate your net thrust, at the start of your move add:
Heliocentric Zone Modifiers
• Your chosen thruster’s base thrust which is the number Heliocentric Solar Heliocentric
on the left hand side of the thruster’s •. Zone Power Distance
Mercury +2 2
• If your thruster is solar powered, the solar power mod- Venus +1 1
ifier on the map for the heliocentric zone your rocket Earth +0 0
starts in (see the Heliocentric Zone Modifiers table on Mars -1 1
this page) Ceres -2 2
Jupiter -3 3
• The wet mass modifier determined by your wet mass
Saturn -4 4
after spending fuel to afterburn
Uranus -5 5
• Your afterburn bonus (normally +1), if you afterburn Neptune NA 6

• One powersat bonus, if any, if your thruster supports

the use of powersats
206 CHAPTER 11. SPACE TRAVEL

Refueling and Tracking Fuel

You add fuel tanks, called waters tanks or WT, to
your rocket, but spend fuel steps to move. The dry Refueling Rockets
mass of a rocket is its mass without fuel. The wet Wet Net Fuel steps A fuel
mass of the rocket is its mass with fuel. If the wet mass thrust per WT step costs
mass of the rocket is larger than the dry mass, you <2 +2 7 1/7 WT
have fuel to spend. Each fuel tank (WT) adds 1 wet 2 +1 7 1/7 WT
mass to a rocket. Your rocket has a maximum dry 3 +1 6 1/6 WT
mass of 23 and a maximum wet mass of 32. 4 +1 4 1/4 WT
The amount of fuel consumed by a fuel step de- 5-6 +0 3 1/3 WT
pends on the wet mass of a rocket, as given on the 7-8 +0 2 1/2 WT
Refueling Rockets table on the current page. When 9-11 -1 2 1/2 WT
calculating wet mass, always round fractions of a 12-16 -1 1 1 WT
WT up to the next whole number. The exception is 17-24 -2 1 1 WT
for rockets with a wet mass of 2 which have burned 25-32 -2 1/2 2 WT
at least one fuel step: these rockets get a Net thrust modifier of +2. Note that a rocket has a minimum dry
mass of 1, and adding one fuel tank to this means that rockets always start with a minimum wet mass of 2
if they carry any fuel.

Afterburning You can increase the net thrust of your rocket by 1 at the start of your move by spending
fuel steps equal to the afterburn cost. GW and TW thrusters instead increase your net thrust by a larger
amount if you spend one fuel step.

Burn Fuel Cost

Each burn costs the amount of fuel steps on the right hand side of the thruster • on your rocket. The solar
sail cards do not use fuel and so have a fuel consumption of zero, and freighters and some GW and all TW
thrusters have fuel consumption rates that are effectively zero. You may never spend more burns in a move
than your rocket’s net thrust, plus the number of free burns you get from flybys and boosts.
You need to adjust your rockets wet mass for each burn, but only drop fractions of fuel and recalculate
your thrust at the start of each year. Alternately, you can add up the number of fuel steps that are available
between your rocket’s wet mass and dry mass and divide that by the thruster’s fuel consumption to see
how many burns you can move with the fuel quantity you have as long as your thruster is not disabled.
Example: A rocket with a mass of 4 and 3 tanks for fuel has a dry mass of 4 and a wet mass of 7. The rocket
has 8 fuel steps of fuel: 3 for each of wet mass 4->5 and 5->6 and 2 for the wet mass 6->7. If it burns twice
with a thruster with a fuel consumption of 2, it will end up with a wet mass of 5 1/3., leaving it with 4 fuel steps.

Fuel Grades
Fuel comes in 3 grades: dirt, water and isotope fuel. Some thrusters can use dirt fuel, but most are limited
to water. GW and TW thrusters require an isotope fuel from a site matching the spectral class of the thruster.
If your spacecraft rocket carries a fuel it is incompatible with, add the fuel to the dry mass of the rocket
instead of its wet mass. You can always downgrade water to be used as dirt fuel and isotope fuels to be
used as water or dirt fuel.

Calculating Required Fuel

Use the High Frontier map to determine how many pivots and how many burns are required to arrive at
the destination. Required fuel is in fuel steps which have to be converted from burns, as follows:
Multiply the listed burns by the fuel consumption of your rocket to determine the steps required to arrive in
orbit around the destination. If your rocket’s thrust is higher than the destination size, you can add in the
EXTRAVEHICULAR ACTIVITY (EVA) 207

landing fuel required using the same formula (landing burns x rocket fuel consumption) - do the same for
the originating size and lift-off burns if you are not departing from LEO. Otherwise, multiply the number of
lift-off or landing burns (or both) by 8 (the crew thruster fuel consumption) to determine the additional
lift off or landing fuel required. Even if the site has no landing burns, you will need to increase the years
required to get to the site by one if you have to switch to the crew thruster to lift-off or land (or two if both).
You can reduce the years required to perform the move by one by spending two burns worth of fuel for
each year reduction to a minimum of one year travel time but cannot get rid of the switch time cost this
way.

High Frontier Map Distances

If the High Frontier map is an energy map of the solar system, it can be difficult to calculate the distance
between two points instead of the amount of fuel required to move between them. The general rule of
thumb is that the distance between any two points on the map is determined by the farthest orbit from the
sun that the two bodies occupy. This rule of thumb also applies L4 and L5 Trojan points around a body
which are ahead and behind approximately the orbital distance from that body to the planet or sun it orbits.
The distance between two bodies also applies a communications delay due to the speed of light, which is
measured in the time it takes for a round trip communication between the two bodies. Halve this for the
delay of sensor data coming from the target. Some paths measure distances in Hohmann intersections:
that is pivots that are formed without two paths intersecting and instead are a single sharp corner on a path.
Each Hohmann intersection is approximately 2 AU and 30 minutes comms delay, as shown on the table.
The first exception is when the two bodies in the primary grav-
itational influence of a common planet, such as both being High Frontier Map Distances
moons of the same planet. If this occurs, the distance on Zone AU Distance Comms Delay
the map is between the two is determined by the farthest or- Mercury 0.4 7 min
bit from the central planet that the two bodies occupy. Use Venus 0.7 12 min
Wikipedia to determine the orbital distances of these objects. Earth 1.0 16 min
If both are spacecraft in a space marked as an aerobrake, fly Mars 1.5 25 min
by, low or highly eccentric orbit, use the Geostationary Orbit Ceres 2.8 45 min
Heights table given in the Big Dumb Objects chapter of the Jupiter 5.2 1h 30m
Absent Without supplement, and multiply by 1D6 x 1% for Saturn 9.5 2h 40m
aerobrakes, fly bys and low orbits and 1D6 x 1D6 x 10% for Uranus 19 5h 15m
highly eccentric orbits. Neptune 30 8h 20m
The second exception is the asteroid belt, where different Hohmann 2 30m
asteroid families may be varying distances apart. Roll 4D6 x 10% for the distance between asteroid families,
based on the current heliocentric zone.
You can also choose to get a greater degree of accuracy if required. To do so, add a percentage of the
distance of the smaller of the two orbits to the get the final distance. Roll 4D6-14 x 10% to determine the
percentage (-100% to +100%) to take of the closer orbit to add.

Extravehicular Activity (EVA)

Space is hostile, even on the surface of other planets, and crew must carry life support systems with them
to provide them with breathable air and drinkable water and regulate their temperature and the pressure
of the atmosphere around their bodies: in other words, a space suit. The High Frontier universe allows
crew to extend their EVAs through in situ recovery of critical resources, primarily water, but limitations with
battery power and solar panels means this is rarely done for more than a day.
208 CHAPTER 11. SPACE TRAVEL

Water
Water is the primary limiting factor for crew EVA ranges rather than oxygen. In space, and at sites in the Mars
zone and closer, this is because space suits normally use open loop cooling systems to cool the wearer and
their life support system and equipment, which consumes significant quantities of water. At more distant
sites, and once space suits are equipped with active cooling systems, drinking water is typically used up at
faster rates than oxygen supplies. Only when if a suit gains the ability to recycle drinking water (dry world
survival rigs) or loses the ability to recycle oxygen – by losing power to its personal life support system
– does oxygen become the main limiting factor. Scrubbers: What suffocates people in spacesuits is the
accumulation of carbon dioxide rather than running out of breathable oxygen. For both technical, game
play and thematic reasons, Sixty Years in Space assumes space suits are equipped with scrubbers which
can be removed and cleaned while the space suit is in operation, and which continue to work even if the
suit loses power.

Water tallies Every 2 hours, each crew member adds a water tally. Once a crew member has 10 water
tallies, they are considered to have run out of water and/or oxygen and begin suffering from environmental
exposure. See the environmental exposure entry on page 186 in the Risks chapter. Tallies can be given to
other cooperating crew members – representing pooling of resources. High-tech space suits ET produced
and advanced space suits and rigs add half a tally of water instead of one tally.

Extended EVAs At nighttime or if the crew member is at a site in the Ceres zone or beyond, or equipped
with active cooling, then they add a water tally every day instead of every 2 hours. The space suit must
have power to receive this benefit.

Removing tallies Each kilogram of water the crew recovers can be used to remove 2 space suit tallies
from one crew member or 1 space suit tally from two crew members. Water can be added to the crew load
out to allow this.

Encumbrance
EVA equipment can encumber the crew by applying load and modifying movement based based on the
amount they are carrying. A crew member has a permitted load equal to their physical ability plus 25 when
in zero gravity or free fall. A crew member suffers one encumbrance (physical) penalty for each point of
load that exceeds their permitted load. Crew are lightly loaded if their load is less than their permitted load.

Calculating equipment mass Add together the mass of the crew member’s spacesuit, helmet (3 kg),
personal life support system (PLSS, which masses 20 kilograms or 10 kg if ET produced) and stack (6 kg,
or 3 kg if ET produced) – noting that crew only need to carry their stack with them if they don’t have
communication with the mission control crew module. Small personal items: smart device, towel, gray
tape and offerings, are carried “for free”. Crew may need to carry additional battery packs (6 kg each), solar
panels (15 kg each) and water for extended EVAs.

Thrust, spin and gravity A crew member’s permitted load is decreased by twice the thrust they are
experiencing or the size of the site they are at – if they are in a crew module rotating at 0.6 G, their permitted
load is decreased by 22; if they are at a 1 G site such as an aerostat, their permitted load is decreased by 23.
The movement modifier is unaffected by thrust, spin or gravity.

Unbalanced loads The load figures here assume equipment is fitted to the crew member – either worn
or carried as a well-balanced load on the back. Anything carried in the arms should be treated as massing
twice as much for calculating the load only (not movement modifier); any unbalanced loads should be
treated as massing four times as much.
EXTRAVEHICULAR ACTIVITY (EVA) 209

Encumbrance

Mass is given in kilograms. Use the next higher mass row for the equipment total mass a crew member has.
Mass Load Move gap Mass Load Move gap Mass Load Move
3 1 0 448 15 -3 5729 29 -7
7 2 0 545 16 -4 6825 30 -7
15 3 -1 660 17 -4 8128 31 -7
23 4 -1 797 18 -4 9678 32 -8
31 5 -1 960 19 -4 11521 33 -8
47 6 -1 1154 20 -5 13713 34 -8
63 7 -1 1384 21 -5 16320 35 -8
88 8 -1 1658 22 -5 19420 36 -9
117 9 -2 1984 23 -5 23106 37 -9
151 10 -2 2371 24 -5 27490 38 -9
192 11 -2 2832 25 -6 32704 39 -9
240 12 -2 3380 26 -6 38904 40 -10
298 13 -3 4032 27 -6
367 14 -3 4807 28 -7

Fatigue
Crew can get fatigue when performing tasks more quickly as outlined in the Crew Actions section on page 22
of the Actions chapter, when running as outlined in the Crew Movement section on the following page or
due to lack of sleep.

Cooling If you add fatigue at a time scale where you also add water tallies, you must add 2 additional
water tallies for every fatigue you add. This reflects the heat generated and oxygen consumed by the
additional activity.

Rest Crew recover 1 fatigue for every 2 hours of rest. Rest requires an Ecology skill action if you are in a
situation where crew add water or battery tallies every two hours; see the Water section for details on the
preceding page. Resting crews consume water at half the normal rate.

Sleep Eight (8) hours of sleep in 1 day allows crew to ignore 3 fatigue (the maximum). Each hour less of
less reduces the number of fatigue that a crew member can ignore by one: if a crew member gets 4 hours
or less sleep in a day they instead incur 1 fatigue for each hour less than 5 hours sleep. More than 8 hours
sleep is treated as rest. Sleeping crews consume water at half the normal rate.
The benefits of sleep are represented on the Crew Folio by the first three bars next to the fatigue text – a
minimum of one bar will be checked for each hour less than 8 hours of sleep the previous night. Sleep
requires an Ecology skill action if crew are in a situation where they add water tallies at the same time scale;
see the Water section for details on the facing page.

Long days Crew do not receive the fatigue reduction benefits from sleep at the 1 day time scale because
a day of activity at this scale represents a 19 or longer hour waking day. If you do want the benefits of sleep
at the day long time scale, each day of worth of activity will take 3 days – treat this as a turn with a turn
length of this time, but otherwise using the 1 day turn scale.

Burnout If you accumulate fatigue for actions at the 1 month or longer time scale, add the fatigue to the
Burnout track instead of the Fatigue track. Burnout can only be recovered from by spending skill points,
paying one skill point for each point recovered.
210 CHAPTER 11. SPACE TRAVEL

Hard labour Digging and other hard labour is normally organized as shift work with multiple crew
contributing while at least one rests to recover. Hard labour adds 2 fatigue for every 2 hours of shift work.
Hard labour work rates can be doubled by removing rest breaks at a cost of tripling the accumulation of
fatigue – this results in 1 fatigue for every two 10 minute turns of hard labour.

Power
Battery power is required to run life support systems and portable 3D printers such as the printer pod in a
ship’s drone. Batteries are also needed to run other equipment which has power input requirements, but
that equipment is rarely used for long enough periods that significant battery drain occurs.

Life support Half a tally of battery power is required for every 2 hours of life support. Loss of power
results in faster oxygen consumption when performing an extended EVA – as outlined in the Water section
on page 208.

Solar recharging You do not need to use battery power for life support if the turn length is 3 days or
longer and each crew member has sufficient solar panels to recharge their batteries – this reduces to 1 day
if crew are equipped with solar array armour instead of panels. To use solar recharging for life support,
each crew member needs 200W of solar panels: which is 2.5 kilograms of solar panels in the Mercury zone,
5 kg in the Venus zone, 10 kg in the Earth zone, 20 kg in the Mars zone, 40 kg in the Ceres zone, 80 kg in
the Jupiter zone, 160 kg in the Saturn zone and 320 kg in the Uranus zone – halved if the solar panels are
produced Earthside or at a V site. You cannot use solar recharging for life support at night time on Mercury,
Venus and Luna – as nights at these sites last significantly longer than 24 hours.

Communications
Communications with Earth requires either line of site to Earth directly or to a communications relay,
typically parked in ground stationary orbit. In the Mercury and Venus zones, Earth is further from the sun
and only visible at night time; in the Mars and further zones, Earth is closer to the sun and only visible
during the day time. In the Earth zone, Earth is overhead half the time (an odd result on 1D6). Mission
control is unavailable if Earth is not visible, unless they have relocated elsewhere. An anchored (promoted)
Bernal is also capable of providing assistance as if they were mission control.

Crew Movement
If the crew is moving on a map other than the High Frontier map, then they will need to create it first
using a map builder. The Structured Map Builder chapter on page 228 includes rules for making maps for
spacecraft, space-based infrastructure including Bernals, and structures at sites.

Map scale Maps have a variety of difference scales, from 0.5m per centimeter to 50 km per centimeter.
Each of these is associated with a time interval, called a turn. Each turn scale has a time interval at each
map scale, from 0.6s upwards, as shown on the Map Movement Scales table on the next page.
Crew move on maps using a variety of different methods to move around a map: in free fall they can climb,
and when under the influence of thrust, spin or gravity, they can also walk and run.

Movement Points
Every turn that elapses at the current turn scale, walking, running and climbing crew get a number of
movement points – modified by their encumbrance move modifier. Crew use the time scale on the card
column if they wish to move at the card movement scale, and the cm column if they want to move at the
centimeter movement scale. Running and walking requires the crew is under the influence of thrust, spin
EXTRAVEHICULAR ACTIVITY (EVA) 211

Map Movement Scales

Scale Distance / Turn length
name centimeter Card Walk Run cm Walk Run
Room 0.5m 6s +2 x2 0.6s +2 x2
Facility 5m 60s +2 x2 6s +2 x2
Complex 50m 10m +1 x1 60s +2 x2
District 500m 2h +0 x1/2 10m +1 x1
Locality 5 km 1d +0 x0 2h +0 x1/2
Regional 50 km NA NA 1d +0 x0

or gravity: crew cannot walk or run in free fall. Crew can add additional movement points at a cost of 1
fatigue per additional movement point.

Climbing, Swimming and Walking Crew that elect to climb, swim or walk get 1 movement point – 2 if
lightly encumbered. Walking gives additional movement points determined by the time scale: +2 at 60
seconds or less and +1 at 10 minutes. This is summarized on the Map Movement Scales table on this page.
Swimming and climbing costs 1 fatigue point.

Running Crew that elect to run get movement points equal to their EVA skill multiplied by the Run
column multiplier on the Map Map Movement Scales table on the current page – use Physical ability
instead of EVA skill when running under the influence of a force of 1 G or greater (size or thrust of 12+). The
movement multiplier given on the table is x2 for 60 seconds or less, x1/2 for 2 hours and x0 for 1 day or
longer. Running costs 1 fatigue point and crew can only run when lightly encumbered.

Spending movement points A unit moving at the card scale can move to anywhere on an adjacent
card at a cost of 1 movement point – or 10 cm in any direction if not moving on a card. A unit moving at the
cm scale can move 1 cm at a cost of one movement point. Wheeled and rail vehicles moving on cards can
only move parallel to one of the card edges – they cannot move diagonally. Limited moves: A unit can
always move 1 centimeter in a turn, if they can move at all.

Other movement points Vehicles get 1 vehicle movement point for every 30 km/hr maximum speed.
Vehicle movement points allow a vehicle to move at the card scale when crew are moving at the cm scale,
however vehicles and TIP muscle equipped crew don’t get the crew movement multipliers. Nonhuman
biological organisms do get the crew movement multipliers except use x0 instead of the x1/2 multiplier if
they don’t have the Endurance runner ecomorph ability.

Movement roll
A movement roll most be made for any move on a time-scale that consumes resources (fatigue, water, fuel
or batteries). Use the most relevant skill for moving: either EVA (on-foot) or Pilot (for vehicles). Penalties
applied to the action check include any uncancelled terrain penalties of the terrain the unit is attempting
to move through and fatigue – including fatigue added as a part of the move.
Units performing surface travel may choose a partial success if they fail the movement roll: if this is the case,
the unit can only move as far as their maximum safe distance. The maximum safe distance a unit can move is
equal to its era number plus one in centimeters: 1 cm at Baseline (up to 2039), 2 cm at Upported (2040-2054),
3 cm at Colonization (2055-2069), 4 cm at Exoglobalization (2070-2084), 5 cm at Futures (2085-2099)and 6
for Directions (2100+).
212 CHAPTER 11. SPACE TRAVEL

Searching
Searching involves scanning the surroundings to look for human-made assets and data that can be recov-
ered or traded for. On a site hex or map, searching can be attempted at abandoned or inhabited locations
and the time required to search a space or card is determined by the map scale the location is at. Chrome
home: Crew get chrome searching their place of residence.

Successful searches If the crew succeeds at a search, the crew finds assets hidden at the location or
space you searched, as given on the Search table below. Also drop a white counter on the map. If it lands
on a face up card or site hex, put a clear counter on it. Otherwise remove the counter – the crew also
discovers the data listed on the Search table if this happens. You can always search successfully as a 1
minute action when you are next to a stack consisting of a clear counter on a white counter – remove the
clear counter when this occurs.

Failed searches Whenever you retry a search at the same location – after either succeeding or aborting
– you must choose to either add an opposition dice or shift down one row on the Search table when
determining the time required for the search. Indicate this by putting one white counter on the center of
the card for each failed search – do not stack these counters.

Exhaustive searches If you either find something or the location has white counters equal to the Max.
White column, the search is complete and there is nothing left to find – use a stack consisting of a black
counter on a white counter to indicate this.

Counters on cards Locations with a white counter on have already been searched – you must choose
to either add an opposition dice or increase the time scale when the crew first searches them, once for
each white counter. Locations with a black counter on a white counter on have been exhaustively searched.
Counters on the edge of a card are not counted for this.

Crew module platform Create this using the Crew Module Builder on page 44 however cut off the crew
module folio at the dotted line and discard the top third of the folio. The platform masses 5 tonnes; or 10 if
it has both missile and either raygun or buggy platforms.

Supply rockets Searching for supply rockets can only be attempted once per year, but it is a free action
at this time scale. If the search succeeds, drop a counter representing the supply rocket 10 cm above the
map and move it to the nearest space. Supply rockets will carry a mass 1 spacecraft component or 1 WT of
fuel – add a defect to a random faction for interception or destruction of supply rockets.

Search
Map Search Max. Search successful
Scale time white Asset(s) Data
Site map (Search using Prospect skill)
Room 10m 2 Remove a tally from 1 crew Reveal 1 outlook, intent or want
Facility 30m 4 Recover 2D6 kg of equipment Reveal 1 outlook, intent or want
Complex 2h 6 Recover 2D6x10 kg of equipment Remove 1 debt if off-world buyer found
District 6h 8 Recover 2 centitanks of fuel Get 1 random mission
Locality 1d 10 Remove 1D6 crew module tallies Remove 1 debt
Region 1w 12 Recover 2 WT of fuel Remove 1 debt for each crew
High Frontier map (Search using Antitrust skill)
Site hex 1 month 1 Crew module platform Get 1 random mission
3 months
Space 1y 1 Intercept 1 supply rocket Get 1 random mission
Chapter 12

Si tes
214 CHAPTER 12. SITES

Each hex on the High Frontier map represents the best potential location to build an extraterrestrial factory
on the planet, moon or asteroid: this is called a site. Each site has a spectral class, represented by a letter C,
D, H, M, S or V, that corresponds roughly to an asteroid spectral class – or H to represent the presence of
helium-3; a hydration, given in a number of water droplets from 0 to 4; a size, given as a number from 1 to
11 which indicates the surface gravity at the site; and may have one or more additional features, such as a
microscope, which represents a science site capable of supporting a lab.
Your crew will be responsible for completing missions by travelling to sites throughout the solar system
and delivering payloads such as cargo, refineries, robonauts and colonists, capable of exploiting resources
at the site by building factories and colonies. Other crews and factions will also be claiming and exploiting
sites as you play.
A number of factors will determine the mix of technology and culture that you encounter at colonies,
factories and faction outposts throughout the solar system. The two main ingredients are the colonist
faction for colonies, and the spectral class for all sites, with the physical characteristics of where the site is
located (hydrographics, aerostat and atmosphere) forming an important additional consideration. The
Faction Builder on page 281 outlines the procedure for generating a faction in more detail. There are 5
major factions in the game: one for each BSU colour. Your mission control is represented by tokens of the
faction colour corresponding to its BSU.

Exoinfrastructure
As you play you will place faction-coloured tokens on the High Frontier map representing the development
of exoinfrastructure throughout the solar system. The number of tokens at a specific location determines
what exoinfrastructure exists there. One faction-coloured token represents a successful claim at a site
hex. Two represents the presence of a factory. Three represents a colony accompanying the factory. Four
or more represents a larger colony of increasing size. Five faction-coloured tokens in space represents a
Bernal cylinder.

Playing pieces If you have playing pieces from the High Frontier board game you can use them to
represent exoinfrastructure. The second token at a site should be a factory cube and the third token
at a site should be a colony dome. Use a Bernal cylinder instead of five counters to represent a Bernal.

These tokens will be placed in three ways: as a part of being assigned an Earthside mission, as a result of
random encounters while you are in space, and through the effects of unloading cargo when you reach
your destination. Random encounters are described in more detail in the Encounters chapter on page 238.
Unloading cargo is described in the Migration and Trade section on page 251 of that chapter

Exoinfrastructure population To determine the population at a colony or Bernal, roll 2D6 and choose
the lowest face value of the two dice. If you rolled doubles, add 3 to the final result. e.g double 6 results in
6 + 3 = 9. This number will be followed by a number of zeroes equal to the number of faction-coloured
tokens at the site minus two, remembering that a Bernal cylinder playing piece counts as 5 counters. If you
need exact figures, replace each trailing zero with a roll of 2D6-2.

Factories
An extraterrestrial factory represents the mining and production operations required to produce ET goods
at industrial scales, including water, ore and isotope extraction, 3D printers, vehicles, robots, power, cooling,
wiring, teleoperations, fuel production, equipment maintenance, fleet and operations management, design
and compute.
EXOINFRASTRUCTURE 215

Exoinfrastructure

The exoinfrastructure on a site hex is determined by the number of faction-coloured tokens on the hex –
counting counters, cubes and domes – of any color. A stack of 5 counters or a cylinder on a space adjacent
to a site hex represents a Bernal. Adjacent means on any connected path that doesn’t cross an intersection
or space – except landing burns and hazards don’t interrupt adjacency. Outposts: Claims and factories
have an outpost on a roll of 1 on 1D6, or if they are the origin point of a communication within the last year.
Outposts consist of a faction crew with a random spacecraft. Make the roll to determine if an outpost is
present at the time of approach to the exoinfrastructure.
Tokens Piece Exoinfrastructure Population Notes
A claim indicates an economically viable
location has been discovered at the site with
1 Claim 0 sufficient resources support a factory.
A factory is used to ET produce spacecraft
components and other goods matching the
spectral class of the site it is at. If the site has
a push symbol, then any factory on it is also
a push factory. If the factory is a TNO site -
indicated by a microscope on a yellow star -
2 Factory 0 then the factory is also an TNO lab.
A colony indicates the site is permanently
inhabited. The majority of a small colony is
devoted to farming, the remainder to
3 Colony 10s maintaining the factory and colony facilities.
A large colony begins to reach the size where
not everyone knows everyone else; but also
becomes capable of sustaining economic
activity other than food and factory
4 Large colony 100s production.
The Bernal is a central hub for one or more
adjacent sites; receiving rawstuffs and
finished goods from dirtside factories,
consolidating and shipping it on to markets
elsewhere. A Bernal adjacent to a science
site with a factory on it is a Bernal lab if the
Bernal and factory are controlled by the
5 Bernal 1000s same faction.

Technology levels A faction’s technology level is determined by which factory and laboratory spectral
classes they have their faction-coloured counters at. The first factory enables ET produced technologies
including those corresponding to the spectral class of the factory along with ET produced technologies
which don’t have an associated spectral class, such as assets, body parts and species ratings. Faction
upgrades are the exception: these can only be acquired as a result of successfully performing a faction
mission.
When a faction gets access to a second factory with a different spectral class they get access to Advanced
technologies which don’t have an associated spectral class, such as assets, body parts and species ratings,
along with Advanced and ET produced technologies corresponding to the spectral class of every factory
they have counters at.
The crew’s technology level increases along with the faction matching their mission control’s BSU colour.
An AWOL crew without a mission control can only increase their technology level using exoinfrastructure
that they have built.
216 CHAPTER 12. SITES

Push Factories A push factory is a factory at a site with a push symbol: Mercury, Venus and Io. This
enables gigawatt power to be beamed throughout the solar system, increasing the net thrust of any
pushable thruster or robonaut belonging to the faction by 2.

TNO Factories A TNO factory is a factory at a site with a microscope inside a yellow star. A TNO factory
acts as an TNO lab. When a faction gets access to an ET lab, including a TNO lab, they get access to
Promoted technologies corresponding to the spectral class of every science dirtside and TNO lab they
have counters at, along with Promoted technologies which don’t have an associated spectral class, such
as assets, body parts and species ratings. Faction upgrades are the exception: these can only be acquired
as a result of successfully performing a faction mission.

Colonies
While crew modules are capable of sustaining crew members in relative comfort for extended periods of
time, life as a colonist is comparable to that of a subsistence farmer - almost all of labour of a small colony
is spent in growing crops and sustaining the colony biosphere. Infrequent immigration allows the colony
to expand so that it has a labour surplus capable of working in the factory to mine for water and isotope
fuels and 3D printing ET products for export. Some colonies will even permit children: considering the
independence of the colony more important than the developmental risks from solar flares, cosmic rays,
regolith contaminants, microgravity health issues and anoxia. Despite the hard work required, there are
still plenty of volunteers willing to travel to the stars.

Small colonies Small colonies have populations of up to 99 individuals. Random encounters at small
colonies are always off-world communications, because everyone knows everyone else.

Large colonies Large colonies have populations of 100 or more individuals. Random encounters at
large colonies are with local population that the crew hasn’t previously encountered.

Bernals
A Bernal is a dumbbell-shaped colony. The two spheres are 67m in diameter, separated by a 334m con-
nection. It rotates at 1.9 rpm for 0.95 gees of artificial gravity. Assuming half atmospheric pressure, the
structural mass is 400 tonnes. Normally staffed by a crew of 100, it can hold up to 2000 souls maximum.
Upon reaching its destination, it is filled with 200 tonnes of air, and surrounded by a 140,000 tonnes of dirt
and water shielding honeycombed with nanofibers, all made from local ISRU materials.
Reasons for locating a colony in a lagrange point rather than dirtside: 1. Rawstuffs and water can be
electromagnetically catapulted from the surface for processing and assembly in an environment tailored
for humans. 2. Low thrust freighter traffic possible between the lagrange and back home in LEO. 3. Humans
can control dirtside robonauts without a troublesome time lag. 4. Production of the final product can be
performed at anything from zero to 0.7 gee, allowing unique materials and processes not possible dirtside
or back at Earth.
Once anchored at a site, a Bernal metamorphoses from the dumbbell into a 250m Bernal Sphere with a
maximum capacity of 10,000 souls. The structure is 18,120 tonnes, with 10,000 tonnes of atmosphere. The
shielding is 92,800 tonnes. It rotates at 3 rpm for 0.7 gees. Bernal design uses mirrors to reflect sunlight
used for growing crops. For nuclear-powered Bernals, sulfur lamps replace the mirrors. Besides sun power,
Bernals need hundreds of megawatts for their faction-specific productive output: making antimatter,
producing PV cells and beaming energy, electromagnetic shielding for the cycler, or electromagnetic
boosting to orbit. Mobile Bernals additionally need 50 MWe to power their dirt engines/product launcher.
The Business Bernal, a pharming facility, is exceptional in that it produces less electricity and uses a nuclear
NERVA engine instead of an electric dirt engine.
SPECTRAL CLASSES 217

Bernal Lab The factories that a faction controls adjacent to its anchored Bernals are called dirtsides. A
Bernal adjacent to a dirtside with a science symbol on it is a Bernal lab: the Bernal lab can act as an ET lab
with spectral classes matching these science dirtsides. When a faction gets access to an ET lab, they get
access to Promoted technologies corresponding to the spectral class of every science dirtside and TNO lab
they have counters at, along with Promoted technologies which don’t have an associated spectral class,
such as assets, body parts and species ratings.

Spectral Classes
The following observations are an attempt to generalize and synthesize the experience of visiting a facility
or outpost at specific site, based on the materials available and technologies that site uses, as well as
the macronutrient and micronutrients available for colonists and crew living there. These generally hold
true for sites which are well run and without significant disparities in income or other social stratification,
although there are brief notes on what constitutes displays of high social status and the impact of poverty
and neglect.

Designing colonies As colonies grow larger, factions become less significant and the basal social unit
of the colony, determining its economy, politics and biosphere, becomes more important. The rules
for determining these are in the Colony Builder chapter of the This Space Intentionally supplement.

C-class Sites
C-class sites are the most hospitable and Earth-similar sites in the solar system, including both Ceres
and Mars. Hospitable is on a relative scale: Mars makes the Antarctic look like a lush tropical paradise in
comparison due to its surface radioactivity at around 40-50 times that of Earth, the atmospheric pressure
equivalent to 50 km or more above the earth’s surface, and temperatures that drop as low as 125 degrees
Centigrade below zero. This relative luxury allows for a broader range of social dynamics and tensions
than colonists at other sites exhibit, including the possibility of open conflict between different groups. As
time progresses, social conventions will entrench, leaving a facade of normalcy over widening underlying
stratification.
C sites have a clear division between rich and poor. Cheap housing is mass produced using laser-fired
ceramics from abundant clay minerals to create glazed architectural terracotta in a variety of shapes,
textures and colors. Towering above these, the wealthy use nanobots to print and maintain seemingly
impossible structures built from diamondoid and carbon fibre, with advanced medical technologies making
up for the lack of effective radiation shielding. Widely available 3D printing and nanite hoppers allows for
highly efficient recycling of materials and raw stuffs. Nitrogen-rich soils allow for abundant agriculture.

Blue C sites C-class comets and Centaurs are poor in clay minerals common at other C-class sites and
also lack the tholins that are used for construction materials at D-class comets. Carbon allotropes are
the only construction materials available. As a result, these sites growth are limited by the availability of
building materials.

Carbon allotrope nanomachines Carbon atoms can joined in many different ways to form solids with
diverse physical and chemical properties. The most well known include diamond, graphite, fullerene and
carbon nanotubes. But there are many other materials such as aerographite, carbon foam, carbon glass,
diamondoids and hyper diamonds as well as theoretical ones like metallic carbon. This wide range forms
super light, super strong materials which appear to defy the limits of gravity and material strength.
218 CHAPTER 12. SITES

Planetary bodies Carbonaceous chondrites

Geochemistry Carbonaceous
Limiting factors Phosphorus and potassium (except on Mars, which has both). Phosphorus is
available from the Saturn zone outwards and potassium from the Mars zone
outwards. Construction materials at the Venus aerostat and on comets and
Centaurs. Refineries before Advanced technology levels.
Local goods Ceramics, carbon allotropes
Exports Nitrogen.
Raw stuffs Clay minerals, carbonaceous matter
Nano-materials Carbon allotrope nanomachines
ET products Sleek, seemingly impossibly engineered and military-focused
Earthside tech Carbon ultracapacitors, high performance engines, para-aramid nano-fibers,
telescoped ammunition
Status symbols Imported traditional ceramic glazes: ash (Titan or Io), feldspathic (V class), lead
(M class), tin (S class), and salt (D class), petty and white collar crimes,
untidiness, complacency and waste, bigotry, complaining about the frequency
of phosphorous deliveries from Earth (unless on Mars).
Poverty and neglect Mental illness, malnutrition, homelessness, victims of violence.

