Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Gygaxian Democracy #12: Starship Crash

Ok, so you just crash-landed on the probably-hostile planetoid.

You are going to have to roll on the table below.

Let's assume:
  • your craft is definitely damaged and will require at least one mcguffin, um, I mean, spare part in order to get off this planet again
  • your craft may or may not be armed so any results talking about weapons will also have to include a non-weapon result
  • damage to people is classic D&D-scaled. i.e. d4 isn't a lot, 3d6 is.
  • this table will be used if the upcoming Warhammer 40k: Dark Heresy Starcrawl Mandy wants to play this week actually happens and if those involved fail to remember what happened in pilot school. We have characters rolled up and everything. However this table should be made usable for any sci fi game.
  • To keep this table flexible, don't tell the GM stuff about what planet this is. It's their game--don't tell them: "Oh, you landed on a planet full of green cheese". Just tell them what the crash did and, if necessary, throw in some local color about what was crashed into.
1-Rummmmble....thupthupthup whoa, you all get thrown around but not too bad--take d4 damage and make a con roll to not throw up

2-As 1 plus you lost a tailfin. Minus 10% to all control rolls.

3...(Your turn...)

66 comments:

Pere Ubu said...

Hey, what's that smell...? Looks like the galactic locational sub-ether navigational frammistat got fried in the impact - those things are so damn delicate! Navigator / helmsman takes d2 points damage from superficial burns to their limbs and you're SOL as far as going anywhere beyond local orbit unless it's fixed.

Unknown said...

Fuck you google! All that hard work wasted. OK, here it is, retyped from memory. Also, since I know nothing about the W40K universe, assuming that FTL drive requires being out of system, or at least off-planet, to work, as per most classic SF.

3. Fell and landed within viewing distance of local tribal natives. Roll d4:

3.1. They're hostile. 2d8 1/2-hit-die fighters waving clubs and spears outside your door.

3.2. They think you are (or your ship is) gods. 2d8 1/2-hit-die fighters waving clubs and spears outside your door in celebration. Too bad you don't understand their language.

3.3. They are curious. 2d8 1/2-hit-die fighters peer through your portholes. Clubs and spears left lying nearby.

3.4. They are curious and cautious. 2d8 1/2-hit-die fighters lie unseen waiting for you to make first move. One will approach as you leave the ship. If you're nice, they'll all come out and help you. If you're nasty, they'll fight back hard. If you're unimaginably (to them) nasty, they'll run to get reinforcements.

"3.x." continues this list.

4. FTL fucked, rocket and FTL drive work fine. System you're on is 1d100 light years from civilization. Problem: tow trucks are expensive, and sometimes are actually pirates.

5. Rocket & FTL communication fucked, FTL drive works fine. In 3d6 days a dino-killer-sized meteor will hit the planet. Clock's ticking.

6. You've landed in the middle of a field. d4 miles away is a forest. d4 miles into that forest is a mountain. At the top of a d4 miles long climb on that mountain is the ore deposit that will get you home. Problem: the grass, trees, and shrubs are carnivorous.

7. All life on planet is arsenic-based, and all water save rain is arsenic-laced. And your life support systems are shot, along with your rocket. You've got as long to survive as you have food on board.

8. The only entry about this planet in the onboard computer says: "Watch out for stobor."

9. You've landed on a planet with a large amount of unobtanium. However, your navigation systems are irrevocably shot, though rocket, FTL, and communications work fine. Time to find a way to get back without alerting others to the fact that you've struck "gold".

Adam Dickstein said...

I could fill this table by myself if you had a D1000 to roll but I'll be nice and let others join in...

4. Damage to the Cargo Hold. Anyone in the hold at the time of the crash takes 1D6 if strapped in somewhere, 3D6 if not. Cargo may be damaged.

5. As 4 but one crate in the Hold contains something you didn't know you were carrying and that crate breaks open. It isn't listed on the manifest. Beware of (1-2) toxic waste leakage (3-4) a genetically engineered, quasi-sentient virus or (5-6) a malfunctioning hunter-killer robot.

Zak Sabbath said...

@barking

gimme all you got, Scotty! I need this rig up and running ASAP.

besides a d1000 is just a d10 3 times.

