Hey everyone! Another week, another update and this one is extra spicy with mech, and spaceship mechanics as well as another faction intro:
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...arium-galaxy-ablaze-5e-campaign/posts/3907546
Mech Mechanics:
Mechs are the backbone of any formidable ground force, combining raw power with technology to dominate the battlefields. We're excited to give you a sneak peek into the mechanics that bring these behemoths to life.
All AI Mechs have 1 Machine Personality (MP) from the following list:
Sentinel AIs
Autonomous defense systems tasked with protecting key installations or areas.
Archivarius AIs
AIs dedicated to gathering, analyzing, and disseminating knowledge.
Medic Nexus AIs
Specialized medical AIs used for healing and surgeries.
WarMind AIs
Battle-oriented AIs, usually embedded within warships or combat mechs
Harmonizer AIs
AIs designed for diplomacy and negotiation
OrgSys AIs
AIs designed for management of storage facilities.
ShadowNet AIs
Stealth and hacking-oriented AIs, specializing in infiltrating networks, gathering secret data, or cyber sabotage.
EcoGuardian AIs
Environmental monitoring and protection AIs.
Additional Rules
Combat Hacking. AIs can be hacked during combat by players and vice-a-versa. The hacker must have a cyberdeck and succeed an Intelligence (Technology) check versus the AI’s Intelligence score. Roll the AI Malfunction Table for Results.
Overcharge. All mechs are able to overcharge their engines/cores to gain temporary boosts from the Overcharge Effects Table. This however comes at a cost. If the mech is damaged and tries to overcharge, roll for a random result on the Overcharge Effects Table.
Special Ability: Use a special ability or feature of the mech, if it has any. The effects of the special ability are determined by its specific rules.
Mech Damage: Every successful damage beyond 25% of the mech’s HP adds a potential negative modifier. Roll for result.
Starship Battles:
From nimble fighters to behemoth capital ships, our starship mechanics are designed to offer depth and complexity while remaining intuitive.
Each spaceship battle is a conflict between two or more spaceships, each controlled by either the players or an NPC crew. The battlefield is usually a 48”x36” area. The NPC crews differ in their rank and training. There are 5 ranks for NPCs and each comes with its own baseline stat line-up.
Crew Ranks (CR)
Rank 1 - SpecOps
Rank 2 - Veterans
Rank 3 - Experienced
Rank 4 - Rookies
Rank 5 - Untrained
Round Structure:
Each round of spaceship combat follows these steps:
Initiative: Everyone rolls initiative as normal, using their Dexterity modifier. This determines the order of turns within a round.
Turns: On a character's turn, they can take one action. The possible actions are:
Attack: Use the ship's weapons to attack another ship. Make an attack roll (d20 + the ship's attack bonus). If the result equals or exceeds the target ship's current AC, the attack hits.
Boost Shields: Boost the ship's defenses. Make an Intelligence (Technology) or check. On a success add 2 to the ship's AC, while cutting the Speed by 50%.
Repair: Repair the ship's Hull or fix damaged systems. Make an Intelligence (Investigation) or Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check (whichever is higher). The result is added to the ship's Hull or any other score until it reaches its original value.
Maneuver: Make a Dexterity (Piloting) or Intelligence (Technology) check to outmaneuver enemy ships. On a success add 1 to the ship's AC until the start of next turn.
Special Ability: Use a special ability or feature of the ship, if it has any. The effects of the special ability are determined by its specific rules.
End of Round: If all ships on one side have their Hull scores reduced to 0, the other side wins the battle. Otherwise, start a new round from step 1.
Additional Rules:
Proper Crew: If the ship is piloted by one or more players, their stats become the ship’s stats and can be used for checks. The ship can attack multiple times
Commander's Orders: If the ship is piloted by multiple players, the captain of the ship can forgo their action to give orders to the crew. The next actions taken by the crew gain advantage.
Special Equipment: Ships can have special equipment or abilities that provide new options or bonuses in battle.
Critical Hits: If an attack roll results in a natural 20, the damage to the Hull score is maximized (full value).
Optimal Range: Every weapon has an optimal effective range, beyond which the attacks can still be made, but suffer a penalty of -4 to attack roll per 5 spaces.
Upgrades: Different ships come with different amounts of Modification Slots (MS). The slots can be filled by either performing an Improvised Modification Intelligence (Technology) check of 15 or commissioned from a Shipyard Engineer for 10,000 credits.
Ship Damage: Every successful damage beyond 25% of the ship’s HP adds a potential negative modifier. Roll for result.
New Faction Reveal
As is tradition we introduce a faction in every update and this time please welcome - Dusk Industries!
Alex and his crew tackled many challenging jobs before, but their latest acquisition, a massive freighter, promised to be the most difficult yet. They quickly discovered that the ship was malfunctioning. The engines were offline, but still showed fuel reaction when scanned, and the energy grid seemed to be failing. Without proper power, they wouldn't be able to access the valuable technology and materials inside.
