Sector Sol

Introduction

Welcome to the world of Sector: Sol. This is a game set in the future of the solar system that we call home. It is the year 2215, the solar system has been colonized from the hot rock of Mercury to the outer extents of Uranus and Neptune. Military outposts and scientific research stations even go out to the extent of the Kuiper and Oort Body with probes going past the Heliosphere commonly.

Faster-than-light travel is possible through the gate network; however, it does not extend past the reaches of the system. It is, as of yet, impossible to reach neighboring systems through its utilization, but scientists are hard at work trying to solve the enigma.

A trip from the metropolis that is Earth to countryside that is Jupiter is no more extravagant than we would consider a simple plane trip from the United States to the European Union. Passenger vessels are common, and there are even the rich elite that commute from the Moon to Earth and back again as their daily routine.

Things have changed from what we know now. The world shudder under the Third World War, but cooler heads prevailed, and the fighting ended before the introduction of thermonuclear weapons became widespread. Sadly, there are still wastelands where so called 'tactical' devices saw use. The benefit of the war was that it shocked the population of the world out of the stupor that had lead to it. A new era of peace came to being, and a worldwide effort to reach for space was born. A provisionary government was estabilished, and the Earth Aerospace Union was formed, a collaboration of all of the major powers' space programs. In the year 2050, the first manned mission to Mars was completed, and the world rejoiced. This sparked a new era of space exploration. Technology skyrocketed to new heights, and with it the hopes of a world soared. In the year 2100, the first colony was established on the Moon. There had been outposts established earlier, but those were simply scientific and military interests. In October of 2100, the first civilians set up shop, and the Luna Colony was born. In the years to follow, colonies were established on every rock that we saw fit. Mining outposts in the asteroid belt, a mining interest on Mercury, the large metropolis that was founded on Mars, a collection of colonies around Jupiter, and so on and so forth, Humanity has touched everywhere. We broke free of the imprisonment of the gravity of the Earth and stretched our legs.

Not all is well, of course. It would be too good to be true if everything was grand and glorious. No, things are not so great. As far as the normal person it concerned, things are grand, but there are undercurrents flowing throughout the system. Rumbling in the distant can be heard by those who know what to look for. Mars has just reached its prime with the completion of the atmospheric repurposing project. In the last five years, it has been possible to move freely outside of the domes with nothing but simple cold weather gear. This has caused a major boom in the population of the colony as well as started a movement for self-governance. The Martians feel that because they have reached such a milestone, it is now time for them to grow up and start seeing after themselves. Much to no surprise, the Earth Governance feels otherwise.

The Martians are not the only ones that feel this way. The Jovians have secretly been supply an underground movement that has gotten stronger in the last year to make a free Mars for all to enjoy. The many people of Saturn, for they are not a unified colony but a conglomeration of many, have openly spoke out at Governance assemblies for the right of Mars to govern itself.

We stand at a precipice. The rumble of a vie for independence sounds in the distance, and there is something else over the horizon. There is a darkness approaching that is only heard about in the darkest corners of the Cognitive Network (CogNet). There have been a large number of accidents in the Kuiper Belt and Oort Body regarding scientific missions and probes. Always it is the same military unit, or so people believe, that is tasked to investigate and rescue any survivors. Conspiracy theories abound, but there is one theory that most people ascribe to. We are not alone.

Welcome to the Sector, citizen. Watch your back, and keep an eye on the shadows. Things are never as they seem.

What is Sector: Sol

Sector: Sol is a role-playing game that allows you to take the place of a person that is living in the far future of the Solar System. Whatever your goal is, learn about the dark menace, do something to solve the growing tensions in the system, or just make it big as the next corporate superstar, you can make a name for yourself easily.

Not only does the game focus on your character, it has a strong focus on spaceships and how they interact within the confines of the solar system. Simply put, this is a science fiction game with spaceships, lasers, and lots of explosions.

Character Creation

Ok, so you have decided that you want a shot at living in the future. You must now create the persona that you will assume when you make that leap. Character creation is pretty simple, and can be completed quickly. It is highly recommended that you also downloaded the associated | excel file to keep track of your stats and ease the use of the combat and resolution system.

Characteristics

The first step to creating your character is obtaining your characteristics. Open up to the Character Stats page of the excel document. You will see six characteristics. These determine your skill level as well as your health and defense. You roll 3d6 and write down the result. You will do this six times for the six characteristics. You will then choose where to place which score. For ease of use, the spreadsheet contains a roller. Hit F9 to roll the characteristic roller, and it will spit out a characteristic ready score.

A note about the sheet: It is set to where you have to manually calculate it. So keep in mind, when you change something and hit enter, you must also hit F9 after that to see it change the associated values.

See the skills to follow for what the characteristics modify.

