Transit to Near

Death
Experience
Perdition Two v1.1
An Adventure for Rapture The end of Days

Ray Duell
With
C. Wang
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
J. Sweeney
 TRANSIT TO PERDITION
Near Death Experience: 02
Colonial Deed V1.1 From the Author
Thanks for picking up Transit to Perdi on, the
Ownership second ou ng in a string of adventures leading
 (c) 2011 Ray Duell you back to Earth a er the Rapture of 2644.
This book, along with the Rapture Core Rule-
Author book and Essen als, are very much a labor of
 Ray Duell love. As a ny indie publisher, we rely heavily
on the work of friends and people that share
Quality Control our vision of funky, character-driven role-play-
 Cindy Wang ing games. We hope you get as much a kick out
 Ray Duell of playing Rapture as we had making it!

Artwork Publishing a quality game is neither easy nor

 Brooke Gile e (color) free. We do have bills to pay: from the (high)
h p://shadowbrooke.yolasite.com/ cost of design so ware to licensing fonts and
 Joe Sweeney (maps & B&W images) artwork. (Yes! We have a new ar st and writer
on board!) If we are to keep publishing games,
Audio / Music then we need to at least break even.
 Joseph Sweeney
 Kascha Sweeney It is for this reason that I urge any of you that
 Charles Sweeney have downloaded this book from a pirate site
 Ray Duell to stop and give us a thought. Even if you just
want to run a single session, with a bunch of
With Thanks friends, buying Rapture and this Adventure is
 To Angela – my wife, my angel, my muse and s ll cheaper than a single movie cket (and
she who puts up with all this wri ng lark much be er value). Plus once you buy it, you’ll
with mostly good humor. I love you! get free upgrades and the occasional bonus files
from us. If nothing else, think of it as a dona on
to a bunch of crazy folks who are producing
weird, high-quality stuff for your enjoyment.

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)

 introduction

You’ve heard the old miner’s tales about Perdi- layer on arrival in orbit, and the pay, well, that’s
on, the sister world of our lovely colony, Confu- simply phenomenal! Of course it’s con ngent
cius, right? Well, if what you heard sounded on the whole crew keeping their mouths shut,
bad, then it’s most likely true. Perdi on is the but that’s not unusual when dealing with the
only other planet in the Goldilocks (liquid water) Colonial Corps. So it’s straight in, deliver the
Zone of the system primary - HR511 - but where goods, get the consignment note signed off,
Confucius is an Earth Analogue, a near paradise, and get the hell out. Simple, right?
Perdi on is about as close to being the opposite
as you can get. While Perdi on is reported to Well it might have been, without loose lips
have a breathable atmosphere, the biosphere flapping before you even li ed from Confu-
is sha ered and the clouds which boil above cius, shi y researchers awai ng their ‘precious
that devastated world are said to hold dangers cargo,’ and compe ng fac ons buying off the
that no sane man has returned to describe. crew. And then there’s that sealed, powered,
cargo container squa ng in the middle of the
So why would anyone want to go there? Well hold. That thing is just weird... it’s been drawing
it’s a miners’ paradise, with rich pickings among increasingly more power from the ship, and as
the rings circling that cursed world. Mining the your transport approaches it’s des na on, the
rings is fine. It’s just not recommended to go to cargo officer reports that the electronic lock
the surface, that’s all. on the container has logged that it has been
accessed in the last sleep cycle, which breaches
And yet, the surface is exactly where you, your the contract the en re crew signed...
crew-mates, and your plucky li le transport
ship have been chartered to go. Somehow, Near Death Experience scenarios are single-
MentAI – an AI research and produc on corpo- shot adventures for Rapture: The End of Days.
ra on with few assets in the colonies - have Each mission is self-contained, and provides
managed not only to get down to the surface the GM with a complete adventure framework,
safely, but they’ve succeeded in se ng up printable player handouts (maps and en cing
a research facility there. From all the stories scraps of documenta on) audio clues, sound- introduction
you’ve heard about Perdi on, this job is NOT a scapes and a slew of deadly ideas to weave into
good idea, but the MentAI representa ves insist the game session.
that the goods you’ve been entrusted to deliver
are sorely needed, that they will provide you Although Near Death Experience scenarios
instruc ons to transit safely through the cloud have been cra ed specifically for Rapture, they

3
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
 can also be used as the basis for thriller adven- and mood of your game play.
tures in other sci-fi game se ngs. The perils
may have new names, but the chills remain the Next, read over the Loca ons (page 32). The
same! ac vi es described in these sec ons are loosely
Rapture
connected to the schema cs or map handouts
we provide, however they are not set in stone.
HOW TO Think of loca ons as set pieces that can be used
USE YOUR during the game.
NEAR DEATH
EXPERIENCE Finally, review the Props (page 42). You don’t
need to use all of these during the game – but
Rather than outline a scene-by-scene scenar- they can give you some ideas for how to drive
io, all Near Death Experiences are wri en up the plot forward during play.
much like a movie plan: with an overarching
plot, a set of interlocking characters, clues and Near Death Experience 2: Transit to Perdi on
resources that the Game Master may bring into is designed for a group of 3 - 5 players and the
play. This approach allows the Game Master to GM. Feel free to play the adventure as is, or
leave big parts of the adventure narra on up to modify it to your personal tastes or those of
the players, while s ll giving direc on and main your gaming group. Also, this product has a
plot lines for players to chase. plethora of ideas that may never see the light
of day in your play through, so if you can use
The best way to read this book is to start with any of the unexposed ideas in your own plots
the Tips for Terror, for hints on how to manage for your group, go right ahead.
the game and a play through descrip on for
one possible way the adventure can fall out.
Then read the Plot (page 11), Bullet Speed
Background (page 11) and the Current
Situa on (page 13). These will set up all of
the key story elements. You may also want to
read the Secret History (page 14) for more
background on what the hell has created such
a mess on Perdi on (linked in through one
par cularly unfortunate extra). Next, read
introduction

through the Cast (page 19) to become famil-

iar with the mo ves, poli cs and intrigue that
your Heroes will need to deal with. Since most
plot twists revolve around these cast members,
it’s important to get well acquainted with all of
the NPCs. It is unlikely that you will need all of
the twists and sub-plots offered by these char-
acters, so pick the ones that best fit the ac on

4
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
 TiPS FOR TERROR
Due to the shared way in which Rapture is can be a total deal breaker, causing him or her
narrated, Game Masters new to the paradigm to just give up. But a Game Master that real-
might need some hints to keep afloat when izes that the plot is only there to give direc on
their adventure inevitably goes off in an unex- when the players aren’t providing it themselves
pected direc on. Here are a few ideas that can just go with the flow. If the major hijack
may help in this regard. gets to the point where there is no way you can
bring the adventure to your planned conclu-
sion, then just let it go, and do a li le ‘on the fly’
Let It Go - It’s storytelling. Sure, it might seem a li le s lted
Gone or direc onless, but remember that some of
the best stories are just what the characters go
Firstly, check out the sec on of the same name through while confined in some sort of situa-
in the Rapture Core Rules Book, page 114. on. And if your players are ge ng into the
It provides some central ideas on what to do game, they might just feed you ideas you might
when the carefully cra ed plot (be it cra ed by never have thought of, that beat the hell out of
you, or us!) gets hijacked by the players. what you had planned in the first place!

There are generally two types of plot hijack-
ing in a game like Rapture; the minor, colorful
hijacking that doesn’t take the plot too far off
the beaten path, or the major hijack, where the
plot is F.U.B.A.R. and you need to go someplace
else.
A minor hijack might just add color to the game.
This is o en a good thing, and a cool headed
GM can usually use what the players come up
with and s ll keep the game headed roughly
However, if a major hijack bogs you down, call
a short break (or go off to the loo to think for
a bit) and consider your next steps. You could
try:
 due to the pressure of the situa on, one of
the Extras loses it, and goes batshit crazy.
They could just make a scene and have to
be restrained, all the way up to going quiet
and planning the death of all the Heroes.

TiPS FOR TERROR

in the original direc on. If the game is more a  introduce a new external threat. For ex-
sandbox with dangers, rather than a plot with
a big climax, then these sorts of addi ons to
the ac on are exactly what you want to make
it interes ng. It’s well worth taking a note or
two (paper is easiest, but on a laptop or iPad
if your typing is quick enough) so that you can
keep track of these colorful addi ons the plot,
and bring them back in later - on your terms...
A major hijack usually puts paid to some part
of your plot that is instrumental to ge ng the
ample, if the nanite plague in this mission
somehow gets neutralized as a threat, have
a ship from the UCM or even MentAI show
up, announcing that they are going to de-
stroy the base due to a perceived threat to
humanity from the research going on there.
Or you can have the pirates return and at-
tack. Whatever this new threat is, the He-
roes need to deal with it, and it might keep
them busy enough for that Extra in the pre-
vious point to do their dastardly work.

5
Heroes into the sort of trouble you were plan-
ning. To a less experienced Game Master, this

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)

  think of one of your favorite sci-fi horror How wrong I was. They picked both the Cargo
movie or book bad guys that you could in- Officer and the Electronics Engineer, and then
troduce. So that the players don’t cry foul, the Doctor. Well the Doctor was OK, but the
the introduc on of this threat will need to other two had me changing plans before the
make sense (i.e. how it got there), but a GM first scene was described! C’est la vie. I made
Rapture
that has a li le me to think can usually the Coms Officer the possessed crew member,
shoehorn a new threat in. and as my player taking the Cargo Officer made
him a beefy man of Indian descent, it made
 let the Heroes get away with it. No really, sense that he would be sleeping with the Indian
let them think they have. Some of the best Coms Officer (yes I realize that’s a bit out of
‘oh damn’ moments are when the Heroes character for any tradi onal Indian woman, but
just start to relax, thinking they’ve succeed- she’s possessed by EVIL... she’ll do anything!).
ed against all you’ve got to throw at them, A er running this adventure numerous mes
but then something has snuck aboard their at Cons, I’m now of the opinion that the Coms
ship during the ac on, and waits un l they Officer is the best pick for the possessed crew
are sailing towards home before a acking! member, un l that character is selected by a
player as their star ng character!
In the end, just consider that the players being
really switched on and preven ng the birth So I narrate the opening scene, and of course
of an evil en ty with the power to decimate the interest of most of the Heroes is the sealed
worlds can be really rewarding for them. If they cargo container. The Electronics Engineer
work it out and stop it, good for them. They are discovers that the electronic seal has been
unlikely to be able to do it twice in a row. You’ll tampered with when he goes to tamper with
get ‘em next me, and there are plenty of ‘next it himself to sa sfy his own curiosity. He gets
mes’ in the Rapture Universe. blown across the room by an electric shock
from his failed hacking a empt and, upon
recovering, goes to takes it up with the Cargo
Example of Officer. Before he can, the pirates a ack, and
Play as the Security Officer is knocked unconscious
from their ini al fire, the Electronics Engineer
This is just one example of how this adventure takes over the defensive turret and sees them
might play out (from a play-test of the scenar- off in a fit of excellent dice rolling. A er the
TiPS FOR TERROR

io). It includes a path that gets a lot of the crew recovers from the a ack, the Electron-
possibili es woven into the plot, but there are ics Engineer confronts the Cargo Officer (who
always other li le nuances that might come in we’ve discovered of late is a bit of a dope fiend).
when you play the game. They square off, and come to blows. The Elec-
tronics Engineer ends up in the sick bay, in the
As is wri en in the character sec on, I had hands of the third Hero (luckily his Poli cal Goal
planned to have the Cargo Officer in a lesbian wasn’t to experiment on the crew, for once!). I
rela onship with the electronics engineer, who should note here that Player Characters/Heroes
was to be the Extra harbouring the Possession can o en come to blows because of their inter-
Spirit. I figured it made sense that an Electron- sec ng Goals. If one character gets beaten to a
ics Engineer would have the skills to be tortur- pulp, that player may be less than func onal for
ing an Ar ficial Consciousness, and be using the quite possibly the rest of the game. I had a way

6
rela onship to get access to the cargo contain- out with the nanite treatments in the med bay
er. I figured that my players would pick other, at the Research Outpost, but if you don’t have
more high-profile members of the crew to play. a way to deal with this, some mes it’s be er
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
 for the Hero to die than lie there in a coma. surface condi ons on the planet at all, when
The vote may not go the way of an experience they were all invited in to the Outpost for a
point, but at least the player can take over a meal. Some declined, but Orrs informed them
new Extra, and not be out of the ac on for the that a storm was coming, and it wasn’t safe to
rest of the game. be in their ship un l it passed, and they had to
wait for a break in the clouds above to safely
The transport ship reaches low orbit, and is make orbit anyway.
contacted by the Research Outpost. They are
ordered to fly through a gap in the clouds, and Disgruntled, but resigned, the en re crew le
land on the landing pad outside the Outpost. the ship and went into the Outpost.
The tampering with the cargo container is
reported to the Captain, who is migh ly unim- Things seemed quite reasonable at first. Dinner
pressed. He calls on the convalescing Electron- was quite sa sfactory, but some increasing
ics Engineer, who a empts to cover up the tension between the Coms Officer (possessed)
hacking on the security lock (s ll desperate and her lover, the Cargo Officer, over his over-
to see what is in there, by the way) and fails, indulgence in ganga, le him feeling rather le
ge ng shocked by the terminal and thrown out. She, on the other hand, was flir ng heavily
across the room AGAIN! He is taken to sick with the Indian Cook/Research Officer from the
bay, and the Coms Officer hides the tampering Outpost, and they eventually went off together
(seeing as she caused it in the first place, she to get be er acquainted (and for the Posses-
had the skills to hide it)! sion Spirit to jump bodies, as they jumped each
other’s bones!).
Arriving at the landing field, the Cargo Officer
goes to start unloading, but is warned about The Electrical Engineer was taken to the
the dangerous atmosphere outside (despite outpost medical suite, and treated with nanite
reading all clear on the ship’s sensors) and is regenera ve serum without his knowledge or
told to wait for the environment suits. He does consent (by the outpost physician). He would
so, and while wai ng a empts to get a sample wake up in the medical suite a few hours later,
of the outside atmosphere for the Doctor, who in PERFECT HEALTH!
is VERY interested in its composi on (Poli cal
Instruc on MentAI - discover what Goverian is The ship’s Doctor was ge ng to know Rachel
up to, and shut him down if necessary). The Orrs be er, and found the discussion across the

