Secrets of the Ancients Adventure 6 is out
- Thread starter AndrewW
- Start date
Nice. Just the altered stats and skills from the start made me go 'eh?' 'hmm...' 'awesome!' in short order.
Additional adventures/campaigns/sourcebooks set in the ancients era would be epic, especially once the sons show up. The characters, settings, and tasks are all superb. It's the same feeling I get when reading Xeelee sequence books.
We started planning (but never played) a First Ones campaign using the old Babylon 5 D20 sourcebooks, with the player characters as Vorlons and Vorlon agents - this has that same feel to it; a wonderful mix of near-omnipotence for your characters paired with 'holy crud' moments - more so than normal because they're such a shock - when you realise that either:
(a) you are facing something just as powerful as you - or more so - that can mess with stellar objects and the fundamental forces of the universe in a way even you don't understand. "What do you mean, Jumpspace isn't there anymore?"
(b) that for all your scientific understanding and the technology on board your starship, you are currently in the middle of a group of 500+ angry cavemen, personal nuclear dampers don't work so well against stone spears and your wonderful semi-sentient uberpistol still only has forty rounds in it....
Seriously. For all that it's a 23 page PDF, it's one of the best things I've seen for quite some time... please make this into a full book!
Character generation could require some modification, though...
"so...how long have you spent as a fleet officer?"
"About eight centuries so far. That's what - two hundred terms?"
"Right. Quite a few D6 rolls to make, then."
Additional adventures/campaigns/sourcebooks set in the ancients era would be epic, especially once the sons show up. The characters, settings, and tasks are all superb. It's the same feeling I get when reading Xeelee sequence books.
We started planning (but never played) a First Ones campaign using the old Babylon 5 D20 sourcebooks, with the player characters as Vorlons and Vorlon agents - this has that same feel to it; a wonderful mix of near-omnipotence for your characters paired with 'holy crud' moments - more so than normal because they're such a shock - when you realise that either:
(a) you are facing something just as powerful as you - or more so - that can mess with stellar objects and the fundamental forces of the universe in a way even you don't understand. "What do you mean, Jumpspace isn't there anymore?"
(b) that for all your scientific understanding and the technology on board your starship, you are currently in the middle of a group of 500+ angry cavemen, personal nuclear dampers don't work so well against stone spears and your wonderful semi-sentient uberpistol still only has forty rounds in it....
Seriously. For all that it's a 23 page PDF, it's one of the best things I've seen for quite some time... please make this into a full book!
Character generation could require some modification, though...
"so...how long have you spent as a fleet officer?"
"About eight centuries so far. That's what - two hundred terms?"
"Right. Quite a few D6 rolls to make, then."
Oh, I'm not saying it would be hard to do, I'd just like to see it. Given the scale of time - varying from 'real time' to activities over literally millenia* - I think terms are probably the wrong way to go.
Besides, the skills are more....comprehensive?
Fleet/1 probably comprises at least one level each in Tactics (Naval), Astrogation, Leadership, Discipline, Comms, Computers, Sensors, along with most Engineer, Pilot and Gunner skills and a fistful of appropriate Contacts and Allies.
Besides which; more specific skills probably become less important - when it's quite normal for a character to have an implanted wafer jack that holds Expert Everything/3 (check out the pre-made character Urd - effectively Vandal Savage goes TL20), does any specific 'knowing stuff' skill really matter?
The other thing that makes it interesting is the ability to have clone bodies on immediate standby, paranoia-style, rather than END scores. That and the personal shields means that weapons can be ridiculously deadly without worrying about wiping out the party; if you want to wander through a battlefield littered with combat robots armed with FGMPs, go nuts. Even if massive repeated casualties of the same player will lead to occasional "hide behind the mound of dead bards!" moments.
* I can see one of my players deciding to spend 3,000 years creating a new uplifted species from the Wombat just for the hell of it.
Hmm.....
Not sure. I think you'd definitely have to have something - the character creation process of Traveller is one of its big attractions - almost pregenerating an interesting character history - but you'd have to change something.
I suppose the easiest thing to do is just dump the time element of terms. Once you're significant enough to start being asked to do work for the Imperial Council, or a Son, or Yaskodray himself, you're operating on a historical scale of time. What matters is what you've achieved, whether it took days, years or centuries. Equally, you can't have an 'ejected from career' mishap in the same way because you're not ending up as just another random traveller.