James said...

The Second bump fried communications.

The Initial hit activated a dormant computer virus, which sent out a signal calling for a massive, scorched earth style, emergency bombardment centered on the ships current location.

Adam Dickstein said...

6. The ship's navigational array is damaged in such a way that even if you replace the Subspacial Field Inducer and Warp/Hyper/FTL Calibration Matrix, there is a 35% chance that the ship's next jump will deposit the vessel 1D10 Parsecs/Hexes/Whathaveyou away from it's target destination. The entire array needs to be replaced by trained technicans at a Spacedock/Starbase/Spaceport type facility.

7. Part of the cause of the crash was Hmph'Pht's, squirrel sized silicon based creatures that absorb energy from ship components (think Mynocks but...). If cornered or attacked, Hmph'Pht's expel energy that their bodies have yet to process. It essence, they fart charged ion particles. These short EMP bursts can damage any electronic equipment and short out/deactive power armor and robots within 25 ft of the critters.

Pere Ubu said...

8. A particularly sharp outcropping of rock opens one side of your craft like a Christmas present. The entire [1-3 left 4-6 right] side of the ship now has no life support. Time to either crowd everyone to the other side, or hope they're really good at holding their breath for several weeks.

9. Wow! You managed to get the ship down in one piece, everyone's okay and things are looking up... until you find out there's a severed hydraulic cable in the cargo bay, and the cargo doors ain't opening any time soon. And the hydraulic fluid is a cheap brand that happens to be not only toxic but corrosive. Hope you packed hazmat equipment.

10. The captain's chair breaks. Goddamnit.

Adam Dickstein said...

8. Part of the ships weapon/defense shields/tractor beam/sensor array system (pick the appropriate one your vessel has or roll 1D4 if you have them all)utilize a rare element called Intrinsium. This laboratory produced alloy appeared to be deteriorating rapidly. Apparently a component of the planet's atmosphere contains an agent that is causing the Intrinsium to break down. A counter-agent is needed or a new source of Intrinsium coated for protection is required.

9. Inaudible to Human ears (though it could possibly be detected by some allied alien species on a difficult awareness check), the vessel's communications system is sending out an ultrasonic whine. In 1D6 rounds, there will be several packs of the local viscious, social group oriented predator. They find the noise to be (1-2) similar to a dying animal they hunt for food (3-4) annoying as it throws off their own ultrasonic hunting technique (5-6) completely alien so they have come to investigate.

Adam Dickstein said...

10. The ship is rapidly leaking coolant from it's ventral side, creating a pool of the chemical liquid underneath the ship. Since sensors in that area are offline it can not be seen unless someone actual goes to the bottom deck and somehow finds out about it (possibly a foul chemical smell inside the room above the coolant tanks). If not addressed, the ship's engines will overheat on take off. The chemical is also poisonous to local flora and fauna.

11. A computer glitch is telling you that all is fine except there is a need to reboot the computer. Roll three more times on this chart but the results won't be know until the computer has completed it's reboot process.

Pere Ubu said...

11. The main computer system gives a disconsolate whine and shuts down, displaying nothing but a bright blue screen. It's way broke. Subsequently, it's discovered all the food replicators onboard will serve nothing but Waldorf Salad, iced sweet tea, and deep-fried calamari.

Adam Dickstein said...

12. Damage to the Primary Couplings on the Plasma Injection Manifold. Which means you're leaking highly explosive gas in the engine room. I'd get that fixed. A simple spark will do more dice of damage then you own.

13. The region you landed in on the alien planet is something akin to a quicksand lake. It's a very large area and somewhat thicker and denser than Earth quicksand. The entire vessel will sink and be dragged to the bottom in 1D10 turns. The size of the ship, it's weight and mass and the fact that sand will pour into open cracks and vents will prevent it from floating even if normally capable of an aquatic landing.

Adam Thornton said...

12. All control systems are sparking madly. Anyone within 5' of any control panel must roll 1d4. On a 1, take 1d6 electrical damage from being zapped.

