Wormholes and You(Random Roll Tables)

[taalismn]

Wormholes and You(Random Roll Tables)
(Or: All Fold-Lines Are Not Created Equal)
“Hang onto your stomachs, because we’re going IN! NEXT STOP, ANDROMEDA!”

“Damn, we’re either insanely fortunate for having discovered this backdoor into the TransGalactic Empire’s most secure systems...or we are seriously ####ed if anybody else learns of it.”

Wormholes in the sci-fi sense are convenient conduits in space/time that can act as shortcuts to other locations. Some wormholes are obviously artificial and have attached structures maintaining them; these are beyond the scope these charts. Others may have been artificially created, but continue to survive as fixed parts of the megaversal fabric. Still others are natural phenomena, the result of multiple stresses on the underlying substance of space/time.
Whatever their origin, wormholes can be an invaluable asset to those able to exploit them for trade and communication...or they can become avenues of invasion. In the Three Galaxies, wormholes, especially those that connect the separate galaxies, are strategic avenues, the control of which is the subject of much planning by the militaries of the respective power blocs. Countless are the Free-Spacers who dream of discovering wormholes connecting lucrative realms of space, but there are just as many tragedy stories of luckless explorers who were destroyed by their discoveries...either killed by some aspect of them, or shouldered aside and effectively robbed by others wanting to exploit the new transit-way.
The following are a few properties for randomly rolling up wormholes.

A.) Location:
B.) Size:
C.) Frequency:
D.) Direction:
E.) Range:
F.) Transit Initiation
G.) Duration
H.) Special


A.) Location:
“Come on, I left the transgalactic wormhole around here SOMEWHERE! I even marked it on the map!”

Where is the wormhole located? This can affect how easy it is to approach it, and what neighbors might be in the area. Roll twice; for the location ofr each end.

01-20% Free Space, usually on the far edge of a solar system or the midpoint between stars..
21-30% Near an Asteroid Belt---Located in a debris field between planets.
31-40% Near a Planet---The wormhole seems to orbit a planet, usually in a gravitational ‘null’ zone such a Lagrange Point.
41-70% Near a Star---The wormhole exists close to a star(or at a point equidistant between several stars in a multi-star system), where starships may be exposed to dangerous levels of solar radiation.
71-95 % Black Hole---The wormhole exists in the freakish gravitational environment surrounding a black hole.
96-00%Interior of a Star---The wormhole exists INSIDE a star, requiring special shielding to use.


B.) Size:
“Try to take the -Gravid Ravager- through that thing? You got an urge to find out what it feels like to dive headfirst through a pasta extruder?”

How big is the wormhole, and more important, what size ships can safely traverse it?

In general, only about 25% of discovered wormholes are navigable by the rank and file species of the Three Galaxies. The other 75% are what are considered to be microwormholes, only large enough to pass objects bacteria-sized up to a couple of centimeters in size. These microwormholes are useless for spacecraft transits, but can be used for communications, though verification of their respective end points is made rather difficult by the inability to send scoutships or suitably equipped science probes through them(some Ancient species are believed to have the ability to create microprobes sophisticated enough to do the job, but none of the current 3G power blocs can). Some specialized organizations have managed to build fairly impressive communications networks based on microwormholes.
Of the larger sort, the shake-out of sizes is as follows:


01-05%Tiny---Barely big enough for a fighter or small shuttle to get through safely.
06-20%Small--- Small transports and patrol craft can get through
21-50%Modest----Vessels up to frigate size can travel through the ‘hole.
51-70%Big---Cruiser and Large Transports can fit through.
71-90%Giant---Battleships and Dreadnoughts can enter the wormhole with room to spare.
91-00% Gargantuan---A FLEET in formation could transit the wormhole.

C.) Frequency:
“Hauler Gamma-Hamma-Reto-Zor-Three-Forty, please return to orbit slot five-forty! There will be no jostling in line when the ‘gate opens! If you all keep in your assigned positions and proceed in an orderly fashion when we give the signal, you will ALL get through the Gate.”

How often is the wormhole open? Depending on local space/time conditions, the wormhole may be open all the time, or only part of the time.

01-02% Sporadic---Utterly random. Try approaching and see what happens(GM’s choice)
03-10% Occasional----Dependent on certain local conjunctions, which occur only once every 1d6 years...however, the wormhole will remain open for 1d8x10 hours.
11-20% Annual---Once a standard year, the wormhole opens
21-35% Periodic---Roughly 1d4 times a month
36-80% Regular---1d6 times per day
81-00%All the Time---As long as transit initiation conditions are met, the wormhole can be used at will.

