Terror in the Stars

This is a Don't Rest Your Head hack written by Veredium. It was to be published in a book of DRYH hacks, but that book got cancelled.

You have been selected to boldly go where no one has gone before, but as your voyage commences, you have the dread feeling that space is not a place meant for man. Instead of exploring strange new worlds, you find yourself having strange new thoughts and boldly bending reality in a way that has your crewmates eyeing you all too suspiciously.

Instead of movies like "Alien" where there's a clear external threat and the crew must work together, think of movies like "Event Horizon" or "Pandorum" or "Sunshine," or even "Cube." Think about the perils of the Warp without the Emperor's light and guidance. Your comrades-in-arms at the start of the mission will seem like the most immediate threats before this is over.

Character Generation

Character generation needs to be done as a group, as you're forming a crew of specialists, and collaboratively describing the ship that will be the setting.

Like DRYH, character generation is a series of open-ended questions.

• Why were you chosen for this mission?

This is what skill or ability you bring to the group's benefit as a whole. Make sure every crewmember's role is unique and vital to the mission. It might be a skill your have mastered, or something the mission sponsors knew would be needed against the horrors of space. Other crew may think a psych therapist is redudant on a mining mission, but make sure the players know your character's purpose. Your answer to this question will determine the name of your "Ship's Systems" dice (formerly Exhaustion). See below.

• What are your insecurities?

What drove you to excel, to be that special person that was selected for this mission? Hyperspace travel can bring out the worst in people, and give these insecurities a voice. And hands. And teeth. This will determine your Paranoia talent (formerly Madness). Your character's fears will shape the reality of deep space, and deep space will fuel your character's fears. How you usuall deal with these niggling self-doubts and fears will determine your Fight & Flight marks.

• How does your ship work?

The main setting for this story will be your starship, so the players collectively should decide on its features. Is it spacious, an echoing empty space, or cramped with little room to evade each other? Is it a small crew of just the characters, or a large staff of loyal mooks and fodder? Is there a helpful ship's AI, is it merely a tool or is it a member of the crew?

• What were you told during briefing?

This is how the players can give the GM story hooks, and hints about what kind of story they're expecting. Does the ship's doctor know about space madness? Do any crew members know about the previous missions that failed? Are there procedures for handling crew members that have been compromised?

• How well do you know the other crew members?

If you know another character, come up with two facts about them that you find to be uncomfortable. Make sure the other player is okay with these, but remember the facts need not be true. If you don't know the other character, come up with two questions that worry you. This gives hooks to the players for the paranoia that comes later in the story.

• Why did you accept this mission?

This defines your personal mission, aside from the mission the crew is working on together. This will help direct the player as the mission falls apart and the crew are working at odds to each other.

• How are you afraid you'll die?

This tells the GM how to shape the Nightmare antagonists. The enemies will take the shape of whatever terrifies the crew (maybe because the crew create them, maybe because they are cunningly savvy). Getting attacked by the fears of someone else's psyche should add fuel to the mistrust between crewmates.

System Changes

Crew still have Discipline dice. It is difficult to stay disciplined when you learn your comrades are secretly planning to eliminate you. A discipline outcome means the ship is working more smoothly or repairs were successful (decrease Systems/Exhaustion by one), or a modicum of trust between crew has been regained (reclaim a Fight or Flight response).

Instead of Exhaustion, characters have (ship) Systems dice, named something relevant to your role in the ship's crew. Using Systems dice is to use ship facilities beyond specifications. A Systems outcome to a conflict means that something important on the ship has broken. When you accumulate six Systems dice, a major catastrophe has happened to the ship and your character is right in the middle of it, cut off from the rest of the crew or otherwise completely incapacitated.

Instead of Madness, characters have Paranoia. Using Paranoia will fuel the wrongness of deep space or hyperspace or the Warp, with surreal or abhorrent effects. A paranoia outcome means the character must check off a Fight or Flight response and act appropriately. Losing all your reactions triggers an acute psychotic episode, and a permanent Paranoia die, and a growing certainty that the only way you'll survive this or finish the mission is to eliminate the rest of the crew. At six Paranoia, your psychosis commits you to to becoming a warped nightmare to achieve this.

Pain is still pain, but the nightmares that use pain dice are more personal to the crew instead of the setting. The GM doesn't need to always attack a crew member with their own personal nightmares. ("Why are YOUR fears attacking ME? Do you secretly hate me or something???") A pain outcome means the crewmmember lost something they value.

Despair and Hope coins work the same way.

Links

Originally published on the Critical-Hits blog.