Beyond the Dungeon

The Abstract Dungeon Zine

Issue #2
Fall 2020
Beyond the Dungeon
The Abstract Dungeon Zine
Issue# 2, Fall 2020
Written by: Matthew J. Hanson, Gabriel Edge
Edited by: Craig Hargraves
Art by: Miguel Santos, Kirsten Moody
Beyond the Dungeon - Issue 2 copyright 2020, Sneak Attack Press.
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www.sneakattackpress.com

Contents
The Vastness of Space - Letter from the Publisher 3
Space Traits 4
Optional Rules 6
Hazards of Deep Space 12
Running Your First Game of Abstract Dungeon 16
The Theta Quadrant 22
The Mizar System 29
A Rude Awakening 40
Random Adventures 48

Product Identity: The following items are hereby identified as Product Identi-
ty, as defined in the Open Game License 1 .0a, Section 1 (e), and are not Open
Content: All trademarks, registered trademarks, proper names (characters,
religions, etc.), dialogue, plots, storylines, locations, characters, artworks, and
trade dress. (Elements that have previously been designated as Open Game
Content are not included in this declaration.)

Open Content: Open game content in this book includes the following: game
statistics for monsters, ships, and environments, and magic items. No portion
of this work other than the material designated as Open Game Content may be
reproduced in any form without written permission.

2
The Vastness of Space
Space: It’s really big
And not just literally. The space genre is big. It’s a genre that includes
hard science fiction like The Martian and The Expanse next to handwavi-
um-filled fiction like Star Trek and space-fantasy like Star Wars. So when
you sit down to have a space campaign, there’s a lot to consider: is there
faster-than-light travel? Are there intelligent aliens? How have other
technologies progressed? Are there robots and to what extent have
they risen up against us? Do planets have more than one biome?
This is part of what can make space challenging in an RPG. In fan-
tasy there are tropes that are extremely common and make the genre
easy to latch onto: the brave knight, the wise wizard, the greedy dragon.
Even fantasy that subverts these tropes only does so because the tropes
are so strong.
Though less common than fantasy, Pirates—the theme of the previ-
ous issue of Beyond the Dungeon—has an easy default setting in peo-
ple’s minds. Ships looting and pillaging, buried treasure, swashbuckling,
skull and bones.
Not so with space. So instead of catering to a single type of space
campaign, in this issue we’re presenting you with options. For many of
the articles there’s content for “grittier” settings that are more grounded
in physics and feature primarily or exclusively sub-light travel, as well as
“adventure” settings, which feature easy faster-than-light travel, planet
hopping, and advanced technology that just works without further ex-
planation.
We’ve even included two sample settings in this issue. The Theta
Quadrant features a starship sent on a five-year mission to explore a
new corner of space and landing in the middle of an interstellar con-
flict. In the Mizar system, human crews slept over a hundred years in
cold sleep to reach a faraway star after Earth received an invitation from
deep space. When they awaken they discover that the original inhabi-
tants of the system are all gone, but three other alien races also heard
the call and reached the system before humanity did.
Of course even our two settings are far from covering all the possi-
bilities of space campaigns. We hope that you can use the tools in this
issue to create worlds of your own.

-Matthew J. Hanson

3
Space Traits
As with any game of Abstract Dungeon, when running a space campaign,
you can customize the trait to better suit the genre you’re playing in.
Science fiction space games have several tropes that you can emulate
with traits, including an abundance of intelligent aliens, and everybody
on the spaceship having their own special role.

Alien Traits
Crews composed of a mix of humans and aliens are a staple of space-far-
ing fiction. There are a few specific aliens listed in the Mizar System
starting on page 30, but going beyond that you can create your own by
using the list of traits below for inspiration.
Alien Traits
Roll Trait Roll Trait
11–12 Logical Mind 43–44 Pheromones
13–14 Superhuman 45–46 Two Hearts
Strength 51–52 Extra Arms
15–16 Nerve Pinch 53–54 Antennae
21–22 Mind Meld 55–56 Ability to project
23–24 Empathic Sense illusions
25–26 Symbiont 61–62 Single mind sharing
31–32 Shape Shifter two bodies
33–34 Android 63–64 Claws
35–36 Cyborg 65–66 Armored skin
41–42 Claws

4
Assignment Traits
Everybody on a spaceship has their role to play, from the spunky engi-
neer to the big guy who punches evil aliens in the face. Your character’s
role on the ship can easily be represented by a trait. You can choose one
from the list below, or roll randomly to determine the result.
Captain is deliberately left off of this list, because it assumes you are
using the rules for a group captain on page 7.
Assignment Traits
Roll Assignment
11–13 Engineer
14–16 Security
21–23 Science
24–26 Medical
31–33 Communications
34–36 Pilot
41–43 Navigation
44–46 Counselor
51–53 Bartender
54–56 Cadet
61–63 First Officer
64–66 Xenobiologist

5
Optional Rules
Spaceships!
One does not simply walk into outer space. You need a spaceship to get
there. If you run a campaign set in space, the ship will likely be an essen-
tial part of the campaign.
Like characters in the Abstract System, spaceships can have their
own distinct qualities. They are also a resource that the players can draw
from as they try to complete their missions.

Shields and Hull

Depending on your campaign, the spaceships might have dice in either
shields or hull. Though ships with shields must also have a hull, they
don’t get any dice for them.
Shields are energy barriers that protect starships from physical dam-
age. These shields take damage first. Because emitters can recharge the
shields more quickly than mechanical items repair, after any encounter
in which the shields are damaged, the players can decide if they would
like to refresh the shields. If they do, they clear away the shield’s current
dice (if any) and reroll all of them.
6
 For grittier settings, hull is just the metal (or other durable material)
that makes up the outside of the ship. If damaged the crew needs to fix
it, thus it only regains its dice when the heroes take their regular refresh.
At the start of a campaign, most ships have one–die of either shields
or hull.

Advanced Features
Not all starships are alike. Some are massive capital ships of a vast union
of planets. Others are scrappy freighters held together by love and duct
tape.
To represent each ship’s quirks, give it advanced features. At the
start of a campaign, a ship has a number of features equal to the num-
ber of players (round down). To determine what features the ship has,
have players roll on for adjective and feature charts on pages 9-10 for
each feature. We offer two charts for both adjectives and features, each
aimed at different styles of campaigns.
Each feature starts with one die. In play, any character can spend
these feature dice on their turn. These
count as treasure for the normal limit of Spaceships At a Glance
dice that players can spend each turn. Each spaceship begins with the
following dice:
Captain, My Captain  1 die of either hull or shields
The default assumption in outer space  Special features equal to half
games is that the captain is not one of the number of PCs (round down),
the player characters. This is done for a one die each.
couple reasons. For one, visiting planets  Captain traits equal to half the
is a big part of the fun of a space game, number of PCs (round up), one die
and the best captains stay with their each.
ship, keeping them out of the action. Spending Ship Dice
For another, the captain has complete  Shields or Hull: When the ship
authority over the other members of takes damage.
the crew which can be awkward in RPG  Special Features: In place of
groups, which tends to be more demo- character equipment
cratic. That being said, if you and your  Captain: In place of character
group are up for the additional chal- trait
lenges of having somebody captain the Refreshing Ship Dice
ship, go for it.  Shields: After any encounter
The captain is still an important where they took damage
member of the ship and important part  Everything Else: When PCs re-
of the story. Instead of having a single fresh their dice.
7
player character take the role of captain, the captain can be a group
character that everybody controls.
When you create your ship, give the captain a number of traits equal
to half the number of players (round up). Like all traits you can choose
or roll from the list in the core book, the lists on page 4-5, another table,
or come up with your own traits. At any point in an adventure, a player
can have the captain act using the captain’s traits rather than their own,
possibly combining those traits with features of the ship. In these cases
characters can still use their own Abilities on their turn, but not their
own traits (and cannot use equipment if the captain used any.)
The captains trait dice refresh whenever the characters take a com-
plete refresh.

Taking Damage
Just like a PC, ships take damage as pip values. Most of the time this
damage goes to the shields or hull. Some challenges, like alien ships
described in the Mizar System (pages 32-36) specify that they attack the
ship. The GM can also decide that threats that normally target PC abili-
ties target the ship.
If there is ever more damage dealt to the shields or hull than there
are pips left, the heroes can collectively decide to shift the damage fea-
tures or captain. When they do so, increase the damage by one pip.
The players can also shift the damage to one of their own personal
dice, but doing so increases the damage by two pips.
As always, the players must narratively justify a reason why shifting
the damage to the new source makes sense.
If the ship has no remaining hull and takes further damage and the
players do not shift the damage elsewhere, the ship is defeated. This
might mean it explodes or is captured by enemies. Whatever the narra-
tive context it is out of play until the
heroes work to restore it (probably Check Out Beyond the
a challenge and a refresh). Dungeon #1
If you want rules for hauling cargo
Improving Spaceships or battles where the ships con-
stantly maneuver for positioning,
Spaceships gain dice as heroes you can apply the optional rules
complete missions and gain expe- for trading and naval combat to
rience. To keep things simple, you spaceships. For these optional
can have the spaceship gain one rules, check out issue one of Be-
die every time the PCs gain a level. yond the Dungeon.
When they reach a new odd level,
8
the ship gains another die for the captain. When it gains an even level
the ship gains another die to the special features. These new dice might
increase existing features or traits, or they might add new ones.