It's probably more likely to work in reverse - you run through terms and the survival roll gets replaced with a 'get noticed' result which moves you into your role as a servant to the Council or one of the Immortals.
Some characters would get relatively few terms of training and then go straight there - someone selected at birth or custom-bred for the role - Custodian Null-834-D or Gvorr from the pre-selected characters - whilst others who'd 'earned' the role - Urd or the Droyne characters - would get several terms of (Something?) before they eventually roll up 'the lad's got talent' or whatever, meaning you'd start with a larger number of Allies, Contacts and Rivals, and maybe have many, lower skills rather than fewer better ones (although they need to allow for eccentric specialists, I guess!).
You can play some tunes with the benefits roll to even the characters out a bit.
Injury mishaps should be very rare - any injury that falls short of instantaneous obliteration is pretty much an inconvenience, so the careers - even military ones - will be pretty survivable. After all, if you end up a crippled, incompetent wreck then it's highly unlikely Grandfather's HR department will come calling, isn't it?
Not sure. I think you'd definitely have to have something - the character creation process of Traveller is one of its big attractions - almost pregenerating an interesting character history - but you'd have to change something.
I suppose the easiest thing to do is just dump the time element of terms. Once you're significant enough to start being asked to do work for the Imperial Council, or a Son, or Yaskodray himself, you're operating on a historical scale of time. What matters is what you've achieved, whether it took days, years or centuries. Equally, you can't have an 'ejected from career' mishap in the same way because you're not ending up as just another random traveller.
It's probably more likely to work in reverse - you run through terms and the survival roll gets replaced with a 'get noticed' result which moves you into your role as a servant to the Council or one of the Immortals.
Some characters would get relatively few terms of training and then go straight there - someone selected at birth or custom-bred for the role - Custodian Null-834-D or Gvorr from the pre-selected characters - whilst others who'd 'earned' the role - Urd or the Droyne characters - would get several terms of (Something?) before they eventually roll up 'the lad's got talent' or whatever, meaning you'd start with a larger number of Allies, Contacts and Rivals, and maybe have many, lower skills rather than fewer better ones (although they need to allow for eccentric specialists, I guess!).
You can play some tunes with the benefits roll to even the characters out a bit.
Injury mishaps should be very rare - any injury that falls short of instantaneous obliteration is pretty much an inconvenience, so the careers - even military ones - will be pretty survivable. After all, if you end up a crippled, incompetent wreck then it's highly unlikely Grandfather's HR department will come calling, isn't it?
Depends if you were important enough to have had a backup at the point you were obliterated...
Kind of what I was thinking. Essentially, you can be 'made to order', which means you can take better stats and skills at the start - but that means you'll pass your selection roll within a couple of terms at most - which means less benefit rolls and fewer events leading to less contacts and allies (but also fewer rivals and more control over what the character is capable of) and lower scores in skills outside your assigned specialty.
Okay....
Had a bit of a think.
The thing with benefits is that money, weapons, ship shares, and rivals/allys, are all bound up in the player's skills, so benefits will add to these.
Droyne/Synthetic/Primitive Cultures = allys
Fleet/Ground Forces = weapons
Economics/Logistics = cash, non military ships
Background-wise, individual races or homeworlds need not necessarily have any effect on skills, stats or...well...anything, really. Cavemen can be augmented to super-genius level and digital life-forms can download themselves into robotic bodies and go a-stomping.
The one thing I would do is give you one level in the appropriate Cultures skill.
Careers-wise, there's no real need for a qualification or survival roll - you just keep doing terms of whatever you like. What I'd suggest is that rather than a mishap as a bad thing, that forces you to retire (and become a traveller) you get 'selected' as an event result and get dragged off to become Yaskodray and Son's latest pawns.
Ageing doesn't exist. Anagathics will be available from every high street chemist and a good proportion of people will be suitably modified (or designed) not to age. Instead, just put in an ever increasing chance of being selected.
'Born to a purpose' individuals - which is the one thing you pick at the start - get a bonus to be selected (meaning selected earlier, meaning fewer terms) but get to pick their benefits
Need to figure out careers and specialities. Probably split it into two bits - the "do within the Empire" minion and the "do things outside the Empire" minion and then try and subdivide it. Some better names may help.
