Moon Geography
Lunar Terrain
Vacuum and low gravity can combine to create some very special (if a little unrealistic) terrain features. In general, unless the GM specifies that the terrain is "flat and clear" you can assume that suitable cover exists near at hand sufficient to provide moderate cover (-2) if wanted without going prone. This will be in the form of small craters or protruding rocks etc. If you go prone in these conditions you can opt to gain heavy cover (-4). A successful Notice roll will result in Full Cover (-6) being available if sort (must go prone to use), within 4-24 inches.
Any cover modifier you gain also hinders your ability to make attacks, half your cover modifier (round up) will count as a penalty to any visibility based attacks. So if you are using heavy cover at -4 you will be at -2 to all your direct attacks. Seeking and using cover is a turn based choice, so you are either in or out and stay that way till your next action. The only option you have when it isnt your turn is to fall prone.
Dust Bowls/Pools
The rims of craters make for a nice contained environment in which lunar dust can accumulate to some depth. Dust acts in many ways like water, heavy objects will sink etc, but it has some noticeable differences. Dust does NOT dissipate heat as well as water, so heat can quickly become a problem if you are trapped in dust. Dust has zero visibility. Dust might block radio waves, depends on the type.
Shattered Rock
These rocks have been shattered by frequent meteor impacts nearby, causing seismic waves that shatter the rock and turn the ground very treacherous and with lots of sharp edges. Damage to materials above normal expectations can be expected. Breaches of space suits is likely, AG rolls required every round at normal speed. Travel at half speed will give a +1 to the roll. Running will inflict -2 to the roll. Vehicles will require Driving rolls of a similar style. Vehicles with material tyres may suffer damage (rovers).
Pulverized Rock
These rocks have been the recipient of numerous shocks and vibrations, too the point that they will crumble at the slightest touch into dust. They look normal, but are simply waiting for a reason to fall apart. They can be treated as a form of quicksand.
Glass Rock
Meteor strikes will of occassion cause rock or dust to melt and form glass like sheets over vast holes. These can be in the form of domes (up and down), or even flat sheets. In either case they quickly accumulate dust and scarring from micro meteors and look just like any other lunar terrain. Glass rock can be quite fragile and break at the worst possible time.
Magnetic Fluctuations
Magnetic anomalies (like a big chuck of iron from a meteor just below the surface) can cause strange variations in the apparent lunar gravity. They may increase the effect of gravity (or use magnetic attraction) or they may oppose it, causing fields of weaker or even reverse gravity. (This is really pulp fiction stuff, but is sounds great).
Worm Tubes
The advent of lunar worms, BIG ones, has resulted in Worm Tubes appearing more frequently. Worms tend to burrow through the lunar crust for the most part, and part of this process involves sealing the edges of their tubes to help protect against the vacuum. The worms do this by secreting a bonding agent that solidifies the crushed rock they dig through, form tubes. On some occasions the worms my breach to the surface and run along the open ground before descending back underground. When this happens the worms tend to form thin walled tubes that decay and fall apart after a few weeks.
Vacuum
If you are a mechanoid then this is not a problem, you dont need air, but for the humans it becomes one of the two constant dangers of your life, along with Radiation.
A lack of air pressure has numerous nasty effects on the human body, most of which are fast and furious but not fun. To keep things simple we will break them down into the following areas of affect.
Vacuum and even low air pressure will result in damage to the body if it is not protected. Things like nitrogen in your blood starting to boil, air in your lungs escaping explosively. Unlike in the movies your body does not explode in vacuum, and if you have warning you can prepare yourself such that you can remain conscious for a few minutes (dont hold your breath though!)
The other affect to be considered is if your brain remains functioning (coherence). Low pressure will mean that insufficient oxygen is getting to your brain.
For game purposes we will consider only two situations; low pressure and vacuum.
In a low pressure (actually dangerously low, like during a hull breach before all the air has left, and after a hull breach has been patched and new air has not yet arrived) situation you have problems with oxygen supply and nitrogen bleeding out of your blood. At the beginning of each round you will need to make a VG-2 roll or suffer 1 wound. The affect of wounds in this case is applied to all the VG rolls, regardless of edges, so the roll will become VG-3 then VG-4 etc. Each time you fail one of these rolls you must also make a SP roll, if you fail then you will suffer 1 FAT. A critical fail will double the damage suffered. The accumulation of these penalties will see a rapid deterioration and death.
In a vacuum you must first decide if the situation caught people by surprise (explosive) or if they had time to prepare. If the situation is explosive then each character suffers 4 wounds immediately but gets a free soak roll to remove some. They may spend extra bennies to make another soak roll unrelated to the first one (so in effect you get two soak rolls). If there was time to prepare then each character suffers 2 wounds and gets a free soak roll.
In the following rounds each character must make a VG-2 (less any wounds) roll or suffer 1 wound. If they fail a roll then they must make a SP roll or suffer 1 FAT. A critical fail will double the damage suffered.
