Home on Night Tripper

Foreword

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Foreword#

Night Tripper is a box of toys. Play with them as written only as long as they serve your goals and your fun. Hack, expand, and repurpose them without hesitation.

Night Tripper is not original. If you are familiar with the earliest 2d6 interstellar role-playing games, you’ll recognize a lineage. Night Tripper aspires to that spirit of improvisation, open-endedness, and malleability.

Roleplaying is best done with people you know, like, and trust. Talk with your group about safety and off-limits content. Both credit and responsibility for what happens at your table belong to you.

Game Modes

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Game Modes#

Campaign#

Several players create characters and pursue their own goals in a star cluster sketched out by a referee. Ideally, the referee follows the players’ lead and responds to them, not the other way around.

The characters might start without a ship of their own, scraping by to make their way from world to world. If they do start with access to a ship, they’ll be looking for patrons and trade routes to cover their monthly payments.

The Long Fall

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Long Fall#

Ancient beyond memory, the Commonwealth’s kiloparsec reach exceeds its grasp.

In the time of its long decline, stars at its edges slip towards isolation. Once-connected worlds struggle between themselves to survive the decay of a sclerotic empire.

Isolation and strife beget danger and opportunity.

“Most people’s experience of the fall of Rome was that one day a nearby bridge collapsed and no one came around to fix it.”

Core

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Core#

Fundamentals#

A collection of rules and procedures for creating and playing interstellar adventure campaigns.

For one referee and any number of players. Two to four players at one time is best.

The referee creates several worlds stocked with opportunities to pursue, dangers to surmount, and organizations pursuing their own ends. During play, the referee describes environments and the actions of non-player characters and creatures. The players describe their characters’ actions, and the referee adjudicates outcomes. If a disagreement comes up and the rest of the table thinks the referee is full of it, the referee is wrong.

Interstellar Cartography

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Interstellar Cartography#

The Commonwealth divides the known worlds into administrative clusters five parsecs in diameter. Each world in a cluster is ranked on four characteristics: Habitability, Population, Authority, and Technology.

To create an administrative cluster, begin with a blank hex flower, five hexes wide. One hex in the center, with two concentric layers of hexes around it.

Starting with the center hex and working your way outward, roll 1d6 for each hex. On a 4-6, the hex contains a star system with a notable world. Draw a circle in the center of the hex.

Character Creation

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Character Creation#

Use an index card to keep a record of your character.

You are 20 years old, with 20 maximum Endurance.
Roll a birth month.
Select a background or roll 1D to leave it to fate. Your status is 0. Gain two Skills from that background’s Skill lists at rank 1. Roll on one of the tables for the first Skill, then choose one other Skill from the background. Players take turns developing their characters’ backgrounds to gain Skills and find out about their characters’ lives before play begins. Take the following steps on each background turn:
1. Roll 2D on the Background Events table. On any result other than death, apply the results.
2. Roll for one or two Skills, as prompted. Choose one of the Background’s skill lists, or the Personal Development skill list, which all backgrounds share. Roll 1D. On a 1-5, gain the indicated Skill at Rank 1, or increase its Rank by 1 if you already have the Skill. On a 6, choose one of the five Skills to gain or increase. Italicized words are equipment. Add equipment to your possessions if you don’t already own it.
3. Age 1D years.
  1. If you enter a new decade (30s, 40s, etc), lose 1 Endurance, then roll 1D. If the result is less than the tens digit of your age, roll a misfortune and finish character creation.
4. Decide if you will take another turn. If not, roll a misfortune and finish character creation.
Get starting credits. Add your status plus the tens digit of your age. Roll that many dice, add them together, and begin with that many credits.
Get a terminal. A terminal is a portable personal computer that enables a user to connect to local networks. Terminals vary wildly across cultures and tech levels. Terminals can be embedded in jewelry or clothes, implanted in the body, or be a more obvious piece of hardware with a screen. Decide what yours looks like.
Consipire. Before the game starts, discuss goals with the other players to help drive the initial action. Give the referee something to respond to. If you start with a ship (and a mortgage on it), you may want to figure out how to make next month’s payment.