D.) Direction:
“Make sure you didn’t leave anything you need on Carlag; because once we go through the ‘hole, if you need to go back and get something you forgot, it’s a three-year trip the long way ‘round through the Seine.”

Many wormholes are single-direction, and material traffic can flow only one way through them, like water down a gutter. Others are omni-directional, and allow free flow of traffic in both directions.

01-50% One-Way---Traffic can only go in one direction and cannot go back
51-75% Conditionally Two-Way---Travel can go back and forth, but limited to one direction at a time; so vessels cannot be traveling in opposite directions at the same time. To do so courts disaster; the vessels may simply disappear, may emerge as debris, or the wormhole may temporarily destabilize(and the ships never seen again)
76-00%Two-Way---Traffic may proceed freely in both directions, at the same time

E.) Range:
“So what if it only takes us across the solar system?! It means that having lunch on Helios-Overlook and then going out for frosties at Deepchyll Outbeyond in the space of an afternoon is entirely possible now!”

How far does the wormhole connect?

01-10%Local---Only connects two points in a solar system(-30% to Duration)
11-60 Interstellar---Connects solar systems within 2d10 light years of each other(-20% to Duration)
61-85%IntraGalactic---Connects systems within a galaxy(-5% to Duration)
86-95%ExtraGalactic---Connects to other galaxies
96-00% Extradimensional---Connects to alternate universes

F.) Transit Initiation
“Bombing open space seems extravagant, but at least we’re not expected to sacrifice a loving creature just to get to the Alavious Arm.”

What does it take to transit the wormhole?

01-20 % Speed---The starship has to be traveling at a specific velocity when it passes through the wormhole
21-50% Direction---The starship has to enter the wormhole at a specific angle
51-70% FTL Drive---The starship has to have an existing FTL drive or specific type, usually contragaivity, which must be adjusted to special settings, and engaged as the ship enters the wormhole.
71-85% Signal---A specific trigger event such as a gravity pulse, nuke detonation, flare, or radiation emission must be made to open the wormhole
86-90% Magic/Psionic---A magic user or psychic must be aboard to trigger the wormhole. This can be as simple as casting a Blinding Flash spell or using a Telepathy power(note: this is NOT per say, a MAGIC rift).
91-00% Combination of 1+1d4 conditions(such as Speed & Direction)


G.) Duration
“Are we there yet?”

How long does the transit seem to take?

01-40% Instantaneous
41-60% 3d6 seconds
61-80% 1d6 minutes`
81-95%1d6 hours
96-98% 1d6 days
99-00% 1d4 weeks

H.)(Optional) Special
“Don’t try to sneak a peek at the Black Spot while we’re in transit. Just close the window shutters, shut down the external monitors, look at the prearranged targets, or take your transit drugs. Better people than us have been driven mad gazing into the Black Spot. That’s just the way it is. The Black Spot has no place in our comfortable sane universe, and our minds know it.”

What special properties/conditions apply to the wormhole?

01-20% Branches---The wormhole services several different destinations, branching 2d4 times. Roll again for Range for each branch.

21-40% Radiation----Starships transiting the wormhole are exposed to potentially dangerous levels of radiation; perhaps stray cosmic natter is pulverized to radiation by the gravitational forces of the wormhole walls, or accelerated to destruction, or the wormhole transits through radioactive realms, but without proper precautions, the ship’s crew may be subjected to radiation.

41-55% Turbulence---Vessels transiting the wormhole are subjected to considerable turbulence that can wreak damage on the ship. Make a piloting roll at -15% to keep the ship steady and on an even keel. On a failed piloting roll, roll a d20; the resulting number is the amount of damage, x10, that the ship takes in running the wormhole.

56-60% Cyclical Ends---The wormhole 'travels'.....one end moves from location to location on a regular pattern; roll +1d6 times for the number of other destinations, then roll for them as normal. Roll again for the period they become available, and treat 'Always open' as the originating 'anchored' wormhole.

61-70% Mind-Killer----Conditions in the wormhole are such that conscious minds cannot comprehend what they’re perceiving. Roll versus Insanity or pick up a Random Insanity. 01-75% of it lasting 1d4x`10 days, 76-00% it’s permanent unless professionally treated. Getting around this may be as simple as shutting off all external sensor feeds for the duration of the transit, anti-psychotic drugs, or hibersleep.

71-80% Tech-Killer----Conditions in the wormhole are such that certain types of technology cannot be active during a transit. While some of it can be saved by shutting it down, in other cases the technology cannot be safely shut down or shielded. Gravitic technologies, quantum computers, AI, nanotech, and active power sources are typical victims.