Equipment
In most space settings, there’s much less focus on looting dungeons
and acquiring treasure. There is however, lots of high-tech equipment
to play with.
As a default, treasure dice are renamed as equipment dice in a space
setting. Each character starts with one piece of equipment, which they
can choose or determine randomly by rolling on either of the adjective
tables and the equipment table below

More Equipment
For some space campaigns, you still have the heroes acquire new equip-
ment by finding it while adventuring. For other campaigns, it probably
makes more sense for them to just acquire it as part of leveling up. In
the latter case, the heroes gain another die worth of equipment at every
odd level. This might be a new piece of equipment, or an improvement
on existing equipment.
Adventure Adjectives Gritty Adjectives
Roll Adjective Roll Adjective
11–13 Laser 11–13 Cutting-edge
14–16 Phase 14–16 Experimental
21–23 Proton 21–23 Reinforced
24–26 Sonic 24–26 Exotic
31–33 Alien 31–33 Comfortable
34–36 Primitive 34–36 Secret
41–43 Holographic 41–43 Durable
44–46 Subspace 44–46 Smart
51–53 Transwarp 51–53 Robotic
54–56 Techno Organic 54–56 Unstable
61–63 Intelligent 61–63 Powerful
64–66 Separating 64–66 Extra Large

9
Equipment
Roll Equipment
11–13 Melee Weapon
14–16 Ranged Weapon
21–23 Communicator
24–26 Scanner
31–33 Musical Instrument
34–36 Visor
41–43 Emitter
44–46 Transceiver
51–53 Dampener
54–56 Multitool
61–63 Medical equipment
64–66 Armor

Adventure Features Gritty Features

Roll Feature Roll Feature
11–13 Shields 11–13 Engine
14–16 Warp Drive 14–16 Navigation
21–23 Antimatter Core 21–23 Med bay
24–26 Holodeck 24–26 Brig
31–33 Bar 31–33 Cargo hold
34–36 Transporter 34–36 Sensors
41–43 Torpedoes 41–43 Maneuvering thrusters
44–46 Phasers 44–46 Grappling arm
51–53 Bridge 51–53 Guns
54–56 Saucer section 54–56 Missiles
61–63 Shuttle Craft 61–63 Plating
64–66 Computer 64–66 Fuel Tanks

10
Ship Name
Hull/
Description
Shields

Feature Feature

Feature Feature

Captain Captain

Captain Captain

11
Hazards of Deep Space
Space is a dangerous place, freezing cold, devoid of air, and filled with
cosmic radiation. Organic creatures only survive thanks to ingenuity
and hard work. When they reach a planet, things might not be much
better. These new worlds may have toxic atmospheres, crushing gravity,
or dangerous parasites.
This article describes ways that you can model these hostile envi-
ronments in your Abstract Dungeon game.

Environments
Environments are a new concept introduced in this article. They rep-
resent things that are not might not be inherently dangerous on their
own, but which can make life difficult or sometimes easier for the char-
acters.
Most of these environments do not have dice to defeat, though de-
pending on the fiction of the encounter you might assign them one.
For example, if the characters suddenly find themselves in zero gravity
because an enemy laser damaged the ship’s artificial gravity, you could
create an obstacle to restore normal gravity. You can adjust this diffi-
culty to fit the situation, but when in doubt, give the obstacle one die
per PC. On the other hand, if the PCs are on a world with high gravity,
the only way to truly escape it is to leave the planet, though you might
allow the PCs to acquire equipment, like an exoskeleton support suit, to
mitigate the environmental penalty.

Zero Gravity
While technically microgravity, since all matter creates gravity, in most
of space, gravity is close enough to zero for the purposes of creatures
born on planets. Microgravity causes all kinds of difficulties for humans,
including dizziness, difficulty moving about, and even trouble knowing
when to pee.
Zero Gravity
Creatures who do not have experience or proper equipment for zero
gravity movement treat dice from Agility and Toughness they spend as
though their value were one lower than face value.

12
High Gravity
Some worlds have much higher gravities than Earth, so characters used
to an Earth-like environment will feel weighed down, and have difficul-
ty moving. In some cases (better covered by damaging environments
below) the gravity can be so intense that creatures are crushed beneath
their own weight.
High Gravity
Characters treat dice from Toughness and Agility they spend as though
their value was one lower than face value.

Low Gravity
On the other hand, some planets have lower gravities than Earth, but
still plenty of gravity for humans to orient themselves and move around
properly. On these planets, humans can actually find it easier to lift,
throw, and jump.
Low Gravity
Characters treat dice from Toughness and Agility they spend as though
their value was one higher than face value.

Soundless
In space, no one can hear you scream. Soundless environments might
also represent locations where there is sound but something that dis-
rupts normal communication, such as underwater or where loud back-
ground noise that drowns everything else out.
Soundless
Characters cannot take any action that relies on auditory communica-
tion.

Damaging Environment
These environments do more than just make the heroes’ lives difficult.
They will kill them if given enough time, but how quickly they kill them
varies.

Short Term Dangers

These are things that will kill the heroes soon if they do nothing about.
These are essentially just standard environmental challenges from the
Abstract Dungeon core rulebook. There is a default challenge presented
below.
13
Short Term Environmental Danger
1 die per PC Environmental Challenge
Attack. 1 Toughness damage to each character.

Medium Term Dangers

These are things that won’t kill the heroes right this instant, but they
better not just ignore it and sleep on things. Stopping the danger is usu-
ally part of an adventure rather than part of a scene. The characters’ goal
might be to repair a radiation leak or escape a toxic planet, but there are
lots of other challenges that stand in their way.
Again, there’s a default challenge below. Again you can adjust this
for your adventure, changing the dice, damage, or amount of time that
passes in the adventure before characters take damage.
Medium Term Environmental Danger
3 dice per PC Environmental Challenge
Attack. 2 Toughness damage to each character
Special. For every hour of time that passes in the fiction, each hero suf-
fers 1 Toughness damage.

Chronic Dangers
These are things that will probably kill the characters eventually, but
long after the adventure is over and probably long after the campaign
is over. These are things like elevated background radiation or slow-act-
ing parasites. These are things that the characters probably can ignore,
during a single adventure, but if they persist over the course of a cam-
paign, the characters likely want to do something about them.
Chronic dangers tied to a particular world might end as soon as the
heroes leave it, or ending a chronic danger might be an adventure of
its own. What exactly the heroes need to do to end the danger varies
so widely that we’re not assigning it dice in the sample obstacle, rather
treating it as an environment.

Chronic Environmental Danger

Each time the characters take a refresh, they regain one fewer Tough-
ness die than they normally would.

14
Toxic Atmosphere
The planet’s atmosphere includes gases that are toxic to human (or
whatever the characters are) life. The severity of the danger depends
on how toxic the atmosphere is. An atmosphere composed primarily of
chlorine gas would be a short-term danger, while one that simply con-
tains heavy industrial smog would be a chronic danger.

Low-Oxygen Atmosphere
Humans, and many other aliens, need oxygen to survive, so when there’s
not much in the air, they develop hypoxia and eventually die. A short-
term danger might represent the air rushing out of a hole punctured
in the ship’s hull. A medium-term danger might occur when the ship’s
oxygen recycling system breaks down, while a chromic danger might
be a high elevation or planetary atmosphere that just has less oxygen
that humans are used to.

Radiation
Radiation is everywhere, but too much damages DNA, cells, and elec-
tronics. Short term danger might be incurred while trying to manually
activate a warp core, medium term might occur while dealing with fall-
out from a nuclear blast, and chronic might simply represent living in
space without proper shielding from cosmic rays.

Extreme Temperatures
Humans evolved to survive in a certain temperature range. Even on
Earth there are places with temperatures that would be fatal to nor-
mal humans. Other planets can be far worse. Short term dangers might
include ships flying too close to the sun or a world of liquid nitrogen.
Medium term dangers include ice and desert worlds, while chronic
might be a ship where the captain has set the thermostat to reflect their
homeworld, about 10 ° C above what you’re used to.

Cold Inky Void

Space outside a ship or space-suit combines the worst of many of the
hazards described in this article. Characters take damage both from ex-
treme cold temperatures and lack of oxygen, plus they have to deal with
the complications of zero gravity and a soundless environment.

15
Running Your First Game of Abstract Dungeon
By Gabriel Edge

You gather around the table with your friends ready for adventure, ex-
citement, and shared storytelling using Abstract Dungeon. Someone has
to be the GM … and you are nominated!
But you’ve never GMed before …
Or never in Abstract Dungeon ...
Or maybe you tried and it didn’t work out so well the first time …
… well here are tips on running Abstract Dungeon! We will start with
what to consider when choosing your first adventure, look at how you
encourage the players at the table, and then focus on your preparation
for these stories.