Had a bit of a think.
The thing with benefits is that money, weapons, ship shares, and rivals/allys, are all bound up in the player's skills, so benefits will add to these.
Droyne/Synthetic/Primitive Cultures = allys
Fleet/Ground Forces = weapons
Economics/Logistics = cash, non military ships
Background-wise, individual races or homeworlds need not necessarily have any effect on skills, stats or...well...anything, really. Cavemen can be augmented to super-genius level and digital life-forms can download themselves into robotic bodies and go a-stomping.
The one thing I would do is give you one level in the appropriate Cultures skill.
Careers-wise, there's no real need for a qualification or survival roll - you just keep doing terms of whatever you like. What I'd suggest is that rather than a mishap as a bad thing, that forces you to retire (and become a traveller) you get 'selected' as an event result and get dragged off to become Yaskodray and Son's latest pawns.
Ageing doesn't exist. Anagathics will be available from every high street chemist and a good proportion of people will be suitably modified (or designed) not to age. Instead, just put in an ever increasing chance of being selected.
'Born to a purpose' individuals - which is the one thing you pick at the start - get a bonus to be selected (meaning selected earlier, meaning fewer terms) but get to pick their benefits
Need to figure out careers and specialities. Probably split it into two bits - the "do within the Empire" minion and the "do things outside the Empire" minion and then try and subdivide it. Some better names may help.
Rikki Tikki Traveller
Cosmic Mongoose
I agree, the concept of a very high-level game such as this one has a certain appeal.
It could even be used in a Fantasy setting with the characters being "gods" working to mold the world into their image with other 'gods' resisting them.
It could even be used in a Fantasy setting with the characters being "gods" working to mold the world into their image with other 'gods' resisting them.
Ooh.....
Now that is a nice idea.
Fantasy flight do a warhammer board game called 'chaos in the old world', which has a similar theme - something similar in an RPG as 'agents of the gods'* might be superb - you have the high level power and threat, but also have a certain paranoia-esque rivalry with the other players because your world views don't necessarily line up.
* In the 'demigod' rather than 'paladin' sense of the phrase
alex_greene
Guest
Like I said, they called this kind of high level game "Barony" play in the Vampire: the Requiem supplement Damnation City. Your characters are the movers and shakers of the city, and you make and play individual agents to perform your Will.
You could run a modified version of this game set in the contemporary OTU, with your "characters" being political movements - the Imperials, local Nobles, Megacorps, criminal organisations, the Law, minor cults, major cults, the psion community and so on. Something similar to the abstract stats for business entities from Merchant Prince, really.
Actually, this is all starting to sound a lot like Steve Jackson's Illuminati to me ...
You could run a modified version of this game set in the contemporary OTU, with your "characters" being political movements - the Imperials, local Nobles, Megacorps, criminal organisations, the Law, minor cults, major cults, the psion community and so on. Something similar to the abstract stats for business entities from Merchant Prince, really.
Actually, this is all starting to sound a lot like Steve Jackson's Illuminati to me ...
Quick starting idea for follow-on missions (I always liked the High Guard Mission Generator!)
Sponsor
2-3 - Aliens - Perhaps this mission is a diplomatic quid pro quo that the empire has agreed to, a speculative service or working against a common enemy like a Dyabuse swarm, or perhaps the players owe something personally. Either way, they are currently in the service of a foreign power. Depending on the mission, it may or may not be a good idea to let people know this.
4-5 - Uplifted - this mission may be aid requested by an uplifted group (if advanced and influential enough to make such a request), or (more commonly) represents a request made on behalf of such a group by those in the empire responsible for overseeing the uplifted primitives.
6-7 - Faction - this mission was given to you by a political faction within the Droyne empire (such as one or more members of the High Council). This does not mean that they are not entitled to give you the mission, or that it is illegal, but the mission does not necessarily carry the approval of the entire council, and it is possible that other members may try to interfere. Depending on the player's contacts and philosophical leanings, it may also represent less legal factions, such as criminal groups like the League of New Thought.
8-9 - Council - This mission comes with the formal approval and authority of the entire high council. Whatever it is, it is clearly important, and - short of one of Grandfather's Sons overruling them- a task of the utmost priority.
