Star Marauders
STAR
MARAUDERS
Marauders crave riches, infamy and violent death. They travel the far reaches of space striking fear into the hearts of all who meet their gaze.
CHARACTER CREATION:
To generate your character, first roll 6+d6 to generate their maximum STAMINA. You may roll a d6 to determine your starting kit here as well, as it may inspire your choices ahead.
A marauder has 1d3 skill points to assign. More skill points can be earned by rolling 2d6 under the stamina and accepting the new result. Each time you roll lower, you get another skill point to apply. On a failure, reduce stamina by 1 and no more skills can be earned. See skills below.
At this point, special equipment may be purchased by using starting stamina. See equipment below.
Provide your character a name.
GEAR PACKS
1 Skirmisher
Breathing Mask and exposed Ox-Tank
Eggshell armor
Vibro Sling + 2d6 bolts
Bootknife
2 Berserker
Helmet with Comms-Horns and air recycler
Labour frame + integrated Ox-Tank
Energy Ax + 1d6 charges
3 Bondi
Breathing Mask and exposed Ox-Tank
Cloth Armor + integrated Splatgun (1 shell) in forearm
Pulse Spear
4 Huscarl
Battledress with integrated Ox-Tank
SMG + 1d6+1 bursts
Claymore Shield
Longsword
5 Shieldmaiden
Breathing Mask and exposed Ox-Tank
Cloth Armor
Splatgun (1d3+1 shells)
Vibro Shield
Bootknife
6 Valkyrie
Helmet with Comms-Horns and air recycler
Battledress with integrated Ox-Tank and Booster Pack
Gravhammer
Revolver
RULES:
To perform a task a marauder rolls 2d6 and hits 8+. The result of the dice roll is boosted by the highest relevant skill. Furthermore, the Target Number may be shifted by 1 in either direction as a result of dis/advantage. Overwhelming odds against the marauders may be considered Supernatural and have a Target Number of 12+, or sometimes just impossible! If the odds are overwhelmingly in the marauders' favour, it should be a gimme.
Weapons and attacks deal wounds and drain fixed stamina. A roll is made as suggested by the Lethality Rating of the weapon used, but this might be modified by the target's armour or the situation at hand.
If a hit is Lethal, the part struck is maimed or destroyed, killing the target if vitals are destroyed. Otherwise, a minor wound is applied to the location hit. (Normal: Grazed Groin. Lethal: Disintegrated Junk.)
All fighting commences simultaneously. If it needs to be decided who goes first in a big battle, sides may roll off 2d6+head count to see who rolls highest. In a more intimate engagement, the Awareness skill is used to see who can capitalize on the moment.
Stamina heals with rest (+1 stamina, 10 minutes). Add a snack or a smoke to the rest and recover 1d3 stamina. There are also special injectors that instantly heal and, theoretically, empathetic psionics.
If you run out of stamina, you either pass out or need to rest, collect yourself, etc. You can recover up to half your day's max stamina from 0 or below. If you dont hit zero you can go to whatever you rolled that day.
At 1 or 0 stamina, a marauder is considered Fatigued and must suffer a degree of disadvantage on physical/mental/spiritual tasks.
Some weapons or situations deal Shock Damage exclusively, which does not cause wounds but drains stamina. In fact, many weapons can be used nonlethally, eschewing the roll or lowering its odds.
Armor is rated in Protection, a measure of how much Lethality it reduces.
Minor wounds recover with a month of rest, each, and the infirm marauder takes twice as many the Chrome Coins as normal. A severe wound, from a failed Lethal Roll, such as a lost arm or crushed pelvis, requires specialized therapy and extended shore leave. These cost at least 4-24 CC per injury and up to half a year of rest.
Each wound causes disadvantage in relevant skills. Major wounds cause disadvantage to relevant skills, but also cause +1 shock each time damage is endured and may, depending on the nature of the wound, increase the difficulty to supernatural or even make a task impossible.
Strength skill provides a negative health pool to pull from.
GEAR LIST
Stamina cost in brackets.
