'Pioneers & Pirates' More 2d6 Campaign & Sector Expansion notes

 Cepheus Deluxe has lots of tools for doing some excellent random world generation, fighting other creatures, and engaging in space battles, handling the risks of interstellar speculative trading, &  exploring new worlds,etc. Since this set of tools is perfect for existing Cepheus Engine rpg games then I decided to see if it could pimp out my upcoming Hostile rpg campaign setting game. 

Since my games doesn't follow the usual Hositle rpg time line history.  Cepheus Deluxe has any number of random tools & generators to take care of everything from small settlements to large towns for a 2d6 science fiction. These worlds which have been cut off from by a psychic wall of energy that has disrupted hyperspace travel for some time. These hyperspace routes are only now being opened across the universe. These are the old colony worlds that colonial frieghters service & this brings in Zozer Games Colonial Frieghter; "On worlds with low-populations and few port facilities, any colonial supply ship has to carry with it a suite of cargo handling equipment. The Tharsis Aerospace Argosy is a premier example of this class of ship - the ‘colonial support vessel’ (CSV)." 

These colonial ships are going to be opening these planetary colonies as time goes on and setting up more jump off points for explorers as the universe opens back up. This is a gold mine time for explorers as they re establish communicatations with colonies across the board. But it will make these worlds vulneratble to pirates. Both the world itself & the colony ships are going to be prime targets for instellar pirates. 

As mankind expands outwards & pirates present a very real danger. The marines role in such a campaign becomes quite evident. The Marine Handbook 2215, ' The essential US Marine Corps manual, with weapons, vehicles, uniforms and campaign suggestions.' is perfectly dialed into such a campaign. The fact is that its fun to speculate about the nature of such a world lost to time but now playing host to the Hostile marines forces. And its here that the Hostile's Crew Expendable   ships are going to be servivng on the ever expanding instellar frontier. And this is going to make them a fitting target for pirates waiting to pick such a rich prize up. 

Using Zozer Games Crew Expendable & Cepheus Atom Together For 2d6 Campaign & Sector Expansion

To expand upon my Hostile setting campaign tonight I sat down with Hostile's Crew Expendable  book.; "CREW EXPENDABLE is a supplement for Cepheus Engine and the HOSTILE setting. It provides players with a comprehensive campaign of routine space travel - interstellar haulage carried out by blue collar ‘space truckers’, working Joes just trying to make ends meet, and to stay alive."

"The book provides a ship, it provides a selection of available crewmembers and an array of tables for creating contracts that must be fulfilled. There are star maps, rolls and tasks for all the crew-members and a new starship - the Harbinger, a multi-purpose freighter. " 
So the idea here is before tomorrow night's game we're gonna dive into the idea of a NPC 'Firefly' style crew of space truckers who are doing long haul runs between star systems. These folks are not the usual horror fodder but actual NPC who are perfect to haul cargo & supply to our miners.The New England Bouys are starting to dig deeper into the sector.  It's a setting that's seen its share of the use of atomics & other apocalpytic weapons. So out comes Cepheus Atom here to fill in some of the gaps of these worlds. Disease, mutations, alien life forms, & worse await the PC's. 

The problem with opening up trade, mining, & other enterprises upon these worlds is going to be the supply chain. Establishing the infrastructure to these post apoclapyptic worlds is part of the challenge here. Worlds that have come open  because of the 'Fall of Man' psychic storms abatement  in my campaigns. Have just come into hyperspacial gate jump distance open up countless possibilities for the corporations. Mineral rights already on the books means less paperwork. But populations of mutant scum & tribes of aliens could mean that explorers are literally taking life & limb risks landing upon such places. 

While explorers are the trail blazers, these post apocalpttic  planets constantly chew up & spit out spacers. Then there's the near constant issue of claim jumpers, and even corporate assasination of planetary explorers. Zozer Games  Crew Expendable really brings home the fact that space truckers are going to be working grunts of the space ways. Explorers on the other hand are the trail blazers. 
There are few reasons why these books work well together:

1. Zozer Games  Crew Expendable are ordinary folks living a blue collar life. Space haulage is simply another part of the job and they remind me of the drovers of the American Old West. Hence the 'Firefly' connection in my mind. 
2. Even post apocalytic worlds are going to be routine in a post 'Fall of Mankind' campaign. 'Not another post apocalytic world' may be the mantra of a Harbinger's crew. 
3. These types of haulage jobs may attract the real daredevils of spacers or the dregs of humanity to these jobs. 
4. Even with the presence of mankind out among the stars space is a big place and the explorer's job is going to be that much harder. 
5. There are going to be entirely empty or new sectors that haven't been explored at all leading to exploitation by the corporations of the Hostile universe.