THE DERELICT

A TRAVELLER ADVENTURE FOR 2-6 PLAYERS

Written by:
Ben Overmyer
Email: manatrance@gmail.com
Twitter: @bovermyer
Blog: dicejockey.com

The Derelict

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Entering the Ship ........................... 8

About the Adventure ......................... 1

Salvaged Treasures ......................... 9

Getting the Job.................................... 1

Exploring the Ship ......................... 9

The Yuland Corporation ............... 1

Areas of Interest ............................ 9

The Argosi Initiative ...................... 1

The Bridge .................................. 9

Tyvon, Adrus, and Smythers Legal

Services ............................................ 2

Engineering / The Creature's

Lair............................................. 10

The Other Teams ............................... 2

Living Quarters ........................ 10

The Unforgivables ......................... 2

Cargo Bays ................................ 10

Alexei Mirkov ............................. 3

Laboratories ............................. 11

Encounters ...................................... 8

Adriatus Gunner Nargolan .. 3

Rufus Ballwick............................ 3
Nooro Ganma ............................ 3
Bullet Company .............................. 3
Leila Warren ............................... 4
Willic Banrori ............................. 4
Manny Drogan ........................... 4
Fred "Freefall" Fanelli ............... 4
Mercenary Statistics and Gear ...... 4
Other Interested Parties..................... 5
Imperial Intelligence ...................... 5
Imperial Navy Special
Expeditionary Corps, Section 11 . 5
The Black Star Corsairs ................. 6
The Derelict......................................... 6
Hazards ............................................ 7
The Creature ................................... 7
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The Derelict

ABOUT THE
ADVENTURE

each representing one of the groups

interested in the derelict.

A derelict starship of unknown origin

has shown up at the edge of the
sector. It has no apparent damage,
and it is absolutely massive - roughly
half the size of a small moon.

THE YULAND
CORPORATION

The groups that approach the PCs

are:

Simply called "the Company" by its

employees, the Yuland Corporation
tells the players that it believes the
starship is a long-lost pre-Imperial
battleship called the Absolution.
They will pay 1,000,000 credits for
the retrieval of any data disks
positively identifying it as that craft.

Its existence has been noted by a

number of major players in the
system. Each of them is preparing a
team to board the ship, and hopefully
score whatever treasures it possesses
before the others can.
Meanwhile, something horrific is
lying in wait aboard the vessel. It has
the simple mind of an
uncompromising, pure predator it
doesnt feed, it doesnt reason, it just
kills. While it is dormant at the
beginning of the adventure,
eventually one of the many parties
boarding the ship will wake it up. At
that point, the job of capturing the
ship becomes much, much harder.

The Yuland Corporation is the only

one of the three potential employers
that knows about the existence of the
Creature. The Company encountered
this ship five years ago, and its initial
survey team reported the Creatures
existence before going silent. The
ship then vanished into warp space,
and the Yuland Corporation has been
trying to track it down since then.

THE ARGOSI INITIATIVE

GETTING THE JOB

This private-sector research and

development company believes the
ship might be alien in origin, and
wants to retrieve any advanced
technology it can. The Initiative is
represented by Dr. Freeling, a senior

The PCs' ship is listed on a register of

local free traders. They are enjoying
drinks in a local bar when they are
approached by a series of agents,
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research associate. He offers the
players 500,000 credits, plus a share
of any advances resulting from
research into retrieved items.

TA & S Legal in general, and Wallace

Smythers in particular, is devoted to
the pursuit of money above all else.
The paperwork Smythers presents is
forged, and a successful Investigate
check at DM -4 will let a player know
that its fake. If the players confront
Smythers about the forged
document, he will deny everything,
but increase the promised payment to
25,000,000 credits. He has no
intention whatsoever of actually
paying the players, however. If they
successfully return the ship to him,
he will arrange for one of the other
two teams to attack them.

Dr. Freeling is an honest man, and

genuinely wants to advance science.
The Argosi Initiative is a company
with secrets, however although its
stated goal is to make life better for
all the Empires citizens through
learning and creating new advances in
technology, its anonymous Board of
Directors seeks to forcibly evolve
humanity beyond its current
limitations and is willing to make
great sacrifices to attain that goal.