Skill ranks may not be raised higher than 4. When you would raise a skill to rank 5, select a different skill from the same list instead.

Trade Goods

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Trade Goods#

Use these tables to randomize a world’s imports or exports based on its characteristics, or to determine the contents of a ship’s hold.

Agricultural Goods#

Roll(d66)	Good	Roll(d66)	Good
11 - 12	Arachnid silks	41 - 42	Fruit juice
13 - 14	Tea	43 - 44	Live Aurochs
15 - 16	Tobacco	45 - 46	Fortified rice
21 - 22	Flowers	51 - 52	Refined snuff
23 - 24	Spices	53 - 54	Mushrooms
25 - 26	Essential oils	55 - 56	Bean curd
31 - 32	Aurochs milk	61 - 62	Raptor eggs
33 - 34	Insect protein patties	63 - 64	Fish roe
35 - 36	Saplings	65 - 66	Bee hives

Consumer Products#

Roll(d66)	Good	Roll(d66)	Good
11 - 12	Grav skiff hood ornaments	41 - 42	Collectible figurines
13 - 14	Shoes	43 - 44	Musical instruments
15 - 16	Fashionable clothes	45 - 46	Shelf-stable snack pastries
21 - 22	Plastic prayer beads	51 - 52	Skincare products
23 - 24	Flash-frozen haute cuisine meals	53 - 54	Sleek but uncomfortable furniture
25 - 26	Model kits	55 - 56	Silverware
31 - 32	Ceramic housewares	61 - 62	Lighting fixtures
33 - 34	Sports equipment	63 - 64	New year festival decorations
35 - 36	Stuffed toys	65 - 66	Board games

Contraband#

Roll(d66)	Good	Roll(d66)	Good
11 - 12	Subversive zines	41 - 42	Books of heretical mantras
13 - 14	Obscene holotapes	43 - 44	Astral mushrooms
15 - 16	Moonshine	45 - 46	Organs
21 - 22	Stolen artifacts	51 - 52	Whale fur
23 - 24	Invasive plant species	53 - 54	Illegal pets
25 - 26	Gun parts	55 - 56	Joltleaf powder
31 - 32	Vials of slowdown	61 - 62	Combat stim hyposprays
33 - 34	Endangered reptile sausages	63 - 64	Dream tea
35 - 36	Restricted tech	65 - 66	Unredacted histories

High-tech#

Roll(d66)	Good	Roll(d66)	Good
11 - 12	Self-sealing stem bolts	41 - 42	Hydrospanners
13 - 14	Holodisplays	43 - 44	Antimatter injectors
15 - 16	Graviton projectors	45 - 46	Plasma valves
21 - 22	Gene-engineered pets	51 - 52	Spools of tetryon relay cabling
23 - 24	Gyrostablizers	53 - 54	Power converters
25 - 26	Bio-neural gel packs	55 - 56	Tachyon shunts
31 - 32	Pattern buffers	61 - 62	Photic lenses
33 - 34	Silicate lattices	63 - 64	Phase inverters
35 - 36	Degaussing canisters	65 - 66	Quantum condensers

People, Places, and Jobs

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

People, Places, and Jobs#

Use these tables to develop the elements of an adventure or a patron job.

NPCs#

Roll once for a fellow passenger or other NPC. Roll twice to get a patron and their opposition.

d66	NPC	d66	NPC
11	Politician	41	Con Artist
12	Bounty Hunter	42	Tourist
13	Revolutionary	43	Poet
14	Refugee	44	Poacher
15	Noble	45	Rancher
16	Executive	46	Peasant
21	Crime Syndicate Lieutenant	51	Prospector
22	Singer	52	Smuggler
23	Archaeologist	53	Doctor
24	Military Officer	54	Spy
25	Laborer	55	Academic
26	Brewer	56	Athlete
31	Chef	61	Diplomat
32	Information Broker	62	Convict
33	Merchant	63	Journalist
34	Zealot	64	Pirate
35	Mutant	65	Hijacker
36	Artist	66	Academic

Port / City Locations#

Places where a random encounter, patron meeting, or adventure might happen.

