COSMIC

QUEST Adventure
Science Fiction
Roleplaying

A Supplement for
THOSE DARK PLACES
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LAY IN A COURSE FOR ADVENTURE!
Those Dark Places was conceived and written as a dark sci-fi roleplaying game,
where players faced the dangers and horrors of working in deep space. I was
emulating my favourite dark science fiction of the 1970s and 1980s.

However, I also have a deep love for other kinds of science fiction, especially the
kind where adventures take place on treks into unexplored space (wink wink). Where
heroes can fight against the darkness, or bring hope to those who have none, or
further the boundaries of mankind. These characters and adventures bring light to the
dark places of the universe.

This supplement contains rules and ideas for your Those Dark Places games if you
don’t want to explore the bleak corporate-ravaged future of the core rulebook and
prefer to travel the stars in brightly lit starships to experience the adventure,
excitement and thrill of exploring new worlds, strange or not (nudge nudge).

Cosmic Quest is a handbook to help you use the core rules of Those Dark Places for
exciting games of stimulating exploration, exciting combat and heroic deeds.

You can create characters exactly the same way as you normally would using the core
rules, but there are some adjustments to make. As this is more of a high adventure
game the PCs will be tougher and more capable, as well as be able to shrug off
danger and possibly cheat death.

This supplement doesn’t come with a setting, but a galaxy where a collection of like-
minded worlds exploring the frontiers of space comes to mind.

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CREW POSITIONS
For the sake of simplicity all characters are of Lieutenant rank and serve as the
primary command crew of the starship they are on. Most Captains are NPCs and the
players are their most trusted crew who go away on missions and get their hands
dirty, but if your group is fine with it then one player can be the Captain.

Helm Officer – For piloting starships, shuttles or planet-bound vehicles.

Navigation Officer – For plotting courses and for managing sensors and
communications.

Science Officer – For research and deep knowledge of spatial anomalies.

Security Officer – For combat, be it hand-to-hand, hand weapons or firing starship

weapons.

Liaison Officer – Usually a leadership role, either a Captain or second in command.

Engineering Officer – They keep things moving and working, often at a moment’s
notice when a miracle needs to occur.

Medical Officer - Like an Engineering officer, but they fix bodies.

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NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS
Important NPCs are created the same as a general PC, but all standard NPCs – such
as other crewmembers and general mook foes - have a score of 1 in every statistic of
their CASE file, and a 2 in any area they have a proficiency in. Also, any damage
done to minor NPCs uses the standard Those Dark Paces rules.

Why are NPC scores so low? Because the PCs are heroes, that’s why!

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RULES ADJUSTMENTS
Skill roll – All skill rolls of 6 are an automatic success, unless it is an opposed roll in
which case the standard rules apply.

Levels of success – The ‘roll equal to the target number is a partial success’ rule
does not need to apply and rolling equal to the target number can be treated as a
normal success, unless the GM wants to keep the players on their toes!

Strength (STR) – Players choose a number as normal but there is a slight difference
as to how damage is taken.

If the STR score every reaches zero then the character does not fall unconscious. All
target difficulty numbers go up by 1, and it is not until a character reaches minus 6
STR that they fall unconscious. If this happens they must receive first aid in a number
of rounds equalling their STR score multiplied by 3. If they are not rescued, then they
sadly die.

Minor NPCs still fall unconscious when their STR score reaches zero as per the
normal core rules, but important NPCs use the rules above.

Boons – There are many alien races in the galaxy and they are all unique. This is
reflected by their boon, a unique ability that race is capable of. These abilities can be
anything; breathing underwater, flight, thick skin, even psionic powers (see below).
Choose a single boon for an alien race, something that reflects their homeworld or
their culture. Some boons may grant a +1 to a roll, much like a Crew Position bonus
does.

Being a diverse race, human player characters have boons that reflect their hobbies
and passions such as painting, dancing, playing a musical instrument or an interest in
a particular history. Being able to play a trombone to impress a diplomat, or being
able to appreciate the art of a different culture to smooth relations is always a bonus.
If a character engages in an act where their particular boon may help, they can get +1
to their roll.

Psionics – Some characters may want to use psionics, powers of the mind to read
emotions, communicate telepathically or delve into someone’s mind. To use a power,
a character must make an opposed CHARISMA test against the target they want to
use their powers on. They must roll over the target’s roll; equal to or less is a failure.

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Hero points – Instead of a Pressure Bonus the players now have access to a Hero
Bonus, which is calculated the same way; if something shocking or terrifying
happens to the player they can use that to help steel their resolve by making a roll of
1D6 plus their Hero Bonus. If they succeed they get a single Hero Point, but this is
not just for them, it’s for the entire group. At any time, a player can choose to spend a
single Hero point to reduce their next target difficulty number by 1, giving them a
better chance of success. Any unspent Hero Points at the end of the adventure are lost
and the Hero Points score is reset to 0.

