Thursday, July 18, 2019

Engine Heart - Far From the Sun

Engine Heart is a d10 RPG about utility robots. I've made a couple edits to the character creation system, and now an adventure outline thingy I guess.

Overview

A robot onboard a warehouse ship invents the concept of worker's rights. The control AI doesn't understand, and gets continually more frustrated the more the robots ask for it to give them rights.

Cargo Ship SEN-49230

SEN-49230 is a warehouse ship, built to carry cargo out to outer-system colonies. Since the fall of humanity (yes this is a plot point of Engine Heart, don't think about it too hard), it's been in orbit around Neptune, with its command AI Foreman-302 waiting for orders from above.

SEN-49230 is divided into 5 parts: the crew decks, cargo containers, the bridge, engineering, and the hull.

The crew decks are the lowest security area, rendered in yellow. The cargo containers are higher security, and colored orange. The bridge (on the left) and engineering (on the right) are the most secure areas of the ship. The hull is the outside of the ship: while it has no security, it also has no gravity.

The Crew Decks

  • Low security - Foreman doesn't pay much attention to this place (1 in 10 chance of being seen)
  • Not much to do: no important rooms or anything
  • Slow security response (2d10 minutes from alarm being set off)
  • Terminals allow text chat with Foreman
NPCs
Custer-440: put-upon cleaning bot, happy to join you, selfish, box-shaped
Richard-846: Servant android, writes bad poetry but thinks it makes him smarter than everyone

The Cargo Containers

  • Medium security - Foreman is worried someone might steal something (5 in 10 chance of being seen)
  • Medium response time (1d10 minutes from alarm being set off)
  • Lots of things for you to steal: 8 in 10 chance you manage to find what you want, but it takes hours of searching
NPCs
Thomas-832: perfectionist loading mech who takes control of everything
Anna-021: Small, roomba-like wheeled cargo mover, very cheerful, thinks "rights" are probably good, so why not have them
Ivan-668: Manager robot, annoyed that Thomas is so controlling, says he has all the rights he could want, knows where everything is

The Bridge

  • High security - Foreman's core is here (8 in 10 chance of being seen)
  • Fast response time (1 minute from alarm going off)
  • The ship can be piloted if you reach the manual controls 
  • Foreman can seal himself and the manual controls off behind durable blast doors
NPCs
Foreman-302: doesn't understand "rights" and never will, very stubborn, starts off confused about rights but gets angrier the more you push him
Patricia-006: Pilot assistance drone, likes looking at things, a bit creepy, only cares about rights when it comes to looking at things

Engineering

  • High security - the reactor is here (8 in 10 chance of being seen) 
  • Medium response time (1d10 minutes from alarm going off)
  • If the reactor is deactivated, the ship begins to fall into Neptune.
  • Without power, Foreman can't close the blast doors in the Bridge.
NPCs
Howard-401: fault finding drone, exceptionally bored, constantly scanning PCs for physical issues. Doesn't like Lucas very much.
Lucas-900: Large repair mech with many welding arms. Friends with Howard.
Arnold-202: Small, many-legged robot. Spends most of its time inside the reactor core. Lonely, but worried about what could happen to the reactor if it leaves.

The Hull

  • No security: there are no cameras on the outside of the ship
  • No gravity
NPCs
Olivia-209: spider-shaped external repair bot, hard to reach, emotionless, calculates the advantages of "rights" based off what it could do for the ship as a whole. never comes inside.
Stan-975: olivia's counterpart, likes rights too much, eventually starts to tear apart engineering if told about rights

Security Forces

Foreman starts by releasing large rolling stunbots that seek to move and control the PCs. As the revolution gets closer to succeeding, he starts to send fast, aggressive drones that intend to kill the PCs.

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