Background

[Supercape]

Background:

You play a space colonist on Titan (an interesting moon of Saturn!). There are two currently active bases, Alpha and Beta, located 2 KM for each other (as well as the now disused original / emergency base called “Shelter”, which is less advanced and now primarily and emergency shelter should Alpha or Beta fail). Each base has a crew of 4 colonists (a total of eight people are on Titan right now).

Each base has several domes (1: Personal Quarters, 2: Recreational/Communal Area, 3: Fungus Cultivation Food Supply, 4: Computer/Communications, 5: Laboratory, 6: Infirmary, 7: Workshop/Engineering, 8: Fusion Reactor) each connected by a short tunnel. Each dome can be environmentally sealed from the others and has an airlock to the surface of Titan. The domes are largely automated by the Computer (A Friendly “AI” named “Boss”, although actually there are two such identical “AI’s”). The doors go “swish” in a satisfying way on command, but can also be manually operated.

There are some key points / principles about Titan. I don’t want to get Hard Sci Fi, so I suggest we go with the narrative flow rather than dissect out the finer points of xeno geology.

1. Titan is Cold. Really cold. And with a thick atmosphere, it is very good at conducting away heat from anything not cold. Living on Titan is a serious problem in terms of heat. Normal base life is not a problem (due to excellent insulation and power generators), but…power failures…

2. Titan is Dark. It has a thick atmosphere and 1% of Earth’s sunlight. For the purposes of the game, it varies between pitch black and a full moon in light. Enough to get spooky.

3. Titan is Low G. Not spooky, but fun. You can jump around a lot (0.14G), and given its thick atmosphere, you can strap on some fabric under your arms and fly.

4. Titan has a thick, hazy atmosphere. There is no depressurisation issue. But it is cloudy and “foggy”.

5. Titan has no oxygen in its atmosphere. You need an oxygen supply to breathe.

6. Titan rains hydrocarbons. It is full of liquid ethane, methane, and other chemicals that are potentially dangerous if in contact with oxygen. You can presume that these chemicals are siphoned off when entering an airlock (Which takes time). If you bypass protocol and rush through an airlock, there is a risk of your base / vehicle becoming a nasty gas/oxygen mix…careful with those plasma torches…

And that’s about it. The point here is to feel the pressure of a very alien and hostile environment. In particular, dark, smoky, and cold.

On the latter note, there will no doubt be issues around hypothermia when inadequately insulated and / or without heat sourcing. This will mean CONx5 rolls every interval (from 1 hour to 10 seconds), reducing the CON to x4, x3, x2, and x1 (minimum) every interval passed. Failure to make a roll means the loss of 1D3 Hit Points. You could have funky stuff like frostbite (APP or even DEX/SIZ permanent loss) – if you fancy a good story (“Let me tell you how I lost my ear…”).