Spacewrecks Random Roll Tables

[taalismn]

Random SpaceWrecks

“Okay....what are the odds of us JUST happening to stumble across a drifting derelict starship in the middle of nowhere? And what are the odds of it being full of precious valuable loot that we can just waltz up and salvage? Anybody seeing that thing out there just get a shiver up your spines?”

Space is not hospitable; it’s a vicious lethal environment that will kill the unwary. You think shipwrecks on oceans are common? It’s a lot easier to come to grief in space than on water, there’s just more room to lose the wreck in. However, at some time, if one(yeah, we’re looking at you, adventure-freak!) is traveling around long enough, there’s a chance of coming across a spacewreck.

a) Location:
b) Numbers:
c) Type/Size:
d) Age:
e) Origin:
f) Apparent Cause of Wreck:
g) Condition:
h) Interior Surprises:

A) Location:
“Getting a modulating signal from the surface of that planet...atmosphere’s a mix of methane and ammonia vapor...cold hell world. We’ll be wanting to gear up for really cold weather.”

Where is the wreck encountered? Where it’s found may provide clues to what happened(such as radiation from a pulsar irradiating it, or an alien organism brought up from an uncharted planet). The location may also hamper efforts to approach, explore, and salvage(or escape) the wreck.

01-20% Deep Space----The wreck is drifting through interstellar space. Depending on its age, it may be light years away from where it originally came to grief.
21-30% Cosmic Anomaly----The wreck is found near a potentially dangerous cosmic phenomenon, such as a black hole, neutron star, cosmic string, plasma storm, energy-sapping energy field, or other hazard.
31-40% Cometary Orbit---The ship is orbiting a star, albeit at some distance from the sun.
41-50% Asteroid Belt---The ship is near a star, but within a region of dense mass accumulation, such as an accretion belt or asteroid cluster.
51-60% Planetary Orbit---- Dead Planet---The ship is adrift over an uninhabitable world such as a gas giant, sun-blasted Mercury-style cooker, or cryogenic snowball.
61-70% Planetary Orbit----Habitable Planet---The ship orbits a habitable world.
71-80% Surface---Dead Planet----The ship is crashed on an uninhabitable world such as an ice ball or Venus-style hellworld.
81-97% Surface----Habitable Planet---The ship’s located on a world with its own ecosystem, compatible with most common oxy-life species of the Three Galaxies.
98-00% Phase-Space---The wreck is caught in an effective limbo between planes of reality.

B) Numbers:
“Judging from the different spectrographic readings off the debris out there, I can’t tell if we’re dealing with one big mult-sectioned wreck, or a flotilla-sized pileup.”

How many wrecks are involved? Sometimes catastrophe involves several parties, or maybe the local conditions claim more than one victim.

01-60% One
61-75% Small Group--- 1d4+1 ships
76-90% Group Wreck----2d6 ships have come to grief in the same area
91-00% Ships’ Graveyard---1d4x10 ships are in the same area

C) Type/Size:
“So you found a derelict old Falmat staryacht drifting in the Yaganna Gulf near where you were prospecting in the local ort? Got a persistent signal that called you in? Decided that you, all by your lonesome, had to investigate, see if anybody was still alive aboard her? Only, once you were aboard and deep inside, the doors all slammed shut, the lights came on, life support booted up, you got tazered, and five bare naked women peeled you out of your vacsuit, while a voice came on identifying itself as an AI said you were going to help repopulate some crash-world in the dark zones with fresh genetic material, they had their way with you, and then you found yourself back on your tug, suffering from a wrenched pelvis, dehydration, and a hangover, your computers wiped, and your hold full of top grade ore? Yeah, right! That’s not even worth a soy-beer. Pick up your own bar tab, willya?”

What’s the size and presumed type of the wreck?

01-10% Civilian Shuttle

11-12% Military Assault Shuttle

13-16% Local Space Fighter

17-18% FTL Fighter

19-30% Small Civilian Freighter

31-38% Medium Civilian Freighter

39-43% Heavy Civilian Freighter

44-47% SuperHeavy Civilian Freighter/Colonizer

48-49% Space Station

50- 54% Military Patrol Ship

55-56% Depot Ship/Tender/Mobile Shipyard

57-60% Tug

61-67% Runner

68-74% Corvette

75-81% Frigate

82-87% Destroyer

88-91% Cruiser

92-95% BattleCruiser

96-98% Carrier

98-99% Battleship

-00% Dreadnought



D) Age:
“Whatever that thing is, it’s been out here a LOOOONNNGGG time...”