Choosing Your First Adventure

Think of your first adventure as the training ground for your group
with a chance to explore the storytelling focus of this system. When
first training, you want to start small and focused; this is especially true
when trying out a new RPG system. Choosing a concise adventure that
has minimal prep allows you to hone your GM skills in the new system.
This means, grab a pre-written one-shot!

What is Abstract Dungeon?

While most of this is covered in the core book, it is important to em-
phasize the storytelling aspects of this system. Every design decision in

16
the game is built around shared storytelling and creating a space where
everyone (players especially) can feel as powerful as they want without
a tangle of rules to unravel.
There is amazing freedom in this system and everyone needs a little
bit of time to get used to how to best use this freedom. As GM, it’s im-
portant you frame the game as a shared storytelling experience. You, as
GM, know the basics of the story; the players are creating the details and
texture of that story. Remind them that they are the heroes and their ac-
tions can alter key aspects of the story. You are providing prompts and
suggestions that the players will use to fill out the world around them.

One-Shots To Train.
At the end of my first game, a player said, “This is an RPG I can get better
at.” Focusing on storytelling can be difficult. Player descriptions need to
walk the fine line between too much detail, too little detail, too rooted
in normalcy, and too extreme. This takes time. Knowing the best ques-
tions to ask your players as GM will come with time.
So start small to learn the system. Use the one-shot idea as a tutori-
al. In about two to four hours, you will have a much better idea of how
to lead players to being in charge of the story and they will understand
the flexibility of the rules a lot better.
The one-shot also gives everyone a chance to make a mistake that
is easily corrected the next night. The idea of a reset button to fix every-
thing eases the tension of learning a new system.
For the first game, it’s best to let someone create the giant brush-
strokes for you. The core book comes with three adventures and Into The
Forest Dark is a great start. That short adventure gives lots of opportuni-
ties to be creative and has a traditional structure that allows everyone
to jump into the game with a good idea of what to expect while filling
in the details.

Guiding the GM - Players as the Storytellers

The hardest part of being the GM in Abstract Dungeon is offering cre-
ative control to the players. Even in one-shots that play on rails, there’s
a lot of directions the players can push the adventure towards, and the
storytelling strengths of Abstract Dungeon make it easier to jump off of
those rails than in other systems. Below are three ideas built to create
and maintain a fun shared storytelling style at the table.

17
“Yes, and” as the GM
Improvisational theater is a great starting point for your time as GM,
especially in this system. The biggest improv rule is to accept ideas and
build on them. As GM, you need to let the players feel like they can be
creative at the table with appropriate (read: story-based) repercussions.
Prompts like, “how are you using your Intellect to defeat this orc?” are
good starting points.
If the player offers an explanation that seems more in line with a dif-
ferent ability, acknowledge their creativity while redirecting where the
die should come from: “That’s a great idea, but fits in with Spirit a little
better than Intellect. Spend a die from that pool.”
(Side-note: your first time as GM, you may have to ask the other
players to help note the difference between the four abilities and that’s
okay. The examples on the character sheet also help. When it’s too close
to call, let the player get their way.)
Additional prompts to help players: “How does your character do
this?” or “What does this look like from your character’s perspective.”
Most importantly, build on their description when recounting the reso-
lution.

The Players are the Heroes

The GM creates obstacles as opportunities for the characters to be he-
roes. When dice are spent, you are asking the players to describe their
style of heroism. The table is building a story of power, not of failure.
When lost in the woods: they spend dice to show how their character
navigates by stars; they identify animal tracks; or they find food.
When faced with giant skeletons of old bears: they spend dice to show
off their fighting style; smashing, sliding and tripping them with the el-
ements around them.
With Abstract Dungeon, there’s no waiting to be the amazing hero.
Everyone starts at level 20 and their character grows from there. Your
job as GM is to make sure they are only spending their dice when they
need to exert their heroism and to make sure they describe how heroic
they are when they spend their dice.
Some players may not feel comfortable with this freedom. Help
them explore. In improv, there is a game played where everyone de-
scribes their actions three times. The first is usually the safest descrip-
tion, the second often overcorrects into craziness, and the third is in the
middle. Your job is to help the players find that middle as consistently as
possible (and it won’t always take three descriptions to get there).

18
Reward creativity
The players know they’ve made strides in storytelling when you and the
other players tell them. With Abstract Dungeon, you, as GM, have a great
tool to reward the players for showing off their character’s heroism: the
GM refresh.
When used sparingly, rewarding a die back (especially when the
player spent two or three dice) is a great way to let the table know when
something fantastic has happened. Be careful with this type of reward,
and if you are going to use this, clearly communicate at the beginning
of the session how you will use it with the following.
Let players know the reward is rare. The carrot is dangled before
them, but they shouldn’t expect dice back during every encounter.
Second, for your first few sessions, make it clear that only the GM re-
wards refresh dice. After clear guidelines are established, then you can
open it up to the table for recommendations on rewards.
Third, be consistent with the rewards and careful not to focus too
much on one person while ignoring others. This is a great use of notes
(write each character name and a tally when you give a reward plus a
short blurb why). If the table thinks you favor one player over the rest,
not only will folks not have as much fun, but you have also ceded all
storytelling to ONE player. The goal is for the group to tell the story, not
one person (not even just the GM).

GM as Narrator
The bulk of the advice so far has focused on how the players contribute
to the storytelling. Your contribution as GM is also essential; you are the
omniscient narrator. You know what is happening around the players
and are leading them on their journey. Giving them enough details to
know what is happening while leaving them enough flexibility to make
their own decisions can be tough. Here’s the final set of tips to help!

GM paints with broad strokes while the Players fill in the de-
tails
Got the one-shot you’re going to run? Excellent! The best way to offer
the players flexibility to be the heroes they want to be is to take the bare
minimum from the story arc. Below are the three focal points organized
from most to least important.
Ending - What is the final confrontation? What wrong needs to be
set right and how might this occur? The ending dictates the type of sto-
ry being told, acts as the goal of your story, and gives you the thematic
19
tie that should unite each decision presented to the players. This leads
you to the first major decision for the game …
Beginning- What starts the adventure? How are your players get-
ting hooked in? This is where all the players are going to begin, and
(since you know what the characters will face at the end) you can lead
off with a clear obstacle that clues the players into the type of adventure
ahead of them. With these bookends in place, the game can begin.
Middle - What are the creatures/obstacles the adventure recom-
mends you use and how do you justify those encounters? The more
tools at your disposal, the more you may look at the suggestions and
alter them to better fit the ending of the story, making this the most
flexible part of the story. Going into your first game, it’s good to know
the outline of obstacles the writer suggests while being ready to throw
all of it away at a moment’s notice.
These are the broad paint strokes that sets the color palette of the
painting while the players will put in the details and textures that make
the story stand out. The information you give the players clarifies the
tone of the game you are playing (hopefully discussed ahead of time
with the players) and gets the story in motion. Most importantly, with-
out knowing the full details of the world and story (just enough to
know what happened that needs to be set right), you allow the players
to make whatever decisions they want without worrying about your
preparation. In addition, this allows the players to alter the details of the
world without you needing to correct them. THAT’S shared storytelling!
Ending: In Screenwriting 101, Film Crit Hulk writes, “The ending
is the conceit.” That’s where the killer is revealed; the final battle be-
tween good and evil occurs; and/or the moral dilemma is made explicit
through a final confrontation. Your job as GM is to know what type of
confrontation is most likely at the outset. While your players will discov-
er the ending organically (when they reach that final confrontation at
the end of the adventure), you will be seeding information along the
way in a natural way because you already know what happened, where,
and why.
Beginning: Once you know the end result, you need to figure out
how everything begins. Who is the first NPC the players meet? Why?
What are the first pieces of information they will get? How? Where do
the player characters meet? What is the situation that brings them to-
gether? While the story details are up to you as GM, feel free to ask the
players to help create the opening scenario and why they are together
in the first place. This should be one of the easiest parts of your job as
GM since almost everything is given by the opening of the one-shot.
20
The more you GM, the more creative control you can give to the players
here, as long as you have the clear instigating obstacle that points play-
ers towards the ending.
Middle: For an RPG, this is the most important part of any adven-
ture. It’s where your players take the center stage and showcase their
heroism. But you’ve already done the hard work. Abstract Dungeon is
great in that the players get to take the onus of the work here; all you
need to do is use your knowledge of the end to create encounters for
your players. When reading a one-shot, it’s easy to take notes of the key
encounters and bring them up individually. Because of the light me-
chanics in Abstract Dungeon, you don’t need to dedicate a ton of time in
preparing this section as long as you remember these two things: every
encounter is a moment for the players to be heroic and these encoun-
ters should be clues to the final confrontation.

How detailed should my planning be?

As GM you determine the details that matter most. You know what you
need to feel comfortable at the table better than anyone else. Abstract
Dungeon’s system allows you to focus your preparation on the big pic-
ture ideas that frame the story at the table instead of taking note of
each individual monster that challenges the players. With this great flex-
ibility, the notes you bring to the table can be as simple as key clues
(and when/where they can be found) that keep your players pointed
towards the ending already chosen.
For your first time, start simple. You don’t need tons of nuance and
intrigue for Abstract Dungeon to shine, so look for a story where you
only need a couple details per section to act as the backbone of the
three sections. As you grow and gain experience, you can make the
mystery the player explore more nuanced and detailed because you will
have a better sense of how to inject the information into the flow of the
middle.