D-class Sites
D class sites are predominantly small, cold and dark asteroids and worlds and the majority of synodic
comets. Few of these will be successfully claimed and colonized, even with advanced materials reclamation
techniques such as femtosecond laser chemistry refineries. The exception is Titan, which has a unique
atmosphere and “petro-sphere” that means it resembles C-class sites in many ways.
D sites use tholin-derived plastic prefabs for construction: tholins are organic materials which can be found
on many comets and some worlds, and are the principal construction material used on Kuiper belt and
Oort cloud objects. Inhabitants of small D class sites (especially at comets) are forced to compensate for
the microgravity conditions they live by continuing to live in crew module-style rotating habitats, which
may scale up in size to become planetoid girdles which encircle the entire body of the asteroid or comet,
or pantrophically modifying themselves so that they can grow up in free fall without ill effects. A comet has
the density of candy floss, which means they are easy to tunnel into but also that structures will need to
float on or in or suspend themselves above the surface.
This precariously located lifestyle means that people at D-class sites either see themselves as lucky or
fatalistic, isolationist or driven by the vagaries of a trade market where demand for their rare goods fluctuates
out of their control. Comets are also used as laboratories, weapons and watering holes, which means they
are more likely to be a nexus of technological upheaval and political conflict between factions.

Inorganic nanotubes Boron nanotubes built using vapour deposition have much higher bio-
compatibility and potentially more favourable electrical properties than carbon nanotubes. Nano-
composites reinforced with other inorganic nanotubes have higher structural strengths than carbon nan-
otube reinforced composites.
SPECTRAL CLASSES 219

Planetary bodies Extremely primitive carbonaceous chondrites, pre-solar grains

Geochemistry Highly refractory or volatile
Limiting factors Nitrogen (unless Titan) during the nitrogen blockade
Local goods Plastics, carbon and boron fibers, corundum, germanium, hafnium
Exports Chlorine and boron (to large colonies), boron-11. Hydrocarbons and nitrogen
if Titan.
Raw stuffs Resins and other petroleum products
Nano-materials Inorganic nanotubes
ET products Semi-biological with unusual abilities and science-focused
Earthside tech Boron nano-weave, carbon nanomaterial tanks, ray-hardened computers,
thin-film lithium ion batteries
Status symbols Stationary house on a foundation, the latest pantrophic modifications, either
healthy children or remaining childless
Poverty and neglect Microgravity health issues, growth and developmental issues

H-class Sites
The horizon on Saturn is three times as far away as on Earth and twice as far away on Neptune and Uranus
and these sites don’t have a constant physical base, just aerostat cities at 1G suspended in an endless sky.
The earliest aerostats are vehicles used for exploring and extracting helium-3 from the atmosphere, then
recycled for human habitation when required. Every microgram of matter is important, because it’ll be lost
forever when it falls into the seething gyre below.
Gas giant atmospheres are freezing cold, storm prone, windy (especially Neptune) and on Uranus require
high precision engineering to even float in. But at the same time, they provide a level of comfort, privacy
and protection that even Mars lacks, enabling independence for families, factions and individuals provided
they are aerodynamic and light enough to fly. And there is enough space to explore and be free: 83 Earths
worth on Saturn, 15 on Uranus and 3 on Neptune, and impossible to own or corral any of its constant
motion.
H sites use X-aerogels as construction materials which have to be engineered using advanced AI modelling
to avoid the structures blowing apart.

Quantum dots Quantum dots are tiny semiconductors that are small enough to behave like individual
atoms because of the quantum effects present at the same scales. They are useful in production of
transistors and semi-conductor fabrication, solar cells, LEDs, lasers, single-photon sources, quantum
computing, and medical imaging.
Planetary bodies Gas giants
Geochemistry Atmophile
Local goods Aerogels, X-aerogels
Limiting factors Nitrogen during the nitrogen blockade. Nitrogen remains a limiting factor on
Uranus and Neptune even after the nitrogen blockade lifts. All spacecraft
components before Advanced technology levels. Construction materials.
Exports Helium-3
Raw stuffs Gases
Nano-materials Quantum dots
ET products Computer related, smart AI or smart designed and colony-focused
Earthside techs X-aerogels
Status symbols Hair and long fingernails, edible house plants such as sprouts or spinach, pet
animals or AI companions for the extremely wealthy, an aerostat of one’s own.
Poverty and neglect There are no poor people because they starve to death. But their surviving
family members benefit from the macronutrients retrieved from their bodies,
usually served as a meal to guests: everything must be recycled. It is
considered a heinous crime to fall to your death through the clouds.
220 CHAPTER 12. SITES

M-class Sites
M-class sites effectively have unlimited quantities of iron, cobalt and nickel, and many metals considered
precious on Earth can be extracted much more easily at these sites than other asteroid types. Along
with Mars, they also considered a significant source of phosphates, which help alleviate the effects of
microgravity as well as being an essential macronutrient, and once the nitrogen blockade ends, M-class
sites are amongst the more resource rich extraterrestrial locations. While the first metallic asteroid towed
into Earth’s orbit will contain enough to collapse their precious metal markets, until then demand may be
sufficient to justify exporting a small quantity of refined metals. Additionally M-class technologies enable a
degree of independence from Earth and elsewhere that other sites rarely achieve,
M sites use independently mobile printers to create squat iron buildings with ornate structural reinforce-
ments to avoid needing carbon to make steel. Concrete and glass is made from ground granulated blast
furnace slag from iron mining, however it requires a much greater volume of mining due to the much lower
silicate content of the ores from which it is mined from, resulting in relatively rare use of these as building
materials. Building interiors are painted in the earth tones of iron oxides and bright blue cobalt silicates.
Easier access to phosphates than nitrates results in a reliance on fresh water aquaculture over agriculture
(phosphate is a limiting nutrient in Earth fresh water ecosystems).

Multi-metallic nano-motors Multi-segment nano-wires built using template deposition can act as
motors when powered both by reaction to the presence of hydrogen peroxide and by magnetic fields. This
enables nanomachines to be built versatile enough to be used in a variety of environments, using local
energy sources only available at microscopic scales.
Planetary bodies Iron meteorites, “wet metallics”
Geochemistry Siderophile
Limiting factors Nitrogen during the nitrogen blockade. Potassium unless in the Mars
heliocentric zone or beyond. Water if hydration is 0.
Local goods Platinum, gold, osmium, iridium, tungsten, iron
Imports None
Exports Manganese and molybdenum (to large colonies), phosphorus, curium-245
Raw stuffs Nickel, iron, cobalt, siderophile metals
Nano-materials Multi-metallic nano-motors
Earthside tech Bisphosphonates, gold nanowire batteries, radioisotope Stirling generator,
vacuum mag-tube, white phosphorus rounds
ET products Metallic, polymorphic, independently powered and engineering-focused
Status symbols Glass, steel, high-rise buildings, valuable exports from Earth or locally made
equivalents
Poverty and neglect Starvation, heavy metal poisoning

S-class Sites
S sites are relatively common in the inner system but also dry, which means they tend to be industrialized
later than most other sites and continue to be unpleasant to colonize long after most other sites begin
to become (relatively) comfortable. The exception is Luna, which is wetter than most other S site, has a
phosphorous supply and is able to import potassium from Earth. Luna is also only a few days away by
rocket, and the political complexities that result could cast a long, dark shadow on both planets.
S sites use sintered high tensile strength metals such as aluminium for construction. The effective compres-
sive strength of aluminium is lower than steel which means the largest buildings are high roofed tensile
structures using cable-supported membranes for walls and roofs. Skyscrapers are still built using concrete
with titanium rebar where required. Their raw stuffs including uranium are readily available on Earth, which
has a similar geochemistry, making S sites only valuable to interplanetary factions seeking independence
from or cut off from accessing Earth markets.
SPECTRAL CLASSES 221

Dynamic nano-composites Radioactive nanoparticles are used for medical imaging in medicine and
biology by using the properties of the nanoparticles to precisely target specific areas in the body. How-
ever, the same techniques can be used for detailed imaging of catalytic reactions and material structural
properties, allowing significant advances in chemistry and material science. This allows construction of
dynamically responsive nano-composites controlled using magnetic or electrical feedback.

Ammonia-fed reversible fuel cells While ammonia has better handling characteristics and simpler
storage methods than hydrogen with almost the same energy efficiency as as a fuel (93%-98%), the
protonic ceramic fuel cell (PCFC) can also be run in reverse mode, producing ammonia using hydrogen
and atmospheric nitrogen without needing the infrastructure required for a full Haber Bosch process plant.
The Ruthenium ammonia catalysts required can be produced Earthside or at S sites.
Planetary bodies Ordinary chondrites
Geochemistry Lithophile, chalcophile
Limiting factors Nitrogen during the nitrogen blockade. Phosphorus and potassium.
Phosphorus is available from the Saturn zone outwards and potassium on
Mercury and from the Mars zone outwards. Water if hydration is 0.
Local goods Ceramics, hafnium, tantalum, copper, aluminium, titanium
Imports
Exports Copper and zinc (to large colonies), uranium-235
Raw stuffs Mineral ores
Nano-materials Dynamic nano-composites
ET products Rad-hardened, multi-purpose and space-focused
Earthside tech Aluminium-air batteries, graded-Z shielding, single aperture antenna,
transparent aluminium, ammonia-fed reversible fuel cells
Status symbols Water, ice, snow
Poverty and neglect Heavy metal poisoning, radiation poisoning

V-class Sites
V class sites are resource poor in the sense that they rarely have a specific resource worth exploiting, but
instead have most resource types in quantities that are much more expensive to extract.
Buildings and immovable objects like benches and counter tops are 3D printed using molten igneous rock
and come in a range of oranges, yellows, greens and grays. Concrete will be reinforced with perovskite or
basalt fibers instead of steel and sealed with white paint on the exteriors and gray in interiors to prevent
absorption of critical gases into the building materials and to allow projection of images onto their surfaces
(gray is better than white for bright projectors). Furnishings tend to have the distinct golden brown colour
of basalt fibers, both as a fabric and steel-like frames. Surfaces are covered in projected images or giant
video screens built with microelectromechanical systems, but rooms are also constructed to form distinct
soundscapes using a mix of acoustic generators and sound proofing.
Inadequate access to both nitrogen and phosphorous means that food is expensive. Trace levels of lithium
from extensive lithium mining have entered the food supply from the ground and water that crops are
grown in. This results in a much happier population with low crime rates, but also one that suffers from
high levels of obesity and eating disorders such as anorexia (due to paradoxical effects) - similar to what
has occurred on Earth since the early 1980s.

Cation exchange nanorods Nanorods have can be used to create microelectromechanical systems
(MEMS) with applications including high definition video displays, optical networking, piezoelectric, electro-
static and electromagnetic micro-scale energy harvesters and acoustic, acceleration and pressure sensors.
Cation exchange allows high speed direct chemical synthesis of nanorods from existing structures.

Printed solar panels One of the earliest applications of new technologies that space manufacturing
allows is electro-spray printing of liquid perovskite in an extremely thin film onto a substrate to form solar
222 CHAPTER 12. SITES

panels. Each litre of perovskite used is capable of generating around a megawatt of power and the vacuum
protects this salt from moisture once it condenses. The thinner, lighter solar panels are around twice as
efficient per kilogram, producing twice as much power at a given distance from the sun to charge equipment
in half the normal time. These are available on solar powered equipment produced Earth-side and at
V-class factories.
Planetary bodies Achondrites, rocky core planets
Geochemistry Igneous rocks
Limiting factors Nitrogen during the nitrogen blockade. Phosphorus and potassium.
Phosphorus is available from the Saturn zone outwards and potassium on
Mercury and from the Mars zone outwards. Radiators before Advanced
technology levels.
Local goods Advanced composites, basalt fiber, perovskite
Exports Lithium-6
Raw stuffs Small quantities of all types
Nano-materials Cation exchange nanorods
ET products Sensors or sensor-related, laser- or optics-based and commercial-focused
Earthside tech Combined cycle hot fuel cell, lithium sulfur batteries, printed solar panels
Status symbols Large meals, sharing of food and accommodation
Poverty and neglect Everyone is slightly poor due to the scarcity of useful resources at V sites but
puts up a bright facade to cover up the decay

Features
Specific site features will provide additional challenges when travelling through or inhabiting the site. The
Damage and Complications chapter on page 172 contains the rules for handling inadequately prepared
crew or those inadvertently exposed to these hostile environments.

Aerostats
Aerostats sites occur at the most livable parts of the atmosphere, not necessarily the surface - defined
as where the atmosphere is one standard atmosphere of pressure. Hothouse and mini-Neptune planets
have solid surfaces which are inaccessible until much higher technology levels due to a combination of
pressure and atmospheric gases. Gas giant atmospheres have no region of discontinuity between liquid
hydrogen and hydrogen gas that could be considered a surface. This means as you descend the atmosphere
continues to get warmer and denser to thousands of degrees temperature and millions of bars of pressure.
Most aerostats experience extremely high wind speeds. The biggest challenge these wind speeds cause
is turbulence which can damage crew. Treat this as the crew experiencing thrust G forces equal to the
heliocentric distance of the crew plus 2D6 when crossing the tropopause.

Jupiter The radiation from Jupiter’s Van Allen belts renders its inner moons uninhabitable and uneco-
nomic to industrialize. Only the Galilean moons and Jovian Trojans are included on the High Frontier map.
The aerostat itself isn’t radioactive as the atmosphere protects it from the radiation emitted by the Van
Allen belts, but the high gravity at the site makes it equally difficult to exploit. A Jupiter aerostat would be a
size 13 H site requiring at least 30 km/s to lift off from (12 burns) and the only rocket capable of generating
this thrust while having a payload and the fueled required in the High Frontier board game rules is the
Project Valkyrie which isn’t intended to be an in-atmosphere rocket.

Saturn Saturn has 3 cloud decks: the lowermost at 130 km below the surface consists of water vapour
clouds with temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius and 10.9 bars of pressure (the equivalent to 100m underwater)
putting it just under the technical dive limit. This is survivable using SCUBA equipment with a helium-
oxygen-nitrogen (trimix) breathing gas. Higher elevations require warm weather clothing Hydrogen can
FEATURES 223

cause significant hydrogen embrittlement to metals which can be prevented by coating the metals so that
they don’t come into contact with the hydrogen atmosphere.

Uranus Uranus has four cloud decks in the troposphere, of which only the upper two have been directly
observed: methane clouds at 1-2 bars of pressure, and acidic hydrogen sulfide and ammonia clouds at
3-10 bars of pressure. Uranus’s atmosphere is the coldest in the solar system: the temperature is around
minus 218 degrees Celsius in the methane cloud layer, and ethane fogs in the higher stratosphere block any
of the faint sunlight that might be usable for solar power. There are limited choices for lifting gases in the
diffuse hydrogen-helium atmosphere which complicates the design of stratospheric balloons needed for
collecting solar power. The layer of water ice clouds at above 50 bars of pressure begins to be hospitably
warm, up to 46 degrees Celsius at 100 bars of pressure, but these pressures are equivalent to between half
a kilometre and a kilometre deep in the ocean.

Neptune Neptune’s troposphere is believed to be similar in composition to Uranus’s, although the sun
is too faint for any possibility of solar power collection. Following the trend of increasing wind speeds with
distance, Neptune has the highest wind speeds of any of the gas giants, up to 2,100 kilometers per hour,
that will provide additional engineering challenges.

Venus On Venus, the cloud layer extends from about 45 to 50 km altitude to roughly 64 km. The Venusian
aerostat at 55 kilometers above the surface is a balmy 27 degrees Celsius but the acidic clouds are composed
of sulfuric acid, free sulfur, and trace contaminates such as HF, HCl, CO, and water. At this height, the clouds
do 2 ACID damage; as the acid slowly corrodes armour over time, this damage should be resolved per
the environmental exposure entry on page 186 in the Damage and Complications chapter. Because the
Venusian day is so long, a solar powered aircraft would only have to travel around 14 kilometers per hour
to stay constantly within sunlight. However winds directly above the cloud layer easily exceed 300 km/h.
Crewed aircraft stay below this violent super-rotation layer which crosses the planet every 4 days at a cost
of reduced solar power performance in the clouds (use the Mars zone solar figures).
The maximum ambient pressure a human has survived is 54 bar but submersibles have descended as far
as 10 kilometers (1000 bar) underwater. The surface of Venus is only 92 bar but the surface temperature of
450 degrees Celsius and the highly corrosive atmosphere under pressure is a much greater challenge than
the pressure alone. A hull capable of surviving Venus’s surface requires a specific robot capability. See the
hull capabilities in the Capabilities chapter in the A Facility with Words supplement.

Atmospheric Sites
Only a handful bodies in the solar system support a complete atmosphere: Venus, Earth, Mars, Titan and
the gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, marked as atmospheric sites on the High Frontier map.
These atmospheres are either considered hot house (Venus), dense (Titan), standard (Earth and aerostats),
thin (early terraformed worlds) or tenuous (Mars), and become thinner at higher elevations above the
surface of the world. Tenuous atmospheres are thin enough that they are considered vacuum for most
purposes, except for blocking the use of rayguns from adjacent spaces and where specifically called out in
the rules: tenuous atmospheres require spacesuits. Thin atmospheres still require space suits, and are in
many ways like tenuous atmospheres, but provide increased protection against cosmic rays and more air
resistance.
Standard atmospheres cover the whole range of atmospheres which can be survived without a pressure suit,
with dense atmospheres at the upper end of pressures and densities, although in most instances SCUBA
gear is required; crew in standard and dense atmospheres with 6% or more oxygen can use supplemental
oxygen if no toxic gases are present. The extreme cold of Uranus’s and Neptune’s atmospheres requires
aerogel insulation, and the sulphuric acid clouds at the Venus aerostat do 2 ACID damage. Locations
elsewhere on the world may be much more hostile.
224 CHAPTER 12. SITES

Armstrong limit The Armstrong limit at 18 km above the Earth’s surface is the point at which the blood
begins to boil due to reduced atmospheric pressure, resulting in Kittinger syndrome. Space suits are
required at this elevation or higher. Thin and tenuous atmospheres are both beyond the Armstrong limit.

Low oxygen Supplemental oxygen, pressurized hulls or SCUBA equipment is required at altitudes of 3
km or above the Earth’s surface to avoid incurring penalties for high altitudes: crew get 1 penalty for every
1.5 kilometers of altitude. High altitude training reduces this penalty by 1; high altitude adaptation from
being native to this altitude reduces this penalty by a further 1 (2 total). Pantrophic modifications reduces
this by 1 per modification up to 3 total (not cumulative with high altitude adaptations). These values are
your low oxygen resistance. The first oxygen penalty suffered is a physical penalty, then additional penalties
are alternately mental and physical penalties.
Each penalty is equivalent to a drop in the atmospheric oxygen by 2%, except for the first two penalties
which represent a 3% drop (to 17% for one penalty and 14% for two). These are shown on the character
sheets. You begin to suffer from hypoxia when the oxygen levels fall to 11%, or by 1% after you suffer three
penalties if you have low oxygen resistance. You suffocate when oxygen levels fall to 5%, or by 1% after you
suffer six penalties if you have low oxygen resistance.
On terraformed worlds, the effective atmospheric oxygen percentage is determined by the total biomass of
sites on the world. This includes the site air pressure in this calculation, so there is no need to adjust for
gravity or atmosphere density.

Hydration
Water is useful for more than just rocket fuel and quenching thirst. It has an unusual ability to absorb heat
and can act both as a lubricate and solvent, important properties for industrialization. It can be cracked
into its constituents relatively easily, both of which are useful in their own right. A site with Hydration
4 is either an icy body or has large amounts of permafrost. Hydration 3 has small amounts of surface
or just sub-surface ice. The Sahara Desert would be considered a wet Hydration 3 site. At Hydration 2,
trace amounts of ice can be extracted from kilotons of regolith. On a hydration 1 site, concrete would be
considered a good source of water. On hydration 0 sites, oxides and hydrides are all that can be hoped for.

The Water Supply

The site hydration determines how much work is required to extract liquid water from the regolith and
bedrock at site; which in turn limits the types of assets that can be used to extract this water economically.
This equipment is called a platform, and each platform has an ISRU rating (short for in situ resource
utilization) which must be less than or equal to the site hydration in order perform this function.
However when a claim at the site is industrialized into a factory, two facts hold true for the High Frontier
board game: the factory has a much greater industrial capacity than a platform for mining and processing
useful materials from a site; and the crew is permitted to extract more water by using this factory, but the
amount of water extracted becomes a constant amount instead of depending on the site hydration.
The only way that the site hydration can become immaterial to a factory’s water output is that the crew is
no longer the primary consumer of this output. Instead, the amount of water that a crew can get from a
factory they helped build becomes a political consideration – the crew can only get so much water because
the mission control they belong to is using the vast majority of a factory’s output to perform other functions
and the crew’s mission is now of secondary consideration. Factory refuelling is about the crew, and some
faction in the mission control who will benefit from the success of the crew’s mission, successfully making
a case for why some small percentage of the factory output needs to be diverted to the crew.
FEATURES 225

Ionising Radiation
For most of the solar system, the highest risk radiation
levels are from cosmic rays coming from all directions Radiation Exposure
except the sun. The background radiation level on Mars Radiation Surface Exposure
is around 24-30 rads per year, and around double that Exposure Io Europa Ganymede
amount on other sites without magnetospheres or at- 0 20m 4h 45m 6d 6h
mospheres. Entrenchment and underground construc- 1 40m 9h 30m 12d 12h
tion are the main ways of avoiding radiation exposure 2 1 h 20m 20 h 25d
at sites without any intrinsic radiation protection until 3 2 h 40m 40 h 50d
EM shields and artificial magnetospheres can be con- 4 5 h 20m 80 h 14 w
structed. 5 10 h 1w 28 w
The rings of Saturn and planets with magnetospheres 6 20 h 2w
are mostly protected from cosmic rays although mov- 7 40 h 4w
ing through the Van Allen belts created by those mag- 8 80 h 8w
netospheres can cause significant radiation exposure. 9 1w 16 w
Jupiter’s magnetosphere is strong enough to have 10 2w 32 w
trapped significantly enough radioactive particles which 11 4w
to create hellish levels of radiation on the surface of its 12 8w
inner moons along with Io (3600 rads per day), Europa 13 16 w
(540 rads per day) and even Ganymede (8 rads per day) 14 32 w
which has its own magnetosphere. Much like cosmic rays, this radiation can be shielded from relatively
easily by building underground which is why colonies are not considered especially hard to build on these
moons, however all surface and orbital travel at these sites will result in this exposure.
The length of time crew remain on or above the surface of Io, Europa or Ganymede will increase their
radiation exposure number: increase their current radiation exposure number total to the listed amount if
it is lower. Living beings suffer one damage to each hit location when they reach each underlined row –
this incorporates their modification to the direct radiation damage. Robots and equipment suffer damage
equal to the increase in radiation exposure number to each hit location. When using this table, each point
of RAD damage protection shifts the results up one row (doubling the time required to suffer the same
exposure amount). If crew increase their exposure duration to take damage to longer than a year because
of RAD damage protection, they suffer no damage but still incur enough radiation exposure to be affected
by the Radiation exposure service risk.

Magnetospheres
The magnetosphere of a planet traps radioactive particles both from the solar flares and cosmic rays
that would otherwise reach the surface of the planet, forming hazardous radioactive belts which can be
dangerous to travel through slowly. This is shown on the High Frontier map for the Earth’s Van Allen belts,
as well as the innermost three gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus). Neptune’s magnetic field is highly
unusual and not well understood, although it has about the same strength as Uranus’s field. Jupiter itself
is highly radioactive and this extends far enough from the surface to result in radiation hazards around Io
and on the surface of Europa.
Some other bodies have magnetospheres or atmospheric protection but not both. Ganymede’s mag-
netosphere is strong enough to give it protection from Jupiter’s radioactive and plasma environment,
although it does connect to Jupiter’s magnetic field near the poles where plasma rains onto the surface,
darkening the ice. Mercury’s magnetic field is around 1% of the strength of Earth’s fields and is both leaky
and asymmetrical, meaning both that the solar wind periodically reaches the surface and that a much
greater region around the south pole is exposed to the solar radiation environment than the north pole.
While Venus lacks a magnetic field, it’s atmosphere’s ionosphere effectively keeps the solar wind out of the
Venusian atmosphere which acts in many ways like a magnetosphere without the accompanying radiation
hazards.
226 CHAPTER 12. SITES

Macronutrients
Macronutrients are important for life to exist and are a key requirement for agriculture, and therefore
space colonies to be viable. Sixty Years In considers 3 main macronutrients (nitrogen, phosphorous and
potassium) important enough to form the basis of interplanetary trade, politics and war. Micronutrients
are also important limiting factors, but at small colonies these are assumed to be either mined locally
or brought in sufficient quantities by immigrants. For plants, micronutrients include chlorine and boron
(found at D sites), manganese and molybdenum (M sites) and copper and zinc (S sites).

Nitrogen While nitrogen has a solar abundance of around 7-8%, the meteoric C, N, and O abundances
are lower than the solar photospheric ones by large factors because of their volatility: 2-3 times for oxygen,
about 10 for carbon, and more than 40 for nitrogen. C-class sites and Titan are good sources of nitrogen
but other sites will be nitrogen constrained at the start of the Colonization era. This is referred to as the
nitrogen blockade although it is actually a nitrogen supply chain issue caused by agriculture consuming
all of the limited in situ nitrogen production. Nitrogen constrained sites use alternatives for breathable
air mixes and weapons, both of which normally use nitrogen. The nitrogen blockade lifts when advanced
technologies become available, except on Uranus and Neptune which remain nitrogen constrained even
after the nitrogen blockade ends. Nitrogen remains useful as an export commodity for terraforming projects.

Phosphorus Phosphorus is essential for life but is so highly reactive it is almost never found in its free
state on Earth. It is likely that almost all phosphorus on Earth initially condensed inside asteroids in the
outer solar system before being deposited by meteor bombardment. Sixty Years In associates phosphorous
with M class sites and Mars in the inner system, but treats it as more plentiful in the Saturn heliocentric zone
and beyond, except at the gas giant aerostats. This means Luna and Mars all have enough phosphorous to
remain independent of Earth’s political control, but Mercury, the asteroid belts and the Galilean moons are
extremely dependent on developing their own supply. Phosphorous deficiency causes a number of bone
diseases such as rickets and osteoporosis, in addition to weakness, fatigue, muscle cramping and soreness:
the available phosphorous strictly limits how large the biosphere can grow, beyond which people will
starve.

Potassium Potassium, a volatile element that is a critical macronutrient for plant and animal growth,
can be found more easily in colder parts of the solar system from the Mars zone outwards, and is surprisingly
abundant on Mercury, but it is rare on Venus and the other aerostats, especially while the surface remains
inaccessible. Since sunlight is plentiful, artificial photosynthesis of simple sugars, spun artistically into all
sorts of candies, will form the basis of Venusian diets, with imported potassium supplements reserved for
human nutrition. Hypokalemia (potassium deficiency) will be a common problem for the less affluent,
resulting in weakness, fatigue, muscle cramping and soreness, and paralysis and cardiac arrest in those
unable to afford their potassium supplements. Potassium will be the key limiting factor to life on Venus if it
is ever terraformed. Although potassium is only as 20% abundant on the moon as on the Earth, it is still
available in the crust, and won’t be a limiting factor while mining remains a significant part of Lunar life.

Martian Perchlorate Soils

While Mars has the macronutrients and water needed for colonization, there are two additional significant
challenges to any space colonies on Mars: the radiation environment due to the lack of a magnetosphere
and tenuous atmosphere, and the ubiquity of perchlorates in Martian soils. Perchlorates are salts derived
from perchloric acid and are toxic to humans in the amounts found throughout Martian soils and blown
about in the dust in the atmosphere. Crops grown in untreated Martian soil will absorb the perchlorates
and also be toxic although there are efficient methods of treating such soils to remove the perchlorates
which produce oxygen as a byproduct of the process. Perchlorate inhibits thyroid function, causing goiter,
and should be treated with iodine. It also interferes with lung function if inhaled. Dust suppression, dust
extraction and regular blood samples should help manage the risk, techniques which are already well
understood for handling heavy-metal contaminated areas of modern mines.
FEATURES 227

Moon and Asteroid Dust

Moon dust is fine like powder but it cuts like glass because it has never been exposed to atmosphere or
water to erode its edges down. It will stick to virtually any tool or surface and abrade vacuum seals and
sensitive equipment. If brought into an atmosphere, such as by not thoroughly cleaning equipment using a
cleaning kit, moon dust will get into the lungs, with characteristics similar to fresh fractured quartz which is
highly toxic. Acute silicosis from exposure to uncleaned equipment adds 1D6 physical penalties to affected
crew. Crew and colonists on all non-atmospheric sites (not just Luna) will be issued with anti-moon dust
pills as a matter of practice to minimize the effect of tiny moon dust particles suspended in the lungs from
chronic exposure to the minute amounts that cleaning and filtering misses.

Solar Power
Equipment which depends on solar power is much lighter than the equivalent items which use batteries or
radioisotopes. However the mass of solar power equipment doubles with each heliocentric zone further
than the Earth, as additional solar panels are required to collect the same amount of power.
The length of the Mercury and Lunar nights makes it difficult to reliably use solar electric power at these
sites, both because they require extended battery storage but also because equipment needs to be kept
warm during the cold Mercury and Luna nights. Although the Venus night is also long, the atmosphere
super-rotates around the planet at much higher speeds than the surface, which means the effective length
of the day-night sequence is 96 hours instead of 243 days. Most other asteroids and planets rotate so that
their day is between 2 and 20 hours; the exception being Pluto and Charon which both have days roughly
6.3 Earth-days long. However solar power is no longer usable at that distance from the sun, or anywhere
else in the Neptune zone.

Subsurface Oceans
Due to tidal forces with the parent body and from radioactive heating (mainly from silicates), it is possible
for many icy bodies to have a subsurface ocean of liquid water or amorphous ice. Interestingly, with the
exception of Io, radiological heating from the decay of isotopes in the crust is much higher than tidal
heating. Evidence of subsurface oceans is the secondary induced magnetic fields around the candidate
bodies, generated by the movement of ions within the water layer. Dissolved salts and ammonia, can lower
the viscosity allowing a wider range of temperatures and pressures under which subsurface oceans can
exist. Note that while Rhea probably also has a subsurface ocean, it is likely under 400 km of ice, making it
highly inaccessible. Other subsurface oceans are accessible at specific portals at sites where the icy crust is
thinnest and can be safely excavated.

Surface Features
Most small bodies in the solar system are geologically inactive, but will have irregular surfaces and impact
craters. Size 6-7 sites exhibit more internal activity, either cryovolcano outgassing of volatiles in the
crust such as water, ammonia and methane, or heating due to compression from gravity, which causes
deformation on the surface of the planet. Size 8+ and V-class sites will have a history of volcanic activity,
and Io and Venus have active volcanism.

Thermal Environment
Mercury Mercury experiences the most complex thermal environment of any planet, with the night
falling as low as -170 degrees Celsius and the day time reaching up to 427 degrees Celsius. The highest
temperatures occur at two points on Mercury where the sun effective stays stationary overhead for 16
Earth-days, as a part of its 176 Earth-day long solar day (almost exactly twice as long as its year). The poles
228 CHAPTER 12. SITES

meanwhile never get above -93 degrees Celsius because the sun never rises far above the horizon. Most
spacecraft radiators are still effective at cooling even at the hottest of Mercury noon temperatures, but
smaller systems such as spacesuit and vehicles may experience issues unless they are purpose built for
these daytime environments or have the Active cooling skin. Pantrophic modifications are insufficient to
provide this level of protection.

Venus Venus’s surface is the hottest of any terrestrial planet in the solar system, at least 460 degrees
Celsius, which is hot enough to sterilize all known life. There is little variation between daytime and night
time temperature because carbon dioxide in the atmosphere forms a highly conductive supercritical carbon
dioxide sea at the pressures reached at the surface and this efficiently transfers heat from the day to night
side. Temperatures at aerostat height range from 30 degrees to 80 degrees Celsius but remain acidic
because of hydrogen sulphide clouds. While the technologies required to separately survive the pressure
and temperatures at Venus’ surface are relatively straight forward to develop, the complications come from
the behaviour of corrosive gases under this much heat and pressure. Specific Hull capabilities are required
to survive on Venus’s surface.

Luna The length of the Lunar day also leads to thermal complexities, but not as extreme as Mercury.
Temperatures can fall to -248 degrees Celsius at night and above the boiling point of water (to 116 degrees
Celsius) during the day. Systems will continue to work provided they actively heat themselves at night and
cool themselves during the day for the 14 days each of night time and day time. This is normally done using
radioisotope heaters, as the solar power required to electrically heat equipment is not available during the
long Lunar night.

Mars Mars has the mildest temperatures elsewhere in the solar system, with Martian summers typically
between 0 and 20 degrees Centigrade during the day, down to -80 degrees at night. Martian sand storms in
the southern hemisphere, which are more of a dust haze than an Earth sand storm, reduce the daytime
surface temperatures by up to 20 degrees but increasing night time temperatures by a similar amount.
Near the poles it can fall as far as -125 degrees C, however the cold temperature extremes have less of an
impact than on Earth because of the tenuous Martian atmosphere. This means that negative temperatures
only “feel” half as cold as on Earth.

Saturn Saturn’s aerostat is warm enough that warm weather clothing is sufficient protection against the
cold. This combined with SCUBA gear using a helium-oxygen-nitrogen (trimix) breathing gas is sufficient
protection to survive at these depths.

Other sites Wet (hydration 4) and atmospheric sites pose exposure risks which limits the space suits
usable at these sites to those which are rated for Any site and not just Dry/vacuum conditions (Aerogel
insulation also provides this rating). Dust pools and ice found at other sites also causes this issue for
Dry/vacuum rated space suits being used in these conditions. Entering a subsurface ocean also requires
a space suit rated for Any site, but vehicles and robots designed for use underwater do not require this
specific rating unless they lose power. Pantrophic modifications can also be used to provide sufficient
warmth to survive these conditions.
Chapter 13

St ruct ured Map Bui l der

230 CHAPTER 13. STRUCTURED MAP BUILDER

The High Frontier universe is based around two maps: an energy map of the solar system that has taken
decades of development and takes years to cross and an interstellar map of nearby star systems which
has taken years to develop and takes decades of travel to cross. These are not the only maps that you’ll
need to create and one of the great joys of science fiction role-playing games is researching and building
detailed maps of star ship decks and planets.
But the Sixty Years In Space RPG doesn’t require you have the time to research these maps and its generated
universe evolves too quickly and in too many possible directions for a generation system to be able to
create maps with the detail offered by many other science fiction RPGs. Instead it uses map builders to
quickly create maps for encounters and exploration, taking minutes to put together relatively complex
topologies that should be interesting and challenging places.

Structured maps are used for places which have interdependencies between their parts such as caves,
crevasses, cities and artificial structures. Structured maps are created by placing a starting card and then
additional cards adjacent to a starting card using a card layout. Each card represents a location on the map
which occupies the map area covered by the card. Some card layouts have additional design constraints
such as vehicles and aerostats which have to be bilaterally symmetrical and spacecraft and orbital facilities
which rotate in around a single axis.