10-11 - Son - One of Yaskodray's four hundred sons - the effective 'provincial governors' of the empire - has instructed you to carry out a mission for him. If this can be openly acknowledged, it gives you a massive weight of influence.
12 - Yaskodray - You were given this mission, in person, by Grandfather himself. It cannot be overstated what a bad idea it would be to screw it up.
Location
1 - Empire - A Droyne world or station, or and outpost or uplifted world fully integrated into the Droyne Empire. The Ansible and Portal networks will be readily accessible, and the players (or at least their masters) are likely to be considered respected authorities. The downside of such missions is that whoever ordered them - and their rivals - are likely to be able to monitor your activities in real time, giving you less freedom of action than you might enjoy on the fringes of the empire.
2 - Alien - A world belonging to an alien race that is a rival civilization to the Droyne. Most civilizations the Droyne encounter will have a tech level D6 lower than them, but will often control enough territory to form a significant threat. This might also represent a 'rogue' League or Consensus Droyne onyprith which does not recognise the Empire's authority. Unless able and willing to be extremely high-handed, subtlety and stealth are the player's best options.
3 - Uplifted - A world belonging to a species created by the Droyne, or a Droyne client race. Depending on the level of interaction with their masters, their tech level could be anything from non-existent to superior to the Imperial fringe systems. Many such systems represent experiments by Yaskodray or one of his Sons, and as such access is tightly controlled. The players may be seen as anything from angels to devils to an intermittent irritation, depending on the nature of the world.
4 - Primitive - A world whose inhabitent species have been left untouched (save perhaps for tribes or groups transplanted from it). Technology is likely to be non-existant by Droyne standards, and even trivial displays of power may have the players revered as gods or warlocks. Or burnt at the stake.
5 - Uninhabited - This system's mainworld supports organic life but has (currently) no sophont species. It may well be that one of the dominant life forms will be a suitable candidate for uplifting, or that the planet's pharmacology includes something new and interesting, even for the Droyne.
6 - Dead - This system contains no inhabited worlds - possibly no inhabitable planets at all. Of course, you could always build one. Equally, it may be that there is a spacial phenomenon of interest, either in the system or passing through it.
Mission
Empire
1-Protect
2-Investigate
3-Influence
4-Research
5-Construct
6-Hide
Alien
1-Protect
2-Investigate
3-Influence
4-Attack
5-Trade
6-Transplant
Uplift
1-Protect
2-Investigate
3-Influence
4-Modify
5-Exploit
6-Return
Primitive
1-Protect
2-Investigate
3-Influence
4-Modify
5-Exploit
6-Transplant
Uninhabited
1-Protect
2-Investigate
3-Modify
4-Research
5-Construct
6-Transplant
Dead
1-2-Exploit
3-4-Construct
5-Research
6-Hide
Attack
Those based on this world are an obstacle to the empire's goals. Eliminate them, or it, as required.
Construct
Something must be prepared here - perhaps as simple as an observation outpost or factory complex, perhaps some vast megastructure like a dyson sphere or the artificially induced formation of a gas giant. Possibly something smaller but no less effort intensive, like a tripwire grid, is to be put in place. Perhaps the entire system itself has been earmarked to be dropped into a pocket universe.
Exploit
The system, or the life forms in it, are a resource that the empire has decided to use. Perhaps engineered warrior species are about to be drawn up into service, or a moon disassembled for raw materials to build a fleet of ships (much to the concern of anyone living on the surface at the time). Maybe some spacial phenomenon can be exploited for energy, provided the research directing you how to do so is not flawed in some way.
Hide
This must be done subtley. Maybe the players are themselves hunted by another faction or alien race, or else they must hide some individual, device or facility. In either case, ensure it is well hidden in plain sight, or else stowed away in the depths of space. Be assured that the hunters will be persistant and inventive, so prepare defenses in case it is found after all.
Influence
Apply social or economic influence to achieve your master's goals. The more potent the subject, the more risky the activity - especially if you asked to do so covertly and you are subsequently discovered.
Investigate
You have been instructed to assess the biology, psychology and society of the inhabitents of this world, so as to be able to better manipulate, modify or exploit them in the future. It may be advisable not to tell them this.
