Quickstart
Very welcome to the quickstart rules for SpacePirates. This booklet actually contains everything to get started with a SpacePirates game session: ready-made characters, a scenario and the necessary rules for it. Maybe the rules aren't complete, but they are fully compatible to the core rulebook.
What's Space Pirates about? Space Pirates is a free, crazy and cartoonish Space Opera role-playing game. The characters are pirates who hang out in the free-trade area. There, they experience the most hair-raising adventures on their quest for glory and wealth. They often have to stand up against other gangs of pirates, and sometimes they are hired to perform illegal missions: to seize or capture space ships, abduct people, espionage or contraband. The only guarantee for these undertakings lies in the pirate codex – especially in never turning ones back to the business partner.
The Universe The Space Pirates universe is full of remarkable space phenomena: Purple potholes, plasma rainbows, a spacetime shift or the improbability zone. For pirates, the free-trade area is more important, where humans, Kahadrians, Trull and Vagones deal with each other. The sectors of the federation (humans), Vagones (bureaucratic Martians), the Star Republic of New Asia (human communists), Trull (buglike traders), Samneses (humanoid cyborgs) and Kahadrians (belligerent dwarves) are located around the free-trade area, behind the large neutral zone, wherein the Stripeans (cute little furry creatures) live, lies the sector of the utterly bad Glukorians. In between, the Space Amazons and Space Pears (pear-shaped, hovering aliens) wreak havoc. As if this wasn't enough, there are also crooked military men and politicians, idealistic rebels and a crazy sects. Technology and physics in Space Pirates are fantastic. Energy is abundant since the discovery of Neutritium. Spaceships travel faster than light and shoot with lasers and negatrons at the same time. And thanks to the anti-vacuum force fields there are also space convertibles!
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Quickstart
Rules Character values Every character is defined by four profiles, namely pilot, trader, tech and mercenary. The profile value determines the number of dice rolled in a conflict. Every profile is provided with a toughness of four points. If a check fails, the toughness of a profile always drops by the difference of the successes. As soon as the toughness of a profile is null, you can't act with this profile any longer.
Game material • A game master and at least three players • A ready-made pirate character for every player (contained in this booklet) • Ten ten-sided dice (D10)
Trader
Mercenary
All trading skills and a lot of social skills come under trader. Traders have an insight to human nature, distinct social abilities and they are very good at scheming. Besides, they often know the best pubs and have a good nose for worthwhile rumours.
All combat skills as well as a lot of physical skills come under Mercenary. For them, even alcohol holds for a weapon, which is why they are good in out-drinking their opponents. Last but not least, also domains like explosives, burglary and thievery are the mercenary’s department.
Pilot
Tech
All pilot skills like Space Flying, Space Fight, and Ship evaluation come under Pilot. Pilots navigate and steer space ships; additionally, they are ubercool and very popular with women.
Tech includes all technical and scientific skills. Techs are medics, scientists and engineers. As TECH, characters can rig up technical stuff and of course pick high-tech lockets.
Pirate dice With pirate dice, tests can be affected (see the conflict system) and facts can be bought. Minor facts in a scene are for free, but facts significantly affecting the scene will cost a pirate die. The game master has the right to veto.
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Conflict system Conflicts will rise when a move could fail, no matter whether the character has to break a door, to haggle with a merchant or wants to floor an adversary. Even standard tasks can fail. Anyway, you should only demand this kind of rolls in exceptional cases so you won't unnecessarily interrupt the flow of the game. Usually, you can treat tests with one roll or in details, this will be decided during the course of the conflict. Detailed tests occur most times during important trials, for example in a fight or in an important deal. 1. Determine the target: The player determines the target of his action. The target might be for example to knock out an adversary. 2. Profile: Chose the matching profile for this conflict; the value of the profile determines the number of dice to roll. Equipment and special objects could grant boni and mali that can be set off against the number of dice. 3. Pirate dice: Pirate dice can be spent to increase the number of dice total. You will get two dice extra per pirate dice spent. 4. Number of dice: For one roll, a maximum of ten dice (including all bonuses) can be used. 5. Test: You roll, and the number of success will be compared. (Every die showing a 6+ is a hit). The party having more hits wins the conflict. Regarding the loser, the difference between the two outcomes (damage) will be subtracted from the toughness of the used profile. 6. Tie: In a tie, the attacker achieves his goal. Following this, the conflict is held as lost for the attacker and the toughness of the profile will be lowered by one. 7. Escalation: In the first round, the loser can decide whether he accepts the loss. By accepting it the conflict will be concluded. By not accepting the defeat, he can spend a pirate die to escalate the conflict and to reduce the just inflicted loss of toughness to one. Thus, the conflict will continue as long as the toughness of the used profile of one party will decrease to 0.
