Random Encounters: Aboard the Generation Ship

Travel between the stars takes a long time. Your ship has been voyaging for centuries, and centuries remain before it reaches the destination world. Unfortunately, over that kind of timespan, things can break down: ship systems, information storage, civilization . . .

The ship is huge, with vast habitat areas containing transplated ecosystems from Earth. Some of the organisms were genetically modified before the voyage began, and some have mutated. All are feral and many are dangerous. Even more dangerous are the rival tribes: the arrogant Komans, the warlike Scuridi, the horribly-mutated Tex, and the fanatical Virons.

ENCOUNTERS ABOARD THE GENERATION SHIP

(Roll 1d20 when moving about the ship, 1d10 when stationary.)

1. Roll twice and combine
2. Plot advancing encounter: Something related to whatever led you to venture beyond your village and explore the ship's wild spaces.
3. Bees! A huge swarm of bees, moving with deadly purpose. Their stings are supposedly non-venomous, but enough pinprick jabs can add up to real harm. The swarm is sentient and wishes to destroy any animals in the area. It gets less intelligent as the swarm takes damage.
4. Bodoc: An ancient medical robot, still loyal to its programming and eager to help humans. It can repair most injuries or acute medical conditions in a few hours, but there is a 10 percent chance that it only makes the problem worse.
5. Control Terminal: It has a touch-screen displaying controls and data in a language nobody reads any more. Fooling with it can have all sorts of results, from comic to deadly. But it's worth tryng because sometimes a terminal leads to fantastic treasure.
6. Cyanists: Some of the reclusive keepers of secret knowledge, feared by all the other tribes. They take samples and notes, and occasionally capture interesting-looking "ferals" for study. There are 1d6 Cyanists aboard a hover-platform, accompanied by a powerful robot armed with a particle blaster.
7. Life-Support Malfunction: A sudden spell of weather, completely wrong for the local environment (snow in a jungle area, sandstorms in a swamp, etc.). The weird weather lasts 1d6 hours, but the effects can last for days.
8. Mutant Rooster: It's as tall as a man, armed with a beak and vicious spurs, and it furiously attacks anything that doesn't look like a giant hen.
9. Strucker: A big construction robot, far gone in malfunctioning madness. It knows that people live in houses, so it attempts to grab any human it encounters and stuff them into one of the houses it has built. Inside there are the bones of previous occupants.
10. War Band: 2d6 members of an enemy tribe, armed with spears and bows. There is a 10 percent chance that the leader has an air-gun and 1d6 explosive bullets. If the warriors are Tex, there is a 20 percent chance that the leader has a laser gun instead.
11. Bandit Camp: You've stumbled across 2d6 bandits sharing a meal. Talk fast, draw your weapons, or start running!
12. Cargo Container: Everyone knows these white 3-meter cubes hold all sorts of valuable goods. Unfortunately, this one conceals 1d4 warriors of a rival tribe armed with metal swords.
13. Ghosts: An old holographic entertainment zone has activated again, so now you're menaced by intangible projections from an ancient Earth game. Use any other Random Encounters table to see what you see.
14. Intruders: There's a hole in the ground and 1d6 strange beings are climbing out of it to look around. They have six limbs, no heads, and wear sealed spacesuits. They're trying to figure out what this huge alien spaceship is doing near their home star system.
15. Pursuit! 1d6 enemy warriors riding a stolen hover-platform are after you.
16. Radiation Zone: The shielding here failed a long time ago, so now even the soil is mildly radioactive. Camping here produces long-term health problems, and living here leads to mutations in your descendants.
17. Ruin: This multi-family house was abandoned when the power systems failed. It still contains some forgotten personal items and tools, but the nearest tribe considers it sacred ground, taboo to outsiders.
18. Trading Post: A hatch to the service passages where the Tex tribe lives. A small settlement has grown up around the hatch, and the locals trade food for technological goods.
19. Tree-Puss: Not a cat at all, but a mutant octopus which climbs trees, using its camouflage to hide until prey passes below. It's quite smart and knows that humans have vulnerable necks just right for a couple of powerful tentacles to grab.
20. Tracks/Aftermath: Roll again to see what you just missed.

SITUATIONS ABOARD THE GENERATION SHIP

(Roll 1d6 to determine the situation, then roll 1d20 on the table above to figure out who's involved.)

1. A desires B
2. A wants to capture B
3. A wants B dead
4. A wants to go somewhere
5. A wants to solve a mystery
6. A wants X.