Dark Star

by Mark Diaz Truman

Do you know why they put us out here, Coyote? Because we’re not useful in the most important war the Empire has ever fought. We’re not helpful to the cause back in the Core or even in the Delta system. We’re better off sitting out here watching a big ball of nothingness pulse and gyrate like an overgrown toadball from Cesius Prime. We’re freakin’ useless.

There ain’t nothing left for us but this, man. Drink your beer. It’ll be a cold day in hell before any of us see any action again. Cold day in hell. And in the meantime, we’re going to keep flying milk runs against a ball of nothingness the size of a planet.

—Lt. Commander Wista Kriner, Blue 5

The Dark Star

Sitting at the edge of the galaxy, beyond which there is nothing—not even the vacuum of space—lies the Dark Star. It’s large, nearly the size of a planet, but it has no mass. It emits no light, absorbing whatever strikes it without growing in size or density. No sensor can penetrate it. All probes that are sent into it cease to function immediately upon entering the sphere.

Technically, the mysterious sphere is called Object 7232B. Everyone who works at Outpost 7232B-a and the garrison of Imperial soldiers that’s been assigned to protect that Outpost call it the Dark Star, even on official reports to the Imperial Academy of Sciences on the Core planets.

The Galactic Empire

For the last 673 years, humanity has been united under the Galactic Empire, a fusion of cultures and peoples that brought a Pax Imperia to bear on the problems of the galaxy. While individual personalities and cultures have risen and fallen, the Empire has remained in control, spreading throughout the galaxy to ensure that humanity is the dominant form of life. There have been other, nonhuman species found, but it is broadly considered to be indigenous life and confined to local planetary systems—the stars belong to Terra.

The Victorious

The primary power of the Empire is found in its capital ships, massive hulks of military force capable of jumping across the galaxy at faster-than-light speeds. The Empire has nearly a hundred of these vessels, each capable of projecting force across an entire system and launching fighters to defend itself from serious threats. They are filled with thousands of soldiers, dozens of pilots, and enough weaponry to bombard planetary forces into dust.

To protect its interests in the Dark Star, the Empire has assigned an older, nearly decommissioned capital ship named The Victorious to ensure that security is maintained in the vicinity of Outpost 7232B-a. There are no other planets in the system, but the Dark Star itself creates enough gravity to act as a kind of phantom planet, surrounded by an asteroid field and a few small moons. This is The Victorious’ final mission, babysitting a scientific phenomenon at the edge of an empire.

Ace Pilots on the Edge

Along with The Victorious, the Empire has stationed nearly three dozen ace fighter pilots to run scientific and defensive missions along the perimeter of the Dark Star, collected in three distinct squadrons (Red, Green, and Blue). After an early mission with ordinary pilots turned into a disaster—the pilots were unable to cope with the Dark Star’s rotating gravity well and crashed into a fighter transport—the Empire was forced to send more qualified pilots out to Outpost 7232B-a, hotshots who can roll with the shifting conditions and get the scientists the data they need.

Of course, the Empire needs good pilots in the Core. Anyone sent out to the Dark Star likely has some damage or problems associated with their service—a criminal conviction hanging over their head maybe or a failure to obey protocols at appropriate levels. Simply put, these are good pilots and terrible soldiers, troublemakers who don’t fit in anywhere else in the galaxy. Any pilot assigned to the Dark Star has problems, reasons that they aren’t welcome back in the Core.

The White Hawk Rebellion

The last five years have put a real strain on the flow of pilots out to the Dark Star. An outbreak of insurrection called the White Hawk Rebellion—launched by a zealous religious faction on Vralae II—has led to a full-on Galactic Civil War across multiple systems, including the Core worlds. Many of the Empire’s capital ships have been captured (or have defected) and the fighting between the White Hawk rebels and the Empire is intensifying as the rebels bring the weight of their forces to bear. It’s not clear who will win. Each day that ace pilots are stationed at the Dark Star instead of back in the Core is a day that a lesser pilot faces the guns of the White Hawk fleet in defense of the Empire.

Setting Creation

As a Quick Start Adventure, Dark Star has everything you need to jump right into your first session. Before you start, you’ll want to discuss the broader setting with your group, perhaps even reading aloud the descriptions of the Dark Star, the Galactic Empire, The Victorious and her fighter pilots, and the Rebellion so everyone is on the same page.