TiPS FOR TERROR

Cargo Officer, whose Poli cal Instruc on is from dinner table with Gaverian and Koch to be a
Ada Agritech (find out what the condi ons li le odd, but nothing too alarming. The Cargo
are on the surface of Perdi on for possible use Officer was being all disgruntled un l he discov-
in products) kept a proper sample for himself, ered the outpost maintenance AI was called
and irradiated the Doctor’s sample (fac onal Vishnu. He went off to his assigned room and
infigh ng... go a love it!). Once the suits were had some long chats with Vishnu, trea ng it like
delivered, the crew got to moving the powered the Hindi God it was named a er. This freaked
cargo container and the other crates and equip- the AI out a bit, and it went quiet. Meanwhile,
ment in the shipment. The Captain and First the Doctor and Orrs had re red to her room.
Officer went off to organise the signing of the A er the usual an cs, they heard some noise
waybill, and there was a tense moment before in the corridor and went to inves gate. It
the seal on the powered container was checked was quite late, local me, by then. Goverian’s

7
and pronounced secure, and the documenta- ‘daughter’ was playing in the corridor, and Orrs
on was signed. The crew were contemplat- asked the Doctor to help her get the young girl
ing a quick blast-off, not liking the look of the back to her room and to bed.
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
 The ‘girl’ in the environmental suit didn’t want storm and the arrival of the pirates. The Doctor
to go to bed, and gave the pair a merry chase and the Cargo Officer tried to free Burgmann,
through the corridors of the facility. The Cargo but it was clear he would die if disconnected
Officer heard the noise outside his room and from the tubes and machines that were keeping
Rapture
came out to inves gate as well. They also him ‘alive.’ The Doctor hacked the data banks
bumped into the wandering Electrical Engineer at this point, finding the logs listed in the Props
who was a li le dazed, but came along too. sec on, and Burgmann told them his story. As
The four of them finally cornered the ‘girl’ in the they were trying (somewhat unsuccessfully)
corridor leading to the restricted elevator to the to deal with this situa on, the brain extrac-
reactor core. The Cargo Officer grabbed at the on mechanism ac vated, and Burgmann was
‘girl,’ being sick of her games, and somehow killed.
managed to breach her suit. The suit deflated,
and the stunned onlookers were sealed in the Rushing into the next room, they saw the BioAI
corridor as contamina on alarms went off. Shiva being created, with first the addi on of the
rest of Burgmann’s brain, and then the AC, as
Examining the limits of their confinement, they the Cook/Research Scien st ran into the room.
found the ship’s Coms Officer slumped against The Cargo Officer was hot on his heals, and
the wall near the door to the elevator (that was a empted to stop him touching the mad BioAI,
sealed a er the contamina on alarm went off). but failed, and the Possession Spirit transfer
She was shell-shocked, talking about being in a occurred while the other Heroes in the control
dream for such a long me, and seeing herself room were trying to turn off the centrifuge. The
do terrible things (she was now free of the confused Cargo Officer, not sure whether to hit
Possession Spirit). The last thing in the dream or hug Shiva, waited for a moment, contemplat-
was her being dragged along the corridor by ing his next move, as the floor opened up and
the Cook/Research Scien st, but she was le the BioAI disappeared down a chute. The Cargo
alone when the blast door came down in front Officer followed, seeing the ball of malevolent,
of the li and he had to leap in or be trapped evil AI plunge off a drop and fall into the pool of
like them. In this par cular game, I had Butan wai ng grey goo far below. Watching from the
in on the horrors of the secret research lab too. end of the chute, the Cargo Officer stood rapt
It made sense at the me, and you might need as a gigan c, humanoid shape started to form
to make li le tweaks like this as the plot of your out of the grey goo. It grew un l its head was
TiPS FOR TERROR

par cular game unfolds. at the height of the chute, and red, glowing,
malevolent eyes focused on the Cargo Officer.
A er searching around (and some damn good The Cargo Officer snapped, offering himself to
dice rolls), the Doctor found a hatch leading to his God made manifest before him. The BioAI
a series of maintenance tunnels. They were Megaconstruct chuckled, said ‘lunch’ in Hindi,
blocked on this level by the blast doors, so the reached up and, grabbing the Cargo Officer, ate
only way to go was down. The group found him in one gulp.
themselves down at the secret research level,
and some fine rolling by the Electrical Engineer This was enough for the others, and they started
- helped by the Coms Officer - got them into to flee, but the Electrical Engineer was out in
the area. They came upon the remains of poor front, having run when the BioAI formed (yay
Burgmann, and Orrs was overwhelmed. She for Fear points!). He made it back up into the

8
swore vengeance against Gaverian and Koch, locked down corridor before the whole complex
who were busy upstairs with the results of the started shaking as the BioAI construct began to

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)

 dig its way to the surface. Finding the corridor ously), the Doctor and the Coms Officer decided
open, he fought his way past the two Outpost to overload the Outpost’s reactor, destroying
security guards, rolling really well and actually the construct before it could get away (and
‘killing’ both of them. What he didn’t see as he all the remaining Named Characters in the
ran for the torn open sec on of the main floor process). They were all infected with nanites
of the base (as the main door was locked down) anyway, so they were all a danger to any other
was the blown open head of one of the guards populated world.
star ng to ‘heal’ and close up.
Heading down to the reactor control room, the
The player that lost his Hero to the BioAI Doctor used his override codes to rig the reactor
construct took over the shell-shocked ship’s to detonate. The final scene had the Doctor and
Coms Officer, with an extra a ribute point (it the Coms Officer holding hands over the ac va-
was a pre y cool death, a er all). They climbed on bu on for the overload mechanism. They
back up to the main level and arrived to find pushed it down together, and then the Doctor
the security guards up, around and defending said, “I wonder how long it will take to...” The
the corridor (again!). They fought the security earth sha ering kaboom was seen from orbit.
guards with less success than their shipmate, Miners working the rings saw the wall of flame
with Rachel Orrs going down (but she’d be fan out, engulfing the ENTIRE PLANET! The
back, they just didn’t know it yet). The ship’s highly ionized atmosphere (due to the huge
Security Officer intervened to save the day, but number of nanites present) reacted, causing a
he too was mortally wounded. chain reac on that combusted the atmosphere
of the en re planet. Nothing was le on that
Meanwhile, the Electrical Engineer climbed out now barren world...
the hole in the roof of one of the research labs,
and down onto the causeway. What he saw And yet, as a shocked miner on a ring rock called
there put the fear of God into him. The storm in the catastrophe, some mercurial substance
had abated, and the pirate ship had landed slithered out of the rock he was working on,
behind the Heroes’ transport ship. It was and into the crenela ons on his boot. He then
now clove in two, with flames licking around floated back into his ship, and closed the air
its sha ered structure. Above this, the BioAI lock door...
construct loomed, picking out the screaming

TiPS FOR TERROR

forms of the pirates, and ea ng them! This was Obviously your run through this adventure may
the first me the Electrical Engineer had seen take a path that is nothing like this (During Con
the construct, and he was hella frightened. He games, several groups have made it back to the
tried to sneak onto the transport ship, intent on ship a er se ng a mes reactor melt-down.
flying it away from this hellhole. However, he They flew their ship away, searching for a hole
botched his roll (even with all those extra Fear in the cloud cover to escape by, while sheets
dice) and the construct saw him. Nom nom of fire raced around the planet. They found
nom! The player didn’t take on a new charac- a gap on the far side of the world, just as the
ter, due to the desperate plan of the remaining fire closed in from all sides, and ‘punched it’
ac ve Heroes. through with good dice rolling! Very cinemat-
ic). However, reading through this transcript,
Realizing that the BioAI construct was pure evil, you can see where the points of suspense and

9
and had to be stopped before it got to another tension can be generated, and how the ac ons
inhabited planet (this one was done for, obvi- of the Heroes can greatly push along the plot.

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)

 You may also note that neither the Limbo Souls
(page 27) nor the Nanite Constructs (page
29) got into the ac on (However, I have since
used them to great effect in Con games). This
Rapture
is to be expected; there is so much good fodder
here that not all of it may get used. Feel free to
use the bits that weren’t seen in this adventure
in your own adventures (just make sure you
dream up a good reason for them to be there)!
We are all expected to recycle in this day and
age, and stories of the dark, sci-fi, horror future
are no excep on!
Hints for a
great Game
There are some simple things you can do to
make your game go smoothly and be more
atmospheric for both you and your players. If
everyone is in the moment, then you’ll all get
into the narra on be er. I’ve had a player at
a Con be so wrapped up in his narra on that,
when he described his character being blown
backwards by an explosion, he actually fell of
the back of his chair! I should note that we
don’t recommend this, and he was unharmed
by his momentary shi to LARP mode!
The sounds of terror - just like music sets a
Have your notes and papers in order - running scene, sound effects enhance it further. If you
games at Cons means you have only three hours are fortunate enough to own an iPad or other
TiPS FOR TERROR
new Named Character, the be er.
Next, have a table set up with your character
notes set up in it. Have a look at the hero’s/
crew tracking sheet for a handy version of this.
It is pre-filled with all the crew and their details
as Extras. This can be edited as your players
take them over. I would recommend you use
the ‘loca on’ sec on to note who is playing
them.
Music to die by - there is nothing that sets the
scene be er in a Rapture game than the right
background music. We’ve provided you with
a selec on of soundscapes with each NDE
product, and we have more for free download
on DriveThruRPG, but you might have even
more music tracks that you and your group
par cularly like. If this is the case, I recom-
mend you don’t use tracks with lyrics, as they
can be quite distrac ng. I use Winamp to play
my mood music/soundscapes. You can set it to
play the same track over and over, changing the
tracks manually when the scene or tempo of
the ac on changes. This has worked really well
in all my Rapture sessions, and I highly recom-
mend it.

to get through the game, so it has taught me tablet, you can download a plethora of sound
that Rapture games go smoothly if the GM has bank apps that can provide you with many great
his stuff together. Have character sheets sorted sound effects like sirens blaring, the rumble of
for all the crew Extras for the game, as any one thunder, or the harsh staccato of gunfire. All
of them may be called up to Named Charac- these sounds really grip the players and can
ter status at any me. You can have profes- make a good game into a great one.
sion and any required skills noted already, and
the Poli cal Alliance and Poli cal Instruc on You might have some great ideas of your own
already wri en in. This will save you a lot of for enhancing your games. You can share them
me when the inevitable deaths call for new with us on our website - www.storyweaver.com
Named Characters. You can also add the ‘how or drop by our Facebook page, ‘StoryWeaver
to build a dice pool’ on the back of your char- Produc ons’ to say hi, and let us know how

10
acter sheet for easy player reference. The less your game went. We’d love to know.
the player needs to record when they pick up a

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)

 Plot
The job should have been simple; trans-
port cargo from Confucius orbit to a MentAI
research outpost on the surface of Perdi on, a
func onally quaran ned world. No ques ons
asked, the utmost in discre on a necessity, and
pay commensurate with the risk. However, the
non-disclosure agreement was breached before
li -off, the crew infiltrated with paid corporate
lackeys and the cargo manifest is dominated by
a sealed, powered, transit container, enclos-
ing the latest in Ar ficial Consciousnesses (AC).
Worse, there is a Possession Spirit infes ng a
crew member that has been mercilessly tortur-
ing the AC for its own twisted ends.
mad). These microscopic machines are not
only the basis for the breakthroughs Goverian
has been making, but one of the most danger-
ous threats to humanity in this region of space.
If the Possession Spirit gets its way, it will
combine with the AC and Goverian’s brainchild,
a part-human, part-nanotech bioAI, to create a
new class of life form. One that will have control
over the grey goo, with the power to destroy all
life on Perdi on (again), and any other planet
it can reach. The poten al for disaster here is
nearly limitless…

The crew will have to deal with marauding Bullet Speed

pirates, make it safely to the surface of Perdi- Background
on, unload the cargo, deal with the eccentric
Professor Konrad Goverian, be trapped by an  Five years ago, a MentAI transport team
electrical storm... and then the bad stuff starts. suffered a drive failure while passing close
to Perdi on’s rings. The ship se led into a
“10101011010100010011101!!!” decaying orbit, and was dragged into the
- Bodhisattva, Confucious System AC atmosphere before a rescue ship could ar-
rive. The desperate, yet highly-skilled pilot
Scream all you want... it is managed to fly through one of the rare gaps
music to my ears! in the clouds circling the planet, and the
- Kaloc, Possession Spirit ship made an inelegant, if survivable crash
landing. This was the first such successful

Bullet Speed Background

‘known’ landing on Perdi on.
Depending on the Heroes’ Goals, some of
the crew may be driven to find the missing -  The ship’s crew immediately set up a cam-
presumed dead - Dr Wallace Burgmann, or era recording system, linked by a ght beam
discover just what Goverian is up to in this to the rescue ship sent out from the MentAI
seriously ‘out of the way’ loca on, and some
may even need to inves gate the facility for “Hey, this goo is cute
MentAI itself, as the local corporate authori- the way it runs up your
Plot

es are concerned that they have lost control fingers...”

of Goverian. And then there is the hundreds-
- John Doe, ex-MentAI ship crew member
of-miles of a malevolent secret surrounding the
research base itself – the en re surface of the “Don’t touch that!!!”
11
planet is covered with the remnants of a “Grey - Captain Walsh, ex-MentAI ship captain
Goo” Event (basically nanotechnology gone

