Space Station 13
Life with Nanotrasen is the only life you've ever known. Your parents worked for the Nanny, their parents did, your grandparents did, their grandparents did... all the way back to the Void Wars, when the bluespace links that held the galaxy-spanning human empire together were destroyed, planet-cracking became a staple of human warfare, and centuries of technological progress was forgotten.
And it's not that bad. At least Nanotrasen looks out for you... or at least they look out for their investment in you, which come to think of it wasn't actually all that large. But it's better than fending for yourself out there, and they are the richest for-profit statelike organization in known space, being the only company to get its hands on meaningful amounts of Plasma.
Speaking of, you've been reassigned to the premier Plasma research and mining station in Nanotrasen's vast fleet; Space Station 13. You've heard horror stories - brutal employee revolts, changeling infiltration, plasma leaks, deadly AI malfunction, alien infestations, and of course the Syndikat and the Space Wizard Federation (they're not actual wizards, of course, just flamboyant mutants... or at least that's what the corporate news reports say) are interested in looting the place, but your bosses are looking out for you, right?
Right?
... Right?
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VITAL STATISITCS:
System: GURPS 4e
TL: 12 (but see me about ultratech; only some of the stuff the book lists is actually part of the setting)
Starting Wealth: None (No disadvantage - PCs live in a corporate commune)
Point Level: 200/75
Estimated Length: Very Short (1-2 months)
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I'm doing a GURPS game based on the online multiplayer game Space Station 13. The PCs will be crewmen aboard an advanced TL12 space station, built to mine and research a mysterious substance called "plasma"; a rare and exotic chemical with applications ranging from chemistry to biology to power generation.
You are all employees/citizens of Nanotrasen Systems, the largest employer and manufacturer in known space, and the only organization that has control of meaningful quantities of plasma. Earth is considered nothing more than a fairy tale, and humanity, once spanning the entire galaxy, has been fractured into millions of (relatively) tiny feudal states. Working for Nanny-T can sure suck, but they keep you warm and fed, and if the station's crew stick together you should be able to survive anything space can throw at you...
The station will have a crew of about thirty to fifty, but I'm only looking for three to six players. Most crewmen will be NPCs.
This game, like the Space Station 13 video game itself, will be highly comedic in nature. The setting can be downright absurd at times (as if the Space Wizards didn't tip you off.) Make sure you pack a sense of humor.
See the SS13 wiki for available crew positions:
http://www.ss13.eu/wiki/index.php/Jobs
Here's a quick summary of them:
Captain: Command heads and everyone, administer authorize lethal injections at random, ensure CentCom's orders are actually carried out, protect DAT FUKKEN DISK
Head of Personnel: Command Civilian/Cargo staff, manage door access, change people's jobs, become Captain when you kill the Captain the Captain dies.
Head of Security: Orchestrate a coup Command Security staff to ensure law and order onboard the station, as well as enforcing the Captain's mad incompetent tyranny orders
Research Director: Command science staff, suborn fix the AI when you drive it it goes insane
Chief Medical Officer: Command medbay staff, declare other Heads medically incompetent, collaborate with RD to hide LSD gas grenades all over the station
Chief Engineer: Be ignored by Command Engineering staff, have access to a fancier hardsuit than everyone else.