In summary
Grab a one-shot pre-written adventure and remember the focus of
Abstract Dungeon is encouraging everyone to contribute to the story in
equal measures.
Give your players opportunities to be heroic and encourage them
to describe their heroism.
Know enough about the scenario to act as the narrator and lead the
players to the end.
And have fun!
21
The Theta Quadrant
Thanks to the Union of Planets, the Alpha Quadrant is at peace. The
Union has even forged a tentative treaty with their ancient rivals, the
Kromnian Empire, but space is big and there is much more to explore.
The Union has just authorized a new five-year mission to go boldly
where no one (except for the many indigenous life forms) has gone be-
fore: to explore the Theta Quadrant.

The Union of Planets

As the name implies, the Union of Planets consists of many different
worlds housing many different species that have joined to create a more
peaceful galaxy. Though they have many differences among them, the
members of the union share similar advanced levels of technology, and
uphold ideals of peace and liberty.

Earth
Despite the fact that many alien species are older, wiser, and more tech-
nologically advanced, humans and Earth have taken center stage in the
Union of Planets, holding most of their leadership positions and cap-
taining most of their starships.

The First Rule

The first rule of the Union of Planets is don’t interfere with less evolved
civilization. This is born both of a philosophical argument that species
should have a right to chart their own course, plus practical examples
of time when well-meaning advanced aliens tried to help less advanced
ones, but their efforts lead to unintended consequences doing more
harm than good.

Kromnian Empire
The Kromnian Empire has long stood as rivals to the Union of Planets.
They have advanced technology, most notably cloaking devices that
allow their ships to go completely undetected. They appear similar to
humans but have pointed ears and pronounced forehead ridges.

Captain Thorak of the Imperial Starship Triax

The Union of Planets are not the only ones exploring the Theta Quad-
rant. The Kromnian Empire has sent the Imperial Starship Triax cap-
22
tained by a woman named Thorak. Their mission is very similar to that
of the heroes. The Kromnians want to chart the star systems and estab-
lish contact with the aliens who live there. Of course they see every-
thing as a zero sum gain. They hope to set up trade deals that favor the
Empire over the Union, claim any new technologies that they find, and
otherwise use the Theta sector to gain any advantage they can over the
Union.
Thorak herself is a calm, cool, collected woman. She always calcu-
lates her decisions carefully, never letting rash emotions get in her way.
When interacting with the characters, she presents herself as polite and
well meaning, even as she plots to sabotage their efforts in the sector.

The Shepherds
The Shepherds are the gods of the Theta Quadrant, at least that’s how
they portray themselves to younger races. They believe that no sapient
race should be forced to live in squalor when the technology exists to
cure the sick and feed the starving.
Thus the Shepherds regularly visit less-advanced worlds, where
to provide guidance to them, teaching them new farming techniques
during a drought, or helping to negotiate peace settlements between
two warring nations.
The Shepherds staunchly believe this philosophy is the only morally
proper approach, which has great potential to put them at odds with
the Union of Planets, whose First Rule states that they should not inter-
fere with pre-faster-than-light planets.
The Shepherds are a mix of many sapient races, most of whom look
like humans with minor cosmetic differences.

The Legion
The Legion are the gods of the Theta Quadrant, at least that’s how they
view themselves. They are jealous gods who expect to be worshiped
and obeyed by less advanced races. When the Legion encounters a less
advanced world, they subjugate it, establish a temple, and send priests
to the planet. Then they turn their populace to their own ends. They har-
vest raw materials and build factories to fuel their empire, and conscript
locals into their army to fight against the misguided Shepherds.
The Legion are now made up of dozens of subjugated species, the
original species that founded and still leads the legion come from a
now-destroyed world known as the Legius. The people of Legius have
an unusual form of telepathy. Most children were born as twins and
23
Assumptions of the Theta Quadrant
 Starship can travel faster than light, traveling between stars in
mere days.
 Communication is instant across any distance.
 Duplicators can create food and other simple items out of thin air.
 Communication among species is easy thanks to universal trans-
lators.
 Most sapient aliens are nearly identical to humans, or look like hu-
mans with minor cosmetic differences.

triplets who had such a strong telepathic bound that they acted as a
single mind controlling multiple bodies. Though their biology limits
the number of multiples born naturally, cloning and artificial gestation
grants allows them to create minds that share dozens or even hundreds
of identical bodies. The Legius look like humans whose skin comes in
various shades of blue and purple.

Key Systems in the Theta Quadrant

Kappilan 3
The third planet in the Kappilan System, Kappilan 3 is the closest world
to Union space that is inhabited by sapient life forms. It is also rich in
natural resources, including triluminum crystals, which are an import-
ant part of star ship drives. Thus, forming a trade alliance with the peo-
ple of Kappilan would be a major coup for either the Union of Planets or
the Kromnian Empires. As it happens, the Kromnians are already nego-
tiating such an alliance.
The Kappilan people love competition in all forms, both physical
and intellectual, and they often use competitions to make major deci-
sions, such as choosing their leaders. Should the Union of Planets and
Kromnian Empire both try to negotiate exclusive trade agreements at
the same time, the Kappilan government proposes a competition be-
tween the two alien powers, which includes things like strategy board
games, unarmed combat, and vehicle races.
Despite their proximity to Shepherd territory, Kappilan prides itself
on remaining neutral in the conflict between the Shepherds and the Le-
gion. Though when they meet the Union crew members, they are likely
to inquire about whether they are affiliated with the Shepherds or the
Legion.

24
Sopnir
Like Kappilan, Sopnir is relatively close to Union Space, and remained
independent from both the Shepherds and the Legion.
When the crew arrive, the people of Sopnir are all extremely friend-
ly, offering the heroes all they can desire in terms of food, entertain-
ment, and recreation, and asking nothing in return. They have made
their planet into a paradise, thanks to duplicator technology, which
can quickly replicate any object, thus eliminating material scarcity, and
highly advanced artificial intelligence and robots that eliminate the
need for human labor.
But of course, this is all too good to be true. Sopnir harbors a deep
secret. The so-called artificial intelligence is not run on wires and circuits
or even positronic networks. It runs in the brains of thousands of sapient
creatures that are linked together in a massive neural network. While
the Sopnir contribute their own people to this network, they much pre-
fer to use outsiders, such as the crew of a Union of Planets starship.

Iscora
Iscora is a prime example of a planet under the Shepherds’ influence,
and one of the closest planets in Shepherd territory to Union space.
Iscora is similar to Earth in many ways, including gravity, tempera-
ture, biomes, and life forms. At pres-
ent its level of technology closely
resembles Renaissance era Earth.
While most of the people are still
farmers, there is a growing under-
standing of science and a burst of
new forms of art and technology.
The surprising thing is the rate of
technological growth, as it has been
only a few generations since the
people of Iscora were in the equiva-
lent of the Dark Ages.
This is all thanks to the influence
of the Shepherds, who have given
hints about what areas to explore
with technology, modified crops to
enhance their yields, treated disease
outbreaks, and encouraged literacy
among all classes of people.

25
Adventure Hook: Shuttle Ship Down
The crew might notice oddities like modified crops and want to explore
the mystery of Iscora on their own, but they might also be sent on a
mission to recover the missing xenoanthropologist and member of the
crew, Talia Vang. Vang was observing a rural community on Iscora when
her shuttle malfunctioned and crashed. She survived, though uncon-
scious, and the nearby Iscora’s rescued her. They assume she is one of
the Shepherds, and likely make the same assumption about any PCs
that arrive on the scene. The heroes must retrieve Vang, try to uphold
the First Rule, and maybe even deal with the real Shepherds when they
arrive on the scene.

Concord
Nobody knows much about the people who originally lived on the plan-
et of Concord. Judging by their ruins, they achieved the equivalent of
21st century Earth technology before an extinction-level event wiped
out the sapient life. The Shepherds view it as a cautionary tale of what
may happen to countless more worlds without their guidance.
Rather than make their center of government on one of the many
homeworlds of the species that make up the shepherd, they built it on
Concord. Here the ruling council meets to debate and make decisions
that affect the whole of their territory. The planet houses government
offices and support structures, but they have otherwise left most of the
planet uninhabited.

Tartrus V
The Legion uses the planet Tartrus V is a cold, barren world whose one
saving graces is its supply of triluminium crystals. The Legion uses it as a
prison planet, relying on the prisoners as labor to dig the crystals.
Tartrus V also houses information extraction facilities that hold pris-
oners with valuable insights that the Legion wants to retrieve before
sending them to the mines or simply executing them outright.
Adventure Hook: The Enemy of My Enemy
After a skirmish with the Legion, other crew members on the PCs’ ship
or even the heroes themselves might wind up as prisoners on Tartrus V.
When the heroes try to break out or rescue their fellows, they discover
that Kromnians have also been taken prisoner and are seeking to break
free. Will the heroes aid their rivals against a bigger threat?

