I N E XO R A B L E

A 24XX Hack
RULES
PLAY: Players describe what their characters
do. The game moderator (GM) advises when an
action is impossible, requires extra steps,
demands a cost, or presents an avoidable risk.
Players only roll to avoid risks.
ROLLING: Roll a d6 skill die — higher with a rele‐
vant skill, or d4 if hindered by injury or circum‐
stances. If helped by circumstances, roll an
extra d6; if helped by an ally, they roll their skill
die and share the risk. Take the highest die.
1–2 Disaster. Suffer the full risk. GM decides if
you succeed at all. If risking death, you die.
3–4 Setback. A lesser consequence or partial
success. If risking death, you’re maimed.
5+ Success. The higher the roll, the better.
If success can’t get you what you want (you
make the shot, but it’s bulletproof!), you’ll at
least get useful info or set up an advantage.
LOAD: Carry as much as makes sense, but more
than one bulky item may hinder you at times.
LEARN: After a loop, increase a skill
↬ ↬ ↬
(none d8 d10 d12).
DEFENSE: Say how one of your items breaks to
turn a hit into a brief hindrance. Broken gear is
useless until the next loop.
HARM: Injuries require medical attention to heal.
If killed, you return next loop. Favour inclusion
over realism.
RUNNING THE GAME: Lead the group in setting
lines not to cross in play. Fast-forward, pause, or
rewind/redo scenes for pacing and safety, and
invite players to do likewise. Present dilemmas
and problems you don’t know how to solve. Move
the spotlight to give everyone time to shine. Test
periodically for bad luck (e.g., run out of ammo,
or into guards) — roll d6 to check for (1–2) trou‐
ble now or (3–4) signs of trouble. Offer rulings to
cover gaps in rules; double back during a break
to revise unsatisfying rulings as a group.
OFFICERS
► Choose your character’s career path.
CAPTAIN (OR COMMANDER): Skilled in
Commanding (d12), Diplomacy (d8). Take a
master keycard. Others listen to your orders.
ENGINEER: Skilled in Technobabble (d8), Ship
Systems (d10). Take systems repair kit (bulky).
You know how to get around the ship without
the corridors.
MEDIC: Skilled in Medicine (d10) and one other
skill (d8). Take a medkit and bottle of powerful
pills. Crew members trust you.
HELM (OR PILOT): Skilled in Piloting (d10) and
either Combat (d8) or Ship Systems (d8).
Take a lucky charm.
SCIENTIST: Skilled in Researching (d12) and
Critical Thinking (d8).
Take a research paper, it is relevant to the Event.
SECURITY: Skilled in Combat(d10), Athletics
(d8). Take a weapon and personnel locator.
► Choose your character’s origin.
NON-HUMANOID: Invent 2 traits, like empathic
link, wings, natural camouflage, strong, or six-
limbed.
ANDROID: You are an artificial life-form. Take
synth skin (looks human, non-conductive) or a
case (conductive, break harmlessly for
defense). Increase 1 skill.
HUMANOID: Where do you call home? Apply 3
skill increases (from no skill
↬ ↬ ↬
d8 d10 d12). You can take new skills
and/or increase skills you already have.
► Choose or invent skills (if prompted by
origin).
Athletics, Combat, Commanding, Critical
Thinking, Diplomacy, Electronics, Hacking,
Intimidation, Medicine, Piloting, Recalling,
Researching, Ship Systems, Technobabble,
Theorizing
 DÉJÀ VU DETAILS
► When the loop begins, the GM narrates the ► Invent or roll for personal details.
opening scene again. Everything feels familiar LOOP OPENING ACTIVITY
and increasingly uneasy.
1 Away Team 4 Meal 7 Resting
FIRST LOOP: This is the point in the episode 2 Chat 5 Meeting 8 Ship
when the crew realizes something is wrong. 3 Game 6 On Bridge Duties
Loop Count begins at 0.
SURNAME
► In Later Loops, Roll Recalling to see if you
1 Acker 6 Fox 11 Kask 16 Qadir
remember a detail from the last loop. Setback
2 Black 7 Gee 12 Lee 17 Singh
may leave the memory fuzzy.
3 Cruz 8 Haak 13 Moss 18 Tran
Increase the Loop Count by 1. 4 Dallas 9 Iyer 14 Nash 19 Ueda
5 Engel 10 Joshi 15 Park 20 Zheng
LATER LOOPS: If you Recalled a detail you may
treat a single roll this loop, related to the detail, NICKNAME
as being helped by your memory.
1 Ace 6 Fuse 11 Killer 16 Red
DISASTERS: Can cause the loop to jump ahead 2 Bliss 7 Gray 12 Lucky 17 Sunny
or increase Loop Count by 2. Use sparingly, 3 Crater 8 Huggy 13 Mix 18 Treble
unless crew members have died. Favour fun and 4 Dart 9 Ice 14 Nine 19 V8
drama over punishment. 5 Edge 10 Jinx 15 Prof 20 Zero
► Starships have basic versions of these CURRENT SHIP MISSION
functions. In an emergency, players pick a
1 First Contact 11 Diplomatic
function to do or help with.
2 Trade Agreement 12 Earnest
COMMS: Audio to personnel comms. Audio and 3 Transport Goods 13 Formal
Video to other ships. 4 Transport People 14 Gentle
5 Defensive 15 Innocent
CRAFTS: Comes with a shuttle and an escape
6 Aggressive 16 Knowing
pod
7 Investigate Wreck 17 Prickly
DRIVE: FTL jump and sub-light speeds. 8 Investigate Ship 18 Reckless
9 Explore Planet 19 Terse
EQUIPMENT: Vac suits for crew and transporter.
10 Explore System 20 Weary
Note: For personal gear invent your own or refer
SHIP NAME
to 24XX products, at GM discretion.
1 Artemis 11 Morgenstern
LABS: Science and Med-bay.
2 Blackjack 12 Phoenix
SENSORS: Radar plus FTL-wake detection. 3 Caleuche 13 Pride
4 Canary 14 Restless
SHIELDS: Break harmlessly for defense.
5 Caprice 15 Silver Blaze
WEAPONS: Deflector turrets. 6 Chance 16 Stardust
7 Darter 17 Sunchaser
8 Endeavour 18 Swift
9 Galactis 19 Thunder Road
10 Gradient 20 Wayfarer
 AGAIN? This happened before. This happened before.
The starship crew’s fate is bound to repeat until you solve the mystery.
As the cycle begins again things distort as though time itself forgets how things look and act...
Gather clues, determine the cause, and break out of this loop!