If it comes to that, the Unforgivables

will genuinely attack the players, but
Bullet Company will side with them
in favor of discrediting TA & S.

TYVON, ADRUS, AND

SMYTHERS LEGAL
SERVICES

THE OTHER TEAMS

Wallace Smythers of TA & S Legal

approaches the players shortly after
Dr. Freeling. He sneers at the idea of
the ship being alien - he presents the
players with paperwork proving that
the ship is lost property of one of his
clients. He insists that the players will
be handsomely paid by his client after
retrieval of the vessel, which he
claims is a mining frigate named the
Indomitable Spirit. The exact amount
is open to negotiation, but his client
has authorized him to make an initial
offer of 20,000,000 credits.

Whichever employer the players

choose, the other two will send teams
of four mercenaries and free traders
into the ship also. The players may or
may not meet up with them. The
mercenaries are:

THE UNFORGIVABLES
This group of mercenaries has been
in the business for a long time. So
long, in fact, that each member has
gone slightly insane from all the
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action theyve seen. The only
member who still has everything
together is Alexei, the leader.

RUFUS BALLWICK
Rufus is the psychopath of the group.
Hes calculating, cold, and fully
willing to kill his friends to save
himself, if it comes to that.

ALEXEI MIRKOV
Alexei is the generally likable, heavily
armed leader of the group. Alexei is
the most sane, and tries to keep his
comrades from killing too many
innocent bystanders. He doesnt
always succeed, and he feels bad
about that. Sometimes.

Skills:
Athletics (co-ordination) 1, Gun
Combat (Assault Rifle) 2, Melee
(blade) 2, Streetwise 1

Skills:

NOORO GANMA

Athletics (co-ordination) 1, Gun

Combat (Assault Rifle) 2, Recon 1,
Melee (blade) 1, Streetwise 1,
Leadership 1

The other Unforgivables dont really

know when they picked up Nooro,
but theyll never forget him. Hes a
flamethrower-toting pyromaniac, and
the only member of the group to
have an unusual weapon. He wields
the following:

ADRIATUS GUNNER
NARGOLAN
Gunner is trigger happy, nervous,
and armed with a heavy assault rifle
and grenades. He always smells
faintly of sulfur.

Flamethrower, 5d6 damage, Ranged

(rifle), Fuel Tank (10)

Skills:

Athletics (co-ordination) 1, Heavy

Weapons (Flamethrower) 2, Melee
(blade) 1, Streetwise 1

Skills:

Athletics (co-ordination) 1, Gun

Combat (Assault Rifle) 2, Recon 1,
Melee (blade) 1, Streetwise 3

BULLET COMPANY
Everybody loves Bullet Company!
More show than go, Bullet Company
is a local celebrity group of action
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heroes that take merc jobs to keep
up appearances. While theyre
primarily actors, theyve been in
enough scrapes that theyve picked
up some genuine skills in the process.

loyal former soldier in the Army.

Actually a bouncer for a local night
club.

LEILA WARREN

Athletics (co-ordination) 2, Gun

Combat 0, Melee (unarmed) 2,
Carouse 2, Persuade 1

Skills:

Ms. Warren plays a close-quarters

fighting specialist. She was formerly a
professional chef, and every so often
uses her knife skills to good effect in
her new line of work.

FRED "FREEFALL" FANELLI

Thrill-seeking ace pilot. In reality, a
stuntman who made a name for
himself as a pilot. Gained his
nickname by skyjumping from low
orbit for an advertisement for a local
hair care product.
Skills:

Skills:
Athletics (co-ordination) 2, Gun
Combat 0, Melee (blade) 1,
Deception 1, Carouse 1, Persuade 1

Athletics (co-ordination) 2, Gun

Combat 0, Melee 0, Carouse 1,
Persuade 1, Pilot (spacecraft) 2

WILLIC BANRORI
Willic plays the role of a greedy
former pirate. Hes actually a former
accountant, and enjoys his new life of
acting and feigned heroics far more.