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The pirate group is just in the middle of price negotiations for a mission. Needless to say, this negotiation is led by the group’s merchant (Rakzak). Their employer offered the whole group a reward of 8000 UC, which is insufficient for the pirate group; therefore, it comes to a conflict. The employer has got a merchant profile of 4 and spends 1 pirate die, he rolls (3 5 5 7 7 9) = 3 hits. Rakzak has got a merchant profile of 5 and rolls (2 2 4 3 10) = 1 hit, the toughness of his merchant profile will be lowered by 2 points. He decides to spend a pirate die to escalate the conflict; therefore, the toughness loss is reduced to 1. The merchant rolls (1 2 6 7) = 2 hits. Rakzak adds a pirate die and rolls (2 7 4 6 6 8 9) = 5 hits. The merchant’s toughness decreases by 3 points damage. Finishing the negotiations once and for all, Rakzak spends one pirate die and rolls (3 4 4 6 6 6 10) = 4 hits. The employer rolls (1 5 7 9) = 1 hit. So the toughness of his merchant profile decreases to 0, he has therefore lost the conflict. Rakzak was able to double the reward to 16000 UC.
Quickstart If there is no opposite party, the game master determines a minimum number of hits that has to be reached by the character. There, it is also possible to deal with the conflict in detail.
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Regeneration
Consequences of a lost conflict
The toughness of a profile recovers automatically two points during a break after a scene and after that, two points every day. It is also possible to spend a pirate die at any time to regenerate two points toughness immediately.
When the toughness has decreased to 0 points in a conflict, the character can only act with this profile again if its toughness recovers at least one point. The toughness cannot decrease below zero points.
Space battle In space battles, the group is subdivided. There is only one pilot, any gunmen and any techs.
may dodge. The pilot and the board gunner lose no toughness during the space battle. In the pilot’s case the ship always suffers damage. Misled armament shots just fizzle out, this is why such test cannot escalate.
• Every gunmen may shoot once per round (obviously, the ship needs a ship weapon per gunman).
• During a space battle the ships weapon shoot, therefore the board gunman gets the weapon bonus of the used weapon. • The target defends itself with the pilot profile plus the ship's agility. The roll is processed once a turn and the result will be compared to every shot on the ship.
• The pilot may dodge once per round. Opposing gunmen have to reach or beat the successes of the dodge manoeuvre to hit the ship. • The tech tries to keep the ship together, he is responsible for tests for operational readiness and he can divert auxiliary energy.
• The damage is calculated by the difference of successes and is multiplicated with the weapon's damage modificator (dm).
For space battles, the conflict system is used. Every space ship involved counts as one party and may shoot and move if they are next in line. The opponent space ship
Checks Gunner: MERCENARY + weapon bonus
Pilot - dodge: PILOT + agility
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Boarding The adverse spaceship can be boarded if the ships are located next to each other. No more shields mustn't be active. Each assailant must pass a difficult check (three successes) on MERCENARY to get to the other spaceship.
Shields Shields absorb damage. If a spaceship is hit, points will first be subtracted from the shield and only then from damage points. After a fight, shields automatically regenerate two points per hour.
Auxiliary power Auxiliary power can be deflected. To do so, one crew member must roll a check on TECH. For every success of the check, one unit of auxiliary energy can be deflected into the pace, the agility or the shields in this turn. The deflected auxiliary energy is spent and regenerates by two points per hour.
Repairing spaceships Repairing requires a check on TECH. The check's difficulty can be read off the accompanying table. • Check: TECH+reliability ≥ difficulty If the maintenance check is successful, all damage points will be deleted, if not, the tech was only able to repair half of the damage points.
