d20 Ronin Arts Future Starship 12 - Horizon Traveller.pdf - Ronin Arts - R5700

Requires the use of the d20 Modern™ Roleplaying

Game, published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

THE HORIZON TRAVELER

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Ronin Arts Future: Starship 12 —

The Horizon Traveler , the twelfth in a new series of

PDFs for use with futuristic D20 System campaigns.

This series makes some assumptions about your cam-

paign; the starship designs in this series will be most

useful in campaigns in which the following statements

are true:

¥ The campaign is not a hard science setting.

Campaigns that are more space opera/adventure movie

are the intended target for this series.

¥ Starships are not rare or unusual. All of the star-

ships in this series assume that space travel is a stan-

dard and common occurrence — individuals either fly

their own ships or ride on passenger ships. Starships

and space travel are as common for characters as a

plane ride is for people of our reality.

¥ Space combat is not uncommon. It s just another

exciting adventure when the player characters have to

engage the enemy while fleeing from some world or

other.

¥ The campaign is packed with action. If things

aren t exploding, how much fun can the game really

be?

out — it s what flashes up on their ship systems when

they attempt to ID a ship — and GMs need only give the

players the page when they encounter a ship from this

series.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael Hammes has been freelancing in the role-

playing industry since 2001. Starting small, he has

steadily built his repertoire, and reputation, by working

for such companies as Ronin Arts, Alderac

Entertainment Group, Dark Quest Games, and E.N.

Publishing. He is currently trying to balance his writ-

ing schedule with his role as stay-at-home father. To

catch the latest from Michael s Imagination, please

visit www.michaelhammes.com.

E-FUTURE TILES

The Devastator design is based on SkeletonKey

Games e-Future Tiles: Star Patrol, Star Chasers,

Star Command, Star Freighter, and Battle Damaged

Starship tile set. Additionally, a tile from Ronin Arts

Starship 9 — the wing extension on the command level

— and a bonus tile in this PDF — the new observation

deck tile — are also required. While this PDF can be

easily used on its own you will get a lot more use out

of it in your game sessions if you construct the ship —

at miniatures scale — using the printable tiles.

To learn more about SkeletonKey Games please

visit their website at www.skeletonkeygames.com .

Most of the starships in this series are designed to

fill 4 pages. This is so that you can print the pages —

back-to-back if you wish — and drop them into a binder.

This introduction, and the page of new starship equip-

ment and assorted information, can also be printed sep-

arately and added to your binder. The schematic and

silhouette page is designed to be used as a player hand-

NEW RULES AND IDEAS

A DVENTURING W ITH T HE

H ORIZON T RAVELER

Although the Horizon Traveler is still classified

as a Light ship, its multiple levels make it the

largest ship yet released in the Ronin Arts line of

starship PDFs. Given this fact, it is worthwhile to

look at a number of ways that the ship can be used

by the GM to create adventures and even cam-

paigns for the PCs.

THE PCS AS PASSENGERS

If the GM wishes to stick with the concept of

the Horizon Traveler as set forth in this PDF (see

Basic Information below) he or she can have the

PCs book passage on the ship. This can either be

for a short time (essentially using the ship to go

from one planet to another much like a commuter

vessel) or for a longer term (staying on the ship as

it goes from planet to planet much like a cruise

ship).

In such a situation, unless there are some unusu-

al circumstances, the PCs have no effect on the

operations of the vessel; they are merely along for

the ride. In order for the GM to get the most use out

THE HORIZON TRAVELER

of the vessel at this point, at least beyond being an

interesting ship to explore, the GM needs to make

sure that an adventure befalls the PCs while they are

traveling aboard the vessel (see the Adventure

Hooks section for a couple of ideas on what sorts of

adventures could be created).

Military Vessel - The Horizon Traveler is a mil-

itary vessel, perhaps a long-range patrol craft or

planet assault ship, from which the PC marine

squad goes planetside.

Police Ship - The Horizon Traveler serves as

the base for teams of police squads, of which the

PCs are one, which are responsible for maintaining

law and order throughout a number of systems.

Agency Ship - The Horizon Traveler is part of a

government or corporate spy agency on which

teams of operatives are trained and deployed on

missions; naturally, the PCs are one such team.

Explorer Vessel - The Horizon Traveler and its

varied crew of engineers, scientists, doctors, and

security personnel is on a multi-year mission to

explore the depths of space (I don’t think I need to

elaborate on this idea since we all know what I’m

talking about).

