Cepheus Deluxe: The Bounty Hunter - Session 0

The Tarantula Nebula (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University and University of Leiden)

Introduction

I recently bought the Cepheus Deluxe rulebook print on demand edition from Drivethru RPG. It's a pretty good quality book with a nice weight to the pages. The cover art looks pixellated though, like it was made at 72 DPI and low resolution, and the layout design leaves something to be desired, with a "futuristic" font for headings that really just makes it look dated.

In my day job I'm a motion graphic designer so I'm a bit of snob when it comes to these things, but the book is structured well and the rules are easy to read. You also get a character sheet, ship sheet, blank sector and subsector maps, planet sheet, and character creation worksheet that you fill in during character generation.

I've also got the Bounty Hunter Handbook by Moontoad Publishing so I wanted to try making a solo bounty hunter character. I just finished a few sessions of solo Cepheus Engine using the SRD and the free Cepheus Light rules, playing as a crew of five on a merchant ship. It wasn't as fun as I was hoping, so I'd like to try playing as one character who doesn't even have a ship to begin with and mainly goes on adventures on the planet where he lives. This will eliminate the need for an NPC crew and the bookkeeping required for running a starship.

I've downloaded the free supplement Random Character Generation Procedure for Cepheus Deluxe, written by the guys at Stellagama Publishing (the Cepheus Deluxe publisher) because I I prefer the old school character creation method rather than the one in Cepheus Deluxe, where you assign your characteristics using a standard array of numbers, pick a career and choose how long you stay in it for.

And to clear something up - in Cepheus Deluxe you can't die in character creation but you can get injured. If I was generating a whole crew I'd probably include death as an option but I'll likely get attached to this character while I'm making him.

Campaign Setting

For my merchant campaign I made up my own setting. It's the year 3023 and humans have spread out across the galaxy. Old Earth is no longer inhabitable due to war and climate change, and the Sol system has long been abandoned for greener pastures. Its location is now lost in countless aeons of history. There is a central empire but it's now stretched so thin that whole sectors have barely any imperial prescence there and are practically independent now.

Human culture is extremely diverse, with whole civilizations springing up and developing their own unique ways of life. Some planets are ruled by the empire, some are representative democracies and some are inward-looking dictatorships. No intelligent forms of life have been found anywhere but there is plenty of bizarre animal life out there, some more hostile than others.

I created the Outer Heaven sector (just the name really), the Caloo subsector within it and generated the first six star systems there. Our main character needs a planet that he's somehow ended up on after leaving his old job, so I'm going to create a new one which won't be totally randomised, since we need certain conditions - weapons need to be legal, I'd like him to live in a city rather than a tiny settlement etc.

Siento (D667AB3-7)

Siento 1 is an earth-like world with a tech level similar to early 21st Century Earth, but higher tech inventions can be found here and there imported from offworld. It's 70% water with a temperate climate so there are grasslands, forests, ice caps and deserts, but climate change is ravaging the landscape. Over ten billion people are crammed into huge cities, with small settlements spread out over the wilderness. The planet is ruled by a dictator called Errol Clayton, an unpopular man who keeps order with an iron fist and fanatical footsoldiers and secret police. He has recently started losing his grip over the people however, since the cities are riddled with criminal cartels who regularly have gun battles in the streets.

The capital city is called Krinnai, located on a large arid continent. There's a starport but it's not a very good one (Class D): it only sells unrefined fuel, doesn't offer repairs and has no shipyard. Clayton's government is inward-looking and discourages trade with other star systems. Siento 1 is listed as an amber zone by the Interstellar Scout Service, meaning it's potentially hostile to offworlders and not a recommended destination.

It orbits the red dwarf star Siento. The only other planet in the system is Siento 2, a barren rock with no atmosphere and few resources.

Our main character hates it here and wants to leave, but in order to do that he'll need to make enough money for a deposit and a mortgage on a ship.

Character Creation

Arman Doyle

STR: 10 (+1)

DEX: 11 (+1)

END: 9 (+1)

INT: 10 (+1)

EDU: 5 (-1)

SOC: 6

Arman Doyle was born in a frontier colony in the far away Vespae system. He didn't get on with his family and dreamed of going offworld, seeing the galaxy. Growing up as a colonist he learnt to drive in order to travel across the wilderness between outposts.

Arman learnt:

Driving-1

There wasn't much of an education on offer in Vespae so he didn't learn any languages except Common. At the age of 18 he applied to join the Marines.

Arman rolls INT 6+:

7 +1 INT = 8. Success!