At the start of play, explain the current issue to your players and ask them to fill in one or two additional faces associated with The Dark Star. These additional characters will provide new plot hooks and twists that will tie your players more deeply to the strange phenomena they face at the edge of the galaxy.

Then ask your players to choose from one of the two available impending issues: White Hawks Approach or Growing Scientist Discontent. Have them fill in one or two additional faces for their chosen impending issue as well, rounding out the larger cast of characters with their suggestions.

Current Issue: The Dark Star

Pilots who fly Dark Star sorties have to contend with a few major problems: the science missions that require them to get close to the object’s weird gravitational field and the occasional Void Craver ship that jumps into the system. In the case of the former, most pilots know their limits around the Dark Star and refuse to fly missions that are too dangerous, but the Void Cravers, an apocalyptic cult that seeks oneness with the Dark Star, don’t care about safety. They rush at the strange object, engines pushed to full to be at one with their gods, daring Imperial pilots to try to intervene. The Empire has given orders to “shoot to kill” on any unidentified craft that move toward the Dark Star, but no pilot likes lighting up civilian transports, no matter where the transport is headed.

Most pilots run their science missions with a constant eye on ship contacts, hoping that they aren't going to pull any Void Cravers on this run…

Faces:

• Rustin Jeranti, Matriarch of the apocalyptic cult seeking oneness with the Dark Star

• Captain Rylnn Reznik, commander of The Victorious

Impending Issues

In addition to The Dark Star and the threat it poses, there are a number of other impending issues that threaten The Victorious, including:

White Hawks Approach

The fight against the White Hawk insurgency has mostly taken place near Core planets, key strategic systems that the rebels have tried to separate from the rest of the Empire. Recently, pilots have caught wind of a second front in the War, a White Hawk fleet that’s rumored to be near the Dark Star. No one knows if the rebels think the Dark Star has strategic value, but rebel ace Kir Heartstar is rumored to be piloting a fighter in the fleet closest to The Victorious. Kir’s presence indicates that the insurgency is plotting something, as they wouldn’t waste one of their best pilots on a mission that wasn’t vital to their cause.

Faces:

• Kir Heartstar, ace White Hawk pilot in approaching rebel fleet

• Master Chief Granderson, hanger chief assigned to Blue Squadron

Growing Scientist Discontent

Over the past six weeks, the head astrophysicist, Dr. Tanya Lee, assigned to research the Dark Star, has claimed that micro-G movements inside Object 7232B are indicative of “a future Dark Star event.” The other scientists associated with the project—and scientists back in the Core—have been unable to replicate Dr. Lee’s results, leading to a reprimand from The Victorious’ political officer, Lt. Elias Karisa. Undaunted by the political pressure, Dr. Lee has taken to publishing scientific memos demanding more funding and support for “Dark Star oriented research.”

Faces:

• Dr. Tanya Lee, head astrophysicist assigned to study Object 7232B

• Lt. Elias Karisa, political officer stationed on Outpost 7232B-a

Character Creation

Dark Star works best with Fate Core characters. You can choose to use Fate Accelerated approaches instead of the more traditional skills, but the unique ship skills for the fighters won’t seem as interesting or special if the players already think about their actions abstractly.

In Dark Star, players take on the roles of ace Imperial fighter pilots, assigned to the farthest reaches of the galaxy as the result of bad luck and poor choices. It’s possible for players to take on the roles of scientists or other military officers on board The Victorious, but such characters probably won’t have as direct a role in the story if they don’t have a fighter in the dogfights.

Players should select their aspects as normal, choosing a high concept, a trouble, and completing the phase trio to determine their final three aspects. Players should also select a callsign for their pilot, such as Coyote, Hotdog, Viper, or Apollo. These callsigns aren’t aspects, but they are a great way to reflect how the NPCs in the setting view the characters. Most of the players will portray characters associated with Blue Squadron, one of the oldest serving units aboard The Victorious, and they may even choose to serve in the same three-fighter unit, a flight of ships like Blue 10, Blue 11, and Blue 12.