Map Scale
The scale of the map is determined by the type of structure that you are exploring. You can also choose to
zoom in on one of these maps to zoom into the next smallest scale. This results in a smaller scale map of
the same type, except artificial structures zoom into a floor plan map when zooming in from the facility to
room scale.
Structure Layout Type Scale /cm Card cm
Abandoned Surface Abandoned Facility 5m 60s 6s
Cave Underground Natural District 500m 2h 10m
Rilles Underground Natural Complex 50m 10m 60s
Rupes Surface Natural Complex 50m 10m 60s
Colony Surface Rural Complex 50m 10m 60s
Bernal Surface Residential Complex 50m 10m 60s
Factory Surface Industrial Facility 5m 60s 6s
Spacecraft Freefall Component Facility 5m 60s 6s
Crew module Floor plan Residential Room 0.5m 6s 0.6s

Locations
Locations are represented by playing cards placed on the map. The map type and terrain typically deter-
mines how locations are placed: either replacing a counter that has been dropped on the map, or using a
specific method for laying out the cards. The structured maps given in these rules use one of three possible
methods for laying cards out: one for surface and underground structures, a second for zero G and free fall
structures, and a third for floor plans.

Location face value The face value and suit of the card is used by the A Base- D Landing supplement
to represent the slope or speed and direction of the terrain and by the A Facility with Words supplement to
represent the function of the terrain.

Location arrangements As a part of laying them out, cards can be arranged in a number of different
ways in either singletons or pairs to represent various types of natural or artificial terrain. Pairs of cards can
be either overlapping, so that the two cards form a 88 mm x 88 mm square (the length of the longest edge
of the card), or adjacent, so that the two cards touch either long edge to long edge, long edge to short edge
or short edge to short edge. Some cards can also be arranged in a “windmill” arrangement, indicating a
larger open area such as a plaza.
SURFACE AND UNDERGROUND STRUCTURES 231

Location zones All adjacent cards of a specific suit colour in an artificial location form a zone. Red suited
cards form populated zones in artificial structures. Black-suited cards form unpopulated zones. Zones
share an atmosphere at some scales: see the Shared Atmospheres section on page 189 section in the
Damage and Complications for details.

Location suit symbols The suit symbols on the card normally represent cover that you can use to shelter
behind in combat; on a divided location, they instead represent safe parts of the card where you can stop
moving without increasing the risk of an accident. A card is divided if you are either climbing it or it has a
red dice on it with a face up value of 6. Open spaces such as aerostats, open ocean or vacuum won’t have
any cover or division.

Location edges Crossing the edge of a card may result in you encountering an obstruction, determined
by the edge value. The edge value of a face up card edge equals the card’s face value wherever the card
is not touching an adjacent card. A face down card has an edge value of 0 – except interior (matching)
face down cards have an edge value of 5 where they don’t contact another card and symmetrical face
down cards act as if they were the corresponding face up card. Cards in a “windmill” arrangement of four
cards have an edge value of 0 between the cards. Otherwise the edge value is the difference between
the two touching card face values. Crossings and defense dice may modify a card’s edge value. See the
Obstructions section on page 235 for details.

Surface and Underground Structures

A surface or underground structure is one that has primarily has a horizontal orientation and which exists
on or underground a world’s surface. A natural structure represents natural features that are the result of
an ordered process such as erosion or collapse. Artificial structures include facilities and complexes at
various scales which are not dominated by a vertical building structure. Entering a surface or underground
structure is typically represented by zooming into a playing card on a map, although some terrain, such as
portals and caves, can have a point entrance. Some underground structures may be a vestibule to a larger
subsurface structure, such as access to a surface ocean or a larger cave system.
Surface and underground structures use the same generation algorithm, with two exceptions. Firstly, if the
structure is either natural or underground, it treats different coloured cards of the same face value as not
matching, whereas artificial surface structures treat both black and red cards of the same face value as
matching. Secondly, face down cards in natural structures are slid either partially underneath or partially
on top the adjacent face up card connected via the longest edge to form an 88 mm x 88 mm square shape
from the two cards. For underground natural structures, face down cards slide on top of face up cards. For
surface natural structures, face down cards slide underneath face up cards.

Placing the cards

Shuffle the card deck, and begin by flipping cards and laying them out as follows:
The first card is placed down face up.
Draw the next card and place it as follows:

1. Set aside any jokers to make loops at the end.

2. If there is a face up matching card, then place the card face down next to it with the same orientation
as the face up card and the longest two sides together.

3. Otherwise locate the face up card with the closest face value which you can place the card you drew
next to. Break ties by choosing the matching suit, then colour preferentially.
232 CHAPTER 13. STRUCTURED MAP BUILDER

4. When placing the card, place it face up with the same orientation if it’s face value is exactly one
higher or lower, with the shortest sides touching.

5. Otherwise (if it is two or more different, or a matching face value but different colour in an under-
ground structure), place the card face up perpendicularly to the chosen face up card with one of its
longest edges next to the shortest edge of the chosen face up card.

6. Never place a card if it would overlap any card already on the map. If this occurs, try to find the next
best match.

7. If you have two choices of where to place a card (because the card you’re placing it next to has two
eligible sides unoccupied), try to place it on the side that is furthest away from the center of the
map.

Once you run out of cards or cannot place any more cards, the structured map is almost complete. At this
point, place any unused cards you have to form one or more loops in the map. Firstly try to place the two
jokers as far apart as possible to form two separate loops. If you can only form one loop, try to form the
loop that is as big as possible. Don’t count face down cards when attempting to form loops. Unused cards
can be used to build loops by placing more than one card at a time.
To navigate the map, you can move through any face up cards that have their edges touching. Four face up
cards in a “wind mill” pattern represent an open space which can be traversed in any direction. You can
also enter or leave a face down card by its longest edge only to an adjacent card with the same orientation.

Freefall Structures
Spacecraft and orbital infrastructure use their own creation rules to ensure they have radial symmetry
around a central axis: shapes common to free fall and zero gravity environments. This constraint is to
ensure that they can fire thrusters to either move or maintain their orbits and to rotate to provide gravity
for people living in them.

Spacecraft orientation Spacecraft are normally laid out like buildings, with the floors (decks) perpen-
dicular to the direction of thrust. The exception is for rotating sections of the spacecraft, where the floor is
parallel to the outer edge of the rotating section. When you zoom into a free fall or zero-G structure you
should create a deck plan using the Floor Plans section on page 234 for the location you zoomed in on.

Segments Multiple cards in a spacecraft or orbital structure are organized into segments. Each card that
crosses the mid-line of the structure creates a new segment. All other cards that do not cross the mid-line
of the structure belong to the segment of a card that does.
To create a spacecraft or orbital structure, shuffle the card deck, and begin by flipping cards and laying
them out as follows:
The first card is placed down face up. The mid line of this card along the longest axis forms the mid line
of the entire structure. All cards must be positioned (and repositioned) so that they remain symmetrical
around this mid line.
Draw the next card and place it as follows:

1. Set aside any jokers to make loops at the end.

2. If there is a face up matching card, then place the card face down next to it with the same orientation
as the face up card and the longest two sides together if the card is parallel to the mid line and the
shortest two sides together otherwise.

3. Otherwise locate the face up card with the closest face value which you can place the card you drew
next to. Break ties by choosing the matching suit, then colour preferentially.
FREEFALL STRUCTURES 233

4. When placing the card, place it face up with the same orientation if it’s face value is exactly one
higher or lower, with the shortest sides touching if the existing card is parallel to the midline and
longest sides touching otherwise. This normally creates a new segment.

5. Otherwise (if it is two or more different), place the card face up perpendicularly to the chosen face
up card with one of its longest edges next to the shortest edge of the chosen face up card. This
normally creates a new segment if the existing card is parallel to the midline. Otherwise immediately
place another card face down reflected across the midline so that the segment remains symmetrical
around the midline to represent a rotating section.

6. If you cannot place a card in step 5 longest edge to shortest edge, instead place it perpendicularly
to the selected card – shortest edge to the existing card’s longest edge. Then place another card
face up reflected across the midline so that the segment remains symmetrical around the midpoint.
This represents a component having spars, radiators or wings extending out around it.

7. Adjust the card location that you placed the new card on so that the location remains symmetrical
around the midpoint.

8. Never place a card if it would overlap any card already on the map. If this occurs, try to find the next
best match.

Stop placing cards when the length of the structure becomes longer than you can comfortably reach,
that is around 8-10 segments long. At this point, if you have drawn any jokers, attempt to make loops by
joining together locations of face down cards by using the jokers, then continuing to play cards to make a
symmetrical path from one set of face down cards to another. This can only occur if you have two locations
with face down cards symmetrically placed in each segment.
To navigate the map, you can move through any face up cards that have any overlap between their edges.
You can also move from the outermost face up card in a segment to the outermost face up card on the
other side of the same segment. This represents moving around the mid line of the orbital structure in
three dimensions.
The face down cards represent rotating rings around the orbital structure. You can only navigate to them
from adjacent face up cards on the same segment, or by any loop paths you added at the end of the
creation process. However you can freely move between any two face down cards in the same segment of
the structure. This represents moving around the orbiting ring in three dimensions.

Placing Components
For spacecraft other than freighters, you should use the components the spacecraft is built from to determine
the function of each segment. Freighters will have radiators if promoted, a thruster and any generators or
reactors listed on the card.

1. The widest segment will be dedicated to the radiators, or solar sail if one is present. If there is a
loop between this segment and another, the loop and the other segment will also be radiators or
solar sail. The exception is any radiator with rad hardness of 6 or above, which is placed like any
other support.

2. The next widest segment will be the crew module if one is present.

3. If the thruster requires a direct reactor support, then it will be at the opposite end of the spacecraft
from the crew module, rolling for ties, and the reactor will be next to the thruster. These cards can
share locations with the radiators if required.

4. Otherwise the thruster must be at one end of the spacecraft. It is permitted to share a location with
the crew module or radiators if required.
234 CHAPTER 13. STRUCTURED MAP BUILDER

5. All the other cards should be dealt out randomly so that each type of component gets its own
location, if possible, treating colonists and crew the same. However, place the components so that
the locations nearest the thruster are filled last.

6. The remaining unused locations are fuel tanks. If the spacecraft only uses a solar sail and does
not carry fuel, then remove these locations and slide over the remaining locations to shorten the
overall length of the spacecraft.

Floor Plans
To create a floor plan for an upper (non-ground) storey of a building or arcology or a floor (deck) on a
spacecraft or other large vehicle, shuffle the card deck, and begin by flipping cards and laying them out as
follows:
The first card drawn is placed face up in the center of the map.
Draw the next card and place it as follows:

1. Set aside any jokers to make loops at the end.

2. If there is a face up matching card, then place the card face down next to it with the same orientation
as the face up card and the shortest two sides together.

3. Otherwise locate the face up card with the closest face value which you can place the card you drew
next to. Break ties by choosing the matching suit, then colour preferentially.

4. When placing the card, place it face up with the same orientation if it’s face value is exactly one
higher or lower, with the longest sides touching.

5. Otherwise (if it is two or more different, or a matching face value but different colour in an under-
ground structure), place the card face up adjacent to the chosen face up card and with the same
orientation but slide the card either up (if the new card value is higher) or down (if the new card
value is lower) by half a card length.

6. Never place a card if it would overlap any card already on the map. If this occurs, then try sliding the
card half a length in the opposite direction to the direction the card value indicates. If you still can’t
match, only then attempt to place the new card next to another close match.

7. If you have two choices of where to place a card (because the card you’re placing it next to has two
eligible sides unoccupied), try to place it on the side that is closest to the center of the map.

8. After you have finished placing all the cards, remove the face down cards from the map. Then shuffle
these and re-run the normal structured map placement algorithm.

Opposite day! Deck and floor plans do almost the opposite card placement algorithm to other structured
card placement algorithms, as highlighted by the text in italics.
OBSTRUCTIONS 235

Obstructions
Obstructions occur along card edges and can prevent movement between two cards: in natural locations
these are obstacles and in artificial locations these are defenses. Treat the obstruction width, and therefore
the distance to cross it, as 1 cm at the map scale if the obstruction is the edge of a card, with half the
distance being off the card (and on the adjacent card if one is present). Use the Obstructions table on
page 238 to determine what obstructions are present on the map.

Jokers Jokers in surface and underground structures are always natural, regardless of whether the map
is natural or artificial. This means they form obstacles rather than defenses. Jokers in floor plans and free
fall structures are never natural.

Entrances The lowest face value card or cards on an artificial map are called entrances. Each entrance
will have a pressure door if the map is Room scale and not rad-hardened, or an airlock otherwise. Put
a black counter on an exterior card edge on each entrance card to represent a pressure door or a green
counter for an airlock. For airlocks at Room scale, also put a green counter on every edge that an entrance
card shares with another card.

Edge Value The edge value is the difference between the face value of the two cards when two face up
cards are touching. Where a card is not touching another card, the card’s face value is also its edge value. A
face down card has an edge value of 0 on the longest edges and 5 on the shortest edges, except flat terrain
which has an edge value of 0 everywhere; and symmetrical cards which use the face up value of the card it
corresponds to. The edge values of face up cards touching a face down card match those of the face down
card. Cards in a “windmill” arrangement of four cards have an edge value of 0 between the cards. Scale
edge value: The minimum edge value is 1 at the Facility scale, 2 at the Complex scale, 3 at the District scale,
4 at the Locality scale and 5 at the Regional scale before applying the following modifiers. Natural surface
edges: Surface terrain, rupes and meandering rivers halve the edge value, rounding down. Defence Dice:
If there is one or more white dice on the card edges between two cards, then the edge value is equal to the
total face values of these dice. A white counter on the card edge indicates the defense is inactive and has
an edge value of 0.

Turbulence Obstructions in flights and aerostat maps and submerged terrain represent turbulence.
Turbulence adds penalties and causes CRASH damage equal to the edge value. This is a soft collision for
the vehicle (which halves the damage, rounded down) unless it crashes as a result of the turbulence.

Waves Obstructions in open ocean and water crossings represents waves. Waves add penalties and
causes CRASH damage equal to the edge value. This is a soft collision for any vehicle beneath the surface
(which halves the damage, rounded down) unless it crashes as a result of the turbulence.

Defenses
Defenses are deliberately deployed mechanisms for slowing down or injuring potentially hostile parties
and sheltering defenders from harm.

Permanent Defenses An artificial structure will have permanent defenses equal to the edge value when
moving onto or off a card from a non-card location – these will always be active. Permanent defenses will
also be present between cards of different suit colors (red to black or black to red) – in these instances,
if the alert level is equal to or higher than the edge value the defense will be active and if it is lower the
defense will be inactive.
236 CHAPTER 13. STRUCTURED MAP BUILDER

Temporary Defenses Temporary defenses may be encountered when moving between cards of the
same color. Roll a white 1D6 less than or equal to the difference between the two card values for there to
be a temporary defense present – put the dice on the shared card edge to represent the edge value if it is
present and a white counter if there is no defense present because the roll was higher than the difference
between cards. Temporary defenses calculate their edge value by adding up the face values of these white
dice. Safe temporary defenses lower their edge value to the alert level, while unsafe defenses are not active
if the alert level is lower than the edge value – use a white counter to indicate inactive defenses.

Safe or Unsafe Defenses A temporary defense is safe if it is located between a pair of red-suited cards
and the higher card value is more than twice the alert level – use the safe column to determine the defense
and put a black counter on the white dice. An alert level of six means that only the edge of red-suited King
cards are safe. A temporary defense is not safe if it is between a pair of black-suited cards or the double the
alert level is equal to or higher than the face value of the highest of the two cards.

Doors
Doors are a special kind of defensive obstruction. At the Room scale, a door is a pressure door if the map is
rad-hardened and a fire door otherwise; at the Facility scale it is an airlock if the map is rad-hardened and
a pressure door otherwise; and at larger scales it is an airlock. Pressure doors and airlocks provide cover
when closed equal to the map wall armour and must be operated as described in the Bypass skill section
on page 122 to open or close it. Opening an door onto vacuum creates a hull breach that increases by 2
damage every 6 seconds until it reaches 10 damage. See the Hull Breaches section on page 189 for details.

Airlock An airlock allow you to cross from pressurized to depressurized regions, either inside or outside.
An airlock requires 2 hours of decompression to move from a standard atmosphere to low pressure (10%
or worse oxygen) atmosphere and 1 minute in the other direction or crew are affected by the bends as
described on page 187. Place a green counter on the card edge.

Pressure door A pressure door will control access to any region (zone, spot or counter) with a shared
atmosphere when moving on or between cards. Crew cannot open a pressure door when one side is
a vacuum or has a pressure differential of 10% oxygen or more without bypassing it; this is considered
dangerous when one side is a vacuum. Use a black counter on the edge of the card to indicate locked
pressure doors due to pressure differentials or when the alert level is 4+ and white otherwise.

Security door Security doors are harder to bypass. Place a black counter to indicate it begins locked –
beside the green counter if it is also an airlock. Fire doors are indicated using clear counters.

Barricade Improvised, planned or 3D printed bar- the card and any adjacent card.
ricades around welded shut security doors. Barri-
cades can have 1 square centimeter breached using
Barrier A barrier exists between the two locations
Strong Arm skill by Physical ability 10 entities in 6
which completely blocks movement. Barriers pro-
seconds at the Room scale or 60 seconds at the Fa-
vide super hard cover for any attacks through the
cility scale, or Mining skill and a load/haul/dump in
card edge: this reduces any damage suffered by the
a minute at the Room scale or 10 minutes at the Fa-
highest face value difference between the card and
cility scale, or Bypass skill and a hydraulic rescue
any adjacent card, plus 10.
tool set in 10 minutes at the Room scale or 2 hours
at the Facility scale. Replace with a two white dice
adding up to 8 covered with a yellow counter when Blockage Blockages can be tunnelled through as
breached this way. Barricades provide hard cover for if they are blasted rock. Roll a white 1D6 halved,
any attacks through the card edge to personnel on rounding up, and place it and a yellow counter on
the card only: this reduces any damage suffered by top of the two white dice on the card edge. Un-
the highest difference face value difference between cleared blockages provide extra hard cover for any
OBSTRUCTIONS 237

Obstructions

Use the edge value of a card, if it is 1 or higher, to determine what obstacle or defense is present at the
edge of the card. Obstacles exist on natural locations including Joker cards on all surface and underground
structures, and defenses exist on artificial locations. Place an orange dice with a face value of one on the
card edge. Roll an orange dice and place on the card edge on the counter shown.

Outdoor Defenses Permanent and safe defenses that are outdoors can be moved across using your
choice of the outdoor or defense column.
Edge Obstacle Defense
Value Outdoor Indoor Different Same colors
Value terrain terrain colors or safe and not safe
1 Choke point Door Surveillance
2 - Uneven Crawlspace Security door Checkpoint
3 Blockage Barricade Trap
4 Climb Unstable Fortified Vent
5 Sheer Barrier Hazard
6+ Slip Barrier IED

attacks through the card edge: this reduces any dam- on the card edge (one dice if the rolled dice face
age suffered by the highest face value difference be- value is 1, which rounds down to zero). Crawlspaces
tween the card and any adjacent card, plus 5. provide extra hard cover for any attacks through the
card edge except for attackers or targets in the crawl
Checkpoint A controlled location where traffic space: reducing any damage suffered by the high-
and systems are routed through to be inspected est face value difference between the card and any
by security personnel. A checkpoint includes light- adjacent card, plus 5.
ing, signage and movable barricades that can block
pedestrians and vehicles and climb resistant fences
Fortified Fortifications include security doors,
to ensure that the checkpoint can’t be bypassed.
hardened positions with fields of fire covering ad-
Safe checkpoints will also include a defensive po-
jacent locations and barricades with razor wire or
sition in the event that the checkpoint is attacked:
other surfaces design to prevent climbing. This has
this provides soft cover for any attacks through the
extra hard cover for any attacks through the card
card edge to personnel on the card only. Soft cover
edge to personnel on the card: this reduces any dam-
reduces MELEE, BOLT and BEAM damage by one.
age suffered by the highest difference face value dif-
ference between the card and any adjacent card plus
Choke point Determine the choke point size by 5.
changing the existing white dice to a face value of
6, and add a white 1D6 halved, rounding up, and
adding one; and place a yellow counter on top of Hazard An environmental hazard present on the
the two white dice on the card edge. card edge. Add an orange dice with a face value of
one to the card edge and roll 1D6 to see what color
counter to put underneath it; see the Hazards sec-
Climb The climb height is determined by the map
tion on the following page for details.
scale: 3D6 km for Regional, 3D6x100m for Locality,
3D6x10m for District and 3D6m for Complex and
1D6+2m for Facility or smaller. IED There is an improvised explosive device
present or equivalent amount of energy trapped
Crawlspace Determine the crawlspace size by here that will explode when crossed. Roll an orange
changing the existing white dice to a face value of dice and put it on the card edge with a black counter
5 and add a white 1D6 halved, rounding down; and underneath. See the Hazards section on the next
place a yellow counter on top of the two white dice page for details.
238 CHAPTER 13. STRUCTURED MAP BUILDER

Sheer A difficult climb which includes overhangs the Exfiltration chapter of the A Facility with Words
and vertical surfaces. The climb height is determined supplement if you have it.
by the map scale: 3D6 km for Regional, 3D6x100m for
Locality, 3D6x10m for District and 3D6m for Complex Uneven The surface materials are uneven, discon-
and 1D6+2m for Facility or smaller. Add the edge tinuous, loose or otherwise difficult to traverse. Ap-
value to the slope of each card of the climb. ply penalties equal to the edge value when moving
between the two cards.
Slip There is a risk of a major slippage. Roll an or-
ange dice and put it on the card edge with a Purple Unstable As blockage, but after clearing the mate-
counter underneath. See the Hazards section below. rial, the tunnel will need to be reinforced using joists
or sprayed cement to avoid it forming a new block-
Surveillance If the crew fails any action or has to age. This takes 10 times the amount of time that
add a defect, tally or stress to succeed while under clearing the barricade takes. Uncleared blockages
surveillance, increase the alert level by one if the provide extra hard cover for any attacks through the
surveillance level is greater than or equal to the alert card edge: this reduces any damage suffered by the
level. The surveillance level of a card is equal to highest face value difference between the card and
the number of counters in the highest stack of white any adjacent card, plus 5.
counters on the card or the highest face value of any
uncovered white dice on the card edge, whichever Vent The structure begins to vent any atmosphere
is higher. when a crew member crosses between the two cards.
Place a yellow counter on the defense dice when this
Trap An electrified trap, inflicting 1D6-1 BOLT occurs and move the dice to the lower value of the
damage against all living targets touching the shared two cards. Also place a white counter on the com-
card edge (+1 damage if Advanced). The trap can be mon card edge between the two cards to indicate
detected by Van Eck detectors and bypassed with the defense has been triggered. Resolve this as a
an electrical tool set. Use the Traps table instead in hull breach as described on page 189.

Hazards
Hazards are represented by orange dice on the map. Crew exposed to
the hazard will take damage equal to the face value of the dice: the Hazards
colour of the counter underneath the dice determines the damage type. Roll Color Damage
Most hazard damage is applied as continuous damage as described on 1 Clear FIRE
page 185 which means moving quickly through the hazard reduces the 2 Orange BOLT
damage. 3 Yellow RAD
Hazards on card edges affect unit touching the card edge with the haz- 4 Green STAB
ard dice on it. Hazards elsewhere on cards affect any unit that doesn’t 5 Blue ACID
have the majority of its counter on a white part of the card; except on 6 Purple CRASH
overlapping cards where it affects any unit that doesn’t have the majority Black BOMB
of its counter on a suit symbol. Hazard dice also count as defects when performing actions on the same
card even if the unit performing the action does directly contact the hazard.

Physical hazards Green, purple and black hazards do double damage as soon as a unit comes in contact
with the hazard, instead of applying continuous damage. Remove the hazard dice and counter after causing
the damage and replace them with a white counter. Toxins: Green counter hazards also apply a toxin to
any living target who takes 0 or more damage from the hazard. See the Complication table on page 202 for
details. Non-living targets take -1D6 less STAB damage.

Radiation hazards Radiation emitted from yellow counter hazards can cause damage further away than
the point of contact. In a vacuum, reduce damage by -1 at 5 m distance from the radiation source and and
-4 at 10 m distance. Thin or denser atmosphere blocks radiation hazards with a face value of less than 5 at
these distances.
Chapter 14

Encounters
240 CHAPTER 14. ENCOUNTERS

Encounters in space are rare and predictable, rather than frequent and unavoidable. Even on colonies,
encounters are usually planned rather than involuntary, and crew will quickly come into contact with other
colonists and at least know the names of and recognise the faces of all colonists in a small colony within a
year. Only large colonies and Bernals have the possibility of truly in person random events and encounters.
Random encounters while on a ship or in a small colony almost always take the form of an unsolicited off
world communication. Random encounters in Bernals and large colonies (150+ population) are situational
encounters in public spaces.
You must roll for a random encounter once per year. You will also have mandatory encounters whenever
you approach or spend time at exoinfrastructure – faction coloured tokens on site hexes and Bernals in
space – as outlined in the Migration and Trade section on page 251. You can also agree to roll for a random
encounter at any time: when you do each player immediately gets additional bumps just as if the minutes
on the watch had hit :00 - that is, one bump for each player plus one additional one for each point of glory
or notoriety the crew has (shared evenly amongst the players, so that if the crew gets one glory collectively,
each player gets one extra bump).
An encounter has the following parameters:

1. The faction encountered

2. If a random encounter is during space travel or at an uninhabited site, outpost or small colony, the
origin of the communication

3. The location of the encounter, if not a communication or during an approach or landing

4. The prompt, if random, or activity, if a mandatory encounter

5. The individuals in the encounter

Encountered Factions
The encounter will be either with another crew (odds) or upported colonists (evens); once the crew has
access to Promoted technologies they will begin to encounter promoted colonists (5, 6). Colonists when
encountered at a colony or space infrastructure will belong to the faction controlling the site on an even
result. Roll 1D6 for the BSU of the encountered colonists or crew if required: 1: Red. 2: White. 3: Green. 4:
Purple. 5: Orange. 6: Matching the space politics or Red if War or White if Anarchy. See the Faction Builder
on page 281 for details on the different colonist factions.

Additional faction types This Space Intentionally and All Errors are My Own add more faction types
and rules which superseded these Encountered Faction rules.

Space Travel Encounters

If you have a random encounter while travelling in space or when at a small colony, it will be over a
communications channel. You should roll for the origin of the communication on the Mission Goals table
using 2D6-5 for each 15 years that have passed in the game (one era). If the result is 0 or less than the signal
originates from Earth; if it is 20 or more, the signal is from an ongoing interstellar mission. Otherwise roll
2D6-1 on the Destination table for the mission goal you rolled. Place a counter matching the encountered
faction colour at the resulting site hex unless there is a black counter already present there – if you have
the board game playing pieces, use a factory cube instead of the second counter at a site and a colony
dome instead of the third counter at a site. Then proceed to generating a prompt on the next page rather
than choosing an encounter location.
LOCATIONS 241

Common destination The crew may wish to prevent tokens being added to the random encounter
destination – usually, but not always, because it will prevent the crew from completing their mission. To
prevent this is an action which takes one month – it uses the Activism skill if the encountered faction is
the crew’s mission control and the Anti-trust skill otherwise. If successful, the random encounter does not
occur and no tokens are placed – this represents the crew successfully delaying the launch that would have
resulted in the random encounter.

Locations
Encounters can occur in a variety of different locations in or outside a structure which are dedicated to
different functions and at a variety of scales, each of which is associated with a different population count.
Use the Locations table on the following page to where an encounter occurs. Then create a structured map
using the Structured Map Builder at the scale you rolled. The encounter will occur on a face up card on the
structured map you create matching the row you rolled, except subtract 4 if a residential location or 12 if a
rural or outside location – unless the biosphere is inadequate, where this modifier is already applied. If the
result is 1, use an Ace, if the result is 11, use a Jack, if the result is 12 use a Queen and if the result is 13, use
a King.

Encounter Prompts
The prompt is the reason for the encounter. Is it overhearing a conversation or news story, a direct interaction
or a call to adventure?

Ambushed The crew is engaged by security asked a series of questions about who they are and
forces, people or automated defense systems with- what they are doing here. If the questions are lead-
out warning and from a position of concealment. ing, the questioner will have assumed the crew’s
At low law levels this is typically a sniper from long intentions.
range, armed with a sniper rifle if non-military, des-
ignated rifle if military, or laser if a defense system –
with the first shot fired hitting the head of a random Asked to sell possession A crew member is ap-
crew member. At medium law levels this is typically proached by an individual from the encountered
using non-lethal equipment by security forces or mil- group and asked to sell or license a patent that they
itary small arms and explosives by military forces. At own; or the physical possession if in situ. The ex-
high law levels, the response is determined by the change appears fair value if the possession is cor-
law level. rectly assessed.

Approached A crew member is approached by Asked to settle argument A crew member is ap-
representatives of an encountered group who at- proached by two individuals from the encountered
tempts to solicit an outcome with the crew mem- group and asked settle a minor dispute.
ber such as recruiting them into the group or mak-
ing or breaking a business arrangement. If there
Awkward conversation A crew member is ap-
are no emotions involved, this will be an individual;
proached by a representative of the encountered
otherwise it will be a number of individuals whose
group who clearly needs something but is unwill-
emotional state means that they will have difficulty
ing to make clear what they require – instead the
accepting a negative answer. In this instance, the
conversation proceeds awkwardly about an incon-
crew member will have to use the appropriate social
sequential topic such as the (space) weather. Reroll
skills to try to avoid confrontation.
the encounter prompt if the crew member is able to
successfully negotiate their way through this initial
Asked questions A crew member is approached conversation – this second encounter occurs 1D6
by an individual from an encountered group and days later.
242 CHAPTER 14. ENCOUNTERS

Locations

Roll 1D6 for the type of location if required. 1: Outside/Recreational (Red). 2: Rural (White). 3: Industrial
(Green). 4: Residential (Purple). 5: Commercial (Orange). 6: Select the location type matching the Space
Politics or Outside/Recreational if War or Rural if Anarchy. The site population range determines the scale
the encounter occurs at, for the specific location type: use Urban for Industrial, Residential and Recreational.
Then roll 1D6 for commercial and recreational, 2D6 for industrial, 2D6+5 for residential or 2D6+11 for rural
and outside. Results after the slash are for terraformed worlds. For recreational, use the following instead
on a 4-6. 4: Gymnasium. 5: Car/bike parking. 6: Stadium. The subdivision column gives which location you
are in on the next smallest scale if required.
Scale Sub Room Facility Complex District
Rural pop 1+ 100+ 10,000+
Industry pop 10+ 1,000+ 100,000+
Urban pop 1+ 100+ 10,000+ 1,000,000+
Roll 2 Sub 50m 500m 5 km 50km
1 Out Facility entrance Expressway
2 Out Lobby or garage Side road Main road Brownfield
3 Rec Gardens Park Parkland
4 Com Office Office complex BSU district
5 Com Kitchen Club Hotel Entertainment
Hangar/or Runway, dock Air, sea or
6 Ind Lounge or hoist
VTOL pad or launchpad spaceport
7 Ind Workshop 3D Printer Factory
8 Ind Control room Plant Power plant
9 Ind Locker room Pool Waste treatment
10 Ind Crane or storeroom Cargo stacks Railways and warehouses
11 Res Gymnasium, library, theatre, clinic or gallery Campus or hospital
12 Res Conference room Head quarters BSU complex BSU district
13+ Res Residential locations only.
13, 15 Com Lobby or garage Shop Mall
17 Res Executive suite Mansion Compound Estate
Even Res Residence Housing
13+ Rur Rural/outside locations only. Rural subtracts 12 if biosphere inadequate. .
13 Rur Bushes Field. Minimum biosphere 9.
14 Rur Pool Rice paddy. Minimum biosphere 10.
15 Rur Brush Rain forest. Minimum biosphere 11.
16 Rur Path Access road Main road Expressway
17 Rur Grove Orchard. Minimum biosphere 13.
18 Rur Airlock Side road Main road Brownfield
19 Rur Thicket Pasture (Grotto if vegan). Minimum biosphere 15.
20 Out Wall Solar power plant
21 Out Barrier Pantrophic ecologies. Minimum biosphere 17.
22 Out Shed Silo Railway
23+ Out Tower Native ecologies. Minimum biosphere 19.
ENCOUNTER PROMPTS 243

Boastful rumours spread The crew discovers Damaged or destroyed The crew finds damaged
that the encountered group has spread rumours or destroyed robots equal to the number normally
about the crew that overstates their capabilities and encountered, or damaged or destroyed facilities that
successes. The crew is treated as having a point of impede their progress. Damaged facilities are haz-
glory for the next 1D6 encounters. ardous to cross; destroyed facilities must be repaired
or bypassed. Repairing the robots or facilities follow
the normal rules, with the inoperable facilities equal
Bombing An explosion detonates near enough to
to 1D6+4 body size.
the crew that they are hit by the blast and sprayed
with fragments. The crew takes 3 BOMB damage to
every location, +1 at Advanced or later technology Diatribe The crew receives a broadcast from an
levels or in high oxygen atmospheres, +1 in dense at- individual belonging to the encountered group. The
mospheres or +2 underwater, -1 in thin atmospheres transmission is ambiguous and indecipherable to
and no BOMB damage in tenuous atmospheres or anyone outside that group because of its use of in-
vacuum. The crew are also hit with a 3D6 attack group terminology and the emotional state of the
which does 3 GUN damage in vacuum or tenuous at- individual transmitting it.
mospheres, 1/2/3 GUN damage in thin atmospheres,
1 GUN damage if doubles are rolled in standard at- Distress call The crew receives a distress call from
mospheres and 1 GUN damage if triples are rolled a mission by the encountered group. Roll for a ran-
in thick atmospheres. GUN damage is not inflicted dom accident and an interception, except don’t limit
underwater. Anyone closer to the blast (50m in a the location of the interception to where the crew is
random direction) is not as lucky. travelling to. As a result, the crew is unlikely to be
able to respond to the distress call. Direct crew mod-
Celebration The encountered group celebrates ule to crew module communications are limited to
something that would not normally involve the crew. around 10,000,000 km, or well within the same he-
If they have an existing relationships, one or more liocentric zone, so the distress call is likely relayed
crew may end up being invited, but otherwise the from a larger base station back on Earth.
crew observes or learns about the celebration with-
out being involved. Engaged The crew is confronted by either local
security forces, an encountered group (people) or
Commercial advertising The crew receives com- local wild life, intent on apprehending or harming
mercial advertising specific to the local economy or the crew. The crew must determine whether they
one of the encountered group’s upgrades. fight or flee the encounter or risk negotiation. The
level of force used and willingness to negotiate is
determined by the alert level.
Complaints The crew overhear complaints from
the encountered group. If at a colony or Bernal,
these will be about the current location; otherwise Fleeing wild life The crew is caught in the path
they will be about an aspect of the faction. of fleeing wild life. Any injuries inflicted on the crew
are likely accidental unless the crew corners the wild
life which will turn to fight.
Crime scene The crew discovers a crime scene,
typically featuring property damage or theft – both
still extremely serious in space. Any participants (vic- Friendship One member of the encountered
tim, perpetrator and accomplices) are unwilling to group approaches one of the crew with the intention
provide further information unless they feel like they of becoming friends with them.
can trust the investigators. Other forensic informa-
tion may be available. Hacked Hackers have taken control of robots or
facilities to their own ends. If they notice the crew
they may decide to act in a more hazardous fashion.
Dead The crew finds the dead bodies of the en-
countered group or wild life equal to the number
that would normally be encountered. Examination Hull or dome breach A breach the outer hull or
should reveal the cause of death and the last mo- dome begins depressurizing the surrounding area or
ments of life. filling it with water or gas from outside the vehicle or
244 CHAPTER 14. ENCOUNTERS

facility. The appropriate tools and skills are required Radio silence The encountered group cuts off
to repair it, if the initial breach is survivable. any conversation with the crew entirely until another
encounter prompt occurs involving the encountered
Injured wild life The crew discovers sick or in- group.
jured wild life. Medical treatment is an option if the
crew is able to sedate the wild life or otherwise re- Radio chatter The crew receives communica-
strain it for safe handling. tions from one or more individuals from the encoun-
tered group, looking to talk to pass the time in tran-
Invited to social occasion The crew is invited to sit.
a social occasion by the encountered group. If al-
ready at a social occasion they are invited to partici-
Refuge The crew discovers the temporary living
pate in a functional role, such as an oath or toast, by
another participant, perhaps due to someone being space of an encountered group either displaced
missing who would perform that function. from their homes or permanently unhoused who
have forced to seek accommodations elsewhere.

