x plorers corps

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X-plorers Corps

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INTRODUCTION

X-Plorer Corps is designed to be a toolbox for science fiction

gaming in an Appendix N atmosphere. Great care has been taken

to provide all the necessary pieces to equip this toolkit without

sacrificing flexibility through useless clutter. The chapter on

Background includes paragraphs of information players and

judges need to know. The chapter on Character Classes provides

the four standard X-plorers classes. The chapter on Equipment

presents the tools and technology Characters will use or encounter

frequently – including sample interplanetary ships and advice onhow to craft your own. The chapter on Monsters and NPCs

reveals many potential friends and foes, both common and exotic.

The final chapter provides advice for judges and unveils a few

Campaign Starters to jumpstart your campaign in the stars.

X-plorers Corps is an imaginative blending of the core X-Plorers

RPG material with key elements from Charles Rice’s PrometheusRising Campaign , which are used under license, and the Dungeon

Crawl Classics game system from Goodman Games. Now the

stars are your only limit!



Appendix N Adventures

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BACKGROUND

ALSS - Advanced Life Support System employs genetically

engineered microbes which ingest carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen.

This allows ships and EV Suits to eschew oxygen tanks and CO²

scrubbers. These microbes have a very short lifespan (to prevent their

being loosed into a biosphere), and have a limited duration as a result.

However, ALSS have a very long shelf life before they are activated.

Androids - Androids are built for work. They are often found piloting

and maintaining ships while the majority of the crew and passengers

are in cryosleep. Androids tend to be tall, muscular, and agile. Seldomis thought is given to an Android’s aesthetics, and they are often made

of cheap materials that corrode and pit on the surface over time. Actual

holes in their “skin” is a common sight. Their internal components are

purposely designed to fail over time, leading to a very short “life”. The

average life expectancy of an Android is less than 10 years. Androids

tend to be quiet, utilitarian, and subservient. They are programmed

with a very “cooperative” personality. Most Androids were only “born”a month or two prior to entering service. This is by design so that the

Androids will not live long enough to develop their own

personalities…or to question their lot.

Conglom - Conglom is the largest and most powerful of the mega-

corps in the United Corporate Nations with millions of

employee/residents on Luna, Mars, and throughout the Sol system.

Known as much for its illegal as well as legal operations, Conglom's

headquarters/capital is Tycho City, Luna.

Clones - Clones are servants of mega-corps, grown and trained in

mass cloning facilities. They are subjected to growth-acceleration and

reach adulthood in ten years. After this, they receive an additional five

years of specialized training. Clones are often considered the property

of the mega-corp that created or purchased them. Traditional Clonemodels include: Jacks/Jills (laborers and technicians), Bambis/Kens

(entertainers and hostesses), and Janes/Joes (soldiers and security).

Clones continue to age at a fast pace and usually live around 35-40 years

total.



X-plorers Corps

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Cryotubes - Even with technological breakthroughs and reverse-

engineered alien technology, travel between locations in the Sol System

(or in The Reaches) can still take a long time. Some trips last for nearly

two years. Cryotubes are often employed to shorten the perceived

duration of a trip for travelers, and to avoid wasting supplies.Cryotubes reduce the physiological operations of an individual to a

tiny fraction of their normal rate, effectively putting them in near-

suspended animation. Cryotubes can be operated by nearly anyone

with just an hour of training. Most seasoned travelers awaken from

cryosleep and return to full effectiveness after a single turn.

Fabricators -Fabricators are small teams of robots designed toconstruct permanent structures in environments hazardous to humans.

They are often placed on a planet, moon, or asteroid to construct a

habitat before humans arrive.

The Gate - The Gate is huge, ancient portal to and from an entry point

near a densely packed number of systems, named The Reaches by

human explorers. The Gate was cloaked when discovered a decade

ago, but became visible when a small craft crashed into the portal whileinvestigating a spatial disturbance caused by The Gate. It appears to

be a huge stone ring of ancient origin just beyond Saturn's solar orbit.

How is operates, what powers it, and who created it all remain a

mystery. Travel through The Gate is two-way and instantaneous in

either direction. It is often suggested that The Gate may have been the

entry point in Sol System for the black saucers that attacked Mars.

