Example of Play

Here's an example excerpt of a Startroid game session. The adventurers are enroute to an orbital platform they have been hired out to secure by locking up doors and reactivating security systems following a pirate raid. The derelict went up for auction to the highest bidder and the new owner wants to clear out the rats before moving in any assets.

The players in the session are:
Jeff, the Dungeon Master;
Tracy, whose character is the chozo soldier Achemset;
Anwar, whose character is the shakuran sniper Bul;
Pham, whose character is the luminoth tactician O-vmn.

Jeff (DM): The coordinates you've been given are good. Readings indicate the orbital platform you're approaching conforms to position and displacement profiles of your current charge. Time to arrival is about three hours.
Pham (O-vmn): Are there any obstacles preventing our direct approach?
Jeff (DM): You're in a well-charted sector, so nothing known and static is in your way. Your own vessel's collision sensors are functional and show all clear. The only other obstacle would be another vessel, which requires an active search.
Pham (O-vmn): What do I roll for that?
Jeff (DM): It's bundled into Perception.
Anwar (rolling perception for Bul): I'll take the case! 24.
Jeff (DM, privately to Anwar): You do detect a vessel along your course. It has the same conformity as one of the raiding vessels that put this platform on the market in the first place.
Anwar (Bul, privately to Jeff): I'll let everyone know. I don't see the sense in getting us ambushed and myself killed.
Jeff (DM, repeats above to all).
Tracy (Achemset): Space Pirates? I hate those guys!
Pham (O-vmn): Do we have any official instructions about pirates?
Pham (O-vmn, privately to Jeff): And do I have any particular instructions from my own employer?
Jeff (DM): Your task as outlined indicated you should avoid external conflict. But anything that happens outside of the platform itself is not enforceable, so you have some freedoms. On a personal note, they probably aren't paying you enough to deal with ship combat.
Jeff (DM, privately to Pham): Roll Tactics.
Pham (O-vmn, privately to Jeff): 26.
Jeff (DM, privately to Pham): Your employer has used this particular band of pirates in the past and negotiations remain friendly. You can make use of this tryst to get clear of them without fighting by sending a coded message. Of course, your employer also has no special love of these guys, so if you bloody their noses a little, no harm done. It would be good to keep up appearances to tussle a little, though naturally somewhat risky. Either way you can't go really wrong.
Tracy (Achemset): What are you guys talking about?
Pham (O-vmn): I'm thinking.
Anwar (Bul): Let's go around them. I want to get to the base.
Pham (O-vmn): We can't avoid their notice. We outweigh them by almost double and we're professionals. We should at least chase them off so they don't get any ideas while we're on the platform.
Anwar (Bul): I don't like this plan. Remember the last time we fought ship-to-ship?
Tracy (Achemset): That was awesome!
Anwar (Bul): Yeah, you boarded them while they boarded us. I almost died because you weren't around blocking for me.
Pham (O-vmn): Look we don't need a full-on engagement. Let's just flare our signal and adjust course to intercept them. If they're not completely daft they'll turn tail before we fire a shot and we can secure the base unmolested. If they do have a death wish then we'll have to fire one salvo at most.
Tracy (Achemset, privately to Jeff): Is it possible these guys are part of the Black Crook gang I've been looking for?
Jeff (DM, privately to Tracy): Possible in that they are also space pirates. You don't have any intel about their movements in this area and you're not close enough to gather any facts on your own, but the possibility always exists, and anyway Space Pirates have a kind of fellowship to them where you can probably get something if you capture one alive.
Jeff (DM, privately to Anwar): Any thoughts about this?
Anwar (Bul, privately to Jeff): Nope. I just hate pirates.
Tracy (Achemset): I could board them!
Anwar (Bul): Groan!
Pham (O-vmn): No boarding. Onward.
Jeff (DM): You are now in range of the pirate vessel. You've flared your signal, so if they don't see you they aren't looking. The vessel is neither breaking course nor coming about.
Pham (O-vmn): They should be running like hell. What gives?
Anwar (Bul): This could be a trap. Probably five more hiding behind rocks.