26
Primus
The homeworld of the Legion is long ago forgotten or destroyed, now
spoken about only as a legend.
Instead the current “home” of the legion is a massive starship, the
size of a small moon, which can travel anywhere among the stars. This
ship, known as Primus, houses millions of people and includes every-
thing they need to survive.
It is from here that the Legate Rules and if the crew of the Union of
Planets starship wants to either negotiate or destroy the Legion, they
must go to Primus. Of course Primus is far from defenseless. It is always
surrounded by smaller battleships and holds enough firepower of its
own to destroy a fleet of Shepherd ships.

Themes of a Theta Quadrant Campaign

Below we present several themes that adventures in a Theta Quadrant
campaign might include. Most likely any campaign in the Theta Quad-
rant features several of these, and the prominence of each theme will
change as the campaign goes on.

Exploration
From the Union’s perspective, the Theta Quadrant is uncharted territory,
filled with new worlds and people to discover. Exploration will likely be
part of any Theta Quadrant campaign, but you can take it to extreme by
running each session focusing on the new world and the new possibili-
ties and conflicts it presents.

Union and Empire

The Union of Planets and Kromnian Empire and in a cold war, always
hoping to outdo each other and gain the other hand but without spark-
ing open conflict. You might focus on this in your campaign by always
having Captain Thorak and the Triax arrive shortly after the heroes reach
a new system or find them already there when the PCs arrive. In this case
you might flesh out some more members of the Kromnian crew that the
heroes regularly interact with as mirrors of their own characters.

Shepherd and The First Rule

The First Rule of the Union of Planets says not to interfere with less ad-
vanced species. But what does that mean when they find somebody
else is interfering? Should they try to counteract the Shepherd’s inter-
ference, convince them to change their ways, or leave it alone to avoid
27
interfering themselves. This sort of campaign might focus more on di-
plomacy and social interactions between the heroes and the Shepherds
as they work out their differences.

Shepherds and the Legion

The Shepherds and the Legion both work against each other to control
the Theta Quadrant. Though they are now at a stalemate, each side win-
ning minor skirmishes but making now major games, each side hopes
to tip that balance of power, and each realizes that the Union of Planets
or Kromnian Empire might hold the key to victory. A campaign focus-
ing on this might alternate between political dealings with one or both
powers and grand space-ship battles.

We Are Legion
While the Legion might see the value of a temporary alliance to defeat
the Shepherds, in the end, its true goal is to rule the galaxy. Thus if the
Shepherds fall, it will not be long before the Legion seeks to expand fur-
ther going into Union Space. Campaigns focusing on this may be battle
heavy as the heroes work to thwart the Legion’s latest attack.

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28
The Mizar System
Nearly two hundred years ago, Earth received its first message from out-
er space. Originating from what English-speaking humans call the Mizar
system (in the handle of the Big Dipper), the transmission contained
vast amounts of data and technical information, but the overall mes-
sage was simple: We are here. Come find us.
A decade later, a united effort by the nations of Earth yielded a doz-
en ships capable of crossing the vast distance. Because no human could
survive the journey, the vast majority of the passengers on these ships
spent the journey in cold sleep, a form of suspended animation.
Though two of the ships were lost somewhere in the inky void,
the remaining ten reached the Mizar system after 183 years traveling
through space. There they discovered several important truths about
the Mizar system.
The people of the Mizar system left something out of their original
message. They were dying, and they knew it. By the time humans ar-
rived, all of Mizar system’s original inhabitants were gone, but Mizar was
not empty. Other worlds received the same transmission Earth had, and
three of them arrived there first.

29
Overview of the Mizar System
The Mizar system is a quadruple star-system with two pairs of double
stars. The result is two equivalents of Earth’s solar systems, each of which
orbits a pair of stars. These planetary systems include rocky worlds and
gas giants with their own systems of moons large enough to be planets
by Earth standard. In all, four planets or moons in the Mizar system sus-
tain atmospheric life, while many others have enclosed living shelters.
Another binary system, Alcor, lies less than half a light-year away.
Unlike Mizar, there are no living worlds in the Alcor system, at least not
organic life. The Locyn, a robotic race described below, has set up a ma-
jor base of operations there.

The Mizar
The original inhabitants of the system, who the humans call Mizar, seem
to have all died out over a hundred years ago. Though there is much still
unknown about them, it is clear that they were an advanced civilization.
They not only traveled to multiple worlds in the twin Mizar systems,
they terraformed several. Judging by the uniformity of life among the
inhabited worlds, it seems likely that all it all came from a single original
planet.
Their requirements for life were similar to humans in terms of
gravity and chemical intake. Physically they had six limbs, in what hu-
mans sometimes refer to as “centaur” configuration, with four feet and
two hands. Also like humans, the Mizar were great builders and left
many ruined cities dotted about their worlds.

Locyn
Organic beings who call themselves the Locyn still exist hundreds of
light-years away from the Mizar system. However, the Locyn decided
long ago that robots were far more suited for exploring space than they
were, so the Locyn created the Locyn, a species of robots with advanced
artificial intelligences whose purpose was to learn all they could from
the universe.
The Locyn were the first to arrive in the Mizar system, roughly fifteen
years ago. Though they sent scouts to the Mizar ruins right away, they
spent much of that time colonizing the lifeless worlds of Alcor, where
they set up mines and factories to create more of themselves, and built
a core. The Locyn build these cores in every system they visit. Here they
store literally every experience of every Locyn in the system, then beam

30
that information across space to other cores, in an effort to know every-
thing.
The Locyn are constantly updating themselves both physically and
mentally, incorporating new programming into their systems and de-
signing new bodies to best suit their needs. Their bodies take on the
form of anything they need, from tiny floating repair bots, to their mas-
sive spaceships.
The Locyn also design bodies specifically for interacting with other
species, and in these cases make bodies that reflect the races they inter-
act with while staying well away from the uncanny divide. As Locyn met
humans, they created bipedal two-armed robots who have screens as
faces that most typically display cartoonish versions of eyes, nose, and
mouth. The Locyn also like to explore the psychology of other species
they meet, so they study them and try to create programs that emulate
human emotions. (Indeed, the Locyn argue that they are in fact experi-
encing the same emotions as humans.)

Rogue Locyn
Sharing information with other Locyn, and especially with the Core is
key to the Locyn society, however, sometimes individuals or groups of
Locyn cut themselves off from the core. Sometimes this happens when
the Locyn test out a new personality algorithm that does not work as in-
tended. Often it is because of experiences the Locyn gains while work-
ing in isolation. Occasional it is because the Locyn does something so
terrible they know that if they send it to the core they will be immedi-
ately destroyed.
Whatever the reason, greater Locyn society considers these rogue
Locyn to be a threat. Rogue individuals not only fail to contribute to the
increasing the species’s body of knowledge, they often hurt other Locyn
or other species, jeopardizing relations between sapients. In the most
extreme circumstances, groups of rogue Locyn establish their own col-
lective networks and start creating new Locyn tainted by their rogue
subroutines.
The Locyn have special teams dedicated to reclaiming or destroy-
ing the rogues. They prefer to keep the matter quiet from other species,
though sometimes the actions of the rogues makes that impossible.

Locyn Ambassador
These machines are designed to interact with other species and thus
their design generally resembles the target species. They are not meant
for combat, though if pressed their robotic arms can do serious damage.
31
Want to Write for Abstract Dungeon?
Do you have ideas for new monsters, rules, advice, adventures or other
articles for Abstraction Dungeon? Send them our way! We’re now look-
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tackpress@gmail.com for more information.

Locyn Ambassador
2 dice Monsters
Attack: Metal fist. 2 Toughness or Agility damage to one target.
Vulnerable: Electromagnetic pulses, and similar devices

Locyn Battle Bot

Though rare, some Locyn are built specifically for combat. These robots
have spider-like legs with laser turrets mounted on their body, while
maneuvering jets let them fly through zero gravity or make short hops
in planetary gravity.
Locyn Battle Bot
4 dice Monster
Attack: Laser sweep. 2 Toughness or Agility damage to two targets.
Special: Battle bots are acclimated to zero gravity environments. If you
use zones, they can move an additional zone for free.