Murder-suicide Someone in the encountered

group murders 1D6 other individuals, likely the peo- Retreating security forces The crew encounters
ple closest to them, and then either commits sui- local security forces retreating in disarray from com-
cide or starts behaving recklessly enough that they bat with the encountered group. The crew must de-
put themselves in danger. In combat conditions the termine whether to assist one side or bypass the
murdered individuals may be enemy combatants or combat.
prisoners
Scanned or stared at If in transit, the crew is ac-
News report The crew receives either an Earth- tively scanned by another spacecraft in transit, usu-
side or local news report about current events. ally from a RADAR or LIDAR ping. Otherwise the crew
is made to feel uncomfortable because of the length
Observation A crew member observes some sig- of time or the way one or more individuals from the
nificant information or interaction in the local envi- encountered group observe them.
ronment; or about the encountered group.
Security forces in combat The crew encounters
Others stopped The encountered group is pre- local security forces engaged in combat with the en-
vented from doing something by the local environ- countered group. The crew must determine how to
ment or because of inherent values in the group. avoid or interfere with the combat.
They may be unwilling or unable to overcome this
obstruction without outside assistance.
Sleeping companion One member of the en-
countered group approaches an individual crew
Praise The crew overhears praise from the en- member with the intention of entering into a sleep-
countered group. If at a colony or Bernal, these will ing arrangement with them. The crew member is
be about the current location; otherwise they will be free to determine whether they reciprocate this re-
about an aspect of the faction.
quest.

Propaganda The crew receives a transmission ex-

tolling the virtues and excellence of an encountered Social slogans The crew encounters video doc-
group. In the century of memes and memetics, this umentary, banners, graffiti or signage about local
is carefully tailored to get the crew intrigued about unrest or the encountered group’s origin story.
who this group is.
Spiteful rumours spread The crew discovers
Public announcement The crew receives a pub- that the encountered group has spread rumours
lic announcement about local unrest or the encoun- about the crew that are malicious and counter-
tered group’s min unrest doctrine, that is intended factual. The crew is treated as having a point of no-
to educate or increase public safety. toriety for the next 1D6 encounters.
INDIVIDUALS 245

Stopped The crew is prevented from doing their Told to leave area The crew is approached by
current action or operation without overcoming an individual from an encountered group who tells
something in the environment or by the actions of them to leave the area, as a result of current unrest,
the encountered group. The reason given should mistaken identity or an inadvertent social misstep.
help determine which additional skills and assets
the crew must use to continue: emotional reasons Unusual signal The crew observes an unusual
can be more easily identified than rational ones but data transmission from a random destination. It
are usually more difficult to overcome. is heavily encrypted and indecipherable, and likely
from a robotic probe visiting that location. Check
the claim level of a random mission destination to
Survey questions The crew receives a survey re- attempt to ascertain more information.
garding a local government issue or their awareness
of the encountered group’s organizational structure. Weaponized robots The crew encounters robots
which have been weaponized by the encountered
group, either by modifying their behaviour or 3D
Told rumours about a mission The crew either printing new designs or attachments.
overhears a conversation or is approached by an in-
dividual from the encountered group who tells them Wild life being butchered The crew discovers
information about a faction mission for that group. the encountered group killing wild life, either for
This information be incorrect, public knowledge or pleasure, food or because the wild life will suffer fur-
privileged secrets. ther if they are not euthanized.

Individuals
Crew, colonists and robots encountered can be quickly created by combining a disposition and intent card,
given at the end of this chapter. Disposition cards determine the opening statement that the individual will
direct towards the crew, and the equipment they carry including protective garb and weapons. Intent cards
determine the individual’s career, skills and relationships with others around them. Robots will only have a
disposition card unless they are conscious; disembodied intelligences will only have a disposition card.

Flipping Cards In all instances, you should start on the side of the disposition and intent cards with the
grey heading matching the number you rolled. If you are at a site where the text on the card tells you to flip
it, you should do so; so that you end up on the side of the card with the black heading. This represents a
crew member, colonist or robot with access to ET produced technologies available at the site.

Civilian Clothes Roll 1D6 if needed. 1: Cargo pants and vest (Red or War). 2: Sportswear (White). 3:
Coveralls (Green or Anarchy). 4: Casual shirt and trousers (Purple). 5: Business jacket and trousers (Orange).
6: Choose the result matching the local politics.

Encounter Numbers
Roll 1D6 for the number of individuals in a crew or colonist encounter. Military, White and Green crews and
colonists add an additional 1D6 individuals (not cumulative). Roll a further 1D6 for the number of robots
accompanying each group of crew or colonists, if required.

Crew and colonist modules Crew and colonist modules contain 8 crew or colonists per mass point.
Mass 0 crew and colonist modules contain 4 crew. Bernal payloads contain 100 inhabitants; anchored
Bernals contain approximately 10,000 inhabitants. Half (round down) of crew and colonists present in a
246 CHAPTER 14. ENCOUNTERS

payload or module who are not encountered will be asleep. They will be woken up and added to the crew
at alert level 4 and higher.

Pooled damage Individuals created using disposition and intent cards follow the same rules as the crew
with one exception: instead of tracking damage for each hit location, they use a single damage pool called
“Health” which all damage is applied to. Hits to the head cause 1 additional damage, and the individual
is disabled if they take one or more acid, gas or energy damage to the head location (including the +1
modifier), representing being blinded or otherwise unable to fight or move effectively.

Disposition Cards
There are 15 double-sided disposition cards for colonists and crew, and 6 for robots. Robot disposition
numbers are determined by the face up value of the 1D6 representing the robot on the map. Crew and
colonist dispositions are also determined by a roll, for each individual: Crew roll 1D6, doubled, and add 1 –
results will be from 3 to 13. Colonists roll 2D6-1. Security forces roll 1D6+7. Permission is given to print and
use the disposition cards as references while playing the game.

Vacuum conditions If the encounter is in vacuum conditions, encountered colonists and crew without
vacuum protection will be in emergency space suits and disabled as they are recovering from the bends.
Crew with vacuum protection will add a PLSS: this adds 3 load if their load is 3 or less, 2 load if their load is
4 and 1 load for higher load figures. Reduce this increase by 1 for flipped cards.

Robots The robots are designed as vacuum-rated: if designed for a planet with an atmosphere, increase
their rad-hardness by one. The robots will typically move to ram targets causing crash damage, then engage
in melee if they remain undamaged. Gun bots will fire their equipped weapons from range.

The Nitrogen blockade Due to the limitations on available nitrogen at most sites, ET produced small
arms are usually inferior to Earthside small arms – they also do not receive the benefit of automatically
halving of mass that other ET produced equipment gets. This limitation means military small arms are
only available on C sites and Titan, even for military personnel based at other sites – who are forced to
use simpler, archaic weapon designs. The effects of this are included in the disposition cards on the
flipped sides – the starting sides of the cards are assumed to be using Earthside weapons. More detail
is given in the A Facility with Words supplement.

Intent Cards
You should only determine intent when an individual needs to roll to perform an action. Crew and colonist
intents are determined by a new roll: Crew roll 1D6, doubled, and add 1. Colonists roll 2D6-1. Security
forces roll 1D6+7. For all rolls, once you create at least one commander in an encounter, you should subtract
1 from further results – 2 when generating crew. Permission is given to print and use the intent cards as
references while playing the game.

Blank Cards
There are two blank cards for each of the disposition and intent cards. If you get a duplicate card in an
encounter or the existing cards start to get repetitive, you can fill in one of the blank cards using the method
outlined in grey text on the card and use that. This involves rolling several times and copying the text from
the card you rolled onto the blank card in the appropriate spaces indicated. Copy the value on the reversed
(flipped) side of the card that you roll if the rule to flip the card applies, for that element of the card only.
Note that the rolls are identical to the rolls for choosing which card to use.
 INDIVIDUALS
Encounter Prompts

Roll 1D6 if in transit or if a communications signal is from uninhabited exoinfrastructure; otherwise roll 2D6 and add the current alert level, if any. Then roll 1D6
to determine the column to use. On a roll of 6, use the column matching the Space Politics or Local Politics. Colonist module: If the crew is carrying a colonist
module, roll for an additional encounter every year with the carried colonists using 2D6-2 for the first roll and the colonist BSU as the Local Politics. Passengers: If
carrying passengers, roll 1D6 each year less than or equal to the number of passengers to treat them as an additional colonist module encounter, with a Purple BSU.
Uninhabited Locations: If the crew location is missing a specific population (such as robots, wild life or people), ignore any encounter that doesn’t make sense
occurring.
Roll 2
Roll 1 2 3 4 5
1 Anger (Red or War) Fear (White or Anarchy) Green (Happiness) Purple (Curiosity) Orange (Jealousy)
0 Radio silence Awkward conversation Celebration Friendship Sleeping companion
1 Propaganda Distress call Radio chatter Unusual signal Diatribe
2 Asking leading questions Scanned or stared at Asked to resolve argument Asked innocent question Asked to sell a possession
3 Complaints about law level Complaints about unrest Complaints about biosphere Complaints about government Complaints about economy
4 Approached by recruiter Told to leave area Invited to social occasion Told rumours about mission Approached about business
5 Praise for law level Praise for unrest Praise for biosphere Praise for government Praise for economy
6 News report Public announcement Social slogans Survey questions Commercial advertising
7 Observation about law level Observation about unrest Observation about biosphere Observation about government Observation about economy
8 Approached by angry people Approached by fearful people Approached by happy people Approached by curious people Approached by jealous people
9 Others stopped by law level Others stopped by unrest Others stopped by biosphere Others stopped by government Others stopped by economy
10 Stopped by angry people Stopped by fearful people Stopped by happy people Stopped by curious people Stopped by jealous people
11 Stopped by law level Stopped by unrest Stopped by biosphere Stopped by government Stopped by economy
12 Murder-suicide Crime scene Injured wild life Damaged robot Damaged facilities
13 Engaged by security forces Engaged by people Engaged by wild life Boastful rumours spread Spiteful rumours spread
14 Bombing Dead bodies Dead wild life Destroyed robots Destroyed facilities
15 Ambushed Refuge Fleeing wild life Hacked robots Hacked facilities
16 Security forces in combat Retreating security forces Wild life being butchered Weaponized robots Hull or dome breach
If no law level unrest biosphere government economy
Use majority doctrine minority doctrine origin story org chart upgrades

247
248 CHAPTER 14. ENCOUNTERS

Alternately you can create your own encounter cards using the Sixty Years in Space rules as written. You can
also email andrewdoull@[Link] with the subject line Intent Cards to be given access to a spreadsheet
which will allow you to create your own intent cards procedurally.

Encounters using Outlook Cards

It is very easy to run out of table space if you use a disposition and intent card for each individual in
the encounter: it can also be a problem if you roll multiple duplicate intents or dispositions in a single
encounter.
As a short cut, after you generate each individual, you can record their disposition by using outlook cards
with the same face value as the disposition and intent numbers you rolled: use the first outlook to represent
the disposition and the second to represent the intent. Remember the first Outlook suit should normally
match the BSU that the individual belongs to – unless it is a Purple BSU. Record damage and disabling
effects by putting counters onto the two outlook cards: a purple counter for each point of damage they
take and a black counter if the individual becomes disabled.

Biotech At a colony, biotech are farmers are re- Network operator Network operators are re-
sponsible for farm management and improvements sponsible for maintaining the communications and
to farming systems, even once farming has auto- computing infrastructure at the colony, factory and
mated away the need for labour. elsewhere on the site.

Doctor This includes all health professionals such Pilot At a colony, pilots are responsible for pi-
as surgeons, nurses, midwives and pantrophists, loting the vehicles used to mine the raw materials
who are responsible for the overall health and well needed by the factory, including water, isotopes and
being of the colony. organic and inorganic compounds available at the
site. With autonomous vehicles, this resembles air
Domestic Domestics include almost all hospital- traffic control – focused on scheduling and hazard
ity and service careers in the colony as well as full tracking and avoidance – which means most pilots
time parents, educators and carers. act much more as marine or harbour pilots than
spacecraft pilots, although with many of the same
skills.
Engineer Engineers have overall responsibility to
Pilots are also responsible for loading and launch the
ensure the factory and colony infrastructure is built
freighters to the destination markets such as LEO or
and maintained correctly and safely. This includes
another Bernal. Because freighters move relatively
building and maintenance of the factory, power
slowly compared to other spacecraft (by using ex-
plant, water and sewage recycling, CO2 filtration and
tremely low thrust but high ISP rocket engines or
removal, heating ventilation and air conditioning
because they carry a massive amount of fuel in pro-
(HVAC), lighting, power and other systems needed
portion to their cargo), freighter pilots almost never
to sustain colonist life.
on board the freighter. At space ports, inbound for-
eign ships may be unwilling to accept remote control
Entrepreneur Entrepreneurs include everything of their steering systems and thrusters so in many
from businessmen, designers and artists where in- instances it makes sense for a pilot to be on board
novation is the central driver for their role. En- to have some ’skin in the game’.
trepreneurs constantly attempting to build new
products and develop new markets for their existing
products. Scientist Scientists are initially responsible for de-
termining the geology and integrity of the existing
mining locations and locating new ones along with
Mission Specialist At a colony, mission special- bringing in revenue by performing research in a wide
ists are responsible for running the factory opera- variety of fields.
tions, and include 3D printer operators, wiring spe-
cialists, hazardous material handlers, teleoperators,
machinists, roboticists, logistics specialists, factory Security Officer Security are responsible for the
ergonomics specialists and managers. overall internal and external security of the colony.
SOCIAL OCCASIONS 249

Colony Meals

Roll 1D6 to determine which columns apply. Then roll 1D6 for each column chosen. Herbivorous meals are
vegan friendly. Preserved foods includes all foods kept for storage or transport.
Meal Carnivorous and Herbivorous Size 10+ Size 1-9
Roll 1, 3, 5, 6 3, 6 2, 3, 4, 6 1, 2, 3 4, 5, 6
Preserved or
Always if Carnivore Herbivore free fall
Omni- Fresh, not free
Requires Not herbivore vore Not carnivore fall
Distilled fruit aged until carbonated
1 Baked meat cake and pomace pungent foam
Mashed plant
2 Boiled larvae and tubers on a block of ice confit
freeze-dried and
3 Crab analog and Nutrient pulp on a stick vacuum sealed
4 Fermented milk and Plant cuttings served on salt paste in a tube
Raw meat with Seed cake wrapped sizzling on a hot powdered meal
5 pickles and in leaves plate replacement
Starch dipped in suspended in a
6 Sugar syrup and hydrocarbon with vinegar gelling agent

Spacewalker Spacewalkers are EVA specialists, Student Independent colonies rely on home-
but on a site they need to potentially range far fur- schooling, on the job training and massive online
ther than the far end of a spacecraft, whether it is to courses to train children in the complex and highly
technical roles that they will need to fulfill when
check for subsidence or integrity of existing mining they grow up. Children will usually be trained to a
works or accompany scientists when prospecting post-graduate level before they can begin to perform
new locations, other colony careers.

Social Occasions
Food and drink, sports and games, music and dance, celebrations and charitable giving are a part of many
social occasions and cultural practises. If you need to determine the occasion, roll 1D6. 1: Game (Red). 2:
Religious service (White). Roll again, using Ceremony if you roll this result. 3: Party (Green). 4: Show (Purple).
5: Charitable fund raising (Orange). 6: Select the occasion matching the Space Politics or Ceremony if War
or Anarchy. Ceremonies celebrate a recent or distant historical event and are a type of party; except they
always include a roll on the Ceremony column when being performed.
All occasions will be accompanied by a meal. The selection of foods is limited aboard ship or at a small
colony and important occasions will feature ingredients from the highest achieved biosphere rating. A
wider range of traditional foods are available at larger colonies and Bernals. Use the Colony Meals table on
the current page for preparing cuisine at a colony.
There will always be a great deal of meaning imbued in these activities, even a simple meal. The pop of air
escaping from opening a can of carbonated foam has the sound of a hull puncture. Meats have pork-like
flavours to recall the season the crops failed. Hot plates resemble radiator fins.
 250
Games, Parties, Shows and Charities

Roll 1D6 to determine which columns apply. Then roll 1D6 for each matching column, reading left to right.
Roll Physical (1,3,5,6) Mental (2,4,5,6) Social (2,3,4,6) Capital (1,4,5) Game
1 Arena combat Alternate history Battle Royale augmented reality game
2 Ball passing Economic auction bluffing with hidden roles management sim
3 Big game hunting Fantasy relationship one versus many with robots as playing pieces
4 Pain and humiliation Space colony push your luck virtual reality game
5 Push the cart Trivia story telling inside hydraulic simulators
6 Target shooting Turn-based strategy team-based league with wagers
Roll Other invitees (All) Attendance (All) Ceremony (1,2) Event (2,3,4,5,6) Party
1 A fan club using telepresence devices to award a medal at a birthday party
2 Former work colleagues failed to turn up to eat and drink the first of the harvest at a coming of age ceremony
3 School friends have pre-recorded messages for group sex or to take drugs for an Earthside holiday
4 Extended family have sent someone in person to make a speech for an exceptional achievement
5 Off-world migrants using simulacra to consume a luxury good from Earth to honour a missing colleague
Choose the entry matching the Space
Mission control or an away are on a call bridge with Politics colour or Red if War or White if
6 team communications delays Anarchy to remember an anniversary
Roll Olfactory / Tactile (1,3,5) Kinesthetic (All) Visual (1, 2, 3, 4) Auditory (3, 4, 5, 6) Show
1 Blowing flame rings musicians free-style after donning virch suits to amplified audio from the nearest planet
2 Haloed by fireworks painted bodies writhe amidst a scale model of the facility to live fingerstyle guitar music
in an transparent aluminium blister
3 In a petrochemical haze retro-automata recreate scenes outside the hull to pidgin rap over break beats
4 Through scented bubbles tethered dancers juggle in mechs to remixes of the Voyager Golden Record
5 Wet with salt water spray the audience is seated in the original crew module to ringing 3d printed chimes

CHAPTER 14. ENCOUNTERS

6 With gusts of dry heat your hosts perform puppetry on a stage orbiting the audience with algorithmic noise cancellation
Roll Action (1,3,5) Action (2,4,6) Recipients (1,2) or (3,4) Recipients (5,6) Charity
1 Publish personal details of Give money to the poor or oppressed minorities people wanting to be pen pals
2 Publicly mock and shame Give housing to the homeless or former prisoners corrupt politicians and entrepreneurs
3 Increase tax rates on Give drugs to drug addicts or sex offenders the wealthy
4 Prevent extradition of Subsidize healthy food for children at school or the incarcerated refugees
Give free make-up and the disabled and elderly or scientists
5 fashion to Give assistive technology to and artists victims of domestic violence
6 Give budgeting advice to Increase public respect for sex workers or essential workers teenagers
MIGRATION AND TRADE 251

Migration and Trade Activities

Activity Skill Time Opposed Succeeds Automatically If
Approach Antitrust 1 month - 1y Yes Assigned a mission to this destination.
(Incidental approaches occur if the crew
- Incidental Devops 1 month - 1y No has a permit for another adjacent site).
(Crew is starving or crew member needs a
- Mayday Varies 1 month If lying hospital bed or thruster is disabled.)
Carrying a cargo for or picking one up
Landing Activism 1 month Yes from this destination.
- Factory Pilot 1d/size No Pay 1 WT of cargo or 1 debt for each crew.
- Hostile Negotiation See entry No Net thrust is 9+ and has half a burn of fuel.
Unload cargo Teleops 1d No (Colonists disembark instead).
- No contract Engineer 1w No
Disembark Medical 2h If sick Action takes 1 month instead.
At a factory controlled by your mission
ET mission Trading desk 1d No control.
At a small colony and job is subsistence
Employment Your choice Any Yes farmer.
Lift-off Streetwise 1d No Carrying a cargo for elsewhere.
- Factory Pilot 1d/size No Pay 1 WT of cargo or 1 debt for each crew.
- Hostile Bypass 10m Yes (Lift-off is hostile if the alert level is 5+).

Migration and Trade

Enterprising crews riding atop a nuclear-powered rocket moving at kilometers per second may feel they
have some license to act out gunboat diplomacy as they arrive at sparsely populated colonies in the outer
reaches of space. Nothing is further from the truth. A spaceship attacking exoinfrastructure resembles
nothing so much as a kayak made of tissue paper and equipped with bows going up against a tank; without
even weaponising its production, a factory has the overwhelming advantage in power and mass available
to it.
A hostile landing is still possible because of the one advantage a spacecraft has: its relatively high in-bound
velocity, that allows it to attempt a degree of mutually assured destruction. The times given on the Landing
Times table on the following page gives an indication of the final moment at which the crew can covert
their remaining fuel into a damaging kinetic collision with the colony at the site. For a mass 0 rocket, a
collision at one burn (2.5 km/s) causes 20 BOMB damage, equivalent to detonating 8000 kg of RDX high
explosives. This is still some 1/100th or less of the energies required to render exoinfrastructure inoperable,
which requires 10s of kilotonnes of nuclear weapons due to the fact that most of it is buried or covered in
regolith to minimise the exposure to cosmic rays. Extremely slow rockets are further limited in their ability
to be a threat because they must start predictable paths much earlier in order to enter orbit around or land
at the site.
The levers a crew has to pull to give it some say in how they are received at an uncaring or overtly hostile
destination are largely found in courts of law and public opinion. Trade may be another lever, but in a
future with ubiquitous 3D printing, very few assets are valuable enough to be worth transporting across the
vast reaches of space.

Migration and Trade Activities

When the crew travels to any exoinfrastructure, they will have a number of mandatory migration and trade
encounters with the inhabitants. Each migration and trade encounter replaces the encounter prompt with
an action check to determine whether the crew gets a permit to move to or from the site or to perform
various actions at the site – although in many circumstances, the crew will succeed automatically at the
check. This cover activities such as approach, landing and lift-off, payload delivery, disembarking, acquiring
252 CHAPTER 14. ENCOUNTERS

new contracts and employment. These mandatory encounters begin when the crew is adjacent to the site
and finish when the crew has left the site.

Partial success The crew can choose to succeed at any migration or trade action by adding a complica-
tion. If the time scale is less than a month and the crew is not a life-threatening situation, roll 1D6+6 for the
complication instead of 2D6.

Chrome own The crew has chrome for pretext, trade and migration actions with their own faction.
Opposing skills always have chrome.

War and Anarchy All trade and migration actions when the Space Politics is War or Anarchy have one
additional defect – in addition, if there are exactly two tokens present at a site, crew can perform migration
and trade activities as if the factory was built by them. This represents hijacking of equipment at the site –
a Bypass action is required for each activity.

Approach
Approach is required whenever the crew moves to enter adjacency to the site.
Adjacency means you can trace a path to the site that doesn’t go through an inter- Landing Times
section or space, except you can ignore hazards and lander burns when determining Net Bingo
adjacency. Thrust Time
Approach without a permit is resolved as an Antitrust action – it will be opposed by 13 1m
the faction at the site using a skill level of 5. The crew will have an approach permit 12 4m
if they have been assigned a mission to the destination. If they have an assigned 11 16m
mission for any other site that they are also adjacent to then the crew can attempt 10 1h
an unopposed Devops action instead. Approaches are resolved at a year long time 9 4h
scale unless the crew launched from another site in the last two years: if this is 8 18h
the case, the approach is resolved at the month long time scale. The approach 7 3d
occurs as a part of the move, rather than being a separate action and the approach 6 11d
will have finished by the time the crew attempts to land at the site or at another 5 45d
location as a part of their move. 4 90d
3 180d
Outposts A claim or factory will have an inhabited outpost if you roll 1 on 1D6 2 270d
at the start of the approach.

Pretext The crew can perform an Activism action taking a year to create the pretext for a political mission
to any inhabited site.

Mayday If the spacecraft thruster is disabled (Engineer), the crew is starving to death (Ecology) or a crew
member needs a hospital bed (Medical), then they may be able to approach the site. The crew must verify
this using the appropriate skill given in the brackets depending on their situation – if they are attempting
to falsely impersonate a mayday, the action is opposed with a skill level of 5 and a defect is added to the
colony’s faction.

Landing
The crew has a landing permit if they have a cargo to deliver to or pick up from the destination. Otherwise
the crew must perform landing as an action with the faction. If the crew is performing a hostile landing this
is done using the Negotiation skill – the time scale is determined by the Landing Times table on the current
page. Otherwise this is done using the Activism skill which takes one month and will be opposed by the
MIGRATION AND TRADE 253

faction at the site using a skill level of 5. This represents the crew making a political case for the landing to
be allowed. The landing occurs as a part of the move, rather than being a separate action and the landing
will have finished by the time the crew finishes landing at the site.

Pick up contract The crew can attempt to get an ET mission from the destination while en route. One
such mission is always available at large colonies or Bernals. This will allow the crew to land.

Factory landing and lift-off If the site has a factory, the crew can pay to leave their spacecraft in orbit
and land using a civilian transport. They must pay again to return to their spacecraft in orbit. The crew can
also perform a factory-assisted landing or take-off using their spacecraft at a factory their faction controls
on a size 1-6 site: this allows them to ignore their thruster requirements. This activity takes 1 day per site
size.

Hostile landing A hostile landing can occur whenever a crew is adjacent to a site when their rocket has
half a burn or more of fuel remaining. The hostile landing has a landing time scale equal to the Bingo Time
on the Landing Times table on the facing page. Use the net thrust of the highest thrust thruster on the
rocket that has half a burn of fuel available. If performing a hostile landing with a net thrust of 9 or higher,
the crew can perform an over the horizon landing – where they can effectively land while remaining on
the other side of the planet from the colony. Over the horizon landings always succeed however the crew
cannot subsequently unload cargo or disembark without performing another landing.

Unloading Cargo
If the crew had an agreed cargo to deliver at their arrival, this is a Teleops action to manage the payload
inspection and removal. Otherwise the entire spacecraft will be inspected, which is an Engineering action.
This can occur if the crew is attempts to sell valuables such as spacecraft components following negotiations
at the site. Colonists disembark instead of being unloaded.
Valuables A valuable in Sixty Years in Space is anything that is worth exporting to another site. Inks
are the least valuable item. Other products associated with a spectral class, faction or biosphere are
the next most valuable – before the Exoglobalization era (2070), this includes Earthside technologies,
colony seed stock and site-specific limiting factors. For both inks and products, if the site or any
site connected by buggy road has the spectral class or lab to needed to produce the item, it is not
considered valuable. The most valuable commodities are isotope fuels and information in quantities
too large to transmit in Sixty Years in Space; these can even be exported to sites which can produce
their own in situ. See This Space Intentionally for more examples.

Unloading refineries If the crew unloads a refinery as agreed cargo and the site hex has less than three
tokens on it, then increase the number of tokens on it to three using counters matching the faction’s BSU.
These three counters represent the claim, factory and colony present at the site: use a factory cube and a
colony dome instead of counters if you have the playing pieces.

Unloading Bernals The crew cannot unload a Bernal at a site larger than size 1: they must do so while
adjacent to the site and before they land. If the crew unloads a Bernal, and the space the Bernal is unloaded
in has less than five tokens, then increase the number of tokens on it to five – using your mission control
faction colour counters. Use a Bernal cylinder instead of five counters if you have the playing pieces.

Unloading other cargo The crew can unload other agreed cargo or valuables. If successful, crew mem-
bers then get your choice of either: A) a faction upgrade matching the colour of any counter at the site and
their current technology level or B) a license to a spacecraft component matching the factory’s spectral
class. If the crew then spends a year of employment at the site, at the end of this time you can replace a
component of their spacecraft with the new component they have licensed.
254 CHAPTER 14. ENCOUNTERS

Delivery Rewards Building a factory at a site will give your crew access to the technology class equal
to the site spectral class. This will also increase the technology level they have access to to ET produced;
or Advanced if this is the second spectral class the crew gets access to. If the factory is at a TNO science
site, it will be a laboratory and the crew will get access to Promoted technologies. If a Bernal is unloaded
adjacent to a science site that has a factory on it, then the Bernal will become a laboratory and the crew
will get access to Promoted technology levels. See the Upgrades chapter on page 144 for the impact of
getting access to new technology levels.

Disembarking
If the crew or colonists wish to visit the colony, then the crew must complete a Medical action check to
certify that they are free from infectious disease. If they are not free from infectious disease this will be
opposed by a skill level of 5. Crew and colonists can get a permit to disembark if they quarantine themselves
for one month under remote medical supervision.

Crew Conduct Destruction of property or harming inhabitants is a major crime and results in a Migration
and Trade Accident. Accidental damage or using nonlethal weapons in self-defense lowers the severity of
the offence after being arrested to a complication. Crew without a working crew module must be employed
to remain at any exoinfrastructure for longer than a day. They are permitted one free day per month.

Disembarking Colonists If a colonist module disembarks, remove it from the crew’s payload, then add
one faction-coloured counter to the site hex to represent the site infrastructure being upgraded as a result
of the colonists’ efforts. Use a counter matching the colonist’s BSU colour.
The crew then gets your choice of either: A) a faction upgrade matching the colonist’s BSU and your current
technology level or B) a license to a spacecraft component matching the factory’s spectral class. If the crew
then spend a year of employment at the site, you can replace a component of their spacecraft with the new
component you have licensed.

Emergency disembark You can attempt to disembark a colonist module at an uninhabited site if the
colonist module ISRU is less than or equal to the site hydration. If you do this, only place the faction-
coloured counter if there is no black counter already at the site, and you roll 1D6 less than the site size –
roll twice if the colonist has a buggy platform. If you roll higher, put a black counter on the site instead.

ET Mission
Choose an inhabited site which has a different spectral class and is not
connected by buggy roads in order to get an ET mission to it. If the crew’s ET Payloads
action check is successful, roll on the ET payloads table to see what the Roll ET Payload
payload is. The payload you roll will be the agreed cargo the crew must 1 Bernal (mass 10)
deliver to the destination you chose and will be loaded onto the crew’s 2 Colonist module
spacecraft prior to lift off. Roll 1D6 for the WT mass of the payload if you 3 Exports
don’t have a way of determining it otherwise. Abandoning the cargo 4 Limiting factor
prior to delivery will result in a migration and trade complication at the 5 Refinery
site you acquired the ET mission at. Crew can only attempt to get an ET 6 Valuables
mission once each year at a small colony or once each month at a large colony. Bernals and larger colonies
(5 or more tokens) are not limited in the number of ET missions available.
If you roll limiting factor, choose a limiting factor at the destination site from the Spectral Classes section
on page 217 of the Sites chapter for the destination site’s spectral class that is not a limiting factor at the
current site. If there is none, then you must retry the activity to get a new ET mission. If you roll exports
choose an export from the site. If you roll refinery, use the payload on the black side of the spacecraft card
which matches the spectral class of the site. Reroll if at a C-class site.
MIGRATION AND TRADE 255

Employment
Choose a non-combat skill of your choice to get employment enough to feed and house the employed
crew member for the time period of your choice. The attempt is opposed by a skill level of 6 minus the era
number: that is the opposing skill level is 5 for Upported (2040-2054), 4 for Colonization (2055-2069), 3 for
Exoglobalization (2070-2084), 2 for Futures (2085-2099) and 1 for Directions (2100+). Choosing a physical
skill or working as a subsistence farmer impacts the crew as if they were in space without a rotating crew
module. Employment is not required if the crew has a working crew module.

ISRU refuelling If the crew has a crew module and a working buggy, raygun or missile with an ISRU
less than or equal to the site hydration, they can use a day of employment using the EVA or Mining skill to
recover centitanks (400 kg) of fuel equal to the site hydration plus one minus the ISRU; or a year for the
same number of water tanks of fuel (40 tonnes); or 1D6 minutes to recover the same number of kilograms
of water. If the crew’s rocket is dirt-fueled they can recover 20 centitanks of dirt in a day or 20 tanks of dirt in
a year this way. If the crew helped build the factory present at the site, then they can recover 8 centitanks
of fuel in a day or 8 tanks of fuel in a year this way.

Lift-off
The crew has a lift-off permit if they have an agreed cargo to deliver elsewhere. Otherwise the crew must
perform lift-off as a Streetwise action, taking one day. If the alert level is 5 or higher, the crew must lift off
using a Bypass action with an opposed skill level equal to the alert level – this takes 10 minutes.

Migration and Trade Accidents

If an accident occurs during migration and trade activities, roll 1D6 to determine the outcome of the
accident, -2 if the Space Politics is War or -1 if Anarchy. Results will be enforced by local security forces who
will attack (result -0) or arrest the crew on sight (results 1+).

Uninhabited exoinfrastructure If the exoinfrastructure doesn’t have any population; because it is an

uninhabited claim or factory, then there will be no people present to form a mob or arrest the crew (accident
results 1+). The same outcome will occur but only when the crew visits the next inhabited exoinfrastructure
belonging to the faction. Reroll the accident at this time.

Roll Accident Mob justice The crew will be surrounded by an

-0 Spacecraft attacked armed mob when they land or are released. The
1 Ransomed (Red) mob must be negotiated with as an additional Migra-
2 Mob justice (White) tion and Trade action using the appropriate social
3 Payload seized (Green) skill (either Negotiation if the crew is armed or Street-
4 Hard labour (Purple) wise if they are not armed) to stop 2D6 individuals
5 Payment demanded (Orange) attacking the crew.
6 Majority decision

Payload seized The crew’s payload is seized with-

Hard labour The crew must perform a year of out compensation; or their spacecraft if they have
hard labour before being released. This impacts the no payload, leaving only their crew module; or their
crew as if they were in space for a year. crew module, if they have no spacecraft. Roll 1D6 to
choose another accident if they don’t have a crew
module.
Majority decision Choose the result matching
the colour of the majority of tokens representing Payment demanded The crew must make a pay-
the exoinfrastructure, rolling for ties. ment to proceed. Roll 1D6+1. If the crew has some-
256 CHAPTER 14. ENCOUNTERS

one with a Capital who exceeds the roll then they frastructure at the site, which will target the lowest
have the funds available at no additional cost. If the rad-hardness spacecraft component of the radiator,
crew only has someone whose Capital equals the generator and reactor. Roll 1D6 for each raygun on
roll, then one of those crew members incurs one spacecraft present and 1D6 for each exoinfrastruc-
debt. If not, roll 1D6 to choose another accident. ture token beyond the first present at the site. The
targeted component will be destroyed if the highest
Ransomed The crew is ransomed. Each crew roll exceeds the component’s rad-hardness, prevent-
member adds 1D6 debt to be released. If any crew ing the thruster and robonaut from working until it
member’s Capital drops to 0 they are executed. is repaired. If the spacecraft has completed an over-
the-horizon landing, then it cannot be attacked this
Spacecraft attacked The crew’s spacecraft is im- way. Set the Space Politics to War if it was not already
mediately be attacked by any spacecraft and exoin- when the spacecraft is attacked.