THE PCS AS CREWMEMBERS

Here the GM casts the PCs as crewmembers of

the Horizon Traveler . However, they are not the

ones in command, but the junior level (i.e. instead

of the doctor, a PC is a medic. Instead of chief engi-

neer, a PC is a junior technician).

In such an adventure/campaign the PCs com-

prise one of the ship’s “away teams” and are sent on

missions by the higher ups (this means they get to

take the shuttles planetside and stumble into all

kinds of adventures; see the Shuttlecraft section).

While workable with the way the ship is conceived

in this PDF, as there is no doubt plenty of trouble

for PCs to get into planetside as well as on the ship,

the GM might want to alter the role of the ship (see

the Alternate Concepts section below).

ADVENTURE LOCATION

Because of its size, the Horizon Traveler makes an

ideal location for the PCs to have a one-time adven-

ture on. The classic version of this is that the Horizon

Traveler is found floating derelict in space, her

engines out and no signs of life. It is up to the PCs to

board her, find out what happened to the crew, and

bring the ship back. Inevitably, the PCs will encounter

whatever silenced the crew.

Obviously, there are more ways to use the Horizon

Traveler than listed here, but the preceding list should

give the GM plenty of ideas to work with.

THE PCS IN CHARGE

In this concept, the PCs are senior crewmembers

of the Horizon Traveler (they either start off as sen-

ior crewmembers, or work their way up from junior

status). While the GM should probably retain the

captain role for an NPC (to avoid potential conflicts

between the PCs and because, contrary to certain

science fiction series, the captain rarely leaves the

ship); the PCs serve in such positions as senior

engineer, chief of security, first mate, doctor, etc.

Obviously, as senior crewmembers, the PCs

have a much greater say in what the ship does and

where it goes. This situation also allows for greater

interaction with junior crewmembers (another

potential source of adventures) and gives the GM

the ability to give the PCs a taste of what it is like

to run a profitable starship-based business and the

crew along with it (conversely, it can also require

much greater work on the part of the GM to make

the ship seem real by giving the junior crewmem-

bers clearly defined personalities and identities).

L OADER (PL 6)

A Fusion Age replacement for the forklift, a

loader is essentially a fusion reactor-powered,

hydraulic-activated, bipedal humanoid metal

exoskeleton that has two arms ending in large pin-

cer-like hydraulic clamps. A loader is operated by

an operator and in the hands of a skilled operator a

loader functions much like a large, albeit somewhat

clumsy, human being.

The Horizon Traveler features five of these

loaders for use in loading cargo off and on and to do

other heavy lifting around the vessel. Although

designed for operation by an on-board operator

(who simply climbs into the exoskeleton and uses

joystick and button controls), two of them have

been modified with AV transmitters and can be

remote-controlled via a remote control unit

(although the operator suffers a -2 to all Drive

checks).

ALTERNATE CONCEPTS

Although the Horizon Traveler is conceived as a

frontier transport vessel (see the Basic Information

section), the size of the ship lends itself to plenty of

additional roles, especially if the PCs serve aboard.

THE HORIZON TRAVELER

Operating a loader relies on the Drive skill. In

addition, the operator must be trained on the

machine. The GM has two choices for determining

proficiency. The first is to require that the operator

have the Surface Vehicle Operation (Bipedal) feat

(which can also be applied to such things as Mecha)

in order to avoid a -4 penalty to Drive skill checks

(this is in line with the standard rules).

The second is to assume that all that is required

is some instruction and practice (much like some-

one able to drive a car can learn to drive a bus). In

such a situation, reduce the -4 penalty by 1 for every

month of working with the equipment (i.e. after two

months of working with the loader, the penalty to

Drive skill checks is reduced to -2).

A loader is Large and is one square wide and one

square long. It stands roughly nine feet tall and

weighs some 2,200 lbs (a tremendous weight sav-

ings over a standard forklift, which usually weighs

around 10,000 lbs.). A loader is capable of lifting

4,500 lbs overhead.

A loader can be used in combat, however, when

doing so, the on-board operator’s Dexterity is

replaced by the loader’s (the machine can only

move so fast and the operator is confined within the

machine) for purposes of computing the operator’s

Defense and Reflex saves and any other Dexterity-

based skill checks and functions performed by the

loader. The operator does get the advantage of the

loader’s greater Strength and gets to stack the

loader’s armor protection to his or her own for pur-

poses of calculating the operator’s Defense

(although this may not make up for losing the oper-

ator’s Dexterity bonus).

Furthermore, unless the operator is proficient

with the machine, the -4 penalty to Drive skill

checks is extended to cover attack rolls, damage

rolls, skill checks, and saving throws with the

machine.

