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Gamemaster Data Follows
Gamemaster Data:
Kepler Station was actually a Star League counter-intelligence reconnaisance post, which had to be abandoned. Since there were no weapons, it was left intact; there was only enough time to damage the above-ground portions of the memory core. When Kuritan archaeologists discovered the outpost, they concluded that since the equipment was directed towards systems with one or more interesting astronomical features (and since legends of the Star League never discussed a counterintelligence core), they thought the station was an astronomical observatory.
What the Clans know about the station:
The Steel Viper Loremaster is descended from the last commander of the station. The station, not the planet, is the primary objective in the Bangor system. Two of the grills (in the 'Dining Room' and the 'Observatory') have one screw too many holding them to the wall. When ALL of the blast doors in the central station have been closed and both of these screws are turned one-quarter turn to the left, a panel is unlocked under the room-height holo of Simon Cameron, founder of the Star League (the only indication being a slight 'click'). The picture will then be able to open like a trapdoor. Behind it are stairs to the underground computer room, where the real data collection has been recording since 2512. The Steel Vipers know how to access the doors.
The Steel Viper JumpShip is at the zenith Jump Point.
Have the players roleplay their way until dinner. The Senior Professor will begin the dinner with a toast to the Tai-i. He will mention the exploits of the Muramasa family at least five times in ten minutes (yes, the food is getting cold). You will have the soup, the main course, and a speech from the Tai-i. He is condescending to non-warriors; he is trying to be gracious about the necessity of their research, but everyone can tell he considers MechWarriors to be the only real form of human life.
Then, just as dessert is being served, the on-duty graduate student, Bhajan, interrupts. There is an incoming message for the station commander.
The Senior Professor has had rather a lot of sake. "Patch it through!" he says, waving his hand expansively.
A stern faced female in her forties, wearing a gray uniform, comes on screen. "I am Cluster Commander Obeth of the Steel Vipers. This system is now part of the Steel Vipers' territory. If you dispute this, name the forces with which you will defend the station."
The Senior Professor, who is used to surprise questions in committee meetings, will manage to stammer out, "I am not the military commander. Please allow a few minutes for us to locate him and patch him through."
The characters now have ten minutes to plan what they will say to the Clans. Station sensors will show unfamiliar DropShips already at the planet. At the climax of their argument, the Senior Professor suffers a heart attack. Keiko leads him off to the medical center, where a Star League autodoc begins to minister to him. The final decision as to how to defend the station must depend on the players. If the characters cannot agree on a strategy, Tadashi, being second in command, must decide.
The com will be answered by Star Commander Jacson Sati, who will inquire again, "With what forces will you defend the station?" If the Tai-i offers a duel, the Star Commander will accept at once, naming the surface of the planetoid for the dueling ground, "in order to cause as little injury as possible." The terms agreed to will not include retaining possession of the station.
If the Tai-i wins the duel, he and his 'Mech will be permitted to leave, with the other characters, after all belongings and the DropShip have been searched. If he loses, the Steel Vipers will keep any agreements previously made as long as the characters' belongings and the DropShip are searched.
If the characters have decided to abandon the station and ask permission to surrender, the Star Commander will leave the screen for a moment, then return with, "We have no wish to retain cowards or fools among our bondsmen. You will be subject to search before you may depart, but you may then find refuge where you will. The decision to surrender must be made by all of you; no subsequent rebellion will be tolerated."
If the characters take off in the DropShip within the first two days, they will be able to join the refugee fleet before it leaves the Bangor System. After that, the Smoke Jaguars will be close enough to the planet to prevent this. If they try, they will be warned, then attacked by a Steel Viper DropShip many times their size. The purpose of that attack will be to hole the ship and search it thoroughly.
The DropShip crew are noncombatants. The Tai-i borrowed a modified Mark VII landing craft which has been reconfigured for cargo from his merchant father-in-law. It will hold the station personnel and the Tai-i's'Mech, but it will be a tight squeeze. It has only five anti-meteor large lasers in the way of armament.
If characters defy the Steel Vipers and give no data, the speaker will break off communication and the station will be attacked in six days by a star of 'Mechs to handle the DropShip crew and any outside opposition, while two stars of Elementals attack the domes. The Elementals will come from a different direction from the 'Mech star.
The Elementals know that the walls of the domes must not be damaged as they do not know where the grills are. They will breach the roof of the tallest (center) dome, opening R to vacuum. After that, their strategy is to breach the doors. They will attempt to annihilate or drive off the station personnel quickly and sharply, while destroying as little of the domed structures as they can.