13. Big Reactor Leak. Very Dangerous. 1d6: 1 yes, really--10d6 damage plus random mutations to anyone within 50'. 2 kinda-sorta--3d6 damage plus save vs. paralyzation or one random mutation to anyone within 20'. 3 not so much--d6 burns to anyone RIGHT THERE. 4 impressive fireworks display--no damage, ship stuck until someone fixes the reactor leak. 5 power anomaly--all brig/jail cells open, garbage compacter runs its cycle. 6 boring conversation anyway--comms short out as above.

Pere Ubu said...

14. Everyone's intact, but that impact was a lot louder than it should have been, and the ship's operating off emergency backup power. The crash cracked the containment shield on the ship's main reactor, and it shut itself down as a safety precaution. The batteries should hold out for a week or so; start making technical ability rolls to see if you can repair the shielding and restart the reactor in that time.

Adam Dickstein said...

14. Damage to the Recharging Station/Weapon's Locker or where ever the PC's keep their gear. 3D4 items have suffered minor damage and will function at reduced capacity (-2 to hit, -2 to damage, etc.). 1D4 items are destroyed and unusable.


15. As 14 but one of the damage items appears find until used. A microfracture in the power relay will cause the item to explode when activated or fired if it is a weapon. Damage is 2D6 for most items, 1D6 for small items and 3D6 or more for weapons or heavy gear.

Pere Ubu said...

15. Maneuver drive fuel leak! Lose d% of what's left in the tank; less than 50% and someone's going to have to get out and push if you want to get back to orbit.

16. BRASSSSSSHHH! The impact spins the ship around; everyone holds on and the camera shakes back and forth. Make a dex roll to avoid taking d4 damage. In addition, the outer door of the main personnel airlock is warped shut.

Adam Dickstein said...

16. The ships main weapon array/auxilary engine* is damage and bent in such away that dislodging it may cause it to activate. If it's a weapon it's bent inward and essentially the ship will shoot itself. If an auxilary engine it will cause the entire vessel to move further into the ground or foward depending on the nature of the terrain. This will cause untold additional damage to the ship.

*In a Star Trek like setting with Warp Drive, this would indicate the Impulse Drive or Thrusters. In most SF settings Thrusters or 'Booster'/'Turbo' Rockets would be more appropriate.

Adam Dickstein said...

17. Transatmospheric Stabilizers are ruined. The ship may be fine for space travel but it'll have a hell of a time maneuvering through the air to get out of the gravity well. Increase the difficulty of all aerospace piloting rolls to 1 and a half times normal or more as appropriate to your game system. Alternatively, all aerial maneuvers are at -7.

Pere Ubu said...

The crash destroyed the section storing the ship's air-raft/ATV/expeditionary vehicle (which is now trashed). Anyone in the nearby Engineering/Drive section at the time takes 1d6+1 damage from the impact.

Adam Dickstein said...

18. Nav Computer and Sensor Log memory wipe. Star Charts are gone. The computer has no idea of the layout of the planet or where it is located.

19. Computer glitch causes automated distress call to be sent out on the frequencey most commonly used by your PC's primary enemy. They have a scout or small military vessel near by.

The Drune said...

22. Power plant explodes. The ship is engulfed in pale blue flames, radiation, and crackling electricity. Save vs. Death to get the fuck out or take 5d6 being burned alive damage.

I also wanted to add this but it's too much green cheese.

Adam Dickstein said...

20. Crystaline Computer Matrix shatters on impact. No open doors will close, no closed door will open, no elevators/turbolifts will run and the computer appears to perform random functions when activated. Try to view the sensor log get tea from the replicator. Activate the library data file on the planet and all the ships toilets flush.

Pere Ubu said...

Something jarred loose, and the main ship's computer has developed a new personality! Roll 3 times on your favorite "personal quirks" table to find out what it is.

(AND - if the computer was previously not self-aware... IT IS NOW. Gosh.)

Adam Dickstein said...

Good one Pere Ubu. I like that.

21. Chain lightning electrical feedback. Whoever is sitting in the pilot's seat is struck by a 2D6 damage bolt of blue-white electricity. If anyone is touching that person they also take 2D6. If they are not touching but within 3 ft. of them they take 1D6. This effect continues until someone is more than 3 ft. for the last victim.

Adam Dickstein said...

