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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ajanders" data-source="post: 5224355" data-attributes="member: 3271">Submission for round 2Ingredients:the man in the straw hattattooed handa fake pirate shipan alien in a jarfoundations of electromagnetic theoryDANGER: Stand 3 feet distant"In Space, No-one Can Hear You Solve V=IR"Game InformationThis adventure is written for a pulp-science fiction or space opera game. The mechanical conventions referenced here are from D20 Future.SynopsisWhen a pirate haven suddenly sends a distress signal, the PC's investigate. They must pretend to be pirates in order to approach the station safely. Once docked at the station, they meet with the last surviving member of the Yellow Hat pirates, who explains that a lightning monster is loose on the station, killing everyone. A moment later, he is killed by the lightning monster in a swift strike.Rapid research by the PC's reveals the lightning monster to be a previously unknown energy-based life form: an intelligent electrical field. It's hiding in the power systems of the station and striking out at humans for unknown reasons. The PC's must figure out how to trap the thing. This can only be done by physically isolating it in a section of power conduit (cutting wires), then dropping it in a BIG capacitor. The PC's can use materials aboard the station to construct a Leyden Jar.The PC's must locate the lightning monster's nucleus: a concentration of electrical energy...tracking the nucleus by deducing what the signs of its presence must be, then tracking them visually,trap the nucleus, then connect the conducter of the Leyden Jar to the nucleus of the lighting monster.While doing this, the PC's must negotiate with a rival gang (The Bloody Red Hands of Death) for the use of materials and accesses to hunt the monster and dodge the monsters attacks. PrologueBackstoryBlackside Station is the proverbial hive of scum and villainy. Far from the space lanes, this habitat is the secret and exclusive province of space pirates and black marketeers. It mounts no navigational beacons, has no outgoing communications broadcasts, and carefully conceals itself from law-abiding eyes. Even the most determined efforts of private citizens and the Star Patrol have failed to discover this blot upon the galaxy.Suddenly, something claiming to be Blackside Station sent a Mayday request.Hooks1. Heroic characters of the Star Patrol would be ordered to proceed to the location of the request for help, render aid, and then arrest all the pirates in sight.2. Every planetary government or corporation that had anything stolen by pirates ever is hiring mercenaries to proceed to the origin of the broadcast, recover the stolen goods, and then possibly render aid. Any character party with their own vessel has their pick of contracts. Any character party without their own vessel can negotiate the use of one for this mission.Act I: ApproachAs the PC's approach the location of the distress signal, they will see multiple ships travelling in opposite vectors. (That is, away from the beacon.) These ships are readily identifiable as pirate vessels. The pirates are more interested in running from something than fighting.If the PC's try to engage the pirate vessels, the pirates will try to evade first, then fire back at the PC's chasing them while continuing to flee Blackside Station.PC's attempting to pass themselves off as pirates may do so using a combination of Bluff, Intimidate and Knowledge: Streetwise. (PC's in Star Patrol ships face substantial penalties to their Bluff checks, but with a success may pass themselves off as pirates in a disguised vessel or Star Patrolmen on the take.) Success in this deception allows the PC's to gain the following information:1. There's a lightning monster loose on the station! No way are we going back there!2. The Bloody Red Hands of Death gang is stripping the station before they go. The heck with that -- can't spend it sucking vacuum!3. The Straw Hats sold us out! They're the ones who broadcast the signal. Not that it's safe to go back to Blackside anyway...Failure means the PC's are discovered: the pirates involved will signal their name and description to all and sundry, then try to evade the PC's.As the PC's approach Blackside Station, they see it is a rotating wheel design with a docking core in the center and docking hubs on the "top" and "bottom" of the station. The bottom of the station has ships docked there identifiable as ships of the Bloody Red Hands of Death gang. The bottom of the station also has a set of laser cannons that open up with a slow and inaccurate, but steady fire.PC's can attempt to pass themselves off as pirates again, while making Pilot skill checks to evade the lasers. Success in this deception gets a curt instruction to "Dock on the top and don't get in our way." The PC's may also get the name of some gang leaders. Failure means they get shot at until they give up and dock at the top. Act II: Enter the Station As the PC's dock, they are met by a panicked man with a Panama hat pulled down low over his eyes and the brim tied down over his ears. He doesn't really care if the PC's are pirates or not: he rapidly explains there's a "lightning monster" loose on the station, that it "jumps out of power conduits and zaps people", but he's safe because the "straw of my hat insulates my head and keeps it from zapping my brain". PC's with any electrical knowledge may be confused by the man's faith in the protective power of woven straw.Their concerns will be well founded as suddenly a giant spark leaps six feet from a power conduit, obliterates the man in the straw hat, skips off a PC (doing moderate damage), and grounds itself back into