Locyn Starfighter
Locyn ships are actually just Locyn in a different shape, as it is far more
efficient for them to build their intelligence into the ship. Because of this
they are more maneuverable than typical ships requiring organic pilots.
Locyn Starfighter
5 dice Ship
Attack: Lasers. 4 damage to one ship.
Resist: Agility

Shash
The Shash were the second intelligent species to arrive at the Mizar
system, roughly nine years ago. Humans frequently call them “balloon
squids,” which is viewed as a pejorative term, but paints a rough idea of
their appearance. The Shash evolved on a world with low gravity and a

32
thick atmosphere. Most of their bodies are made of air bladders, which
they can organically inflate or deflate with a range of organic gases
most typically a mix of hydrogen and carbon dioxide. On their home-
world this allowed them to control their buoyancy, so they could float
through the air. Most of the rest of their body is at the base of this bal-
loon, including a mouth, eyes, and dozen tentacles.
Despite their appearance, the Shash are psychologically similar to
humans. They are highly social and create long-lasting relationships.
They are also highly curious and desire to see the world around them.
Also like humans they have darker sides of greed and anger.
Perhaps because their natural physiology makes them well adapted
to zero gravity, the Shash have a long history of space travel, and had
already colonized several star-systems near their own when they heard
the call from Mizar. They traveled to the system in a generation ship, so
that those who left their homeworld never reached their destination,
but those who did are thankful to the sacrifices of their elders.
Though the Shash get along well with the Locyn, they have had dif-
ficult relations with the Glazan and early interactions sparked violence
between them. In recent years they have settled into a cold war, as each
species works to secure the upper hand in the system. The Shash view
humans as a potential ally against the Glazan, and hope to forge good
relations with them in an effort to do so.

Shash Black Market

While the Shash have created several civilian markets for buying and
trading goods on all their colonies, they have also banned many items,
such as drugs, lethal-weapons, and Mizar artifacts. Of course that hasn’t
stopped demand for these things, and where demand exists, somebody
finds a way to fill it. Thus gave rise to the Shash black markets, loose
associations of criminals who will sell anything for the right price, and if
they don’t have what you’re looking for, they can put you in touch with
somebody who does.
The black marketeers do not limit themselves to selling to their own
species. Most happily trade with Terrain or Locyn, and some even deal
with the Glazan.

Shash Trader
The most common Shash for humans to encounter are traders, mer-
chants, and diplomats.

33
Shash Trader
1 die Monster
Attack: Stunner. 1 Toughness or Spirit damage to one enemy.
Special: No penalties while in zero gravity, but vulnerable to all attacks
when in high gravity without a gravity rig.

Shash Gravity Rig

While in high gravity environments Shash use gravity rigs. These feature
clear plastic tanks filled with water and mounted on wheels, treads, or
robotic legs.

Gravity Rig
2 die Obstacle
Special: Creatures must destroy a gravity rig before attacking the Shash
inside.

Shash Gunship
Those most Shash vessels are cargo of passenger ships, when they en-
countered the Glazan, the Shash built a number of heavily armed com-
bat ships to fight off the other aliens.
Shash Gunship
8 Die Ship
Attack: Impulse cannons. 4 damage to two ships.

Glazan
The Glazan arrived at the Mizar system five years ago. Of the three alien
species in the Mizar system, they appear closest to humans. They stand
upright with two arms and legs and a head, though they are taller and
humans and appear more slender. Their heads seem long by human
standards and they have larger eyes that are usually green, blue, of vi-
olet.
The Glazan are more technologically advanced than humans, par-
ticularly in genetics and biological manipulation. Nearly all Glazan are
grown in artificial wombs using tailored DNA sequences, which some-
times reflect their parents, and are sometimes completely invented.
The Glazan in the Mizar system are no exception to this. Indeed in the
Glazan’s epic journey across the stars, their ships held only skeleton
crews to maintain the craft, but two decades away from the Mizar sys-
tem, they began rapidly producing more Glazan in order to arrive with
34
a strong colonizing force. Now that they have arrived, they are quickly
adapting to the environment they find. They are tweaking the code of
the next generation of Glazan to better fit the living worlds of the Mizar
system, and a few even include DNA from local Mizar organisms.
When the Glazan first arrived in the Mizar system, they clashed with
Shash, fighting a number of skirmishes that were devastating to both
sides. Only when the Glazan realized that it would not be an easy victory
did they figure out how to communicate and propose a cease fire. Since
then the Glazan have been divided about whether to attempt to live
with their new neighbors, or to launch a new effort to destroy them. Ei-
ther way, they are preparing for the worst, cloning as many new Glazan
as they can sustain, and building more warships than habitation.
The Glazan are wary of humans as a new threat, though there are a
few who think humans could be a useful tool to destroy the Shash. Of
course once they serve their purpose the humans can be tossed aside.

Glazan Privateers
The Glazan have a long history of using privateers in war time, allowing
those outside the traditional military to arm their own ships and fight
enemy ships, seizing them for bounties or simply to loot for their own
use. The conflict between the Glazan and the Shash gave rise to many
of these privateers, and even after the formal cease fire, many privateers
still operate. Nor do they limit themselves to the Shash, and attack Earth
and Locyn ships just as readily.
Some privateers are motivated by patriotism. They see the aliens as
a threat and work to keep their enemies weak while the Glazan military
builds its strength for a decisive strike. Others are motivated simply by
greed.
Of course the Glazan government publicly disavows the actions of
these privateers, but they do little to stop them.

Glazan Raider
Nearly all Glazan have some basic weapons training, and many special-
ize in combat as a way of life. Unfortunately, raiders are some of the
most common Glazan for outsiders to encounter.
Glazan Raider
3 Die Monster
Attack: Plasma Burst. 3 Toughness or Agility damage.
Resist: Attempts of friendship. (Warrior code)
Resist: Toughness or Agility attacks that are made without weapons.
(Body Armor)
35
Glazan Light Destroyer
The bulk of the Glazan military is made of small but heavily armed ships
that require only a few crew members.
Glazan Light Destroyer
6 dice Ship
Attacks
Plasma Missiles: 3 damage to one ship and one Toughness or Agility
damage to three characters on that ship.

Worlds of the Mizar System

Mizar Prime
Mizar Prime is so called because it is believed to be the homeworld
of the intelligent race that once inhabited the Mizar system. Of all the
worlds, it has by far the largest amount of ruins and they seem to go
back the furthest.
As such, Mizar prime is of interest to all four intelligent species in the
Mizar system, and all have at least some presence thereof. The Glazan
and Shash presences follow a strict treaty that the two of them signed
together. The Locyn have a few of their own research teams exploring
ruins of major cities. Humans have only just arrived, but already been
allowed to establish a base on a large but fairly isolated island.
Because all the aliens have a presence on Mizar Prime, it has also
become the de facto place to meet among the various races, and the
location where the species are most likely to come into contact. There
are even a few fringe communities established without the permission
of their governing bodies where all the species live peacefully side by
side.

New Shash
Actually the moon of a gas giant, the world now known as New Shash
is the smallest of all the inhabited worlds, with the weakest gravity. It is
there only one where the Shash can feel comfortable outside of their
exotanks. Though still not able to achieve the buoyancy equilibrium of
their homeworld, they at least do not feel crushed by their own weight,
and can stay aloft as long as they are actively using their natural air jets.
New Shash was thus the natural choice for the Shash to set up their

36
first colony, and in the years they
have been here, it has become their
primary base. Here they set up sev-
eral settlements and manufactur-
ing facilities, and it has become the
center of their government.
After very controlled repro-
duction on their generation ship,
New Shash has experienced a baby
boom, with a population of “teen-
agers” and children vastly outnum-
bering the adults.

Jotunheim
Of the living worlds of the Mizar
system, the ones humans call Jo-
tunheim is the least hospitable to
human life. Other than a narrow
band around the equator, tem-
peratures are well below freezing,
reaching below -200 ° C at the poles. The Glazan believe that Jotunheim
was once even far colder, and only reached its current temperatures
thanks to photosynthetic bacteria that the Mizar introduced to the
world to pump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Even around the equator, where temperatures do reach above
freezing, they are never “warm” by human standards, with planetary
maximums rarely reaching above 10 C. Further, there seems to be no
dry land anywhere, just a ring of liquid ocean around the center of the
planet, and an endless frozen ocean to either side.
Still, with all of that, there is one major feature that makes Jotun-
heim attractive: water. Though most of it is tied up in frozen ice-sheets,
there is more water on Jotunheim than any of the other living worlds,
including Mizar Prime.
Thus the Glazan have claimed Jotunheim as their own and built sev-
eral bases upon ice-sheets but near the liquid water oceans. From there
they harvest water to send to their space fleets. They are also preparing
a new generation to inhabit Jotunheim by genetically modifying them
to tolerate the cold weather and looking for ways to speed up the Mizar
terraforming to better create permanent settlements upon Jotunheim.

37
Cronus
Cronus is nearly identical to Earth in terms of temperature and gravity.
Judging by the ruins it seems to be the first world that the Mizar settled
after their homeworld. It also boasts the greatest variety of life forms of
any planet save Mizar Prime, suggesting that it was terraformed long
ago, or perhaps already had an environment that was ripe for organic
life.
During the brief war between the Shash and the Glazan, their most
fearsome battle was at Cronus, both in orbit and on the ground. It was
so destructive that it was the one time the Locyn intervened in the war.
They said the war was endangering the Mizar artifacts, which the Lo-
cyn could not allow, so they placed Cronus under their protection with
a warning that anybody who risked damaging the ruins on the planet
would be destroyed.
Even after the cease fire, the Shahs and the Glazan have largely left
Cronus only, sending down only small teams to survey it and always
with the permission of the Locyn.
Now that humans have arrived in the system, they are interested in
establishing a permanent settlement on Cronus, but have not done so
yet wary of upsetting the system-wide balance of power.