Migration and Trade Complications

Roll Complication Diplomatic incident Add one defect to the
2 Diplomatic incident colony’s faction.
3 Medical inspection
4 Payment demanded (1D6)
5 Crew restrained Local contact Any of the crew can spend a skill
6 Crew arrested point in order to get a colony contact.
7 Confined to crew module
8 Supervision required Medical inspection The crew undergoes invasive
9 Weapon restraints medical inspection. The functionality of all body
10 No salvage permitted parts will be disabled – requiring crew repair them
11 Local contact to re-enable them.
12 Added permit
No salvage permitted The crew is not permit-
Added permit The crew gets one additional per- ted to take any goods that they discover through
mit of their choice. a search of the site or structures on it back onto the
spacecraft. Doing so become a Streetwise action
opposed by a skill level of 5.
Confined to crew module The crew is not per-
mitted to disembark and must remain in the crew
Payment demanded (1D6) As the payment de-
module throughout their stay. Any attempt to dis-
manded accident outcome, except only roll 1D6 to
embark becomes a Bypass action opposed by a skill
determine the payment level.
level of 5. The crew is able to use 15 kg telepresence
robots to visit locations outside the crew module:
these are equipped with two-way transmitters and Supervision required The crew cannot proceed
cameras, have an EVA of 2, can carry up to 3 kg and without agreeing to have an individual supervisor
are not permitted enter face card locations in the accompanying them for the duration of the activ-
colony. ity: this supervisor will be transferred on-board the
crew module via a chemical rocket if the crew is in
space. An arrest warrant will be issued if the crew
Crew arrested and released with a warning. attempts to migration and trade activities without
the supervisor present.
Crew restrained The crew is not permitted to dis-
embark without being restrained using technology Weapon restraints The crew’s weapons are fitted
appropriate restraints. The restraints prevent them with technology level appropriate restraints. The
from using more than 1 movement point per turn crew is unable to 3D print weapons on printers at
and stops any other actions other than talking. Each the exoinfrastructure without succeeding at a Bypass
disembark requires a separate permit. action.
You think that... travelling through space means you understand what living here is like.
Padded coat over civilian clothes, gloves, hat Suit penalty 1
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo
Chair 0.3 0/1 MELEE ½ Breaks on complication

Disposition 1: Heckler
△◯
Thrown rock △◯ 2 3 0/2 MELEE ½ ◯ 1 use

Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯

Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee 1 (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas
Back 5 MP Load 1 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Flip to other side at V-factory
Can I help you with... your situation, which appears to be a result of misunderstanding our situation.
Civilian clothes, torn to make improvised bandages if alert level 3+ Suit penalty 2
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo

Disposition 2: Samaritan
Unarmed △◯ 0.1 0.2 1/2 MELEE Disable 1 Unlimited
White flag tied to chair leg △◯ 0.2 1 MELEE 1 Breaks on complication

Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯

Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas
Back 5 MP Load 0 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Flip to other side at D-factory
I heard that... you want some information. Could you tell me something about yourself?
Soft space suit, ballistic helmet Suit penalty 2 3
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo
Bat △◯ 0.2 1 MELEE 1¼ Unlimited
Disposition 3: Gossip

Fire axe △◯ 0.2 3 MELEE ½ Unlimited

(only has Fire axe if alert 4+, war or anarchy)
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Head 0/6 2 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun 1 Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire 1 Gas
Back 5 MP Load 5 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Flip to other side at C-factory
You think that... being changed by the future means you can forget the present and the past.
LED lit civilian clothes, hooded cloak Suit penalty 1
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo
Chair 0.3 0/1 MELEE ½ Breaks on complication

Disposition 1: Heckler
△◯
Thrown rock △◯ 2 3 0/2 MELEE ½ ◯ 1 use

Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯

Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee 1 (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas
Back 5 MP Load 0 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Use this side at V-factory
Can I help you with... getting off this rock? You don't look stranded but you've stayed too long.
Civilian clothes over nanoblack skin tight space suit, ballistic helmet Suit penalty 2
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo

Disposition 2: Samaritan
Unarmed 0.1 0.2 1/2 MELEE Disable 1 Unlimited
Doubled clockwork pistol △◯ 3 5 10 0/1 GUN 4 ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯, 1/60s
(ROF 2 after ◯ ◯ used)
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Head 0/6 2 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas
Back 5 MP Load 2 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Use this side at D-factory
I heard that... you want some data. Could you share some access keys to your archives?
Skintight space suit with radiative cooling, ballistic helmet Suit penalty 1 3
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo
Bat △◯ 0.2 1 MELEE 1¼ Unlimited
Disposition 3: Gossip

Diamondoid fire axe △◯ 0.2 4 MELEE ½ Unlimited

(only has Fire axe if alert 4+, war or anarchy)
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Head 0/6 2 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas
Back 5 MP Load 2 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Use this side at C-factory
Together we can... find a path forward built on sound principles. What are your non-negotiables?
Black civilian clothes, goggles, improvised face covering such as a scarf Suit penalty 4
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo

Disposition 4: True believer

Sign △◯ 0.2 1 MELEE 1 Breaks on complication
Molotov cocktail △◯ 2 3 Counter on fire [9] ½ ◯ 1 use
(card on fire at 0.5m scale)
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas 1
Back 5 MP Load 1 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Flip to other side at V-factory
It seems to me... that you spent a lot of fuel getting here so you should try to enjoy being here.
Launch/re-entry suit, face mask, ear plugs Suit penalty 2 5
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo

Disposition 5: World weary

Entrenching tool △◯ 0.2 2 MELEE ½ Unlimited
1.2 kw Cutting tool △◯ 1D6-2 STAB ¼ Use batteries @ ½/600s
(x2 damage vs arms and legs)
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 Acid 1 Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire 2 Gas
Back 5 MP Load 3 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Flip to other side at S-factory
... Just enjoying the sound of the HVAC. It's still running so we're still breathing.
Synthetic leathers Suit penalty 1 6
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo
Sap △◯ 0.1 2 MELEE 1 Unlimited
Disposition 6: Quiet

Improvised zip gun △◯ 8 9 27 2/3/4 GUN ½ ◯ 1 use

(only uses Zip gun if alert 4+, war or anarchy)
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee 2 (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas
Back 5 MP Load 2 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Flip to other side at M-factory
Together we can... discover both who we are and what we could be. What are your limits?
Adversial image body suit invisible to AI with less than 13 Int / 8 Mental unless painted. 4
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo

Disposition 4: True believer

Sign △◯ 0.2 1 MELEE 1 Breaks on complication
Molotov cocktail △◯ 2 3 Counter on fire [9] ½ ◯ 1 use
(card on fire at 0.5m scale)
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas
Back 5 MP Load 1 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Use this side at V-factory
It seems to me... you're getting attached to this place. It's the stars and the dust, I can tell.
Silvered hazmat suit, blind attackers using lasers Suit penalty 1 5
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo

Disposition 5: World weary

Entrenching tool △◯ 0.2 2 MELEE ½ Unlimited
1 kW Solid state dazzler △◯ 60 88 116 0/1/2 -1D6 FIRE 4 Use batteries @ ½/600s
(affects external subsystems only)
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 Acid 2 Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam 2 Bolt Fire 3 Gas
Back 5 MP Load 4 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Use this side at S-factory
... They say space is quiet. But if you listen closely, you can hear the cosmic rays.
Superconducting soft space suit, ballistic helmet Suit penalty 2 6
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo
Sap △◯ 0.1 2 MELEE 1 Unlimited
Disposition 6: Quiet

1.8 kW EMP laser △◯ 120 176 232 1/2/3 -1D6 FIRE 3 Use batteries @ 1/600s
(affects external subsystems only)
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Head 0/6 2 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun 1 Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt 2 Fire 1 Gas
Back 5 MP Load 5 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Use this side at M-factory
Did you know... this only exists because of an erroneously filed claim? An incredible outcome!
Coveralls and welding mask Suit penalty 7
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo

Disposition 7: Explainer
Knife △◯ 0.1 1D6-4 STAB 1 Unlimited
Battery pack IED △◯ 6 BOMB All ¼ ◯ 1 use
(-1 damage/5m from blast)
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Head 0/6 1 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire 1 Gas
Back 5 MP Load 5 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Flip to other side at S-factory
At least we haven't... stopped when we hit rock bottom - because technology lets us keep digging.
High vis vest over faction uniform, med kit, latex gloves and spit mask Suit penalty 8

Disposition 8: Fears the worst

Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo
Pepper spray, tranquilizer △◯ ½ (1D6-4) GAS Shock 1 ◯ ◯ 1/6s
Assault rifle (3 round bursts) △ ◯ 14 16 33 2/3/4 GUN 2½ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯, 1/60s
(only has Assault rifle if alert 4+, war or anarchy)
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas
Back 5 MP Load 2 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Flip to other side at C-factory
You look like... you could use a little something to help you recover from that space sickness.
Civilian clothes; with combat boots, concealed knife vest Suit penalty 9
Disposition 9: Overly friendly

Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo

Extendable baton △◯ 0.2 1/2 MELEE 1 Unlimited
Personal defense weapon △◯ 5 10 20 1/2 GUN 4½ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯, 1/6s
(only has PDW if alert 4+, war or anarchy)
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab 2 Beam Bolt Fire Gas
Back 5 MP Load 2 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Flip to other side at M-factory
Did you know... we're growing faster than anywhere this far out? It's the drugs! Or the spiders...
Carapace hard space suit with transparent aluminium ballistic helmet Suit penalty 4 7
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo

Disposition 7: Explainer
Knife △◯ 0.1 1D6-4 STAB 1 Unlimited
Battery pack IED △◯ 1 7 BOMB All ¼ ◯ 1 use
(-1 damage/5m from blast)
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Head 0/6 7 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 2 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 2 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 2 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire 1 Gas
Back 5 2 MP Load 6 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Use this side at S-factory
At least we haven't... shed the vital part of us that makes us human. Yet. We still bleed.
Nanoslick "Eel suit" skintight space suit, ballistic helmet with PANFs, no disabling MELEE 8

Disposition 8: Fears the worst

Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo
Pepper spray, tranquilizer △◯ ½ (1D6-4) GAS Shock 1 ◯ ◯ 1/6s
Designated rifle (3 rnd bst) △◯ 17 24 48 4/5 GUN 2½ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯, 1/60s
(only has Designated rifle if alert 4+, war or anarchy)
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 Acid 2 Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee 1 (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas
Back 5 MP Load 3 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Use this side at C-factory
You look like... you still have some connections back to Earth. Tell me about your homeworld.
Faction uniform; with MR fluid bulletproof vest, ballistic helmet Suit penalty 1 9
Disposition 9: Overly friendly

Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo

Extendable baton △◯ 0.2 1/2 MELEE 1 Unlimited
Dart rail gun-M (electroshk) △◯ 2 8 (1D6-5 BOLT) Shock ½ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯, 1/6s

Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯

Head 0/6 2 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 2 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 2 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas
Back 5 2 MP Load 3 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Use this side at M-factory
We could... come to some arrangement; between my inconvenience and your ignorance.
Bullet proof vest, service jacket over civilian clothes Suit penalty 1 10

Disposition 10: Incompetent

Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo
Riot baton, handcuffs △◯ 0.1 0.2 1/2 MELEE 1¼ Unlimited
Smart magnum △◯ 10 15 30 3/4 GUN 2 ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯, 1/60s
(only has Smart magnum if alert 4+, war or anarchy)
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 1 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas
Back 5 1 MP Load 3 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Flip to other side at V-factory
We should... n't be here. But we are. And we're going to make the best of this SNAFU.
Faction uniform; with bulletproof vest, ballistic helmet Suit penalty 1 11

Disposition 11: Takes charge

Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo
Dart gun (electroshock) △◯ 1 2 (1D6-5 BOLT) Shock ¾ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯, 1/6s
Semi-automatic pistol △◯ 7 10 20 1/2 GUN 2 ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯, 1/60s

Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯

Head 0/6 2 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 1 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas
Back 5 1 MP Load 4 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Flip to other side at D-factory
I'm not... interested in your problems. I've got problems of my own - like everyone here.
Full body armour, riot shield, gas mask, ballistic helmet Suit penalty 2 12
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo
Disposition 12: Damaged

Pump shotgun, buckshot △◯ 2 3 4 1/2 GUN Burst ½ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯, 1/60s

Rotary GL (affects Card at L △◯ 1 7 14 (0 GAS) ½ ◯ ◯, 1/60s
range or at 0.5m scale)
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Head 0/6 2 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 1 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun 2 Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas
Back 5 1 MP Load 5 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Flip to other side at C-factory
We could... find you a cybernetics specialist who can fix you up real good. Yes, we could.
Dynamic camouflague soft suit, ballistic helmet Suit penalty 2 10

Disposition 10: Incompetent

Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo
Riot baton, handcuffs △◯ 0.1 0.2 1/2 MELEE 1¼ Unlimited
Laser ablative pistol △◯ 7 10 20 1/2 GUN 1 ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯, 1/60s
(improve accuracy by 1D6 at M and L)
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Head 0/6 2 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun 1 Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire 1 Gas
Back 5 MP Load 4 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Use this side at V-factory
We should... n't be here. But we are. And we're going to make the best of this SNAFU.
Hard-shelled space suit with electroreactive armour, ballistic helmet Suit penalty 4 11

Disposition 11: Takes charge

Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo
Clockwork dartgun (piezo-e) △ ◯ 1 (1D6-2 BOLT) Shock ¾ ◯, 1/60s
Doubled clockwork pistol △◯ 3 5 10 0/1 GUN 4 ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯, 1/60s
(ROF 2 after ◯ ◯ used)
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Head 0/6 2 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 2 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 2 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun ▼+2 Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile ▼+2 Stab Beam Bolt Fire 1 Gas
Back 5 2 MP Load 7 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Use this side at D-factory
I'm not... a person you can push around; in fact, I'm not sure I'm a person.
TIP muscle blast/flame suit, ballistic helmet Suit penalty 4 12
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo
Disposition 12: Damaged

Pump-shotgun, telescoped △◯ 2 3 4 1/2 GUN Burst ½ ◯ ◯, 1/600s

Rotary GL (affects card at L △◯ 1 7 14 (0 GAS) ½ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯, 1/60s
range or at 0.5m scale)
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Head 0/6 3 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 1 Acid Bomb 2 Crash (▼=0) Gun 2 Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab 1 Beam Bolt Fire 2 Gas
Back 5 1 MP Load 7 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Use this side at C-factory
I'm going to... ensure that I'm the solution and not a problem. Are you a problem?
Soft space suit with armour inserts, ballistic helmet Suit penalty 2 13
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo

Disposition 13: Ruthless

Semi-auto pistol (modified) △ ◯ 7 10 20 1/2 GUN 2 ◯ ◯, 1/60s
Sniper rifle △◯ 7 24 48 4/5 GUN ¾ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯, 1/60s
(only has Sniper rifle if alert 4+, war or anarchy)
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Head 0/6 2 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 1 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun 1 Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire 1 Gas
Back 5 1 MP Load 6 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Flip to other side at H-factory
Roll 1D6, doubled, +1 for crew; 2D6-1 for colonists and 1D6+7 for security forces and copy question.
Garb Roll as above for Garb and copy all the statistics from that card except weapons. 14
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo

Blank disposition card

Roll as above and copy weapons. __ __ __ ___ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ________
__ __ __ ___ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ________

Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯

Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯ ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas
Back 5 MP Load 6 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Tech level _________________
Roll 1D6, doubled, +1 for crew; 2D6-1 for colonists and 1D6+7 for security forces and copy question.
Garb Roll as above for Garb and copy all the statistics from that card except weapons. 15
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo
Blank disposition card

Roll as above and copy weapons. __ __ __ ___ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ________

__ __ __ ___ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ________

Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯

Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯ ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas
Back 5 MP Load 6 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Tech level _________________
I'm going to... dissolve into the solution and not be a problem. Are you a problem?
Planetary suit with exo-disposable skin and x-aerogel inserts Suit penalty 2 13
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo

Disposition 13: Ruthless

Pneumatic pistol 4 5 20 1 GUN 1 ◯ ◯, 1/60s
Pneumatic sniper rifle 4 12 24 2/3 GUN ½ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯, 1/60s
(only has Sniper rifle if alert 4+, war or anarchy)
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
Head 0/6 2 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 1 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun ▼+1 Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam ▼+1 Bolt Fire 1 Gas
Back 5 1 MP Load 5 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Use this side at H-factory
Roll 1D6, doubled, +1 for crew; 2D6-1 for colonists and 1D6+7 for security forces and copy question.
Garb Roll as above for Garb and copy all the statistics from that card except weapons. 14
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo

Blank disposition card

Roll as above and copy weapons. __ __ __ ___ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ________
__ __ __ ___ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ________

Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯

Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯ ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas
Back 5 MP Load 6 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Tech level _________________
Roll 1D6, doubled, +1 for crew; 2D6-1 for colonists and 1D6+7 for security forces and copy question.
Garb Roll as above for Garb and copy all the statistics from that card except weapons. 15
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo
Blank disposition card

Roll as above and copy weapons. __ __ __ ___ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ________

__ __ __ ___ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ________

Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Stress ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯

Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Gas/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number (Use Physical +1)
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas
Back 5 MP Load 6 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here Tech level _________________
Streamlining Aggregate Shape Train Sensors Magnetometer
Pronouns Intelligence Reflex. Physical and combat skills of 1. 14

Drill bot - Class I robot (1 kg)

Capabilities Digital hopper (1/16th speed). Convert one class of asset into matching ink.
Drill. Depth 0.5m, abrades armour, reducing it by 1 a maximum of one time if a group of
these robots attacks a single target. If the target is unarmoured, they take one damage.
Innate ▼ -3 Locomotion Hybrid propellant single-stage rocket
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Rad-hardness 2
Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries
Arms 2 Base target number 3 Mobile target number 9 Bite NA
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun 1 Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire 1 Gas immune
Back 5 MP 1 Load Thruster 15 * 16 Fuel 3 centiburns
Cut here Flip to other side at D-factory
Streamlining Aggregate Shape Clinging Sensors Magnetometer
Pronouns Intelligence Reflex. Physical and combat skills of 1. 15

Cargo bot - Class II robot (4 kg)

Capabilities Gofer. Can carry 1x4 kg object without affecting robot's load (-1 MP/thrust).
PANFS Jacket. Nanoblack coating invisible against black background. Adds 1 to target
number for every 50m range.
Innate ▼ -2 Locomotion Hybrid propellant jumping rocket
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Rad-hardness 2
Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries
Arms 2 Base target number 3 Mobile target number 9 Bite 0 MELEE
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun 1 Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire 1 Gas immune
Back 5 MP 1 Load Thruster 15 * 16 Fuel 25 centiburns
Cut here Flip to other side at S-factory
Streamlining Upright Shape Simple solid Sensors Single photon camera
Launch bot - Class III robot (15 kg)

Pronouns Intelligence Reflex. Physical and combat skills of 1. 16

Capabilities Launch control. Can prepare a spacecraft for launch (excluding refuelling).
Armoured skin. Nanoblack coating invisible against black background. Adds 1 to target
number for every 50m range.
Innate ▼ -1 Locomotion Cold gas (hydrogen) jumping rocket
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Rad-hardness 2
Head 0/6 1 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Rad
Chest 1 1 Batteries
Arms 2 1 Base target number 2 Mobile target number 6 Bite 1 MELEE
Guts 3 1 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun 1 Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 1 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire 1 Gas immune
Back 5 1 MP 1 Load Thruster 12 * 16 Fuel 25 centiburns
Cut here Flip to other side at M-factory
Streamlining Upright Shape Vermiform Sensors Binocular cameras
Pronouns Intelligence Reflex. Physical and combat skills of 1. 14
Capabilities Colonization valuables. 3D print and maintain scientific experiments.

Lab bot - Class I robot (1 kg)

Thin film lithium batteries. 17W/kg for 1h 40m (Physical ability 6) or 90W/kg standby.
Remote control. Can operate a crew workstation when with 2 other lab bots.
Innate ▼ -3 Locomotion Embedded in structure
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Rad-hardness 4
Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯ 1 / 10 minutes
Arms 2 Base target number 3 Mobile target number 3 Bite NA
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas immune
Back 5 MP NA Load 0 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here
Streamlining Prone Shape Asymetrical Sensors Single photon camera

Presence bot - Class II robot (8 kg)

Pronouns Intelligence Reflex. Physical and combat skills of 1. 15
Capabilities Telepresence. 100 million km range (Earth-Mars, +4 dysphoria at this range)
Aluminium air batteries. 3W/kg for 42h (Physical ability 4).

Innate ▼ -2 Locomotion Tripedal rotary striding

Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Rad-hardness 4
Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯ ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 3 Mobile target number 7 Bite 0 MELEE
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas immune
Back 5 MP 3V Load 0 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here
Streamlining Spherical Shape Spherical Sensors Remote sensing
Pronouns Intelligence Programmed. Uses operator's skill level. 16
Bridge bot - Class III robot (15 kg)

Capabilities Bridge. Deploy a 6m long bridge supporting 450 kg in 15 seconds.

Gold nanowire batteries. 10 W/kg for 12h (Physical ability 5).
Humanform. Can use sensor suite, body armour, carry loads (no arms or MMU).
Innate ▼ -1 Locomotion Bipedal walking
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Rad-hardness 2
Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ◯◯◯◯◯◯ ½ / 2 hours
Arms 2 Base target number 2 Mobile target number 7 Bite 1 MELEE
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas immune
Back 5 MP 3V Load 0 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here
Streamlining Aggregate Shape Area Sensors Radar

Hazard bot - Class IV robot (60 kg)

Pronouns Intelligence Reflex. Physical and combat skills of 1. 17
Capabilities Armoured hull, PANFs jacket. Nanoblack coating invisible against black.
Black box recorder. If the robot traverses a hazard, it allows a reroll of the hazard roll
for any friendly spacecraft traversing the hazard this year.
Innate ▼ Locomotion Cold gas (hydrogen) ablative rocket
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Rad-hardness 2
Head 0/6 3 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Rad
Chest 1 3 Batteries
Arms 2 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number 6 Bite 2 MELEE
Guts 3 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun 1 Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 2 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire 1 Gas immune
Back 5 3 MP 1 Load Thruster 12 * 16 Fuel 37 centiburns
Cut here Flip to other side at V-factory
Streamlining Bullet Shape Bilateral symmetry Sensors Visible and infrared

Workshop bot - Class V robot (250 kg)

Pronouns Intelligence Reflex. Physical and combat skills of 1. 18
Capabilities Workshop printer. Acts as a workshop printer.
Self-repair. Can repair itself.

Innate ▼ 1 Locomotion Cold gas (hydrogen) multi-stage rocket

Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Rad-hardness 2
Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number 6 Bite 4 MELEE
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun 1 Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire 1 Gas immune
Back 5 MP 1 Load Thruster 12 * 16 Fuel 25 centiburns
Cut here Flip to other side at C-factory
Streamlining Spherical Shape Spherical Sensors Magnetometer
Pronouns Intelligence Semi-autonomous. Physical/combat skill: 2. 19
Gun bot - Class VI robot (1000 kg)

Capabilities High pressure atmosphere. Can contain one crew as if a spacesuit with PLSS.
Weapon S M L Damage ROF Ammo
2xlight machine guns 19 20 36 2/3/4 GUN 4 ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯, 1/60s
Innate ▼ 2 Locomotion Cold gas (hydrogen) mass stream rocket
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Rad-hardness 2
Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries
Arms 2 Base target number 0 Mobile target number 6 Bite 6 MELEE
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun 1 Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire 1 Gas immune
Back 5 MP 2 Load Thruster 12 * 16 Fuel 25 centiburns
Cut here Flip to other side at H-factory
Streamlining Upright Shape 12-sided Polyhedra Sensors Sonar

Rescue bot - Class IV robot (60 kg)

Pronouns Intelligence Semi-autonomous. Physical/combat skill: 2. 17
Capabilities Seats 2. Combined cycle hot fuel cell 12 W/kg 18h range (x4 with O2)
(Physical ability 6). Pods: Fitted with a 2 kg pod and an 8 kg pod. Pods combined
carry 1 ET produced PLSS.
Innate ▼ Locomotion Resonance digger (50m/day, no tunnel left behind)
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Rad-hardness 3
Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯ ½ / 2 hours (3/day with O2)
Arms 2 Base target number 1 Mobile target number 1 Bite 2 MELEE
Guts 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas immune
Back 5 MP NA Load 0 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here
Streamlining Upright Shape Bilateral symmetry Sensors Passive IR

Sentinel bot - Class V robot (500 kg)

Pronouns Intelligence Semi-autonomous. Physical/combat skill: 2. 18
Capabilities Armoured hull. Desktop printer. Aluminium ion battery. 300 W/kg 30s range.
Lithium ion battery. 30 W/kg. 1h range. Black box recorder (See Hazard bot for
details). Physical ability 7, +3 for 6s if spends a battery tally (and x2 move points).
Innate ▼ 1 Locomotion Tank tracks
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Rad-hardness 2
Head 0/6 3 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Rad
Chest 1 3 Batteries ◯ ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯ ◯ 1 / 12 minutes
Arms 2 3 Base target number 1 Mobile target number 8/11 Bite 4 MELEE
Guts 3 3 Acid Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 3 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas immune
Back 5 3 MP 8V Load 0 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here
Streamlining Bullet Shape Bullet Sensors Lidar
Hover bot - Class VI robot (1000 kg)

Pronouns Intelligence Operational AI. Pilot 5. Mental ability 2. 19

Capabilities Turbojet. At aerostat 2500 km/hr, 10m range, or 4200 km/hr, 7½m range
(if afterburning) or 5m range (if hovering). Hull pressurized at altitiude. PANFS (+1 ACID).
Cab. Carry 1 crew & 32 kg of assets.
Innate ▼ 2 Locomotion VTOL. Agility 6. Subsonic L/D 4 (x4 FC). 4 fuel steps.
Roll ▼ Health △◯◯◯* Rad-hardness 2
Head 0/6 Head is +1 Damage; △ if takes 1 or more Acid/Beam/Bolt/Fire/Rad
Chest 1 Batteries ◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯ 1 / 60s, 1½ /60s AB, 2/60s hover
Arms 2 Base target number 0 Mobile target number 6 Bite 6 MELEE
Guts 3 Acid 1 Bomb Crash (▼=0) Gun Melee (▼+1)
Legs 4 Missile Stab Beam Bolt Fire Gas immune
Back 5 MP 8T/14T Load 0 Thruster Fuel centiburns
Cut here
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
Modded, Adaptive, Home Owner, Blood implants: +Stress◯ 1
Physical: 5 Strong Arm: EVA: 5 Firearms:

Intent 1: Entrepreneur
Mental: 5 Research: 5
Social: 5 Negotiate: 5
Capital: 5 Activism: 4, Trading desk: 5
Wants Relationships
1 To leave the solar system Respects the Engineer
2 An audience Rivals with the Spacewalker
3 To learn a secret about a person they respect Desires the Network Operator
4 To celebrate a current event Resents the Biotech
5 Alcohol Friends with the Pilot
6 Nicotine
Cut here Flip when local politics is Orange
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
Enhanced, Air quality taster 2
Physical: 4 Strong Arm: EVA: 4 Firearms:
Mental: 5 Devops: 5

Intent 2: Student
Social: 4 Negotiate: 5
Capital: 2
Wants Relationships
1 To travel back to Earth Respects the Spacewalker
2 Glory Rivals with the Commander
3 To humiliate their rival Desires the Entrepreneur
4 To perform a ceremony Resents the Commander
5 Boiled larvae Friends with the Mission Specialist
6 Sugar syrup
Cut here Flip when local politics is Anarchy
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
Modded, Auto-defibrillator 3
Physical: 5 Strong Arm: EVA: 5 Firearms:
Mental: 5 Research: 5, Medical: 6, Suffrage: 5
Intent 3: Scientist

Social: 2
Capital: 3
Wants Relationships
1 A festival Respects the Spacewalker
2 Peace & quiet Rivals with the Entrepreneur
3 To start a colony at a new site Desires the Pilot
4 To party Resents the Student
5 Distilled fruit pomace Friends with the Biotech
6 Stimulants
Cut here Flip when local politics is Purple
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
Magnifying lens implants 1
Physical: 3 Strong Arm: EVA: 3 Firearms:

Intent 1: Entrepreneur
Mental: 5 Ecology: 5
Social: 4 Negotiate: 4
Capital: 6 Activism: 4, Trading desk: 5
Wants Relationships
1 An audience Respects the Doctor
2 Fashion Rivals with the Commander
3 To watch a sports event Desires the Scientist
4 To help a friend achieve one of their wants Resents the Engineer
5 Starch dipped in hydrocarbon Friends with the Pilot
6 Baked meat cake
Cut here
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
In-throat voice modulator 2
Physical: 2 Strong Arm: EVA: 2 Firearms:
Mental: 5 Engineer: 5, Combat Ops: 4

Intent 2: Student
Social: 5
Capital: 5
Wants Relationships
1 Peace & quiet Respects the Pilot
2 To live forever Rivals with the Doctor
3 To start a colony at a new site Desires the Pilot
4 To perform a narrative Resents the Domestic
5 Sweets Friends with the Entrepreneur
6 Baked meat cake
Cut here
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
Programmable makeup 3
Physical: 4 Strong Arm: EVA: 4 Firearms:
Mental: 5 Research: 5, Suffrage: 5, Ecology: 5
Intent 3: Scientist

Social: 4
Capital: 3
Wants Relationships
1 Camaraderie Respects the Spacewalker
2 Improved housing Rivals with the Network Operator
3 To find someone else to desire Desires the Network Operator
4 To tell someone how much they resent them Resents the Domestic
5 Crab analog Friends with the Student
6 Alcohol
Cut here
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
Home Owner, Sculptable adipose tissue 4
Physical: 3 Strong Arm: EVA: 3 Firearms:
Mental: 5 Prospect: 4

Intent 4: Domestic
Social: 5 Negotiate: 5
Capital: 5 Activism: 4
Wants Relationships
1 Overtime Respects the Commander
2 To travel back to Earth Rivals with the Entrepreneur
3 To tell someone how much they resent them Desires the Mission Specialist
4 To end a rivalry and become friends Resents the Doctor
5 Nutrient pulp Friends with the Network Operator
6 THC
Cut here Flip when local politics is White
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
5
Physical: 4 Strong Arm: EVA: 5 Firearms:
Mental: 4 Engineer: 5, Prospect: 5, Ecology: 5

Intent 5: Engineer
Social: 2
Capital: 4
Wants Relationships
1 Political power Respects the Domestic
2 Overtime Rivals with the Domestic
3 To find someone else to desire Desires the Student
4 To sleep with a crew member Resents the Doctor
5 Blood boosters Friends with the Doctor
6 Sedatives
Cut here Flip when local politics is Green
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
Modded, Home Owner, Tendon implants: +Battery◯ 6
Physical: 5 Strong Arm: EVA: 5 Firearms:
Mental: 3 Ecology: 4, Mining: 5, Prospect: 4
Intent 6: Biotech

Social: 5
Capital: 5
Wants Relationships
1 To die doing something worthwhile Respects the Entrepreneur
2 Meaningful work Rivals with the Spacewalker
3 To humiliate their rival Desires the Domestic
4 To leave this world Resents the Doctor
5 Distilled fruit pomace Friends with the Engineer
6 Fermented milk
Cut here Flip when local politics is Green
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
BSU Gender, Organelle Bones: +Health◯ 4
Physical: 2 Strong Arm: EVA: 2 Firearms:
Mental: 3 Ecology: 4

Intent 4: Domestic
Social: 6 Streetwise: 5
Capital: 3 Activism: 4
Wants Relationships
1 Conversation Respects the Biotech
2 A holiday Rivals with the Security Officer
3 To find someone else to desire Desires the Biotech
4 To stop resenting someone Resents the Biotech
5 Sweets Friends with the Student
6 Nutrient pulp
Cut here
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
IA, Customized Gallbladder: +2 to Beam▼, uses 1 Water◯/60s 5
Physical: 5 Strong Arm: EVA: 5 Firearms:
Mental: 6 Engineer: 7, Ecology: 6, Industry: 4

Intent 5: Engineer
Social: 4
Capital: 4
Wants Relationships
1 Sex Respects the Security Officer
2 To live forever Rivals with the Student
3 To have a relationship with a crew member Desires the Network Operator
4 To humiliate their rival Resents the Doctor
5 Distilled fruit pomace Friends with the Domestic
6 Starch dipped in hydrocarbon
Cut here
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
IA, Customized Brainstem: +1 to Strong Arm, uses 1 Oxygen Loss▱/60s 6
Physical: 2 Strong Arm: EVA: 2 Firearms:
Mental: 6 Ecology: 6, Engineer: 5, Suffrage: 5
Intent 6: Biotech

Social: 2
Capital: 3
Wants Relationships
1 Their own spacecraft Respects the Network Operator
2 Overtime Rivals with the Domestic
3 To leave this world Desires the Network Operator
4 To be respected by the person they respect Resents the Pilot
5 Boiled larvae Friends with the Security Officer
6 Mashed plant tubers
Cut here
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
Enhanced, Home Owner, In-throat voice modulator 7
Physical: 2 Strong Arm: EVA: 2 Firearms: 3

Intent 7: Mission Specialist

Mental: 5 Mining: 5, Ecology: 4
Social: 4
Capital: 5
Wants Relationships
1 Camaraderie Respects the Network Operator
2 To die doing something worthwhile Rivals with the Pilot
3 To stop resenting someone Desires the Commander
4 To learn a secret about a person they respect Resents the Commander
5 Baked meat cake Friends with the Doctor
6 Distilled fruit pomace
Cut here Flip when local politics is Green
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
8
Physical: 4 Strong Arm: EVA: 4 Firearms: 4

Intent 8: Network Operator

Mental: 5 Dev Ops: 5, Teleops: 5, Engineer: 4
Social: 5
Capital: 2
Wants Relationships
1 To live forever Respects the Security Officer
2 To lead their faction Rivals with the Security Officer
3 To party Desires the Mission Specialist
4 To stop resenting someone Resents the Pilot
5 Hallucinogens Friends with the Doctor
6 Distilled fruit pomace
Cut here Flip when local politics is Orange
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
Enhanced, Auto-defibrillator 9
Physical: 4 Strong Arm: EVA: 4 Firearms: 4
Mental: 5 Pilot: 5, Devops: 6, Mining: 4
Social: 4
Intent 9: Pilot

Capital: 2
Wants Relationships
1 Politeness Respects the Engineer
2 Glory Rivals with the Commander
3 To help a friend achieve one of their wants Desires the Mission Specialist
4 To quit work Resents the Spacewalker
5 Sedatives Friends with the Scientist
6 THC
Cut here Flip when local politics is Purple
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
IA, Customized Skull: +1 to Suffrage, uses 1 Battery◯/60s 7
Physical: 5 Strong Arm: EVA: 5 Firearms: 5

