Mini-Ships

Written by Greenspore Combat Rules Adapted From Some Ship Combat Rules by Joshua Justice Edited by Violet Ballard

To Dr. Violet for seeing the value and helping to publish me To Ian for getting me into this whole gig To Terry Herc for checking my eyes To Maher for art assistance To Mustard for muse

To my Fiance, because I will love you always

Inspired by the wildest parts of aviation history and the “raygun” design era, these tin-cans might fill the ranks at a outer-rim space station ripe for disaster, or they might be bought by poor PCs without the credits needed to acquire a safer, sturdier ship of their own. Good luck out there.

Guidelines

Hulking industrial haulers, massive military carriers and plot-armored hero ships are not the only vessels fit for science fiction. What about the swarming fighters that explode in foreworks at the first blow, science vessels at the edge of space with only a sheet of metal between their crew and the cosmos, or rickety shuttlecraft which could become depressurized by a stray bullet from a smuggled pistol?

These are the ships you'll find here. These are all Class 0 .

Class 0 Ship Stats

Assign ships a number of Hits just like you would assign wounds to Contractors. Class 0 ships have 3 Hits by default. If a ship is particularly weak, they have have 2 Hits, and if they have extra shielding or equipment a ship can have 4 Hits. Any time a ship is hit with a weapon, it takes a Hit. This includes damage from handheld weapons. The location of the hit is determined by the Ship Hit Location Table and something narrative happens to that portion of the ship. Someone may need to make repairs or redirect power to avoid further damage and/or damage to players. If a ship is hit up to its maximum number of Hits, it's not necessarily destroyed, but it is definitely debilitated in some way until it can be repaired or towed somewhere.

Jump Drives and Travel

Some miniships are Jump capable, but it is exceedingly dangerous in such small craft as any collision is deadly. Usually lacking in the cryopods needed to keep travelers sane, PCs gain +1 stress per Jump distance instead of suffering cryosickness. PCs cannot reduce their Stress while flying in a miniship.

Weapons

Miniships are incapable of mounting weapons designed for ships. Small, handheld weapons like Laser Cutters and Grenade Launchers are the best chance a miniship has at taking out another ship.

Combat Procedure

1. Players choose a station: Piloting, Navigation, Weapons, Engine Room

2. Start each round with the Pilot making a Speed Check to see if the crew will go before or after the ship they are engaging. If no crew member is a pilot, the ship's AI will make the Speed Check for a value of 50. If there is no ship AI, make a Speed check at [-] using the highest Speed stat assigned to a crew member.

3. Each character may do something with their station. Roll all of these actions at once to determine the outcome of the Combat engagement, very similar to the Cooperative Narrative Dice Pools that can be used by PCs.

Actions

• Attack (weapon operator rolls combat)

• Evade (attacks against ship at disadvantage, no roll)

• Retreat (leave the engagement, pilot rolls speed)

• Aiming (gives [+] on attacks, no roll)

• Scan (can be done with a handheld scanner if not equipped on the ship, gives [+] on initiative check at top of next round, gives info on ship, no roll)

• Boarding (attempt to dock and board another ship, pilot rolls speed to avoid damage upon docking)

Ship Hit Location Table

d10	Location
1	Navigation
2
3	Engines
4	Bridge
5	Living Quarters
6	Weapon Station
7	Jump Drive
8	Galley
9	Workshop
10	Life Support

Range Bands

Class 0 ships use a different set of range bands from the larger ships in the Shipbreakers' Toolkit because they operate at a different scale.

Range	Description
Out of Reach	The possibility of an unhindered exit from the battle.
Long Range	Can scan objects/establish comms . Attack @ [-].
Medium Range	Can scan objects or establish a communication link. Attack without advantage or disadvantage.
Short Range	Visual contact. Attack without advantage or disadvantage.
Close Range	Close visual contact. The distance at which boarding is possible. You can view/scan objects in detail with advantage. Attack with advantage.

Using the Ships In-Game

PCs might encounter damaged or derelict miniships, ripe for plunder or salvage. Roll a d10 for the Ship Type against the ship table or simply choose the vessel they find. Due to their thin hulls, such vessels are unlikely to have any human survivors on board. See “Space Salvaging System” later in this section.