Skill List

Dark Star uses a modified skill list from traditional Fate Core. These skills aren’t new, but they’ve been renamed and contextualized to ensure that they make sense for the new setting. The other skills (Athletics, Contacts, Deceive, Empathy, Fight, Investigate, Physique, Provoke, Rapport, Resources, Shoot, Stealth, and Will) remain unchanged.

Doctrine (Lore)

Imperial officers receive training in both the history of the Empire and the standard operating procedures of the Imperial military. For some, this knowledge allows them to bypass paperwork and locate resources within Imperial ships and structures. Other pilots haven’t thought about Imperial doctrine since flight school and struggle to access records properly, know what’s expected in proper protocol, or remember the layout of a particular kind of ship.

Larceny (Burglary)

Pilots don’t often case banks or break into people’s houses, but that doesn’t mean they’re unfamiliar with the art of getting what they want through illicit means. Pickpocketing, stealing, and breaking into places all fall under the art of Larceny, but it more frequently involves fudging paperwork and altering computer records without getting caught.

Operate (Drive)

Most Imperial soldiers don’t have much occasion to drive a vehicle, but they regularly operate a variety of Imperial equipment, including computers on board various ships. Sometimes this includes driving a vehicle on the planet’s surface. Operate does not include piloting a fighter or commanding a capital ship (see Ship Skills for more on ships in Dark Star).

Repair (Craft)

More often than not, Imperial crews are asked to fix up equipment on the fly, repairing old tech to keep it running. Pilots often repair broken equipment on their own ships, although some prefer to leave that work to a Master Chief on deck. Characters with Repair are able to fix broken tech, jury rig new equipment, and generally keep things running on Imperial ships. Note that this does not include on-the-fly adjustments to fighters during dogfights (see Systems).

Survival (Notice)

Dark Star makes use of the Survival skill found in this issue. In addition to overcoming environmental dangers and making use of information characters notice in their environments, Survival can also help pilots navigate zero-G and find resources in emergency situations.

Automatic Discovery

Since Notice has been removed from the skill list, Dark Star makes use of the Automatic Discovery system developed by Ryan Macklin for use with Survival. Skills rated at Good (+3) or higher automatically succeed at rolls to overcome or create advantages using passive discovery; skills rated at Great (+4) or higher automatically succeed with style on such rolls.

Conditions

Rather than use stress tracks, Dark Star uses modified conditions from the Fate System Toolkit (page 18) in addition to the more traditional consequences. Pilots have a single stress box for two sticky conditions called Angry and Exhausted and two stress boxes for a lasting condition called Injured.

Using Conditions in Play

During play, you can mark off conditions to avoid being taken out during a conflict or to pay a minor or major cost as the result of a failed roll, provided it’s in keeping with the fiction of the story. It’s pretty tough to say you’re Injured as the result of a failed roll against your superior officer…unless that superior officer decides to attack you for your insolence.

When the condition is checked, it acts as an aspect on the character—it can be invoked and compelled as normal by the GM and other players until it’s recovered. In the case of conditions with more than one stress box, the condition doesn’t act as an aspect until all the stress boxes associated with that condition are checked. Checking just one box of Injured, for example, doesn’t do anything. It’s the second (or third) checked box that puts the aspect on the character.

Sticky Conditions: Angry and Exhausted

Sticky conditions in Dark Star act as aspects when you check them off to pay a minor cost or avoid being taken out in a scene. These conditions last until you have accepted a compel (or self-compelled) in accordance with the condition. If you blow a social encounter, for example, because you’re too Angry to listen to another pilot, then you can recover the condition as you get your head screwed on straight.

Lasting Conditions: Injured

Lasting conditions are more difficult to get rid of during play. Instead of accepting a compel, you must wait a whole session and then make a recovery roll against the injury with a Great (+4) passive difficulty. For example, a character might have to visit the Medical Bay and make use of the Operate skill to apply medical attention to the wound in question. If no characters have the needed skills, it might be possible to steal medical supplies (Larceny), convince a ship doctor to see you (Rapport), or even try to heal the injury without passing out (Will).

Additional Stress Boxes for Conditions

Characters with a Physique at Fair (+2) or better can add one stress box to Exhausted, and characters with a Will of Fair (+2) or better can add one stress box to Angry. Characters with either Physique or Will at Great (+4) can add a third box to Injured. These additional boxes do not slow or delay recovery. If a player accepts a compel or makes an overcome roll, the entire track clears.