Stardust's pirate group mugs an old cargo vessel. First, the initiative is rolled. Stardust, the pilot, rolls (2 6 7 8 8) = 4 successes. The cargo vessel's pilot rolls (3 6 9) = two successes. Stardust manoeuvres his spaceship into a convenient shooting position, and the board gunner fires. Shayla targets the cargo vessel and adds the weapon bonus of plasma cannon 3 to her MERCENARY value, thus she rolls eight dice overall (1 3 5 7 8 8 9 10) = five successes. The enemy spaceship is allowed to dodge. The pilot adds agility to his pilot profile, he rolls ( 1 2 3 7 5 5 6) = two successes. Therefore, the difference is 3 and Shayla inflicts six damage points, four are absorbed by the shield which is consequently switched off. The remaining two damage points go through to the ship. Now it is the cargo vessel's turn. The pilot moves the spaceship away from the pirates as far as possible, and the board gunner fires with his torpedo ( 2 3 4 4 7 7 9) = 3 successes. Needless to say, Stardust wants to dodge, he rolls (2 4 6 7 7 8 8 9 10) = 7 successes and easily evades the shot.
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Quirk tests Quirks only occur every now and then, that is what makes them so insidious. Every time a quirk test becomes due, you roll on the spaceship's quirk list with a d10. If there is a quirk on this position on the list, its effect occurs immediately, otherwise, nothing will happen. A quirk test becomes due on the start / stop of a flight, the start of a space battle or on a landing manoeuvre on planet.
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Quickstart
Treasure hunt The characters acquire a digital treasure map. They first have to wangle two keys to decipher the map. And of course two other pirate gangs are also after the treasure.
Overview • One of the characters has won the map from a tattered pirate captain. • The first key is a four-breasted peep show dancer who was abducted from FreePort by the first pirate gang. • The second key is in the ownership of the second pirate group. • The treasure is on the edge of the universe on a treasure asteroid.
Getting started As always, the pirates hang around on Two Eyed Jack. In a gamble they just now won a map that is assumed to lead to a hidden treasure. The pirates have hardly become the owners of the map when the tech realizes relatively fast that two keys are necessary for decoding the digital treasure map.
Liu Ren
Two Eyed Jack Two Eyed Jack is a pirate space station in the Braben Belt. The Belt lies on the edge of the free-trade zone. The space station is build upon an asteroid and got its name from the famous tavern Two Eyed Jack that is led by the one-eyed pirate veteran Jack.
Liu Ren is a stony broke Chinese pirate captain. He wears an old dirty overall and has oily ragged hair, but apart from that, he is an agreeable and funny chap. Liu has lost his spaceship and his crew to a meteor kraken, he was the only one who could save himself with a rescue capsule. Since that day, he gets drunk on Two Eyed Jack and gambles away his money preferably in Black Jack's Glory Hole.
Liu Ren informations about the map • The mechanical key has been stolen by Tanaka Mao (Liu Ren is still annoyed about that and gets furious). • The fingerprint is Alexa Reed's who was recently voted Miss Universe.
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Quickstart
Rumors about the treasure • It is part of a legendary Space Amazon’s treasure (true). • The treasure is cursed, that's why it has been hidden (false). • The treasure consists of ancient Romaha artefacts (Romaha: lost alien high civilisation) (false). • The treasure is protected by Greek mythical creatures (partly true: Mind the meteor kraken).
The map The map's measurements are 30 × 20 cm. It consists of brushed aluminium and it has got a large touchscreen on which the word “Locked” is written in big types. Beside the touchscreen is a fingerprint sensor. On the right upper side of the map is an aperture for an old-fashioned key with a bit.
TECH check • 2 successes: The first key seems to be a fingerprint. • 2 successes: The second key seems to be an ancient mechanical key with a digital interior. • 3 successes: The map is provided with a self destruction mechanism which is triggered if the map is opened without the keys.
The first pirate group First Key: Alexa Reed The first pirate group has got the first key, which is peep show dancer Alexa Reed. She was abducted from FreePort by the first pirate group. Her fingerprint is the map's first key. Alexa Reed is missed on FreePort for certain, and the PeepShwo in the Scumm Bar is only half as good without her four breasts. Alexa Reed is a Samnesian with artificial joints, Rog fdujr0yhvvho hair and two additional breasts. She wears IWO5 Gulyh sexy amazon-like clothes and she is always 6 Yhorflw| after a little flirt.
The pirate group The pirate group is led by Zamtor, a Kahadrian. A few days ago, they abducted Alexa Reed from FreePort. After that, they learned from the stony broke pirate captain Liu Ren that he lost the map to the player's pirate group. Zamtor is a small, sturdy Kahadrian who is always in a bad mood and
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The pirate group's actions 1. They hire some thugs (3 mercenaries with MERCENARY 4) on Two Eyed Jack to acquire the map. 2. They try to bribe a member of the characters group (5000 C) so that he or she will embezzle the map and the key. 3. They will attack the characters with their space ship.