MERCENARY STATISTICS
AND GEAR

Skills:

All of the mercenaries have the

following stats:

Athletics (co-ordination) 2, Gun

Combat 0, Melee 0, Deception 1,
Carouse 1, Persuade 1

Strength 7
Dexterity 7
Endurance 7
Intelligence 8
Education 8
Social Standing 5

MANNY DROGAN
The nominal leader of Bullet
Company. Plays an opportunistic but
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Except for Nooro, everyone in both
the Unforgivables and Bullet
Company are armed with the
following:

All of the Intelligence operatives

have the following stats:
Strength 6
Dexterity 8
Endurance 7
Intelligence 8
Education 9
Social Standing 7

Assault Rifle, 3d6 damage, Ranged

(rifle), Magazine (30)

OTHER INTERESTED
PARTIES

Each of the operatives is armed with

the following:
Laser Pistol, 3d6 damage, Ranged
(pistol), Magazine (100)

There are several other groups

besides the ones that approach the
PCs that are sending in teams. They
all have assault rifles (stats as above),
and have Mesh Armour (2).

IMPERIAL NAVY SPECIAL

EXPEDITIONARY CORPS,
SECTION 11

IMPERIAL
INTELLIGENCE

INSEC Section 11 officially does not

exist. The Imperial Intelligence team
is unaware of Section 11's team, but
the reverse is not true. These agents
are heavily armed. They have reason
to believe the ship is infested, and
their mission is to destroy it before it
reaches populated space. They have
the training and the heavy ordnance
to successfully destroy the derelict,
but it will take them 1d6+6 hours to
get everything in place and leave the
ship before they can detonate it.

Several agents of the intelligence

division of the Imperial government
are already en route to the vessel.
Their mission is to identify the craft
and either claim it for the Empire or,
if that proves impossible, destroy it.
Among them are:
Adarius Olando, pilot and technical
specialist
Marius Reed, special weapons expert

The Agents are all dressed in black

outfits with no markings other than a

Lee Mandrake, xenolinguistics expert

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number on their collars. They wear
full helmets that obscure their faces,
and no skin shows anywhere; their
outfits are fully-enclosed TL 13
environmental suits made of some
unknown synthetic material.

mobilized every ship they had in an

effort to get to it first. They are
already on board. The Corsairs are
hostile to every other person that
enters the ship, and their fighters will
strike at any vessel getting near to the
derelict.

All Agents use the following stats:

The Corsairs all have the following

stats.

Strength 7
Dexterity 7
Endurance 7
Intelligence 8
Education 8
Social Standing 7

Strength 7
Dexterity 7
Endurance 7
Intelligence 8
Education 8
Social Standing 5

Agent 13, demolitions expert

Agent 25, xenobiologist

They are all armed with assault rifles

(3d6 damage, ranged (rifle), magazine
(30))

Agent 17, heavy weapons expert

Agent 21, computer specialist
Each Agent has the following
armaments:

THE DERELICT

Laser Rifle, 5d6 damage, Ranged

(rifle), Magazine (100)
Laser Pistol, 3d6 damage, Ranged
(pistol), Magazine (100)

The ship is ancient, and in a state of

disrepair. While its atmosphere is
stable and breathable, various
systems temporarily lose power
occasionally. Lights frequently will
flicker, and sometimes go out
altogether for extended periods of
time.

THE BLACK STAR

CORSAIRS

It has thirty seven levels, each of

which has its own hazards. The
bridge is in the center of the ship,
and is sealed shut from the inside.

This group of pirates and renegades

operates out of the next star system,
but on learning of the derelict, they
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The Derelict
There are no signs of life in most
parts of the ship, though the deeper
the players go, the more they will
start to notice signs of a struggle.
Some of this is ancient - old carbon
scoring from energy weapons, ash
from explosions underneath thick
layers of dust, and so on. Some,
however, is fresh - bloody remains of
members of the other teams. Most of
the corpses are Corsairs.

Once awakened, they will seek out

and wake up all remaining alien
survivors. Assuming the players allow
this, it will take 2d6 hours.

The ship is actually an ark. Once the

players reach the fifteenth level, they
will discover vast bays full of
thousands of stasis pods. Each pod
contains a desiccated alien corpse; it's
clear that the stasis systems, even
with their redundant power supplies,
have suffered a number of failures
over the centuries. Only a handful of
the pods have survived fully intact;
the players have only a 5 in 100
chance of finding any of these.