How old a wreck are we talking about here? Because space is so YUUUGGGEEE, vessels can drift undiscovered for millennia, if not longer.

01-10% Ancient---On the order of 1d100x1,000 years, if not longer
11-25% Old; predates most of the modern starfaring cultures. 1d4x1,000 years
26-50% Modern---Happened within the lifetime of the current galactic power blocs; 2d4x100 years
51-90% Recent---- 5d6x10 years
91-00% Just Yesterday---Whatever the disaster, the evidence suggests it happened within the last 2d6 weeks.

E) Origin:
“No...wait, those aren’t Starhunter runes on the hull, they’re a Galactic Five commercial font registered to....Murphy’s AstroAustralian KangoBurger Delivery...”

Can the builders/operators of the ship be identified by its design or markings? Depending on the discoverers’ own species and space presence, such species as humans may be very common and well-documented, and lists of missing ships and deep space history easily accessible(including blueprints and schematics), or the reverse could be true; the ship belongs to an exotic species of which very little is known, and hardly anything can be found in the computer records.

01-45% Common Species
46-85% Known Species
86-90% Rare Species
91-00% Unknown Species

(Optional) Modifiers---Regions of space can determine the likely origins of the wreck:
CCW/TGE/UWW space: -15%
Colonial Frontier: -5%
Deep Edge: +10%
Deep Unknown: +25%


F) Apparent Cause of Wreck:
“The presence of one ship two thirds of the way inside the other would suggest a collision...but the traces of mekaroff radiation would suggest chronal weaponry. The fact that both ships are identical to each other suggests something or somebody REALLY messed up.”

On casual inspection, what appears to have happened to the poor ship?

01-15% Battle---Burn scars, blast marks, bullet and shell holes, paths of suspiciously straight disruption through the hull materials all attest that the wreck was subjected to weapons fire.
16-30% Meteor ---There’s evidence of a strike by space debris, such as flecks of stone embedded in the hull.
31- 45% Cosmic Disaster---Signs of widespread plasma ablation, hull warping, or residual charged particles lingering around the wreck tell of an encounter with some cosmic phenomenon.
46-60% Collision---Damage would suggest a violent encounter with another vessel or artificial construct, owing to different materials embedded in the hull.
61-75% Drive Failure---The engineering/propulsion appears to have melted down, overloaded, or run out of fuel.
76-90% Abandoned---None visible, but the vessel was clearly abandoned with some order, due to evidence of empty escape pod chutes or shuttle bays.
91-00% None Apparent---This could mean, though, that the ship might have gone off-course, or the crew killed by something INSIDE the ship.

G) Condition:
“The section drifting over there? It’s radiating nuclear radiation off the scale. No way we’re going to get close enough to it with the equipment we’ve currently got. However, I figure that’s the drive. This section over here, though, shows up cool for radiation. Cargo section or life modules, I’d say. That’s our best bet for finding anything of interest, if we overlook the ominous organic starfish-like shape sticking out of it.”

On casual inspection, what’s the overall condition of the wreck?

01-15% Husk----The ship is little more than a shell and a cloud of loose debris. Unless something can survive exposure to hard vacuum, forget about Interior Surprises.
16-45% Cracked Apart---The ship is broken in 1d4+1 large pieces, typically along sections or bulkhead lines. There may still be airtight compartments intact and backup systems still operational. However, the wreck is likely very unstable.
46-75% Broken Back----The ship is broken in two(though they may still be connected by a few panels or cables), so no chance of repairing the damage and firing up the drive. There may still be multiple interconnected intact compartments in each half.
76-90% Badly Beaten Up---The ship is mostly intact(though may be missing a nacelle or two, or large swathes of hull skinning).
91-00% Unblemished----Other than laying dead, the ship appears to be in perfectly functional condition. Might need some refueling and light repair, but otherwise seems okay.

H) Interior Surprises:
“Okay, show of hands! Who volunteers to explore the derelict alien spaceship?”

