What are good OCC's and RCC's for stellar exploration campaign?

[Shorty Lickens]

I am rebooting my very old campaign idea for a stellar survey team somewhere in the 3 Galaxies. The premise is a somewhat capable civilization is looking to leave their home planet and colonize the rest of the star system. I am thinking they will probably not be human. They have the ability to safely and quickly escape their home planets gravity but are far from FTL travel. The planets allied governments (or single unified government) wants to explore the handful of other planets in their home system. Right now most of them look bleak but serious exploration is needed. Also they are considering habitats on one of the two asteroid fields surrounding their home star. The floating dead rocks are rich with useful minerals and assuming they can set up lots of small biospheres with resource recycling, they might make good colonies.

Likely problems would be encountering previously unseen alien species. Like them the aliens would be native to the star system but developed life differently on one or more of the other planets. Obviously that would make them a different species or possibly many different species. Maybe their civilizations are more chaotic. Perhaps they're in the middle of wars and/or have a serious space piracy pandemic.

Also a good potential series of adventures is unusual space phenomenon impeding their exploration progress, they'll require intellectual solutions instead of brute force. Or just solving basic issues of how to make a habitable colony on less hospitable worlds or asteroids. Surveying and analyzing and possibly a bit of touch-down exploring. Dangerous flora and fauna or geographic threats could be encountered. Likely the home planet would have sent out other teams. My PC group would be one of many, probably sent to explore one planet at a time. Or maybe their homeland could only build one good ship capable of exploring the star system reliably, with enough fuel to get the job done.

So, assuming they don't know what kind of trouble they'll get into, and can't yet leave their home star system, what kind of Phase World OCC's or RCC's would be appropriate for a group of explorers? Also which Earth OCC's might be seen? The basic OCC's from DB2 are obvious choices. Spacer and Colonist. The C.A.F scientist but it wouldn't be C.A.F. I'd change the name.

Same deal with the ships. They'd have the analog of C.A.F vessels but less capable. No FTL drives and lower MDC. Weaker and fewer armaments. The Proctor-class interceptor on page 158 is a good candidate for modifying. I recall seeing rules somewhere for making ships with sublight drives. Will have to dig those up.

[Shorty Lickens]

OK so I just realized for my campaign almost none of the other phase world OCC's are appropriate. Theres a couple of dedicated space pilots in DB3 but even they dont make sense for my fledgling space civilization. So it looks like it will be a few Spacers with different skill sets, maybe one colonist, and a couple of scientists with varied backgrounds. I think I'll put in one utility bot, cuz it makes sense from a role-playing perspective and also it fits the tropes.

[Warshield73]

The only thing I might suggest is maybe import Robotech 2e. Masters Saga / Southern Cross has some great OCCs for this, and I used them for some of my Phase World areas that aren't CCW and TGE. The Genesis Pits SB also has UEEF Explorer Corp OCC which works for something like this.

[Grazzik]

Consider Rifts WB14 as many of those New West OCCs could be applicable to a space survey crew... prospector (geologist), sheriff (security), preacher (depending on the mandate of the survey team, could be an interesting twist), even the saloon bum with the barkeep upgrade would make a good quartermaster. Exploratory missions might rely heavily on cyborgs for hazardous environments and that might mean having a cyber-doc to do repairs, as well as being the medical officer.

Depending on the nature of the worlds they are seeking, consider also the OCCs (with some modification) in Rifts WB 26, as many of them are just as appliable in the Dinosaur Swamp as on an alien planet.

[Shorty Lickens]

Consider Rifts WB14 as many of those New West OCCs could be applicable to a space survey crew... prospector (geologist), sheriff (security), preacher (depending on the mandate of the survey team, could be an interesting twist), even the saloon bum with the barkeep upgrade would make a good quartermaster. Exploratory missions might rely heavily on cyborgs for hazardous environments and that might mean having a cyber-doc to do repairs, as well as being the medical officer.

Depending on the nature of the worlds they are seeking, consider also the OCCs (with some modification) in Rifts WB 26, as many of them are just as appliable in the Dinosaur Swamp as on an alien planet.

I was considering a borg for security. Or a wizard. I actually have to decide what kind of tech and magic this unique planetary kingdom has. Once I do that I can pick more OCC's. But I like the idea of pioneer types from the old west and the deep south. That makes a lot of sense. Thanks.

[Shorty Lickens]

OK so I tied to NOT ripoff too many sci-fi shows and movies but I think theres a reason we have so many tropes about space exploration.
Decided that the planet was not able to fund or construct a massive space vessel because I need an excuse to keep the party relatively small. Either that or there is a massive space exploration vessel but the party is just one of many exploration teams and that also did not work for me story wise. I'm going to say they need a crew of one Spacer for general exploration, shipboard work and piloting and combat. (Dimension Book 2 page 38) A Colonist for general exploration and likely would have piloting and repair and survival skills. (DB2 p. 42) Two C.A.F. scientists but with a different name. (DB2 p. 60) One that specializes in physics & geology, one for chemistry and biology. A robot for both repairs and assistance in exploring new worlds. Again an overused trope but it makes sense here. Will need the intelligent androids from Heroes Unlimited 2. An Operator as the chief engineer & all around handy-man, also probably psychic. OR another Spacer who's primary job is engineering and major repairs.
I'm thinking a battle hardened Headhunter who's alleged duty is assistant engineer but really he's there for protection and to keep the crew from losing focus or going feral. Or someone who used to be a Freedom Fighter but those wars are long over. (DB2 p. 83) Also they'll need at least one cyber-doc or body-fixer because obviously exploring the unknown is dangerous especially in a prototype or one-of-its-kind spaceship. Either one nurse/combat medic, or the Colonist can also be a nurse. I suspect they also need either a psychologist, psychiatrist or some sort of spiritual healer as exploration is likely to be stressful and possibly traumatizing. Could also be the body-fixer or one of the two spacers.