22. Coolant tanks leak causing nearby plasma relay unit to overheat. Unit explodes and damages environmental controls. Now, half the ship is freezing cold, the other half is sweltering and an area exists in the middle where the extreme temperatures exist side by side. The blast causes 3D10 to anyone in the area. Cold side reduces speed and will eventually cause frostbite. Hot side induces fatigue and will eventually cause surfaces and items in those sections to be too hot to touch.

BigFella said...

Whatever the next number after Barking Alien's most recent post - The force of impact activates the bridge's advanced safety features. Sadly, the primary "safety feature" is a quick expanding antikinetic gel spray that fills the chamber with a meringue like substance that forces its occupants to move at a quarter speed. Air can pass thru it, so there's no risk of smothering, but it stinks like vinyl & benzine and makes the unfortunate crew more than a little light headed. Good luck reaching any controls thru three feet of foam.

Adam Dickstein said...

I apologize for the poor spelling and grammar is some of my entries. It's really late here, my 9th or 10th day in a row working and I'm really exhausted.

Would love to write more of these (I've seen a lot of crashed ships in 30+ years of Sci-Fi gaming) but I need to go to bed. Good luck!

The Drune said...

99. Splash Down! The ship has crashed in an ocean or other large body of water and is sinking. The hull is watertight, damage to the maneuver drive appears minor and no one is injured but you might need to swim to find the handwavium needed to fix the ship.

Zanazaz said...

#x. The ship has managed to crash into a monstrously super-gigantic tree. Damage to the ship is minor, but there may be a problem because the tree is worshiped by the planets native population.

Zanazaz said...

Addendum to above.

The ship is stuck in the branches, and major damage will have to be done to the tree to free the ship.

davidhumen said...

The navigation system is broken. Feel free to fly wherever you like, but good luck going anywhere that you don't know the local astronomy.

davidhumen said...

Hull breach. You can freely operate within the planetoids atmosphere, assuming. It is hospitable, or you have the proper gear, however the ship/crew cannot survive the harsh depths of space... without repairs.

davidhumen said...

All appears well, except the distress beacon is going off. Raiders and/or space pirates will be arriving within 1d4x10 minutes to take advantage, in the meantime the distress beacon wont shut off for some reason.

davidhumen said...

On the way down, the cargo nay jetisoned to save fuel/ lessen the impact. All that cargo is now scatters over several however many miles. Amongst it was something/s vital.

davidhumen said...

Broken contaiment. All the fuel has leaked allover the place. Fix the leak, get more fuel.

dylearium said...

38(?) - You've Got Gremlins! ~ So that thing that sounded like banging in the engine (warp-drive/go-go-system)? Yeah, it was banging in the engine! Three Gremlins/Goblins/Snotlings/Gibbering Tech Savants With Low Hit Points are beating on the engine with metal tools. Each gremlin does additional engine/engine-room damage for every round they survive.

Up to the DM to figure if they Stowed-Away, Intercepted-the-ship, Appeared-after-the-crash, or whathaveyou.

thekelvingreen said...

Clambering out of the wreck, you see that your ship is surrounded by many more crashed vessels, in various stages of decay.

-----

Your ship has crashed into a native settlement, starting fires and causing panic amongst the locals.

-----

The ship lands with minimal loss of life, and the sense of relief amongst the crew is palpable. Unfortunately, one crew member in particular is taking all the credit for the relatively safe landing, posing a potential threat to your authority.

dylearium said...

#39 - Blue Ice~ A leaky valve in the waste containment system led to some icy build up on the exterior of the ship. A large frozen mass dislodged from the ship a 2d6 thousand feet before landing/crashing. If the planet is inhabited, determine chance of a property, structure, or individual struck by the frozen waste meteor.

[DMs: Consider how this potentially lethal happenstance could be interpreted as serving a deliberate, aggressive, or humiliating agenda. Enjoy!]

davidhumen said...

weapons system auto fire, the weapons fire until power/ammo supply is exhausted, firing at a single location near the landing.

alternately the engine wont shut down, but is simultaneously firing reverse thrusters.

either way the systems will overheat unless the part is repaired causing the entire ship to explode due to core meltdown. the surrounding landscape wont fair to well in the meantime. wonder how the locals feel about that?

huth said...