Okay, we get to the heart of the encounter; what’s inside waiting for anybody brave enough to enter. Roll 1d4 times.

01-15% Salvageable Parts----There’s still usable technology, bits and pieces, to be gleaned from the wreck. Even if the ship is of alien design, some principles of technology may be common enough that a good engineer can jury-rig something using the salvage.
16-20% Regressed Crew---The survivors, or their descendants, have reverted to a primitive state, and will likely regard outsiders as threats. Alternatively, deranged crewmember(s) who will attack any intruders.
21-25% Black Box---Emergency recorders(or the equivalent) still intact. Even if the ship is ancient, the recorders might be of value to historians.
26-30% Alien Lifeform---A (relatively) harmless, but inconveniencing, alien lifeform has taken up residence in the wreck, such as a colony of space coral clogging passageways, alien vegetation slowly breaking up the hull, or an extended family of rodent-analogues stealing and caching everything small and shiny.
31-35% Space Zombies---Reanimated dead populate the wreck. Spacing doesn’t affect them much.
36-45% Valuable Ore/Metal---Inside the wreck is a substantial amount of valuable mineral ore or salvageable metal.
46-50% Automated Defenses---Some of the ship’s weapons systems remain operational and have been programmed to fire on targets not ID’ing as friendly.
51-55% Salvageable Cargo---The wreck still holds a cargo(use the Random Cargo charts from Three Galaxies) that can be salvaged.
56-65% Radiation---Parts of the wreck are glowing with dangerous levels of nuclear radiation.
66-70% Booby-Trap---The wreck’s been rigged with some sort of device to trap the unwary. This could be a simple explosive on the airlocks or lockers, a tractor zone to disable the drive systems of any ship that comes too close, or a self-destruct that obliterates the entire wreck.
71-73% Navigational Data---The ship’s remains hold valuable navigation data(a shorter way across a dangerous area, coordinates of planets, or clues to a treasure) embedded in its circuitry, written in the ship’s log, or painted on the walls.
74-76% Insane Artificial Intelligence----A rogue computer system or robot is aboard. It may or may not have been responsible for the original wreck.
77-78% Usable Weapons---This can be lockers of charged energy rifles or magazines of ship-launched missiles, ready for the taking.
79-80% Predatory Alien Lifeform(s)----A violent alien organism responds to the intrusion and it’s hungry.
81-82% Pirate Trap---Pirates are using the wreck as a honeytrap to bring in prey.
83-84% Fuel or Consumables---The ship still holds a stock of usable fuel, water, or usable gases that can be tapped. Or maybe it’s still edible food or drugs.
85-86% Monster Lair---Some monstrous being has made the wreck its home; it doesn’t like its solitude being disturbed.
87-88% Hoard of Valuables----Collection of valuables; precious metals, jewels, or objects de art, held aboard the wreck.
89-90% Haunting Entities---A number of haunting entities lurk aboard, drawn by the psychic echoes of violent death.
91-93% Cryogenic Lifeboat---There’s survivors, in some form of stasis.
94-95% Virulent XenoPathogen---The wreck is permeated by a highly contagious alien disease vector.
96-97% Exotic Alien Technology or Magic---This can be load of magic weapons, or a teleporter, phase engine, or Dominator device, but it’s potentially VERY valuable and a potential game-changer.
98-00% Xeno-Trap---An alien species has set the wreck as a honeytrap to capture other starfaring sentients. The goal can be crude diplomacy, collecting for a galactic zoo, psychological testing, or biological experimentation.

[The Oh So Amazing Nate]

I can't help but wonder if some of these tables shouldn't have an effect on the others such as Group B modifies Group H and so on.
But just glancing over it I can see how one could rig up an entire one shot adventure with this table, or even just parts of it.

Why is the tiny civilian transport craft loaded to the gills with precious ore?

[The Oh So Amazing Nate]

My first go round netted the following results

A. 46 - Asteroid Belt
B. 15 - One Ship
C. 68 - Corvette Class
D. 47 - Modern (2d4x100 = 2,2 = 400 years old)
E. 47 - A Known Species
F. 26 - Meteor/Space Debris Strike
G. 68 - Broken Back
H. 92 - Cryogenic Lifeboat

Enjoy.