“Micah, can you hack into it and see what’s up?” the shipbreaker asked.
“On it, boss, it has older systems, so they shouldn’t be as protected”
That turned out to be true and soon they found the culprit - a faulty power coupling that caused intermittent power shutdowns.
“Jozi, cut the panel and see if we can replace the coupling”
Jozi was a class C Imprint, he died young, while piloting a cargo ship and was not able to save any money for a potentially better Imprint class and since Dusk owned the ship his Imprint was owned by them. Despite such a weird existence he was cheerful and quite happy with his new body.
“Boss, we don’t have that type of coupling, but I detached my finger and jammed it in there, the power should be back to normal”
Alex mentally shuddered at that phrase, but his mouth only said: “Good job, kid”
With the power back online they were able to vent it and begin the process of dismantling the freighter. They started by examining the ship's structure, looking for designated cut points around the hull. They found the engines, radars, and other gadgets attached to the hull, but they were not at the usual cut points. The freighter was heavily armored and had additional layers of protection, making it harder to access. They carefully decoupled the mechanisms and systems, taking care not to trigger any engine failures.
It was then that they heard a loud bang and the entire ship shuddered.
“Crew! Status report!”
“Jozi here, the engine reaction Micah picked up earlier, it ate at the engine stabilization compartment and ignited the stopper fluid. It….”
“What else?”
“...Jake’s dead…a part pierced his helmet…”
Jake was tasked with decoupling the engine section, a pretty experienced salvager, but in this line of work people can never be too experienced. The crew was silent for a few minutes. Alex, who has seen this happen before, contacted the Dusk managers. As per the company policy the team continued the salvage operation and finally, the freighter was fully scrapped, and the valuable technology and materials were recovered and sent to processing.
It was then Alex notified them that Jake also did not have enough savings and only qualified for a C class Imprint body. Thankfully, said the company manager, he would be shipped to them in two days, so they could take paid leave till then. Something that, despite the situation, they welcomed.
At the beginning of the expansionist boom there arose a need for two things - space ship salvaging and manufacturing. Different corporations, big and small, were producing their own designs with varying levels of quality. Dusk Salvaging Services was one of such companies, but it primarily focussed on breaking down space wrecks and occasionally building salvage drones. With its base on Ido it received a healthy traffic of ships and managed to make a profit but nothing too major.
A sheer coincidence however allowed the company to considerably expand its operations. During one of the routine salvaging operations the drone operators stumbled upon an information cache that contained compromising information about Fenrir’s bribery to secure certain planetary locations for early colonization. While there was an option to present this to the I.N.C. and launch a full-scale investigation, the owners of the company instead went directly to the corporation and handed over the sensitive data, which earned them favour from the CEOs.
In order to cement the relationship with the salvage Fafnir ended up donating its production capabilities on Ido to Dusk, thus propelling the relatively small salvage company into a significant entity in the ship design and manufacturing field. Using its experience in building utility drones Dusk Industries went on to design and build cheap and effective space craft - haulers, personal ships, freighters etc. Over the following decades it firmly established itself as a cheap and competent solution for all utility needs the colonies may have. Additionally it cultivated its tech partnership with Fafnir and entered the private security sector with a universal guard bot project called “Jagatai” that has seen moderate success in Independent Colonies.
How You Can Help:
We're making great progress, but there's still a universe of potential out there. Here's how you can help us reach our stars:
Spread the Word: If you have friends or fellow gamers who'd love the sound of deep space battles, mechs, and expansive factions, share our Kickstarter page with them!
Stay Updated: We'll be hosting more live streams, AMAs, and more to dive deeper into the game's mechanics, art, and lore. Make sure to tune in!
In closing, every backer, every share, and every word of encouragement moves us closer to our goal. Let's set the galaxy ablaze together!
Until next time, forge on, mercenaries!
Best, Heretical Fun House Team
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![[RPGnet] Mercenarium: Galaxy Ablaze - Sci-fi 5E Campaign and Sourcebook Kickstarter: {filename}.{extension}](https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/042/695/372/4ad4c4e8a40acee85e7303f14c874747_original.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&w=700&fit=max&v=1697380681&gif-q=50&q=92&s=f1c62f7a64c6fcd7e8b439ded1998704 "[RPGnet] Mercenarium: Galaxy Ablaze - Sci-fi 5E Campaign and Sourcebook Kickstarter: {filename}.{extension}")
![[RPGnet] Mercenarium: Galaxy Ablaze - Sci-fi 5E Campaign and Sourcebook Kickstarter: {filename}.{extension}](https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/042/695/374/f035a0f68a0c35e1e0927fb4be4cf81b_original.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&w=700&fit=max&v=1697380694&gif-q=50&q=92&s=e1cb7542dd3d3835a66b2df377930373 "[RPGnet] Mercenarium: Galaxy Ablaze - Sci-fi 5E Campaign and Sourcebook Kickstarter: {filename}.{extension}")