Modify
A species on this world is of interest, but it's not quite right - you have been charged with modifying the race, either covertly or overtly, on a genetic level. Perhaps the race needs some preparation to survive transplanting to other worlds, or perhaps the time has come to introduce a sentient species into the ecosystem.
Protect
Pirates. Alien battlefleets. Dissidents. Rogue hegemonizing AI swarms. Solar flare sequences. Plagues. ELE asteroidal impacts. Supernovae. Anomalies in the very fabric of space and time. There's always something, and this time the something is aimed squarely at the lifeforms on this world that your master wants protected.
Research
Something about this system requires detailed scientific research - or maybe a research facility already exists here, and you are being tasked to direct its efforts to some end.
Return
This experiment is complete - successfully or unsuccesfully - and the time has come to return the transplanted primitives to their homeworld. See they return, and survive their return. In some cases, the intent may be to introduce a new, modified subspecies in the hopes that it will supplant its progenitor.
Trade
They have something you want, and (unless things change) you have been asked to avoid using force to get it. The question is, what do they want in return? Or is the whole thing just a diplomatic stunt to generate good will? Or is it a trap?
Transplant
One or more species on this world looks very interesting. Take a few hundred samples and create a colony somewhere secure that we can analyse them in detail. Be warned that this might be a much harder task if the species in question is dangerous - or worse yet, an advanced spacefaring race themselves.
Complications
1- Competing Faction. Someone else within the empire either wants to stop you, or wants to suceed before you do and may be prepared to resort to sabotage to ensure this. Use the Sponsor table to determine who.
2- Personal Interest. Either the world in question is the player's own home world, or else a close friend or ally, or a precious asset, is located there. Can you ensure its safety without compromising the rest of the mission?
3-Outside Involvement. The League, or another alien race, has also decided to involve themselves in your affairs.
4- Unexpected Discovery. Social, scientific or biological, something here is not what you were lead to expect. A disconcertingly high proportion of active telepaths in a species, for example, will make a covert infiltration a most challenging prospect. Perhaps you arrived in time to witness the world's first test of a Jump drive, or perhaps you suspect that the gas giant is inhabited after all.
5- Previous Involvement Over thousands of years of service, it is not surprising to find you have been somewhere before? But how long ago, are you remembered, and if so how? Monsters? Debunked Myths? Folk Heros? Archeological Curiosities? Gods?
6- Two of the above. This is mission is clearly going to be one of those "interesting" ones.
Timescale
1- Urgent. Whatever the task is, it must be complete within a few days of your arrival. Quite possibly that is all the time you can have - or else matters will be out of your hands.
2-3- Normal. You will have a few weeks or even months to ensure everything is done correctly.
4- Extended. This task will require one or more years of effort.
5- Lifespan. The kind of endeavour requiring several generations of work, you will be involved in this task for the better part of a mortal lifespan.
6- Vast. Centuries or even millenia of work are involved in this task, with your presence required at key points of the project. In between, you will need to ensure that minor matters can be dealt with without your attention, and possibly put in place means to preserve yourself through the span of time by near-C flight, cryo- or chemo-stasis, or other methods.
Resources
1- Spartan. Perhaps to avoid alerting another power, or at least to placate them, you are being deployed with significantly limited resources - perhaps the unpleasant experience of having to intervene personally with only your hand-held equipment and a few drones. Completing your mission will require careful planning and maximising the effect of those few resources at your disposal.
2-4- Adequate . You have sufficient resources to accomplish your task, provided nothing untoward occurs. Only if your resources are lost, cut off or damaged will they become an issue.
5-6- Near unlimited. The importance of this mission to your patron is such that no expense is being spared. Fleets of ships, resources sufficient to reshape worlds, and the scientific infrastructure to make most of the laws of physics bend to your needs are at your disposal.
Sponsor
2-3 - Aliens - Perhaps this mission is a diplomatic quid pro quo that the empire has agreed to, a speculative service or working against a common enemy like a Dyabuse swarm, or perhaps the players owe something personally. Either way, they are currently in the service of a foreign power. Depending on the mission, it may or may not be a good idea to let people know this.
4-5 - Uplifted - this mission may be aid requested by an uplifted group (if advanced and influential enough to make such a request), or (more commonly) represents a request made on behalf of such a group by those in the empire responsible for overseeing the uplifted primitives.
