Asteroids23

While I don't want to design a specific rules system for Asteroids23 (yet...) I feel it might benefit from some guidelines on how to handle space travel and navigation in the implied Belt setting. These rules are supposed to be as minimal as possible while covering those things that I feel are interesting to model in a game with this focus. Handling ship damage, navigation and fuel economy should create tension and interesting scenarios! Ships Most vessels that the PCs will have access to are either corvettes or frigates; ranging from 50 m to 100 m in lenght. They are frequently powered by fusion reactors, situated at the base of the ship. Most fusion reactors are toroid-shaped tokamaks, and therefore the reactor module looks bulky, often spherical, from the outside. The reactors power the ship systems and accelerate a stream of purplish, superheated plasma through nozzles under the reactor module.  In addition to the reactor, large fuel containers filled with frozen hydrogen (50% ...

Maybe you've heard rumours, or maybe you were pulled slightly off-course by a heavy but invisible celestial object. Now that you're here, there's nothing to see... until the stars suddenly shift in a small patch of sky before your eyes. There is a disk-shaped hole in the sky and beyond it, some other place, very far away.  Type:  Anomaly Function:  Unkown  Power source:  Void  Gravity:  Exerts the equivalent of a dense asteroid, disturbs the trajectories of nerby objects Size: About a hundred meters across   Affiliation:  None Population:  None Sells:  Nothing  Buys:  None There is a worm-hole like anomaly here, yet undiscovered by corporations and states. It leads to a point in space millions of light-years away. This point is not even situated in a galaxy, but in the mind-boggling void between them. The few "stars" that are dimly visible are in fact distant galaxies. There seems to be absolutely nothing in that place on ...

This nickel-rich asteroid is a typical mine; claimed by a small company and rapidly being gutted by swarms of machines and workers. Relative remoteness puts the operation at risk, raiders and pirates are a constant threat. Type:  Mine Function:  Mine  Power source:  Various  Gravity:  None Size:  2 km  Affiliation:  Corporate Population:  Thousands of miners Sells:  Nothing  Buys:  Protection  As many other exploited asteroids, this one is perforated with tunnels, the interior fully exposed to vacuum. Machinery for smelting and refinement covers a large amount of the surface and the tunnels are buzzing with robots, miners in heavy-duty suits, huge drill rigs and transport drones carrying containers of raw ore to the outside. The  foreman  wishes to cut costs by ending the contract with an expensive protection firm, instead hiring private actors such as the PCs for patrolling and escort of the ore freighters ...

The small fleet has been crawling through the void for months, undefended and low on resources. Rumours precede it; a caravan of a almost a hundred pilgrims in half a dozen ramshackle vessels. They say they were twice a many in the beginning, but malfunctions and pirate raids have taken their toll. Will you aid them or are they prey to you? Type: Fleet Function: Pilgrimage Power source: Various Gravity: Various Size: 6 vessel, mostly frigate-sized Affiliation: Religious Population: 83 Sells: Nothing Buys: Water, food, fuel, medicine These pilgrims are heading to [a holy site to be created later]. They are mostly poor folk, who have purchased the vessels at great personal cost. Most of them are nearly starving, and few of the ships provide tolerable living conditions. Fuel reserves are minimal and they maintain a low cruising speed in order to be able to afford the de-acceleration burn. It is unlikely that any but a few will make it unless aid is provided. If a ship can be captur...

Occupying an unlikely gap between the territories of several governments and corporations, this place is outside of any jurisdiction. It’s a swarm of hundreds of stations, scuttled ships-turned-habitats and converted asteroids towed here from across thousands of kilometres, engaged in a complicated, barely coordinated dance of orbits. Anything can be sold or bought here, competition is fierce and law enforcement minimal. Type:  Habitat cluster Function:  Free trading port Power source:  Various Gravity:  Various Size:  Hundreds of km across Affiliation:  Various  Population:  Thousands at any given time Sells:  Everything  Buys:  Everything  This is a place for trading, but not primarily for illicit goods. No taxes means that certain goods can theoretically be acquired cheaper, but that depends on the individual traders and the type of deal you are able to strike. There is a local Trader Council, composed of well-regarded trade...

A breeze of ionised particles, the crackle of broken transponders, heat blooming on the IR cam display and an increasingly intense tide of debris: these are the hallmarks of the aftermath of battle. The colony was hit hard, likely at catastrophic losses to both sides. It happened recently and it will be hours before government forces reach the site. You can see it now; the habitat cracked open by nuclear fire, like a singed egg of steel and stone. A frozen corpse bounces of the port sensor array. Grab from the dead what you can and get out. Type:  Destroyed habitat Function:  War zone Power source:  None  Gravity:     None Size:  900 m diameter Affiliation:  Government Population:  A few survivors at most  Sells:  Nothing Buys:  Nothing This colony was believed to be a hideout for rebels and insurgents. Government forces raided it but vastly misjudged the situation, resulting in a rapid and catastrophic escalation. It used to b...