Aeneas
Aeneas was not a living world once inhabited by Mizar, but is now one
of the major human settlements in the system. In their own solar sys-
tem, humans long ago figured out how to build colonies on lifeless as-
teroids. They had always planned to set up a similar colony in the Mizar
system, to be wary of possible alien diseases and not upset the native
Mizar people. When humans discovered that the Mizar were dead and
the rest of the system was caught in a cold war between alien powers,
it became even more imperative. Thus when they arrived in the Mizar
system they found a large asteroid with perfect conditions for a colony,
which came to be known as Aeneas.
Aeneas is a complex design of covered trenches and fully under-
ground tunnels. It has everything a major city requires, including
homes, manufacturing recreation, and a massive greenhouse that pro-
duces enough food to feed the entire population.

38
Adventures in the Mizar System
The Mizar offers many possibilities for adventures. These are some
themes you might focus on.

Surviving an Alien World

Moving is always hard, especially if you’re light-years from home in a
world filled with unknowns plants, animals, and disease. While the ma-
jor races have all got a toehold in the system, they are all working to
expand, and PCs might spend time figuring out how to survive.

Exploring Mizar Ruins

The four species have been exploring the ruins of the aliens that origi-
nally inhabited the Mizar system since they arrived, but there is still a lot
that they do not know. The heroes might work to uncover the secrets
of lost Mizar technology or discover what wiped out the Mizar people.
Player characters might be part of a team of scientists sponsored by
their governments, or a team of rogue archaeologists working for fun
and profit.

War of the Worlds

For now, a tentative peace holds in the Mizar system, but the sapients
are always looking for ways to gain an edge up on each other, partic-
ularly the Shash and the Glazan. The heroes might be part of a team
working to sabotage or spy on alien races or negotiate peaceful allianc-
es with other species.

Space Traders
There’s a lot that needs to move around the Mizar system, from food
and water to Mizar artifacts to alien diplomats. The heroes might crew
a ship that transports passengers and cargo throughout the system, all
the while keeping a lookout for pirates and rogue asteroids. They might
be part of the government, independent contractors, or smugglers.

Jacks of All Trades

The heroes might also be a band of mercenary freelancers who take
whatever jobs they can get. Even the legal ones.

39
A Rude Awakening
A Rude Awakening is meant to serve as an introduction to the Mizar
system, as described on page 29.

Adventure Background
After watching the stars for centuries, Earthy finally got its first message.
“We are here. Find us.”
But the signal was light years away, and with current propulsion
technology it would take a ship over a century to travel through the
stellar void to reach the message’s origin. The only solution was to cre-
ate a fleet of colony ships, whose crews would spend their time in sus-
pended animation for most of the journey, occasionally waking in shifts.
The heroes are on one such ship.
But it turns out that Earth was not the only one to receive the inter-
stellar signal. Another space faring species from a planet called Glazan
arrived before humans did. When a crew of Glazan privateers detected
the heroes’ ship, they set out to claim it as their own. When the ship’s
AI realized something was wrong, it set to awakening as many crew as

40
possible, but a side effect from the emergency defrost means that the
heroes are experiencing temporary amnesia, and must piece together
their mission and their past as they fight to keep their ship out of alien
hands.

Options Rule: Amnesia

If you are using this adventure to launch a new campaign (or as a one-
shot), you can represent the PCs’ amnesia by having them start play
before they determine their traits. When they create their characters,
they only determine their abilities, then during the adventure, when-
ever they want to use a trait, they add a new trait either by choosing or
rolling randomly. There are several points in the adventure that have
separate lists of traits that players can roll on to choose a trait that is
especially useful for the situation.
The first time the player declares a trait, they must immediately use
it and roll a die to determine how useful it is. At the player’s option they
can also then narrate a flashback that they experience, describing a time
in the PC’s life prior to the ship when that features the trait in question.
If they narrate a flashback, the player also gets to roll an additional trait
die and place it on their character sheet as normal.

XP Non-Human Heroes
Most of this adventure assumes that
This adventure is worth 2 XP. If the
the heroes are humans, but if you
heroes take one refresh, the Glazan
plan to use this adventure to launch
have enough time to take over major
a campaign exploring the Mizar sys-
portions of the ship, and in the pro-
tem, some of your players might want
cess jettison half of the humans still
to play other species.
in cold sleep, and the heroes get only
There are plenty of options to
1 XP. If the heroes take two refresh-
involve the others. Maybe they saw
es, the Glazan gain full control of the
the raiders attack and are coming to
ship, and purge it of all human life.
help the PCs fend them off. Maybe
The heroes get no XP.
they stowed away on the PCs ship,
planning to borrow some food and
Player’s Introduction medicine, but leave before the hu-
Red lights flash. An alarm blares. mans woke from coldsleep. Maybe
You lie inside a coffin-sized pod, they were other prisoners held by
and cannot remember how you got the Glazan (even a mutinous former
there, or even where you are. Glazan raider) and escaped to the
human ship either before or after the
raiders’ attack.

41
The characters can open the pod and get out easily enough. Once they
do, they see they are in a room filled with a dozen similar pods. Those
not housing PCs all hold other humans in suspended animation. Be-
yond the pods, the most important items of note are a computer con-
trol council and a single door.
The display screen is currently flashing an alert message. Stating:

Emergency Cold-Sleep Wake Up Due to Critical Alerts

Critical Alert: Localized loss of pressure
Critical Alert: Fire detected
Critical Alert: Navigation systems damage
Critical Alert: Unauthorized computer access

The screen also shows a map of the ship with the areas experiencing
alerts highlighted in red, including the hall on the way to medbay, com-
mand and control, and the hall just outside of that..
If the heroes wish, they can have a few minutes to gather informa-
tion and otherwise explore the computer systems. The main things they
notice are that there is a slow pressure leak in one of the critical main
hallways (caused by the Glazan boarding pods), and the fire took place
outside command and control (thermal cutting to breach the door) and
has since ended. The Glazan accidentally damaged the navigation sys-
tems while trying to take control of the ship. The computer access be-
gan in command and control and is still ongoing.
The door contains a pressure seal, though an indicator shows that
the area beyond is at normal pressure.

Computer Override
As the heroes start to accustom themselves to the area around them,
appears on screen saying “Alert: Remote Cold-Sleep Override” and one
of the humans one of the others pods starts thrashing violently.
Hopefully the PCs can figure out something else is accessing the cold
sleep chamber and causing it to malfunction. The heroes need not only
to save the person currently in danger, they also need to shut down the
remote access.
Save the Patient
3 dice Challenge
Attack: We’re losing them! Add one additional die to this challenge.
Special: If the challenge every has five dice on it after the PCs take their
turn, the patient dies.
42
Stop the Hacking Spending Dice for Attacks
2 dice per PC Challenge While normally only boss mon-
Attacks sters spend their dice to make at-
5 Override Pod Controls: Add and ad- tacks, you can add the feature to
ditional Save the Patient challenge other monsters or challenges with
This stuff is Complicated: 1 Intellect large dice pools to give them some
damage to each PC who attacked this extra offense. In this case the Stop
challenge last round. the Hacking challenge can spend
one of its dice with a face value of
Once the heroes stop the hacking and five or higher to start a new Save
stabilize any patients, they have a mo- the Patient challenge.
ment to catch their breath. They might
talk amongst themselves or access the computer again, but before long
they will undoubtedly want to open the door and explore the ship be-
yond.

Hack the Planet

If you are using the optional amnesia rules, a player can roll on the fol-
lowing table to gain a relevant trait while trying to stop the hacking.
Roll Trait
1 Programed the computers on this ship
2 Hacked into the ship’s computer before
3 Has a computer-neural interface
4 Dabbles in coding in your spare time
5 Secretly a robot
6 Used to date a computer programmer

Damn It Jim, I’m a Doctor

If you are using the optional amnesia rules, a player can roll on the fol-
lowing table to gain a relevant trait while trying to Save the Patient
Roll Trait
1 Medical doctor
2 Former MD, whose license was revoked
3 Cold sleep technician
4 Combat medic
5 Took a first aid class once
6 Used to date a doctor

43
Patrol
After the heroes shut the Glazan out of the cold-sleep computer system,
the aliens realize some of the humans are awake and dispatch a patrol
to deal with them. These Glazan catch up to the heroes as they make
their way through the spaceship corridors before they reach their first
intended location.
Glazan Raider One per 2 PCs, see page 35.

Once the heroes defeat the Glazan they are free to venture to any other
part of the ship.

Will Fight You

If you are using the optional amnesia rules, a player can roll on the fol-
lowing table to gain a relevant trait while fighting the Glazan
Roll Trait
1 Soldier
2 Law enforcement
3 Criminal assassin
4 Martial arts master
5 Watched a lot of ultimate fighting
6 Used to date a boxer

Captured Plasma Blasters

The Glazan use powerful plasma weapons that burn organic material but
that pose little danger to breaching a ship’s hull. They also are shaped
awkwardly for human hands and more importantly have a “Smart Lock”
feature that prevents anybody other than the Glazan assigned to them
from firing the weapons.
Technical minded PCs, however, might be able to override this lock
by passing the following obstacle.
Override Blaster Lock
1 die per 2 PCs Obstacle
Resistance: Any attack made without the proper tools.