Pham (O-vmn): We scanned for that and we're trickier, remember?
Tracy (Achemset): Is there anyone even there?
Jeff (DM): The vessel itself is functional, even undamaged (if you can disregard the scrapes and patches of the usual secondhand job that a pirate vessel is). But anyway it's fully powered, even armed. Not adrift.
Pham (O-vmn): Eh. I'll have the computer simulate their course so we can find them later. If no one's aboard, hey, free ship!
Jeff (DM): Okay, you make good time to platform 88S orbiting Kelador. There are plenty of marks from weapon's fire and explosions, both from ships and personal arms. Huge gashes in the side indicate at least some decks will not have contained atmosphere.
Anwar (Bul): Geez, how much did our charge pay for this slab?
Pham (O-vmn): 15mil at auction. We're getting a whopping 110k to sweep it.
Anwar (Bul, privately to Jeff): Okay, how much did they really pay for it?
Jeff (DM, privately to Anwar): Did I have you roll for this before?
Anwar (Bul, privately to Jeff): No I don't think so.
Jeff (DM, privately to Anwar): Roll Skulduggery.
Anwar (Bul, privately to Jeff): 17.
Jeff (DM, privately to Anwar): Good enough. Yes you know there was a dirty deal that went down. No telling why UniteX wants this place but they wanted it to the tune of 147mil and knew whom to pay.
Tracy (Achemset): Bum deal. They'd be lucky to clear 100 just from scrapping it.
Jeff (DM): How would you know that?
Tracy (Achemset): I dunno, I'm just guessing. You guys always talk like you know what things are worth.
Jeff (DM): You know what, sure. You imagine that the whole platform, sold for scrap, would barely pay your wage for sweeping it.
Pham (O-vmn): Not our problem. Let's get dirty.
Tracy (Achemset): I hate it when you say that.
Jeff (DM): You're able to find a functional docking plug toward the southeast rim of the platform. Once inside, you observe the damage to the interior. Floor to ceiling standard steel plates and grating, portals, bulkheads and control panels charred from a fire that must have spanned the entire wing. You scrape bits of it off when you touch the various surfaces.
Tracy (Achemset): On the lookout for hostiles.
Jeff (DM): It might help to have light. The system lights are off. You could tell from your ship's readouts that the main power station still functions, so it would be possible to get things going again with an Engineering check.
Tracy (Achemset): Pass. I'm not trained in that.
Anwar (Bul): Not my thing.
Pham (O-vmn): Wait, none of us is trained in Engineering? Geez. Fine I'll see what I can do.
Anwar (Bul): I'll assist.
Jeff (DM): Roll it.
Pham (O-vmn): 13.
Anwar (Bul): 4.
Jeff (DM): Hah, okay you're no help. A 13 gives you enough of a clue to where the power controls might be, at least by following conduits, but not enough to be able to rig some lights on.
Pham (O-vmn): Great. We'll do it in the dark.
Jeff (DM): Down the main corridor, you come across the first staging area, a door of sorts, on the right. Double-wide, large enough to accept cargo and vehicles. Your map indicates this is a storage unit, some power controls, some general purpose areas. The seal indicates that just beyond the door will be yet another door, with a staging area in between to normalize pressure.
Pham (O-vmn): Good for us. Might be able to get some air in here. Gotta get everywhere sooner or later, let's open it.
Jeff (DM): The door slides open top to bottom, admitting you into the chamber with a similar looking door, closed, on the far end of the room. Entering and using the controls for the far door sets a caution circle counting down.
Anwar (Bul): Wait, what?
Tracy (Achemset): I think that's for the seal.
Jeff (DM): This is all pretty normal stuff for space platforms. The caution circle sweeps around once for sealing the chamber, then again the other way for normalizing pressure. This keeps you from being violently buffeted by air when you open doors.
Anwar (Bul): A little light does that?
Jeff (DM): Well, the light just warns you that it's happening. Anyway, the far door finally sweeps open, top to bottom, and the hiss of air filling the room gives way to the hiss of a clique of many-eyed bug monsters clawing away at something in the dim light. They notice you and make angry calls.
Pham (O-vmn): Gah! Close the door!
Tracy (Achemset): No way! It's go time.
Jeff (DM): No matter what else you do, flip initiative, and arrange yourselves on the grid.