III. APROXIMACIÓN TEÓRICA Y CRÍTICA A LA NOVELA POLICIACA
3.1 Recorrido por la génesis del género policiaco
3.1.2 Diferentes tipologías
3.1.2.2 El hard-boiled o novela policiaca negra
Section 5.1: Interstellar Hazards
Interstellar Hazards Overview Interstellar Hazards Overview
When you look out at space, it looks like there's a whole lot of nothing. Which there isn't, in the normal sense but starships tend to hop between dense clusters; of matter, where most of the dangers lie.
Detecting Hazards Detecting Hazards
Outside of combat, the Science Department is re-sponsible for analyzing sensor readings and finding space hazards before the ship blunders into them and gets torn into tin foil. Each of the space hazards below has a Detection TD. Mission Control should ask for a Science/Science + Electronics Roll against this TD to detect the hazard with enough time to prepare.
Maneuvering Around Hazards Maneuvering Around Hazards
Most of the time, space hazards can be avoided with just a minor course correction or two. Those aren't the hazards we're concerned about in this sec-tion, and there's more to a major course correction than just punching a few buttons.
Major course corrections, like combat maneuvers, require the ship to park the rotating crew modules. If the ship attempts any kind of dangerous maneuver with the crew modules still in normal rotation, all Helm/Starship Piloting Rolls suffer a +2 TD Penalty.
Groundsiders sometimes underestimate space haz-ards, thinking that all a ship needs to do is jump into freespace and it's home free the problem is, free drives; don't work in a gravitational field of any magnitude.
Once a ship gets too close to a black hole, for example, it's stuck until it can maneuver away.
Hundreds of ships are lost every year they mis-; jump into dangerous areas and are torn apart by pul-sars, black holes, and stranger anomalies. This is why
most space-faring corporations stick to gateway travel, and known trade routes there's less chance of an unex; -pected jackpot, but a lot less chance of unex-pectedly being torn apart into quarks, also.
Types of Hazards Types of Hazards
Black Holes
A black hole is a point in space where matter has collapsed to a tiny point, and gravity is so intense that even light can't escape. Black holes are the natural end to a super-massive star, and most galaxies have black holes at their center. Black holes are the ultimate
“garbage disposal ” they obliterate all matter, com; -pressing it near-infinitely, and this may be the end for all matter in the universe.
Small black holes that aren't near any suns or nebu-lae are very hard to spot. Larger black holes create a gravitational “lens” effect on the starfield that makes them easier to find. Black holes near a star or nebula pull the matter around them into an “accretion disk”
that swirls in, galaxy-like, towards the black hole at the center. These black holes are mercifully easy to detect.
￭ Black Holes
Detection TD:
Very Hard (1d10) for a black hole with no accre-tion disk, Average (1d6) for a larger black hole, Very Easy (1d2) for any black hole with an ac-cretion disk.
Maneuver TD:
Depends on how close the ship is to the black hole; suddenly discovering a small, undetected black hole might give a Very Hard (1d10) TD, while a black hole detected at a distance is usu-ally only Average (1d6) to avoid.
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Consequences of Failure:
Each time the Helm Department fails its rolls to avoid the black hole, the ship takes 1d4 damage;
Shields apply, but Armor Plating doesn't.
Dark Matter
Most of the matter in the universe can't be seen, heard, touched, or felt, but exerts a gravitic effect nev-ertheless. Large clouds of dark matter aren't generally as dangerous as other space hazards, but can throw a ship off course and right into a gravity well.
￭ Dark Matter
Detection TD:
Extremely Hard (1d12).
Maneuver TD:
Average (1d6).
Consequences of Failure:
The ship is thrown slightly off course by the gravitic field; this gives any pursuing attackers a -1 TD to hit, as the ship's curved trajectory brings them closer. In addition, if the ship is building a drive charge while drifting forward, the drive charge collapses, and the ship must start over building again.
Debris Field
Starships and space stations get destroyed, far too often, but all of that broken-up metal doesn't just dis-appear. For that matter, planets break up, forming as-teroid fields, that are also dangerous for spacers, though almost always better-charted.
￭ Debris Field
Detection TD:
Average (1d6) for starship debris, Easy (1d4) for colony debris, and Very Easy (1d2) for most as-teroids.
Maneuver TD:
Average (1d6), increasing to Hard (1d8) at com-bat speeds.
Consequences of Failure:
Collision with small bits of starship debris cause 1d4 damage, while larger chunks of colony
de-bris typically cause 1d6 damage. Asteroids cause considerably more, from 1d8 for a small aster-oid, all the way up to 3d8 for a moonlet or planetoid.
