Requires the use of the d20 Modern Roleplaying Game, published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

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Welcome to Ronin Arts’ Future: Starship 15 –The Taurus, the 15th installment in our ongoingseries of PDFs for use with futuristic D20 Systemcampaigns. This series makes some assumptionsabout your campaign; the starship designs in thisseries will be most useful in campaigns in whichthe following statements are true:

� The campaign is not a “hard” science setting.Campaigns that are more spaceopera/adventure movie are the intendedtarget for this series.

� Starships are not rare or unusual. All of thestarships in this series assume that spacetravel is a standard and common occurrence– individuals either fly their own ships orride on passenger ships. Starships and spacetravel are as common for characters as aplane ride is for people of our reality.

� Space combat is not uncommon. It’s justanother exciting adventure when the playercharacters have to engage the enemy whilefleeing from some world or other.

� The campaign is packed with action. Ifthings aren’t exploding, how much fun canthe game really be?

WHAT’S REQUIRED TOUSE THIS PDF?

In order to use Future: Starship 15 – withoutminiatures (see below for miniatures usage) – youwill need the D20 Modern roleplaying game, pub-lished by Wizards of the Coast, Inc., and the officialfuture supplement, also published by Wizards ofthe Coast, Inc.. You can find both at your favoritelocal game store or online at any number of role-playing game vendors. No other Ronin Arts prod-ucts are required to use this book.

To use the Taurus with miniatures, you will needa complete set of SkeletonKey Games’ e-Future

Tiles: Star Freighter and e-Future Tiles: StarChasers tile sets. The only tiles you will need thatare not available in those two e-Future Tiles setsare the wings and cockpit – which have beenthoughtfully included at the end of this PDF.

To learn more about SkeletonKey Games pleasevisit the official websites at www.skeleton-keygames.com and www.starbaseprime,com.

FUTURE: DATASTREAMAs of the time of publication, Ronin Arts’

Future: Datastream subscription service is run-ning, introducing new material for futuristic cam-paigns five times each week. For more informationon the Future: Datastream, including subscrip-tion information, please visit the official forums atwww.d20projects.com.

OPEN GAME CONTENTAll of the text of this PDF is presented as open

game content. While this means absolutely noth-ing to your campaign it does give other publisherspermission to use this material as long as they fol-low the open game license (see the end of thisPDF).

ABOUT THE AUTHORMichael Hammes has been freelancing in the

role-playing industry since 2001. Starting small, hehas steadily built his repertoire, and reputation, byworking for such companies as Ronin Arts, GreenRonin, Alderac Entertainment Group, Dark QuestGames, and E.N.Publishing.He is currently trying tobalance his writing schedule with his role as stay-at-home father. To catch the latest from Michael’sImagination, please visit www.michael-hammes.com.

introductionIntroduction

THE HUNTER CAMPAIGNHarkening back to the heyday of safaris on

Earth is this campaign concept. In it the Taurus andits crew are a group of modern-day big gamehunters who fulfill contracts for the capture of livexenomorphs. Note the emphasis on the term “live”.Anyone can send in the military or mercenaries tolay waste to an area and bring back carcasses, but ittakes someone with specialized skills and knowl-edge to capture xenomorphs alive and keep themthat way for the oftentimes-long journey back tothe buyer.

And just who buys living xenomorphs? Well, noone poor, because capturing live xenomorphs is anexpensive game. But beyond that:

� Scientific Community – this can meananything from government bio-weaponsdivisions to not-for-profit health organiza-tions to large zoos. These organizations buyxenomorph specimens in order to studythem, both to learn their behavior and to seewhat kind of benefit (i.e. a new drug, genet-ic advantage, cure of disease, rabid killingmachine clones, etc.) they can derive fromtheir biological natures.

� Private Individuals – let’s face it, there arealways individuals with too much moneylooking for a way to distinguish themselvesfrom other individuals with the same prob-lem. What better way to stand out from thecrowd of everyday billionaires than to haveyour own xenomorph (or better yet,xenomorphs)? To such individuals theirxenomorphs are a status symbol, nothingmore.