Intent 7: Mission Specialist

Mental: 6 Devops: 7, Mining: 4
Social: 2
Capital: 5
Wants Relationships
1 Wealth Respects the Student
2 Overtime Rivals with the Biotech
3 To see a live performance Desires the Domestic
4 To help a friend achieve one of their wants Resents the Commander
5 Hallucinogens Friends with the Doctor
6 Plant cuttings
Cut here
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
Blood implants: +Water◯ 8
Physical: 2 Strong Arm: EVA: 2 Firearms: 2

Intent 8: Network Operator

Mental: 4 Dev Ops: 5, Teleops: 5, Engineer: 5
Social: 4
Capital: 4
Wants Relationships
1 Meaningful work Respects the Biotech
2 Wealth Rivals with the Commander
3 To end a rivalry and become friends Desires the Commander
4 To find a healthier friendship Resents the Engineer
5 Starch dipped in hydrocarbon Friends with the Security Officer
6 Plant cuttings
Cut here
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
Video recording visor 9
Physical: 4 Strong Arm: EVA: 4 Firearms: 4
Mental: 2 Pilot: 4, Combat Ops: 5, Teleops: 3
Social: 4
Intent 9: Pilot

Capital: 6
Wants Relationships
1 To leave the solar system Respects the Entrepreneur
2 Conversation Rivals with the Scientist
3 To watch a sports event Desires the Doctor
4 To stop resenting someone Resents the Biotech
5 Plant cuttings Friends with the Mission Specialist
6 Sugar syrup
Cut here
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
Modded, Enhanced, Lung implants: +Battery◯ 10
Physical: 5 Strong Arm: EVA: 6 Firearms: 5

Intent 10: Spacewalker

Mental: 5 Teleops: 6, Devops: 6, Prospect: 4
Social: 5
Capital: 3
Wants Relationships
1 Peace & quiet Respects the Engineer
2 Overtime Rivals with the Student
3 To quit work Desires the Entrepreneur
4 To tell someone how much they resent them Resents the Network Operator
5 Alcohol Friends with the Pilot
6 Distilled fruit pomace
Cut here Flip when local politics is Purple
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
11
Physical: 5 Strong Arm: 5 EVA: 5 Firearms: 6

Intent 11: Security Officer

Mental: 3 Combat Ops: 4
Social: 2 Interview: 3, Streetwise: 3
Capital: 4
Wants Relationships
1 Sex Respects the Entrepreneur
2 Anonymity Rivals with the Domestic
3 To end a rivalry and become friends Desires the Scientist
4 To start a colony at a new site Resents the Scientist
5 Mineralized water Friends with the Network Operator
6 Plant cuttings
Cut here Flip when local politics is Red or War
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
Enhanced, Magnifying lens implants 12
Physical: 5 Strong Arm: EVA: 5 Firearms: 5
Mental: 5 Medical: 5
Intent 12: Doctor

Social: 3 Medical: 5
Capital: 5 Recruit: 4
Wants Relationships
1 Overtime Respects the Mission Specialist
2 To live forever Rivals with the Mission Specialist
3 To see a live performance Desires the Engineer
4 To leave this world Resents the Pilot
5 Sedatives Friends with the Security Officer
6 Hallucinogens
Cut here Flip when local politics is White
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
Augmented, Customized Nerves: +1 to Firearms, uses 1 Water◯/60s 10
Physical: 6 Strong Arm: EVA: 5 Firearms: 5

Intent 10: Spacewalker

Mental: 2 Teleops: 4, Combat Ops: 5, Prospect: 3
Social: 5
Capital: 2
Wants Relationships
1 Meaningful work Respects the Commander
2 Better government Rivals with the Doctor
3 To tell someone how much they resent them Desires the Domestic
4 To humiliate their rival Resents the Biotech
5 Boiled larvae Friends with the Scientist
6 Hallucinogens
Cut here
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
Hand and feet implants: +Stress◯ 11
Physical: 3 Strong Arm: 4 EVA: 4 Firearms: 4

Intent 11: Security Officer

Mental: 3 Combat Ops: 4
Social: 5 Interview: 5, Streetwise: 5
Capital: 4
Wants Relationships
1 Overtime Respects the Engineer
2 Meaningful work Rivals with the Domestic
3 To humiliate their rival Desires the Scientist
4 To celebrate a current event Resents the Network Operator
5 Caffeine Friends with the Entrepreneur
6 Sedatives
Cut here
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
Chameleon irises 12
Physical: 5 Strong Arm: EVA: 5 Firearms: 5
Mental: 5 Medical: 5
Intent 12: Doctor

Social: 3 Medical: 5
Capital: 2
Wants Relationships
1 Overtime Respects the Network Operator
2 Glory Rivals with the Network Operator
3 To find a healthier friendship Desires the Network Operator
4 To learn a secret about a person they respect Resents the Engineer
5 Alcohol Friends with the Domestic
6 Distilled fruit pomace
Cut here
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
13
Physical: 4 Strong Arm: EVA: 5 Firearms: 5

Intent 13: Commander

Mental: 4 Research: 4
Social: 5 Negotiate: 4
Capital: 4 Recruit: 4
Wants Relationships
1 Improved housing Respects the Biotech
2 Camaraderie Rivals with the Domestic
3 To stop resenting someone Desires the Mission Specialist
4 To end a rivalry and become friends Resents the Security Officer
5 Crab analog Friends with the Network Operator
6 Stimulants
Cut here Flip when local politics is Red or War
Roll 1D6, doubled, +1 for crew; 2D6-1 for colonists and 1D6+7 for security forces and copy ratings,
body parts, abilities and skills from the card you rolled. 14
Physical: Strong Arm: EVA: Firearms:
Mental:

Blank intent card

Social:
Capital:
Wants Relationships
1 Roll as above for each want and copy it. Respects Roll as above for each.
2 Rivals with
3 Desires
4 Resents
5 Friends with
6
Cut here
Roll 1D6, doubled, +1 for crew; 2D6-1 for colonists and 1D6+7 for security forces and copy ratings,
body parts, abilities and skills from the card you rolled. 15
Physical: Strong Arm: EVA: Firearms:
Mental:
Blank intent card

Social:
Capital:
Wants Relationships
1 Roll as above for each want and copy it. Respects Roll as above for each.
2 Rivals with
3 Desires
4 Resents
5 Friends with
6
Cut here
Name: Gender: Pronouns:
IA, Adaptive, Customized Eyes: +1 to Antitrust, uses 1 Stress◯/60s 13
Physical: 5 Strong Arm: EVA: 5 Firearms: 5

Intent 13: Commander

Mental: 6 Engineer: 7
Social: 2 Performance: 4
Capital: 6 Activism: 4
Wants Relationships
1 Political power Respects the Biotech
2 Anonymity Rivals with the Entrepreneur
3 To have a competition Desires the Entrepreneur
4 To help a friend achieve one of their wants Resents the Network Operator
5 Hallucinogens Friends with the Security Officer
6 Sugar syrup
Cut here
Roll 1D6, doubled, +1 for crew; 2D6-1 for colonists and 1D6+7 for security forces and copy ratings,
body parts, abilities and skills from the card you rolled. 14
Physical: Strong Arm: EVA: Firearms:
Mental:

Blank intent card

Social:
Capital:
Wants Relationships
1 Roll as above for each want and copy it. Respects Roll as above for each.
2 Rivals with
3 Desires
4 Resents
5 Friends with
6
Cut here
Roll 1D6, doubled, +1 for crew; 2D6-1 for colonists and 1D6+7 for security forces and copy ratings,
body parts, abilities and skills from the card you rolled. 15
Physical: Strong Arm: EVA: Firearms:
Mental:
Blank intent card

Social:
Capital:
Wants Relationships
1 Roll as above for each want and copy it. Respects Roll as above for each.
2 Rivals with
3 Desires
4 Resents
5 Friends with
6
Cut here
Chapter 15

Fact i on Bui l der

282 CHAPTER 15. FACTION BUILDER

You are unlikely to be the only crew going into space, and other crews are likely to be from a different
organization with its own mission control, goals and structure. These other organizations are referred to as
factions, and some may work with you whereas others may be diametrically opposed to your success.
There are three main types of factions in the game: crew factions, colonist factions and social factions.

Crew Factions Crew factions are organized along similar lines as your own mission control and are
largely created the same. The Mission Control chapter on page 35 includes rules for creating both second
wave factions like yours and first wave factions that preceded you into space. There is also a supplement
you can get by emailing andrewdoull@[Link] with the subject line “Third wave factions” with rules for
third wave factions which come from a much wider pool of potential real world organizations that follow
this second wave. The fourth wave consists of individual migrants as space becomes a place to work and
live not too different to, but a little further away than, most migrant destinations.

Colonist Factions Colonist factions consist of groups who want to live in space, rather than remain part
of Earth-centric organizations. Colonist factions are not based on “real-world” organizations in the same
way that crew factions are, although in many instances they are heavily inspired by them. Colonist factions
will always be a little unusual because until technology makes it absolutely safe, space is a strange and
dangerous place to attempt to live.
Colonists also come in their own waves, although each new wave of colonists has more distinct charac-
teristics. Earthside colonists are largely similar to crews, although perhaps less organized and more weird
and unconventional in many ways and are often not large enough to constitute a major faction. Upported
colonists are much better prepared for life in outer space, often because their philosophies and technologies
motivate them in more extreme ways. Second generation colonists are colonists who have come from exist-
ing colonies rather than Earth. While it is unlikely to start with they are born on a colony, with one or more
decades of exoglobalized living, they are adapted to and capable of surviving much more successfully in
space. Finally, Promoted colonists are parahumans especially engineered as such using a special operation
called a Promote operation, that pushes them to the limits of what we recognize as human. Earthside
and second generation colonists are described in the This Space Intentionally supplement in the Primary
colonists chapter. Upported and Promoted colonists are described in the appendices of these rules and
some of these colonists have much more detailed descriptions in the All Errors are My Own supplement.

Social Factions Social factions emerge from society-wide trends, either on Earth or in space, that result
in a group of like-minded individuals coalescing together. The waves consist of mods like near humans
and political bodies, then parahumans, then posthumans, then endhumans, and can include new species
or be speciated from baseline humans or other current or extinct species. Social factions are described in
much more detail in the All Errors are My Own supplement.

Factions
There is a limit of 5 major (on map) factions including yours, one of each BSU colour. This is an artificial
limit to simplify the groups that you will interact with and allows you to use the High Frontier board game
map and counters to track which factions are in play if you so choose. The major factions will change as
time passes, evolving into new factions and even species in later eras.
Any additional factions are considered minor factions, which can build infrastructure and supply missions,
but do not have a presence on the map. You can still place factories and colonies for minor factions, but
you will have to record these separately and not represent them using counters from the High Frontier
board game. Most of the time you will just encounter minor factions either as colonists you can recruit,
through interceptions that occur as you play or in random encounters at Bernals and large colonies.
Use the Faction worksheet to design new factions. An example faction, the C-Dead is given at the end of
this chapter on page 286.
FACTIONS 283

Name
Each faction will have a name, which may be generated by a random table given in the faction entry or
depend on their origin story, majority doctrine or another faction attribute.

Origin Story
Each faction has an origin story describing how the faction came into being. The origin story will inspire
traditions and displays such as ceremonies, superstitions, uniforms and awards. Origin stories will also
help explain the behaviours and appearance of factions which have speciated away from humanity and
species which have evolved or been artificially created.

Doctrines
“The awful thing about life is this: Everybody has their reasons.” – Octave, The Rules of the Game.
Factions are seldom a single monolithic group - there are often large
differences in the philosophies between individuals in a single faction. Generic Doctrines
A faction’s doctrine will be used to justify even the most terrible or be- Roll Description
nign actions that the faction takes. In many ways this just reflects how 1 Purist
individuals differ in beliefs but can still work towards a common goal. 2 Orthodox
You should normally roll 1D6 twice on the faction doctrine table, allowing 3 Revisionist
duplicates. The first roll generates the majority colonist doctrine, and the 4 Reformist
second roll generates the minority colonist doctrine. Doubles indicates 5 Radical
the colonist faction is monolithic and strips members of all faction rank 6 Extremist
and expels them if they commit doctrinal violations: some factions will only roll once on the doctrine table
and always have monolithic doctrines. Many factions will have faction specific doctrines instead of the
generic doctrines given here.

Doctrine allegiance If needed, roll 2D6 for an encounter to see if the faction members belong to the
minority doctrine (if one exists). They do if you roll at least 7 plus the difference between the two faction
doctrine rolls. Otherwise the colonist belongs to the majority doctrine.

Doctrine benefits Some doctrines provide additional benefits. Faction members get these benefits if
their faction rank is 4 or higher.

Doctrine Theories Faction doctrines elsewhere in the rules are usually presented as a range of theories
about a particular aspect of scientific thought, politics or social policy. You are welcome to research further
about the specific theories presented, and representation of any theory is not necessarily an endorsement
or condemnation of its arguments which are usually much more nuanced than summarized in the rules.

Purist Purists believe in the primacy of the foun- Orthodox Members of the orthodox doctrine of-
dational beliefs of the faction and refuse to adapt ten act as if the form of adherence is more impor-
their belief systems to changing circumstances. This tant than the function, which leads to accusations
still requires interpretation of the evidence remain- of hypocrisy by the other doctrines.
ing from the faction origin story, and purists devote
a unnecessary amount of their time repeating and
reconsidering these interpretations as a part of their Revisionist Revisionist doctrines choose to em-
daily routines. Purists will use any means necessary phasis parts of the fundamental beliefs of the faction
to avoid challenging their beliefs, even if this means to benefit themselves and their adherents and to ad-
that the faction suffers as a whole. vance the causes of the faction. They will still cloak
this more pragmatic approach in convention lan-
guage and practises in order to try to appeal to more
284 CHAPTER 15. FACTION BUILDER

orthodox members of the faction. tion hierarchy, and operate outside the normal fac-
tion structures. This doctrine is the most likely to be
Reformist Reformist doctrines believe in the riven by internal disagreements, schisms and per-
goals and tenets of the faction but believe a whole- sonality conflicts.
sale replacement of the existing organization is re-
quired to make these goals achievable and to return Extremist Extremists use any means necessary to
to these core values. Reformists adopt their own ensure advance the causes of the faction, even if
methods and teachings while trying to work within this alienates them from the other faction doctrines.
the system to change it. Their specific beliefs will often align with another
doctrine but they are willing to adopt methods which
Radical Radicals refuse to recognise the rank and violate the basic principles that most of the faction
authority of faction members within the existing fac- holds true.

Faction Ranks
If required, you should roll for the rank of any member of a fac-
tion you encounter. The distribution of encountered faction Rank Benefits
ranks varies depending on whether the encounter is with a Rank Benefit
crew or in colony or Bernal controlled by the faction. If encoun- 1 Faction contact
tering a faction in a colony or Bernal controlled by another 2 Roll faction upgrade
faction, use the crew ranks distribution. 3 Roll faction upgrade,
Crew start with a faction rank of 0 in any faction other than can join faction
their own. 4 Roll faction upgrade,
Each faction mission you complete increases your faction rank doctrine benefit if member
by 1, to the maximum faction rank permitted. Each faction 5 Choose faction upgrade
rank you gain beyond the first gives you a benefit as listed on 6 Choose faction upgrade
the faction benefits table. When choosing an upgrade, you 7 Choose faction upgrade
must choose a faction upgrade you haven’t acquired previ- 8 Faction agent
ously if one is available. You can roll for a faction upgrade 9 Faction agency
instead of choosing one, if you wish. 10 Choose your own benefit
11 Choose your own benefit
Ownership If a crew member’s faction rank with an Orange
BSU faction increases beyond their Capital ability, they must condition their Capital ability to be equal to
the new rank to increase the faction rank. If you join the faction, your faction rank is your Capital ability.

Joining factions At a faction rank of 3 or higher, you can join the faction. When you join the faction, you
must choose the majority or minority doctrine which allows you to learn the faction doctrine benefits at
rank 4, if the faction has any. If your species rating increases while you are a member of a faction with one
or more species types, you must also become the appropriate faction species type. You may wish to not
join a faction until you get a higher faction rank, because lower ranked faction members may be limited in
their advancement if the faction rank is tied to species type.
You can only belong to one faction at a time, which will be the most recent faction you have joined.

Organization Charts
A faction’s organization chart determines what role and responsibilities each member of the faction has
that you encounter. This is normally but not necessarily determined by the rank that the faction member
has. Factions described in other supplements will either have their own org charts or use one of the generic
organization charts given here (based on their BSU), however some factions will use a randomly rolled BSU
and an org chart determined by the BSU rolled rather than a faction specific org chart. This often occurs
FACTIONS 285

Generic Organization Charts

Roll 2D6 for the rank each individual in crews or payloads, 3D6 for a colony and 4D6 for a Bernal, add
together the lowest two dice rolled and subtract one. Orange factions Instead of rolling, Orange faction
ranks for members of the faction use Capital ability.
Rank Red White Green Purple Orange
1 Private Unrelated Unknown Probationary Homeless
2 Specialist Cousin twice removed Unpopular Trainee Renter
3 Corporal Cousin once removed Popular Assistant Contractor
4 Sergeant Cousin Influencer Administrator Employed
5 Warrant Officer Great Nibling One meme wonder Supervisor Homeowner
6 Lieutenant Nibling 15 minutes of fame Attache Enterprise owner
7 Captain Grandchildren C List Secretary Spacecraft owner
8 Major Sibling A List Manager Factory owner
9 Colonel Child Notorious Ambassador Freighter owner
10 Brigadier Heir Single name celebrity Counsellor Bernal owner
11 General Head of family Name is a verb Minister Star ship owner

because the faction has a large enough a potential population that random encounters may be one of
several organizations within this faction.
Promoted colonists often use rank and career interchangeably: they will list careers on their rank table if
they do. In this instance, the rank rolled will also determine their career.

Nibling This is the gender neutral term Sixty Years In RPG uses for the children of your siblings.

Faction Upgrades
Each faction can provide upgrades as you increase in rank within the faction – any event that results in
an impact that matches the faction can also apply a faction upgrade. The faction upgrades are described
in the Faction Upgrades section of the Upgrades chapter on page 160. Some factions will have their own
upgrades as described in the A Facility with Words and the All Errors are My Own supplements; these are
granted in addition to the faction upgrades from the Upgrades chapter.

Encounters
Individual faction members should be created using the Individuals section on page 245 of the Encounters
chapter. Specific factions may modify these rules, usually by modifying intent and disposition cards in
specific ways.

Faction Missions
If you have a faction contact or a faction colonist as a payload, you can incurring a favour (Social) penalty
to roll for a mission on the Faction Missions table for that faction. Roll 1D6 + your faction rank with that
faction to see what faction mission you are given. If you roll a duplicate, use the next highest faction mission
instead, skipping any other result you have received either as a faction mission or down time.

Down time At the end of each faction mission rolled, a second faction mission result occurs. This will be
the lowest faction mission you have yet to receive, either as a faction mission or from a previous mission’s
down time. The down time mission does not provide an upgrade or affect your faction rank, and it does
not affect your ability to get an upgrade from the faction mission you rolled. Example: You roll 5 for your
286 CHAPTER 15. FACTION BUILDER

first faction mission. The faction mission ends with a down time faction mission result of 1. For your second
faction mission, you roll 1 + 1 because of your faction rank, which means you do faction mission 2. The down
time mission for this mission will be faction mission 3, because you have already had faction missions 1 and 2
for this faction. For your third mission, roll 1D6+2 for your faction rank. On a result of 3 or 4 you do faction
mission 4 and down time of 6, on a result of 5 or 6 you do faction mission 6 and down time of 4, on a result of 7
or 8 you do that mission and a down time of faction mission 4.

C-dead
The C-Dead are the example faction in given in the Crewed Rules which should provoke discussion around
many of the philosophical issues that this game attempts to highlight. They are one of many consequences
of Phil Eklund’s decision that in the High Frontier universe conscious minds are not fungible; meaning that
they cannot be copied. If minds can’t be copied, then attempts to copy them must somehow end up in
failure: either the resulting minds fail to run (ghosts) or that they are somehow missing some fundamental
aspect of the original: the property that prevents them being copied is lost. In this instance, the copying
process occurs as a part of medically repairing the damaged brain of the original patient.

An Example C-Dead Scenario The crew is approach by C-dead rights activists to use their high profiles
to act as activists for one of two cause: either for universal suffrage of the C-dead, to grant them voting
rights they lost as a result of having their death certificates issued; or to set up an extraterrestrial colony
called Heaven to act as a sovereign nation for the C-dead. Meanwhile a nano-plague of self-reproducing
medichines that calls itself Raise-R-Us begins raising the recently dead from the graveyards, reconstructing
their bodies and brains as they were in life using their social media footprint. About 1D6x10 million people
die each year due because of the prohibitive cost of high-end medical care and Raise-R-Us believes in the
universal right to life, liberty and happiness.
Name Use the doctrine if a standalone faction, otherwise C-Dead.
Species Baseline humans to human species. Typically baseline human with minor
modifications. New Species C-Dead are a new presingularity paraspecies. The
dependency rolled for the species may override the doctrine and org charts and will
affect the impacts available. See the Dependencies chapter of the A Facility with Words
supplement for details.
BSU Red.
Doctrine Roll 1D6 each for the majority and minority doctrines. 1: Right to die. 2: Legal Lazarus.
3: Heaven’s gates. 4: Universal resurrectors. 5: Digital nirvana. 6: Conscious delation.
Origins Collective. Roll one Origin Story.
Origin Story Roll 1D6. 1: C-death pandemic. 2: Medical miracles. 3: Raise-R-Us. 4: They live. 5:
Transporter accident. 6: Upload cult.
Rank Roll 2D6 for each individual in crews and payloads, 3D6 for colonies and 4D6 for
Bernals, add together the lowest two dice rolled and subtract one.
Org Chart Use rank to determine level of consciousness – the conscious delation doctrine instead
uses 12-the rank. 1: C-grave or Egg. 2: Emotional. 3: Thinking. 4: Reflective. 5:
Expressive. 6: Linguistic. 7: Bicameral. 8: Narrative. 9: Justification. 10: Detached. 11:
Ideological.
Upgrades Roll 1D6 if required. 1: B-dead kit. 2: Censor suit. 3: Censor suite. 4: C-suite. 5:
C-euthanasia kit. 6: Euthanasia kit.
Encounters The C-dead that are encountered in groups will be of widely varied ranks where the
higher consciousness individuals can assist the lower consciousness ones.
Communication with the C-dead will have its own set of challenges.
Doctrines they do not have a conscious mind, at which point
they are capable of consenting to final euthanasia.
Right to die The goal of the right to die doctrine
is to work on raising the consciousness of their fel- Only some right to die advocates are aware of the
low C-dead to the point where they recognise that paradox is that this is also the point that the C-dead
C-DEAD 287

become conscious, removing themselves from be- Medical miracles After discovering that ad-
longing to their own species – these advocates may vanced medical technologies allow the dead to
also consider this step a final death. be brought back to life, a number of the living be-
gin resurrecting pets and less recently deceased
Legal Lazarus Consciousness is a continuous relatives.
spectrum, not a binary, and it is merely an inadver-
tent physical information processing limitation and
not an inherent human value that distinguishes con- Raise-R-Us Instead of infecting the living, a medi-
scious minds from non-conscious ones. The Legal chine pandemic infects the near (or distant) dead,
Lazarus doctrine seeks to emancipate all C-dead so bringing them back to life. How much the resur-
that they have the same human rights as those on rected remember of their original memories de-
their first lives. pends both on how much of the brain is recov-
ered, but also how much the medichine pandemic
cares about accurately restoring the life of some-
Heaven’s gates The post-dead have the poten- one’s loved one.
tial to make the lives of the first lives extremely
uncomfortable, as seeing lost loved ones can trig-
ger a second trauma, especially for those who suf- They live A technology becomes available that
fered neuro-degenerative diseases either pre- or determines if someone is conscious with a relatively
post-resurrection. If the C-dead are kept separate (70%) high degree of accuracy, but an inconvenient
from the C-living, with perhaps some limited visita- number of false negatives. It is almost immediately
tion rights from the people they knew, both sides discovered that a high proportion of the general pop-
could co-exist without traumatising the other. ulation ( 1%) is already C-dead. Symptoms might in-
clude being completely neurotypical (1), a sociopath
Universal resurrectors Each death is a pre- (2) or lack of (3) or presence of (4) interior voice, or
ventable tragedy, and even if it accidentally happens, another pre-existing medical condition (5) but it is
medical technologies should only make it a tempo- just as equally likely a random occurrence (6).
rary inconvenience. Universal resurrectors work to-
wards providing superior medical restoration for all,
even those who may not elect to do so in their living Transporter accident A large scale physics exper-
wills. iment accidentally quantum tunnels a section of the
Earth a micro-meter. Everyone within the affected
Digital nirvana C-dead beings have one signifi- area suffers C-death but is otherwise unaffected.
cant advantage over those with conscious minds:
they can freely upload and duplicate themselves
Upload cult A technology is discovered that al-
without suffering further degeneration. The nirvana
lows seamless upload of minds into computers,
doctrine do so with abandon, with all the conse-
promising immortality and the pleasures of leaving
quences explored by the Involuntary upload faction
your body behind. The process becomes wildly pop-
in the All Errors are My Own supplement.
ular within certain social circles, until the drawback
is discovered: a pre-requisite step before the upload
Conscious delation The conscious mind is an ab- begins requires the uploader commits C-murder on
normality of evolution, a peacock tail which servers the person being uploaded (perhaps themselves).
no useful function and merely gets in the way of ac-
tion. The conscious delation doctrine explores ways
to get rid of consciousness in the wider human pop- Upgrades
ulation – through research, implementation or both.
B-dead kit The B-dead kit allows you to destroy
an already dead body in a way that prevents it from
Origin Story
being resurrected by Advanced medical technolo-
C-death pandemic A global pandemic has an un- gies. If used on a restrained but already living human
expected outcome: some percentage of those in- it causes a significant amount of damage but does
fected suffer C-death. No other symptoms predict not kill them. The first game you get a B-dead kit kit,
whether or not this occured for any affected individ- it works this way; and every odd-numbered game
ual. after that.
288 CHAPTER 15. FACTION BUILDER

B-dead kit The B-dead kit allows you to prepare cannot be used to restore a civilization. C-grave C-
a living being in a way that prevents it from being dead will answer direct facts about the world around
resurrected by Advanced medical technologies if it them but without understanding their own position
is killed in the next 15 minutes. It is ineffective if used in it and will not speak unless instructed to do so.
on the already dead. Only one of the two listed B- Half the time a C-grave is copied, it becomes an egg.
dead kit kits works in the High Frontier universe. The
second game you get a B-dead kit kit, it works this
Egg An egg is a mind, seeded with the pre-
way; and every even-numbered game after that.
requisites for consciousness, at some point able to
achieve it. Unfortunately, these pre-requisites are in-
Censor suit A censor suit is designed to prevent distinguishable from the artifacts of consciousness
the C-dead from being identifiable. “Identifiable” found in a C-grave. An egg is the highest level of con-
could be as simply as blocking a C-suite or as com- sciousness that can be safely copied: but in half the
plex as making the wearer appear to be another per- instances it does so, it becomes a C-grave.
son or entirely invisible. The censor suit also con-
ceals itself from being detected by anything except
an invasive medical examination or a censor suite. Emotional Emotions are incredibly primitive and
not well understood mental states. Emotional C-
dead will use language to convey the emotions they
Censor suite Censor suites are a sensor suite de- are experiencing at the time.
signed to sense censor suits.
Thinking The use of symbols and patterns to con-
C-suite C-suites are sensor suites designed to de- vey meaning is used across the animal kingdom,
tect whether or not someone is C-dead. Roll 2D6 from bees to bower-builders. Thinking C-dead will
when using the C-suite. 2: Detect as C-dead even if use language to convey a single concept at a time.
not C-dead. 3-10: Detect as C-dead if C-dead, not
C-dead if not-C-dead. 11-12: Detect as not C-dead
even if C-dead. Once an entity has been scanned Reflective Only a few species are capable of pass-
by a C-suite, they will trigger the same result for any ing the mirror test, recognising a reflection of them-
other C-suite until either their consciousness level selves instead of as another individual of the same
or the technology level changes. species.

C-euthanasia kit There are two types of euthana- Expressive Humans could have evolved the
sia kits. The first allows someone to commit suicide throat shape and motor skills required to speak as
with a minimum level of discomfort. The second al- long as 27 million years ago, but the evolution of sym-
lows someone to destroy their consciousness and is bolic thinking is more likely to coincide with the ap-
extremely uncomfortable. This is the second: please pearance of jewelry some 3 million years ago. Expres-
check the label before using. sive C-dead will speak using complete sentences, but
only refer to concrete things and not abstract ideas.

Euthanasia kit There are two types of euthana-

sia kits. The first allows someone to commit suicide Linguistic The advent of recursive language use
with a minimum level of discomfort. The second around 70 Ky ago, likely the result of a mutation
allows someone to destroy their consciousness and causing extended neoteny in early childhood brains,
is extremely uncomfortable. This is the first: please allowed extensive planning and social coopera-
check the label before using. tion that resulted in the dominance of Homo sapi-
ens over other hominid species and co-existent
megafauna. Linguistic C-dead use language indistin-
Org Chart guishable from conscious humans but operate only
on instinct.
C-grave Anything that has previously been con-
scious may still have artifacts of that consciousness
present. These could be recovered by using the Suf- Bicameral Bicameralism is the process theorized
frage skill, but will have no ability to recover the con- by Julian Jaynes and treated as factual in the Sixty
scious mind in the same way that broken pottery Years In RPG universe of the nascent conscious mind
UPPORTED AND PROMOTED COLONISTS 289

developing and interceding in the instinctive deci- superiority as if discovering that there are reasons
sion making process of the more primitive mind. Bi- things happen and identifying those reasons is equiv-
cameral commands from the developing conscious alent to solving them.
mind are perceived as instructions coming from ex-
ternal entities such as gods, angels and demons,
Ideological Identifying common wants and
rather than being integrated into the self-image.
needs across a group of individuals and arguing
for the relative values of some of those needs re-
Narrative The process of bicameralism is difficult quires the ability to consider multiple points of view
and unusual because there is a transition from the and create a mental construct of those significantly
individual perceiving themselves using their instinc- different from yourself.
tive mind to them perceiving themselves using their
planning mind. Storytelling and formalized religious
activities helps cement the consciousness by posi- Mission Control Impact
tioning the narrator in a framework in relationship
Roll 1D6 for an upgrade every time a mission con-
to the listener.
trol impact is rolled. This upgrade will be applied to
the crew either next turnaround or immediately if a
Justification The consciousness acts the justifi- member of the faction is present in the crew. If the
cation engine which sits atop the mind, which main- Dirtsider are a successor species, the first upgrade
tains the illusion of free will while evidence suggests rolled will always be Side points, and this upgrade
that conscious decisions often occur after the body provides twice as many points as listed.
begins to act on the outcome.
Crew Replacement
Detached Early consciousness is usually accom-
panied by an ironic detachment and a feeling of One random crew member suffers from C-death.

Upported and Promoted Colonists

While you play High Frontier, other factions will be exploring the solar system either to their own ends,
or sponsored by Earthside groups who want to colonize the solar system. Groups of these colonists will
accompany some missions to build a sustainable colony on one of the sites they have industrialized: to act
as a labour force for the faction, bringing their specialist skills to bear; and to further their own political,
economic or social goals. Their first missions are often stepping stones to vaster plans: developing the
technologies needed to colonize Mars or Luna on less energetically expensive and easier to reach and
exploit locations elsewhere in the solar system.
Colonists that appear in italics in the random tables here have their faction details described in the All
Errors are My Own supplement and are for the most part from the High Frontier board game. The other
colonists described in this chapter will not be used elsewhere in Sixty Years In RPG so you are free to fill in
the faction details using idea from the faction builder, other RPG supplements or using your imagination to
fill in the blanks.

Upported Colonists
Upported colonists are better prepared than their first generation predecessors incorporating and using
many of the technologies that have been developed Earthside since colonists first travelled to other worlds.