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)

 orbital sta on then being built above Con-
fucius. This camera system recorded the
condi ons on the planet, what the crew
found during their unplanned survey, and
Rapture
what inevitably killed them all. The crew
had lost their lives, but MentAI had gained  Goverian played God at the outpost, and
informa on that they believed no one else
had.
 Six months later, one of MentAI’s cu ng-
edge researchers stumbled across the video
logs and reports of the ‘successful’ survey, several other disappearances, but no one
and he recognised the grey goo for what it
was. Knowing that no corpora on or gov-
“Nanite technology is
perfectly safe... any idiot
knows that.”
- Prof. Goverian, Chief Scien st, NarvAI3
“If it is so safe, what
happened to NarvAI1
and 2?”
- Wallace Bergman, Freeper Agent
ernment that traded with MentAI had de-
veloped nanotech to such an extent, he was
intrigued. Thanks to dirt that the research-
er, one Porfessor Konrad Goverian, had on  Goverian was devastated and took the body
the local CEO of MentAI Opera ons: Confu-
BUllet Speed Background
cius, Goverian was in system and ki ed out
with the means to get planet-side and set
up a research outpost within a year.
 There were ‘acceptable losses’ during the
construc on phase of the research out-
post, but Professor Goverian was convinced
that it would all be worth it, and with ev-
ery death they found out that much more
Plot
about the grey goo. A er all, there were no
colonial ‘legal impediments’ on Perdi on,
the planet was effec vely quaran ned so
12
no one would come snooping, and Gove-
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
rian wasn’t actually making the nanites - he
was simply turning the ones that were al-
ready there to his own ends. So he was not
technically breaking any laws.
the other staff could do li le because there
was no easy way off the dead world. There
was even one occasion when a rebellious
researcher was shut outside during a storm.
He was never seen again. There have been
likes to talk about them, as they don’t want
to be next.
 Goverian was like a pig in mud, finding new
uses to turn the reprogrammed nanites to
almost weekly. Then, with his understand-
ing of the ny machines reaching a turning
point, he moved on to his true objec ve: to
start building AIs out of them. This worked
to a point, but the communica on between
the nanites wasn’t accurate enough to form
a neural net of any great size. This vexed
Goverian, but he was able to deal with the
disappointment by spending me with his
daughter, Leena. That was, un l Leena was
killed in an accident.
to his own private research lab. He locked
the doors, leaving the rest of the staff to
wonder what would happen next. Two
weeks later, Goverian walked out with what
“Daddy... it hurts...”
- Leena Goverian, child
“Don’t worry my sweet...
don’t worry... Daddy
will make it all better... I
promise...”
- Prof. Goverian, Chief Scien st, NarvAI3
 he ‘said’ was his daughter in a containment Current
suit. He ‘said’ he’d brought her back to life, Situation
but she was stuck in the suit because she
was now hyper-allergenic. The other re-  The crew of a small transport ship has been
searchers were doub ul, but played along, chartered for a very special delivery run
to save their own lives if nothing else. by MentAI. As the story opens, the crew
are reaching the end of a long, boring trip.
 Fast forward to the past 3 months. Gove- Their transport is about to cross the rings
rian has contacted the MentAI sta on orbit- of Perdi on, and the crew are prepared to
ing Confucius, reques ng a rather impor- contact the research base before transi ng
tant piece of equipment he says he needs the cloud layer to the surface.
to make a major breakthrough. There was
much dissent in the board room, but Gove-  There is some concern in the crew about
rian eventually got his way. what might be wai ng for them down on
‘that planet.’ Un l the trip was chartered,
 Goverian is on the cusp of crea ng a suc- no one in the crew had any idea that it was
cessful BioAI, having combined human s- possible to get to the surface of Perdi on
sue and nanites to get a neural net of a use- alive. But the considerable pay, and offer
ful size. He feels that once he achieves a of technology for the ship, is more than the
stable BioAI matrix, he will require the Ar- crew can resist!
ficial Consciousness to ‘program it,’ liter-
ally transferring the pa ern of the AC to the  The cargo master has reported some odd-
BioAI to make it func onal. The human s- ness to do with the sealed, powered cargo
sue used in the experiment has come from container in the hold. It has also been pull-
one Wallace Burgmann, who was a science ing a LOT of power. But the charter agree-
officer at the outpost un l he was caught ment clearly states that the seal must not
commi ng industrial espionage a few days be broken when presented to Professor
before the last supply shu le run. What’s Goverian on Perdi on.
le of him is contained down in the BioAI
research lab, which only Goverian, Koch,
Madrigal, Kippling and Butan have access
“Daddy... it hurts...”
to. Goverian claims that Burgmann le - Wallace Bergman, Freeper Agent and
with the supply shu le, but some of the ‘willing’ ssue donor
staff have doubts. The shu le had an ac- “Don’t worry my sweet
cident on the way back to Confucius, hence Current Situation
why the players’ ship has been chartered to
little traitorous donor...
move the AC. The professor will make
good use of you... I
promise...”
Plot

- Prof. Goverian, Chief Scien st, NarvAI3

13
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
 Secret History
A Short Recount of the 1. State Formation
Rapture
Nippon-Korean During the long centuries of the Resource Wars
Imperialist State’s and the Great Gap, the Na on-State of Japan,
Secret Colonial History or Nippon as it is known at home, fared badly.
A crumbling economy, and a likewise declining
By Freelance Historian, Shafer Robbins. popula on, suffering natural disasters such as
earthquakes, volcanic erup ons and tsunamis,
You may be thinking ‘what the hell is ol’ Shafer and more man-made ones like the Fukushima
on about this me. He’s really flipped his lid on debacle of the early 2000’s, combined with
this one.’ Well, you’d be wrong. Dead wrong. a lack of local natural resources, le Nippon
Not only did those isola onist wackjobs, the embarrassed and marginalised on the world
Nippon-Korean Imperialist State, have an extra- stage. A disgruntled and long-suffering popu-
solar colony at one point, they se led it before la on, red of a government that was seen to
the Sino Block ever got out of the Sol system! have con nually failed them, turned back to
That’s right, kiddies, they got to HR511 – what the Emperor, heralding in a new age of Impe-
we now know as Confucius – first, and set up a rialism. During this turmoil, the country did
colony in that system. But thanks to their tech- what their culture demanded of them; they
nological hubris it all went horribly wrong, and withdrew from all interna onal trade and saw
a er that unmi gated disaster, they lost their to their own difficul es. This was the first of
taste for colonial expansion. By the me the what many considered ‘bad decisions’ made
dust had se led, the Sinos were in HR511, and over the course of centuries.
the NKIS didn’t want to have to face up to the –
then newly formed - Judicial Panel for Colonial Looking across the Korea Strait, the Nipponese
Arbitra on (JPCA), so they just lay doggo and saw that Korea was suffering much the same
hoped it would all go away. woes as themselves. A er several years of
secret nego a ons, in a move no one outside
And what do we have to thank the NKIS for, their respec ve governments could ever have
ladies and gentleman? Why, that fuming pile predicted, the newly minted Nippon-Korean
Secret History

of turd that is Confucius’ sister planet, the Imperialist State (NKIS) – comprising both North
endearingly-renamed Perdi on. and South Korea, and Japan - was announced
in late 2111. This was received with roars of
No, I’m not mad, and this is not a conspiracy indifference by the beleaguered powers of
theory. This actually happened. Read on and the world. Other governments had neither
understand… the me nor the finances to take much inter-
est in this development, and it was happening
“Shave the whales!” all over the world anyway, so it was that the
- Freeper Radio, Comedy Hour NKIS’s auspicious announcement went largely
“Screw you, hippies!” unno ced. This, as it turned out, suited the
new state just fine; they got on with embracing
- Nippon Korean Imperial State TV
what this new arrangement afforded them.

14
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
 “Our honorable society a massive facility built on the devastated area
has no trouble-makers, no around the old Fukushima Nuclear Power
Plant. It had been several hundred years
decent... The NKIS citizens before the area was reusable by humans, but
are full of love for their State now it was the hub of NKIS’s push into space.
and work for the benefit of Taking chances that might have seemed either
our most glorious Emperor, heroic or suicidal to other world powers, NKIS
had a Mars colony in opera on by 2348, a
and we will outlast Heaven good 36 months before the Sino Block’s Project
and Earth in our destiny.” Alpha came online on the red planet. This, of
- NKIS Cultural A ache, New Territories course, was closed off to all other powers that
were se ling on this nearby world, and with
It was difficult given the uncertainty and energy good reason. NKIS was about to stumble upon
shortages of the me, but NKIS worked hard something big.
to be er their global posi on and their living
condi ons. Nippon has always held that you 4. The REAL First Earth Power to
do research when mes are tough, so you Reach Another Star System
come out of the slump in a be er posi on, and Although credited to Dr. Ka Lun and his team
despite the increased suffering on the main- from the Sino Block in early 2411, ar ficial
land this program caused, they kept to this gravity was actually first discovered and manip-
impera ve. ulated by NKIS scien sts, near the north pole of
Mars in 2352. This was the NKIS’s most highly
2. isolationist Doctrine Taken to guarded secret for over 50 years (un l the same
ExtremeS theory was cracked by the Sinos – which some
Feeling that the rest of the world had done pundits suggest was actually stolen from the
nothing for them in recent memory, NKIS NKIS, but we won’t get into that bunfight here).
con nued to keep to itself as the world slowly Once the prac cal applica on of this research
clawed its way back from the brink of another was developed, NKIS went on a developmen-
dark age. Always pushing the technological tal rampage, se ng up shipyards in geo-sync
cu ng edge wherever possible, o en with orbit around the north pole of Mars. When
abandon in regards to the clear consequences pressed, NKIS representa ves stated that the

Secret History
should things ‘go horribly wrong,’ NKIS’s daring ship produc on facility was for inter-system
actually paid off. By 2330, NKIS had expanded cra to develop the outer planets, and in truth
to nearly 200% of the early 2000’s combined many intra-system cra were built there under
Koreas’ land holdings on the mainland, as well
as large tracts of secret (or near secret) under- “It is well know that the NKIS
sea developments in the Sea of Japan and implant cybernetic inhibitors
beyond, involving undersea mining, manufac- in all their teenagers’ skulls...
turing, se lements and aquaculture. NKIS had
helps to keep them calm and
become like an iceberg; its greatest bulk and
prosperity was hidden below the water line. productive... rather than
reproductive like the kids
3. Closed Mars ColonY around here.”
15
NKIS in fact had a whole space li ing opera-
- North American Aliance Spokesperson
on in regular service by 2340, running from

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)

 the watchful gaze of other powers, but the true “Nanites will change the
inten on was to reach another star system
within 20 years. Through perseverance, hubris
world as we know it. We
and sheer bloody-mindedness, they did it in 15. should use them wherever
Rapture
This was, in no small part, due to their devel- possible!”
opment and extensive use of nanotechnology
- NKIS Imperial Science Advisor, 2378
(see point 5, below).
colonists living there to enable them to survive
The interstellar scout ship Okami Kyouran crushing pressures, and metabolise food
Maru (Emperor’s Fury) surveyed the Goldilocks sources that standard humans would die from
Zone of HR511 in late 2367, discovering two inges ng. It also improved their space travel
planets with considerable poten al. The first, and nanite based AIs, far more adaptable and
named Neo Tokyo, was quite idyllic, and would upgradable than their solid state compatriots
require li le work to turn into a habitable of the me, helped crack unified theory so far
colony. Surprisingly, this planet was flagged for ahead of the NKIS’s rivals in the Sino Block, as
later coloniza on, as the NKIS was looking for well as providing the massive compu ng power
more of a “challenge” to test its new technolo- needed to calculate accurate jump details.
gies. The second, Neo Fukushima, although
possessing all the requirements for life, had With the ubiquitous use of Nanotechnology,
a biosphere that was quite toxic to Earth life- NKIS was able to protect their secrets, and
forms. This planet was chosen as a litmus test control their popula on to a level never seen
to show the superiority of the NKIS society and before in human history. It was the Nippon
technology. It would be the first to be terrafor- social construct of society taken to extremes
med by humanity, but instead of taking several by technology, and it did work for them as a
centuries using conven onal means, it would na on, if not on a personal level. Personal free-
be done over the course of several weeks, using doms were almost unheard of across the NKIS,
the backbone of NKIS technology – Nanotech. and with no freedom, came no way to descent.
The mainland popula on bore the brunt of
5. Technological Hubris – Pride this control, with almost wanton expenditure
Before A Fall of Korean-background workers in the most
All technologies are a double-edged blade, and dangerous work condi ons imaginable – all for
Secret History

none more so than nanotechnology. Micro- the greater good, of course.

scopic machines that can self-replicate and
perform a myriad of tasks, func onally only Nanotechnology truly seemed like a gi from
limited by the number of these nanites that are Heaven, but it turned out to be more like a
available at the me, held benefits that the NKIS curse from Hell.
couldn’t resist. This was despite the dangers
that forced every other major poli cal power 6. The Grey Goo Event of 2379
on Earth to outlaw wide-scale developments The NKIS was nothing if not a forward looking
in the field. Where the rest of the world took society. They had a colonizing/terraforming
baby steps, the NKIS charged ahead. Nanotech vessel, the Nodachi Maru, half completed by
infiltrated nearly every technology and advance the me the scout ship returned in 2370. Their
they made; from medicine to construc on to target chosen, the NKIS Society Development

16
spaceflight. Nanotech allowed the NKIS to Agency moved ahead apace with the plan to
colonise the seas, modifying the very biology of reach Neo Fukushima within the decade and,

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)