� Business/Entertainment – this segmentis distinguished from the scientific commu-nity, which is most often also a business or atleast business-driven, in the fact that they

are looking to exploit the xenomorph direct-ly rather than to study it or derive some formof benefit from its biology. Thus you haveentertainers who make use of the uniqueappearance and talents of a xenomorph toimprove their acts as well as individuals onremote worlds that run Roman-style circus-es where xenomorphs battle each other andgladiators (which may be free or slave).

Not only does a hunter campaign give the PCsan excuse to go hunting the most dangerous ofxenophiles all over the universe, it also puts themin contact with some very interesting charactersand organizations that can lead to, or even be,adventures in their own right. But that’s not all.Thecampaign can also put the PCs in some interestingmoral predicaments.

The first issue is that their occupation in and ofitself is a source of controversy. Even if the PCs onlywork for above-board zoological organizationsthey will undoubtedly run afoul of whateverxenomorph rights organizations there are. Andthen there is the question of whether to take anassignment from a morally questionable organiza-tion or individual. Sure, the bioweapons job payswell, but do they really want to put a living exam-ple of that warrior-xenomorph in the hands ofthose that might use it to subject worlds to theirwhim? And if the PCs don’t do it, you can bet someother less scrupulous hunters will.

TRANQUILIZERSMuch like in today’s world, the crew of the

Taurus relies on tranquilizers to subdue targetedxenomorphs for capture. Producing tranquilizers isa use of either the Craft (chemical) or Craft (phar-maceutical) skill.

Tranquilizers are essentially poisons with thegoal to induce unconsciousness rather than death.

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Tranquilizers are usually injected via a tranquilizerdart (basically, a syringe that can be shot from aweapon).

While it would be easy to list one or two tran-quilizers here, the fact is that tranquilizers require avery specific dose. Too little and the tranquilizerdoes not have an effect.Too much and a tranquiliz-er can kill. As a result, the dose of a tranquilizer hasto be carefully measured for each application (andthat’s before taking into consideration the prob-lems inherent in dealing with xenomorph physi-ologies).

While it would be impossible, and is in factimpractical, to create rules for all the factorsinvolved in creating the proper type and dose oftranquilizer for a given xenomorph, the followingsystem does add a little more variation andthought into the creation of tranquilizers.

TranquilizerType: Injury

Save DC: 10+

Initial Damage: 1d2 Dex (Save DC 10-12), 1d3Dex (Save DC 13-15), 1d4 Dex (Save DC 16-18), 1d6Dex (Save DC 19+)

Secondary Damage: Unconsciousness 1d3hours

Purchase DC: Base 6 +1 per every point ofSave DC above 10

Craft DC: Base 20 + 1 per every point of SaveDC above 10

Time: 8 hours

The individual crafting the tranquilizer deter-mines the Save DC for a given dose (to representthe strength). The Save DC in turn determines theInitial Damage, Purchase DC, and Craft DC.

For example, a dose with a Save DC of 14 (10 +4) would have an Initial Damage of 1d3 Dex, aPurchase DC of 10 (6 + 4), and a Craft DC of 24 (20+4). A dose with a Save DC of 18 would have InitialDamage of 1d4 Dex and Purchase and Craft DCs of14 and 28 respectively.

Overdose: Any creature (xenomorph or other-wise) that fails either of its Fortitude save against atranquilizer by 10 or more has received an overdosedies (the creature’s Constitution drops to 0).

TRANQUILIZER GUNSThe crew of the Taurus has a number of tranquil-

izer guns at their disposal.

CrossbowDamage: Special (tranquilizer)

Critical: —

Damage Type: —

Range Increment: 20 ft.

Rate of Fire: 1

Magazine: 1 int.

Size: Large

Weight: 7 lb.