[taalismn]

I can't help but wonder if some of these tables shouldn't have an effect on the others such as Group B modifies Group H and so on.
But just glancing over it I can see how one could rig up an entire one shot adventure with this table, or even just parts of it.

Why is the tiny civilian transport craft loaded to the gills with precious ore?

Private prospector or talented amateur planetologist made a strike on some world and grabbed up a load of 80+% pure ore to take to be assayed and attract investors when something went wrong. Maybe the ore interfered with the ship's systems, or somebody offed the crew to prevent them from reaching civilization, or maybe the ore isn't really ore at all.
Or maybe it was a smuggling operation gone wrong...like trying to get blood diamonds out past a blockade.

[The Oh So Amazing Nate]

Or maybe it was a smuggling operation gone wrong...like trying to get blood diamonds out past a blockade.

Yeah, that's kind of the scenario I had in mind. A smuggling/amateur heist that went really really wrong.

Sort of like..

"What have we got here?"
"Well detective as you can see it's appears to be a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. We checked the model specs and this baby was tricked out with all the latest safety features and options. We tried to find the owner but the plates and registration are gone. They somehow even managed to scrub the VIN beyond recognition. What little we have to go on doesn't add up to much. There is the honor student bumper sticker from Vidallia Parish Middle School, an unfinished, moldering Starbucks drink, and one hot pink, Nike athletic shoe, size 5 women's, the left one."
"Interesting..Interesting. You mind telling me why the frame rails are nearly scraping the ground?"
"Oh sure Detective! This is where it gets weird. (pops open the rear hatch) Some how our driver managed to load this thing jam packed full of raw, unprocessed Uranium ore."
"Uranium huh? Should we be standing this close to it?"

[taalismn]

Modern remake of Repo-Man?

[The Oh So Amazing Nate]

Modern remake of Repo-Man?

I literally have no idea

[gaby]

Great wokr,maybe in Next Phase world,s book that will have this as one of the Adventures in it.

[taalismn]

Great wokr,maybe in Next Phase world,s book that will have this as one of the Adventures in it.

Well, you're reading it for free here now, so why wait?

[BookWyrm]

A.) Planetary Orbit-Dead Planet. The world only known as Stillborn is a classic case of a world that had so much potential, yet never bore fruition. There's barely an atmosphere (unbreathable by any standard), no useable resources and the gravity is barely meeting standard.
B.)Numbers; 3.
C.) Type/Size - One military shuttle, one FTL fighter, vaguely Toogarthan; one civilian freighter.
D.) Age. All three ships have been here for quite some time; metallurgical scans put them around the last Atorian age of expansion, before the establishment of the current Atorian Imperial government.
E.) Origin - The military shuttle is reminiscent of the early Atorians. the fighter bears striking designs of Toogarthan technology, and the civilian freighter is designed for hominids but the specific race is unknown.
F.) Apparent Cause - Looks like the three ships got lost, the Atorian & Toogarth tried to duke it out and the civilian ship was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
G.) Condition - It appears that three barely recognizable ships met here & ended up wrecked derelicts. Even eyeballing the damage proves to be inconclusive on what wrecked them, mutual weapons-fire, micro-meteorite strikes or some random cosmic storm. The power systems & drives are all dead and cold.
H.) Surprises. A few desiccated corpses are on the civilian ship, major cause of death was decompression. Same with the Atorian ship, as their bodies are still wearing their battle-dress armor. The Commanding Officer is missing.
However, examining the Toogarth ship reveals the location of the Atorian officer....with her hands firmly locked around the Toogarth's throat. Likewise for the Toogarth.

[taalismn]

A.) Planetary Orbit-Dead Planet. -
However, examining the Toogarth ship reveals the location of the Atorian officer....with her hands firmly locked around the Toogarth's throat. Likewise for the Toogarth.

Happiness is to be found in helping others' imaginations take flight.

[keir451]

And here I was straining my poor, overused brain in trying to convert the old RT Ghost Ship adventure.
You do realize that I'm TOTALLY cribbing this? (Rhetorical question, that why you posted it IN THE FIRST PLACE!!)