We will ignore the more permanent effects of extended low oxygen levels (brain damage).
Radiation.
The lunar surface is littered with discarded nuclear waste, creating areas of intense radiation that can be as deadly as any physical challenge. Radiation fields will be considered to have a strength equal to a dice type, which will attack any vulnerable life form that enters into the ACTIVE area of effect of the radiation hotspot (this will usually be a burst template (see table below for template size) around a single source) at anytime during their round. The victim will accumulate points each round equal to half this strength (so a d8 strength will do 4 pts). At the moment each victim suffers damage they can make a Vigour roll to reduce this rounds effect. Each success or raise will reduce the incoming damage by 1 point, but not any previous rounds accumulation.
Radiation damage points will accumulate with exposure, only later do they manifest as damage, as follows.
For humans space suits generally provide +1 or +2 to rolls to resist radiation. Other suits may provide better protection. Mechanoids need to adopt Radiation Screens but gain a natural +2 to resist.
Every 6 (or less if level is high enough) hours after exposure the accumulated radiation will inflict damage as follows:
The victim also gets to make a reduction roll, using VG, at this time due to natural healing (if anyone has the Healer edge they get +2 from this if the victim is being treated and in a stable environment).
Extra FAT suffered after 2 converts to a wound. Once all wounds are gone the victim goes to the Incapacitation Table, most likely rolling as receiving 2 wounds every time.
Magical healing will reduce any damage after it is inflicted but will not remove any radiation itself. Greater Healing will work and will purge 20pts of radiation per casting.
Mutations (optional rules): after surviving a radiation attack that inflicts any kind of wound/fatigue each character will need to make a VG roll to resist gaining a mutation. If they fail the roll they gain a new mutation that will appear over the next 28 days (a lunar month). The mutation can be good or bad, and can effect both humanoid life forms and Mechanoids. In the later case the mutation represents mutated nanites and the manifestation of a mutation may have to be adjusted somewhat to reflect the metallic life form. Although a Mech can chop off a mutated body part without too much damage, the mutation will simply return as the base cause is buried in the CMx2 nanites.
Eg radiation attack:
Boris is searching a wreckage field for loot when he sees a part he recognises as valuable. As he approaches his radiation detector goes off, warning of dangerous radiation. He checks the reports (common knowledge roll) and accesses the field to be Strong, so he will accumulate 4 points of radiation per round exposed. He has Vigour d8 and is in a space suit +2. He also has some radiation purge pills back in the moon cruiser. He walks into the field and takes 4 pts immediately, he makes an immediate Vigour roll and gets 4+2 = 6, reducing the 4pts to 3pts. The next round he picks up the object but finds it is stuck and spends the rest of the round clearing it. He takes another 4 pts and tries to roll them off with a Vigour roll of 3+2=5 , so his accumulated total is 6pts. The next round he rushes out of the area but still suffers another 4pts, his reduction roll is 8+2=10, so he takes 2 damage for that turn. Unfortunately the device he picked up is the actual source of the radiation so he suffers 2, making his total 10pts. He throws the device away and leaves it behind but still takes a last round of 4pts, reduced by 2 for a final total of 12 pts.
He returns to his Moon Cruiser and takes a radiation purge pill which will clear away (d6 trait roll) radiation pts over the next 3 hours (he doesn’t have the good stuff which counts as a wild card), he rolls a 4 (a success) reducing the level 12-1=11pts. He also takes a shower and uses RadCake to reduce his radiation by another d4 (rolls 4+1=5, a success) immediately, reducing the level to 11-1=10 . After 3 hours he can take another pill but it wont help with the first radiation sickness roll. Six hours after (initial) exposure he has 10 pts left so takes 1 Fat and the level drops to 9 (Vg roll of 5, a success).
Radiation Effects - Mutation
If you fail a mutation resistance roll (the one every 6 hrs or less) you have the joy of rolling on the following tables to determine what sort of mutation you have gained.
Roll 2d6. Add or subtract any modifiers.
2-4
5-10
11-12
Bad mutation
Random mutation
Favourable mutation.
Solar Flares
A solar flare is sufficiently powerful to kill any lifeform exposed to it, human or mechanoid. Fortunately solar flares are not common, and systems have been put in place to give everyone at least 2 hours warning of a solar flare. The only protection against a solar flare is hard cover, no amount of man portable shielding will be sufficient. Hard cover is underground, or a chamber prepared for this purpose. Large land vehicles may come with such a chamber but these will be limited in their size and may only take 5 or 6 people max. Large space ships, orbital stations etc will have shielded rooms for this event. Small space ships and shuttles will most likely NOT have one.
Every time your players venture out onto the lunar surface, or into space, for more than a week you should randomly roll to see if they suffer a solar flare. The chance should be around 5% (1 in 20). Only roll once per adventure and pick some time during the adventure to announce an incoming solar flare.