 u lizing the widest-scale use of Nanotechnol-
ogy yet undertaken, terraform Neo Fukushima
to have a successful colony func oning there
by 2380. It was a truly ambi ous undertaking,
and they almost pulled it off… almost.
“Nanites will CHANGE the
world as we know it. We
should remove them wher-
ever possible!”
- Incoming NKIS Imperial Science Advisor,
2379
Despite a near hot war breakout in Mar an orbit
in 2372, as rival poli cal powers engineered a
failed a empt to ‘find out what those ‘crazy’
NKIS were up to this me,’ the NKIS’s secret
diaspora was underway by 2377. By early the
next year, despite some misgivings over what
was seen by some members of the Advisory
Commi ee to the Emperor as perceived weak-
nesses in the project, the ‘Grand Event’ was
ready to proceed. The ac va on code was sent
from the Imperial Sub-aqua c Palace under the
Sea of Japan, via the world’s first Photonic Tele-
porta on Array (PTA) - nearly 50 years before
PTAs became shared technology – and the
Nanotechnology Terraforming Process began.
Within 2 weeks, the whole biosphere of Neo
Fukushima had been literally rewri en, provid-
ing a veritable Eden for the elated colonists,
even more Terran compa ble than the neigh-
boring Neo Tokyo. A large se lement was There was no sign of the colony, and no sign of
quickly established, and the NKIS se lers, confi- human life.
dent in their technology, were ready to reap the
benefits of an ever expandable, u erly compat-
ible environment for their peoples. It all looked
too good to be true… because it was.
For in terraforming Neo Fukushima for the
NKIS, the nanites had ingrained themselves into
every level and every structure in the environ-
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
ment, from the subsoil layers to the very skies
above. Being part of everything, these same
nanites were in all the food and drink, and in a
short me they also infested the en re colony:
the structures, crops and the very people them-
selves.
Then, on January 08, 2379, a short three weeks
before the NKIS were going to unveil their
triumph to the world - with a hearty ‘na-na,
we’re be er than you!’ - the Neo Fukushima
Nanoclysm occurred. To this day, no one is
en rely sure what triggered it. Some suggest
that the nanites within the colonists came into
conflict with the terraforming nanites, or possi-
bly even ‘bred’ with them, crea ng a super-
nanite that had its own agenda. Some say that
with so many nanites in proximity to each other,
more than at any other point or place in human
history, the ‘Nanite Cloud’ became sen ent, and
either commi ed suicide, or destroyed their
creator. Others suggest that it was a Korean
uprising; one of their higher up scien fic teams
having reprogrammed the terraforming nanites
for more destruc ve purposes. Whatever the
cause or reasoning, the effect was undeniable.
Contact was lost with the colony, and when
the Nodachi Maru - at the me on course for
a transit back to Sol - returned to orbit of Neo
Fukushima a er receiving truncated distress
signals, they discovered what we see today:
Secret History
a sha ered biosphere, with a broiling cloud
layer, and grey goo blanke ng the devastated
surface.
“This is the Nodachi Maru...
Tokyo, we respectfully wish
to advise you, we have a
problem...”
17
- Final Verified Transmission, Nodachi Maru
 7. The Remnants of the NKiS in
Space, and Neo Fukushima/Perdition
Today
Fortunately (or not - depending how you look
Rapture
at it), the Nodachi Maru had it’s own PTA as a
backup, just in case a situa on not unlike this
arose. The crew took readings, and a empted
two landings on the surface. Contact was lost
with both shu les a er they entered the cloud
layer, the last transmissions being garbled cries
of agony and crazy ramblings about avenging
spirits. A empts were made to regain control of
the nanite goo, but it was totally unresponsive,
at least to signals from orbit. Lacking anything
else produc ve to do, the Nodachi Maru was
ordered to return to Mars. It never made it,
disappearing at some point a er it reached the
outer system. Scout ships were sent to look for
it, but no sign of the Nodachi Maru was found.
However, before the Earth Went Dark, reports
of garbled messages and telemetry packets are
said to have been received by the Earth end
of the PTA that was installed on the Nodachi
Maru.
Needless to say, the NKIS government and
the en re society, whom had all hung their
hopes on this ground-breaking project, were
crushed. All reference to the failed expedi on
was suppressed, and any informa on in news
or media expunged. The NKIS Security Servic-
Secret History
es worked as hard to obliterate the project
from the collec ve consciousness as the en re
NKIS had slaved to make it a reality. Besides
the missing Nodachi Maru, NKIS maintained
no extra-solar assets before the recent events
on Earth. Nanotechnology, once a rampant
‘cure all’ in the NKIS technological arsenal,
was heavily restricted and controlled a er the
Neo Fukushima Incident, to the extent that no
further great nanotech breakthroughs were
made public by the NKIS government, either
internally or external to their highly xenopho-
18
bic boarders.
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
Time marched on, NKIS kept their heads in the
sand over the Neo Fukushaima Nanoclysm, and
the documented human diaspora began. The
Sinos, not knowing what had happened on the
planet they eventually dubbed Perdi on, lost
quite a few scout ships a emp ng to navigate
to the surface of the blighted planet. Numer-
ous other governmental and corporate bodies
did the same, and it was eventually decided
that a general ‘no-go zone’ was agreed upon,
star ng at the edge of Perdi on’s atmosphere.
No assistance would be forthcoming to anyone
that got down to the surface and survived, and
no UCM assets would be expended within that
bedeviled atmosphere. If you go down there,
it’s on your own recognizance, and God help
you if you get into trouble, which all foolish
enough to a empt it invariably do.
“This Sino Scout Ship Proof
of Life, beginning decent
into planetary atmosphere...
all systems nominal.”
“Very good Proof of Life, we
are tracking your progress.
Please keep us updated as...”
“Navy Command, you seeing
this? There’s something in
the clouds!”
“Please reconfirm image
transmission, Proof of Life...”
“They have broken in... oh...
no... what... Navy Comm...
“Proof of Life. We have lost
your tracking signal... please
respond! Proof of Life, please
respond!”
<gurgle> bzzzzzzzzttttt...
 Cast
The Heroes ment staff member for the Science Officer that
supposedly died on the last transport returning
This adventure works best with two Extras for to Confucius. He or she could have MentAI as
each star ng Player Character. As the Heroes their Fac on and Poli cal Instruc on.
and Extras for this adventure are confined to
the transport ship, they are all likely to be crew Crew of the Transport Ship
members. However, if your players already The following is a list of the crew of the trans-
have surviving characters from previous adven- port ship, and their stats as Extras. Feel free
tures, then they could easily have signed on to replace any of these characters with your
to the ship’s crew a er the previous events in players’ Heroes. We have also provided these
your current campaign. You can also encour- as an editable ‘Extras’ Log’ PDF file. We recom-
age a player to take other Colonial Corpora- mend that prior to star ng the adventure, you
ons as their Poli cal Alliance, and thus have spend a li le me introducing the role of each
good reason to either damage or steal research of the crew members, and get the players to
notes or prototypes from the outpost. Another give each character a name and even person-
op on is to have MentAI send along a replace- ality traits to create a team that is truly fi ng
to your group’s play style. This extra up-front
Reading statistics for Extras me also means that your players will remem-
A Dice Pool Bonus ber the names and roles of their comrades and
Damage Bonus will more readily bring them into narra on
Damage Target during the game (and not just sacrifice them
Eg. A1 1 2 would mean the character to save their own hides). Plus the players will
adds 1 dice to the dice pool, adds 1 point of be happier to take over Extras that they have
damage to a successful outcome and needs 2 had some role in crea ng! You can record the
points of damage before being incapacitated. players’ sugges ons for Extras on the editable
PDF file.

Name Profession Personality

Heroes - Transport crew

Captain Nathanial Berra- Ship’s Captain
man
Natasha Riggs, First Officer Pilot
A2 1 1
Male: late 30’s. Quick wi ed, fast talking and
hard dealing captain. Ex-UCM. Dark shadows in
his past.
A1 1 1
Female: early 30’s. Good at organizing, and herd-
ing cats. Hard, but also compassionate.
Cast

Ishtar Sing, Coms Officer C o m m u n i c a - A1 0 1

ons Specialist Female: late 20’s. Always cheery, op mist. This
can be annoying at mes.

19
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
 Name Profession Personality
Reinhardt Cain, Security Security A1 2 1
Officer Specialist Male: Late 40’s. Hyper fit, dangerous man, quiet,
gruff, but dependable.
Sco Montgomery, Chief Mechanical A2 1 1
Rapture
Engineer Engineer Male: Mid 30’s. Huge bear of a man. Loud and
rambunc ous.
Sheena Tigh Electronics A1 1 1
Engineer Female: Mid 20’s. Tall, confident and pre y. A
real tom-boy.
Carla Richards, Second En- Mechanical A1 0 1
gineer Engineer Female: Mid 30’s. Short, pudgy with a mean spir-
it. Damn good at her job and lets people know it.
May Ye, Cargo Master Cargo Officer A1 0 1
Female: Late 20’s. Sensuous with brains to match
the looks. Strange she is a Cargo Officer, but a
bloody good one.
Alistair McKinnon, Medi- Doctor A1 0 1
cal Officer Male: Mid-30’s. Chip on shoulder. Takes the ‘Doc-
tor above God’ a li le too much to heart.
Extra Extras! Use these if you have a need for an even bigger
crew!
Richard Has ngs Cook A1 0 1
Male: Mid 40’s. Thinks he’s one of those Tri-vid
cooks. Quick, snappy and lots of a tude.
Mary Lehman Nurse A1 0 1
Female: Early 20’s. Widely read, cha y and good
natured. Mother figure. Also helps cook and
clean.
Andy Briss Computer A1 1 1
Technician Male: 30. Happy go lucky guy, flirty and quick wit-
Heroes - Transport crew

ted. Hard to stay angry at. Ladies’ man.

Li Guk ‘Barry’ Kwon Security A1 2 2
Specialist Male: 23. A highly fit, a rac ve, serious young
man, who lives with the shadow of failing his fam-
ily. Almost shy, a really nice guy.
Karita Andersson Weapons A2 2 1
Specialist Female: 26. Ravishing blonde with a penchant for
guns... lots of guns. Beau ful and scary all in a
Cast

hot li le package. Not to be messed with.

Andre Teds, MentAI Scien- Scien st A1 0 1
fic Officer* Male: Late 20’s. Quiet, reads a lot. Keeps to him-

20
self, but not afraid to pass a comment. (GM: could
be sent by MentAI to review the work Goverian
is doing)
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
 Game Master Notes
On The Crew
 Happy Cat Industries: return details of
One of the crew is being controlled by a Posses- the MentAI research to Happy Cat on
sion Spirit. This crew member is the one that Confucius.
has been accessing the sealed cargo container
and torturing the AC. Either the coms tech,  UMC: destroy any illegal AI research.
electronics or computer technician is best.
So either Ishtar, Andy or Sheena, or perhaps  Ada Agritech: find out what the unique
use the MentAI Scien fic Officer, Andre. This environmental condi ons on Perdi on are,
possessed Extra has been in a somewhat secret and inform your masters at Ada Agritech.
rela onship with the cargo officer, May Ye,
and thus has had access to the cargo container  Organised Crime: steal a valuable AI and re-
unguarded. They have also edited the ship’s turn it to the Tongs on Confucius to get your
sensor logs to remove themselves from the family back!
cargo bay and surrounding areas at these mes.
 UMC: discover dangers to humanity and
Feel free to have the players adjust the crew return as much informa on as possible to
names and personali es as they see fit. UMC.
However, you will need to work out the most
logical Extra crew member to be possessed,  MentAI: determine the legi macy of Gove-

Heroes - Transport crew - Game MASTER NOTES

and thus be having the torrid affair. This rian’s research and shut it down if neces-
possessed crew member will need to form a sary.
close associa on with someone in the base
(preferably someone who is working on the  Family: rescue your wife/husband’s brother,
secret project) the first night the crew is at the Wallace Burgmann, from this horrid place
research outpost, so the Possession Spirit can (could be used as a Redemp on Task).
jump bodies. It will then, using the informa on
in this new host, head for the BioAI research  MentAI: stop anyone from leaving the Re-
lab, and a empt to possess the BioAI just a er search Outpost with MentAI secrets.
fusing the AC is with it. If this is allowed to
happen, it is ‘hilarity ensues’ me!  Family: kill that bastard Goverian, who is re-
sponsible for the death of your grandfather.

Possible Political  Ship: complete the delivery with minimal

Instructions For fuss, to get a chance at new parts for the
The Crew ship and more high paying jobs.

Following is a list of Poli cal Alliances and  UCM: Upkeep the tenants of the UCM, help-
Cast

Poli cal Instruc ons for those GMs that need a ing those in need wherever possible.
li le help se ng up the sort of poli cal cross-
purposes that make the crew work at cross-  Sino: Inves gate the suspicious loss of the
purposes. Feel free to use these or come up MentAI shu le and detain/arrest those re-

21
with your own. sponsible if this was indeed a crime.

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)

 Pirate Crew
Named Characters
Rapture
Captain ignatious Nash
Pirate Captain
Male. 38 yrs.
Once a proud security officer at Happy Cat
Industries, Nash was used as a scapegoat in a
corporate shakeup nearly a decade before, but
managed to escape before ‘jus ce could be
served.’ Commandeering a ship, Nash made
his way to the lunar reaches, scrapping up a
crew of reprobates from the sleaziest dives
on the moons of Confucius. Suitably crewed,
Nash had his stolen transport ship modified to
be more offensive, and then set to raiding the
space lanes around the orbit of Confucius. A er
several close calls with local and UCM authori-
es, Nash moved his raiding work to the area
around Perdi on, finding the pickings leaner,
but far safer. Several days before the opening
scene, Nash was contacted by a ‘friend’ s ll in
the employ of Happy Cat, with a job that could
PIRATE CREW - Named Characters
Cast
22
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
put their raiding ways behind them and set
them up for life.
A ributes: Mens 2 Corpus 4 Poten a 2
Heroic Skills: The Boss, Flyboy, Gunslinger.
Personal Goal: Make the big score to set
himself up for life.
Redemp on Goal: Make those bastards at HCI
pay for what the did.
Fac onal Goal: Militant Atheism - Those God-
botherers can die just like all the rest.
Poli cal Instruc on: Pira cal - Gain power and
pres ge within the Confucius underworld.
Enforcer Ye Wen
Second Officer
Female. 31 yrs.
Nash’s protege while at Happy Cat, Wen was
elevated to Nash’s vacated posi on when he
did a runner, and was sent a er him. She did
run him down, but rather than take him in, she
decided to join him, rather than be the next
scapegoat into the breach. Trained as a very
dangerous hand to hand combatant, and as
ready to fight as to breathe, Wen is an excel-
lent second for the pirate crew, bea ng the
scurvy dogs into submission, and keeping the
raids on track, with minimal deaths and collat-
eral damage. Needless to say, Nash is the only
man she will let touch her.
A ributes: Mens 2 Corpus 5 Poten a 1
Heroic Skills: Bruiser, Gunslinger, Poli cian.
Personal Goal: Serve Nash to keep him happy
and with her forever.
Redemp on Goal: Make repara ons to her
family for the shame of her current situa on.
 Fac onal Goal: Religious Liberalism - believe
as you will, just do as I say.
Poli cal Instruc on: Nash - guard his back, kill
his enemies, make us rich.
Damage Target: 1
Game Master Tip
If you are the sort of Game Master who likes to
track things, you can use the interac ve Extras
tracking sheet (PDF) to keep tabs on how many
of the crew are le (and you can decide how
may there are to being with, too).

Pirate Crew extras - RESEArCH OUTPOST PERSONNEL - Named Characters

Research
Outpost
NarvAI 3
Personnel

Named Characters

Professor Konrad Goverian

Base Commander and Chief Scien st
Male. 53 yrs.
The most senior member of the Nanite Retriev-
al & Verifica on AI project. Goverian has
Pirate Crew Extras become unhinged in his pursuit of the BioAI
and over the loss of his daughter. He scares
A more motley, rough and surly crew have the crap out of the other staff and acts like God
never strode the decks of a ship in space. The when among them. He is quite ready to kill to
crew of the Pirate Ship Nash’s Revenge would protect his secrets, but would rather hide the
slit your throat a quick as look at you if it wasn’t act to prevent full scale revolt amongst his staff.
for the iron willed, controlling influence of Ye
Wen. However, when she isn’t in earshot, they A ributes: Mens 5 Corpus 2 Poten a 2
are not above rape, murder and mu la on.
There is a definite pecking order, and the meek Heroic Skills: Quack, Brainiac, Hacker.
on the Nash’s Revenge tend to end up dead.
These are not men you want to have let loose Personal Goal: Be the creator of the most
aboard your ship! advanced AI ever produced.

They are dressed is ragtag clothes, and use Redemp on Goal: Use the BioAI construct
kludged-together weapons. However, this materials - once successful - to reproduce a fully
Cast

does not make them any less dangerous. lifelike version of his daughter from nanites.

Dice Pool Bonus: 1 Fac onal Goal: Paganism - Complete the trium-
virate of Hindu God AIs.

