So I'm kicking together a game, and my PCs are a Generic Space Pirate (complete with robot arm and crippling addiction to anti-aging drugs), an old doctor guy with far, far more ranks in Persuade than in Medic and a ton of money and perks, and a Naval officer who was framed for a crime he didn't commit, released from prison to work on a sting operation, took the fall hard when said sting operation went as bad as it could possibly get, and finally said to hell with this and became a berzerker on a barbarian world. Plus a Hiver scout, just chilling out and observing in human territory.
At the moment it looks like the doctor's Lab Ship is going to be the PCs' boat, which raises a number of interesting points. Lab ships have plenty of room and experimenting space, but no weapons (until they install some, which is gonna be hell of pricey), so there's a limit on what can reasonably be done with one. And they're going to need missions, because the payments are going to be merciless*.
I'm thinking the first mission will be to bring some science pilgrims from the Ascendant Union to a recently-uncovered Ancient site. The Union believes that the Ancients ascended to a higher plane of existence* and that all the ruins and technology they left behind are clues to help us poor dopes stuck in this reality ascend (their methods tend to blend legitimate scientific inquiry and new-age Space Brothers mumbo jumbo). Anyway, no sooner do they get to the holy site when, whaddya know, it's swarming with tomb robbers and nogoodniks. The players have to deal with these claim jumpers while trying to make sure none of the "secrets of the Ancients" get damaged or destroyed, and also must try to corral a bunch of pie-in-the-sky types who aren't going to let scoundrels stop them from pursuing legitimate scientific inquiry (setting up "orgone detectors", determining the exact dimensions of the ruins and comparing them to the distance to the galactic core and other Important Numbers, entering drugged trances to communicate with the Ancients, etc).
I'm trying to come up with new wrinkles and oddities to toss at them, as well as memorable personalities for the pilgrims. Of course, anything else that a Lab Ship could do would be great. Any suggestions?
* Someone mentioned in a previous thread that a lab ship could be jointly-controlled with a scientific institute, corp or government, which I like. I can even justify a government lending it to the Union, as they tend to make all their findings available to friendly governments (a sort of proselytizing) and collectively have a fair sight more scientific know-how than many of the smaller confederations.
**The real Ancients, that is. The evidence of the Final War is considered to be from some other race that found the Ancients' technology and used it to wipe themselves out. Exactly which ruins qualify as "real" Ancient sites and what counts as perversions of their intent leads to very loud arguments at Union dinners. They agree on the Dyson spheres and that's about it.
At the moment it looks like the doctor's Lab Ship is going to be the PCs' boat, which raises a number of interesting points. Lab ships have plenty of room and experimenting space, but no weapons (until they install some, which is gonna be hell of pricey), so there's a limit on what can reasonably be done with one. And they're going to need missions, because the payments are going to be merciless*.
I'm thinking the first mission will be to bring some science pilgrims from the Ascendant Union to a recently-uncovered Ancient site. The Union believes that the Ancients ascended to a higher plane of existence* and that all the ruins and technology they left behind are clues to help us poor dopes stuck in this reality ascend (their methods tend to blend legitimate scientific inquiry and new-age Space Brothers mumbo jumbo). Anyway, no sooner do they get to the holy site when, whaddya know, it's swarming with tomb robbers and nogoodniks. The players have to deal with these claim jumpers while trying to make sure none of the "secrets of the Ancients" get damaged or destroyed, and also must try to corral a bunch of pie-in-the-sky types who aren't going to let scoundrels stop them from pursuing legitimate scientific inquiry (setting up "orgone detectors", determining the exact dimensions of the ruins and comparing them to the distance to the galactic core and other Important Numbers, entering drugged trances to communicate with the Ancients, etc).
I'm trying to come up with new wrinkles and oddities to toss at them, as well as memorable personalities for the pilgrims. Of course, anything else that a Lab Ship could do would be great. Any suggestions?
* Someone mentioned in a previous thread that a lab ship could be jointly-controlled with a scientific institute, corp or government, which I like. I can even justify a government lending it to the Union, as they tend to make all their findings available to friendly governments (a sort of proselytizing) and collectively have a fair sight more scientific know-how than many of the smaller confederations.
**The real Ancients, that is. The evidence of the Final War is considered to be from some other race that found the Ancients' technology and used it to wipe themselves out. Exactly which ruins qualify as "real" Ancient sites and what counts as perversions of their intent leads to very loud arguments at Union dinners. They agree on the Dyson spheres and that's about it.