If Reina sets up improvised defenses, use the following success table.
- Scrounging for Tricks Table
- Margin of Result: Success
0: (no success) light environment suits with helmets for everyone, two heavy environment suits
1: nine survival knives, four heavy wrenches, two 10-meter cords, suit sealant and solvent from the emergency survival kits of the suits, seven sharpenable 1-meter stakes
2: door overrides which rernote-control the blast doors through the central computer banks
3: sealed digging equipment for other possible sites (which were never found) for digging pits and trenches, an acetylene torch with three spare tanks.
4: ten pressure sealed aerosol cans and ten nicostick lighters, which can be used as point-blank flame throwers and/or fuel-air explosive grenades
5: two additional plausible items of player's choice which were not intended as weapons by the original manufacturers
6: three additional items as above
Bhajan Singh may roll at a -1 on the table. If someone else is helping them, that person rolls at a -2. The players will probably ask "is there a "?, and "Do we have a ?" Consult the table for the total number of items allowed. Gamemaster may have to suggest an item or two in the persona of an N PC. If all of the characters have players, there should be plenty of fiendish ingenuity between them, hopefully making such gamemaster assistance unnecessary.
If, by some unlikely coincidence, the players open the grills before the Clans get there, the lower computer will be accessible by the Eriksons, Keiko, or Beryl. The Eriksons would need a margin of success of two; the others would need four. The station will assume that the people accessing it are authorized, and will activate its considerable defenses.
The program in the system will ensure that the Steel Viper DropShip will be destroyed half a day from landing, no matter what the player characters say or do. After the emergency, the memory system will demand further authorization before it allows continued access. Unless somebody manages a margin of success of five at computer use, the system will then shut down..
The Steel Vipers
The Steel Vipers are from Alpha Striker Star of the 250th Assault Cluster of Alpha Galaxy. The Steel Vipers have detailed some of their best warriors to this mission. They are all fanatical Crusaders: they will treat the station personnel with contempt unless the playercharacters use Clan etiquette, which only the Tail knows. If the Tai-i challenges a champion or suggests a duel, he will fight Star Commander Jacson Sati. If the Tai-i actually uses the phrase 'Trial of Possession', Cluster Commander Obeth will duel with him personally.
Steel Viper Mechwarriors:
Cluster Commader Obeth (Mad-Cat)
Attributes
BLD 5 (7+)
REF 6 (6+)
INT 6 (6+)
LRN 5 (7+)
CHA 5 (7+)
Characteristics
Athletic 7+
Physical 6+
Mental 6+
Social 7+
Skills
Primary MechWarrior
Package
Gunnery/Mech 4 (2+)
Interrogation 1 (7+)
Leadership 3(4+)
Medtech 1 (6+)
Negotiation 3 (4+)
Piloting/'Mech 5 (1 +)
Small Arms 2(4+)
Survival 2(5+)
Tactics 3(4+)
Tech/'Mech 2(5+)
Unarmed Combat 2 (5+)
Advantages: Extra Edge
x2
Edge: 3
Alpha Star Star Commander Jacson Sati (Thor)
Attributes
BLD 5 (7+)
vREF 6 (6+)
INT 6 (6+)
LRN 5 (7+)
CHA 5 (7+)
Characteristics
Athletic 7+
Physical 6+
Mental 7+
Social 7+
Skills
Primary MechWarrior
Package
Gunnery/'Mech 4 (2+)
Interrogation 1 (6+)
Leadership 3 (4+)
Medtech 1 (6+)
Negotiation 3 (4+)
Piloting /'Mech 4 (2+)
Small Arms 1 (5+)
Survival 2 (5+)
Tactics 2 (5+)
Tech/'Mech 2 (5+)
Unarmed Combat 1 (6+)
Advantages: Extra
Edge
Edge: 2
Hanna (Ryoken)
Attributes
BLD 5 (7+)
REF 6 (6+)
INT 6 (6+)
LRN 5 (7+)
