4 Dice SFRPG – an adventure set in 2124 Colonising the solar frontier

Introduction

I am playing solo the boardgame The Final Frontier about colonising the Solar System.  I thought I can test my 4 Dice SFRPG by playing some adventures along the way.  This is a one act adventure taking place in a Rural zone.

Adventure

It is 2124 and Earth is recovering from World War 3.  Nation alliances and boarders have been redrawn.  As Earth stumbles back to some sort of normality, thoughts turn to space.  One of the first powers to do so is the APA, the Asia-Pacific Association, which has a five year lead on space technology.  They use this to great advantage to implement a Martian colony years before anyone else has a chance of doing so.

Prologue

The date is 322 2124 on Murrua, the newly formed APA colony Mars. There is an issue of stolen treasure and a patron has commissioned a team of local investigators for recovery.  The investigative team, only formed this year, consists of:

·        Rashad Gillespie, a snobbish male Human from an industrial background with good skills and a survival kit.

·        Noel Santana, an intimidated male Human from an industrial background with average skills and excelling at survival.

·        Annabelle Calhoun, a shy female Human from a rich background with good skills and a vibroknife.

·        Skip, an intelligent robot from a space background with average skills and a vibroknife.

From left to right: Rashad. Noel, Annabelle and Skip (the robot).

“So Rashad, what the deal?” Noel asked.

“Stolen treasure.  Intricately carved bones of extinct animals.” Rashad replied.

“What the-? “

“Apparently a family heirloom and with the growing instability on Earth the family sent it out here to Mars.  Worth a fortune apparently – carved a 100,000 years ago.”

“But why not leave it in the Lag*?”

Annabelle cut in. “Probably still did not feel they were safe their either.  I know the last war barely touched the Lag, but with space now getting more attention, I would not trust being there either.  There is a reason we are out here on Mars and not back in Earth orbit.”

The room was silent for a moment in agreement.

Rashad then said “Patron’s pretty sure his political opposition has it – apparently both for desire and revenge!  But pretty sure is not fact.  The only lead is that the mining boss is a mate of his and he has hinted he has an idea of where the bones are.”

*Lag: Lagrange orbital stations

Scene 1 Mining Achievers

The party travel to the older mining area of the colony. The tension level is low.

The machinery seems old, possibly was not new when it was shipped out; but it is obviously functioning well.  It seems run down but still performing.

Surprisingly, they manage to get a meeting with the big boss, Selena Vance.  She is friendly and they begin conversing. Selena is not very helpful and does not have much in the way of a direction forwards

Talking to Selena in her office.

“Look around the site, there may be something that my help you here.  I don’t know where they are holding up but someone may know something.”

On the way out, Skip slyly pockets a vibroknife he saw lying on a desk.

“Just being a little vindictive.” Skip thought to itself.

Scene 2 Rough Obstacle

The main part of the day is over.  It is evening and the team are passing through a rough zone while walking around the min. The team carefully traverse a perilous area but with the warning signs and fencing it was a trivial exercise to resolve.  But while negotiating around it Annabelle finds some booster drug that looks like it was accidently dropped. She picks it up. “You never know when it may come in useful”.

On the mining site.

Scene 3 Mining Obstacle

The team come to a dead end and cannot go on.

“Damn.  We will have to go back.”

The team go back but go around the other side of the perilous area, not realising it is not as well marked as the other side.

On the way back, Noel injures himself here.

Rashad gets out his survival kit to help traverse the area but Noel slips and twists his leg.  He is OK, but limps the rest of the way.

 “Unbelievable!” Annabelle says.

“What?”

She picks up a small packet.  “Another booster drug.  Some person sure was unlucky to lose two of them.”

Scene 4 Agricultural Hazard

The team get to their quarter late but are up very early.  Still tired, they head out to check out the underground agricultural farms near the mining area.

Walking along the path in the agricultural warehouse.

A large farmhouse complex can be seen at the end of the farming warehouse.  On their way towards it, Rashad stumbles on the paths and falls into the plants off the trail.  This would not be so bad except he grabs out wildly at the rest of them and pulls him with them.

“Hey!” Noel calls out “My leg still hurts you know!”

As they are getting out of the foliage back onto the path they spot someone coming towards them.  He looks directly at them.

They spot one of the politicians.

“It’s one of the politicians we are looking for!”

Skip says it too loudly and the politician realises the team wants something.  He turns around and runs down a side path.  The team, well three of the team as Noel can’t run, give chase.  They spot him going through a door into another warehouse.  They slow down and wait for Noel to catch up

“Come on, Noel – this is the best lead we have had in two days!”

Scene 5 Rough Citizens

The next warehouse is still be configured for use and has a number of workers hard at getting it ready.  Close by, Rashad sees four manufacturing workers.

Talking to some workers to discover where the politician went.

“Have you seen a guy running past here?” Rashad asks bluntly.

Next to him Noel rolls his eyes “This is not the time to be snobbish Rashad…” he thinks.

Noel was right.  The workers just look at one another and shrug.  Rashad realises he will get no more from them.

 “Thanks for nothing.” he mutters as the team continue on.

Scene 6 Rough Achievers

They come into view from behind some machinery and run into three opposition politicians.

“We have been looking for you” Rashad says.

The three look at each other and then look at Rashad.  And then get pistols from under their costs.

The engage the politicians.

One of them fires at Annabelle who is busy fiddling with the booster drug package to get it out.  She is winged in the arms, drops the booster drug over the ground and drps to the ground beside it.

Skip whirls with his two vibroknives and two politicians run for it.  Rashad grabs the other one before he can fire.

“You obviously know why we are here.  Where are they?”

“Where’s what?”

Rashad loses his patience. “The bones! Do I have to get Skip here to help you remember?”

Rashad and Skip put pressure on the politician.  Noel looks after Annabelle.

The politician spins a great story about how they were rightfully his and so he had done nothing wrong.  This more than anything convinces Rashad he is on the right track.  A little more persuasion and they find out they are at the colony resort, hidden in one of the party rooms.

Scene 7 Resort Obstacle

The main part of the day is over.  The team navigate through a spot of quiet between the loud noises of different parties to either side.  It is only fleeting as they then enter into one of the party rooms.  Deafening noise, flashing lights, bodies thrashing.  Rashad, running on nothing and having barely any sleep, cannot take it and heads for the door.

“I’m leaving!” He says into Annabelle ear before collapsing exhausted as soon as he exits.  Annabelle signals to Noel. “You go with him – make sure he is OK.”

Rashad and Noel outside the club.

Annabelle and Skip push through the crowd to one of the corner booths.  While Skip keeps people away, Annabelle lifts up the chair and takes the bag stashed there.  She opens it and peers inside and sees a carved box.

“Yep, the box with the bones as described.  Let’s go”   

A blurry shot of Skip and Annabelle in the club.

They make it back outside and collect Rashad and Noel.  The next day, after a decent nights slepp, they had the bones back.  Investigation completed.

“Rashad, you are looking better today” Noel says.

“Yeah, and I see you are not limping as much anymore.”

Postlude

Rashad is still not fully recovered from his exhaustion. Noel is still got a leg wound – it will take a while to recover. Annabelle’s arm still hurts from being wounded. Skip is the only one unscathed, or unscratched at least.