Characters can find proper tools for working on the blasters at the ship’s
repair bay. The character must pass a separate obstacle to unlock each
blaster recovered. If they do they gain a 1 die permanent treasure.

44
Repair Bay
This section of the ship has tools and raw material to repair everything
on the ship as well as what the colonists are likely to need after settling
in the Mizar system.
While the tools here are not designed as weapons, the heroes can
certainly find things to use as makeshift weapons or jury rig their own
creation. These do not count as treasure, but do count as weapons for
the purposes of overcoming Glazan resistances.

Can We Fix It?

If you are using the optional amnesia rules, a player can roll on the fol-
lowing table to gain a relevant trait while using tools from the repair bay
Roll Trait
1 Weapons designer
2 Eccentric inventor
3 Tends to add illegal mods to things
4 Mechanic
5 Likes to build things in my shed
6 Used to date an engineer

Weapons Locker
The colonists were worried about all kinds of dangers when they
reached the Mizar system, and thus brought a range of weapons big
and small. To keep them out of the wrong hands, they locked the stor-
age with a combination of biometrics and pass codes. Thanks to the
heroes’ cold-sleep amnesia it’s difficult for them to recall the pass code
(but this would be a fitting use of Intellect dice).
Weapon Storage Lock
One die per PC Obstacle

After the heroes open the lock they can raid the weapon stores inside.
Each hero can choose a single permanent one-die equipment.

Med Bay
In order to reach the medical bay, the PCs must pass through part of the
hall that the Glazan attached their boarding pods to. Though the seal

45
was enough for the aliens to enter the ship, the seal is not quite perfect
on one of the ships, leading to a drop in pressure. By the time the PCs
arrive, enough air has drained that characters have difficulty breathing
while traversing the hall.
Low Pressure Corridor
One die per PC Challenge
Attack: Hypoxia. 1 Toughness damage to each character.

Once they get past the corridor, the heroes can enter the bed bay. Here
find enough medical supplies to bandage themselves up. Each charac-
ter can refresh one die to either Toughness or Agility, plus one character
can take a med-kit, which functions as a permanent one-die treasure.

Command and Control

The command and control station houses all the important interfaces
needed for controlling the ship, and thus is the Glazans’ primary target.
Except for the force sent to dispatch the PCs, the rest all remain there.
The Glazan plan to kill all the humans on the ship anyway, and thus
open fire as soon as they spot the heroes.

Glazan Raiders: One per PC, see page 35.

Glazan Captain
3 Dice per PC Boss Monster
Attacks
6 Fully Automatic Plasma Rifle: 3 Toughness or Agility damage to
each enemy.
4 Plasma Grenade: 3 Toughness or Agility damage to two enemies
2 Intimidating Rant: 1 Spirit damage to all enemies
Plasma Rifle: 3 Toughness or Agility damage to one enemy
Resist: Attempts of friendship. (Warrior code)
Resist: Toughness or Agility attacks that are made without weapons.
(Body Armor)

If We Can’t Have It Nobody Can

Once the heroes have secured command and control, they regain con-
trol of the ship, and discover that there are no more raiders on their ship.

46
 But the Glazan ship still remains, with two crew members on board.
The remaining crew thinks they have no chance of taking the PCs’ ship
intact, but they can still harvest plenty of scrap from this ship after they
blow it up. The heroes soon detect that the alien ship is powering up its
weapons.
The heroes’ ship has one die of hull and one die of powerful engines
that the heroes can use for this encounter (see Spaceship Rules on page
6). The PCs have a few options. The easiest route is to simply flee the
scene. Alternatively, they can try to find a creative way to destroy the
Glazan ship, as their own ship has now built-in weapons, at least noth-
ing designed as a weapon. Finally the PCs might use the Glazan board-
ing pods to board the Glazan ship and capture it as the Glazan hoped to
do to the PCs.
You can roll the dice for escaping, fighting, and hijacking the board-
ing pods, but because the heroes don’t know what they’ll find on the
Glazan ship, don’t roll the dice for the two raiders aboard until the char-
acters have successfully hijacked the pods.
Glazan Light Destroyer: See page 36.
Escape the Ship
1 die per 2 PCs Challenge
Attack: The Glazan fighter makes
an attack

Hijacking the Glazan

Boarding Pods
1 die per 2 PCs Obstacle

Glazan Raiders (2): See page 35.

Conclusion
Once the heroes defeat the
Glazan raiders and regain control
of their ship, they are out of im-
mediate danger. They can repair
the damage the aliens caused,
and safely wake the rest of the
humans from cold sleep.
But many dangers still lie
ahead in the Mizar system.
47
Random Adventures
As heroes travel through space, you’ll need places for them to go and
things for them to do. The following tables can serve as starting points
for adventures or fill in the background of your solar system.

Random Planet Generator

What’s circling the next star? Roll on the following tables to find out!
As always feel free to grab from these tables what you need. If you are
running a campaign in the Theta Quadrant (page 22) for example, you
might assume that all planets have sapient life and skip the table for life
forms.

What Is It?
Roll Object
1–3 Rocky, Earth-like planet
4 Gas Giant Moon
5 Artificial (space station)
6 Minor planet (asteroid)

What’s the Gravity Like?

Roll Gravity
1 High
2–5 Earth-like
6 Low

What About the Air?

Roll Atmosphere
1–2 Earth-like
3 Thin
4 Dense
5 Toxic
6 None

48
Life Forms Detected?
Roll Life
1 None
2 Non-sapient
3 Sapient
4 Artificial (robots)
5 Formerly had sapient life, but they are extinct, other life re-
mains.
6 Formerly had life, but now all extinct

If there is Intelligent Life, What’s Their Level of Tech

Roll Tech Level
1 Stone Age
2 Renaissance
3 Industrial Age
4 Sublight space travel
5 Faster-than light space travel
6 Post singularity

What’s Unusual About the World?

Roll Fun Features
11–13 Tidally Locked
14–16 Water World
21–23 Multiple Suns
24–26 Rings
31–33 Mostly Underground
34–36 Extremely long or short season
41–43 Extremely long or short days
44–46 Single biome
51–53 Actually an ancient alien machine
54–56 Actually an massive creature
61–63 Covered with strange rock formations
64–66 Does not orbit a star

49
What’s the Biggest Threat?
Roll Planetary Threats
11–12 War
13–14 Plague
15–16 Famine
21–22 Invasive species
23–24 Solar activity
25–26 Meteor
31–32 Volcanic activity
33–34 Toxic population
35–36 Climate change
41–42 Mega-predators
43–44 Technology run amok
45–46 Oppressive society
51–52 Unstable orbit
53–54 Resource shortage
55–56 Extremist groups
61–62 Dangerous superstitions
63–64 Alien probe
65–66 Deadly insects

Random Gig Generator

Some space campaigns feature ragtag privateers who take whatever
work they can get. When they look for their next gig, you can roll on the
following tables to come up with one or more jobs for them to choose.

Offer Comes From...

Roll Source
1 Government official
2 Commercial business
3 Religious organization
4 Private citizen
5 Criminal element
6 Mysterious old person in a spaceport
50
They Want the PCs to...
Roll Mission
1 Find...
2 Smuggle...
3 Steal...
4 Explore…
5 Rescue…
6 Kill or capture...

What?
Roll What
1–3 A person (roll on person table)
4–5 An item (roll on item table
6 An animal or plant (roll on animal or plant table)

Person Table
In relation to the person offering the job, the target is their…
Roll Relationship
1 Romantic Partner
2 Family
3 Friend
4 Enemy
5 Somebody Famous
6 Themselves

Items Table
Roll Class of Item
1 Trade Goods
2 Illegal Goods
3 Rare Treasure
4 Alien Artifact
5 Advanced Technology
6 Sentimental Item

51
Plant or Animal Table
Roll Plant or Animal
1 Household Pet
2 Livestock
3 Alien Animal
4 Alien Plant
5 Alien Monster
6 Product of Genetic Engineering

To complete the job, the heroes must travel to a...

Roll Locations
1 Well Populated Planet
2 Barely Settled Planet
3 Uninhabited Planet
4 Ruins of an Alien Civilization
5 Space Station
6 The the inky void of space

Twist
Roll Surprising but Inevitable twist
11–13 The person who gave you the job betrays you
14–16 You’ve been tricked into doing something else
21–23 The target spread an alien disease
24–26 It’s not where you were told it would be
31–33 It’s a fake!
34–36 Somebody else is trying to do the same thing
41–43 Somebody is hiding a dark secret
44–46 It’s a trap!
51–53 It’s way more dangerous than you were led to believe
54–56 Somebody powerful want to make sure you fail
61–63 There is no twist and everything is totally as it seems.
64–66 Roll again twice

52
Davoss
A Setting for Abstract Dungeon
By Franck Plasse
Ten years ago, aliens con-
quered our world.
Now you must fight to take it
back.

Now available on
DriveThruRPG

53
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