Serene Dawn: The Asteroid Job, Episode 1

This is an actual play solo game report using Mythras and M-Space, along with the ALONe Beta solo rules, and the GameMaster’s Apprentice: Sci Fi card deck.

Having created the characters (see previous posts for details), I decided to dive in media res: the crew are out on a routine proving mission in-system and not expected to run into trouble.

But you don’t always get what you want, right?

Taking Her In…

“OK, we’re going in,” says Marcus nervously. The crew are all on the bridge looking at the hulking chunk of rock visible through the Determination’s main viewport.

“I’m running a sensor sweep of the asteroid… now!”

Marcus is running a sweep to look for deposits of valuable minerals, using the enhanced sensors on the ship. His Sensors skill is 47% but the ship gives him a +20% bonus to what is otherwise a Standard difficulty test – rolls 51, a success.

“Anything?” asks Alex, looking at the big pilot from across the bridge. He smiles to himself as he takes in the view, all being live recorded on his headset for the viewing public back home: Alex prefers to watch from this bridge position, at the rear of the section, because it gives him a full view of the others. Turning to his right, Alex spots Harry looking at the streaming sensor data on his own monitor; turning back to the two seats at the front, Alex notes James’ cool focus ahead as Marcus continues to watch the sensor data.

Are there any mineral deposits of interest? [Even odds: Yes; Fire element indicates “If…”]

“OK, I’ve got a large deposit of iron but it’s a little way under the surface and we’ll only be able to get to it if we drill,” says Marcus. Alex nods and turns to Harry.

“What do you think, Harry?”

Pausing for a breath, Harry replies, “Looks good but the surface is rough. Let me look for the best angle to come at that deposit, somewhere Marcus can land safely.”

Harry is using his Science (Geology) skill of 60% to look for a good spot. I decide he can augment this with the ship’s Sensor bonus of +20% because the data is good – rolls 100, a fumble!

“Yeah, I got it,” says Harry, “Aim for these coordinates, Marcus.”

“Roger that.”

Harry’s fumble means he thinks he has a good spot but he doesn’t. Is the mistake related to quality of the landing site? [Even odds: Yes; Fire element indicates “If…”] I decide that the landing site is soft and can be safe only if Marcus gets a critical success on the landing. The ore extraction will be easy from here, however.

The ship’s engines whine as Marcus drops altitude and continues to match the ship’s rotation to that of the asteroid. He activates the Determination’s landing gear and begins to slowly engage the thrusters to land on the open ground indicated by Harry’s data.

Marcus needs to test his Pilot skill of 50%. It’ll be a Standard difficulty landing but, of course, we know that he needs a critical success to avoid a mishap, which is 5% – rolls 82, failure! I notice that the top card shows the words, “Noxious chemicals” and feel inspired.

As Marcus brings the ship lower there suddenly erupts a plume of gas from the surface. Startled, Marcus misjudges the final few metres and, with a crunch, hits the surface with too much force. As the ship’s landing gear clangs against the rock beneath, the weakness of the surface is revealed and the ship drops down into a rapidly-expanding fissure. All around the ship rise plumes of gas and Marcus struggles to maintain control.

Marcus must make a Hard Pilot test to maintain control as he guns the thrusters to steady the ship. This reduces his Pilot skill by 1/3 to 33% – rolls 84, failure.

Does the ship crash? [Good odds: Yes; Water element indicates “And…”] – drawing two additional cards for a verb and noun, I get “Take Affliction”. I figure the ship is significantly damaged – roll d100 for a location, scoring 94 for the Engines.

The Determination’s engine scream with the effort to gain some height but it’s too late: the vessel tips backwards and all hear the crunch as the engines plow into the surface.

Does the gas ignite? [Good odds: Yes; Air element indicates “But…”]

An explosion rocks the vessel and, through the viewport, the crew sees the orange-yellow blast engulf the ship. The engines cut out and a few seconds later the front of the hull also strikes the cave bottom. Lights flicker and everyone is jolted.

All characters to make a Standard Dodge test to maintain their seats – Harry and Alex fail, James fumbles, and (amazingly) Marcus succeeds.

Thrown forward, James’ head strikes the console and knocks him unconscious. Harry and Alex lurch from their seats and are knocked prone. Marcus holds onto the pilot’s stick with grim determination.

“We HAVE to get seatbelts for this bucket,” he mutters.

A few moments pass as the crew gather their wits. Alex lifts his head first, looking around at the darkened bridge; the headcam activates the lamp automatically as Alex’s gaze takes in the situation.

There is Harry, on all fours as he pushes himself to a kneeling position and mutters something under his breath. There is Marcus, sat bolt upright in the pilot’s seat facing away. There is James, face down on the cracked console, unmoving.

“Shit! Marcus – what’s with James? Is he breathing?”

Marcus’ gaze shifts to the unmoving form of his companion and he immediately begins to lift the man up into his seat. Reaching to his right, Marcus grabs a First Aid Kit off the wall and begins to work on James.

Marcus needs to perform First Aid, rather ironic as his patient is the Quack, and he has a 30% skill. First Aid takes 1d3 minutes and, if successful, will restore James to consciousness – rolls 18, a success! Rolls 6 on a d6 for 3 minutes of treatment time. Phew!

Getting to his feet, Alex walks over to help Harry up.

“I guess you fucked that up, eh?”

Harry nods and turns back to the blacked-out console.

“I think we got bigger problems, Boss, looks like the power is out,” says Harry with a smile.