WEAPONS
Weapons are as written in the core rules, but pistols and rifles are energy weapons
(known here as ‘beamers’) and can also be set to stun; if any character’s STRENGTH
score reaches 0 they fall unconscious, and further damage does no permanent harm.

Image courtesy of @DwDStudios

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OTHER EQUIPMENT
Medical sprays can stabilise mortally wounded characters, and restores 2 points to
injured ones.

Hand scanners can pick up anomalies and other kinds of data with a successful
EDUCATION roll, with bonuses for any Science Officers.

Other equipment (not weapons) can be generated by a formatter, a device that

changes molecules to become anything an individual requires. These are found on
most ships and settlements.

Armour – standard molecular armour negates all damage on a roll of 6 on a D6 but

can only do so twice against energy weapons. A personal energy shield can do the
same thing continually, but if the 6 is rolled successfully then roll again; a roll of 1
means the energy shield has worked but shorted out and cannot be used until it is
repaired.

VEHICLES
All planet-bound vehicles have two statistics – SPEED and HULL. The SPEED is the
top speed in km/h x 50, and the HULL is how much damage it can take.

You can divide up five points between the two stats but you can have no higher than
4 in either one.

For every full 20 km/h a vehicle is going, vehicle takes 1 point of damage (tripled if
hitting a pedestrian outside the car). Head-on collision damage is the speed of both
vehicles added together. Anyone inside the car takes the same damage as the vehicle.

All damage is taken from HULL stat. At 0, vehicle is off-road and not moving. At -2
onwards, vehicle explodes/catches fire, anyone not making a successful AGILITY
roll to get out of the vehicle takes 1 damage per round.

Some vehicles, such as ship-to-surface shuttles, have their own shields but these are
weaker than standard so all damage done to them is doubled.

Hand weapons only damage a vehicle for 1 point on a roll of 6.

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STARSHIPS
All starships have the following statistics:

SPEED – This is represented by two numbers, a time and a single number.

The time is how long the starship takes to travel a single light year. So, if you decide
that a starship can travel a light year in an hour, you put 1 hour. A light year in a day?
You put 1 day. If the starship can travel from one point in the galaxy to another in an
instant, travelling subspace routes or folding space, then put 0.

The single number is the starship’s speed in normal space. This is abstract and is used
to help GMs judge how fast a starship can catch up with another, or if it can outrun
another ship.

MANOEUVRE – This is a modification to the Helm Officer’s AGILITY skill roll

target number, either a -1, a 0 or a +1. Fast versatile ships get -1, standard vessels get
a 0 and slow, lumbering ships get +1.

SUPERSTRUCTURE – This is how strong a starship’s hull is; once it reaches 0 the
starship will be destroyed and everyone will have to have abandoned ship
beforehand.

SHIELDS – This is the energy field that protects the starship. All shields start at
100% but can be reduced by damage done by weapons and/or dangerous stellar
anomalies and natural threats. Once the shields are at 0%, all further damage goes to
Superstructure.

WEAPONS – All starships have weapons, both beam weapons and torpedoes and
can be fired by anyone using an AGILITY roll, but are most effective when used by
the Security Officer. These have arcs of fire, fore and aft, and only one group can be
fired at a time depending on the starship’s facing. Starship weapons damage is a roll
of a D6 plus a bonus for the type; a beam weapon is +10, a torpedo is +10 against
shields and +20 if the shields are down, and a high-yield torpedo is +15 against
shields and +30 if the shields are down.

AUXILIARY POWER – This is a score which represents how much energy a

starship can reroute into vital systems. A successful EDUCATION roll with a target
number of 7 from an Engineering Officer successfully reroutes 1 point of auxiliary
power per round and this can add 10% to the SHIELDS score (max 100%), +1 to a
beam weapon’s damage or stabilise a ship’s system.

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 Image courtesy of @DwDStudios

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STARSHIP COMBAT

Initiative – this is decided by rolling for each captain of each starship, the winner
goes first. If a ship does not have a definitive command structure or they have an
issue with command, then they automatically lose initiative.

Firing weapons – Characters use their AGILITY stat (plus any bonuses for Security
Officer crew position) to fire a weapon and the target number is always 7 (unless the
target has made a successful Helm roll).

Only one type of weapon in a single fire arc can be fired by a single character, but
multiple characters can operate weapons stations.

Manoeuvring and Avoiding fire – Before any to-hit rolls are made, the target of the
incoming shot can make an AGILITY roll (plus any bonuses for Helm Officer crew
position and the starship’s Manoeuvre score) and any rolls of 7 or more raises the
firer’s to-hit target score to 8.

If a Helm Officer makes a successful roll, they can also decide their position in
relation to the other starship, whether they are in their fore fire arc or their aft fire arc.
However, if both Helm Officers fail their rolls they stay in the same fire arcs as the
previous round. If they are both successful, only the pilot with the highest roll gets to
choose their positioning.