23
Damage Bonus: 1
Poli cal Instruc on: MentAI - Perfect the BioAI.

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)

 wi ed, manipula ve and confident, she knows
what she wants and goes a er it, regardless
of the costs - personal or otherwise. She does
lament the passing of her fer le period without
Rapture
children, and this is probably the chink in her
armor that will be her downfall.

A ributes: Mens 4 Corpus 2 Poten a 2

Heroic Skills: Gumshoe, Brainiac, Quack.

Personal Goal: Find a way to have children,

despite her reproduc ve me being up.

Game Master iNFO Redemp on Goal: Bring new life into the world.
Konrad is not in essence a bad man, but his
morals u erly fail where his child and his Fac onal Goal: Religious Liberalism - Keep
work are concerned. As all of the staff at the all the pagans and ‘one Godders’ on the staff
outpost are without or separated from their working happily together.
families, Konrad has allowed the transport
RESEArCH OUTPOST PERSONNEL - Named characters

crew to ‘lay over’ (not that they could really Poli cal Instruc on: MentAI - support
leave safely anyway) to give his staff some Goverian un l it looks like he will no longer be
social me. However, he will order security useful, then take his research, dispose of him
to detain, or even fire upon the ‘guests’ if they and finish the work.
are found snooping around or breaking into
areas or computer systems that they have no
right to be accessing, and they will be the next
‘lucky volunteer’ ssue donors. Brahma, the
research AI (see ‘The Triumvirate of Hindi’ in
‘The Monsters’), has been programmed to do
the same, using the Nanite Constructs to inform
security. Konrad himself, although fixated on
his work, may well be ‘distracted’ by a comely
member of the transport crew (that might be
possessed, even!). Also, Konrad has one of
the 5 ‘keys’ required to reach the secret lab.
It could be swipe cards (kind of obvious) but it
could also be in a personal item, like a piece of
jewelry. Game Master iNFO
Cast

Koch is a woman on the edge, caught between

Dr. Melissa Koch the rock of wan ng to have all the nanite
Research Leader, Advance AI Constructs research be a success, and the hard place in
Female. 46 yrs. what it is cos ng in lives to achieve. She will not

24
A hard bi en researcher who had to fight tooth hesitate to dispose of some or all of the freight-
and nail to get where she is today. Sharp, quick er crew to save the research, and yet she may

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)

 well be looking to share a warm bed if the right Game Master iNFO
freighter crew member seems interested. She
is also very protec ve of the Leena construct, Rachel is basically a decent person in a bad situ-
despite knowing it for what it is. Also, Melissaa on. She is sure that the ‘thing’ in the enviro
has one of the 5 ‘keys’ required to reach the suit is NOT Leena, and also knows that what is
secret lab. It could be a swipe card (kind of going on with Goverian and Koch disappearing
obvious) but it could also be in a personal item,
for long periods is suspect. She is too straight
like a piece of jewelry. a shooter to be let in on the dirty secrets of
the research outpost, but she does know the
Ms. Rachel Orrs place is dirty, and she wants out. She also can’t
Tech Officer accept the story told by Goverian about Burg-
Female. 28 yrs. mann, as she was having a secret affair with
Hard working and the most switched-on Tech Wallace, and he would never have le without
on staff. Rachel does a lot of varied du es, saying goodbye to her first. Rachel might just
including overseeing goods unloading and snap if she discovers the truth. She also thinks
storage. She is not blind to the sociopathic naming the AIs a er Hindi Gods is silly.
ways of Goverian, or the cu hroat ac ons of
Koch, and is biding her me to either get away,
or stop them first, then flee. The job is defi-
nitely NOT worth the money.

RESEArCH OUTPOST PERSONNEL - Named characters

A ributes: Mens 3 Corpus 2 Poten a 3

Heroic Skills: Grease Monkey, Hacker, Brainiac.

Personal Goal: Escape Perdi on and be able

to tell the tale - preferably with something to
make the me in this shit hole worth it.

Redemp on Goal: Find out what really

happened to Wallace, and seek revenge if
necessary.

Fac onal Goal: Humanist Emancipa onism -

demonstrate that humankind’s technical abili-
es show humans have moved beyond the
need for higher powers.

Poli cal Instruc on: MentAI - prevent any bad

Cast

publicity about the facility from ge ng out.

25
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
 Outpost Personnel Extras
Name Profession Personality
Dr. Sebas an Madrigal Researcher A1 0 1
Rapture
- has secret lab ‘key.’ Male. 35 yrs. Quiet, creepy kinda guy. Talks
only when necessary, and doesn’t mince
words. Is neither regre ul nor weighed down
by morals.
Dr. Barry Kippling Medical Officer/ A1 0 1
- has secret lab ‘key.’ Researcher Male. 38 yrs. Cheerful, cha y guy, very com-
petent. Has no problem using experimental
medical procedures on unsuspec ng pa-
ents. A man with a dark center, but a friend-
ly, sugar coa ng.
Mr. Arnold Nills Security Officer A1 1 2
Male. 30 yrs. Tough looking, quiet guy. Only
talks when absolutely necessary, and usually
only in single words. Acts like he shares a
mind with Parke e.
Mr. Lance Parke e Security Officer A1 1 2
Male. 30 yrs. Almost a clone of Nills. These
two work in tandem without talking, like they
can read each others thoughts.
Dr. Rajap Butan Senior Tech/Chief A1 0 1
- has secret lab ‘key.’ Male. 34yrs. Stocky build with a somewhat
RESEArCH OUTPOST PERSONNEL - Extras

opinionated personality. Fantas c chief, very

confident with the ladies.
Mr. Vince Yarning Technical Officer A1 0 1
Male. 23 yrs. Nice guy, but very naive. Doesn’t
really know what is going on. Very technically
minded.
Ms. Shenta Mederas Sanita on Technician A1 0 1
Female. 44 yrs. A woman old before her me,
used to a life of menial servitude. Knows
what’s going on, if not on an intellectual lev-
el. Knows about the secret research lab. Not
likely to talk unless offered a way out.
Cast

26
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
 The Monsters
Limbo Souls
The Grey Goo Event le the planet now
known as Perdi on sha ered and devoid of
life. However, what happened to the colonists
was arguably worse. As the nanites ate them
from the inside, their memory engrams were
transferred to the nanites themselves, which
were then blown into the atmosphere to form
the broiling cloud layer blanke ng the planet.
Some might even consider the unfortunate
colonists’ souls as forever trapped above the
dead world. There they scream and writhe, in
anger and frustra on, desperate to vent their
vitriol at anyone and anything they can effect.
The horrific thing is, when enough of the
tormented vic ms gather together in the broil-
ing clouds above one area, they cause colossal
electrical storms that sweep across the surface,
and it is then they get their chance!
Massive lightning bolts link the soul-filled
clouds above to the inac ve goo below, and
for a short me, the angry colonists are freed
to wreak havoc. Where the bolts strike, forms
begin to rise out of the grey puddles, taking on
the shape of anything from a simple humanoid
frame, ready to rend, bash and tear, to ancient,
horse-mounted samurai warriors, for those
souls that consider themselves more than the
average. When these malicious forms appear
in ‘the middle of nowhere,’ they end up figh ng
each other, trying to relieve some modicum of
frustra on at their lost lives, which can never
be forgo en. Yet when they form where there
IS someone to take their frustra on out on,
they close, ripping, tearing and clubbing like
the terrors that they are!
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
Game Master Tip
If you are the sort of Game Master who likes to
track things, you can use the interac ve Extras
tracking sheet (PDF) to keep tabs on how many
of the Limbo Souls you have generated to go
a er the Heroes that are remaining.
As Extras
Dice Pool Bonus 1
Damage Bonus 1
Damage Target 2 (it takes a lot to disrupt the
Limbo Souls’ hold on the Grey Goo, but they
will eventually fall to figh ng amongst them-
selves, and then finally dissipate when their
charge fades)
Leena Goverian:
THE MONSTERS - Limo souls - LEENA GOVERIAN
Nanotech/AI
Construct
Named Character
In a fit of remorse and sorrow a er the
death of his natural child, Goverian turned
his Nanotech research to crea ng a simula-
crum of his deceased daughter. She’s a bit
simplis c, wandering the halls playing with
her nanotoy, but the other staff of NarvAI 3
wouldn’t dare treat her as anything but Gove-
rian’s ‘real’ daughter. The technology is s ll in
the early phase, and the nanites are not fully
constrained, so it would be BAD if the suit (an 8
yr-old-girl-sized environmental protec on suit)
she is contained in was to be breached. The
Cast
standard story is that she was very sick, and is
now hyper-allergenic, requiring the suit.
27
 Atributes: Mens 2 Corpus 2 Poten a 4 The second AI is named Brahma (the creator).
It is the research AI. On one level, it is involved
Profession: AI Construct. in the up front research in the main-level
labs, modifying the Grey Goo outside for
Rapture
Heroic Skills: Brainiac, Hacker, God Botherer. more controlled, containable uses (or so the
researchers think). On the down low, Brahma
Personal Goal: Make daddy happy. has run of the secret, sub level lab, where the
BioAI is being housed and worked on. Brahma
Redemp on Goal: Understand why she can’t won’t get involved unless someone of suffi-
get out of the suit. cient rank in MentAI a empts to access it, or if
someone without clearance a empts to access
Fac onal Goal: Paganism - tell anyone who will anything on the secret lab level. Brahma will
listen stories about Hinduism. contact Vishnu to warn Goverian or Koch if
any unauthorized access to the secret research
Poli cal Instruc on: Goverian - protect the level is achieved.
family.
The final AI of the three is the BioAI, s ll under
development in the secret lab. It is called Shiva
(the Destroyer, ‘the auspicious one’), and will
be barely conscious un l it is ‘combined’ with
the mad AC. Once that has occurred and it is
fully awake, the Possession Spirit will a empt
to claim it, and the beginning of the end will be
at hand. If allowed to reach a pool of grey goo,
the BioAI will form a monstrous body (think the
THE MONSTERS - TRIUMVIRATE OF HINDAI

Staypu Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters,

but with less decora on), and this BioAI Mega-
construct will go on a rampage. Who knows
where it will end?
Triumvirate of
HindAI
Vishnu & Brahma
Named Characters
A ributes: Mens 8 Corpus 5 (hard to destroy,
There are 2 AI’s maintaining the systems of the acts through base systems) Poten a 2
Research Outpost. The first, Vishnu (the main-
tainer), is the System Maintenance AI for the Profession: AI Construct.
facility. Vishnu can be called on in any part of
the base, and may or may not answer, depen- Heroic Skills: Brainiac, Hacker, God Botherer.
Cast

dant on Goverian’s wishes. Vishnu has control

of a lot of the systems, and can make life quite Personal Goal: Protect the outpost/finalise the
dangerous for anyone snooping around, but BioAI.
Vishnu can also be confused easily, especially

28
if someone of the Hindu faith talks to it about Redemp on Goal: Overcome deleterious
religion. programing.

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)

 Fac onal Goal: Paganism - tell anyone who will this Unclean Spirit was involved somehow.
listen stories about Hinduism.
And now, it is on Perdi on.
Poli cal Instruc on: MentAI - complete the
BioAI and bring it to its full poten al. One of Lucifer’s best agents, Kaloc (as it is known
to few) was sent out to the colonies to prepare
them for the coming of Legion - the reaping of
Shiva BioAI/ the last human souls that escaped Earth before
Megaconstruct the Rapture. When news of ‘The Great Failure’
was extracted from a Nippon-Korean Imperial-
A ributs: Mens 7 Corpus 8/80 (hard to destroy, ist State representa ve in the ruins of Beijing,
can’t act un l it combines with Grey Goo) Lucifer’s generals convinced him to send Kaloc
Poten a 4 (when combined with the Possession out to pave the way for collec on and use of
Spirit, will gain 1 Poten a for each human soul the nanite plague against the very humans who

THE MONSTERS - SHIVA BIOAI MEGACONSTRUCT - POSESSION SPIRIT

it devours) created it. None of the Legion commanders
expect Kaloc to succeed in this all on his own,
Profession: AI Construct. but the ancient Possession Spirit helped start
three world wars, and has been instrumental in
Heroic Skills: Brainiac, Hacker, God Botherer. billions of deaths over the many centuries, so
he’s very resourceful. And once he discovers
Personal Goal: Ac vate and grow in power. the BioAI (being partly combined with a human,
it gives him something to possess), and its link
Redemp on Goal: Overcome deleterious to the grey goo... well you can see where its
programing. twisted consciousness will take this...

Fac onal Goal: Paganism - become the avatar

of Shiva. As a Named Character

Poli cal Instruc on: This thing is nuts... it A ributes: Mens 4 Corpus 0 (acts through
doesn’t really care! others) Poten a 9

Powers: Possession, Curse, Harm, Summon.

Possession Spirit,
Kaloc
This Possession Spirit is ancient. Its first job was
to take hold of Kane, and it acted to kill Abel. It
was working behind the scenes in Sodom, was
involved in the persecu on of the Jews in Egypt,
Nanite Constructs
One of the general research lab’s storage
areas holds a nasty surprise for any snooping
Heroes. It contains various designs of combat
Cast

and was there crying out for blood when the nanoids - nasty, bladed, mul -limbed, spider-
decision was made to crucify Jesus. Wherever like constructs that can really mess up your day.
huge wars have broken out, where great leaders If Vishnu or Brahma feel threatened by events
have been assassinated, where the switch has once the Heroes arrive, these nasty cri ers may

29
been flipped to kill millions, it is highly likely that be sent a er the Heroes.

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)

 Game Master Tip way as the nanites disassemble them. Also,
If you are the sort of Game Master who likes to any transport crew that have been treated
track things, you can use the interac ve Extras with nanites will have to consider the danger
tracking sheet (PDF) to keep tabs on how many of returning to the outside world with such a
Rapture
of the Nanite Constructs that have been set to payload.
hunt the Heroes are le .
The staff of the Research Outpost all have
these nanites in them, but these are even more
As Extras potent, due to mul ple treatments and pushing
the envelope of the treatment’s programming.
Dice Pool Bonus 1 If a member of the staff is killed, even if they
have a huge hole in their heads, the nanites
Damage Bonus 1 will quite quickly repair them, bring them back
to life within ten minutes. Bigger wounds take
Damage Target 3 (these li le buggers are longer to repair, but as long as the materials are
tough) available, the nanites will do their work. There
is s ll the same chance of the nanites going
ballis c, however. It would take almost total
NANITES annihila on to kill a member of the staff.