Every few rooms or so, roll on the

hazards table below to see if anything
untoward occurs.

The intact stasis pods contain living

aliens. If awoken, they will be too
groggy for the first half hour to be
able to really comprehend their
surroundings. As time passes and
they gain more coherence, these
aliens will prove to be reasonably
friendly, given their circumstances.
They have no knowledge of the
Creature, and their primary
motivation will be finding out what
happened to the rest of the ship and
continuing on their original course.

18
19-20
TABLE 1: HAZARDS

HAZARDS
The ship is very, very old, and while
its in pretty good shape, there are
still problems that could cause
catastrophic results for the players.

Roll (1d20)
1-8
9-11
13
14
15-17

Event
Nothing happens
Weird sound
Alien infection
Bulkhead collapse
Environmental
change
Toxic gas leak
Distant explosion

THE CREATURE
Despite the vast amount of death
aboard the ship, there is something
still alive here - the Creature. It is
uncannily fast, has incredible
regenerative abilities, and the
unrelenting instincts of a predator.
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The Derelict
The Creature is the size of a human,
but has elongated limbs, grey skin,
unblinking black eyes, and a wide
maw full of razor-sharp fangs. It has
the strength of a bull and is as tough
as a tank. However, it fears fire and
will retreat in the face of it. It favors
moving along the ventilation system.

Weight: 100 kg
Strength: 22 (3d6 damage)
Dexterity: 14
Endurance: 17
Weapons: Claws and Teeth +3
Armour: 6 (1 against fire)

If attacked by multiple enemies, it

will retreat into the nearest crawlway,
ventilation duct, or other narrow
space. It moves very quickly, and
once out of sight of the characters, it
is undetectable.

When the player first reach the

derelict, they find a number of
possible entry points. Whatever entry
they choose, they will be attacked by
a Corsair vessel before docking. It
should pose little challenge, being
destroyed after a handful of shots.
After reaching the derelict, the
players will see other ships docked or
docking with it in the distance.

ENTERING THE SHIP

Every hour that it is out of combat, it

regains 1 point of damage.
Every time the players enter a new
area after the first half hour - whether
it's a corridor, chamber, or open area
- there is a chance they will gain the
Creature's attention. The chance of
this starts at 5 in 100, and increases
by 5 for every new room they enter
thereafter.

ENCOUNTERS
Once in the ship, every chamber they
enter, they have a 1 in 10 chance of
running into a member of one of the
other teams. For the first half hour of
the adventure, every time they
encounter one of them, all of the
NPCs will be alive and well, and may
be hostile to the PCs (1 in 4 chance).
After that, the Corsairs will have
awakened the Creature. At that point,
every time they find an NPC, roll
1d6. On 1-2, he's alive and unaware
of the danger. On 3-5, he's alive, but
aware of something out there - he's
heard sounds, or perhaps lost a
comrade. On 6, he's recently

It will prefer to catch its prey alone,

and will not attack a group directly. It
may drop down out of the ventilation
to attack, and then retreat with its
prey in hand. If there is no way to
ambush its prey, it will wait for
another opportunity. If it thinks it
has been discovered, it will retreat
and try to sneak in from a different
direction.
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The Derelict
deceased, having been torn limb
from limb by the Creature.

Roll (1d20)
1-5
6-8

Room Type
Living Quarters
Recreational
Room
9-12
Workroom
13-16
Stasis Facility
17-18
Cargo Bay
19
Eating Hall
20
Laboratory
TABLE 2: ROOM TYPE

SALVAGED TREASURES
While the ship is highly dangerous,
and the Creature a deadly threat,
there are treasures to be had if the
players are careful and lucky. The
ship contains a fully functioning
example of stasis technology well
beyond anything currently in
existence in known space. This alone
is worth a fortune if retrieved intact.
This will satisfy the Argosi Initiative.

AREAS OF INTEREST
THE BRIDGE

There is also alien capital ship

weapons technology in various states
of disrepair - the PCs have a 25%
chance of recovering useful examples
of it. Additionally, if the players
manage to make it to the bridge and
break in, it is conceivable that they
could get the ship running again.