[DhAkael]

Can't use this presently (what with the whole 'Siege of center' ala the Minion Wars Dimensional Outbreak), but it has filled my skeevy mind with many "wonderful things to see" for my players later on.

[taalismn]

And here I was straining my poor, overused brain in trying to convert the old RT Ghost Ship adventure.
You do realize that I'm TOTALLY cribbing this? (Rhetorical question, that why you posted it IN THE FIRST PLACE!!)

I claim no malicious intent, only the desire to be useful.

[Vincent Takeda]

As a lover of random tables, I like this a lot. Thank you sir!

[taalismn]

My first go round netted the following results

A. 46 - Asteroid Belt
B. 15 - One Ship
C. 68 - Corvette Class
D. 47 - Modern (2d4x100 = 2,2 = 400 years old)
E. 47 - A Known Species
F. 26 - Meteor/Space Debris Strike
G. 68 - Broken Back
H. 92 - Cryogenic Lifeboat

Enjoy.

The vessel is a military patrol craft of the old Wolfen Republic....while escaping a TGE ambush around a strategic wormhole junction, the ship took a blind escape vector that pitched it through the event horizon of the junction singularity and into a desert star system inside TGE space and into the middle of an asteroid belt. The ship almost immediately coasted into a rock that nearly cut the ship in half and caused the reactor to split open and vent its core and fuel supply. Several crew compartments remained intact and the surviving crew, already in spacesuits during the previous space combat, managed to make enough repairs to allow them to reach the other intact compartments and juryrig batteries to keep life support going. After several days of using the remaining ship's systems to get a fix on their position, they realized that they were in enemy territory, their only communications systems were short range and more likely to get them captured by the TGE, and their life support power would only last them two more days. The decision was made to retreat to the still-intact lifepods with stasis systems and hope that at some distant future time they'll be found by friendly forces.
Unfortunately, there weren't enough stasis pods available for all the survivors. so the crew solemnly drew straws. The long-draws got the stasis pods, the short drawers and the surviving senior officer(who insisted) spent the last remaining day of life support setting their affairs in order, recorded last messages, and then took lethal doses of painkillers from their overridden suit bio-med kits.
About fifteen crew members(out of a starting crew of 45) still live, though in stasis. Battle damage and smaller impacts with asteroid debris have reduced the ship's external weapons and antennae systems to useless scrap, and all missiles were expended.

[taalismn]

Now, try this randomly-rolled one:
a) Location: Surface, Habitable Planet
b) Numbers: 4 ships
c) Type/Size: Small Civilian Freighter, Military Assault Shuttle, 2x Civilian Shuttles
d) Age: Recent; 100 years ago
e) Origin: Freighter: Common Species
Assault Shuttle: Common Species
Civilian Shuttle1: Known Species
Civilian Shuttle2: Unknown Species
f) Apparent Cause of Wreck: None apparent
g) Condition:
Freighter: Broken Back
Assault Shuttle: Broken Back
Civilian Shuttle1: Unblemished
Civilian Shuttle2: Unblemished
h) Interior Surprises:
Freighter: Alien Lifeform(Harmless)
Assault Shuttle: Haunting Entity
Civilian Shuttle1: Salvageable Cargo, Fuel/Consumables, Salvageable Parts
Civilian Shuttle2: Alien Lifeform(Harmless), Space Zombies, Salvageable Parts, Salvageable Cargo

[keir451]

Now, try this randomly-rolled one:
a) Location: Surface, Habitable Planet
b) Numbers: 4 ships
c) Type/Size: Small Civilian Freighter, Military Assault Shuttle, 2x Civilian Shuttles
d) Age: Recent; 100 years ago
e) Origin: Freighter: Common Species
Assault Shuttle: Common Species
Civilian Shuttle1: Known Species
Civilian Shuttle2: Unknown Species
f) Apparent Cause of Wreck: None apparent
g) Condition:
Freighter: Broken Back
Assault Shuttle: Broken Back
Civilian Shuttle1: Unblemished
Civilian Shuttle2: Unblemished
h) Interior Surprises:
Freighter: Alien Lifeform(Harmless)
Assault Shuttle: Haunting Entity
Civilian Shuttle1: Salvageable Cargo, Fuel/Consumables, Salvageable Parts
Civilian Shuttle2: Alien Lifeform(Harmless), Space Zombies, Salvageable Parts, Salvageable Cargo

Interesting. Maybe you can salvage enough parts to get the freighter back into operation, or perhaps repair the assault shuttle enough to get back to major shipping lanes if you don't already have a ship of your own. If you do have a ship then, SCORE!!! Tho' you hopefully have way to deal with the haunting entity in the assault shuttle.