Skill Descriptions

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Skill Descriptions#

This list is permanently and necessarily incomplete. Characters can become skilled at any task, and careers may have skills not listed below. Given uses for skills are examples. The referee adjudicates the use of skills during play.

A character with Rank 1 in a Skill is proficient enough to perform it at a professional level. Rank 4 is a rare level of mastery.

Beyond adding a DM to Task Throws, skill ranks indicate a level of general knowledge and experience with a subject. A character with any ranks in Helm, for example, will be able to find their way around most common starships without much trouble. A character with Drive can credibly talk shop with street racers.

Encounters

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Encounters#

Use these to get started. Over time, replace them with encounters that better suit your particular corner of the Known Worlds.

Use the reaction table when an encountered NPC or starship’s disposition to the PCs is not known or obvious.

Port Encounters#

Assume skill rank 1 in any weapons carried, unless otherwise noted. Most won’t be carrying illegal weapons without good reason, even if listed with them. Use law level, reaction, and good judgment.

Inspirations

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Inspirations and Recommendations#

Things I’ve played and read that have their fingerprints all over Night Tripper.

Role-playing#

Traveller, by Marc Miller
Sherwood by Richard Ruane
Mothership by Sean McCoy
Troika, by Daniel Sell
Into the Odd, by Chris McDowall
Tunnel Goons by Nate Treme
Pacts & Blades by Lucas Rolim
Any Planet is Earth by Classless Kobolds
Torchbearer by Thor Olavsrud & Luke Crane

Blogs#

The Traveller out of the Box series by Chris Kubasik, especially The Casual and Improvisatory Nature of Early Traveller Play
Luke Gearing’s blog

Novels#

The Dumarest of Terra novels by E.C. Tubb.
Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
Ninefox Gambit by Yoon-Ha Lee
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

Video Games#

No Man’s Sky by Hello Games
Escape Velocity by Ambrosia Software
Heat Signature by Suspicious Developments
House of the Dying Sun by Marauder Interactive
Sid Meier’s Pirates! (2004) by Firaxis Games

Logistics and Ports

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Logistics and Ports#

Time#

Play proceeds in one-week turns. It takes one week to make a gate core jump between adjacent star systems. It takes one week to perform a significant action in a port or other settlement.

One month is four weeks, and one year is 12 months. The referee keeps a calendar of the current week, month, and year.

Zoom in on a particular moment in time as needed to resolve an action or encounter, or for an extended period for a detailed adventure. If you need to determine on which day of the week an event occurs, roll 1d6 + 1.

Resources

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Resources#

Additional Formats#

Markdown
PDF For some reason, the PDF opens in a tiny viewer on Chrome. A hard refresh (shift + refresh) seems to fix it.
HTML

Social Manipulation

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

NPCs want to maintain their livelihoods and protect their status quo. If PCs want to convince an NPC to take a risk for them, they will have to come up with sufficient leverage.

When a PC makes an offer or attempts to convince an NPC of something that they might reasonably agree to, the referee can roll on the reaction table to see how the NPC responds.

Skirmishes

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Skirmishes#

When a fight is simple, resolve it with a single throw. If the outcome is a foregone conclusion, just say what happens. For more complex skirmishes, use these rules.

Rounds#

When a skirmish breaks out, divide game time into rounds. Each character may perform one action in a round. Resolve actions in the following order:

Talking
Melee attacks
Movement
Miscellaneous
Ranged attacks, in the order shown on the ranged attack chart

Characters performing the same action do it simultaneously. Call out each action type in order, and announce which NPCs will act. The players may then announce if they are performing the current action.

Equipment

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Equipment#

Characters have space for ten items on their person, representing bags, pockets, webbing, belts, holsters, etc. Each item occupies one space, unless noted.