Medical Nanites - life or death?
One of the nanite uses that is showing a lot of
promise at the Research Outpost is medical
nanites. This reprogramming of nanites collect-
ed from the surface is meant to solve a huge
variety of medical issues, to repair and even
replace lost ssues.
If a member of the transport crew is injured,
and put into the Outpost medical centre for
treatment, Kippling will use a temporary nanite
treatment to quickly heal them (it’s his Poli -
cal Instruc on). They are designed to heal any
problems the pa ent has, and then deac vate
and be expelled from the body. However, on
k
a roll of 9+ on a
, the nanites fail to deac -
vate, and will persist in the pa ents’ body. They gives the GM a huge leeway in storytelling to
will con nue to quickly and effec vely heal any
injuries, however every me they ac vate a er
Cast
So the GM can have Outpost Staff killed off with
impunity, safe in the knowledge that they’ll be
back (more than likely)!
Nanoclysm Nanites - exactly how
dangerous are they?
Well, this one is ul mately up to the GM. It
is nice to treat them as an unknown quan ty.
There is a whole planet’s worth - that’s trillions
upon trillions. They ‘seem’ to be shut down
- inac ve, having performed the atrocity they
were des ned to commit. However, such a
plethora of varied nanites, each type having
previously been programmed with differing
instruc ons, means they could react in any
number of ways to any given situa on. This
do what fits the game they are trying to create.
But just remember, it’s up to the person who

the first me, the pa ents body temperature has narra on for that part of the scene, so
Nanites

bring the nanites into play when it suits you!

will rise, so they will feel very hot. Also, roll a
k every me the nanites do their thing, and
k
on a roll of 9, roll a again. On a roll of 7+ Just keep in mind that the fully formed and

30
on this dice, the nanites go haywire, and the possessed BioAI has control of the local nanites,
Named Character or Extra will die in a horrible period.

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)

 Cast

31
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
Rapture Locations
Heroes’
Transport
Ship
This plucky li le transport ship - though  You can play the ship as ght or as loose
flogged off as a superseded prototype by
Transport Dynamics while raising capital for
some ‘new ini a ve’ - is s ll a recent design, pirates. We would recommend, however,
with some very welcome features not seen in
older models of the type. Quite the bargain,
rela vely speaking, for the owners: ship’s
captain, first officer, chief engineer, and the
Prosperity Bank of Confucius. Not in their
possession half a year, the senior crew have
already made some ‘special modifica ons’ to
the ship, including the addi on of ‘defensive
weapons.’ A er what may have happened to
Earth, it’s more obvious than ever these days
that it’s a dangerous galaxy out there...
 A recent Transport Dynamics’ design, picked
up cheap from a sale of superseded proto-
types, the ship is well laid out, with a few
minor, problema c choices. S ll all in all, it
is a good ship for intra-system runs, and has
that big space in the engineering bay, and
upgrade slots in the computer centre...
HEROES’ Transport SHIP
 The new owners, the ship’s captain, first
officer, chief engineer (and the Prosperity
Bank of Confucius) have made some key
modifica ons to the design: engine tweaks,
Locations
enlarged sick bay, cargo loader pen, and the
addi on of defensive weapons. The ship
has all the usual spaces: the bridge over a
forward loading cargo bay, crew quarters,
mess, exercise area, data centre, medical
suite, double height engineering bay, and
the recently added defensive suite. The
32
centre of the hull has an almost spherical
bulge in it, that is echoed with a spherical
open space on the inside of the ship. It’s
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
currently being used as a somewhat unusu-
ally-shaped extra cargo bay. See Transport
Ship Schema cs for more.
as you want. You can have crawl spaces
as necessary, if the ship gets taken by the
that if things go pear-shaped so early in
the plot, that the pirate crew intercept the
transmission from the surface (with instruc-
ons on how to land safely), and decide to
go visit the research outpost. This may give
the game a bit more longevity, and the He-
roes more of a chance to escape.
“She may look like a preg-
nant duck, but she can fly
with a belly fully of cargo like
no other bird I ever had the
honor to pilot.”
- Natasha Riggs, First Officer
 The transport ship is quite central to the ad-
venture. Presuming the Heroes drive off the
pirates (see Pirate Ship, next sec on) they
land on Perdi on at the only known struc-
ture on the surface, the NarvAI 3 Research
Outpost. The transport is then unloaded,
and due to an approaching storm, the crew
are recommended to shelter inside the
outpost un l the ‘danger’ has passed (that
being the arrival of the Limbo Souls). This
gets all of the crew into the Outpost, so that
the fun can begin in there as they pursue,
or inadvertently discover, how messed up
the place really is. Finally, if anyone tries to
fly the transport off the planet during the
storm or through the cloud layer, they will
suffer a acks from the Limbo Souls, and
 Unrealized Potential

HEROES’ Transport SHIP

Locations

33
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
 eventually be driven mad or overwhelmed.
The ONLY way for anyone to get off Perdi-
on alive is to fly out a gap in the cloud
layer, and there is only a 1 in 5 (9 or 10 on
k
Rapture
a ) chance of it happening per day (or
GM’s discre on).
 The ship is one of the prototypes of the de-
sign men oned in the Rapture Core Rules,
under the Transport Dynamic entry, page
58. It is lacking a gravity drive, associated
fuel cells, and the AI required to calculate  Sec ons of the ship seem par ally disman-
the jump coordinates. These could be of-
fered by TD if the Heroes survive this (mis)
adventure and get caught up in the mission
to return to the Sol system and find out
what happened (this will be outlined in a
future series of products from StoryWeaver
produc ons).  There are a lot of ‘BAD THINGS’ you could
Pirate Ship
An intermi ent sensor reading out in the
ring rocks turns into a dark shape swooping
down upon your ship! Energy bolts lance out,
spla ering across your ship’s hull, the impact
shaking the superstructure, knocking unse-
cured items to the deck plates, and unpre-
pared crew from their feet. The lights flicker
and turn to emergency red as the a ack alarm
sounds, and the acrid smell of shor ng systems
fills the suddenly cramped atmosphere of your - Enforcer Wen
ship. Checking the visual feeds, the a acking
ship doesn’t look like much (at all), but it has it  We recommend le ng the Heroes drive
where it counts. Quite fast, rather maneuver-
Locations
able, and bristling with weapons, it is clearly
enough to scare the average freighter crew
Pirate Ship
into submission. But are YOU the average
freighter crew?
 The pirate ship is an old clunker, but it is
quite fast, maneuverable, has decent cargo
34
storage, and has been modified with consid-
erable weapon systems, most of which are
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
outdated but s ll dangerous. The condi on
of the ship is quite poor, however, with a lot
of junk sca ered around the passageways
and rooms, and some non-essen al system
outages. One notable addi on to this ship
that is not seen in the average modified
transport is a brig, which is used for both
captured slaves (a acked ships’ crew mem-
bers) and too-rowdy members of the pirate
crew.
tled. Access panels are open and dodgy
patch jobs are evident. This older ship has
significant crawl spaces and ven la on
ducts (just) big enough to crawl through.
See Pirate Ship Schema cs for more.
do to your Heroes if they were dragged over
here to be tortured, raped, ransomed off
(but to whom?) or killed. There are some
old, dark stains in airlock number 3, and
some not so old...

“Get that damn computer
targeting system back on
line Henricks, or I’ll be lining
up the damn rail guns with
your kidneys!” 
off the Pirates in the first encounter, near
the ring orbit of Perdi on. They can come
back later, having seen the transport make
it through the cloud layer, and following
through a gap, to land at the Research Out-
post’s landing field. They could then a ack
the Outpost, or be brunch for the newly
formed BioAI Megaconstruct (Shiva) - if
their arrival is med right.
 Locations
Pirate Ship

35
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
Rapture
Locations

36
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
 MentAI
Research
Outpost
NarvAI 3:
Outside
The Research Outpost landing pad is a bas on
of order in the chaos that is the blasted and
broken surface of Perdi on. One-hundred by a
two-hundred metres, it is a slab of dark grey,
heat and impact-stabilized ceramic that was
engineered to take the weight and retrothrust
backwash of landing and li ing ships. The sides
of the pad slope off into the surface of Perdi on,
some four metres below. A series of ceracrete
blocks, linked by mesh bridges, lead from the
landing pad to the bunker-like entrance of the
Research Outpost. The rela vely low entryway
leads down into the base proper, as the vast
majority of the structure lies underground; only
the entryway, hydroponics and the communica-
ons array protrude from the surface.
 There is not much to see here, on the sur-
face, even though there is a lot going on.
Just the sizable landing field s cking out of
the grey pools of sludge, a causeway with
meshed bridges allowing the swampy muck
to flow underneath, and the entrance to
the mostly underground research outpost.
The entrance is wide and low, heavily rein-
forced and the main doors are quite thick,
as if ready to, or needing to, defend the
Outpost. Beyond this, the land undulates
off into the mists, with the low lying areas
being inundated with a strange, grey fluid,
that seems quite a bit thicker than water,
and if you watch very closely, you might no-
ce that the grey fluid seems to think New-
tonian physics are hardly mandatory... The
only other signs there was ever any life here
are the corpses of trees, petrified, their na-
ked branches reaching for the boiling clouds
above, as if in pain... The place has a chill
about it that is not totally due to the degree
of temperature.

 The area surrounding the pad, bridge and “Bet they don’t sell many
entryway is generally flat, slightly undulat- postcards here, eh?”
ing swampland. It is unnaturally quiet and - Carla Richards, Second Engineer
s ll, as if even the breeze refuses to s r in
the dead space around this dead world. On  The welcoming commi ee of the Outpost
the higher areas, bare earth surrounds the (usually Tech Rachel Orrs) will quickly warn
bleached remains of what look like fossil- the crew of the transport that it is ‘not safe’
ised trees; their bare branches reach into to be on the surface without an environ-
the sky like skeletal fingers trying to grasp at mental suit on. They have specialised ones
the boiling mass of cloud that perpetually that the security personnel will bring to the outpost - outside
Locations
hangs overhead. A strange, almost-mercu- ship’s airlock. A er decontamina on in the
rial, grey sludge fills all the hollows, and if airlock, it should be safe for the Heroes to
observed from a short distance, the viewer retrieve and use the suits.
can soon see that it slowly moves and ed-
dies, in a manner that has nothing in com-  At least some of the crew will need to be
mon with Newtonian physics. A strange transferred to the outpost to check and sign
sort of light fog prevents clear visibility past to waybill documents, and then the Heroes’
several hundred metres. All in all, the place Cargo Officer will need to transport the car-

37
seems strange, unnatural, unwelcoming, go to the receiving area inside to outpost
and... wrong. entryway. If any tampering with the sealed

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)


“This stuff is weird!”
- Mary Lehman
“I would not get to close to it
Rapture
if I were you...”
- Barry Kwon
“Yeah, it’s gross!”
- Mary Lehman
And moving...”
- Barry Kwon
cargo is found (we recommend an Extra
bring it to the Captain or First officer’s at-
ten on), something will have to be done or
all hell will break loose with the guards of
the Outpost when it is discovered.
 To get the Heroes inside the base, Rachel
will inform them when the unloading is
nearly complete that a storm is approach-
ing. It is NOT safe to be on the surface dur-
ing a storm, and it is impossible to make
orbit safely un l another gap in the cloud
cover develops. It is HIGHLY recommended
that all crew from the transport shelter in
the base un l the storm passes.
 If anyone a empts to leave the base or
hides out on the ship during the storm, they
will be tormented by the Limbo Souls that
are actually responsible for the atmospheric
outpost - Main level
ble immediately thrust upon them (see the
Madness Table, p40, Rapture Core Rules),
as the Limbo Souls in the cloud act as a tag
team of Madness Spirits. Ship will crash
back to the planet if pilot(s) die at the con-
trols.
 This is also the loca on where the pirates
could make a return appearance. Depend-
ing on your sequence of events during your
play through, the pirates could land and
a ack the outpost. They would likely not
have the environmental suits that the He-
roes were given when outside their ship, so
they might suffer detrimental effects from
the nanites in the atmosphere, or be at-
tacked by the Limbo Souls, if the storm ar-
rives at that me. Worse s ll, the pirates
could arrive just a er the BioAI/Possession
Spirit melding takes place, and be a acked
by the BioAI construct a er it breaks out of
the secret laboratory. It is hungry for souls
and biological ma er, so ‘ea ng’ the pirates
is one good way of ge ng both. Picture the
pirate ship busted open and on fire, with the
orange light of the flames ligh ng up a giant
humanoid shape, devoid of details, made of
grey goo, bending over the remains of the
ship, picking out the crew and tossing them
into its lower face, which lacks a mouth...
creepy!

disturbance (see the Limbo Souls details in Main Level

‘The Monsters’ sec on). If anyone is crazy
(or afeared) enough to try to fly through the Once inside the Research Outpost your suits
Locations

cloud layer, they will suffer horribly as the are decontaminated, and while the local techs
fear, anger and frustra on of the trapped check and store the cargo from your ship,
colonist’s souls pours into them. Roll the you get a chance to have a look around the
Poten a dice for each person a emp ng general access areas of the facility. Rachel Orrs
the transit through the cloud layer - as ap- is your ever friendly guide, happy to show you
posed to through a gap. Three success of around, assign each of you quarters to wait
target value 9, they survive. Anything else, out the storm, and suggests that you all come

38
they die screaming! Anyone who survives to the mess hall at 1830 hrs for a celebratory
will have FOUR levels on the Madness Ta- meal. On the subject of the work being done