Purchase DC: 9

Restriction: —

The ultimate in retro technology, this modifiedcrossbow fires tranquilizer darts instead of bolts; it ishighly reliable and, thanks to modern materials,totally silent in its operation (although the bolt stillmakes noise going through the air).

Airdart Tranquilizer Rifle Damage: Special (tranquilizer)

Critical: —

Damage Type: —

Range Increment: 30 ft.

Rate of Fire: 1

Magazine: 1 int. (breech loaded)

Size: Large

Weight: 8 lb.

Purchase DC: 17

Restriction: —

The Airdart is almost unchanged from the tran-quilizer rifles of 21st century Earth. Simple in con-struction and ruggedly reliable, the Airdart uses CO2cartridges to deliver its disposable .50 caliber dart(one cartride/dart per shot) making it very silent(+10 to the DC of Listen checks to hear the weaponfiring).Loading the Airdart rifle is a full-round action.

Airdart Tranquilizer Pistol Damage: Special (tranquilizer)

Critical: —

Damage Type: —

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Range Increment: 5 ft.

Rate of Fire: 1

Magazine: 1 int. (breech loaded)

Size: Medium

Weight: 4 lb.

Purchase DC: 16

Restriction: —

Another design relic from 21st century Earth, theAirdart tranquilizer pistol relies on a pump-actionfilled air reservoir instead of the CO2 cartridges of therifle to put its darts downrange. Pumping and load-ing the Airdart pistol is a full-round action. Like theAirdart rifle, it is very silent in operation (+10 to theDC of Listen checks to hear the weapon firing).

Rail Gun Tranquilizer Rifle (PL 6)Damage: Special (tranquilizer)

Critical: —

Damage Type: —

Range Increment: 60 ft.

Rate of Fire: S

Magazine: 5 box

Size: Large

Weight: 20 lb.

Purchase DC: 22 (25 with sound suppressorgadget)

Restriction: Res (+2)

The PL 6 rail gun tranquilizer makes use of elec-tromagnets to propel alloy tranquilizer darts. It is avery bulky weapon but provides enhanced range andrate of fire over the Airdart designs.

Rail Gun Tranquilizer Rifle (PL 7)Damage: Special (tranquilizer)

Critical: —

Damage Type: —

Range Increment: 100 ft.

Rate of Fire: S

Magazine: 5 box

Size: Large

Weight: 20 lb.

Purchase DC: 24 (27 with sound suppressorgadget)

Restriction: Res (+2)

The PL 7 rail gun tranquilizer uses gravity puls-es rather than magnets to propel darts to an evenlonger range than the PL 6 rail gun.

OTHER WEAPONSWhile the Taurus’s crew has access to tranquiliz-

er guns for most of its hunting work, they are nottheir sole weapons. Other favorite weapons andweapon gadgets include:

� Gravity Snare

� Stun Baton

� Stun Module (to give the crew’s energyweapons a non-lethal option)

CONCUSSORFor truly big xenomorphs the Taurus itself can

bring to bear a pair of fire-linked custom-manufac-tured concussors.

Based on concussion rifle technology, the con-cussors fire artificial gravity pulses at the target,dealing concussion (nonlethal) damage with everyhit.

The target of the concussors must succeed at aFortitude save (DC = damage dealt) or be knockedprone.Targets of Medium size or smaller are hurleda distance of 5 feet for every 5 points of damagedealt by the concussors. For each increase in sizecategory, the damage required to knock the crea-ture prone is doubled, so a Gargantuan creaturewould be knocked back 5 feet for every 40 points ofdamage dealt.

As with all nonlethal damage-causingweapons, if the concussors’ damage exceeds thetarget’s Constitution score then it must make aFortitude saving throw (DC 15).Success means thatthe target is dazed for 1 round, failure means thetarget is unconscious for 1d4+1 rounds.

ConcussorDamage: 6d10 (33)

Critical: 20

Damage Type: Concussion

Range Increment: 200 ft.

Rate of Fire: S

Minimum Ship Size: Huge

Purchase DC: 31

Restriction: Lic (+1)

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