►START OF GAME: The Event that occurs at ► Roll d6 to see if the loop distorts.
The End or create your own. Add Loop Count to roll.

1 Accident. What goes wrong on board? 1 If no crew member Recalled a detail,

2 Collision with another ship. Who are they? choose one, it is now Recalled.
3 Collision. Where did the object come from?
4 Discovery. What phenomenon is found? 2–5 Something is different this time.
5 FTL Mishap. What horrors occur? Determine the current distortion.
6 Madness. The crew turns on itself.
7 Massacre. What kills the crew? 6+ Determine a Distortion and
8 Relic. What artifact is brought on board? Emergency for this loop.

► CAUSE: When the crew has gathered enough ► SHIP EMERGENCY

clues, determine the cause of the loop.
1 Airlock cannot be closed
Now fix it!
2 Comms offline or garbled
1 Alien life-form 3 Engine overheating or leaking radiation
2 Artifact brought on board recently 4 Fire on-board. Where?
3 Extreme gravity affecting space-time 5 Helm mishap, no control or wrong actions
4 Engine components mixing. What broke or 6 Intruder detected
who causes it? 7 Life Support Offline
5 Psychic being in pain 8 Medical Emergency
6 Rare particle build-up 9 Power loss
7 Science research experiment. On-board or 10 Shields down!
nearby? 11 Structural damage
8 Simulation Glitch. None of this is real. 12 Transporter glitch

► CLUES: Invent your own or roll when crew ► DISTORTION: What changes as time repeats?
investigates theory.
1 Androids can only speak to each other
1 Abnormal levels of.... (dark matter, anti‐ 2 All text is in a non-standard alien script
matter, psi-particles, etc) 3 Body Swap. Pass your sheet to the left.
2 Android senses malfunction 4 Crew must whisper
3 Electromagnetic interference //online? Type withnospacesalllowercase
4 Engineering was making a change to... 5 Doors are all fused shut
5 Fluid is leaking from somewhere 6 Everyone looks the same as...
6 On-board sensor readings are strange 7 Hair Colour or other feature is different
7 Nearby ship/planet/star is... 8 Humanoids see infrared only
...Radiating 9 Skill Dice must be flipped over before
...unknown determining success.
...high in levels of... //online? Odd: Double. Even: Halve.
8 Sensor fluctuations 10 Something that should happen, doesn’t.
9 Unusual access logs 11 The walls are covered in...
10 Visual Anomaly reoccurs 12 Weak: all unskilled rolls are hindered

23XX: Inexorable version 0.1 • Game by James Firth • 24XX Rules are CC BY Jason Tocci •
Art by Beeple (Mike Winkelmann) • Game Text Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY 4.0)