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)

 at the outpost, Rachel says that it would be Entrance Area
best if you ask the team leaders over dinner.
Inside from the entrance ramp lies the decon-
 Looking around, the place seems top notch: tamina on suite, defensive equipment
scrupulously clean, well laid out and SOTA storage, suit storage, crawler bay, engineering
tech abundant. Some of this stuff you have and the main cargo bay. This area is laid out in
never even heard of before! It looks like a the same dark grey as the cerocrete outside,
great place to work, but you get the feel- and is very u litarian, with a military feel.
ing that there is an undercurrent of tension
with how Rachel answers many of the gen-  Nills and Parke e will defend the outpost
eral ques ons you have about the place. It from this area if it falls under a ack from
could be the state of the biosphere outside, the outside (such as the pirates). There
but something is definitely not right here. are several suits of power combat armor -
Perhaps your concerns will be addressed securely stored - in this area, and both the
over dinner with the enigma c Professor. security officers are well trained in their
use.
 This area lies one level below the surface.
It houses all of the commonly used areas of
the Outpost, besides the power core. Every- Research Area
thing is scrupulously clean and well laid out.
Think of a super-futuris c private hospital,  Research labs 1 through 4, research stor-
replete with the colored lines on the floor age, and secondary research AI core (part of
to guide you to the different areas. Brahma). All the secondary work on modi-
fying the semi-inac ve nanites that liter the
 The hydroponic garden doesn’t get much of surface of Perdi on is done here, from the

outpost - Main level - Research Area

a look in, as it gets sealed off every me a
storm approaches (due to the threat from
the Limbo Souls). A fun varia on might be
that the shu ers fail and Limbo Souls get
into the base that way...
Game Master Tip
If you have an iPad, bring up the provided
hi-resolu on PDF or JPG file on the screen so
players can view and zoom around the sche-
ma c (we recommend using the one without
the secret level on it) as if using their own tablet
computers in the game world! The iAnnotate
applica on is par cularly good for this, as it
allows you to draw on the schema cs too, and
remove these addi ons later.
medical applica ons being processed in lab
3 to the defense and combat applica ons
that are having mixed results in lab 1. Gove-
rian’s official area is lab 4.
“Wow. Some high-tech shiat
in here boss! Wadda’ ya
reckon this button does?”
- Karita Andersson
Locations
 The research storage area off lab 1 has some
combat prototypes that possibly Brahma,
but more likely Vishnu, will ac vate if they
feel it necessary to defend the Outpost, ei-
ther against the Heroes or a pirate a ack.
Their effec veness at determining friend
from foe is up the the GM. Lab 4 is where

39
Goverian ‘rebuilt’ his daughter using nanite
technology. It is rather rough work, but a la-

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)

 bour of love, and all the staff know not to
disagree about it being his ‘child.’
 The research data core here holds only in-
Rapture
forma on on the secondary research, and
nothing of the BioAI research being con-
ducted in the secret lab.
Medical Area
 A large medical suite takes up a sizable area
near the Hab Wing. It seems to be ou i ed
with the latest in medical equipment, and is
immaculately clean.
 Anyone with the ‘Quack’ Heroic Skill will
quickly realize that this facility is way too
big for the number of staff at this outpost.  This place seems to be happy and friendly
Even if they were all in the infirmary, the
place would s ll have space le over... Also,
if the storage cupboards and medicine cool-
ers are checked (or ransacked!), the Heroes
will find that there are few ‘real’ medicines
stored here. Nearly everything available
here is in ‘puff injectable’ form, and labeled
outpost - Main level - General Area
for all sorts of aliments, from the common
cold to heart a ack. They are actually all  The first chance for the Heroes to meet
‘reprogrammed’ nanite loads to deal with
specific ailments, and all are s ll in the test-
ing phase! Any injured Hero that is admit-
ted to this medical suite will be used to test
nanites. They will be effec ve to a fault
“This won’t hurt a bit...”
Locations
- Dr Barry Kipling, Med Officer/ Researcher
“Uh huh.”
- Richard Has ngs, Cook
“Do you mind if I record this...
for, um, training purposes?”
- Dr Barry Kipling
40
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
(recovery will be swi - all a ribute tracks
back to their ini al values within an hour!),
but the upshot will be that the Hero un-
der treatment will be infected with nanites
that may or may not deac vate as planned
(GM’s preroga ve).
General Area
 The mess, kitchens, recrea on area and a
sizable accommoda on wing. All areas are
again well laid out, very clean and orderly.
This is where most of the outpost staff will
be available to interact with the Heroes, ex-
cept for Goverian and Koch, who are busy
elsewhere un l meal me.
on the surface, but if any of the Heroes push
with the right ques ons, then cracks in the
staff ’s facade will soon become apparent.
Vishnu, the system’s maintenance AI, will
likely interrupt the conversa on, direc ng
the staff member to see their superior, and
will apologize for the interrup on.
Goverian and Koch will be at dinner the first
night they are at the outpost. It will be a
very controlled and perfunctory affair, and
Goverian and Koch will be rather evasive
if the ques on of their research comes up.
Most of the staff are friendly, and Butan is
a very good cook (which any of the Indo-
merican Collec ve Indian background crew
members will appreciate).
 During dinner is when the Possession Spirit
will look for a new host within the outpost
staff to get a be er handle on what is going
on in the labs, and how the Spirit can use
the dark undercurrent of amoral acts com-
mi ed in the secret research lab to further
its master’s agenda. It will a empt to lure an
 interested member of the Outpost staff into Power core Access Lift
bed, and then swap bodies. Once it knows
what that person knows, it will head for the  There is restricted access on the corridor
secret research lab (perhaps dragging the leading to the elevator to the reactor con-
whimpering, near-catatonic, past host with trol room and power core. Generally, visi-
it, to dispose of later), add the available hu- tors are meant to keep well away from this
man brain to the nanoAI base to create the area.
stable BioAI matrix, combine the insane AC
with the BioAI (quicker than having to copy  This li also happens to lead to the ‘other
the AC’s consciousness across), and then power core,’ that being the secret research
finally jump on in - unless stopped by the area, buried deep under the sha ered
Heroes, of course. But it is much more fun earth. Like the Ops Area, override codes or
to have the Heroes be just one step behind some serious Hacking will be required to ac-
the whole me, and just fail to stop all hell cess it.
from breaking loose!
 Goverian’s Daughter (the NanoAI con-
struct) tends to play in the corridors around
“I am sorry. I cannot allow the residen al wing (chasing an float-
you to do that.” ing, orange bubble that is another nanite
- Vishnu AI construct - a child’s toy). It will some mes
wander into the access corridor to the li .
Ops Area The security systems don’t see it as a threat/
trespasser, but any Heroes trailing her will
 This is a secure sec on of the base, and set off the security system. Also, if Leena’s
holds the control room, and associated data suit is punctured in any way, it will set off
centre. Vishnu is housed here, and the out- a medical security alert as her suit deflates
er door (amongst other important systems) and the nanites within escape. This will
can be controlled from this room (with the cause containment doors to drop around
requisite override codes or Hacker success- the area where the nanites escaped, and if
es). the Heroes are there, they will be trapped
too. A cra y GM will allow them to find a
 Vishnu will watch all the Heroes and try service sha hatch, and break into the ser-
to prevent them from doing things they vice sha s, one of which will lead down
shouldn’t. It will start off being friendly, near the li sha to the secret lab! Duh duh
making sugges ons, and eventually making duuuhhhh!!! outpost - OPS AREA
Locations
demands of the Heroes if they step too far
out of line. A Hero with the MentAI Poli cal  See Research Outpost Schema cs for more
Goal ‘find out what Goverian is doing and detail to give you ideas.
shut him down if necessary’ will have codes
to over-ride most of the systems in the out-
post, including Vishnu (but Brahma will be
“Perhaps you misunder-
a tougher nut to crack - Hacker Heroic Skill stood. I. CANNOT. ALLOW.
will be required). YOU. TO. DO. THAT.”
- Vishnu AI
41
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
 Reactor Control ing a silo that plunges down, deeper into the
LEVEL crust of the planet. In its depths, you catch the
silver sheen of that damned grey goo. On the
A short corridor leads to a room housing a le there are two doors. The first looks to lead
Rapture
bank of controls and a heavily shielded viewing to a medical bay; the second, to more research
window, showing the spinning turbine of a orientated spaces.
Tokomac Fusion Reactor. The floor posi vely
throbs under your feet, as the power of a star Glancing into the first room, your eyes go
is harnessed in the next room to provide power wide. In an alcove across from the door is a
for this facility. You have the feeling that to man, or what is le of him. Your mouth goes
overload a reactor of this magnitude would dry as you realize that most of his lower body
be rather fatal to everyone in the outpost, and is missing, having been removed, and his
within several hundred kilometers! lower torso organs are a ached to machinery
and tubes, replacing the func onality that has
 This area lies several levels below the base been stripped away. His shoulders also end
proper. It houses a type VII Tokomak Fusion in stumps where his arms should be. As you
Core, producing five mes the power re- look closer, you see that he is s ll conscious,
quirements for the main level facili es. So writhing in undisguised discomfort, mumbling
where does all that extra power go? to himself. His eyes and ears are covered by a
outpost - Reactor Control / Secret research level

band - some sort of audiovisual s mulator. His

 This reactor should NOT be messed with, head is shaved, and you can see fresh, puck-
unless the Heroes have taken it upon them- ered scars over his le hemisphere. It looks as
selves to wipe out this scourge on human- if this man has been taken apart, piece by gory
ity. With the right codes, Hacker or Grease piece, but for what purpose?
Monkey rolls (Target Threshold 9 rolls), a
Hero would be able to cause the reactor His head turns at your gasp, the wires leading
to go cri cal, nuking about 100 km of the into his cranium flicking with the movement.
planet’s surface from the loca on of the re-
actor core. Also, the highly ionized clouds in “Hello? Is anyone there?” he croaks, his voice
the atmosphere would likely set off a chain sounding unused to louder volumes. “Please...
reac on that would ignite the atmosphere, help me!”
burning off the en re biosphere of the
planet, and bringing the Nanoclysm threat  This area lies one level further down from
to an end (at the GM’s discre on). the Reactor Control, but there is no obvious
sign of being able to get there from the li .
Only a special key card (or piece of jewel-
Locations

Secret Research ry) can access the li to take the occupant

Level
Oppression hangs heavy in the air as you enter
this deep corridor in the Research Outpost.
You get the feeling that few staff know about
this secret level, and if they did, they’d likely
there (Goverian, Koch, Kippling Madrigal
and Butan have them). However, there are
escape/service tunnels that also access the
area. As soon as any Heroes make it to this
level, unless they have done something to
subvert Brahma, caused a massive diver-

42
be looking to transfer out at the first opportu- sion, or killed the corrupted lead research-
nity. On the right is a large window, overlook- ers, these enemies will be informed and be-

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)

 gin ac ng to stop the Heroes - by whatever
means the GM can think up. The Possession
Spirit might also stop base systems and per-
sonnel from being alerted, but it can’t really
stop the Heroes. Or can it?
 This area is truly a shop of horrors. Besides
the medical wing, where people are operat-
ed on, chopped up, and added to the BioAI
construct in the next area, there are storage
rooms, several test suites, and a main op-
era ons centrifuge. This is where the BioAI
is to be ‘programmed’ by the (insane) Ar -
ficial Consciousness a er Burgmann’s brain
is incorporated into its matrix. It is also the
area that the person infested by the Posses-
sion Spirit will go to allow the Possession
Spirit to take over the mad BioAI, and then
combine with the store of nanites in the
large pool below. That is when the bad hap-
pens... the VERY bad!
 Hacking the data stores accessible from
 The man (or what is le of him) in the alcove
(there are four other alcoves, all thankfully
empty at this me) is the supposedly dead
Wallace Burgmann. Burgmann was a spy
for the Freepers, who were very concerned
about what had happened on Neo Fuku-
shima. The Freepers had extracted a par al
account of the failed terraforming effort
by the NKIS (see the Secret History sec on  Depending on when the Heroes reach the
for details) and recognised the situa on for
the powder keg it represented. A er dis-
covering the quaran ne had been broken
by MentAI, the Freepers sent Burgmann in
to ascertain the situa on and report back.
Burgmann was caught in communica on
with the Freeper colony in geosink orbit 1. If the players a empt to ignore the pi ful
around Confucius’ largest moon, Nigh n-
gale, and that was when Goverian abduct-
ed him. The Professor then concocted the
story about him leaving unexpectedly on
the shu le, and arranging the accident for
it on the return voyage. Burgmann believes
he is in a cell, as he is being fed sensory in-
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
forma on from Brahma to take the place of
his missing limbs, and his missing eyes. The
Heroes can see what Burgmann is ‘seeing’
on the computer console near his ‘prison.’ If
a Hero a empts to remove the band across
his eyes, Burgmann will cry out in pain, and
they will see that wires lead from the band
into the man’s eye sockets. There is li le
anyone can do for what is le of poor Burg-
mann, but once in communica on with the
Heroes, he can give a shortened account of
the events leading up to the Neo Fukashima
nanoclism (see player handout/transcript
rapture-NDE2-Burgmann-secret-history-
short.pdf and associated mp3 file in Props)
and his capture by Goverian.
“Do you think they give him
overtime for that?”
- Karita Andersson
this room will supply a wealth of informa-
on, top most being the Research Log (see
Props), the AC acquisi on request and the
reply. If possible Brahma will a empt to
stop a simple hack a empt, but if the right
outpost - Secret research level
codes are used, it will be a fairly simple task
to get this informa on.
secret complex (if at all), a cascade of events
may well be unfolding which will lead to the
big bad (see the Adventure Flow Chart on
the GM’s cheat sheet for a clear picture of
Locations
the flow of these events).
state of Burgmann (and yes, it has hap-
pened at Cons!) you can have the door to
the centrifuge control area locked down.
While two (max) Heroes try to get into the
centrifuge control room, there is always
43
Burgmann and the computer terminals to
occupy the rest. Le ng the Heroes run
 straight past this poor soul skips a lot of
background which es the whole scenario
together, and should not be missed if at all
possible.
Rapture
2. A er Burgmann ‘spills his guts’ (pardon the
pun) the systems around Burgmann’s al-
cove will ac vate. An automated system will
clamp his head, and a saw will take the top 6. The figure will dash across the centrifuge
of his skull off (while the man is conscious... room toward the morphing BioAI. Heroes
nasty!). Any Heroes brave enough to watch
will see that some of the man’s brain is al-
ready missing, and the devices in the alcove
will unceremoniously slurp out the rest of
his grey ma er, transferring it out the back
of the alcove and away, leaving a drooling,
lolling, brainless, open-skulled body bit le
there. EWWW!
3. If Rachel is with the Heroes, she may al-
ready be catatonic, or heavily laden with
Fear from discovering the state of her for-
mer lover, but seeing the brain extrac on
could really drop her off the precipice of
sanity. You could even have an emo onally
charged declara on of love and her prom-
ise to get him out of there, and then he is
outpost - Secret research level
point, and the AC drops down into the spin-
ning ‘BioAI thing’ in the middle of the room.
It starts leaping around and flexing, with
lights blinking within the spinning mass,
metallic strands snaking in and out and
blobs of flesh and brain like ssue momen-
tarily visible as it spins.
may give chase to try to stop them, but the
figure will probably make it the BioAI and
touch it, tearing the hands off the person
in the process. That body will slump to the
floor, bleeding out through the stumps on
the end of their arms. If the possessed
character is stopped before they can get
tot he BioAI, let the Heroes think they have
won, but have the Possession Spirit jump to
the next person that touches the cap ve/
corpse. While the players are congratulat-
ing themselves, have the newly possessed
individual go to the BioAI, or have the psue-
dopods of the BioAI reach out, touching
each of the people in the room l it hits on
the possessed individual. However you do
it, ge ng the Spirit into the BioAi brings

unceremoniously sacrificed! about the big bad, which is the biggest story
climax possible here, but it is up to you as
4. If the Heroes recover quickly enough to fol- the GM to decide if you want to force the
low the brain, they can rush into the control issue.
room in the next area (or, if they were work-
ing on the door while Burgmann meets his 7. Presuming the Spirit gets into the BioAI, the
grizzly end, they get through just a er his spinning BioAI will come to a stop, but the
brain is removed) to see the brain drop surface will keep moving, morphing and re-
down into a spinning, vaguely metallic, nob- forming, quickly becoming the shape of a
Locations

bily ball that is hovering in the centre of a face with malevolent, glowing red eyes. It
centrifuge-like room through the view win- will look at any Hero nearby and say “I am!”
dow. They may also see that the controls are in Hindi, then with a maniacal laugh, the
set to drop the mad AC into the mix straight floor will open and the BioAI will drop away.
a erwards, and a figure dashing through
the centrifuge access door at the other end 8. The BioAI will roll down a chute and out into
of the control room. the silo, falling down into a pool of the na-