• Your crash was obvious, drawing the hungry attention of (roll 1d6, or split this into six entries):
1-Jawas, interested in your technology, including cyborg parts.
2–Ewoks, interested in your sweet humanoid flesh.
3–Wookies/Planetary Apes, interested in acquiring pets and/or your sweet humanoid love.
4–Hot space chicks, interested in your sweet humanoid love.
5–Hot space chicks, interested in your sweet humanoid flesh.
6–Ugly-ass space pirates, want your fighty technology and your mechanical ability to maintain it. Will refuse to believe any attempts to convince them you are unarmed, true or not.

•Your crash has breached a Dimensional Barrier set up by the ancients (possibly by hitting a standing stone, trilithion or rune-encircled obelisk). One of the crew is now Possessed by a demon from the Warp. If they already have a tame demon (this being Dark Heresy) the demon's bindings are secretly released and their power vastly increases.

•As above, but it is the ship that is now Possessed.

•The crash opens a Time Dilation, trapping the crew in a time-loop. Roll d6:
1-3: Groundhog day rules.
4-6: Star Trek rules.

•The crash hit a Time Blob, disjointing memory an concurrency of individual timelines; roll on Carousing table to determine their condition and environment upon awakening after timeline re-integration.

•The crash releases the ship's helium stores, forcing everyone to speak in a squeaky voice until every player is sick of it. Locals refuse to take crew seriously. Reroll if DM thinks it'd be stupid/irritating.

•The crash unleashes the ship's stores of hallucinogenic time-bending Spice stores. Roll on Carousing table to determine condition and environment at the end of the overdose, then play the rest of the game backward. Reroll if DM totally doesn't want to deal with this shit.

Adam Dickstein said...

Lost my numbers...

* The crash results in considerable external damage to the vessel and the inertial compensators go offline, hurling everyone and everything forward upon impact. All players take 3D6 or 4D6 if there were a number of sizable items not secured at the time of the crash.

A disruption of the ship's power grid will cause one panel/station to erupt into sparks, electricity and minor shrapnel causing 1D6+1 every three turns until the grid is fixed. The panels burst at random throughout the ship starting on the bridge.

Pere Ubu said...

Remember that bargain FTL/Jump drive coolant you bought last week? It's leaking all over the deck directly above the drive section (or in the drive section if there's only one deck). Anyone in there takes 1d10 damage a turn. In addition, it's gotten into the main memory of the ship's computer and wiped part of it clean. You've lost all your localspace library information. Sucks.

mordicai said...

"Harmless" microscopic parasite/pollen/whatever. Humans won't notice its presence, but any non-human begins to acts in a way contrary to their nature. (Spock starts to laugh, Orks become friendly, whatever)

Pere Ubu said...

*Noseplant! The forward section of the ship took the brunt of impact. Roll 1d10 for anyone in that area; on a 1 or 2 they didn't make it out in time. (Too harsh?)

*The crash directly damaged the FTL/warp/Jump drive; SOMETHING happened and the ship is temporarily enveloped in a shining blue aura. When it dissipates, you are in the Universe Next Door, remarkably like this one but all the writing is backwards.

Gabriel Harley said...

The crash jarred the food replicators. Lower decks filling with tasty, deadly oatmeal-like gruel. Anybody got a spoon?

Gabriel Harley said...

Space Hornets. The (stadium-sized) paper nest absorbed a lot of your impact, but the tenants are REALLY pissed. Also, they have adamantium stingers that aren't so good for the hull.

Gabriel Harley said...

Congratulations, you landed on a church. Roll 1d6:
1-2 - The natives KNOW you're a sign from Teh Gods
3-4 - The natives KNOW you're Teh Evil One sent to destroy their temple
5-6 - Oh crap. You killed The Pope. Or Jimmy Swaggart.

Gabriel Harley said...

The shields are up... and they won't come down. Not only are your power cells being drained, but you're prevented from leaving the ship.

Gabriel Harley said...

Shipwide audio system is fubar. Anytime the PCs are on the ship and role-playing is happening, blast some Lawrence Welk (or something equally inappropriate) as loud as you can in the game room.

Gabriel Harley said...