[taalismn]

[q
Interesting. Maybe you can salvage enough parts to get the freighter back into operation, or perhaps repair the assault shuttle enough to get back to major shipping lanes if you don't already have a ship of your own. If you do have a ship then, SCORE!!! Tho' you hopefully have way to deal with the haunting entity in the assault shuttle.

Don't forget the zombies...wherever THEY came from.
Habitable planet? Apparently abandoned ships? ZOMBIES?
Grimdark sense kicking in yet?

[keir451]

[q
Interesting. Maybe you can salvage enough parts to get the freighter back into operation, or perhaps repair the assault shuttle enough to get back to major shipping lanes if you don't already have a ship of your own. If you do have a ship then, SCORE!!! Tho' you hopefully have way to deal with the haunting entity in the assault shuttle.

Don't forget the zombies...wherever THEY came from.
Habitable planet? Apparently abandoned ships? ZOMBIES?
Grimdark sense kicking in yet?

Ugh, Zombies. A little over played IMO, but for others a usable tactic. Maybe the ships are on a lost low tech world and the ships or wrecks are "Holy Temples". The characters would be committing a crime in their salvage attempts as the inhabitants view it as an act of desecration. Maybe the radiation leakage from a wreck is contaminating the area and affecting the local populace so they die before reaching adult hood so the salvage job is also a mission of mercy, but the fact that the ship is a "Holy Temple" complicates things.

[taalismn]

[
Ugh, Zombies. A little over played IMO, but for others a usable tactic. Maybe the ships are on a lost low tech world and the ships or wrecks are "Holy Temples". The characters would be committing a crime in their salvage attempts as the inhabitants view it as an act of desecration. Maybe the radiation leakage from a wreck is contaminating the area and affecting the local populace so they die before reaching adult hood so the salvage job is also a mission of mercy, but the fact that the ship is a "Holy Temple" complicates things.

"The good news is the zombies aren't part of the ships' crews. They're locals who have somehow been re-animated by something on the ships.
Bad news is, we still have zombies, we still have locals, and we still don't know what happened to the original crews of those ships."

[keir451]

[
Ugh, Zombies. A little over played IMO, but for others a usable tactic. Maybe the ships are on a lost low tech world and the ships or wrecks are "Holy Temples". The characters would be committing a crime in their salvage attempts as the inhabitants view it as an act of desecration. Maybe the radiation leakage from a wreck is contaminating the area and affecting the local populace so they die before reaching adult hood so the salvage job is also a mission of mercy, but the fact that the ship is a "Holy Temple" complicates things.

"The good news is the zombies aren't part of the ships' crews. They're locals who have somehow been re-animated by something on the ships.
Bad news is, we still have zombies, we still have locals, and we still don't know what happened to the original crews of those ships."

Hmm, radiation from an Ancient Holy Temple has turned the populace into zombies. Maybe Dead Reign class only more feral and less intelligent? On a starship with limited resupplies we'd be looking at "Aliens" only with MDC undead.

[taalismn]

Of course, they could be an unexpected variant on zombies...
Zombies: (start dancing when they catch sight of the PCs) "This is the song that never ends-"(or some other ear-worm)

[keir451]

Of course, they could be an unexpected variant on zombies...
Zombies: (start dancing when they catch sight of the PCs) "This is the song that never ends-"(or some other ear-worm)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

[taalismn]

"Oh god...they're dancing to 'Thriller'. Break out the disintegrators...we really don't need that ship intact."

[keir451]

"Oh god...they're dancing to 'Thriller'. Break out the disintegrators...we really don't need that ship intact."

"At least they're not playing 'Achy Breaky Heart'."

[taalismn]

Or maybe zombies ARE the crew....some species is using animated dead as the equivalent of spaceprobes, or their drive system can only be survived by undead. The zombies have enough intelligence to carry out ship's functions, gather information, and carry out missions.