An item’s Tech is the minimum Tech rank at which it is commonly available. If an item has a Legality rating, it is the maximum Authority at which it is commonly available. An item may be available outside of these bounds, but it will be hard to find and at least twice as expensive. A character may spend their weekly action to throw to find a supplier. Failed attempts to seek illegal goods will likely mean attention from law enforcement or underworld organizations.

Starships and Travel

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Starships and Travel#

Ships may be purchased at any Tech 5 or 6 spaceport. After a down payment of 10% of the ship’s cost, the remainder of the cost can be defrayed through debt, usually to the Trade Consortium, though even more predatory options exist.

Standard repayment terms are 0.5% of the full ship cost, paid every month over 240 months.

A ship capable of interstellar travel is called a Starship. Starships are equipped with Gate Cores that enable them to punch a hole from realspace into gatespace, travel vast distances in weeks, and come back out again.

Speculative Trade

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Speculative Trade#

Most interstellar trade and shipping is carried out by immense mass haulers, contracted by the Trade Consortium. However, small independent vessels can turn a profit by speculating on expensive goods, buying low and selling high.

There are four broad categories of trade goods: Agricultural, Consumer Products, Contraband, and High-tech. Each category has a base price per load, modified by a die roll to get the current price.

Agricultural goods tend to be cheapest on worlds with high Habitability. Consumer Products tend to be cheapest on worlds with a high Population. High-tech goods tend to be cheapest on worlds with a high Tech Class. When the relevant attribute is low, goods tend to be more expensive. Contraband is the exception. Contraband is more expensive on worlds with a high Authority rank.

Ship Engagements

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ship Engagements#

At the beginning of the engagement, each side declares a goal. Combats are rarely to the death. Starship engagements are played in rounds.

During a ship engagement, either one or neither of the ships has the Advantage. Each round, ships exchange fire and attempt to outmaneuver each other, jockeying for the Advantage.

A ship accomplishes its goal if it has the Advantage at the end of a round and fulfills at least one other requirement. Requirements for common goals are listed below.

Complex Tasks and Projects

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Complex Tasks: Projects and Crafting#

Tasks involving multiple steps, long-term work, or multiple collaborating characters can be resolved as a Project, at the referee’s discretion. The referee sets a project’s Complexity and Interval.

Complexity is a measure of the required cumulative effort to complete the project, on a scale of 1-10. Interval is the time scale on which the project progresses. An Interval can be as short as a skirmish round, or as long as a year.

Skill Improvement

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Skill Improvement#

Characters can improve their Skill Ranks over time by gaining Experience in a Skill. Track Experience by drawing tally marks next to a Skill on your character card. When a Skill has Experience marks equal to its next Rank x 4, erase all the marks and increase the Skill Rank by 1.

The maximum Rank for any Skill is 4.

Failure#

When a character with an applicable Skill fails a Task Throw, they gain 1 Experience in the Skill. A character can gain a maximum of 1 Experience per Skill in a month through Failure.

Home on Night Tripper

Foreword

Foreword#

Game Modes

Game Modes#

Campaign#

The Long Fall

The Long Fall#

Core

Core#

Fundamentals#

Interstellar Cartography

Interstellar Cartography#

Character Creation

Character Creation#

Trade Goods

Trade Goods#

Agricultural Goods#

Consumer Products#

Contraband#

High-tech#

People, Places, and Jobs

People, Places, and Jobs#

NPCs#

Port / City Locations#

Skill Descriptions

Skill Descriptions#

Encounters

Encounters#

Port Encounters#

Inspirations

Inspirations and Recommendations#

Role-playing#

Blogs#

Novels#

Video Games#

Logistics and Ports

Logistics and Ports#

Time#

Resources

Resources#

Additional Formats#

Social Manipulation

Social Manipulation, Reaction and Status#

Skirmishes

Skirmishes#

Rounds#

Equipment

Equipment#

Starships and Travel

Starships and Travel#

Speculative Trade

Speculative Trade#

Ship Engagements

Ship Engagements#

Complex Tasks and Projects

Complex Tasks: Projects and Crafting#

Skill Improvement

Skill Improvement#

Failure#