Marines Term 1

He was accepted into the Marines and went through training. After that he was assigned to the Spirit of Ilak, an Imperial assault starship. His first year in the Corps were mostly uneventful but he made some extra cash by investing his pay in the Galactic Market (Life event: Good fortune, +1 DM to the next cash benefit roll)

Arman learnt:

Melee Combat-1, Heavy Weapons-0, Athletics-0, Gun Combat-0, Tactics-0, Zero-G-0

Arman ages 1D6 years:

1

Survival roll END 7+:

3 +1 END = 4. Failure!

Injury roll:

11 -1 Military Career = 10

Lightly injured, no effect.

Re-Enlistment roll 6+:

11. Success!

During that year he received mild burns from an incendiary grenade used in a training exercise, but received treatment and was back on his feet in no time.

I'm going to let him continue in this career - the Random Character Generation supplement is a bit unclear on this. On one page it says any injury results in the career ending, but on another it says you can continue.

Marines Term 2

In his second year the Spirit of Ilak was sent to a planet to clear it of hostile giant insectoid creatures to make it safe for colonization. During this operation he was promoted to Lieutenant and began leading his own squad of troopers, gunning down the xenos with assault rifles and throwing grenades into their nests.

Arman learnt:

Gun Combat-1, Recon-0, Survival-0

Arman ages 1D6 years:

1

Survival roll END 7+:

9 +1 END = 10. Success!

Re-Enlistment roll 6+:

7. Success!

Marines Term 3

Three years into his career in the Corps the Spirit of Ilak was called into service in a small war between the Empire and a group of separatist systems. Arman led several boarding actions against enemy cruisers, capturing the ships deck by deck. He was selected for an experimental cybernetics programme launched by the Corps that year. His right forearm was replaced with a prosthetic (keeping his own hand intact) containing an internal compartment with a small pistol inside, so that he'd never be without a sidearm.

Arman learnt:

Athletics-1, Tactics-1

Arman ages 1D6 years:

2

Survival roll END 7+:

6 +1 END = 7. Success!

Re-Enlistment roll 6+:

6. Success!

Marines Term 4

The war dragged on for years, inspiring terrorist attacks in Imperial systems. Arman and his squad were relaxing in a bar in a space station during some time off when they were targeted by separatists who threw a frag grenade into the room. One of his troopers was killed and Arman lost his right hand. He was able to have it replaced with a cybernetic one, so his whole right forearm and hand were then artificial, but the Marines didn't cover the cost for him (Cr1500). After leading a successful counter attack against an urban separatist hideout, he was promoted to Captain.

Arman learnt:

Recon-1

Arman ages 1D6 years:

5

Survival roll END 7+:

9 +1 END = 10. Success!

Re-Enlistment roll 6+:

6. Success!

Marines Term 5

Several years later when Arman was 31, the war ended with the separatists surrendering to the Empire. Arman had been playing the Galactic Market again recently which led to another windfall in income for him, however the Corps was going through hard times and honourably discharged him along with several thousand other marines in order to cut costs. 

Arman learnt:

Gun Combat-2

Arman ages 1D6 years:

4

Survival roll END 7+:

1 +1 END = 12. Success!

Re-Enlistment roll 6+:

4. Failure!

Mustering out benefits roll:

5 +2 Good Fortune (from life events) = 7

Cr50,000 and +1 EDU

Military pension for serving 5 terms:

Cr10,000 per year (Cr833 per month)

Arman gains two traits:

Hunter:

When making a surprise roll when ambushing someone, roll with advantage (roll an extra D6 and drop the lowest one).

Grappler:

When attempting to grapple someone in melee combat, roll with advantage.

Stamina: When this reaches 0, he is knocked out.

20

Lifeblood: This takes damage if he's wounded while unconscious. When it reaches 0 he dies.

19

Conclusion

And so, Arman finds himself aged 31 living in Krinnai on Siento 1, the planet he was dropped off at. He has a cybernetic hand and forearm but the internal compartment in it is empty. The Corps took back the concealed body pistol when he was discharged.

He rents a small one bedroom apartment in a huge block. His living expenses come to Cr1000 per month, his pension pays Cr833 per month however. In the first month of living there he buys some clothes including a leather jacket, and a new electric car. He's always looked over his shoulder since the terrorist attack on the space station, so he visits a gun shop and orders a specially imported pistol designed to fit into his internal arm compartment. It only has 8 rounds in the magazine but it still packs a punch.

These expenses come to Cr5350 which leaves him with Cr44,650 in his account. Aimless and depressed, he spends his days driving around the city and his nights drinking cheap whiskey in his apartment until he passes out. This is where we'll pick up his story next time.