Hull damage let in the outside air, which contains compounds that act like THC on the human nervous system. Roll 1d4 as needed:

1 - Spaced out. Huh? What was I doing? (Delay actions by 1 round)

2 - Munchies. All rolls at -x until hunger is satiated

3 - Paranoia. They're gonna get us, man! It's game over! Must run and hide until a will/WIS check is made.

4 - Giggles. No actions possible until a will/WIS check allows you to get serious. Noise may attract unwanted attention.

Simon Forster said...

*# Your warp drive is malfunctioning, emitting a wave of temporal instability. All effects (damage, spells, attacks) are delayed by 1d4 rounds; this wave stretches out 1d100 feet/metres and lasts 1d6 turns (10 x rounds).

huth said...

• The crash dislodges the ancient slumbering Tech-Priest residing in the ship's engines (or bowels, or whatever). He needs some gun servitors, and quickly goes to work converting any hapless crewmembers into Gun Servitors.

• You haven't crashed, but were caught in the tractor beam of a massive pyramidal installation on the planet's surface. Roll d6 for inhabitants.
1– Man/animal hybrids who worship the mumbling, pasty, bloated head of Marlon Brando. 50% chance of Dennis Hopper also being present.
2– Man/animal hybrids tasked with guarding the mummified remains of a slumbering God-King. One of the canoptic jars is made of a substance necessary to repair the ship. Roll another d6; on a 1-3 they are guarding the God-King from outsiders, on a 4-6 they are guarding the outside from the God-King.
3– Soldiers guarding the dissected remains of a small child of godlike psychic ability. The kid's a nice guy, but will turn local reality into a primordial dreamlike ur-mind in a 1d6 light-year radius if released.
4- The pyramid bears a large, scowling bearded face; inside is the home of a pacifistic commune who live a highly-stratified agrarian lifestyle amid super-scientific automatic defenses
They have naked dinner parties and lots of moldy unread books and dusty classical statuary.
5- The pyramid is a conduit for communication with advanced life-forms beyond local reality. They refuse to believe the PCs aren't the Chosen Ones who are to bring the Crystal of Supreme Alignment to the Cogitator Prime. Roll another d6. On a 1-3, the Cogitator is a drooling idiot harvested from a previous/alternate reality looking to escape his eternal imprisonment by finding a replacement; on a 4-5 the Cogitator is a beautiful woman who is erotically fascinated with the newcomers and refuses to let them leave; on a 6 it is an agitated French speaker who is attempting to finish a comic book about the PCs.
6- Glowing brains force the PCs to compete in a number of competitions and wager on the outcomes. Reroll on crash chart; the result will eventually cause catastrophic failure of the pyramid's systems, allowing escape.

C'nor (Outermost_Toe) said...

Some idiot thought it would be a good idea to fly through a warp storm. The Psyker [I think those are needed. Am I right?] is (d8):

1. A raving lunatic. One who uses, and has, powers as though twice their actual level.

2. Now generating an anti-tech field. S/he will have to placed under a Psychic Hood once the ship's fixed, or the it'll crash again.

3. Severely injured. Roll d12 for damage.

4. Infested with mental parasites. All powers are used at half strength, and only half as often.

5. Much faster. Reroll his/her movement stat (Speed, DEX, AGI, Move, whatever), using an extra die.

6. Weaker. Reroll strength at -5.

7. Highly magnetic.

8. Unchanged.

John Evans said...

#whatever: Airlock jarred open in crash; d6 hours of work to fix. The real problem is that the atmosphere contains fungal spores that colonize human bodies and slowly cover them with green moss; lose 1 Con point every hour until cured. Medical bay MAY have appropriate antifungals; if not, it will be necessary to analyze native life forms to isolate/extract a cure (2d4 hours of work).

Zzarchov said...

#?

You appear to have crashed into some other crashed spaceship from untold eons past. There appear to be no end to the amount of not so subtle sexualized imagery built into the other ships architecture. Hey look! There is a tunnel underneath this second crashed ship! Looks like some kind of mist being kept under a forcefield...Better investigate..what could possib-lie go wrong?

(Despite the obvious play up, there should be something beneficial and not at all face huggery in the mist, ideally kept in leather egg shaped chests)

squidman said...

