This is a classic adventure format, a "locked in a house with a ________ (
stranger/monster/danger)" story. Keep the players guessing for as long
as possible, and you will have a fun evening of play. My thanks to Andy
for granting permission for me to host it on my web site.
-Kevin Clark - Mar. 1st, 1999.
Copyright ©1993, 1998, 1999 Andy Slack. All Rights Reserved.
Originally published in Challenge magazine #71.
HTML layout/editing by Kevin Clark
( kevinc AT cnetech DOT com )
Please report errors to me.
http://www.geocities.com/pentapod2300/mag/stowaway.htm
Disclaimer required by Far Future Enterprises: This item is not authorized or endorsed by Far Future Enterprises ( FFE) and is used without permission. The item is for personal use only. Any use of FFE's copyrighted material or trademarks in this file should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks. In addition, this item cannot be republished or distributed without the consent of the author ( Andy Slack).
Someone -- or something -- unexpectedly has stowed away on board the PCs' ship...
When PCs acquire a ship, either their own or a patron's, they need to
become familiar with its characteristics and layout. This scenario
provides such an opportunity, while being more enjoyable than simply looking
at photocopies of ship diagrams. For the sake of convenience, deck
plans for a Thorez-class courier are provided, but use whatever
ones are appropriate for your campaign. Further details on the Thorez-class
can be found in Challenge 34, or here on
Pentapod's World of 2300AD.
The PCs are outbound from their last port of call when the 3rd officer
( responsible for life support and environmental control, and usually the
day-shift navigator) discovers that oxygen consumption is high. Evidently,
someone -- or something -- unexpected has stowed away on board the ship.
The players should be allowed access to the deck plans for the PCs' ship ( after all, they live here). The PCs will need to conduct a compartment-by-compartment search of their ship to locate the uninvited guest.
The referee should decide on the stowaway's hiding place, bearing in mind the need to stay hidden while having easy access to food and water ( on the Thorez courier shown, the bridge relay access tunnel on the upper level -- see location 20 in the deckplans -- is recommended).
If the selected area would normally be locked, the lock will have been broken either by accident or by the stowaway.
The PCs are bound to have paranoid thoughts about hijackers, lethal aliens and the like; these should be encouraged. However, if they think to check the autochef, they will find that their unexpected guest is consuming ship's rations and has not damaged the vending machine -- this should tell them that the stowaway is intelligent and familiar with common autochefs, and has a biochemistry compatible with humans ( as well as some cash).
The stowaway will prove to be a young girl running away from home because she feels her stepmother is cruel to her.
She is a harmless, Green NPC with no useful skills; her family is not
especially rich or influential.
Once they've found the stowaway, the crewmembers have several options. In theory, they should return her to their last port of call, assuming the captain is willing.
Or they could take her with them to their next port of call, adopt her as a ship's mascot, or evict her into space without a p-suit.
Turning back will delay the voyage by several days and increase the costs for the voyage -- typically by several thousand Livres -- at the referee's discretion. No one will repay the PCs for this expense.
Taking the stowaway with them makes the PCs legally responsible for any costs incurred in returning the stowaway to her port of origin under armed guard.
The captain is within his rights to have her killed, but unless this is covered up, he will acquire two infamy points, and each member of the crew will acquire one infamy point ( this is also true if the PCs enter the girl's hideout with guns blazing.)
Covering up the incident requires a task:
Task: Falsifying the ship's flight logs: Formidable. Security Systems or one-half Electronics. One hour.Referee: Any failure leaves evidence that the flight recorders have been tampered with, which will be discovered automatically at the ship's next overhaul. The penalty for this is a heavy fine, and repeated violations can lead to the captain losing his master's certificate and therefore his right to command a ship.
If you don't like the idea of a harmless and innocent stowaway, or if you
want to run the same scenario again, trigger-happy hijackers and cunning
alien predators also come highly recommended.
-Andy Slack
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