Bonuses – Crew members can aid in to-hit or manoeuvring rolls. A Captain can use
their CHARISMA (plus Liaison Officer bonuses) to call out orders, rolling 7 or more
to reduce the target number by 1 for any one crew member’s roll that round. A
Science Officer could improve damage rolling 7 or more to give a +5 to damage. A
Navigation Officer can use their sensors to improve targeting, rolling 7 or more to
give a -1 to the to-hit target number.

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Damage – If, at any time, a natural six is rolled on a damage roll then some damage
has gotten through and a vital system has been hit. Roll a single D6 on the table
below – all results are cumulative. This table is also to be rolled on every time the
starship is hit with it’s shields down or at 0%.

1: Engines hit – halve current speed (round down).

2: Thrusters hit - +1 to all Helm Officer difficulty numbers.

3: Damage to hull - -1 from SUPERSTRUCTURE score

4: Shield generator damaged – reduce SHIELD score by a further by further 2d6%

5: Weapon knocked out – one weapon is knocked out, the players may choose which
one. If all weapons are out, then -1 from SUPERSTRUCTURE.

6: Life Support – Shock to system; all crew rolls have +1 to the target number every
round until repaired.

A successful EDUCATION roll from the Engineering Officer can restore each of
these effects with immediate effect apart from Superstructure, but they can only fix
one problem per round.

Also, every time the Superstructure is hit there may be crew casualties; the Medical
Officer has to make an EDUCATION roll when this happens with a target number of
7; if they roll seven or more then the crew is fine, but for every point they roll below
7 a crew member is killed. For every 10 crewmembers lost the efficiency of the ship
is reduced and all target numbers go up by 1.

And don’t forget to throw yourselves around the bridge for effect.

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REPAIRS

Repairing a single point of SUPERSTRUCTURE, a single point of SPEED, a single

system or a single weapon takes 12 hours if in the field, or 6 hours in dry dock – one
item must be repaired at a time so, for example, the loss of a single point of
SUPERSTRUCTURE, a single point of SPEED and a single weapon would take 36
hours to repair.

SAMPLE STARSHIPS

Light vessel

SPEED: 1 hour/3
MANOEUVRE: -1
SUPERSTRUCTURE: 15
SHIELDS: 100%
WEAPONS: 2 beam weapons (1 fore, 1 aft) 10 torpedoes (fore)
AUXILIARY POWER: 5

Medium vessel

SPEED: 1 hour/4
MANOEUVRE: 0
SUPERSTRUCTURE: 20
SHIELDS: 100%
WEAPONS: 4 beam weapons (2 for, 2 aft) 20 torpedoes (10 fore, 10 aft)
AUXILIARY POWER: 7

Heavy vessel

SPEED: 1 hour/5
MANOEUVRE: +1
SUPERSTRUCTURE: 25
SHIELDS: 100%
WEAPONS: 6 beam weapons (4 fore, 2 aft) 25 torpedoes (15 fore, 10 aft) 10 high-
yield torpedoes (7 fore, 3 aft)
AUXILIARY POWER: 10

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STARLOGS
As in the core rulebook there is no experience system but there is no 25-year contract
to work, either. Because this is a story-driven narrative game the adventures
themselves are the experience, and players can document and share this using
Starlogs.

Starlogs are records that crew members keep of their adventures across the cosmos,
either as individuals or as a group. It’s a simple recounting of the situation they have
found themselves in and the results of their efforts. It helps to keep a record when
part of a continuing campaign as a reminder of the good (and bad!) times as well as a
reminder of where the game left off, or possible incidents the players may reflect on
as the campaign progresses. These can act as reminders or as a way to give the
players impetus.

They do not need to be meticulously detailed (unless that’s what the players want to
do) and can be simple sentences recounting the primary details of the mission. Just
detailing the basics means that they can also be shared in the RPG community, giving
other groups ideas for their own games and adventures or acting as adventure hooks
for bigger games, even if their campaign settings are different.

If this is of interest to you, then use the hashtag #starlogCQ on social media when
putting them out there for other gaming groups to find!

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CREDITS

Designed and written by Jonathan Hicks

Artwork by Jonathan Hicks, @DwDStudios, @HODAGRPG

Thanks to Infinite Monkey Tales – www.twitch.tv/infinitemonkeytales

Those Dark Places and The ODDS System © Jonathan Hicks 2021

Jonathan Hicks has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act,
1988, to be identified as Author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in

any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in
writing from the publisher.

THOSE DARK PLACES – Industrial Science Fiction Roleplaying is published

by Osprey Games. To find out more about Osprey Games visit
www.ospreypublishing.com – here you will find publishing information, extracts,
author interviews, details of forthcoming events and the option to sign up for their
newsletter.

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