The only means to attack with the loader are

with its clamps. Unfortunately, the clamps close too

slowly to actually trap any creature able to see the

attack coming, so they are usually used to simply

bludgeon an opponent. A clamp causes 2d6+8

points of damage.

PL 7 loaders often substitute hover capabilities

for the loader’s legs.

Dexterity: 8 (substitutes for operator Dexterity)

Bonus to Defense:

+4 (adds to operator

Defense)

Reach: 10 ft.

Hardness: 5

Hit Points: 30

Purchase DC: 28 (when new)

Restriction: License (+1)

S HUTTLECRAFT (PL 6)

As ungainly as the Horizon Traveler is, thanks

to her induction engine she is capable of landing

planetside (which she does amidst much unnerving

groaning of metal). This capability is almost a

necessity on the frontier given that the lack of space

stations and shuttlecraft would otherwise make it

impossible for the ship to take on cargo or passen-

gers.

This does not mean that Captain Nishida takes

the ship down on every planet or asteroid; the fact

is that in many cases, there is only a handful of pas-

sengers or a minimal amount of cargo to be added

or removed from the ship. It is for this reason that

the ship has a total of six shuttles. Often, Captain

Nishida will park the ship in orbit and conduct busi-

ness using several of the shuttles; there are numer-

ous colonies and mining camps in the system that

have never even seen the Horizon Traveler and deal

only with the shuttlecraft.

Although these shuttles seat four, they are often

used to hold many more, the pilots cramming in

people (and the occasional animal) like sardines;

the same goes for transporting goods. Thankfully,

the crew of the Horizon Traveler keeps the shuttles

in excellent repair.

Like the Horizon Traveler herself, the shuttles

are a polyglot of technology and materials. All

began life as Fusion Age shuttles but have been out-

fitted and retrofitted with various pieces of equip-

ment so that no two are identical. As a result, there

is often lively “discussion” among the crew as to

who gets to pilot which shuttle.

The six shuttles, simply named “1”, “2”, “3”,

“4”, “5”, and “6” have the following statistics. In

order to save space, rather than writing six stat-

blocks all the statistics and equipment have been

combined into one statblock; which shuttle has

what equipment is found in the <>. See the next

page.

LOADER (PL 6)

Size: Large (-1 Size)

Speed: 20 ft. (cannot run)

Strength: 26 (substitutes for operator Strength)

SHUTTLECRAFT (PL 6)

Type

Ultralight

Subtype

Launch

Defense

Flat-footed Defense

Autopilot Defense

Hardness

Hit Dice

4d20 (80 hp)

Initiative Modifier

Pilot’s Class Bonus

Pilot’s Dex Modifier

Gunner’s Attack Bonus

Size

G (-4 Size)

Tactical Speed

3.5k (7 sq.)

2.5k (5 sq.)

3.5k (7 sq.)

4.0k (8 sq.)

2.5k (5 sq.)

3.0k (6 sq.)

Length

35 feet

Weight

40k lbs.

Targeting System Bonus

Crew

1 (+8 expert)

Passenger Capacity

Cargo Capacity

3k lbs.

Grapple Modifier

+12

Base Purchase DC

Restriction

Lic. (+1)

Attack

1 laser

2 fire-linked

1 laser

+2 ranged

+0 ranged

+2 ranged

lasers

+2 ranged

(6d8)

+4 ranged

(6d8)

(9d8)

Attack of Opportunity

None

SHUTTLECRAFT DESIGN SPECS:

Engines: Thrusters <all>, ion engine <1,3>, induction engine <4>

Armor: Alloy plating <2,5>, Polymeric <1,3,6>, Cerametal <4>

Defense Systems: Autopilot system <2,5,6>, damage control system (1d10) <1,2,3,6>, improved autopilot system <1,3,4>, improved damage control system (2d10)

<4,5>

Sensors: Class I sensor system <2>, class II sensor system <1,3,5>, Class III sensor system <6>, Class IV sensor array <4>, targeting system <1,3,5,6>, improved tar-

geting system <4>

Communications: Laser transceiver <1,3,6>, mass transceiver <4>, radio transceiver <all>

Weapons: 1 laser (range incr. 3,000 ft.) <1,2,3,5,6>, 2 fire-linked lasers (range incr. 3,000 ft.) <4>

Grappling Systems: Grappler <2,3,5>, Tractor beam emitter <1,6>

d20 Ronin Arts Future Starship 12 - Horizon Traveller.pdf

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