Behind them, James grunts as he comes around. Marcus smiles and shouts: “Hey, guys, look at this asshole – trying to sleep on the job again!”

The crew laughs off the tension and James rubs the large bruise forming on his forehead.

Taking Stock

“Why aren’t the back-up generators online?”

“Good question, Boss. For a guess, I’d say that explosion fucked ‘em up,” says Marcus.

 “Yeah, thanks,” replies Alex, “Might have figured that out myself, given enough time. Asshole.”

Harry grabs his toolkit from under the console, walks over to the bridge doorway, and pulls the panel covering off.

Is there a manual override lever? [Good odds: YES! – the “!” indicating an emphatic Yes]

Pulling the manual override lever, Harry smiles as the sliding bulkhead doors pop and there is a slight hiss as fresh air enters the bridge.

“Give me a hand with these, will you?”

Marcus and Alex, easily the stronger of the four men, walk over to the door and grip one panel each.

Easy difficulty Brawn checks (that’s how I’m interpreting the emphatic Yes) for the two men – both succeed.

The doors slide open with ease and Alex shines his headcam’s lamp into the small chamber beyond. To the right is the inner airlock door. As he does this, Harry pops the door to the avionics cupboard which sits at the rear of the bridge, right next to the main doors. Switching on a flashlight, Harry inspects the avionics systems.

Harry checks his Engineering skill to diagnose the avionics – rolls 12 under his 60% skill, success. Is there damage to the avionics? [Even odds: No; Air indicates “But…”] The gear appears good but there is no power.

“All ok in here, Boss, but there’s no power… but I guess you figured that out for yourself,” reports Harry. Alex smiles and turns to the rest of the team.

“Shall we, gentlemen? I think we need to get to the engine room and fix up a generator before our air turns sour.”

Marcus enters the small chamber behind the bridge and pops off the manual override panel. There’s a click and Marcus opens the door with ease. Beyond, the crew galley area is a mess: tipped over chairs, cupboards popped open, and ration packs strewn around.

“You know, I’ve just realised that the gravity is still nominal,” says Alex, “How come?”

“Shit, Alex, basic physics,” replies Harry, “Most asteroids are very small but they do have gravity and can affect any objects that come too close. The more iron and nickel in the makeup of an asteroid, the greater its mass and gravity.”

Alex nods and walks down the passageway straight ahead to the rear of the deck, turning left to get to the stairs that lead down to the engineering deck.

Are there any hazards on the stairs? [Even odds: No!]

Walking down the steps, taking care in case of hazards, Alex leads the group into the engine room. Ahead is one of the two manoeuvre drives. In the centre of the room, taking up by far the greater space, stands the powerplant. Next to it, on the far side of the engine room, stands an inert backup generator.

Is the hull punctured? [Good odds: Yes; Air indicates “But…”]

“Shit, you can see why the back-up is fucked,” says Harry from behind Alex, “Look – there’s a bloody great shard of rock piercing the deck that’s rammed into the generator.”

The crew moves down the steps and move their flashlights over the scene, careful not to move closer until the situation warrants it.

Perception rolls all round, one step harder for the low light and distance inspection – Marcus crits, James succeeds (despite the headache), and the others fail. Pull a card for sensory data and get “Ice in your veins…”

“Careful, chaps, there’s spilt fuel near that rupture,” spots Marcus, “that’ll be ice cold but hopefully it’s frozen over the rupture and is helping keep the air inside.”

“Problem is, the second we lift the ship off that rock spike then we’ll have the mother of all hull breaches to patch,” says Harry.

The team pauses while Alex thinks.

“Ok, Harry, can you get to work on getting the primary power plant back online? Meanwhile, Marcus and I will go and suit up and find some hull sealant. James, keep an eye on Harry.”

Nods all round but, as Marcus and Alex backtrack up the stairs, Marcus grunts, “Gonna need a fuckin’ ton of sealant.”

Affecting Repairs

“Right then, let’s take a look,” says Harry.

Harry needs to test Engineering to diagnose the problem with the Power Plant – rolls 86 against his 60% skill. He has no idea what’s wrong.

Shaking his head, Harry walks around the power plant for a few minutes and occasionally leans in to look at some parts in detail. He tries to start-up the generator… to no avail.

“James, can you do me a favour and hand me the multiscanner from the toolkit?”

Ok, as this is critical, Harry decides to augment the Engineering roll with his multiscanner. As it’s a re-attempt, Harry’s test is Hard but I am going to give a 1-step advantage from the scanner to cancel this out. Rolls 24 – success!

“Shit, looks like air in the fuel system,” says Harry, “Just need to bleed that off and we should be good to go.”

Harry makes a Mechanics test made 1-grade easier by the use of his multiscanner – rolls 79 under the 90% skill (boosted by 1/2 by the Easy difficulty).

Meanwhile, upstairs, Alex and Marcus have suited up and located all the sealant they can.

Is there enough sealant to solve their problem? [Even odd: Yes; Earth indicates “no change”).

Heading downstairs, the two men smile as the lights come back on: clearly Harry got the generator back online.

“You two better go suit up. Marcus, get back to the bridge and see if you can get the thrusters online.”

Time passes as Harry and James suit up, while Marcus heads to the bridge. He runs diagnostics on the engines…

Are the thrusters functional? [Even odds: No; Earth icon means no change]

“Damn it,” says Marcus as he keys his commlink, “Hey guys, the thrusters are offline and it looks like we’ll need an EVA to see why.”

Smiling despite himself, Alex acknowledges and turns to James.

“Fancy going outside with Harry?”