As you were traveling in hyperspace, you attracted the attention of some mulit-dimensional monster (presumably a octahedropuss), which decided to munch on your ship and caused the crash.

Roll d6:

1-2 it's big and attached to the ship, slowly digesting the hull. How do you take it off?
3-4 it's a smaller specimen that materialized inside the ship's engine room, the alienesque paranoia begins...
5-6 it's a small parasitic one that ate the brain of one the crew members/npc's and will try to kill the rest of the crew without revealing itself.

Sean said...

Your ship had a really awesome figurehead ( nature of which to be decided by the captain, naturally). Key word= 'had." You loved that figurehead. You know it's gotta be around here somewhere. Difficulty? It's a simple planet, and your figurehead was shiny.

Adam Dickstein said...

# The ship's landing destabilizes a fault line, causing the ship to go tumbling into a large fissure in the ground as an earthquake shakes the vessel and the surrounding region (about a 25 kilometer radius). Considerable additional damage is taken by the craft. Now you have to get out of the damaged ship and somehow back up to the surface some 25-30 meters above you.

Adam Dickstein said...

# The vessel's FTL drives functions, partially, by making the impossible possible and there by breaking the light barrier. So as the damaged drive hits the planet, all rocks in the vicinity become intelligent, tool using penguins, the local water supply becomes diet soda and the air is full of bubbles. It will take sometime to repair the drive and return reality to it's proper quantum frequency.

Xaos_Bob said...

# A hyperdrive/FTL/flux capacitor ruptures or miscalibrates, creating a momentary improbability field. The next (interesting) phrase spoken by any player at the table becomes reality--in the most bizarre, devious and entertaining way.

Chance said...

The impact caused a massive surge that scrambled the brains of all of the ships repair robots , who take off for the hinterlands of the world upon landing. Some are trying to
"repair" the local area , some are looking for very strange objects and begin piling them near/on the ship. If you are going to get off this rock you had better find them and hit their reset switches. For fun check and see if they had a COMBAT robot somewhere on board ...

Chance said...

The impact activated the hyperdrive on the vessel ,in (1d10 or drama appropriate) hours in will activate on world causing untold havoc , and leave the players stranded. To shut the drive down they will have to race against time to manually shut everything off. The problem will be discovered 1d10 hours after landing...

Chance said...

The ship has crashed into an area filled with the debris of dozens (or hundreds) of old ships and fighters from different eras. A landed and concealed ancient ship , controlled by a vast AI has been collecting and analyzing ships for repair itself, and it only needs a few , crucial elements to finish repairs - neural circuitry - the kind in the PCs brains... the ships sends out a bevy of cyborged up aliens and robots to fetch the PCs .

semiprometheus said...

The ship seems to have broken apart. All decks lie next to each other, with huge breaches in exterior hulls; doorways/ladders/hatches open to nowhere. As everyone's head clears, each crewman realizes he's on a soundstage, with the ship as a sprawling set. A man in a suit appears to tell the PCs that the network canceled the series, and all the "actors" have to clear off so that carpenters can strike the set. There's cake in the canteen. Good luck finding a way back to "reality".

Pere Ubu said...

You really didn't need those forward thrusters, did you? Naah, shouldn't be a problem docking with starbases without them. Of course, you'll need to make a Pilot roll at HALF your usual skill to do it, but that's no big deal, right?

C'nor (Outermost_Toe) said...

Hey, that Eldar didn't really need a mansion, right?

Blue Gargantua said...

Good News! You came down pretty much intact! The forward shields held up when you hit and you plowed a huge furrow dozens (hundreds?) of kilometers long. Whatever it was that caused you to crash can be fixed with stuff you've got on hand. Your supplies of food/water/oxygen/survival equipment/etc. are all good too.

Bad News! That furrow you plowed kicked up a lot of debris. Your ship is now buried under a small mountain of dirt. The rear thrusters are exposed and you can cut your way out through there, but that's going to be a delicate operation and the resulting exit will only be 2 meters in diameter (and even then, getting to that exit will be a tight squeeze that won't let your bigger gear out). Once on the surface you'll have to figure out some way to exhume your ship so you can effect repairs and get out of here.