If you are trapped in an unprotected space a solar flare will generally be a Cooker field but the time interval used will be 1 hour rather than 1 rd. So a normal Hot flare will inflict 8 rad damage every hour. Assuming none of this is resisted (you still get the rolls to lower it) you will suffer 48 rad damage after 6 hours, when you make your first roll for damage effects.
CrashCrater provide a special delivery service on Lunar where they will deliver a protective chamber via rocket. Each such chamber can support 3 people. The chambers have a refundable deposit (20% of the fee) if brought back to a MagLev substation.
Demographics
The Moon has been settled by the three major corporate nations, as well as by Variant settlers and convicts. The whole gamut is oversighted by the United Nations Corporation to ensure the peace and prosperity of the settlements. The following are the major places of interest.
Copernicus Dome (H): also known as Moon Base Alpha. This is the organisational centre of operations and is controlled over-all by the United Nations Corp as a neutral party between the three large corporate multi-nationals who hold all the power. The U.N.C.L.E (United Nations Corporation - Lunar Enterprises), is responsible for maintaining the peace on Lunar and running the administration of the collection, processing and dispatch of raw materials back to earth. Copernicus Dome is also the site of Lunars biggest industrial complex. It is here that all the collected materials arrive on the mag-lift, are processed and then sent on the Kepler Dome for packaging and dispatch back to Earth via the Lunar Linear Accelerator Array (LLAA). Staff of the UNCLE are called spoons by lunar natives, refering to their being a "spoon feed" upper class. However UNCLE staff have extra-ordinary powers on Lunar, including on the spot death sentences and the access to orbittal forces. Natives may not like them, but they rarely offend them ouright. Copernicus Dome also contains and diplomatic zone for each of the three big corps. This zone is considered an Embassy and is the only place that the UNCLE have restricted powers.
Copernicus is covered by a SuperDome, some 93 km wide. This provides shielding vs small meteorites and radiation, as well as allowing for a large internal area with a low pressure atmoshphere (mostly nitrogen and carbon-dioxide), alloying the inhabitants to move with a little more freedom (light pressure suits and respirators). Beneath the big dome are a plethora of lesser domes, and beneath the surface is a huge ecosystem supporting a large population and industrial complex.
Copernicus is a retirement city in many ways. The middle classes who complete their 60 years of work for the company are given substantial extra benefits to move to MBA and retire there. It now has a population of around 5 million. Most of these people are in their later years amd remain within the comfort of MBA. Occasionally a group of tourists will wander out to explore, but they are generally well guarded.
Kepler Dome (M): a small, mostly robotic, post-processing settlement run by the UNCLE. Processed raw materials are received from Coperincus Dome and packaged ready for transport back to Earth on the LLAA (Lunar Linear Accelerator Array). A dedicated mag-lift line is the only way in or out of Kepler Dome to make it more secure. Only UNCLE staff and Senior Oversight Delegates from the Corps are allowed into Kepler Dome due to its control of the arrays. This is to prevent the arrays falling into the hands of terrorists who could then use it to wreck devastation on Earth. Kepler Dome and the LLAA have the strongest defences of any human base on the Moon.
America (2m) - Lincoln(1m) - Bolivar(1/2m)
Controlled by the Trans-America Company
Mawson(1m) - Scott(1m)
Controlled by the Antarctic United Trust
Confucius(3m) - Paradise(2m)
Controlled by the Asian Prosperity Ltd
The following settlements are considered independent of any major corp, although a few of them are heavily influenced by one of them.
di Vinci (S)
Enterprise (L)
Newton (H)
Dante (M)
Plato (M)
Aristotle (S)
Sharp (S)
Ranger (pro TAC) (S)
Grimaldi (L)
Kelly (pro AUT) (L)
Capella (L)
Hope (S) - Newest settlement on the moon, mag-lift has yet to be connected.
Amundsen - experimental base established by the AUT but officially abandoned.
Lost - abandoned settlement and officially sealed due to a biological infestation, previously the base of The Legion of the Savage Wolf.
Beside each of the lesser settlements is a letter refering to their comparable size.
H - Huge(pop 30000+)
L - Large (pop <30000)
M - Medium (pop <10000)
S - Small (pop <5000)
Green - toxic wastes, coral forests.
Red dots - deadly radiation wastes or explosion sites, large crystal forests.
Orange - life threatening radiation zones, occassional crystal forests.
Large Red areas - Corporate landing zones.
Yellow - Debris fields
Blue areas are Badlands, areas where known groups of trouble making variants have established bases, along with other rabble.
The Dark Side
Very little development has occurred on the dark side of the moon (which isnt really dark, it is just always facing away from the earth). The reasons for this are mostly psychological, people like to be able to see the Earth sitting up there above them. Because of this the far side of the moon is inhabited by a multitude of small settlements, research bases and secret bases.
Debris has been scattered on the far side just as much as it is scattered on the facing side, so there is plenty of material awaiting the adventurous. In fact probably better materials as the facing side is slowly brought into the main stream of life. Those looking to get rich can do so by making a successful expedition to the far side, the risk is of course greater.