There's no reason they would have a hotshot space pilot because for this civilization its all new frontiers. The hotshot pilots will come later after space is more colonized and trade routes & combat become a regular thing. (DB3 p. 41) But I do see the explorers having basic Power Armor training as suits are the smart choice for exploring unknown planets. I never liked the Star Trek thing where every "new world" just happens to have perfect gravity and atmosphere. Made no sense to me. What does make sense is if a planet can make star ships they can also make jet or hover power armor so there will be at least two of those onboard, maybe 3. The Headhunter will have EBA and a jetpack, maybe.
And I have decided the ship will be a CAF Proctor Interceptor, but with a different name and no FTL drive. (DB2 p. 158). Also the anti-matter system won't be overpowered and will definitely not run for 50 years straight. This is a one of a kind creation for the planet and all their hopes & dreams lay within it. Ship will have a decent med bay and the best science lab their civilization can shove into a relatively small room. Some In'Valian exoskeletons for work. (DB 3 p. 13) And garage space for 3 Power Armors, probably Silverhawks with a different name. (DB2 p. 130). I am debating whether to include a small atmospheric shuttle or just allow ship to land on planets. If so there needs to be at least one small but rugged tracked or wheeled land vehicle.
The ship will have a decent supply of weapons, survival equipment, and repair utilities. Heavier gear is reserved for the Headhunter and PA pilots. This species does not yet have force fields or phase weapons and right now I am leaning towards no magic. Either they never developed it or long ago there was a mage war and none survived. High yield nuclear and anti-matter weapons would have been outlawed after the last Great War and also theres no need for them on an exploration vessel.

Anything I missed?

Next post I will begin working on potential HLS adventures related to early space exploration.

[ShadowLogan]

The only thing I might suggest is maybe import Robotech 2e. Masters Saga / Southern Cross has some great OCCs for this, and I used them for some of my Phase World areas that aren't CCW and TGE. The Genesis Pits SB also has UEEF Explorer Corp OCC which works for something like this.

I'd also suggest the UEEF Explorer Corp if you already have access to 2E Robotech. 1E Sentinels also had the Bio-Maintenance Engineer ("Scotty"), Communications Engineer ("Uhura"), and the Field Scientist ("Spock" and/or "McCoy"), but 1E's skill list is very limited compared to 2E RT or what Rifts grew into.

never liked the Star Trek thing where every "new world" just happens to have perfect gravity and atmosphere.

While I can see where you are coming from on this, and Star Trek is not alone or unique to this and was likely done more as a "production" thing as much as a "blindspot" of the writers. Rifts/Palladium is very guilty of this trope to, though being a TTRPG it doesn't suffer from this quite as bad I think.

I recall seeing rules somewhere for making ships with sublight drives.

Mutants in Orbit has said rules, and those rules might be more at the "tech" level you are looking at than the Phase World (which would be Fot3G DB).

Mutants in Orbit might also have appropriate classes to check, though they might need some "beefing" up to meet modern standards for the OCC.

MiO mutation tables, combined with PW (DB2's) alien creation tables might also be useful for the race(s) involved creation.

[Curbludgeon]

Mutants in Orbit casts a lot of characters as sometimes modified operators, scientists, vagabonds, wilderness scouts, etc., which can cover a lot of ground. The Manhunter setting from Myrmidon has some space classes which can apply as well, even if they have silly names.

[taalismn]

Anything I missed?

Sposor and back-up plan(Or "Who will miss us if we don't report back on time and what will they do if we don't?")

[Shorty Lickens]

If by sposor you mean sponsor its the entire planet. As for back-up plan there would be a rescue craft but its slower, unarmed, and doesn't have all the sensor equipment of the original, so finding missing astronauts would be difficult. I think I'll make the star system roughly the size of ours, so radio communications under good conditions means they only have to wait maybe 20 minutes for a response to distress calls or unexpected information. Now, if the crew is down on a planet with a weird atmosphere, or underground, then you'd have to wait a while for updates. Again for safety sake I like the idea of leaving a few people on the ship while an away team heads down for exploration. Remember those Alien movies? Things always go bad when you don't have live people orbiting overhead.

[Devjannz]

I think you could use some of the Standard OCC's that are in the RIFTS main book. You just need to revise the skill restrictions to allow for Phase World skills to be used where appropriate. Instead of a Rogue Scientist taking Zoology he would take Xenology. An Operator could have Spaceship Mechanics to be able to fix a spaceship. If a class can pilot an airplane or jet fighter then let them take Pilot Small Spacecraft or Space Fighter instead. Let them do cool things with some of their class based abilities/skills....like let a Wilderness Scout use their Cartography skill to create a stellar map of the area they are in.

It is actually pretty easy if you just allow for setting appropriate things to be used.

[Shorty Lickens]

I would just have him use a Stellar Cartography skill. I don't think that would be the same as Cartography. But that is a good idea.

[taalismn]

Navigation: Space + Computer Operation/Programming in a pinch if you don't have a Stellar Cartography skill handy.
Datar entry plus adding in orbital mechanics of a star system.
Of course you'll also want Astrophysics, Mathematics Advanced, and a good Read Sensory Instruments skill.