Available Ships

All ships have a transponder.

d10	Name	Description	Mortgage	Thrusters	Battle	Systems	Payload	Upgrades
1	AE02 Skycar	Got two people to move with 20th century sensibilities?	250kcr	SAVE: 12 FUEL: 4	SAVE: 8 MDMG: 0 HITS: 1 HARDPOINTS: 0	SAVE: 10 Cryopods: 0	CREW:2 CARGO: 0 GALLEY: None	Cozy Cabin. Only room to store a backpack of items per crew. Incapable of sustained operations of more than three days.
2	C450 Fighter	A three ton dog that’s mostly thruster and little else.	500kcr	SAVE: 50 FUEL: 2	SAVE: 30 MDMG: 1d2 HITS: 1 HARDPOINTS: 1 Manual Laser Cutter	SAVE: 10 Cryopods: 0	CREW: 1 CARGO: 0 GALLEY: None	Cramped Cabin. No room to store items nor retrieve them once in this craft. Incapable of constant operations of more than a day.
3	XFY Pogo Fighter	A seven ton ship with more wing than armor.	1mcr	SAVE: 47 FUEL: 2	SAVE: 30 MDMG: 1d2 HITS: 1 HARDPOINTS: 2 Manual Laser Cutter, RPG Launcher	SAVE: 13 Cryopods: 0	CREW: 1 Cargo: 0 GALLEY: None	Close Cabin. Little room to store items on ship or retrieve them once in this craft. Incapable of constant operations of more than 2 days.
4	AE1 Shuttle	A shuttlecraft for shorter and less traveled spacelanes.	2mcr	SAVE: 12 FUEL: 6	SAVE: 8 MDMG: 0 HITS: 1 HARDPOINTS: 0	SAVE: 10 Cryopods: 0	CREW: 25 CARGO: 0 GALLEY: Snacks	Economy Bunking. Holds up to 22 passengers and 3 crew for a week. 80% chance you will be unable to reduce stress while a passenger.
5	AE180 Shuttle	AE1’s big brother, every aspiring spaceline needs one.	3mcr	SAVE: 16 Fuel: 6	SAVE: 4 MDMG: 0 HITS: 2 HARDPOINTS: 0	SAVE: 10 Cryopods: 10	CREW: 50 CARGO: 0 GALLEY: Snacks	Economy+ Perks. Bunks up to 44 passengers and 6 crew for a month. 75% chance you will be unable to reduce stress while a passenger.
6	Fairy Dropship	For free merchants looking to avoid rather than outrun.	15mcr	SAVE: 19 FUEL: 8	SAVE: 30 MDMG: 0 HITS: 2 HARDPOINTS: 0	SAVE: 41 Cryopods 5	CREW: 5 CARGO: 0 GALLEY: MREs	Stealthy in Space. Sensors don’t identify normal detection range info about a Fairy unless the Fairy enters firing range or tries evasion
7	Do31 Dropship	Fast as a fighter, this ol gal can move troops or goods.	25mcr	SAVE: 45 FUEL: 8	SAVE: 30 MDMG: 0 HITS: 2 HARDPOINTS: 0	SAVE: 15 Cryopods: 6	CREW: 6 CARGO: 1 GALLEY: MREs	Configurable Cargo. Half the cargo bay has flip-down troop transport. 12 Crew capacity if an APC, cargo crate, or other vehicle is not stored.
8	VVA14 Mini	Used to hunt smugglers and seditionists alike.	50mcr	SAVE: 47 FUEL: 10	SAVE: 30 MDMG: 1d2 HITS: 3 HARDPOINTS: 3 RPG Launcher, RPG Launcher, RPG Launcher	SAVE: 13 Cryopods: 0	CREW: 3 CARGO: 1 GALLEY: MREs	Hedgehog Hold. For mines, either the cargo or ammo can be dumped as an attack on a pursuer in Contact Range, no Weapons Check
9	LIMRV Yacht	Just nine tons of white paneling will get you places.	7.5mcr	SAVE: 50 FUEL: 4	SAVE: 5 MDMG: 1d2 HITS: 1 HARDPOINTS: 0	SAVE: 5 Staterooms: 6	CREW: 6 CARGO: 0 GALLEY: Deluxe	Luxury Accommodations. Can satisfy up to 6 passengers. Crew do not gain stress from regular miniship travel.
10	Re-roll

Space Salvaging System

A damaged VVA14 is one ripe for reclamation.