6-7 - Faction - this mission was given to you by a political faction within the Droyne empire (such as one or more members of the High Council). This does not mean that they are not entitled to give you the mission, or that it is illegal, but the mission does not necessarily carry the approval of the entire council, and it is possible that other members may try to interfere. Depending on the player's contacts and philosophical leanings, it may also represent less legal factions, such as criminal groups like the League of New Thought.
8-9 - Council - This mission comes with the formal approval and authority of the entire high council. Whatever it is, it is clearly important, and - short of one of Grandfather's Sons overruling them- a task of the utmost priority.
10-11 - Son - One of Yaskodray's four hundred sons - the effective 'provincial governors' of the empire - has instructed you to carry out a mission for him. If this can be openly acknowledged, it gives you a massive weight of influence.
12 - Yaskodray - You were given this mission, in person, by Grandfather himself. It cannot be overstated what a bad idea it would be to screw it up.
Location
1 - Empire - A Droyne world or station, or and outpost or uplifted world fully integrated into the Droyne Empire. The Ansible and Portal networks will be readily accessible, and the players (or at least their masters) are likely to be considered respected authorities. The downside of such missions is that whoever ordered them - and their rivals - are likely to be able to monitor your activities in real time, giving you less freedom of action than you might enjoy on the fringes of the empire.
2 - Alien - A world belonging to an alien race that is a rival civilization to the Droyne. Most civilizations the Droyne encounter will have a tech level D6 lower than them, but will often control enough territory to form a significant threat. This might also represent a 'rogue' League or Consensus Droyne onyprith which does not recognise the Empire's authority. Unless able and willing to be extremely high-handed, subtlety and stealth are the player's best options.
3 - Uplifted - A world belonging to a species created by the Droyne, or a Droyne client race. Depending on the level of interaction with their masters, their tech level could be anything from non-existent to superior to the Imperial fringe systems. Many such systems represent experiments by Yaskodray or one of his Sons, and as such access is tightly controlled. The players may be seen as anything from angels to devils to an intermittent irritation, depending on the nature of the world.
4 - Primitive - A world whose inhabitent species have been left untouched (save perhaps for tribes or groups transplanted from it). Technology is likely to be non-existant by Droyne standards, and even trivial displays of power may have the players revered as gods or warlocks. Or burnt at the stake.
5 - Uninhabited - This system's mainworld supports organic life but has (currently) no sophont species. It may well be that one of the dominant life forms will be a suitable candidate for uplifting, or that the planet's pharmacology includes something new and interesting, even for the Droyne.
6 - Dead - This system contains no inhabited worlds - possibly no inhabitable planets at all. Of course, you could always build one. Equally, it may be that there is a spacial phenomenon of interest, either in the system or passing through it.
Mission
Empire
1-Protect
2-Investigate
3-Influence
4-Research
5-Construct
6-Hide
Alien
1-Protect
2-Investigate
3-Influence
4-Attack
5-Trade
6-Transplant
Uplift
1-Protect
2-Investigate
3-Influence
4-Modify
5-Exploit
6-Return
Primitive
1-Protect
2-Investigate
3-Influence
4-Modify
5-Exploit
6-Transplant
Uninhabited
1-Protect
2-Investigate
3-Modify
4-Research
5-Construct
6-Transplant
Dead
1-2-Exploit
3-4-Construct
5-Research
6-Hide
Attack
Those based on this world are an obstacle to the empire's goals. Eliminate them, or it, as required.
Construct
Something must be prepared here - perhaps as simple as an observation outpost or factory complex, perhaps some vast megastructure like a dyson sphere or the artificially induced formation of a gas giant. Possibly something smaller but no less effort intensive, like a tripwire grid, is to be put in place. Perhaps the entire system itself has been earmarked to be dropped into a pocket universe.
Exploit
The system, or the life forms in it, are a resource that the empire has decided to use. Perhaps engineered warrior species are about to be drawn up into service, or a moon disassembled for raw materials to build a fleet of ships (much to the concern of anyone living on the surface at the time). Maybe some spacial phenomenon can be exploited for energy, provided the research directing you how to do so is not flawed in some way.
Hide
This must be done subtley. Maybe the players are themselves hunted by another faction or alien race, or else they must hide some individual, device or facility. In either case, ensure it is well hidden in plain sight, or else stowed away in the depths of space. Be assured that the hunters will be persistant and inventive, so prepare defenses in case it is found after all.