44
nites at the bo om. Shortly therea er, the
5. The systems can’t be shut down at this pool will begin to move, drawing up into a

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)

 humanoid shape, like the Staypu Marsh-
mallow Man from Ghostbusters, but with-
out the details - just grey and smooth on
the outside.
9. If any Hero is nearby, the construct will say
“Yum, lunch!” in Hindi, then grab and eat
that Hero. It will then climb up, digging its
 If your Heroes don’t make it down here, but
the Possession Spirit does, you can s ll have
the crea on of the BioAI Megaconstruct
happen. However, it will be a bit ‘what the’
for the Heroes. They really need to see the
steps to understand what happens, so if
you are going to have this endpoint occur,
at least try to have the Heroes following it

outpost - Secret research level - theoretical design of ‘the centrifuge’

way to the surface, where it will go on a - from the security sta on in Ops perhaps?
rampage, ea ng all the humans it can find,
and absorbing more nanites, becoming big-
ger. If the pirate ship is up there, it will break Theoretical design
it open, picking out the occupants and eat- of ‘the centrifuge’
ing them (this scene is portrayed in the art-
work on page 31). The room that the researchers call ‘The Centri-
fuge’ is not an accurately tled. It’s real name
 Needless to say, if all this happens, things is The Gravaton Experimental Isola on Device
are rather dire. If the reactor is overloaded (GEID). The reason it gets called a Centrifuge
before the BioAI Construct can get too far is because it spins the experimental sample,
away, it will be destroyed, but there is li le however, it does not employ centrifugal force.
chance of anyone ge ng away alive (un- Rather, it employs mul ple gravaton beams
less remote detona on, or a slow buildup that intersect in the middle of the room.
to cri cal mass is employed), much less
uncontaminated by nanites. Then there is A single graviton beam, also known as a tractor
s ll the surviving base staff to fight through, beam because it pulls whatever it hits toward
and a giant, hungry, BioAI construct to the emi er, cannot hold an object sta onary
sneak past so the crew can get back to their rela ve to it’s mount. However, when two or
ship. THEN they have to find a gap in the more such beams intersect, they set up a local-
cloud layer before the giant plasma wave, ized gravity field, of equivalent mass in rela on
from the reactor detona on, burning off to the power expended. The GEID in the secret
the atmosphere of Perdi on, catches up research facility on Perdi on, for example, has
with the ship. This is one hell of a tense es- 4 such emi ers, and can create a field strong
cape scene, and players love it if/when their enough to hold 12 tons of material (at ~1G)
ships slips through the last of the cloud lay- in a stable posi on rela ve to the emi ers, as
er and they break free, just as the planet’s well as provide rota onal energy up to but not
Locations
atmosphere is wholly consumed! exceeding ~44 000 rpm.

 If the Heroes do manage to stop this chain
reac on, then Goverian and his remain-
ing loyal staff (Koch, Madrigal, and the se-
curity goons) will likely take a dim view of
the Heroes’ ac ons, and a empt to capture
or eliminate them - likely se ng the Na-
The room also has a variable material inser on
system in the ceiling, an EMP neutraliza on
system in the walls (disabled by the Possession
Spirit before it entered the room), and a mate-
rial ejec on system in the floor. This is why the
BioAI goes for a ride a er forming - it is meant

45
nite Constructs or the B3TL Suits on them. to be EMP’d and then returned to the pool at
OUCH! the bo om. So much for ‘safeguards!’

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)

 Props Research
Outpost Landing
Instructions Audio
Each Near Death Experience comes with useful Transmission
Rapture
props that can add to the experience of your This audio file gives you a landing instruc ons
game. Some are mul media files, like audio audio transmission to play when the transport
files or sound tracks for the adventure, while ship reaches low Perdi on orbit.
others may be printed out. In many cases, the
printable files have been forma ed for use on  rapture-NDE2-landing-instructions-trans-
a iPad or similar device so that the players will mission.mp3
feel like they are immersed in a high tech world
of powerful gizmos. For example, schema cs  rapture-NDE2-landing-instructions-trans-
are created to be ‘zoomable’ with PDF readers. mission-transcript.pdf
The following is a list of the props you can bring
into play, and sugges ons on when and how to Research Outpost
use them. Schematics

Two files provide a high-level schema c over-

Transport view of MentAI NarvAI 3 Research Outpost.
Contract These will not be readily available prior to the
adventure, simply because the Outpost was
Provides a copy of the transport contract that so secret that there is no access to these files
the crew of the transport ship are under for this before arrival. If a Hero sweet talks a member
delivery run to the MentAI Research Outpost of the Outpost staff, they might provide a map
on the surface of Perdi on. of the main level, or if a Hero hacks one of the
computer terminals or uses override codes
 rapture-NDE2-transport-contract.pdf (if available), they can also get a map. Impor-
tant Note: No map ANYWHERE in the Outpost
shows the secret research level. All these files
func on beau fully on an iPad with a high-tech
Pirate Audio zoom and pan feel.
Transmission
 rapture-NDE2-research-outpost-(restricted
This audio file gives you a pirate audio trans- access).jpg. Provides a floorplan of the out-
mission to play when the pirates a ack. What post, without the secret lab areas.
the Heroes do when they hear it is totally up to
them.  rapture-NDE2-research-outpost-
(unrestricted access).jpg. Provides a floor-
 rapture-NDE2-pirate-demand-transmis- plan of the outpost, showing the secret lab
Props

sion.mp3 areas.

 rapture-NDE2-pirate-demand-transmis-
sion-transcript.pdf

46
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
 Transport Ship Private Journal - Rachel
Schematics Orrs 2645.04.29

This file provides a mid-level schema c of the This is an entry in the private audio journal of
Heroes transport ship. Rachel Orrs, where she outlines her misgivings
of the recent events at the outpost (including
 rapture-NDE2-transport-ship-schematic. the disappearance of Burgmann, and the crash
pdf of the supply shu le). This audio log may be
found a er a successful search of her room
(Gumshoe, Brainiac or straight Mens roll), and
Pirate Ship Schematics a Hacking, Grease Monkey, or Gumshoe roll to
get into her personal lockbox). Or she might
This file provides a mid-level schema c of the hand it over with the right persuasion. The GM
Pirate ship that a acks the Heroes transport on should feel free to drop it into any other sensi-
its way into Perdi on, and may show up again ble loca on.
at the research outpost.
 rapture-NDE2-orrs-audio-log.mp3
 rapture-NDE2-pirate-ship-schema c.pdf
 rapture-NDE2-orrs-audio-log-transcript.pdf

Research Log NarvAI 3 -

17 AlphA Acquisition Request
2645.05.01
This is a sec on of an audio log from Professor
Goverian himself, talking about the progress on This is the audio log from Professor Goverian,
the BioAI. asking for the delivery of an AC to complete
his work. It can be found in the secret lab data
Audio Logs for Goverian by Date store, or in Goverian’s personal files, encrypted
on his personal data slate.
 rapture-NDE2-goverian-log-2645-04-28.
mp3  rapture-NDE2-goverian-aquisi on-request.
mp3
 rapture-NDE2-goverian-log-2645-05-02.
mp3  rapture-NDE2-acquisition-request-tran-
sript.pdf
 rapture-NDE2-goverian-log-2645-05-04.
mp3
Acquisition Request
 rapture-NDE2-goverian-log-2645-05-28. Response 2645.05.03
Props

mp3
This is the audio log from Nathaniel Brown,
 rapture-NDE2-audiolog-17-Alpha-Tran- Head of MentAI Research, Confucius System,
script.pdf replying to Goverian’s request for the delivery

47
of an AC to complete his work. It can be found
in the secret lab data store, or in Goverian’s

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)

 personal files, encrypted on his personal data  rapture-NDE2-soundscape-a-hollow-emp-
slate. ty-soul-in-the-void.mp3. Perfect for late
night wandering or ghostly encounters.
 rapture-NDE2-acquisition-request-re-
Rapture
sponse.mp3  rapture-NDE2-soundscape-clockwork-AI.
mp3. A general background beat for less
 rapture-NDE2-acquisition-request-re- tense moments around the MentAI re-
sponse-transcript.pdf search outpost. Also great for the ‘dinner
scene.’

Burgmann’s Account  Rapture-NDE2 -soundscape-outside-in.mp3

of the Neo Fukashima A soundtrack for Perdi on itself. Smoother
Nanoclysm and slightly more creepy than “A Clockwork
AI” and excellent for looping during general
This dialogue pdf and associated audio clue play.
is an abbreviated version of the NKIS secret
history for Burgmann to relate to the Heroes  Rapture-NDE2-soundscape-the-tension-is-
before he gets ‘the chop.’ killing-me.mp3. The name says it all! Excel-
lent for when the Heroes enter the secret
 rapture-NDE2-Burgmann-secret-history- lab, or face off against something horrid.
short.mp3
 Rapture-NDE2-soundscape-we-all-know-
 rapture-NDE2-Burgmann-secret-history- thats-not-a-li le-girl-in-that-suit.mp3. The
short.pdf perfect track for when the Heroes encoun-
ter Leena late at night.

Security Badges In addi on to the above soundscapes, you

may also wish to download our FREE Rapture
If the Heroes can pick up a security badge Soundscape Pack 1 from www.RPGNow.com .
from one ofNarvAI staff, they may be able to
gain access to areas otherwise closed to them.
You can edit the Security Badges file to create
and print realis c looking badges for this, and
other, games.

 rapture-NDE2-security-badges-editable.pdf

Soundscapes
Props

Music and sound are an important part of any

good horror or thriller. To help set the mood,
we have included five unique Rapture Sound-

48
scapes, created especially for this adventure.

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)

 Aftermath
There are many ways that this adventure can the only decent thing to do. And quite rightly.
end, and very few of them are any good! Now some players may not agree, and more
intra-group conflict will be generated. Booyah!
The near impossible might happen. The That’s half the fun of Rapture.
equipment gets delivered, the crew somehow
manage to ‘drop off ’ their ‘extra passenger’ - the Of course, what eventually comes to pass in
Possession Spirit - and they might even manage YOUR version of the Rapture Universe is up to
to flee in their ship before either the possessed the GM, and in part the players. As a GM you
Bio-AI can be formed or they get nailed by the might just go easy on them, let some escape,
Limbo Souls, or the Combat Constructs, or the use EMP (Electro-Magne c Pulse) to neutralize
wackjob researchers, or another a ack by the the nanites they end up inadvertently bring-
pirates. And they might just find a gap in the ing back, and say “Oh yeah, baby. Some of you
clouds and get out to open space without going guys made it out!”
stark raving bonkers... naaa... there is just too
much going against this hapless lot. You could rightly imagine that MentAI won’t
be happy that they lost not only their base,
Regardless of what happens on the ground, if but their vaunted AC too. Heads will roll in the
any crew make it back to the ship and try to fly corpora on, and bounty hunters might just go
off world, they will suffer the madness of the a er the crew. If the survivors have any friends
cloud layer, unless a hole has formed (“Outside” in high places, they’ll want to find somewhere
on page 37). These holes don’t tend to last very to hide. A name change, a job change... these
long, so if one does form, the players be er get are all valid survival tac cs a er what went
through it. Any intersec on of a ship with the down.
clouds means madness and death (but as the
GM, you could give them a chance you really And if all this can be managed, and they survive
want. See page 35, second GM’s bullet point). their return to Confucius, what then?

What is more likely to happen is that the crew
gets picked off by the threats that the planet,
and the research outpost, present. Yet even
if the Heroes do best all the minor baddies at
the outpost, and prevent the possessed Bio-AI
forming, they really have to think hard about
leaving again, and spreading the nano-plague
throughout the system. Just one of those
minute machines can reproduce exponen ally
on the right substrate to do the same thing that
happened to Perdi on on Confucius, any ship it
gets into, and any other star system it can reach.
Any vaguely sane, decent character (played by
MORE TERROR AWAiTS YOU...
As it turns out, there is a lot of work going on
in the orbit of Confucius at the me the trans-
port ship may get back. This is known as “The
Ini ve,” a concerted effort of a conglomer-
Aftermath
ate of Mega-corps and Governments, who are
building new ships and preparing to return to
the Cradle of Humanity, to discover what really
happened when the Earth Went Dark (EWD).
This is also the first line of contact between the
spirits of Legion - coming from Earth to gather
up the last of the human souls - and the resi-
dents of Confucius; in the orbital belt above the

49
an equally mentally equipped player) will prob- planet. Strange things are happening on the
ably decide that blowing the whole thing up is many orbitals and habitats that hang like snow

Alexander Rose (order #6051232)

 flakes high above the surface of the world, and
the local authori es will be turning to the Kestral
Interven on Network, who will be looking for
experienced people to form ‘Trouble Consul-
Rapture
tant Teams’ to find out what’s going on and deal
with it... quietly. It’ll be dangerous work, but
well paid, and they might just get no ced by The
Ini a ve...
Watch out for a series of compact adventures
en tled “Orbital Decay,” coming from Story-
Aftermath
50
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)
Weaver produc ons as we ramp up towards
“Rapture: The Mission,” a whole new take on
how you play in the Rapture Universe. We hope
that you enjoy Near Death Experience 2: Transit
to Perdi on for the Rapture: End of Days RPG,
and ask that you keep a look out for more excit-
ing Sci-Fi Horror from StoryWeaver Produc ons
in the near future. There are lots of scares and
adventure to be had, so stay tuned! It’s a Hell of
a good me!
 Aftermath

51
Alexander Rose (order #6051232)