Breathing Mask - Allows on to breathe in space, provided they are equipped with an Ox-Tank. (1)
Ox-Tank - A full Ox-Tank lasts 1 hour and strenuous activity will use up more oxygen. Always good to have a spare. (1)
Marauder Helmet w/ Comms Horns - An enclosed helmet with two bovine horns jutting out of its crown. These are actually communications antennae. This helmet provides night vision, too. (2)
Air Recycler - A device that reuses oxygen to extend Ox-Tanks. When an Ox-Tank is empty, once per outing one may roll 1d3 and last that many more ten minutes. (1)
Eggshell Armor - 3 Protection, breaks after 1 hit. (2)
Labor Frame - Provides one degree of Advantage for Strength and Fighting. Unarmed Lethality +1. (2)
Cloth Armor - 1 Protection. Puffy spacesuits with dense plating. (2)
Battledress - 2 Protection. A modular military hardsuit. Marauders paint their's up and decorate them. (3)
Booster Pack - Rocket & Skates Propulsion System. Get up to high places, hover down a drop or move quickly down a corridor. 1+1d3 activations. (2)
Integrated Splatgun - Lethality 4. Shock 3. A cheap Splatgun alternative built into the arm of any armour. Its a one-and-done emergency weapon, for do or die situations. 1 shell. (1)
Shock Javelin - Shock 3. A short rod which stuns its targets. Nonlethal weapon. 1d6 javelins. (1)
Comms Horn - A horn shaped handheld communication device. (1)
Vibro Sling - Lethality 2. Shock 1. As you spin it, it hums and becomes charged up, multiply shock each round dedicated to spinning the sling. 2d6 bolts. (1)
Bootknife - Lethality 2. Shock 2. A knife that can be kept anywhere really, commonly stored in a marauder's boot. This short knife is barbed and tears apart spacewear with ease, exposing the target to the elements. (1)
GUM-E-SAVE - Looks like a stick of gum. Wad it up and patch a hole in a spacesuit. (1)
Energy Ax - Lethality 5. Shock 1. A handle with a trigger to unleash a chemical lash. 1d6 charges. (3)
Pulse Spear - Lethality 2. Shock 3. A spear that can reach further than its effective range via pulse energy effect. This means the spear can be used to subdue before it is used to kill. Great for catching prisoners. (2)
Drain Cuffs - Shock 1 per minute. Nonlethal. These cuffs are designed to subdue criminals or take hostages. (1)
SMG - Lethality 3. Shock 2. A submachinegun that a marauder can wield with one hand. (2)
Splatgun - Lethality 4. Shock 3. A fully functional splatgun. 1d3+1 shells. Can shoot two at a time to double its lethality. Takes two hands. (4)
Longsword - Lethality 4. Shock 2. Difficult to use in tight spaces and must be thrusted in 0G... Surely the weapon of a Lord! (2)
Gravhammer - Lethality 5. Shock 4. In order to wield the Gravhammer, a marauder must pass a Supernatural Strength test! (4)
Revolver - Lethality 4. Shock 3. A big fucking handgun. (3)
Claymore Shield Protection 1. Lethality 3. Shock 4. A riot shield stuffed with explosives. If it were to sustain a direct armour piercing attack, it would explode. When the shield explodes, everyone in front of it suffers the damage. The trained marauder only suffers half the shock. Anyone in the shockwave takes shock damage, naturally. This can blow holes thru blast doors, etc. (3)
Vibro Shield - Protection 1. A round shield used to deflect close range weapons. If someone hits the shieldbearer and rolls a 6 on a Lethality Test the shieldbearer gets an immediate counter attack. (2)
Healing Spike - Instantly heals 4 Stamina. Roll 1d6 with each use if you roll as many times as or fewer than you have used the Spike since sleeping, you O.D. and die. (2)
SKILL LIST
AWARENESS - You notice things quickly or thoroughly. This is a stat for reaction as well as attention to detail. It is used to go first in quickdraws and also to search for traps. It is also used for traversing 0G.
LANGUAGES - All marauders can speak the startongue, but only those with a skill in language can read it. Every point thereafter provides fluency in another language, both written and spoken, and an attempt can be made on piecing together unfamiliar languages on the fly.
SHOOTING - The ability for a marauder to throw something or shoot something at a target.
FIGHTING - The fighting prowess of a marauder.
STRENGTH - For lifting, running, wrestling, pulling, climbing, swimming, etc. A marauder's physical prowess.
DRIVE - Handle vehicles. At this point in the future there is a universal standard for many machine operations and no specialization is required.
BRAIN - A Marauder must specialize his learning in one area. Suggestions are Mechanics, Computers, Biology, etc. This can even be quantum until the player decide where their marauder should excel.
HIT LOCATIONS
2 Head
3 Neck
4 Gut
5 Chest
6 Shoulder
7 Hand
8 Crotch
9 Elbow
10 Knee
11 Leg
12 Foot
ENEMIES, EVERYWHERE
Enemies are usually their own skill, up to five at absolute maximum (this is reserved for very special cases). Generally 3 is considered extremely powerful, as it is the highest a marauder can achieve. Sometimes they might have specific skills in certain areas, like a full character, but in general they just have a single skill. Without anything else specified, their stamina is equal to their unique skill times 2, and their shock is equal to their unique skill by default, too.
Vent Beetle 1 L1 Special: Poison Bite A beetle that does 1 shock damage, has 2 stamina, rolls +1 on beetle tasks and on a 1-in-6 the beetle bite will poison you to death.
Cosmic Marine 2 St 8 Sh 3 L4 Weapon: Megacarbine This is a Marine from Space who gets +2 on his Marine tasks, he has a eight stamina and deals three shock damage with 4 in 6 chance of lethality.
BOOTY
Wealth in space is measured in Chrome Coins, or CC. One Chrome Coin is enough to feed and shelter a man for a month. A black box is worth 60-360 CC depending on the value of the ship. A ship itself is worth 600-3600 CC, depending on the value. Hostages are generally worth their highest skill times ten in CC. A tiny rare earth diamond may be worth 8 CC, whereas a big-ass version of the same precious stone might be worth 80 CC! The stamina cost of gear during character creation is half its cost in CC.