Influence
Apply social or economic influence to achieve your master's goals. The more potent the subject, the more risky the activity - especially if you asked to do so covertly and you are subsequently discovered.
Investigate
You have been instructed to assess the biology, psychology and society of the inhabitents of this world, so as to be able to better manipulate, modify or exploit them in the future. It may be advisable not to tell them this.
Modify
A species on this world is of interest, but it's not quite right - you have been charged with modifying the race, either covertly or overtly, on a genetic level. Perhaps the race needs some preparation to survive transplanting to other worlds, or perhaps the time has come to introduce a sentient species into the ecosystem.
Protect
Pirates. Alien battlefleets. Dissidents. Rogue hegemonizing AI swarms. Solar flare sequences. Plagues. ELE asteroidal impacts. Supernovae. Anomalies in the very fabric of space and time. There's always something, and this time the something is aimed squarely at the lifeforms on this world that your master wants protected.
Research
Something about this system requires detailed scientific research - or maybe a research facility already exists here, and you are being tasked to direct its efforts to some end.
Return
This experiment is complete - successfully or unsuccesfully - and the time has come to return the transplanted primitives to their homeworld. See they return, and survive their return. In some cases, the intent may be to introduce a new, modified subspecies in the hopes that it will supplant its progenitor.
Trade
They have something you want, and (unless things change) you have been asked to avoid using force to get it. The question is, what do they want in return? Or is the whole thing just a diplomatic stunt to generate good will? Or is it a trap?
Transplant
One or more species on this world looks very interesting. Take a few hundred samples and create a colony somewhere secure that we can analyse them in detail. Be warned that this might be a much harder task if the species in question is dangerous - or worse yet, an advanced spacefaring race themselves.
Complications
1- Competing Faction. Someone else within the empire either wants to stop you, or wants to suceed before you do and may be prepared to resort to sabotage to ensure this. Use the Sponsor table to determine who.
2- Personal Interest. Either the world in question is the player's own home world, or else a close friend or ally, or a precious asset, is located there. Can you ensure its safety without compromising the rest of the mission?
3-Outside Involvement. The League, or another alien race, has also decided to involve themselves in your affairs.
4- Unexpected Discovery. Social, scientific or biological, something here is not what you were lead to expect. A disconcertingly high proportion of active telepaths in a species, for example, will make a covert infiltration a most challenging prospect. Perhaps you arrived in time to witness the world's first test of a Jump drive, or perhaps you suspect that the gas giant is inhabited after all.
5- Previous Involvement Over thousands of years of service, it is not surprising to find you have been somewhere before? But how long ago, are you remembered, and if so how? Monsters? Debunked Myths? Folk Heros? Archeological Curiosities? Gods?
6- Two of the above. This is mission is clearly going to be one of those "interesting" ones.
Timescale
1- Urgent. Whatever the task is, it must be complete within a few days of your arrival. Quite possibly that is all the time you can have - or else matters will be out of your hands.
2-3- Normal. You will have a few weeks or even months to ensure everything is done correctly.
4- Extended. This task will require one or more years of effort.
5- Lifespan. The kind of endeavour requiring several generations of work, you will be involved in this task for the better part of a mortal lifespan.
6- Vast. Centuries or even millenia of work are involved in this task, with your presence required at key points of the project. In between, you will need to ensure that minor matters can be dealt with without your attention, and possibly put in place means to preserve yourself through the span of time by near-C flight, cryo- or chemo-stasis, or other methods.
Resources
1- Spartan. Perhaps to avoid alerting another power, or at least to placate them, you are being deployed with significantly limited resources - perhaps the unpleasant experience of having to intervene personally with only your hand-held equipment and a few drones. Completing your mission will require careful planning and maximising the effect of those few resources at your disposal.
2-4- Adequate . You have sufficient resources to accomplish your task, provided nothing untoward occurs. Only if your resources are lost, cut off or damaged will they become an issue.
5-6- Near unlimited. The importance of this mission to your patron is such that no expense is being spared. Fleets of ships, resources sufficient to reshape worlds, and the scientific infrastructure to make most of the laws of physics bend to your needs are at your disposal.