FreePort FreePort is a free space port at the edge of the improbability zone where often not only pirates but also rebels stay. The Scumm Bar on FreePort is wellknown across the universe for its grog and, needless to say, for its peep shows.
Second pirate group Second Key The second key is an old-fashioned one like the ones you know from the 19th century. However, on the inside, it hosts delicate electronics that tend to loose connections and malfunctions.
The pirate group The second pirate group is led by the communistic rebel Tanaka Mao who is after the leader of the first group for some time past to take revenge for a fraud. By accident, he learned something about the treasure map during his chase. Tanaka Mao's ship is completely coloured in red; he is a convinced communist even though he is not well-disposed towards New Asia. He wears a completely red-coloured overall like the rest of his crew. He is pale and has got thinning grey hair.
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The pirate group's actions 1. They try to buy the map from the characters for 5000 UC. 2. They are going to attack the first pirate group. 3. They try to plant a whistleblower in the player's group.
The whistleblower The whistleblower is called Xia Xu, she is an Asian beauty and a renowned expert for improbability phenomena. She helps the characters to exploit the effects of the improbability zone and will pass her group these information.
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A Journey to the edge of the universe Once the characters have both keys, they are able to encode the map. At the edge of the universe, there is an asteroid resembling a typical treasure island and of course, the treasure lies on this asteroid. Also noted on the map are the treasures' exact coordinates. When entering the course, endless travel time will result. At that very moment, Xia Xiu forces herself on the characters as she wants to help them if she gets a share of the treasure.
Improbabilityzone Because it is highly unlikely reaching the edge of the universe, it is quite likely to reach it within the improbability zone. Within this zone, you can see everything that is unlikely, from flower pots up to speaking whales. The space blazes in all possible colours, gases flow in vortices and it is difficult to manoeuvre the spaceship.
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Improbabilityzone There, all probabilities are overridden, reversed, at the same time probable and improbable. Probability theory and even quantum physics fail.
Quickstart Only in the improbability zone it is possible programming a course that leads directly to the edge of the universe. If the course is set and the FTL fired, the spaceship will find itself immediately only one lightyear distant from the asteroid belt.
Edge of the universe The edge of the universe is a fascinating sight that catches everyone. The universe seems, like a waterfall, to drop into an abyss made out of nothing disappear again, briefly foaming up. At the edge of the universe fall is an asteroid belt wherein meteor kraken dwell that attack all ships that fly into the belt.
1: meteor kraken X: treasure asteroid
Meteor kraken The three meteor kraken will attack everything that comes near their meteorites. Meteor kraken have the size of small transport ships. They are able to bend massive steel with their gigantic tentacles, and their horny beaks can crack the armour of a space ship, their favourite food, without any problems. They are dangerous indeed, but not particular intelligent so they can be easily distracted or deceived.
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The treasure asteroid In the middle of the asteroid belt there is an extremely conspicuous asteroid with a radius of about one kilometre. It is brightly lit and resembles a Caribbean island in space. It has got a picturesque sandy beach that is surrounded by a wild jungle. In the middle of the jungle, a small hill piles up whose peak is covered in snow. The map leads the characters into the middle of the jungle, directly to a natives' village.
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The Natives Certainly, there also live natives on this treasure asteroid. These are wrecked Kahadrians who built a grotesque village out of the remains of their spaceship. Unfortunately, the Kahadrians still think there is a war between them and the other alien nations and so they launch a full-blooded attack on the pirates. Some persuasion should bring the natives back to their senses.
The Treasue Of course, the treasure is in a big chest that is hidden in a small cave and locked. A Tech or a Soldier wouldn't have any problems to open the chest.
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The treasure consists of:
• A box with Space Amazon gold with an exchange value of 100.000 UC (Fences pay maximum 5%) • Spaceship spoiler • A plan for a 0,5 FTL drive • The universe's first 3D digital camera without battery charger • Christmas decoration for a spaceship • 200 trading stamps for a shampoo for long hair • Ionized axe of the classic “Space Hero”
Imprint Autor and layout: Jürgen Mang Editor, motivator and good soul: Onno Tasler Translation: Friederike Schmutzler
Free role-playing Space Pirates is a free role-playing game. That means it has been developed and distributed without a publishing house and many editors. Space Pirates and this booklet are also available under the Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International.
https://jcgames.de/spacepirates/en/ 45