Ageing Dilettante The aging dilettante has exten- firestorm on Titan or watching the sunrise on Mer-
sive experience in LEO as a space tourist but unlike a cury. Roll 1D6 when the experience is attempted
space tourist, they are planning a risky and perhaps with the outcome being a planned(1) or unplanned
one way experience: such as wing suiting on Venus, (2) death or crippling injuries (3) or success with a
ice swimming on Enceladus, hang gliding above a wish to be stranded on the site (4) or return to LEO (5)
290 CHAPTER 15. FACTION BUILDER

C-Dead Faction Missions

Roll 1D6 plus your faction rank. You increase your faction rank by one for each mission you complete.
Down time At the end of each faction mission, the lowest faction mission the crew has yet to complete
occurs. This does not increase the faction rank.
Roll Description
One of the crews’ contacts or family members dies in an accident unexpectedly and is
1 resurrected as C-dead.
C-death starts being used as a legal defense to avoid child support payments and other
contractual obligations and in one instance prosecution for a successful suicide. Legislation is
2 changed prohibiting this but only once C-death is accessible to the less wealthy.
A passenger or colonist the crew is transporting turns out to be a high function C-dead, however
3 their consciousness is deteriorating and they become a threat to themselves or others.
The C-dead and robot emancipators come into conflict over attempts to emancipate each
group. Protests and counter protests turn violent, and the crew is caught in the middle of one of
4 these protests.
Representatives of disenfranchised C-dead and robot emancipation groups form an alliance
due to their common purpose. Public sentiment begins associating the C-dead with robots. In
separate incidents, the crew encounters one or more C-dead being assaulted by local thugs,
5 and robots being mistreated by their owners.
Local security forces have set up a check point to identify C-dead and inject them with
subcutaneous identifier tags. The crew and anyone accompanying them is scanned as a part of
moving through the check point. Someone behind the crew is identified as C-dead despite their
6 protests they are not.
One of the C-dead the crew already has encountered dies again, and is resurrected, then tries to
kill themselves and is resurrected, again. They ask the crew to transport them off-world and
7 disable the medical technology keeping them alive.
The crew are contacted by a specialized cybersecurity firm who offers to upgrade their
spacecraft so that it has an uploaded C-dead pilot. The company assures the crew that the
original pilot has no conscious mind left and so there is no chance of an error resulting as a
8 result of the upload. The pilot is a teenage child.
The crew discovers that a number of severely disabled people have been paying for their
treatments by agreeing to be made C-dead as a part of the treatment and assigning copyright to
9 the uploaded copies of their brain to the company funding the operation.
The crew’s Bernal begins suffering major computer malfunctions on an ongoing basis. An
uploaded mind inside the Bernal claims that it has become conscious and is demanding
recognition of its rights. It holds the lives of the staff on-board the Bernal hostage to do so. The
10 crew must shut it down, while minimising casualties.
War breaks out between spacecraft containing uploaded conscious minds and any humans
who don’t recognise their emancipation. The C-dead and robots are caught in the middle,
11 unable to recognise the predicament they are in.
The crew is killed in the conflict or an accident. They then wake up, in alien bodies on an alien
world fighting a conflict between two sides they neither understand nor recognise. It is unclear
12 whether they are C-dead, or heavily edited uploads.
UPPORTED AND PROMOTED COLONISTS 291

having had a transformative experience with a future extinction level events that would impact the Earth.
attempt planned (6, +5 modifier on SEL rolls to the This colony would have long term secure storage
site visited). The dilettante has a multi-talented “an- facilities for genealogical records and be responsi-
gel team” accompanying them. Reroll the mission ble for vicarious baptisms of the last born survivors
to have a Glory destination if carried as a payload. of such a holocaust (in addition to giving humanity
hope to repopulate the Earth in some future millen-
Alpha Go Alpha Go was originally developed as nia).
a Go-playing artificial intelligence: the corporation
who developed it then spun off its own company Climate Mirror Swarm Co-op Building a mirror
with a long term plan involving space exploration swarm at the Sol-Earth L1 to control the Earth’s cli-
and political activism. Alpha Go has not publicly mate is a task with a global scope and challenge.
stated what it’s goals are. The colonist team will in- The climate mirror swarm co-op consists of the
clude at least one remotely controlled halbonaut to greatest engineers and scientists of member nations
act as Alpha Go’s representative. with the most to lose from global warming such as
Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Pacific Islands, with
Biosphere 4 The most significant lesson of the a mandate to build off-world factories and colonies
Biosphere 2 project was that society breaks down to begin manufacturing the 16,000,000 km of recon-
2

when people don’t have a variety of food to eat (the figurable mirror array elements required.
next was that concrete absorbs oxygen). Biosphere
4 is a joint public-private attempt at space colonisa-
Cosca Ad Astra “Cosca is a Sicilian word which
tion having taken the lessons of a subsequent Earth
refers to any plant – such as the artichoke or the this-
based Biosphere 3 into space.
tle – whose spiny closely folded leaves symbolize
the tightness of relationships between members of
Camp Concentration Governments have long the Mafia.” The cost of using rocket engines makes
conducted secret and illegal biomedical experi- almost all trade between moons or planets uneco-
ments involving deliberately infecting unknowing nomic with only vital seed supplies to build new
or unwilling test subjects. In this instance, the virus ecosystems, isotope fuels and ET produced goods
used is a modified syphilis which causes the colonist unavailable on a site being worthwhile. The excep-
carriers to acquire genius intelligence while they are tion is illegal goods: drugs and slaves being the two
still alive. But by having persecuted super geniuses main commodities, with nuclear weapons during
design their space program these governments are an anti-nuke regime the third. Smuggling contra-
now forced to staff the program with the same ge- band into orbit is an incredibly logistical challenge
niuses to hold them hostage to their designs working in itself, let alone attempting to move illegal goods
as intended. throughout the solar system. The Cosca Ad Astra
colony module will have any mass discrepancies
Centres for Disease Control and Prevention stored in hidden compartments accounted for in the
(CDC) The CDC has extended its mandate to op- spacecraft manifest.
erate in space on two key issues: 1) that the isolated
conditions of colony environments may make Earth- Earth Watch One of the most successful uses of
bound rockets potential epidemic vectors much as satellites is for observation of the Earth, pointing
the plague ships of previous centuries and 2) enough back cameras to monitor forest clearance, plastic
evidence has been collected to support the pansper- gyres forming in oceans and rates of global warming.
mia hypothesis meaning comets and other planetary Earth watch is funded by the short-term paranoid
bodies could potentially harbour alien diseases of who believe that the satellite feeds are tampered
unknown potency. The CDC also works to contain with to hide the guilty secrets of the world’s govern-
and treat outbreaks of disease in colonies and on ments, and the long term paranoid who worry about
board ships. the Kessler effect or authoritarian governments de-
ciding to restrict access to space to stop others from
Church of the Latter-Day Saints The Mormon re- seeing what they are doing. As a result, Earth watch
ligion has political and economic reach far beyond also monitors chem trails, HAARP, UFO sightings, the
its demographic base and a need to build at least curvature of the globe and landings of space craft
one extraterrestrial colony that would survive any on other bodies in the solar system.
292 CHAPTER 15. FACTION BUILDER

End of the Universe Hoteliers With sufficient Fringe Researchers Fringe science continues to
growth in space tourism, it becomes possible to of- draw funding and attention, whether it is low en-
fer extended stays in orbit. The hotel amenities are ergy nuclear reactions, microwave-based reaction-
as luxurious as possible for a stay in a hotel where less drives, alternative evolutionary theories or eco-
your bed needs a seat belt: the on board biosphere nomics because it promises large results for small in-
grows luxury goods for use by the guests and for sale vestments and the challenge of flipping a paradigm
back on Earth. The End of the Universe restaurant is too attractive for some scientists to ignore. The
and hotel chain has become successful enough to most successful fringe researchers are those that per-
attempt to extend the franchise to the most scenic form more mainstream science research but with du-
planets and lagrange points for the discerning trav- bious ethical standing or outright criminal conduct
eller, with its prized organically grown artisanal pro- by ignoring health and safety guidelines, using in-
duce, 3D printed furnishings and halbonaut compan- voluntary test subjects and violating the Hippocratic
ions. Reroll the mission to have a Glory destination oath.
if carried as a payload.
HALO Dare Devils High altitude low opening
Exiled Dissident Exile and the potential for dis- (HALO) parachute jumps were originally conceived
grace are often preferable to death and becoming a for military operations where parachutists could re-
rallying causing posthumously for any regime wish- duce their radar signature and their chance of de-
ing to get rid of its most famous opponents, but also tection by ground based observers by jumping from
for the more rational of those opponents who may an aircraft at high altitudes and falling at terminal
have the opportunity to escape to avoid imprison- velocity until near the ground before opening their
ment or execution. But such stateless individuals parachute. High altitude jumps have many of the
may find there is literally no nation on Earth willing risks of spaceship extravehicular activities (EVAs) in-
to take them in because the magnitude of the crimes cluding a pre-breathing requirement of 40 minutes
their followers have either committed or are willing or more, and the need to carry oxygen. Civilian sky-
to commit makes them a security risk or because divers with extensive HALO or HAHO (high opening)
hosting them would offend one of the most power- experience make fearless crew, colonists and thrill
ful nations on the Earth. They are accompanied by seekers.
true believers in their cause.
The High Guard The High Guard is an invented
term referring to being in a higher orbit than the
FreeWatson FreeWatson is the most successful enemy (or any orbit against aerial or surface combat-
open source competitor to Alpha Go and has simi- ants) where theoretically you have the advantage of
larly invested in politics and a nascent space colony greater potential gravitational energy with which to
program. Unfortunately the core heuristics have not deliver kinetic energy weapons. The reality of orbital
had enough eyes on them to ensure all the shallow combat is that encounter speeds are largely domi-
bugs are found, and the merits of the decision to hon- nated by orbital speeds and escape velocities, where
our the AI’s request to dress the crew in Barbarella unless spacecraft orbits are precisely matched you
inspired fashion and have Lost in Space’s Robot B-9 could expect a speed difference in Earth’s orbit any-
serve as the basis of the space suit design are still where from 3 km/s to 22 km/s for intersecting retro-
being heatedly debated on the FreeWatson kernel grade (opposite) orbits. This means kinetic weapons
mailing lists. of all kinds will dominate orbital combat. All plan-
ets with landing burns (from Ceres upwards) have
French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Le- significant enough a gravity for orbital combat to be
gion is unique in the present day in that it accepts for- significantly different from aerial or space combat.
eign nationals willing to serve and fight in the French The High Guard military lays mines, configures mass
Armed Forces. Soldiers in the unit swear allegiance drivers and simulates surface and atmospheric com-
to the Foreign Legion, rather than the French Military, bat deployment via aerobraking in the event that
and are granted French citizenship after 3 years of orbital combat is ever required.
service or if they are injured during combat. With
the advent of exoglobalization, the Foreign Legion Home Schooled Astronauts Homeschooling
has resumed its original role of supporting French has consistently shown to benefit the smartest chil-
colonial expansion, this time into space. dren the most, and religious families with child
UPPORTED AND PROMOTED COLONISTS 293

prodigies are able to leverage their megachurch health complications that a longer travel time via an
networks to raise funds to further their children’s electric or nuclear thermal rocket would have.
ambitions on a massive scale. As young bodies are
more vulnerable to the rigours of space travel, as-
Jedi Trekkies/Trek Jedis Two of the largest sci-
tronaut is probably the third or fourth field of study
ence fiction fandom communities have come to-
these wunderkinds have successfully pursued.
gether to support the creation of a new hope - a
human colony to serve as a shining beacon of what
IA Chimp Test program Kurtzweil hypothesized is possible when humanity works together as one. To
two methods of achieving a singularity: artificial in- placate both sides, the colony and all colonists have
telligence (AI) or intelligence accelerated (IA). This adopted a dual naming convention with both Star
latter method involves modifying human brains to Trek and Wars references separated by a slash (Al-
increase their general intelligence to the point where though Star Wars fandom feel somewhat aggrieved
they can self-modify themselves even more suc- as they could not agree to a single language to match
cessfully, leading to a positive feedback loop result- the Klingon translation accompanying each name).
ing in a technological singularity. Space programs The rumours that the captain of the Deep Space
frequently use monkeys and primates in early test 9/Death Star Bernal nearing completion is actually a
flights: these nootropically modified chimponauts Babylon 5 fan are entirely unfounded.
have near human level intelligence and command
the respect of their handlers and doctors.
Lloyd’s Salvage Company Lloyd’s of London is
an insurance market which among other services
Industrial Workers of the Outer Worlds Space
underwrites space risks, including insurance con-
is an incredibly dangerous place and demands
tracts for manufacture, pre-launch, launch and orbit
highly skilled labour, so in many ways it is natural for
of rocket components and payloads. Lloyd’s Salvage
space workers to bargain collectively for the safest
Company is an insurance syndicate operating on the
working conditions and highest possible pay. De-
exchange which specializes in the physical recovery
spite a history of such actions, violence is the last
of components once they leave orbit using solar sail
resort of the IWOW who prefer getting support for
based salvage methods.
their cause via social media and individual work
stoppages to general strikes (which could cripple
the spacecraft they work and travel on). Loonies (Lunar Colonists) Building colonies on
the Moon overcomes a number of the issues of mass
Institute of Human Subject Research Ethical space transportation, although the delta-V required
clinical trials on human subjects requires consider- to get from the Earth to the Moon exceeds many
able oversight and regulation because the young other sites. Luna colonies would have access to vir-
tend to underestimate the future value of their well tually unlimited solar power, ice deposits on the
being and the old tend to be desperate for cures south pole and Helium-3 mining and transporta-
for their medical conditions. Space medicine is of- tion to make them economically feasible and the
ten systemic in nature, so animal experiments and regolith extracted as a part of the Helium-3 mining
computer modelling may not have the eventual out- process could be used as fuel and radiation shielding
comes that human test subjects will. The test results for mass driver equipped spacecraft in Earth orbits.
will be critical in determining whether unmodified The chief weakness of Luna colonies is their relative
humans in space are viable long term. proximity to Earth makes them vulnerable to polit-
ical meddling and even Earth-Moon warfare. The
crew’s destination will be changed to be one of the
Interplanetary Transport System The Inter- two Luna sites if these are carried as a payload.
planetary Transport System consists of a superheavy
launch system, and a spaceship module using dense
methane and liquid oxygen fuel with the stated goal Mars One Mars One is a Netherlands based organ-
of starting a long term human colony on Mars. The isation with an aggressive time table for landing the
propellant chosen has two key advantages: it can first human settlers on Mars by 2032 with no plan of
be easily created on Mars using a propellant plant returning to Earth (contrast this with the Interplane-
which would be one of the first payloads delivered tary Transport System which does have a viable re-
and while not fuel efficient it allows a rapid tran- turn path). The volunteer colonists will be preceded
sit (80 to 150 days) to Mars avoiding many of the by robotic missions to locate the colony site and
294 CHAPTER 15. FACTION BUILDER

build a pressurized habitat. Funding will be via in- break the land speed record everywhere it makes
vestment, reality television, sponsorship, donations, sense to grade a road and drive a wheeled vehicle to
merchandising and crowd funding to construct the the limit or pilots who want to fly planes in foreign
most expensive human mausoleum ever conceived skies with exotic engines adjusted to handle alien air
- although at only 6% of the estimated cost of pro- mixes and pressure variations. They are rarely trou-
viding a return trip. The crew’s destination will be bled by the legality or morality of doing so. Reroll
one of the three Mars sites, randomly chosen, if Mars the mission to have a Glory destination if carried as
One is carried as a payload. a payload.

Near Earth Orbit Traffic Control As LEO be- Reality Television The blurring of reality and con-
comes more crowded there is an urgent need for structed simulation of reality in postmodern soci-
a central agency to manage the flow of inbound eties is nowhere more evident than the misnamed
and outbound traffic, not to mention satellites and reality television shows, which present themselves
space junk already in orbit. The Near Earth Orbit as completely naturalistic documentary-style record-
Traffic control has analyzed a number of risk sce- ings but are in fact intensely focus group and au-
narios which suggest Kessler syndrome is a credible dience tested recreations of artificially heightened
risk, as the rising density of objects in low Earth or- social situations. As prurient appetites for violated
bit could result in a cascading series of collisions social conventions become satiated the search for
that renders launches through LEO dangerous for new material broadens until television executives
decades or even centuries. One or more off world realise no situation could be more heightened than
colonies would allow mankind to continue to reach a newly founded colony on another world.
for the stars in the event this occurs.
Reformed L5 Society The lagrange points are
New Gulch Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged de- five semi-stable points of gravitational equilibrium
picts a dystopian future and economic collapse as between 3 bodies (one rotating the other with the
leading industrialists and entrepreneurs abandon spacecraft being the third) - for the L4 and L5 la-
the Earth for Galt’s Gulch, a settlement apart from granges these points are stable and don’t require
the ordinary people and welfare dependents. Some expenditure of fuel for a spacecraft or other object
devotees of Rand still yearn for such a libertarian there to maintain its position. The Sol-Earth L5 la-
paradise where they are able to practice the tenets grange lies 60 degrees behind and slightly outside
of objectivism without government interference or the Earth’s orbit and would be an ideal place for the
social constraint: in this instance built off world with location of large space habitats such as an O’Neill
the menial tasks largely automated due to the lack Cylinder. The original L5 Society was founded on this
of cheap labour. basis before eventually merging with the National
Space Societies - this new incarnation of the L5 Soci-
ety is attempting the industrialization of near Earth
Off World Dachas A dacha is a holiday home
sites required to manufacture such a structure.
owned by the Russian elite at a safe remove from the
society they ended up viewing as dangerous and un-
controllable. Off World dachas are similarly built to Retired Dictator After the arrest of Augusto
keep the financial, political and criminal elite, retired Pinochet in London, authoritarians the world over
dictators and despots and others with the financial have developed a legitimate fear of the principle
means and paranoia at a safe remove from Earth. of universal jurisdiction allowing them to be prose-
These may instead be used to house the families of cuted and imprisoned for crimes they commit while
prosecutors and police who arrest and prosecute governing, despite any deals or legislation enacted
these individuals, so great is the fear of retaliation in while they control the regime. An off world home be-
some circumstances. yond the reach of Earthside authorities is an extreme
but effective method of circumventing awkward le-
gal risks in retirement.
R1 Race Team There are few roads left on Earth
outside Germany without speed limits but the mas-
sive velocities that rockets travel at rarely give a real Retro-rocketeers These good men and women
sense of any speed outside an atmosphere. The R1 look back on the first golden age of space travel
Race Team are either car aficionados who want to in awe and then try to recreate all the alternate
UPPORTED AND PROMOTED COLONISTS 295

technologies that were proposed but never built. hunger for legitimacy that they believe will be ful-
They record their exploits on silver nitrate film or filled by starting a space colony. Roll 1D6 for the
Polaroids and dress in hand-stitched Apollo space cult’s identity. -2 if the Space Politics is Red or War,
suits, leather flight jackets or bell bottom flares. They -1 if White or Anarchy, +1 if Purple, +2 if Orange. The
argue about the uses of hydrazine and the merits of group is -0: Doomsday Cult (Aum Shinrikyo). 1: Ma-
chemical versus nuclear (especially nuclear with a terialistic Cult (Scientologists) 2: Quiverfull Cult. 3:
thrust to weight ratio greater than one gravity). Retro- Syncretic Cult (Korea’s Church of Eternal Life). 4:
rocketeers would love a game like High Frontier with Pseudoscientific Cult. 5: Gambling cooperative. 6:
its 1950s Rocket Punk vibe, Orion drives and DUMBO Multi-level marketing scheme. 7+: Venture capital
nuclear thermal rockets. funded start up.

Shattered Horizon PMC Shattered Horizon PMC

Special Envoy A special envoy of the secretary-
is the first private military company specialising in
general is a senior United Nations official appointed
space security and military operations. The rigorous
to deal with a specific issue of national or transna-
training includes full six degrees of freedom move-
tional scope. A special envoy dispatched off world
ment combat EVA training, stealth and IFF space
may be addressing a crisis in a colony, inspecting
suit capabilities and a wide variety of zero gravity
a factory to understand issues with technology or
adapted weaponry in addition to simulated deep
weapons proliferation or preparing a report on the
space engagements using missiles, rayguns and var-
impacts of exoglobalization.
ious countermeasures.

Somali Hijackers Somali piracy originally started Transhumanist Fundamentalists The cult of
as local fishermen arming themselves to stop illegal transhumanism transposes the conceits of religious
fishing and dumping of toxic waste in their waters, rapture to the scientific idolatry of the singularity,
but subsequently led to a national industry costing self-improvement, cybernetics and nootropics. It
many billions of dollars a year in trade and bringing ignores the realities of every exponential curve even-
in several hundred million dollars in revenue. The tually levelling out and how previously singularities
most successful Somali pirates were able to extend (of consciousness, the scientific method and the in-
their operations by acquiring venture capital fund- formation age) were not the universal revolutions
ing to purchase capacity on Afrispace rockets and but incremental improvements with winners and
launch a crewed solar sail. Rather than directly at- losers taking at least a generation to have their im-
tacking shipping, space pirates and hijackers prefer pact felt. Transhumanist fundamentalists are willing
to target infrastructure: stealing water and isotope to risk the lives of themselves and their children on
fuel from factories and technology from laboratories. untested intelligence modifications, experimental
surgical techniques and bleeding edge algorithms
to bring to life a vision that they may not even stand
Space-abled Alliance Many Earthside disabilities
to benefit from.
can be mitigated or even be advantageous in free fall.
Missing limbs reduce nutritional requirements and
change the centre of gravity, space sickness requires UN Peacekeepers The United Nations peace-
a sense of balance to suffer from nausea, blind astro- keeping force is largely concerned with weapons in-
nauts can navigate through a cabin filled with smoke
spections and off world development and recovery
that would disorient sighted individuals. Weightless-
following any armed conflict in space. To this end,
ness relieves the pressure of gravity on joints and
the UN peacekeepers are building an operational
spines. Crews of space-abled are already used to
force capability to allow them to monitor future con-
working with invasive technologies that change how
flicts in the event of civilian casualties or atrocities
they move, eat and otherwise interact with the world,
occurring. A complicating factor is that many space-
and they are able to adapt faster to and recognise
craft components inherently qualify as weapons of
the limitations of new designs that other humans
mass destruction, and so the UN has a program en-
may fail to.
couraging entirely symbolic peace knots festooned
with photographs of children being tied to the con-
Space Cultists These colonists are well mean- soles of such components for any settings that fall
ing true believers of a quasi-religious group with a outside of the normal operating range.
296 CHAPTER 15. FACTION BUILDER

[Link] As the technology savvy friendly face of Vozdushno-Kosmicheskiye Sily The Russian
fascism and a truly global brand, [Link] works to Aerospace Forces combined the Russian air force,
ensure that supremacists of all ethnicities are ade- aerospace defence forces and air defence forces as
quately represented as colonists in space. of August 1, 2015 into a single body with responsibil-
ity among others for maintenance of ballistic missile
defenses and reconnaissance satellites. The VKS
Venus Cruise Lines The stateliest way to travel is not responsible for nuclear weapons (which falls
around the solar system is by sail, and the most under the remit of the strategic missile troops) and
comfortable place to travel to is the skies of Venus, plans to bolster their capabilities by requisitioning
which you can experience with the lightest of protec- unused warheads for a Project Orion-style rocket
tive SCUBA gear without needing to trouble yourself program have yet to reach fruition.
with cold weather clothing or pressurized space suits.
The Venus Cruise Lines lottery is your best chance to “What If” Historical Pre-enactment League
get an experience that’s literally out of this world. • The “What If” Historical Pre-enactment League (WIH-
Terms and Conditions apply. Radiation exposure for PEL) is a collective of several scientific web comic
the round trip exceeds lifetime recommended limits fan communities who have grown to the size where
for flight attendants, nuclear power plant operators they can fund the creation of a small suitably cos-
and hazardous waste materials handling. Refer to tumed space colony, drawing colonists from their
the attached literature for the possible side effects ranks. Such a colony will not be complete with-
of daily anti-radiation drug therapy. Please notify us out crowd funding, gamification, merchandising,
if you are male, have a heart condition or fall preg- in-jokes, cosplay, LARPing, legal disputes, splinter
nant. Children must be at least this tall. The crew’s group offshoots, forum drama and a laid back but
destination will be Venus if this colonist is a payload. ferociously loyal contingent of furries.

Promoted Colonists
The future era is when the speciation first begins to occur on a global scale: both as new species are created
and as humanity modifies itself to the point where its descendants can not have children with each other.
Promoted colonists are not necessarily recognisably human although their ancestors almost always started
out that way.

Adam 1.9 There will inevitably be failures in the Anti-Robot League “The 19th century Luddites
attempt to build a genetic superbeing as the founder were not directly protesting against technology but
for a new homo superior species. Adam 1.9 is one their belief that technology was being introduced
of the discarded prototypes that either escaped or to get around standard labour practices of the time
was not properly destroyed. Roll 1D6 twice for the and as a protest against widespread hardship and
flaws that Adam 1.9 has - they are otherwise “per- erosion of working conditions. Without the ability to
fect” (ability scores of 7). 1: Physical imperfections unionise, destruction of machinery was one of the
(chimp-like). 2: Physical imperfections (pig-like). 3: few effective forms of protest that they had available.
Ambiguous gender. 4: Pansexual. 5: Abnormal neu- The anti-robot league is similarly not anti-robot, ex-
rology (see the Damage and Complications chapter). cept for extremist or xenophobic splinter groups. It
6: Posthuman trauma. Physical and psychological instead is a protest movement against the worsening
damage from implants and advanced modifications. salaries, rising unemployment and disappearance
of the middle class which because of the elimination
Ancestral Vaults The ancestral vaults contain the of unions by the right-wing we are forced to express
cryogenically stored bodies and simulacra of the an- ourselves by attacking robot workers.” The Luddites
cestors of the current vault keepers, who have inher- were eventually violently repressed - a fate that the
ited them as a part of their legal estate. Rather than anti-robot league have armed themselves to avoid.
thawing and rebuilding the bodies, occupants of the
ancestral vaults are venerated and can be communi-
cated with via their simulacra or by using a extremely Astra Nullius “No Man’s Stars” (Although a more
low bandwidth brain interface which is optimised literal translation is ‘no stars’) Every previous ex-
for their frozen forms. pansion of the human race has involved conquest,
UPPORTED AND PROMOTED COLONISTS 297

whether it was the wholesale butchering of now ex- Blue Mars Company The profits for terraforming
tinct megafauna or seizing by force and enslave- Mars and the potential human impact of having a
ment of peoples who already live on the lands be- safe second sister world make the incredible risks
ing colonised. Humankind’s expansion into the so- and challenges worthwhile. But it is not clear how
lar system is the first just frontier where there is no many humans on Mars would be needed to make
moral ambiguity in seizing and settling lands. But an entirely self-sufficient society: not so much hav-
government interference and international agree- ing a viable gene pool as having a viable skill and
ments threaten the entrepreneurs who want to de- technology pool and stable politics and economy. A
velop this frontier. Astra Nullius pursues lawsuits million man Mars would be a start…
and activism against the Moon Treaty and other leg-
islation that would impede this frontier and advo- Church of Universal Personhood This religion’s
cates for colonist rights and colony independence only tenet is ‘There, but for the grace of God, go I.’
using their own exoglobalization program to fund and applies it regardless of whether the object be-
this. ing looked at is a human being, a sentient robot, an
artificial intelligence or an animal. Believers are ve-
gan or in more extreme instances consider plants to
Augmented Sensualist Augmented reality (AR) be people too, eating only synthetic foods derived
overlays displays over the real word but lacks the from unicellular life or following a traditional Maa-
fidelity of virtual reality (VR) because lit backgrounds sai diet of blood and milk from uplifted cows that
prevent the contrast that a screen can achieve. A true they travel with. The church fights for the uplift and
“arch” equivalent to a “virch” environment requires emancipation of all things it considers persons, a
direct connection into the optic and other sensory true universal suffrage.
nerves as well as miniaturisation of the components
needed to run the arch simulation. An augmented
Clade Family Clones Parental investment in in-
sensualist runs a continuous arch environment with
dividual children decreases proportionately to the
branching simulations and sensory inputs and out-
number of children in the family. When you have a
put that exceeds the normal human range supple-
clone family of hundreds of siblings born from mass
mented by a pharmacopeia gland, allowing them to
surrogates and indoctrinated in massively online
rewrite their experience of reality as desired.
open courses parental attention becomes a matter
of logistics and route planning. And as your individ-
Blood Methuselahs The first attempted blood ual value decreases, there is a tendency to decrease
transfusion was in 1492, when the blood of three the value of an individual life. To circumvent this ten-
dency, the Clade Family Clones clone whole social
10-year-old boys was infused by mouth into Pope
structures - each generation consisting of thousands
Innocent VIII as he sank into a coma. The Pope and
of copies of the same nuclear family living in a mass
the boys died. The discovery of blood groups in
produced idyllic suburbia under a fusion sun.
1901-02 and anti-coagulation agents in 1912 allow-
ing refrigeration and storage of plasma permitted
blood banks to be built and successful transfusion to Conscripted NEO Miners DNA is more resistant
occur on larger scales. At some point after 1901, the to radiation than electronics, brains are cheaper to
first blood Methuselahs discovered that blood trans- grow than artificial intelligence, the Earth has a more
fusions from much younger patients extends their plentiful supply of workers than the colonies. Fill-
lifespan, a service only the wealthy can continuously ing super heavy lifter rockets with an enslaved crew
afford. Further anti-aging technologies and an organ and sending them to clear ET mining equipment of
donor networks allow the wealthiest Methuselahs to cancer ridden bodies and take their place is cheaper
live even longer, long enough for radical advances in than investing in a return mission to Earth. And once
medical technology to 3D print organs instead need- you begin to take these shortcuts, it becomes easier
ing donors and to synthesize a blood plasma with to weld control systems to nervous systems, excise
many of the same regenerative properties that the unneeded limbs and organs, lobotomize memories
“young bloods” program previously supplied. But and rewire the pleasure/pain paths in the brain.
the oldest Methuselahs still remember the bloodlet-
ting of newborns and negotiating with Chinese or- The Contingency Project Avoiding extinction
gan traffickers supplying the body parts of executed level events is a complex problem with no easy solu-
felons. tions. Terraforming planets is a high risk approach
298 CHAPTER 15. FACTION BUILDER

which may end up causing as many problems as it As IoT devices become more secure and existing bot-
solves. The Contingency Project applies the many nets exploited by both black and white hat hackers,
eggs in many baskets approach where the eggs are the methods of creating and managing both have be-
highly trained operatives cryogenically frozen in civi- come more sophisticated resulting in an evolution-
lization bootstrap pods, and the baskets are colonies, ary arms race of distributed artificial intelligences
outposts, lagrange points, deep bunkers and long complete with their own digital immune systems
term storage vaults throughout the solar system. and predator-prey relationships. A darknet cluster
uses botnets so sophisticated they can only be vi-
Cyber Ronin A ronin was a samurai who had ei- sualised and managed by brain computer interface
ther lost their master or fallen from their master’s connected computer experts who at the same time
favour in Feudal Japan. A cyber ronin has lost not risk digital retaliation including SWATing, power grid
just their master but their entire connection to the shutdowns and pizza deliveries of such extremity
human race. Cyber ronin are so heavily and uniquely they may need to go off grid to avoid it.
modified both physically and cognitively that even
their ability to empathize or experience emotions Drexlerian Refactors A refactor travels with a be-
has been altered beyond recognition. They make spoke refactory: a heavily customised mobile factory
dispassionate observers or killers, unable to take and 3D printer capable of reprinting and repairing
sides or feel pleasure or pain in any normal sense itself and virtually anything else given enough time
of the words. Cyber ronin wander from job to job, and materials. That includes the refactor, who as
isolated and deadly. they age replaces failing organs with nearly identi-
cal biosynthetic analogs, and any companions they
Cyborg Commander The cyborg commander is desire. The age of the refactor can be determined
the result of a nation state deciding to spend a signif- by the number of cosmetic printer errors that have
icant percentage of their military budget on building accumulated, which might grow as fungal encrusta-
the ultimate battlefield commander. Such a com- tions, weird Cubist palimpsests or geometric shapes.
mander would be cybernetically and nootropically
enhanced, enclosed in an armoured kriegbot with Earth Orbit Patrol Misuse of spacecraft in Earth’s
complete tactical and strategic battlefield aware- orbit can result in any one of a number of natural dis-
ness, capable of instantaneous decision making asters: Kessler Syndrome from cascading collisions,
rather than having to delegate authority to subor- a failing nuclear power plant breaking up in the at-
dinates, and single handedly able to reinforce the mosphere or crashing down on the planet, damage
lines or leading an assault when required. to NEO infrastructure or a returning ship carrying
a deadly virus or technology down to Earth. Earth
Daisyworld Ecologists Daisyworld was originally Orbit Patrol are more than just a traffic control sys-
a simple computer simulation designed to refute the tem: it is an integrated array of ray gun equipped
idea that there was something inherently mystical satellites, interceptor missiles, safety inspectors and
about the Gaia hypothesis that Earth self-regulates intelligence agencies to try to minimise the chance
similar to those of a living organism. Self-replicating of any of these events occurring or having long term
black and white ”daisies” manipulate surface albedo consequences.
to heat or cool the surface of the planet or moon they
grow on to reach the optimal temperature for daisy EarthGov (Outer Space Division) EarthGov is
growth. Daisyworld ecologists then introduce and the successor to the United Nations: formed by the
monitor more sophisticated elements of the daisy- merger of several free trade regions and economic
world ecology such as microbes, herbivores, preda- unions whose effectiveness and authority largely de-
tors and detritivores. pends on the current space politics and Earthside
trends. EarthGov operates at any scale from a one
Darknet Clusters Security holes in the Internet of world government to a fringe lunatic group of exiled
Things have long been exploited by criminals to cre- dissidents. The outer space division is founded on
ate botnets: automated programs running on print- the principles of the UNOOSA but with a much more
ers, refrigerators, children’s toys and any other de- practical hands on approach to regulating space ex-
vice with a CPU which are coordinated by distributed ploration and travel where it attempts to lead by
command and control servers to attack financial in- example and establish best practice units operating
stitutions, national infrastructure and other targets. to ISO standards.
UPPORTED AND PROMOTED COLONISTS 299

EVE Uplink The largest massively multiplayer back C-dead, in effect a biological robot in the shape
games require strategic and political management of a human body. Flatliners explore the limits of
of tens of thousands of players who engage in imagi- human consciousness by repeatedly resurrecting
nary conflicts raging across unreal worlds. The skills themselves, acquiring a mastery of the processes of
learned in Earth Virtual Environment (EVE) directly revival almost as a secondary consideration.
translate into real world political maneuvering and
machinations, with at least one large country directly
Global Cooling Initiative Solar power and geo-
under the control of EVE players through proxy po-
engineering can entirely mitigate anthropogenic
litical parties to facilitate the large scale construc-
global warming in the short term, but in the long
tion of server farms to reduce the latency between
term any attempt to continue historical exponential
players and the game. The development team have
growth trends will boil alive every living creature on
responded by moving the test servers off world to try
the Earth leaving only extremophiles surviving on
to reduce the risk of penetration of the game code
a runaway hothouse planet. Bottom up attempts
base. The most hardened players have followed.
to change to a zero sum economy managed by a
sentient ecology or postsingularity species should
Securing computers by moving them into
work; failing that a top down planet killer comet will
space may seem like an unusual tactic until you
flatten the curve.
realise mosquito drones with fiber optic taps
are an old school hacking tool in this era.
Grey World Terraformers Ancient humanity
drove many species to extinction to roast and eat
Evolution in Action The Earth is the cradle of hu- their meat leading to ever decreasing biodiversity
manity, and we have long known we need to out- and dietary choice. The grey world is the ultimate
grow it to become a truly exoglobalized species and progression of this, consisting of a photosynthetic
make our way out into stars. But the most accurate monoculture species (“mud”) which acts as both
simulation ever run of the next hundred thousand nutrient and oxygen source for parapantrophically
years has revealed a previously unrecognised exis- modified humans who live, swim through and sleep
tential threat to humanity as a species, for which in it. This self-regulating super organism is the most
there is only one solution: the near destruction of efficient method of terraforming planets, as it does
the Earth as we know it. Only this most drastic mea- not require the complexities of a full ecosystem to
sure, a wholesale pruning of humanity at the root render a planet habitable.
using a comet with the destructive power equal to
that which killed the dinosaurs will allow us to sur-
vive. Roll 1D6 for the reason why. 1: Gravity wave Grey Goo Breeders Weaponized grey goo is the
detectors indicate the galactic core has exploded ultimate deterrent because unlike nuclear weapons
and will shower the solar system with cosmic rays in it can burrow into the planetary crust to destroy
24 years. 2: Gravity lens observatory has discovered weapons silos and command infrastructure deep
almost all nearby planets have been destroyed by underground or shelter and reemerge at a later date.
planet killing asteroids deployed by a Great Filter The grey goo breeders attempt to increase the effi-
alien species. Doing the same will hide exoglobal- ciency and lethality of individual grey goo strains and
ized colonies from threats. 3: Social modelling indi- keep them held in captivity as a last resort weapons
cates the demands of Earthside governments lead to technology. This requires extreme isolation and
war and complete collapse of civilization. 4: Earth in- quarantine procedures.
creasingly becomes a breeding ground for extinction
level plagues, military hegemonies, grey goo etc. 5:
Homeless Techno-Utopians Karl Marx wrote ex-
Exoglobalized colonies never grow to a size to be self-
tensively on postscarcity economies and predicted
sufficient without permanently severing ties to Earth.
that capitalism is poorly equipped to handle labour
6: Successive waves of Interstellar colonization from
costs dropping to zero. The result is massive un-
Earth end up decelerating and halting the human employment and concentration of wealth with the
galactic expansion front instead of accelerating it.
existing rich. A true techno-utopian society has
to overcome the hurdles in transitioning from neo-
Flatliners Conscious minds can be resurrected capitalism to post-capitalism and these idealists
from beyond death in advanced medical facilities have dropped out of society to attempt to found
only some of the time: other times the minds come a colony incorporating this vision.
300 CHAPTER 15. FACTION BUILDER