(Department heads also have the option of doing any of the subordinate jobs, of course, and have special privileges on top of that, such as access to the bridge)
Warden: Abuse Manage prisoners
Security Officer: Be the LAWWWW
Detective: Solve crimes, be noir, own a .38 snub nose (loaded with mysterious "stun bullets")
Station Engineer: Nap Fix hull breaches & broken windows, set up the singularity engine, but yeah mostly nap
Atmospheric Technician: Cause Fix air problems and axe murder start fight fires
Scientist: Make bombs, study alien lifeforms, make cool gadgets, show the Detective and Bartender how to make real bullets for their guns
Roboticist: Build robots and make murdered dead crew into cyborgs, build robot suits for murder mining
Medical Doctor: Hang out near the machines that Heal the sick and injured
Chemist: Make drugs for the incompetent doctors to administer incorrectly
Geneticist: Try to give people superpowers, but mostly just revive the dead, turn your enemies into monkeys and let the Chef make them into monkeyburger
Virologist: Study and make vaccines for deadly viruses, make deadly viruses, be blamed for any disease outbreak regardless of whether it's your fault
Quartermaster: Command Cargo people, have cool shades
Cargo Tech: Do absolutely nothing, occasionally be asked to move crates around, refuse
Shaft Miner: Mine asteroids for materials R&D and Robotics can use to make awesome gadgets and robot suits
Janitor: Clean the floors, make everyone slip, defend your overpowered janitorial cart at all costs
Bartender: Tend bar, starts with a double-barrel (stun) shotgun
Chef: Make food from people you murdered
Botanist: Grow incredibly poisonous plants in the hydroponics bay
Assistant: Cause mischief
Clown: Exile from the Clown Planet; try and fail to make everyone laugh, succeed at making everyone slip on bannana peels
Mime: *gestures upward*
Chaplain: Be a priest, cremate bodies of people that you murdered can't be cloned or borged
Librarian: Nothing
Lawyer: Defend criminals at formal trials which never happen
AI: Electrify Open doors, electrify have control of all machines on the station, go insane
Cyborg: Robotic versions of Engineers, Security Officers, Miners, or just general robot people
Ian: Corgi
You can have skills outside your job description, but you must take skills related to your actual job, and your starting equipment will be determined by what job you choose to apply as.
Quick Glossary:
Shitcurity: Security, negative connotation
Comdom: Captain, negative connotation
Space Hobo: 'Assistants'; crew with no actual jobs
Grey tiders: Especially rambunctious space hoboes
Grey tide: A large collection of grey tiders. Avoid at all costs.
Robust (adjective): Badass, strong, dangerous
Robust (verb, 'to robust'): Beat up / murder / attack (esp. with toolbox)
Borg (noun): A cyborg crewman, composed of a mechanical frame supporting a human brain. Borgs act like robots, not people, and are held to the same laws as the station AI
Borg (verb): Turn someone into a cyborg
Forceborg (verb): Turn someone into a cyborg against their will - equivalent to murder
Centcom: Nanotrasen Central Command; where the emergency shuttle goes, and where orders and Death Squads come from
Cuban Pete: Mischievous asshole
Crit (adjective, 'in crit'): Dying, esp. unable to breathe without life support
DAT FUKKEN DISK: The Nuclear Authentication Disk needed to trigger the station's self-destruct. It's the Captain's repsonsibility to look after this.
Emag: Cryptographic sequencer. A tool used exclusively by Syndikat agents to breach security and sabotage equipment.
Husk: A corpse that has been damaged beyond the point of resurrection
Internals: Personal oxygen equipment; good idea to carry this everywhere you go.
Malf (adjective, 'the AI is malf'): Used to describe AI or cyborgs that have had their Laws altered deliberately or accidentally so as to begin causing harm to the crew.
One-human: Modifying an AI or cyborg's lawset to only recognize a specific person as human
Plasma/Biotoxin/Toxin: A rare and powerful catalyst and reagent; usable in liquid, gaseous, and solid forms. Always distinctively purple in color; extremely flammable and toxic.
Lord Singuloth: Pet name for the miniature black hole that power's the station's singularity generator
Syndikat: Basically the space mafia. An criminal organization that loves stealing from Nanotrasen and killing their employees
Syndie/Tater: Hostile Syndikat agent
SWF/Space Wizards: Hostile mutants (or at least that's the official story) with a flair for the dramatic; extremely hostile and extremely dangerous
Space Carp: Aggressive spaceborne fish
Silicon: General term for artificially intelligent beings, including the station AI, borgs, and hand-held pAIs.
Full glossary here: http://www.ss13.eu/wiki/index.php/Terminology