81-85% Magic/Psi-Killer---Something about the wormhole ab-reacts with magic or psychic abilities, sometimes both. 01-30% magic, 31-60% psionics, 61-00% BOTH. Affected parties have a 50% chance of suffering painful headaches and lose HALF their PPE/ISP (they regain it normally after leaving the wormhole), and will be unable to use any magic/psychic powers for 1d4 hours after transiting the wormhole.

86-90% Missing Time---Travelers transting the wormhole report the sensarion of missing time, even though the ships’ chronometers may register that NO time has passed, or time has passed naturally...but hot food may have become cold, tired people may feel as if they’ve just had a long sleep(and mages/psionics with a PPE/ISP debt will find their personal reserves recharged), and ice may have melted. Other acoounts include apparent sleep-walking(crew finding themselves in locations they’d started out for onlya few seconds previously, and would have required several minutes to reach, only they find themselves having already arrived with no memory of the period in-between.

91-95% Parallels----Ships traveling through the wormhole may have the occasion to view other vessels traveling out of phase, but observable to them. These other vessels may be alternate versions of the vessel and its occupants.

96-98% Inhabited---The wormhole is inhabited by beings able to survive conditions inside it. These life forms generally(01-64%) leave ships in the passage alone, but some(65-84%) may display curiosity and attempt to board the vessel to investigate them, while a small percentage (85-00%) have proven hostile and will attack vessels. Typical wormhole life forms are energy-entities such as Haunting and Siphon Entities, but may include more physical beings such as Grasper Maws and Phase Demons.

-99% Balance---The wormhole needs to be fed a equal amount of mass to what is passing through it in order to remain open. Even if it is one way, the other end has to be supplied with mass, usually in the form of space debris. The wormhole can go into negative mass as much as 1d10x100% of the imbalance mass before it destabilizes and closes for x10 its normal period(though there’s a 25% chance of it permanently dissipating).

-00% Busy--The wormhole is particularly active; roll an additional 1d4 times.

[Warshield73]

Another cool chart. The main thing I will probably use is the optional special chart, some cool effects there. The only change I have on mine is for size I have micro, basically so small all you can do is send transmissions through or maybe small nano-probes.

[glitterboy2098]

may i suggest for location the addition of "near a belt".. it opens near a asteroid belt or gas belt.

it worked for Deep Space 9.

may i also suggest that you roll location twice.. once for each end.



another option for the special traits could also be "cyclic" - similar to branching it connects to multiple exits, but it cycles through them one at a time. (in Star Trek TNG you had the Barzan wormhole that had one fixed endpoint, but the opposite end relocated itself on a pattern.

[drewkitty ~..~]

a couple general idea suggestions for additions

Availability (goes with the Freq. table sort of): is destabilized per #tons of ship for #seconds/minute/hours.
--this would probity be different for each WH.

Duration....roll for both objective time and subjective time.
(in other words; have a roll for how much time the rest of the universe experiences for the transit and for how much time the ship & crew experience for the transit.)

[taalismn]

Made some corrections, finished some sentences, and added Glitterboy2098's suggestion of asteroid belt locations, 'traveling wormhole' and locations of both ends.

This is, admittedly, a quick run-thru on the topic, so I didn't delve into ALL potential aspects of the wormhole phenomena, though I'll consider the suggestions for more indepth treatment of the topic. Thank you all for the feedback thus far!

[glitterboy2098]

a couple general idea suggestions for additions

Availability (goes with the Freq. table sort of): is destabilized per #tons of ship for #seconds/minute/hours.
--this would probity be different for each WH.

like the wormholes in the Honor Harrington novels. good idea.

[taalismn]

Have to figure out how to slide that into the rest of the tables, and what destabilization entails(damage to ships, displacement at the other end, frozen in time?...almost want to plug in the ol' Starship Flaws thread as side-effects)...probably should also include how long it stays open per activation...

[taalismn]

Okay here's my thinking for the night....

Watshield: I likely will add a subcategory for micro wormholes; but the focus of the charts will be retitled to emphasize navigable wormholes.
I'm thinking that mocrpwormholes are probably much more common than navigable/visible ones,,,,,maybe 75% of discovers wormholes would be of the micro-type.
Problem is, that squeezes the navigable types into a very THIN percentage on the charts if we use the same table.
MWHs are a LOT harder to verify as to their extent, because you can't send a fully-equipped science ship or instrument platform through to scout out and report via some other means where the endpoint is. and sending a powerful signal through doesn't always end up well if you don't want to advertise the possible endpoint, or you have to wait hours, years, or millennia for the signal to get back to you.
And not everybody has access to advanced ultra-compact microprobes that can do the work of larger platforms. I imagine ubertech power blocs might, like the Ancients, or some nations who are still using light-pushers and haven't yet figured out FTL, but I figure the average 3G culture, once it gets CG FTL, concentrates on larger space hardware and less on miniature probes.
Not that there isn't a good number of applications for MWHs if you can exploit them, but they aren't nearly as interesting as the navigable types for the sake of space opera adventures.