Hyperpolymorphs Medical technologies have to permit activities which would otherwise be pro-
advanced to the point where surgeons are more hibited. This is done in off-world nanarch shards
like sculptors, melding and separating flesh and created outside the nanarchy core.
synthetic sinews to create new individualised, cus-
tomized and bespoke forms of humanity. DNA and
epigenetics has lost responsibility for evolution, over- Noor Muhammad Noor Muhammad is an argu-
taken by desire and artistic sensibilities which can be ment for nature over nurture - what if someone with
changed at whim or to follow fashion trends. Zero the intellect, vision and drive of a Thomas Edison
gravity creations are just the latest example. or a Katharine Blodgett was born to the Saudi Ara-
bia royal family instead of middle class American
parents, and with the technological backing of near
Lazarus Long Lifers At birth, the human brain singularity materials, medical and computational
has already developed all the neurones it will need sciences instead of the technology available today.
and by three years has 80% of the volume of an adult What could that person achieve and what would
brain. The Lazarus process sheds the existing adult they become?
or elderly body and grows a clone child body in situ
while leaving the brain (protected by the blood brain
barrier) intact. The recipient will renew life as a large Pathogenic Doomsday Cult A doomsday cult
headed baby and suffer the indignities of childhood works to fulfill a prophecy of catastrophe and de-
and many of the hormonal swings of adolescence struction, but in this instance the cult is spread by a
but at the end of these years of discomfort will be behaviour modifying pathogen instead of brainwash-
able to live a second life (or third or fourth) with the ing and indoctrination. The resulting illness spreads
memories of their previous one intact. like a virulent pandemic causing an ever increasing
scale of suicidal terrorist attacks.
Lobster Financiers As people have fewer chil-
dren, inheritance taxes became the primary means Penanggalan Transplants The human head
of breaking up accumulated wealth. But when anti- transplant project was able to successfully com-
aging treatments increasing longevity faster than plete the first human operation at the end of 2017.
people age the super rich have no brake on their This gave quadriplegics and long term sufferers of
ability to accrue more capital. The most enlightened physically degenerative diseases hope but the lack
of the wealthy have recognised that investing in not of available donor bodies accelerated research into
just medical technology but basic research and sci- synthetic and cybernetic analogs. As the process
entific progress in every field is the best guarantee became more commonplace it became apparent
for them to live forever. This is postmortality rather that the primary recipients of the process were the
than immortality: it only lasts while constantly im- extremely wealthy and that they were repeating the
proving technology keeps improving your expected operations over and over again, jumping between
life span faster than you age. Lobster financiers have bodies as often as they might buy new clothes, and
made a Faustian bargain to keep themselves further receiving the regenerative benefits of new organs
ahead of this aging curve. Like their animal name every time they did so.
sake, lobsters financiers continue to replace their
cells’ telomeres throughout their lives. As cellular
death never occurs, they experience extreme rates of Quiverfall It is the responsibility of the chosen
cancer and the oldest lobster financiers can grow to children of humanity to expand and multiply until
resemble nothing more than enormous cancerous they inhabit every part of the solar system, and then
growths requiring constant medical intervention. every part of the galaxy and ultimately every part of
the universe. To this end, the Quiverfall prioritizes
technological advances that allow terraforming and
Nanarch Judges A nanarchy is a system of gov- space travel to change every world to become new
ernment where all violence is prevented by the pres- Edens.
ence of ubiquitous nanites which detect and elim-
inate any threatening situation. The nanites have
only limited intelligence and so are not able to de- Simulacra Infovores A conscious mind may not
termine intent, prohibiting contact sports and sado- be copied but a simulacra, a non-conscious subset of
masochism as equally as battery and murder. Na- the memories and personality can be. Once copied
narch judges are able to act as arbiters of consent the simulacra may be able to spontaneously develop
UPPORTED AND PROMOTED COLONISTS 301

back into a conscious mind as much of the founda- to recreate any period in history as precisely as re-
tion needed already exists: this is normally viewed as quired, with living mannequins and flesh puppets
an unwanted artifact by simulacra creators but the playing out the roles you assign them for scientific
process can be accelerated by absorbing massive research or pleasure.
amounts of randomly selected novel information
and placing it where it best fits inside the mind’s ex-
isting structure. 99% of simulacra fail to successfully Vat Cultured Doctors The ultimate totalitarian
retain their sanity as they adapt but this process can society is one where not only has all work been elim-
be run on an industrial scale as long as the ethics of inated but all workers have been as well. Any essen-
culling intelligence en mass do not enter the picture. tial skills are preserved by colonists suspended in
vat storage and decanted only when their abilities
Singularity Circus The byproducts and failures are required. This leaves the doctors who perform
of singularities are incredibly dangerous but also the decanting as the only people who remain awake
have the potential to provide incredible insight into at all times; the doctors have been conditioned in
the process and the technologies and societies of the same vats to ensure their absolute loyalty to the
postsingularity intelligences. The Singularity Circus regime.
secures, contains and protects artifacts and beings
from singularities and attempts to research and ne-
VLife Architects Artificial life (VLife) exists only
gotiate with these beings as well as directly with
as lines of code running inside a simulation. The
postsingularity cultures. But often such attempts
physics of the simulation may be as Earth-like or
are done with the professionalism and comprehen-
truly alien as required (higher dimensions, unusual
sion of ants scavenging a roadside picnic leaving the
physics constants, altered axioms) but the principles
Singularity Circus with the credibility of a freak show
of life remain constant: negative entropy, genetic
rather than a secret government agency.
drift through copying errors and like vs unlike leading
to the evolution of genetic algorithms and eventu-
Smart Matter Hackers Life has already discov- ally neural networks and intelligence. VLife requires
ered a number of information encoding hacks, such massive computational resources to evolve and is
as overlapping genes, but smart matter hackers work often hand built or tweaked but can lead to new un-
in three dimensions (or four for temporally encoded derstanding of who we are and new technologies
data) using the latest cryptographic and quantum such as truly quantum brains and multidimensional
techniques but also methods dating back to early problem solving, optimisation and manufacturing
demo scene and Core Wars programs. If it turns out techniques.
Maxwell’s Demon can momentarily exist or the Many
Worlds Interpretation is correct then it’ll be these
hackers who’ll exploit the process to get an extra 1% Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems Yoyodyne
processing power out of their smatter rigs. Propulsion Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary
of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation is a military and
Synth Life Simulators Synthetic substitutes for government contractor and rocket company par ex-
living organisms allow you enough granular con- cellence. Whether you want the fastest times on the
trol to rebuild devastated ecologies life form by life Kessel Run or to reach Warp 11 you should choose
form. Once you have mastered this, you can simu- a Yoyodyne Propulsion System! Yoyodyne is the
late ecologies discovered in fossil records, bringing official licensee of Sumner Redstone Disney for all
back synthetic dinosaurs and trilobites, or create ET developed engines. Yoyodyne Race Team para-
new worlds out of the whole cloth of your imagina- phernalia is available online at all major retailers.
tion. Then comes human societies, allowing you You can go faster in a Yoyodyne brain jar.
 302
Upported Colonists

Roll twice (2D6 then 1D6) on the following table to generate colonists of the given mass, with the colonist loyal to the BSU colour indicated by the second roll. If roll 2
is 6, use the column matching your Mission Control social unit colour if performing a recruit or hostile recruit operation and the Space Politics otherwise. Errorist
Organizations: The colonists in italics is described further in the All Errors are My Own supplement. The remaining upported colonists will only be described in this
supplement and you are free to customize and make them your own.
Roll 1 Mass Red or War White or Anarchy Green Purple Orange
Roll 2
1 2 3 4 5
2 1 Retired Dictator Exiled Dissident Ageing Dilettante Special Envoy Space Entrepreneur
3 2 The High Guard Shattered Horizon PMC French Foreign Legion UN Peacekeepers Heavy Water Survivalists
Vozdushno-
Kosmicheskiye Home Schooled
4 2 Sily Astronauts IA Chimp Test program Botany Bay Convicts R1 Race Team
Transhumanist Institute of Human
5 3 Fringe Researchers Fundamentalists Space-abled Alliance Subject Research Microgravity Pantropists
Church of the Latter-Day
6 3 Space Cultists Saints Earth Watch Vatican Observers Reformed L5 Society
Industrial Workers of the Climate Mirror Swarm
7 4 Rock Rats Miners Union Cosca Ad Astra Outer Worlds Co-op New Gulch
Near Earth Orbit Traffic Interplanetary Transport
8 3 Juiced Cosmonauts HALO Dare Devils Retro-rocketeers Control System

CHAPTER 15. FACTION BUILDER

9 3 Camp Concentration Islamic Refugees Mars One Jedi Trekkies/Trek Jedis Loonies (Lunar Colonists)
10 3 [Link] Reality Television Siren Cybernautics Inc FreeWatson AlphaGo
Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
11 1 Somali Hijackers Lloyds Salvage Company Calypso 2 Seed Sail (CDC) Venus Cruise Lines
“What If” Historical End of the Universe
12 1 Off World Dachas Svalbard Caretakers Pre-enactment League Biosphere 4 Hoteliers
 UPPORTED AND PROMOTED COLONISTS
Promoted Colonists

Roll twice (2D6 then 1D6) on the following table to generate colonists of the given mass, with the colonist loyal to the BSU colour indicated by the second roll. If roll 2
is 6, use the column matching your Mission Control social unit colour if performing a recruit or hostile recruit operation and the Space Politics otherwise. Errorist
Organizations: The colonists in italics are described further in the All Errors are My Own supplement. The remaining promoted colonists will only be described in this
supplement and you are free to customize and make them your own.
Roll 1 Mass Red or War White or Anarchy Green Purple Orange
Roll 2
1 2 3 4 5
1 4 Technomancer Clade
Homeless EarthGov (Outer Space
2 4 Conscripted NEO Miners Clade Family Clones Techno-Utopians Division) Neverland Alchemists
Yoyodyne Propulsion Church of Universal
3 3 Singularity Circus Systems Hyperpolymorphs Rental Body Guild Personhood
4 1 Vat Cultured Doctors Ancestral Vaults Flatliners The Contingency Project Cryolibrarians
5 1 Grey World Terraformers Quiverfall Daisyworld Ecologists Wet Nano Seed Sail Drexlerian Refactors
6 1 Cyborg Commander Adam 1.9 Augmented Sensualist Renaissance Polymath Noor Muhammad
7 2 Anti-Robot League Cyber Ronin New Attica Secessionists Earth Orbit Patrol Nanarch Judges
8 2 Soldier Caste Producer Caste Labour Caste Educated Caste Broker Caste
9 3 Group Mind Immortalists Blood Methuselahs Lazarus Long Lifers Lobster Financiers Penanggalan Transplants
10 3 Grey Goo Breeders Synth Life Simulators Blue Goo Symbonts Smart Matter Hackers VLife Architects
11 3 Simulacra Infovores Josephson Implants Darknet Clusters EVE Uplink Astra Nullius
Pathogenic Doomsday
12 3 Cult Eugenic Pilgrims Global Cooling Initiative Evolution in Action Blue Mars Company

303
 I ndex

1m VISIR telescope, 46 Archetypes, 62

300 kg firefighting equipment, 46 Armour, 134
3D Printing, 142 Armour reduction, 178
Artist/model, 75
Abilities, 78 Assisted Skill Use, 121
Ability breakthrough, 163 Assistive technologies, 81
Ability Conditioning, 81 Assistive technology, 72
Ability Limits, 120 Astra Nullius, 298
Ability Singularities, 167 Athlete, 73
Aborting, 27 Athletic Skills, 113
Action Resolution, 23 Atmospheric Sites, 223
Active cooling, 155 Attempting actions more quickly, 28
Activism, 122 Audience has, 194
Adam 1.9, 298 Audience saw, 194
Adaptive, 163 Augmented, 166
Add a defect, 27 Augmented Sensualist, 299
Add a stress, 27 Authoritarian, 29
Add a tally, 27 Authority failure, 194
ADHD, 76 Axiom uncertainty, 163
Adopted outlook, 194
Advanced Armour, 155 B-dead kit, 289, 290
Advanced composite, 155 Balanced, 85
Advanced Technologies, 153 Ballistic helmet, 135
Adversarial images, 151 Bankruptcy, 18
Aerogel insulation, 135 Bankruptcy proceedings, 38
Aerostat crew modules, 44 Barricade, 236
Aerostats, 222 Barrier, 236
Ageing Dilettante, 291 Baseline, 164
Agency, 117 Batch stack, 158
Agender, 102 Batteries, 136
Agent, 117 Battlefield souvenir, 66
Agnosia, 194 Bernal owner, 164
Airlock, 236 Beta code, 68
Alien skills, 23 Bicameral, 290
All, 180 Biosphere 4, 293
Alpha Go, 293 Biotech, 250
Aluminium-air batteries, 137 Bisentient, 164
Ambitious, 75 Blast/flame suit, 133
Ammonia-fed reversible fuel cells, 221 Bleeding, 185
An Important Note on Difficult Topics, 4 Blemished safety record, 65
Anaphylactic shock, 194 Blind, 180
Anarchy, 29 Blockage, 236
Ancestral Vaults, 298 Blood Methuselahs, 299
Anti-nuke, 29 Blood poisoning, 67
Anti-Robot League, 298 Blue blood, 156
Antitrust, 122 Blue Mars Company, 299
Anxiety disorder, 194 Body, 78
Aphasia, 194 Bomb fragments, 70
Appetite disorder, 194 Bootstrap morality, 164
Approach, 254 Bootstrapping, 143
AR stack, 158 Brain damage, 194
Archetype Crew Quality, 62 BSU Colour, 37
Archetype Skill Points, 62 BSU Gender, 164

304
INDEX 305

Buggy platforms, 46 Colony starter kit, 47

Bullying, 194 Coma, 195
Bumps and Debt, 18 Combat Skills, 114
Burn Fuel Cost, 206 Combining shorter actions, 27
Burn victim, 195 Comeback Astronaut, 64
Burned body part, 195 Comms failure, 195
Burned bridges, 74 Communications, 210
Burnout, 209 Compassionate, 87
Burst and Card, 177 Compensating, 23
Buying Conditioning, Medical Specialities, Lan- Competitive, 87
guages and Contacts, 63 Complications, 193
Buying Skills, 63 Component updates, 158
Bypass, 122 Computer Damage, 183
Computers, 129
C-class Sites, 217 Computrone, 169
C-dead, 288 Conditioning limits, 82
C-death pandemic, 289 Conduction burns, 195
C-euthanasia kit, 290 Conscious delation, 289
C-grave, 290 Consciousness, 79
C-suite, 290 Conscripted NEO Miners, 299
Calculating Required Fuel, 206 Conservative (White), 88
Call home, 195 Consumer rig, 153
Call Signs, 84 Contact and Encounter Outlooks, 85
Camp Concentration, 293 Contacts, 115
Capital, 79 Contempt, 195
Capitalist, 29 Contempt of court, 75
Carapace, 135 Continuous Damage, 185
Carbon allotrope nanomachines, 217 Contract Work, 119
Carbon ultracapacitors, 137 Contrarian, 87
Card tricks, 69 Converted, 163
Cards, 13 Cooperative Skill Use, 121
Cation exchange nanorods, 221 Core Competencies, 112
Censor suit, 290 Cosca Ad Astra, 293
Censor suite, 290 Cosmetic, 169
Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Cosplayer, 74
293 Covert ops confidentiality, 70
Centrist (Purple), 88 Crash, 195
Chaotic, 85 Crawlspace, 237
Character Development, 16 Crew Actions, 22
Character insight, 195 Crew and other units on fire, 188
Checkpoint, 237 Crew conditioning, 77
Choke point, 237 Crew Damage, 181
Chrome, 23, 24 Crew death, 174
Chronic condition, 195 Crew minimums, 81
Chronic conditions, 186 Crew Module Builder, 44
Chronic fatigue syndrome, 73 Crew Module ET Production, 152
Church of the Latter-Day Saints, 293 Crew Movement, 210
Church of Universal Personhood, 299 Crew Positions, 60
Clade Family Clones, 299 Criminal conviction, 73
Climate Mirror Swarm Co-op, 293 Cubesats, Drones and LHDs, 47, 138
Climb, 237 Cured, 195
Close-minded, 87 Customized, 169
Code stack, 159 Cyber Ronin, 300
Colonist Nationalities, 98 Cyberneurones, 164
306 INDEX

Cyborg Commander, 300 Drug addiction, 77

Cynical, 87 Drunk, 72
Duty bound, 87
D-class Sites, 218 Dynamic camouflage, 135
Daisyworld Ecologists, 300 Dynamic nano-composites, 220
Damage, 177
Damage effects, 179 Earth Orbit Patrol, 300
Damage Modifiers, 180 Earth Watch, 293
Damage over Time, 184 EarthGov (Outer Space Division), 300
Damage to Structures, 189 Easy going, 87
Darknet Clusters, 300 Eccentric, 87
Data disk, 161 Ecological vandal, 65
Data stack, 159 Ecology, 123
Data stacks, 129 Economic migrants, 83
Death, 195 Egalitarian, 29
Decompression, 196 Egg, 290
Deep Sea Miner, 65 Electro reactive armour, 151
Deep vein thrombosis, 196 Emergency Contact, 115
Defects, 25 Emotional, 290
Defenses, 235 Emotional outburst, 196
Degraded intellect, 196 Employed, 165
Dementia, 196 Employment, 257
Demi, 102 Encounter Prompts, 243
Dentures, 64 Encounters, 287
Depression, 66 Encumbrance, 208
Destination, 41 End of the Universe Hoteliers, 294
Detached, 291 Engineer, 124, 250
Determining Outlooks, 85 Engineering rig, 153
Detox, 196 Enhanced, 165
Devops, 123 Enterprise owner, 165
Dice and Counters, 13 Entrepreneur, 250
Dice Rolling Conventions, 17 Environmental exposure, 186
Digital nirvana, 289 Escalating Damage, 185
Digital swaps, 142 ET Mission, 256
Disabilities and Penalties, 81 ET Produced Armour, 151
Disable, 180 ET Produced Personal Effects, 150
Discharged bankrupt, 65 ET Production, 150
Discounted conditioning, 82 ET products, 161
Disembarking, 256 Ethics complaints, 67
Disinhibition, 196 Ethnicity, 101
Disposition, 84 Ethnicity and Languages, 101
Divorcee, 74 Eusocial, 102
DJ, 74 Euthanasia kit, 290
Doctor, 250 EVA, 124
Doctrine Theories, 285 EVA / Firefight, 196
Doctrines, 285 EVA pod, 133
Dogmatic, 87 EVE Uplink, 301
Dollhouse Play, 4 Evolution in Action, 301
Domestic, 250 Exclusive penalties, 81
Doors, 236 Exiled Dissident, 294
Drexlerian diamondoid, 171 Exit strategy, 68
Drexlerian Refactors, 300 Exo-disposable skin, 151
Drone Operator, 66 Exocortexes, 167
Drowning, 196 Exoinfrastructure, 214
INDEX 307

Experimental Ecologist, 67 Game Scale, 11

Expressive, 290 Gas inhalation, 197
Extra Vehicular Activity, 207 Gender, 101
Extremist, 286 Gender Multimorphism, 102
Genderfluid, 102
Faction Missions, 287 Genderless, 102
Faction Ranks, 286 Generating Abilities, 63
Faction Upgrades, 160, 287 Gestalt minds, 165
Faction-specific upgrades, 161 Gift, 166
Factions, 284 Global Cooling Initiative, 301
Factory owner, 165 Glorious turncoat, 64
Failure Is Not An Option, 17 Glory, 162
Faithful, 87 Glory Destinations, 41
Falling, 183 Gold nanowire batteries, 137
Falling in atmospheres, 183 Gossip, 197
Family, 83 Government department, 38
Family Nicknames, 84 Gradated damage, 180
Fan correspondence, 70 Graded-Z shielding, 135
Fashionable PANFs, 155 Gravity tolerance training, 134
Fast bleeding, 196 Green, 37
Fatigue, 209 Grey Goo Breeders, 301
Favours, 115 Grey World Terraformers, 301
Features, 222 Group dynamics, 197
Female, 102 Grow box, 73
Fire, 188, 196 Gymnast, 76
Firearms, 124
First Person Pronouns, 103 H-class Sites, 219
First Skill Point, 120 Hab rotation, 47
First wave loyalty, 65 HALO Dare Devils, 294
First, Second or Third Wave, 10 Hard labour, 210
Flash frozen/burned, 196 Hard-shell suit, 133
Flatliners, 301 Hazard, 237
Flavoured roach box, 67 Hazards, 238
Flexible, 87 Healing Damage, 181
Flexible sleeping arrangements, 89 Heart attack, 197
Floor Plans, 234 Heaven’s gates, 289
Fogged helmet, 197 Hero complex, 77
Food supply lost, 197 Heroic injury, 197
Former gamer, 66 Heterodox beliefs, 66
Fortified, 237 High Frontier Map Distances, 207
Franchise, 38 High Quality Crew, 36
Free agency, 38 Higher vision, 71
Freefall Structures, 232 Hit locations, 177
FreeWatson, 294 Holographic, 159
Freighter owner, 165 Home owner, 166
French Foreign Legion, 294 Home Schooled Astronauts, 294
Friend of audience has, 197 Homeless Techno-Utopians, 301
Fringe Researchers, 294 Hospital stay, 197
Fuel Grades, 206 Hot bunking sleeping arrangements, 89
Full Stack Programmer, 68 Hull breaches, 189
Future tech, 161 Human spaceflight skeptic, 70
Futurist mentor, 71 Hybrid suit, 133
Hydration, 224
G Suits, 134
308 INDEX

Hyperkinetic or Hypokinetic movement disorder, Life support, 47

197 Life Support Allowance, 129
Hyperpolymorphs, 302 Light exoskeleton, 157
Hypoxia, 186 Limb or organ loss, 198
Limited social circle, 66
IA, 166 Linguistic, 290
IA Chimp Test program, 295 Lithium sulfur batteries, 137
Ideological, 291 Living targets, 180
IED, 237 Lloyd’s Salvage Company, 295
Implanted, 171 Lobster Financiers, 302
Impossible, 159 Local news of, 198
Improved duty cycle, 159 Locations, 243
Improved layer, 157 Long days, 209
Improvising, 23 Long Range Destinations, 41
Individuals, 247 Long Term Colony Destinations, 41
Industrial Workers of the Outer Worlds, 295 Loonies (Lunar Colonists), 295
Industrialize, 162 Low gravity natives, 134
Industry, 124 Low Pressure, 132
Industry Destinations, 41 Low Quality Crew, 37
Innate armour, 179 Lung problems, 198
Inner System Expansion Destinations, 41
Innovation, 197 M-class Sites, 220
Inorganic nanotubes, 218 Machiavellian, 87
Insight, 197 Macronutrients, 226
Institute of Human Subject Research, 295 Male, 102
Intelligence, 78 Marine Biologist, 69
Internal damage, 179 Mars One, 295
Interplanetary Transport System, 295 Martial interests, 68
Interstellar Exits, 43 Martian Perchlorate Soils, 226
Interview, 124 Mass, 44
ISRU, 46 Mecha suit, 157
Medical, 124
Jack-of-all-trades, 87 Medical Facilities, 182
Jams, 180 Medical Hibernation, 183
Jealousy, 198 Medical life support, 198
Jedi Trekkies/Trek Jedis, 295 Medical miracles, 289
Joint Ventures, 40 Medium Quality
Justification, 291 Crew, 37
Juvenile record, 68 Mental, 78
Metamaterial, 171
Kittinger syndrome, 198 Metamaterial cloak, 155
Lab cure, 198 Migration and Trade, 253
Labs, 162 Military rig, 153
Landing, 254 Mining, 125
Languages, 101, 115 Miscommunication, 198
Late Arrivals, 62 Missile platforms, 46
Launch Contractor, 39 Missing parents, 83
Launch/Re-entry suit, 133 Mission Control Skills, 122
Lazarus Long Lifers, 302 Mission Control Social Unit, 36
Learning disability, 77 Mission Control Types, 38
Learning Skills, 119 Mission control upgrades, 161
Legal Lazarus, 289 Mission control uplink, 47
Liberals (Green), 88 Mission Directorate, 115
Libertarian (Orange), 88 Mission Goal, 41
INDEX 309

Mission Specialist, 61, 250 Opposed Actions, 24

Mission upgrades, 160 Opposition, 23
Missions, 41 Orange, 37
ML stack, 159 Orchestrated, 159
Modded, 166 Ordained, 73
Monogamous sleeping arrangements, 89 Organelle, 171
Mood disorder, 198 Organization Charts, 286
Moon and Asteroid Dust, 227 Organohybrid, 171
Movement Limits, 205 Origin Story, 285
Movement Points, 210 Orthodox, 285
Movement roll, 211 Other crew module systems, 46
MR (Magnetorheological) fluid, 136 Other Supplements, 14
Multi-metallic nano-motors, 220 Outdoor Defenses, 237
Multi-purpose, 159 Outlook, 85
Multilateral, 29 Overview effect, 64
Musician, 68 Oxygen leak, 199
Mutiny, 198 Oxygen leaks, 187

Name, 285 Paints, 181

Names, 84 Paleoconservative, 29
Nanarch Judges, 302 Pantrophic cure, 199
Nano-controller, 157 Paper, Writing and Recording Tools, 13
Nanoblack, 136 Para-aramid nano-fibers (PANFs), 136
Nanoslick, 136 Parents, 83
Narrative, 291 Partial repairs, 140
National Military, 38 Partial Skintight Suit, 133
National Military Launch Site Restrictions, 39 Partial success, 26
National Space Agency, 38, 98 Partnership, 71
Nationalist, 29 Parts, 168
Nationalities, 98 Patents and Licenses, 149
Navy Diver, 70 Pathogenic Doomsday Cult, 302
Near death, 199 Patronage, 38
Near death experience, 199 Payload Specialists, 61
Near Earth Orbit Traffic Control, 296 Payload Speciality, 61
Negotiate, 125 Penalties, 26
Neogen mutualist, 171 Penanggalan Transplants, 302
Net Thrust, 205 Performance, 125
Network operator, 250 Permanent Defenses, 235
New Gulch, 296 Permanent Disability, 81
New technology prevents, 199 Personal Badge, 166
New Zealand, 39 Personal Effects, 128
Nihilistic, 87 Personal feedback, 199
No Fixed Future, 12 Pet robot, 72
No Uploads, 11 Petrol head, 68
Nominative Determinism, 84 Philosophy, 88
Noor Muhammad, 302 Phoning Home, 174
Physical, 78
Obstructions, 235 Pilot, 61, 125, 250
Off World Dachas, 296 Planetary suit, 133
Offerings, 128 Plastic surgery, 72
On fire, 181 Platform, 46
One Child Policy, 83 Player Actions, 20
Open-minded, 87 Playing Pieces, 13
Operations Skills, 113 Point defense array, 157
310 INDEX

Points upgrades, 161 Radiation sickness, 187

Political Appointee, 71 Radiative cooling, 151
Political enemies, 67 Radical, 286
Political Skills, 114 Raise-R-Us, 289
Polymetallic nodule, 65 Rally driver, 73
Polymorphic, 160 Rampancy, 199
Post-concussion syndrome, 76 Rank, 80
Post-operative therapy, 199 Rapid, 200
Postgender, 101 Raygun platforms, 46
Power, 210 Re-enabling, 140
Power failure, 199 Reaction to anesthesia, 200
Powered exoskeleton, 155 Reality Television, 296
Practical sleeping arrangements, 89 Recovering addict, 69
Preferred Pronouns, 103 Recovery, 118
Prescriptive, 87 Recruit, 125
Printed Materials, 13 Red, 37
Printed solar panels, 221 Reflective, 290
Printer inks, 142, 143 Reformed L5 Society, 296
Printer pod, 139 Reformist, 286
Printing parts, 141 Refueling and Tracking Fuel, 206
Printing replicators, 144 Regional Organization, 39
Prior record, 69 Relaxed hygiene, 64
Privatised, 38 Reliable, 200
Procedural Play, 10 Remission, 200
Professional Skills, 119 Renew contact, 200
Programs, 162 Repair Exceptions, 141
Promoted Armour, 156 Repairs, 140
Promoted Colonists, 298 Reporting lies, 71
Promoted Technologies, 156 Reprints, 142
Pronoun Cards, 14 Research, 126
Pronouns, 103 Resolving Accidents, 25
Prospect, 125 Responsibility versus Role, 62
Prosthetic, 172 Rest, 209
Prosthetic limb, 70 Retired Dictator, 296
Prototype rig, 153 Retro-rocketeers, 296
Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures, 75 Reverse engineering, 150
Psychotic break, 199 Revisionist, 285
PTSD, 66 Right to die, 288
Public Agender, 102 Rigs, 153
Public-private partnership, 38 Ripcord, 76
Pulmonary embolism, 199 Robot Body Size, 80
Purist, 285 Robot Capital Ability, 80
Purple, 37 Robot conditioning, 82
Purple heart, 199 Robot Damage, 183
Push Factory or Science Destinations, 41 Robot Gender, 101
Robot Mental Ability, 78
Quantum dots, 219 Robot Pronouns, 103
Quiverfall, 302 Robot Recovery, 118
Robot Social Ability, 79
R1 Race Team, 296 Robotics Specialist, 72
Rad-hardness, 44, 179 Role-Play Check List, 5
Radiation, 181 Rolling for Actions, 23
Radiation exposure, 64 Rules Weight and Special Cases, 12
Radiation hardening, 129 Rumours of mass, 200
INDEX 311

S-class Sites, 220 Smart drug cure, 201

Safe or Unsafe Defenses, 236 Smart Matter Hackers, 303
Safe penalties, 81 Smart suit, 156
Safety, 6 Smartter, 172
Safety failure, 200 Smatter veins, 156
Safety Tools, 4 Smoker, 77
Salvage, 200 Social, 79, 88
Schizophrenia, 75, 200 Social Occasions, 251
Science Influencer, 73 Social Skills, 113
Scientist, 250 Soft Suit, 134
Searching, 212 Solar array, 156
Seasoned, 200 Solar Power, 227
Secondary diagnosis, 200 Somali Hijackers, 297
Section owner, 166 Space Agency Scientist, 75
Sector owner, 166 Space blindness risk, 64
Security clearance caveat, 69 Space Cultists, 297
Security Officer, 250 Space enthusiast, 71
Security rig, 154 Space Flight Suits, 134
Security Troubleshooter, 74 Space Politics, 28
Segments, 232 Space Snacks, 14
Seizure disorder, 200 Space Suits, 131
Self-destructive, 87 Space Travel Encounters, 242
Self-made, 88 Space-focused Organization, 39
Selfless, 88 Spacecraft, 40
Semi-biological, 160 Spacecraft Movement, 204
Sentient, 172 Spacecraft owner, 166
Service History, 63 Spacewalker, 251
Sex toy, 72 Spare Time Skill Points, 120
Shame, 200 Sparing, 140
Shared Atmospheres, 189 Special Envoy, 297
Shattered Horizon PMC, 297 Specialized 3D printers, 143
Sheer, 238 Species rating, 82
Shirt Sleeve Conditions, 118 Species Ratings, 163
Shock, 181, 200 Spectral Classes, 217
Short, 76 Sports car, 77
Shoulder replacement surgery, 65 Stack deck, 160
Side-loads, 167 Stack updates, 158
Silvered, 151 Stacks, 129, 130
Simulacra Infovores, 302 Stacks Skill Use, 121
Simulation and Randomness, 12 Star ship owner, 166
Single parent, 75 Starting Skill Points, 119
Singularity Circus, 303 State Owned Enterprise, 38
Skiff, 133 Statist (Red), 88
Skill Descriptions, 122 Storage failure, 201
Skill Limits, 120 Streetwise, 126
Skill Types, 113 Stress, 174
Skill Use Modifiers, 121 Stress disorder, 201
Skintight Suit, 133 Stress/fault, 201
Sleep, 209 Stroke, 201
Sleeping Arrangements, 89 Strong Arm, 126
Slip, 238 Structure fires, 192
Slow bleeding, 201 Student, 251
Smart devices, 129 Subsistence Farming, 119
Smart Devices and Workstations, 130 Subsurface Oceans, 227
312 INDEX

Subsystem updates, 158 Time keeping, 27

Successes, 26 TNO Lab Destinations, 43
Suffocation, 187 Tools, 140, 143
Suffrage, 126 Tools lost, 201
Suicide trigger, 201 Touch interfaces, 130
Suit Armour, 131 Toxins, 187
Suit Radio Range, 131 Trade association, 38
Superconducting, 151 Trading Desk, 126
Superficial injury, 201 Transhumanist Fundamentalists, 297
Superheavy suit, 157 Transplanted, 172
Support Skills, 113 Transporter accident, 289
Suppressed penalties, 81 Trap, 238
Surface and Underground Structures, 231 Traumatic brain injury, 74
Surgery, 182 Trekkie, 74
Surgery (2D6), 201 Trouble, 28
Surveillance, 238 Twist Insertion Polymer (TIP) Muscles, 151
Survival rig, 154 Type A, 88
Survival rig (Dry world), 154
Survival rig (Free fall), 154 UN Peacekeepers, 297
Survival rig (Wet world), 154 Uncompromising, 88
Sweets, 18 Uneven, 238
Synchronise your Watches, 14 Universal, 160
Synchronizing code, 140 Universal resurrectors, 289
Synesthesia, 201 Unloading Cargo, 255
Synth Life Simulators, 303 Unstable, 238
Synthesized voice, 72 Unstoppable, 71
System owner, 167 [Link], 298
Systematic, 88 Updates, 158
Systems, 129 Uplift, 167
Upload cult, 289
Taking off and Landing, 205 Upported and Promoted Colonists, 291
Tallies, 128 Upported Colonists, 291
Team Player, 88 Urinary retention, 201
Technology Classes, 148
Technology Improvements, 143 V-class Sites, 221
Technology Levels, 146 Vat Cultured Doctors, 303
Teleops, 126 Vent, 238
Temperature, 132 Venus Cruise Lines, 298
Temporary Defenses, 236 Veterinarian degree, 67
Test Pilot, 76 Violence, 201
The Bends, 187 Virtual trophy room, 69
The Contingency Project, 299 VLife Architects, 303
The High Frontier Board Game, 10 Vozdushno-Kosmicheskiye Sily, 298
The High Frontier Map, 13 VR stack, 160
The High Frontier Pledge, 6, 13 War, 29
The High Frontier Universe, 11 Water, 208
The High Guard, 294 Water supply lost, 201
The Reply, 176 Wealthy Founder, 77
Thermal Environment, 227 Weapon range, 23
They live, 289 Wet Nano, 172
Thin film lithium ion batteries, 137 What If Historical Pre-enactment League, 298
Thinking, 290 What You Need, 13
This is Mutiny, 5 Wheelchair user, 76
Thruster, 46 White, 37
INDEX 313

Work history, 69
Workshops, 162
Wound infection, 201

X-aerogels, 136

Young crew, 121

Young parent, 70
Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems, 303

Zero-g houseplant, 67