Feel free to salvage existing ships, or design your own ships using the following as a guide. If you find yourself exceeding the guidelines consider designing/using a full ship instead.

Miniships generally have...

• Hits <= 4

• Hull = 0

• Hardpoints < 3

• Fuel < 10

• Thrusters > Systems

• Crew < 50

• 0-1 Cargo

• Range and O2 < Full Ships

Stocking the Ships

Fuel and Cargo. Roll 1d10 to determine the amount of Fuel the crew can reclaim. The 1d10 roll must be lower than or equal to the Max Fuel. An odd roll on a ship with cargo means that one crate from the random cargo table is found.

Scrapping a Ship. Roll a d100. If d100 roll is below the Max Hits of the ship the crew recovers the rolled #/10 crates of scrap.

Rolling for Loot. Roll a d100. If the 1d100 roll is below the Max Crew one special Loot item is found.

Random Loot

d5	Item	Description
1	VIP Ticket	Dinoplex Cataclysm, Eastworld, Chunky Cheese's Eateria, etc.
2	Mind Orb	Psychic, asleep. See “Scrap Rats”/“Orbital Debris” for awake.
3	Battery	Lasts 12 hours and self-recharges while unplugged > 12 hours.
4	Antimatter	Very Explosive! Will be pursued if not kept on the down-low.
5	Credstick	Tons of credits and an ID for “Denter” on Prospero Station.

Random Cargo

d10	Type	d5 Details
1	Mining	1. Equipment 2. Ore 3. Licenses 4. Drones 5. Explosives
2	Survey	1. Vac Suits 2. Hazard Suits 3. Stimpacks 4. Androids 5. Food
3	Cleaner	1-4. Vac Sealed Toilet Paper 5. Non-fungible Cargo in $ Crate
4	Military	1. Torpedos 2. Blackbox 3. Fighter Parts 4. Dogtags 5. Armor
5	Hunting	1-2. Trophies 3. Figurines 4. Big Fishtank 5. Holopaintings
6	Xeno	1. Plants? 2. Fungi 3. Animals 4. Slime? 5. Bones?
7	Station	1-2. Docking Clamps 2-3. Empty Lockers 5. Intercom System
8	Antique	1. Clothing 2. Woodcraft 3. Dinosaur 4. Horse 5. Metalwork
9	Drugs	1. Thalasin B 2. Cocaine+ 3. Wine 4. Mummy Dust 5. Poison
10	Misc	1-4. Reroll a d10 5. Hidden Loot Item Within

Selling Your Salvage

• Scrap sells for 1kcr per Unit,

• Cargo and Fuel for 1d10kcr per Unit,

• Loot for 1d10x10kcr per item, which may not take a full unit of cargo space. Units are standard shipping crates.

Harvesting Parts as Plot Hooks

Abandoned ships serve as a great instigator of adventure. The type of adventure can easily be determined by where it is that the attempted reclamation occurs. See the following page for guidelines on how to make that happen in Company, Core, and Rim Space.

In Company Space

If players choose to loot in a sector owned by a corp, have them send goons after the players the next time they stop at a station or inhabited planet with an ultimatum “Pay us 75% of the stolen salvage value, or work off your dues by completing a job for our boss.” Escalate the situation each time they stop to rest if they do not heed the warning, and make a show of the company's superior resources.

In Core Space

Salvaging in civilized space is a simple and calculated risk. Getting near legitimate salvage will trigger the players to receive a message from the local authorities telling them that they are invited to reclaim its materials if they “Pay a fee of 25% of salvageable value.” Roll for Cargo, Fuel and Scrap prior so you can give them the value and fee. Untouched ships are likely that way due to being hazards or hard to get value out of. Roll on salvaging skill challenges table to generate tasks until you have a total equal to the ship's catalog number. See “From Challenges to Crisis” for what happens if players fail or crit fail their checks.