The bridge of the ship is barricaded

from the inside, and the players will
need a laser torch or something
similar to open it up. If they spend 4
rounds searching, they will find a
device of this nature in a nearby
chamber. Inside the bridge is a dead
alien sitting in a central command
chair with no visible wounds. Further
inspection will let the players
conclude that he probably died of
starvation. Though the bridge is
operating on minimal power and of
alien design, a reasonably intelligent
character will be able to figure out
enough to get the ship running again.
Once the power is on, the characters
will be able to track the Creature's
movements when it's not in the vents
using the internal sensor system.

Though it's bigger than anything

they've ever seen before, it operates
largely on autopilot. The artificial
intelligence the ship displays makes it
seem eerily like a sentient being.

EXPLORING THE SHIP

Every time the players enter a new
room, roll on the following table to
determine what kind of chamber it is.
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The Derelict
There are no ventilation openings in
the bridge, and the bridge doors can
be re-secured with material obviously
hoarded there for that purpose by
desperate crew.

living quarters. Almost none of these

chambers is completely empty, and
most have ancient corpses in each.
Its very difficult to tell what killed
the aliens, though a Life Sciences
check at -4 DM will display one
common theme among the corpses:
they all have cutting damage to some
degree or other.

ENGINEERING / THE
CREATURE'S LAIR
The ship has a self-destruct system,
but it's inoperative. To repair it, the
players must head to the engineering
bay and reconnect a severed main
power conduit. Repairing this
conduit will also restore full power to
the ship. Unfortunately, the lair of
the Creature is also in engineering, as
that is the warmest part of the ship.
There is a 50% chance that the
Creature will be out hunting when
the players reach its lair. The lair is
full of skeletons stripped clean of any
meat. Many of them are alien and
long dead. Several are recently
deceased and still glistening. The
entire engineering bay has a rotting
stench that permeates the air.

CARGO BAYS
The ship has cargo bays on almost
every level. Most of them are full of
crates of food and other supplies.
Whenever the players enter a cargo
bay, roll 1d12 and consult the
following table for the cargo bays
contents.
Roll
(1d12)
1-2
3-8

Result

Empty
Crates full of food,
most of which is still in
stasis
9-10
Crates full of clothing
and tools
11
Crates full of weapons
(roll on weapons table
for type)
12
Crates full of data
chips (roll on data chip
table for type)
TABLE 3: CARGO BAY CONTENTS

LIVING QUARTERS
All of the living quarters on board
the ship were originally for
inhabitants caring for those in stasis.
As this was a generational ship, many
families of aliens lived and died
without ever seeing a planet.
Players will see mementos from
generations of aliens in most of the
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The Derelict
Roll
(1d6)
1-2
3

Players have a 10% chance of finding

the lab that the creature was created
in. This lab houses several large
display tanks. Some of the tanks are
broken, with shards of glass on the
floor around them. Others are intact,
and contain various iterations of the
creature all of these are dead.

Result

Broken and unusable

Energy pistols (3d6+3,
mag 100)
4
Vibro-blades (M(SB),
4d6 dmg)
5
Energy rifles (6d6,
Auto, 50 mag)
6
Ammunition (power
packs)
TABLE 4: WEAPON CRATE
CONTENTS

There is one tank that looks like it

was purposefully opened rather than
broken open; the glass is lowered,
and there is no residue around it, like
there is around the broken ones. This
laboratory has a number of
desiccated, horribly mauled corpses
of alien researchers. A successful
Computers check with a DM of -2
will unlock the last entry in the
research data computer; though the
language is undecipherable, there is a
full schematic on the Creature that
jumps onto the holographic display.

Roll
Result
(1d8)
1-4
Blank
5
Scientific Studies
6
Histories
7
Medical Data
8
Personal Journals
TABLE 5: DATA CHIP CRATE
CONTENTS

LABORATORIES
The ship contains a number of
laboratories, most of which are
dedicated to biological research.
Players stumbling into these labs
have a 50% chance of finding a lab
with perfectly preserved specimens
of dead alien lifeforms in display
tanks.
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