the airlock. A few moments later another flash from the PC's ship indicates the party is now stuck: the lightning monsters passage has welded the docking clamps to the ships hull: getting loose will require cutting the clamps free of either the hull or the station -- not possible without a shipyard.Attempts to get the ship loose will only attract the attention of the lightning monster, which will inquisitively skip out of power conduits, strike a PC (doing moderate damage), and ground back into a conduit...or jump into the ship and damage the electrical systems on board, then jump back out. It should be obvious quickly that the PC's are going to need to deal with the lightning monster before they do anything else.Xenobiology checks reveal the following:1. The monster is electrical in nature.2. The monster is not deliberately hostile, just curious about changes in the magnetic field of the station (caused by people adding bits to it by docking a ship or taking bits away, say, by stripping the station.)3. Like an amoeba, the monster has a nucleus and a peripheral field. The field regenerates in the presence of the nucleus, but will dissipate without it. The nucleus is the core of the monster.Repair, Craft (Electronic) or Knowledge(Physical sciences, especially physics) reveal the following:1. If the monster is electrical, the nucleus of the monster must be a mass of amps...electrical charge.2. Those amps could be isolated by physically limiting the circuits they travel in...although the monster can arc through the air, it probably prefers to stay in power conduits.3. Those amps can be trapped in a capacitor, thereby trapping the monster.4. The nucleus can be located by finding a spot in the power conduits where electricity arcs farther than it should: the unnaturally high quantity of amps will override the resistance of the power conduit insulators.Act III: Chase the LightningThe PC's now have three tasks1. Find and pin the nucleus of the lightning monster2. Find or build a large capacitor.3. Feed the nucleus of the lightning monster into the capacitor.Task 1 is very simple. The power conduits in the station all have safety zones around them -- pirates are not known for workplace regulation, but they enjoy not being electrocuted as much as anyone else, so they practice some common-sense rules. The safety zones are marked with black and yellow hazard lines and signs reading DANGER: Stand 3 feet distant. All the PC's have to do is follow the power conduits and look for a spot where sparks are flying four or more feet from the conduit. Than indicates a surplus of amps and thus the nucleus location.Once the party finds the nucleus, they will need to keep it in that specific section of power conduit. This requires physically cutting the conduit out of the station's power network and takes a simple repair or craft: Electric check.Task 2 will require the party to build an old fashioned capacitor: a Leyden Jar. Designing this takes some materials and a simple craft electric or moderate knowledge physical sciences check.The materials are: a giant glass tank, water, salt, foil tape, and a steel rod. The party will also need a long section of power conduit to lead the nucleus into the Leyden jar.Unfortunately, the Bloody Red Hands of Death have stripped most of the materials the party needs from the station.The party will need to beg, bribe, or intimidate the Bloody Red Hands into giving the things up.This is a set of Diplomacy, Bluff, or Intimidate challenges with the following modifiers: if the party is passing as pirates, the checks are easier. If the party explains this will stop the lightning monster, the checks are easier. If the party was respectful to the gang members manning the defense batteries, the checks are easier. The Bloody red hands are also big tattoo aficionados: their signature is a bleeding wound tattoed onto the left hand. If the PC's lead negotiator is tattoed himself, they can swap ink stories, making the checks easier. Offering items in barter also makes the checks easier.Task 3 is very simple, in theory. If the PC's have isolated the nucleus properly and built the Leyden jar properly, all they need to do is get the power conduit close enough to the nucleus to make the nucleus arc into the conduit and down into the Leyden jar. Depending on how clever the PC's were with finding and pinning the nucleus, however, this could involve dragging some heavy power conduit a long way through tight spaces. It also involves taking moderate to heavy damage from peripheral grounding as the nucleus jumps into the cable.Once the lightning monster is trapped, the PC's are free to cut themselves loose from blackside station in peace, arrest the Bloody Red Hands of Death, or both. The Bloody Red hands of Death would prefer to finish stripping the station and get away with their loot instead of fighting, and will do this if the PC's permit it.Ingredients:1. the man in the straw hat: the initial person from the Yellow Hat gang who greets the PC's. He has an exaggerated faith in the power of his straw hat to protect him from lightning.2. tattooed hand: the membership badge of the Bloody Red Hands of Death gang, and a useful clue about a way to negotiate with them.3. a fake pirate ship: what the PC's can pretend to be to infiltrate the station (and it's very useful to them)4. an alien in a jar: trapping the lightning monster in a Leyden Jar capacitor is the solution to the alien problem.5. foundations of electromagnetic theory: are used to build the Leyden Jar, also to detect the nucleus of the lightning monster.6. DANGER: Stand 3 feet distant: These warning signs are helpful clues for locating the nucleus of the lightning monster</blockquote>

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