Haulers - Haulers make a living plying the spaceplanes transporting

goods and raw materials all across the Sol System. Highly independent

and self-sufficient, Haulers spend the majority of their time in transit,

only loitering at a port long enough to gather supplies and hear the

latest rumors. Hauler ships are often purchased or handed down from

one generation to the next and many clearly show signs of having been

altered, add-on to, and repaired over and over again.

Maulers - Maulers are a custom-designed clones used by mega-corps

for security and colony peacekeeping. Force-grown to adulthood in a

mere five years and then trained in combat for two more, Maulers

typically average around seven feet in height, weigh over 300 pounds,



Appendix N Adventures

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have blocky and brutish features, and are genderless and sterile by

design. They usually have a lifespan of only 15-20 years.

Mega-Corps - mega-corps is the generic name used to refer to the

hundreds of mega corporations that make up the United Corporate

Nations.

The Prime - The Prime are a highly intelligent and advanced race

that inhabit Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter. Their natural habitat

is an aquatic biosphere as complex as that of the Earth's oceans.

Naturally psionic, Prime elders are able to communicate telepathically

over vast distances. Their bodies are blubbery to protect them from the

cold of Europa’s oceans, making them clumsy on land. In the water,however, their entire appearance changes, and The Prime are fast, sleek,

graceful, and deadly if they choose to be. Most Primes are slightly

shorter than humans, males averaging 5'9, females about half a foot

shorter. Their weight averages 350 lbs for males, 300 for females. The

Prime, for their part, are happy to educate humans about their pacifistic,

theocratic society, which boasts colonies on four moons, and has been

exploring space for 500 years. The Prime refuse to have anything to dowith Androids or robots. These do not register mentally at all, and thus,

according to the Prime Order, are mere objects.

The Reaches - The Reaches is a name for the densely packed systems

found by traveling through The Gate. While the UCN and mega-corps

have been sending X-plorer and exploration teams through The Gate

for nearly a decade, The Reaches appear to contain dozens of systems

with many inhabitable worlds, alien ruins and wonders to be

discovered.

Rewrite - A small minority of people choose to have their DNA

altered in a radical fashion, creating genomes that exist nowhere in

nature. These are the Rewrites, and an unending variety of them exists.

Ruins - From the time that Conglom first established a base on Luna,

humans have found and continue to discover alien ruins all over the

Sol System. While some of the ancient technology appears to be

designed for humans (or, at least, humanoids), no one knows just how

many alien species have visited, explored or even called the Sol System

home. Nearly all of the alien technology no longer operates and all



X-plorers Corps

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attempts to directly extract information from the ruins have failed.

Though not part of any ruin, UCN scientists have successfully reverse-

engineered two pieces of alien tech from the single black saucer downed

over Mars. This has given humanity the ability to produce artificial

gravity on a limited scale and an Ion Plasma beam weapon with twicethe range and power of the old UV Lasers of the previous century.

United Corporate Nations - The United Corporate Nations (or

UCN) was created in the wake of a devastating alien attack nearly two

decades ago. Black saucers of unknown origin suddenly appeared over

the main Conglom facilities on Mars and bore down with powerful

beam weapons. Within ten minutes, Mars was defenseless. It was then

that a Cyber Unified Resources ship traveling within range of Mars

seemingly captured the invader's attention and they veered away in

pursuit. After destroying the ship, the black saucers raced away with

unbelievable speed. As word of the attack spread throughout the Sol

System, CEOs began contacting each other and negotiating a merger

of sorts that would help protect all mega-corps from future attacks. The

United Corporate Nations was founded with a charter to supervisecorporate dealings, create and operate a military independent of any

mega-corp to safeguard business interests and employees, and to send

out exploratory teams to discover unknown aliens and investigate (or

eliminate) potential threats.

X-plorer Corps - The X-plorer Corps is the highly trained and

equipped explorer branch of the UCN's military. X-plorers usually

operate in teams of four or more (depending upon the mission). Theyenjoy the latest innovations in technology, and – because experience

has shown that individual initiative succeeds on these missions more

than strict adherence to orders – they are allowed to exist outside of

the normal military chain of command as well. They are typically

recruited at the age of 15 and attend a five year training academy on

Luna. After graduation, they are commissioned as officers, assigned to

teams, and sent all over the Sol System and The Reaches on missionsof exploration, research, infiltration, and rescue. Where military backup

is required, X-plorers are sometimes given a tram or a squad of

Janes/Joes traveling in cryotubes to provide additional firepower.

x plorers corps

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