New Extra: Ships

In addition to their normal skills and aspects, pilots in Dark Star get their ship as an extra. Most pilots who serve on a capital ship like The Victorious customize and modify their fighters, swapping out parts and systems to configure the best possible version of their own craft they can find.

Ship Skills

In Dark Star, ships have five skills (Engines, Hull, Sensors, Systems, and Weapons) that represent how each ship is customized and prepped for missions. Since all the pilots in the setting are assumed to be amazingly skilled individuals, it’s the build of the ship that determines what a pilot can do in the cockpit. Instead of rolling Operate or Survival, all rolls pilots make while in space are made using the following ship skills:

Engines: A ship’s engine can be used to overcome distances and obstacles, as well as create advantages for keeping up with fleeing prey or setting up a strafing run. It cannot be used to attack, but it can be used to dodge enemy fire with a defense roll.

Hull: Typically used to defend against enemy attacks, the hull of a ship can also be used as a battering ram to make attacks. At the same time, it can also be counted on to overcome obstacles or create advantages when appropriate, such as flying through hanger doors to escape a ship.

Sensors: Want to see outside your ship? This skill can be used to overcome and create advantages to learn more about your environment. It can also be used for electromagnetic attacks, but most ships are shielded enough for that to be a rare attack.

Systems: Everything internal to the ship, including attempts to fix problems and keep things running, rely on internal systems. Keeping things up and running by overcoming obstacles and creating advantages is the primary use of this skill.

Weapons: One of the most versatile skills, the weapons on a ship can overcome obstacles, create advantages through suppressive fire, and attack other ships. It cannot be used to defend.

These five skills cover nearly everything pilots want to do in space, including dogfights and runs on capital ships. For new ships, pilots assign the following skill ratings to the skills above: +3, +2, +1, +1, +0. Capital ships and transports are built the same way: a peak skill, one skill at one less than the peak skill, two skills at two less than the peak skill, and one skill at three less than the peak skill. The largest Imperial capital ship—a Sunwrecker-class battleship—has ship skills at +9, +8, +7, +7, and +6.

Stress and Consequences

Fighters don’t have stress boxes, but they can take two consequences: a mild (2) and a moderate (4). Larger ships may have stress boxes and larger consequences to represent how much more fire they can take before folding. Typically, capital ships have the more traditional mild (2), moderate (4), and major (6) consequences along with at least 2-3 stress boxes.

When pilots take stress while piloting their fighter, they can opt to take the stress themselves or allow their ship to take consequences (Flying Blind, Busted Engines, Clipped Wings). Pilots need to make (or find someone to make) Repair rolls with a Great (+4) difficulty to get their ship back to full capacity, removing the consequence and getting back into the air at full strength.

Opening Scene: Trouble at 10 Forward

After a few days on flight detail, Blue Squadron finally has some time off from running missions on behalf of the outpost scientists. Most of the time, this results in drinking and carousing, accompanied by the occasional fight with one of the other squadrons (Green Squadron or Red Squadron). The scene opens with the player characters at 10 Forward, the officer’s club aboard The Victorious, enjoying a round of drinks to celebrate their hard-won time off from flying.

As they get the night underway, however, Lt. Dakchi—the best pilot in Green Squadron—decides to start trouble with one of the characters, preferably one of Dakchi’s rival pilots. Dakchi’s drunk, and he insists that they owe him money for a bet they made on who could get closer to the Dark Star on their last run. How will they deal with a drunk and belligerent pilot without getting thrown in the brig themselves? And will they let Dakchi claim to be the better pilot in front of the rest of the crew?

Opening Aspects and Opposition

Opening Aspects: Dirty Officer’s Club, The Crowd Is Watching, Blue Squadron Is Off-Duty

 

Middle Scene: Attack on The Victorious

However the characters decide to deal with Dakchi, their time in 10 Forward is cut short by a sudden and dramatic tilt in the floor. Something has knocked The Victorious off-balance, and the screech of the ship’s hull indicates that the anti-grav systems are having trouble coping with the shifts in the gravity well. As the crew gets to its feet, a call goes out over the ship’s internal communications for Blue Squadron to scramble fighters.