DK...no offense, but I wanted these tables to be quick and dirty for navigable transit wormholes that the PCs might encounter in their travels. What you suggest, I'm not feeling nearly intelligent enough right now to set up mathematical ratios to reflect what you're saying. Right now, I'd call what you suggest on both counts as less properties of ALL wormholes and more something that would go under Special Properties. As with Warshield's suggestion, I regard your two ideas as something more specific to certain types of wormholes

If you want to work out the disruption math for vessel tonnage passing through, feel free to and send me a copy and I'll work it into the final tables. Likewise I'd consider adding in Different Time Flow as an Special(likely with a percentage sub-chart of the different rates of time such special wormholes would embody.
And if you want to know, if you got the disruption factor inspiration form Honor hHarrington, the 'equal mass' Special was inspired by the Malley Mile from Ken Macleod's Stone Canal and Cassini Division books. That wormhole was unquestionably artificial, but it also had the property of being a gateway to thousands of years in the future, but because of the unique properties its formation, it became an instant time machine within a few years of its initiation((Read the two books; it makes more sense there).

[taalismn]

Edited in Warshield's request for micro wormholes.

Other tweaks may follow.

[Borast]

Task Force Games' Starfire New Empires had an optional chart for how much the wormholes could pass...and one of the options had differing entry and exit size restrictions... Heaven help you if you enter a billion tonne battleship in when it has a 50 million tonne frigate maximum mass exit gate!

[drewkitty ~..~]

Task Force Games' Starfire New Empires had an optional chart for how much the wormholes could pass...and one of the options had differing entry and exit size restrictions... Heaven help you if you enter a billion tonne battleship in when it has a 50 million tonne frigate maximum mass exit gate!

Or exits at/into a black hole.

[taalismn]

Task Force Games' Starfire New Empires had an optional chart for how much the wormholes could pass...and one of the options had differing entry and exit size restrictions... Heaven help you if you enter a billion tonne battleship in when it has a 50 million tonne frigate maximum mass exit gate!

.

Hence the pasta extruder analogy.

And that pretty much happens in the novelization of the Disney 'Black Hole' movie. No happy ending at the off-ramp; the main characters get spit out as fine molecular dross, and a free-floating psionic gestalt.

[Warshield73]

The one aspect of physics here is can radiation, especially communications lasers and radio waves, translate the wormhole. If it can then you can send drones through to test it it, if not then someone has to take the risk.

In the Honor Harrington universe you have to specially rig your hyperspace drive to transit a wormhole so just investigating one has to be done by a full sized ship.

[Hell knight]

Very cool i like it and will use it as soon as i can make up my mind on the direction i am going .

[taalismn]

Very cool I like it and will use it as soon as i can make up my mind on the direction i am going .

The Road to Prosperity, Happiness, and HIGH ADVENTURE! one hopes.

[Warshield73]

Very cool I like it and will use it as soon as i can make up my mind on the direction i am going .

The Road to Prosperity, Happiness, and HIGH ADVENTURE! one hopes.

I prefer to use them as Pandora's Box allowing death, destruction and misery to enter.

[Borast]

If anyone wants, C.S. Friedman wrote a book with an interesting take on wormholes/jump points...of a sort.
And more importantly, the requirements for safely piloting through one.

"This Alien Shore"

[Borast]

Task Force Games' Starfire New Empires had an optional chart for how much the wormholes could pass...and one of the options had differing entry and exit size restrictions... Heaven help you if you enter a billion tonne battleship in when it has a 50 million tonne frigate maximum mass exit gate!

Or exits at/into a black hole.

Or...is a one way wormhole that drops your sublight ship in the middle of a starless expanse, with the nearest star (not necessarily wormhole) several dozens of LY away.

That optional chart had some nasty options!

[taalismn]

[quote="Warshield73"
I prefer to use them as Pandora's Box allowing death, destruction and misery to enter. [/quote]

So the endpoint is in New Jersey?

[Warshield73]

I prefer to use them as Pandora's Box allowing death, destruction and misery to enter.

So the endpoint is in New Jersey?

I actual I'm pretty sure I was thinking of Texas at the time but either Jersey or Florida works too.

[taalismn]

I actual I'm pretty sure I was thinking of Texas at the time but either Jersey or Florida works too.

Oh, gotta slap warning buoys around those wormholes then!