CHA 5 (7+)
Characteristics
Athletic 7+
Physical 6+
Mental 7+
Social 7+
Skills
Primary MechWarrior Package
Demolitions 2(5+)
GunneryrMech 4 (2+)
Interrogation 1 (6+)
Leadership 1(6+)
Medtech 2 (5+)
Piloting/Mech 3 (3+)
Small Arms 1(5+)
Survival 2 (5+)
Tactics 1 (6+)
Tech/'Mech 1(6+)
Unarmed Combat 1 (6+)
Advantages: Extra
Edge
Edge: 2
Honk (Fenris)
Attributes
BLD 5(7+)
REF 6(6+)
INT 6(6+)
LRN 5(7+)
CHA 5(7+)
Characteristics
Athletic 7+
Physical 6+
Mental 7+
Social 7+
Skills
Primary
MechWarrior Package
GunneryrMech 4 (2+)
Interrogation 1 (6+)
Leadership 1(5+)
Medtech 1(6+)
Piloting/'Mech 3 (3+)
Small Arms 2(4+)
Survival 1(6+)
Tactics 2(5+)
TechPMech 2(5+)
Unarmed Combat 1 (6+)
Advantages: Extra
Edge
Edge: 2
Jan (Loki)
Attributes
BLD 6 (6+)
REF 5 (7+)
INT 6 (6+)
LRN 5 (7+)
CHA 5 (7+)
Characteristics
Athletic 7+
Physical 7+
Mental 7+
Social 7+
Skills
Primary MechWarrior
Package
Gunnery/Mech 4 (3+)
Interrogation 1 (6+)
Leadership 1(5+)
Medtech 1(6+)
PilotingrMech 3 (4+)
Small Arms 2(5+)
Survival 1(6+)
Tactics 2(5+)
Tech/'Mech 2(5+)
Unarmed Combat 1 (6+)
Advantages: Extra Edge
Edge: 2
Herb (Ryoken)
Advantages
BLD 6 (6+)
REF 5 (7+)
INT 6 (6+)
LRN 5 (7+)
CHA 5 (7+)
Characteristics
Athletic 7+
Physical 7+
Mental 7+
Social 7+
Skills
Primary MechWarrior
Package
Gunnery/'Mech 4 (3+)
Interrogation 1 (6+)
Leadership 1(5+)
Medtech 1(6+)
Piloting/'Mech 3 (4+)
Small Arms 2(5+)
Survival 1(6+)
Tactics 2(5+)
Tech/'Mech 2(5+)
Unarmed Combat 1 (6+)
Advantages: Extra
Edge
Edge: 2
Elementals: Two Stars from Alpha Cluster, use archetype below
Attributes
BLD 8 (4+)
REF 6 (6+)
INT 6 (6+)
LRN 4 (8+)
CHA 3 (9+)
Characteristics
Athletic 4+
Physical 6+
Mental 9+
Social 9+
Skills
Elemental
Package
Blade 1 (3+)
Gunnery/Battlesuit 3 (3+)
Interrogation 1 (8+)
Medtech 1(8+)
Piloting/Battlesuit 3 (3+)
Small Arms 2(4+)
Survival 1(8+)
Tactics 1(8+)
Tech/Battlesuit 1 (8+)
Unarmed Combat 2 (2+)
Advantages:
Toughness
Edge: 1
Additional source material on Mechwarriors and roleplaying the Clans can be found in MechWarrior, 2nd Edition, the Woff Clan Sourcebook, Rhonda's Irregulars, and Bloodfight, published by FASA Corporation, and the Legend of the Jade Phoenix trilogy, published by Penguin Books USA under their Roc/New American Library trademark.
What Really Happened
In the actual attack, The Tai-i wished to engage in a 'Mech-to-'Mech duel with a Steel Viper champion, with the proviso that the civilians are allowed to leave in his DropShip, to join in the evacuation of the planetary system. Reina Erickson thought of trapping the station and fighting a room-to-roorn action. She did not know the full capabilities of an Elemental. The Senior Professor allowed the Tai-i to issue his challenge, and refused Mrs. Erickson's plea to fight room-to-room in the station. The challenge was accepted, and the civilians were allowed to evacuate after the duel was fought. The Tai-i lost, and died in the fight.
The civilians and their belongings were searched before they were allowed to leave. Reina planted spy cameras in the domes, which the Smoke Jaguars did not bother to search. Her cameras dumped data to her data retreival unit aboard the DropShip. Thus we know how the grills were opened, and where the door to the room below was positioned. Kuritan intelligence has no idea what the room below looks like. They were able to deduce that it was small because only two elementals entered it at once. Smoke Jaguar forces were seen to carry out a computer memory core labeled 'SLDF Intelligence: Top Secret: Defense d'accesse'.
The Secret of Kepler Station A Scenario For MechWarrior 2
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