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Monday, 22 December 2014

A deadly Teleporter Chart For Rogue Trader

This is a chart I made for Rogue Trader.  In that game just about every group decides to put a teleportarium (teleporter) in their ship. This isnt really a problem but I find that a lot of situations that could present interesting dilemmas for the crew are solved with the phrase "beam us out!"

for instance:
There is a Giant space cruiser chasing the party down. the party decides to teleport on to the enemy cruiser's bridge and kill the captain and then beam out.

or

The crew are at a fancy dinner at a governor's palace.  mercenaries burst in with guns and masks.  The crew all yell "beam us out". The end.


Both of these situations are really cool and the players feel powerful.  The problem is that every situation becomes solve-able with a teleporter.  When you have a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.  Besides that in War-hammer 40k a teleportarium works by literally shooting people through the Warp (hell). So the willy nilly use of the teleporter never sat right with me.

the rules are built for the WH40K Rogue Trader System.  Maybe i will tweak it for a generic space setting/system sometime.  Then again why not try that yourself!

** MY Teleportarium House Rules**The rules may seem a little brutal but you would have to roll very badly multiple times to get a total team wipe or any other really bad effects. Besides, you are traveling through the warp (hell) with nothing to protect you but your skin and nothing to guide you but an ancient machine that no-one fully understands.

In normal gameplay- 
1) the PC's get 1 safe use of the teleporter per session. accurate, no test to use, (unless teleporting somewhere insane like into a warp storm, onto the roof of a moving car, into a backpack/chest etc.) and there are no limits on what is transported as long as it fits in the teleporter.
2) every additional use of the teleporter after the first in a session will incur a roll on the following chart after a tech use (-10). 


Roll on a d100 modified by degrees of success (tech use -10)                  MISHAP!
1-10teleport was accurate but took a long time,make a -10 toughness test if u fail lose a fatigue
11-14accurate. Roll on the Psychic Phenomenon table. For all references to "the psyker", use the teleported group, and any effects originate from that group. The machinery of the teleportarium is considered warded.
15-19teleport was successful, but you missed the target location by 2d10m. (if beaming back to the ship PC's appear in a small bathroom or cramped space)
20-24teleport was accurate but one member of the crew was beamed into a different location, possibly under life threatening circumstances. eg. crew appear in the ally way, but the captain appeared in the next ally over surrounded by thugs.
25-30teleport succeeded but the PC's all appeared at least partially under ground-level, in water, buried in sand, in a cave, in a sewer, under the floorboards.
31-35teleport was successful, but Pc's all appeared above ground-level, in a tree, in midair, on a ledge, on the roof, over a pit
36-41scatter 1d10km, the trip was horror itself, what you saw...is beyond words. You were suspended within the screaming vortex of the warp for what felt like hours. Make a fear test (2). on the plus side you arrive 1d10 hours before you actually left.  (if returning to the ship you appear in a random on board location)
42-49A mechanical failure. some abnormal readings and poor maintenance has caused the teleportarium to refuse to activate. The test can be taken immediately at one degree more difficult, or after 1d10 minutes with no modifier.
50-59A shower of sparks and a small fire erupt in the machinery of the teleportarium.  it , but angered tech spirits cause serious equipment failure and damage. Requires d10 hours to fix, reduced by 1 hour per successs on a Very Hard Tech Use or Hard Trade (Technomat) roll.
60-69teleport was accurate, PC's unhurt but re-entry into real-space was violent. all organic material in 2d10 meters of the rentry point is disintegrated, metal walls are warped and twisted. and PC's arrive without their hats/helmets
70-79accurate Roll on the Perils Of The Warp table. For all references to "the psyker", use the teleported group, and any effects originate from that group. The machinery of the teleportarium is considered warded.
80-89scatter 2d10km, the teleported party makes a hard (-20) toughness test. failure results in one random mutation and 1d5 insanity points. (if returning to the ship you appear in the vacuum of space no more than 10 meters from an airlock)
90-99perfect teleport... exept for the huge demon that was pulled into real space with you. roll 1d100 (1-25 nurggle, 26-50 tzeench, 51-75 slanesh, 76-100 khorn)
100A warp breach, like the beginnings of a warp storm, is opened in the location of the teleporting party. everyone within 50 meters takes 10 energy damage ignoring Armour and toughness and take 1d10 insanity and corruption
130+A major warp breach resembleing a miniature warp storm, is opened in the location of the teleporting party. The group and everyone within d100 m are destroyed, and the surrounding area instantly becomes hell on earth.


In starship combat- No change from rules in book. any hit and run useage dosn't count as the one use per session. Hovever, PC's who 'lead; the hit and run attack are merely giving orders and organizing the soldiers sent into the teleporter. (most of whom fall victim to the many horrible things on this chart, are teleported into space or otherwise die trying to take the other ship, and few of them return..... it is still really effective though and you have lots of crew to throw at the problem anyway) 
-if the PC's wish to physically bored another ship in combat then the house rules take over.

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