In Rim Space

Salvaging in unclaimed territory comes with its own risks. Players might even be forced into salvage if a system they travel to does not have a functioning fuel station within or warp cores. It is recommended that bringing aboard anything from a salvaged ship carries with it some sort of danger. An alien entity, ghostly crew, or an artifact which changes the destination of their next jump to someplace hostile are all good options.

Adventures and Recommended Reading

See the Mothership Homepage or Ian Yusem’s “Third Sector” Collection for potential adventures that can be triggered in the process of trying to reclaim salvage. For a great salvaging base, see "The Mole on Pirad One". If your players are more interested in dogfighting or want to scavenge from an active warzone, consider using these ships within Ian Yusem’s "The Wrath of God".

From Challenges to Crisis

If your salvage operation is intended to be a skill challenge (for example neglected wrecks in Core Space described previously) simply have players make a number of skill checks equal to the ship’s catalog number, or roll a d10 for any non Miniship to determine the # of checks needed. If you fail a check, subtract one cargo, fuel or scrap. If you critically fail a check then roll a ship megadamage. In cases where multiple checks need to be overcome, rolling a repeat skill from the tables after that check has been passed is replaced with the closest check of the Warden’s discretion.

Cause of the Last Crew's Demise

d10	Cause	Description
1	User Error	The crew catastrophically misunderstood something in the user manual.
2	Poisoning	The crew tried to eat something very inedible.
3	Accident	Classic but unfortunate signs of heavy machinery operated while intoxicated.
4	Sabotage	Sabotage - Something was intentionally sabotaged using improvised traps. The damage seems recent.
5	Cheap Fueling	Two incompatible fuels were mixed.
6	Bad Timing	System reboot and EULA confirmation occured at a critically dangerous time.
7	High-G Turns	Crew perished and the ship was torn apart.
8	Input Error	A key metric (cryostatis length, coordinates, power consumption, etc) was entered with an extra 0.
9	Faustian Ideals	Profane and hellish symbols are inscribed somewhere within the ship.
10	Conflict	An armed attack was coordinated. Holes in all of the walls are at the right height to aim for torsos.

Salvaging Skill Challenges

d20	Challenge	Description
1	Art	Graffiti by a legendary artist is worth much more intact. Grants one extra Loot item if Art skill check is passed.
2	Botany	Silicone space plant needs to be separated from the green wires and chips in the electrical system.
3	Jury Rigging	The usual tethering points on this vessel have been damaged and need to be MacGuivered.
4	Linguistics	Manual for and labels aboard this ship are in an obscure language.
5	Zero G	Spacewalk! Every salvaging operation has one of these but only the hardest require such skill.
6	Industrial	A crush hazard is assured due to internal stress on its hull, unless it can be cut just right.
7	Computers	High voltage systems are dangerously haywire and need to be discharged safely.
8	Math	Reactor calibration is far outside of normal parameters and needs to be adjusted.
9	Rimwise	Notes for how to operate this modified machine are left in Rim Cant, a code from the edge of the galaxy.
10	Chemistry	A perpetually ignored slow leak of coolant.
11	Zoology	You discover a Venusian Opossum [I:45 W:3(5)] interfering until it starts to follow you around.
12	Athletics	Removing a critical piece requires considerably more strength than usual, as if on purpose.
13	Mechanical	Broken parts need to be fixed before they can be removed to avoid risking crew safety.
14	Piloting	Salvage has acquired a spin pattern from venting gasses and your ship needs to match its velocity.
15	Psychology	Salvage has acquired a spin pattern from venting gasses and your ship needs to match its velocity.
16	Hacking	Aftermarket code patch locks airlocks and spams your ship with signals and messages until disabled.
17	Physics	Radiation warning is triggered, and the ship reactor may go critical if not dealt with.
18	Explosives	Removing further fuel covered components comes with an ignition risk.
19	Engineering	Engineering problem is a textbook example, but how good were you at engineering to begin with?
20	No Check	Wreckage is a tangled mess and it takes d100/2 minutes to sort out your next move.