Image courtesy Victor Habbick, Freedigitalphotos.net.
Natural Wormholes
Free drive ships create artificial wormholes, and stabilize them so ships can travel through. Wormholes are a naturally-occurring phenomenon, though but nat; -ural wormholes are incredibly dangerous. There's no telling where a natural wormhole might lead, but there's also no telling how far it might go, or what op-portunities might lie on the other side.
￭ Natural Wormholes
Detection TD:
Nearly Impossible (1d20) for a closed wormhole, Average (1d6) for an open wormhole.
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Maneuver TD:
Easy (1d4) to avoid, or Hard (1d8) to enter safely.
Consequences of Failure:
Failure to avoid the wormhole means that the Helm must make a Hard (1d8) roll to enter the wormhole safely. The Helm must make three Rolls to navigate the wormhole safely; failing each of the first two causes 1d10 damage, and failing all three results in the destruction of the ship.
Neutron Bursts
A star that isn't quite massive enough to become a black hole becomes a neutron star. Neutron stars emit awe-inspiring blasts of radiation, powerful enough to destroy any starship in moments. Most neutron stars emit radiation on a regular, predictable basis, but if a ship wanders into an unfamiliar region of space, or something strange disrupts the neutron star, the blast might come unexpectedly.
￭ Neutron Bursts
Detection TD:
An uncharted neutron burst is Easy (1d4) to de-tect.
Maneuver TD:
Hard (1d8) to pull out of the way in time.
Consequences of Failure:
The crew usually has three Starship Combat Rounds to pull away from a neutron star's blast zone, if they're … unfortunate … enough to en-ter it. If they fail, the ship is completely de-stroyed.
Solar Flares
Many stars emit solar flares, vast waves of super-heated plasma that can annihilate ships dangerous enough to wander too close.
￭ Solar Flares
Detection TD:
Easy (1d4). This is one of the brightest and most obvious phenomena in known space; solar flares are a lot more common than neutron stars, but there's usually plenty of warning.
Maneuver TD:
Average (1d6). With plenty of warning, the best thing to do is just turn away from the flare and run like hell.
Consequences of Failure:
If the Helm fails to get the ship clear, it takes 1d6 damage per Starship Combat round.
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Drama and Drama and
Impersonal Dangers Impersonal Dangers
Part of telling a good story is what Part of telling a good story is what kind of Mission the players want, and their crew as swashbuckling galactic their crew as swashbuckling galactic heroes would be upset if they died on heroes would be upset if they died on their first Assignment because of a Interstellar Hazard but you're afraid Interstellar Hazard but you're afraid that it might mess up your Mission, that it might mess up your Mission, modify the Consequences of Failure.
modify the Consequences of Failure.
Make it so, if they fail their rolls, they Make it so, if they fail their rolls, they lose Discipline and Concentration lose Discipline and Concentration getting away from the Hazard. And if getting away from the Hazard. And if you want a grittier game, make the you want a grittier game, make the Hazards more common and deadlier.
Hazards more common and deadlier.
Dimensional Anomalies
The strangest, and rarest, kind of space hazards are dimensional anomalies. Under rare circumstances, and for unknown reasons, normal space sometimes breaks down, and portals to other dimensions spontaneously open.
Why do dimensional anomalies open? This ques-tion haunts the Assembly Ministry of Science. Some theorize that FTL travel causes “rips” in the fabric of space and time, while others postulate that “normal”
space-time isn't as stable as previously assumed. Worst of all are StelNav's fear of invasion from another di-mension, using weapons with capabilities that are im-possible to predict. The Assembly's many corporations salivate at the thought of new technologies based on exotic matter.
For all these reasons, dimensional anomalies al-ways bear exploration, but it's almost impossible to be careful enough when dealing with these strange rup-tures.
￭ Dimensional Anomalies
Detection TD:
Extremely Hard (1d12). By their very nature, di-mensional anomalies break all the known laws of science, making it hard to use Science to find them.
Maneuver TD:
Extremely Hard (1d12). Most often, ships don't realize they're in an anomaly zone until they're deep inside.
Consequences of Failure:
Unknown. Dimensional anomalies are the stuff of spacer legend, and almost anything could happen. The crew could all suddenly become telepathic, or time could begin moving at differ-ent rates in differdiffer-ent places, or the crew could devolve into lesser lifeforms (always a disaster).
In general, the consequences are a plot device for the Mission Control and the Planetologist to decide, and it may take a Sheer Genius roll on the Scientist's or Engineer's part to help the crew escape.