The characters have to go from 10 Forward all the way to the rear of the ship to access the Blue Squadron hanger bay. The trip usually takes just a few minutes, but the ship is listing at a 40-50 degree angle! If the characters make any attempts to access the nav systems, they discover that the Dark Star let out a massive burst of gravitational energy that threw The Victorious into a spin. They need to get to their ships to do a sweep of the Dark Star!

Opening Aspects and Skill Challenges

Opening Aspects: Listing Ship, Damaged Hull, Confused Soldiers and Crew

As the characters make their way to the Blue squadron hanger, they may encounter a number of obstacles and opportunities. In general, selecting roughly two challenges per character gives everyone time to shine. Here are a few skill tests characters may need to make to get to their ships and get the hanger doors open:

Athletics: The Victorious is listing and drifting, conditions that might call for pilots to have to climb “up” hallways to get to their destination. Difficulty: Fair (+2) to Great (+4)

Doctrine: Listing ships tend to be confusing, and the characters may get lost (minor cost) as the result of a failure on another roll. Remembering the floor plan of a particular section of The Victorious will get them back on track. Difficulty: Fair (+2)

Operate: The sudden stress on the ship’s hull from the gravitational wave has collapsed sections of The Victorious. Some doors that should be open have been locked by the automatic systems and need to be opened manually. Difficulty: Great (+4)

Provoke: Lost and confused soldiers may get in the way of the pilots’ attempts to get to their ships. A simple order to get back to work will remove such an obstacle. Difficulty: Good (+3)

Repair: In addition to the damaged doors, many other systems have malfunctioned, leading to a lack of oxygen in some parts of the ship. Activating backup life support systems requires rerouting emergency power. Difficulty: Good (+3)

Final Scene: Protecting The Victorious

Once the characters get their ships out into space, they finally get a sense of the situation (especially if they use their Sensor ship skill to create an advantage). The Victorious is under attack by an alien transport ship, one with enough firepower to potentially crack the hull of the Imperial capital ship. Worse yet, The Victorious was disabled by the gravitational wave and doesn’t have any defense against the smaller alien craft. Can they neutralize the alien craft before it destroys The Victorious, leaving them stranded on the edge of the galaxy?

Opening Aspects and Opposition

Opening Aspects: The Victorious is Disabled!, Dark Star Gravitational Wave, Alone in Space

Plot Hooks and Adventure Seeds

The opening scene of Dark Star isn’t the end of the adventure. The players may have disabled or destroyed the alien ship, but the mystery of the Dark Star is still unsolved. And don’t forget the impending issues! Here are a few plot hooks and adventure seeds to keep the story going, varying the tone and pace of scenes after the initial attack on The Victorious:

Entering the Dark Star

Right before the alien ship was disabled, it launched a probe back into the Dark Star. Sensor readings indicate that a neutrino shield unlike anything currently developed by Imperial scientists protected the probe from whatever Dark Star energies usually destroy such launches. If similar technology could be replicated—either using materials recovered during the battle or through a boarding mission to the alien ship—the pilots of The Victorious could lead a mission into the Dark Star itself to finally answer Dr. Lee’s questions and gather the data they need to determine if more alien ships are going to emerge. Will the pilots risk their lives to head into the Dark Star? What will they find if they make the journey?

White Hawk Contact

After dealing with the alien ship, the pilots get a contact report from The Victorious indicating that a small White Hawk fleet has jumped into the system. Armed with orders to investigate, the pilots find that the rebel ships are badly damaged and offering to surrender. Worse yet, the damage done to the White Hawk fleet seems to be from weapons with radiation signatures similar to the alien ship that emerged from the Dark Star. What attacked the rebels and where did it come from? And can the rebels be trusted to surrender or is this all a trap?

Dr. Lee Seeks Allies

Now that the Dark Star has proven capable of connecting to an alien dimension, Dr. Lee is looking for support in her demands to expand the program. Specifically, she wants the pilots who fought the ship to help her convince Imperial Command to send more resources…and she’s willing to offer her own support in a transfer back to the Core if the pilots go along with the plan. In the next few days, an Imperial Admiral is scheduled to visit The Victorious for an inspection. Captain Reznik won’t be thrilled with the pilots speaking up; will anyone dare to support Lee in an attempt to gain the freedom to return to the civilized part of the galaxy?