Khonshu Alpha

This part of the complex is a small tourist shuttlecraft station. Passengers would take a small automated shuttle to tour the exterior of the Khonshu Alpha.

The purpose of this section is (hopefully) to reveal to the players that they've been living their whole lives aboard a vast starship. If the referee has kept this a secret, it should come as a big surprise to the players.

Emergency Pressure Doors

As this section has access to the void, there are several concealed emergency airlock doors. If there's a sudden drop in air pressure (room #28 perhaps), a klaxon will sound, and concealed air lock doors will emerge from the walls and block a corridor. Characters can make a DEX 6+ roll to jump through the closing doors to the pressurized side. If the players roll natural two (two ones), they are caught between the closing doors and will take 2D crushing damage per round until freed with a STR 10+ roll.

The doors can be temporarily opened (D6 rounds), with a blue bracelet. (see Bracelets)

If a pressure door is blocked by an object, the next closest pressure door will automatically activate.

Trapped in a Vacuum

When a character is in an area, (i.e. the wrong side of a Emergency Pressure Door) where the atmosphere is gone, they will take 1D damage per round. Starting on the third round, they need to make a END 10+ roll each round to stay conscious.

22. Voyager Plaza: The floors are inlaid with tiles inscribed with colorful images of various stars and planets. There's a circular dais in the center of the room that is a holographic projector. When the players enter the room, the projector will activate, displaying a 3D map of the galaxy. There's a bright green line across the image representing the flight path of the Khonshu Alpha. The first half of the line is straight, but then starts turning and twisting almost randomly.

The doors to the Maglev Station (#24) are visible, the glow of nebula in #23 can be seen, and the glass doors to #24 provide a view of the Shuttle Bay (#24)

23. Viewing Lounge: This is a lounge where passengers could look at the stars and watch the shuttles take off. A transparent geodesic dome has a dramatic view of the nebula the Khonshu Alpha is passing through. You can also see a number of the nearby sections of the ship, and the bright white exhaust of the ship's engines.

There are several couches of advanced memory foam. They are incredibly comfortable. One is deeply stained with what appears to be long-dried human blood.

The geodesic dome can take 70 points of damage before breaking.

24. Shuttle Bay: The doors to this room are transparent. This large room contains two tourist shuttles. They were designed for short sightseeing jaunts around the ship. Each ship is fully operational. The doors to each ship are open. Once a ship is entered, a chime will sound very minute until five minutes have passed. The ship will then seal itself up and automatically launch.

The shuttles are facing the inner airlock doors, which are normally closed.

There's a glass window that provides a clear view of room #25.

The Tourist Shuttle

A 20-ton launch, with a 3G manuever. There is no cockpit or pilot control. It is fully computer controlled. There are seats for twenty.

The Launch Procedure

After the five minutes of chimes, the inner airlock doors will open, and the ship will move forward to the airlock. The inner airlock doors will close, and then the outer airlock doors will open. The ship will be immediately launched. The ship will only launch if it detects passengers aboard it.

The Cruise

The pre-programmed cruise is 30 minutes. It travels up and down along the length of the ship, providing excellent views of the ship. The passengers will see the following:

The giant spheres that make up most of the ship. Several of which are clearly damaged. The kilometer-long plasma exhaust. Clouds of debris around the ship.

Five minutes into the voyage, a concession bot will pop out of its alcove in the ceiling and offer the passengers various bagged snacks. All of the snacks are long since expired, and anyone who eats them will need to make a END 8+ roll to avoid taking 2D damage from poisoning.

Names of snacks: Cheezo-Chips, Mango Zips, Frosted Mini-Zowies, Gunk Crisps,

The ship will return to the shuttle bay in exactly an half hour.

25. Control Room: This control room was mostly for show. The tourist shuttles pretty much piloted themselves. However, it made passengers feel better to see a NASA-style control center staffed by a human. There are a row of control panels with video feeds from inside each shuttle, and several views outside the ship. There's a microphone to communicate with the shuttles, usually used to narrate the shuttle's trip.

A clear window has a view of the Shuttle Bay (#24).

With a Computer 10+ roll, a character can gain control of either one of the shuttles. They can be controlled with a Pilot 8+ roll. On a critical fail (two ones), both the inner and outer airlock doors in #24 will open, exposing the shuttle bay and the control room to the void. The emergency pressure doors in #22 will automatically activate.

Seated at one of the control panels is a desiccated corpse in a tattered yellow jumpsuit. It has both a blue and yellow bracelet around its wrist.

26. Vacc Suit Storage: For maintenance purposes, 8 vacc suits are stored here. They all have Khonsu Alpha logos on them. One of the vacc suits has a critical fault, and will immediately fail if exposed to vacuum. Roll randomly to see which one.

27. Maglev Station #4: This maglev station is fully functional. There's a control pylon that can be activated with a yellow bracelet to summon a train. It will arrive in 2d6 minutes. A Computer 10+ roll can also be used to call a train.

28. Depressurized Restroom: The door has been sealed, and is covered with worn, illegible warning stickers. The door can only be opened with brute force – STR 10+ with bare hands, or STR 8+ with tools.

The restroom beyond suffered a micrometeorite strike, and is a complete vacuum. If the bathroom door is breached, the nearest emergency pressure door will activate. See Emergency Pressure Door section above.

by Norton Glover – [email protected] E-Mail: [email protected] RPG Blog: Polyhedral Nonsense #Dungeon23