Skills

There are 18 skills that you can buy up normally as well as your defense score which is affected by your characteristics. For the sake of this game, and the different weapon types, attacks are classed as skills that can be increased.

The following is a table that associates each skill with the characteristic that modifies them.

Skill Characteristic(s)
Acrobatics - STR/DEX
Ballistics - DEX
Bluff - WIS/APP
Climb - DEX
Computer - INT
Demolitions - INT
Energy Weapons - DEX/INT
Gather Information - WIS/APP
Heavy Weapons - STR
Intimidate - WIS/APP
Knowledge - INT
Mechanics - INT/WIS
Melee - STR/DEX
Navigation - INT
Perception - INT/WIS
Pilot - DEX/INT
Stealth - DEX
Treat Injury - INT/WIS

To determine the base value in a skill, take the linked characteristics and divide it by three, rounding down, and you will have your base dice pool for that skill. For a skill with linked attributes, divide each attribute by two, add them together, divide by three, and then round down.

Advantages and Disadvantages

There are also advantages and disadvantages in Sector: Sol.

For the advantages, they are simply such that they add an extra die to the associated skill. For the non-combat skills, they are Advanced [skill name]. For the combat skills, they are [weapon skill] Specialist. There is also Improved Defense, an advantage that increase the dice pool for your defense, and then there is Double tap, an advantage that lets you attack a second time without a penalty.

There are seven disadvantages. Six disadvantages relate to reducing a characteristic by 6 whole points, and the final disadvantage reduces all combat rolls by one die.

Creating the Character

Now that you have your characteristics selected, have looked over the skills and advantages/disadvantages, it is time to actually finish creating your character.

In general, you are given 5 die points to spend on skill and may select one advantage. A die point may be split up into 3 +2’s; however, only 2 of those +2’s can be spent per skill. If you increase a skill to having three +2’s, it bumps up to being a full die point.

Now let’s talk about equipment.

Equipment, the spice of life

Weapons

Currently the only equipment that you need to worry about purchasing is the equipment that you use to fight with. The GM will give you a set limit of credits that you start out play with, and you will purchase equipment. There are three types of weapons: Laser, Plasma, and Projectile, and there are six classes of weapons: Knives, Swords, Pistols, Rifles, Automatic Rifles, and Cannons.

Projectile: Due to the advances in rail and gauss gun technology, projectile weapons have become the most expensive weapons on the market; however, this does come with a benefit. These weapons have the highest penetration of all small weapons.

Plasma: The second most expensive type of weapon technology is plasma. Plasma based weapons don’t penetrate quite as well as projectile weapons because of the fact that they are gaseous, but they do burn through armor quite effectively.

Laser: The cheapest of the weapon technologies. Laser weapons are mainstays due to only needing to have rechargeable packs that can be recharged at any electrical port.

Knives: Knifes are still useful in close combat situations.

Swords: While not as prevalent as knives, there are those that have started to carry laser and plasma based swords. Officers in the armed forces are known to have solid, vibro (projectile based tech) swords for their dress uniforms.

Pistol: Standard side-arm.

Rifle: A tried and true style, semi-automatic rifles are a common weapon seen in Sector: Sol.

Automatic Rifle: The machine gun of the future doesn’t look much different than the machine gun of today. It is mean, it fires fast, and it can make people hit the dirt.

Cannon: Cannons are like the anti-tank rockets of today, but more potent. They are man-portable vehicle class weapons that can hurt vehicles and spacecraft, let alone vaporize someone.

Armor

There are three types of armor available to player characters. There is a flak vest that is made out of advanced composites. It comes with an optional helmet. The second type of armor is a full plate armor that resembles that of a technological knight. While it provides decent protection, it restricts motion pretty substantially. The final armor type, and the most expensive, is Advanced Composite. Become a real space trooper with this armor.

Character Advancement

Now that you have finished your character, it is time to start playing, but hold on one second. Just how does your character grow? Simple, as you advance through the story of your GM, you will gain die points. These points are then spent to increase your skills. Every time you gain 5 die points, you can take another advantage. At any time, or because you suffer a significant injury (as determined by the GM), you can take a disadvantage. But be mindful! Disadvantages cannot be lost once obtained! (A GM determined disadvantage does NOT grant an advantage like the normal method).

Ships

It was said that this game is also about the interaction of ships. To do that, you must have a ship. To create a ship, you must choose the size of the ship, the number of spaces on that ship, and then the specific modules on that ship.

Construction

Ships have characteristics just like people. These characteristics are decided by the equipment fitted on the ship, though.

Toughness: How tough the ship is, and how much damage it can take.

Agility: How easily the ship can move about.

Speed: The engine power of the ship to go in a straight line.

Sensors: How well the ship can see.

Electronic Warfare: The power of hiding through electronics.

There are 5 module classes that can be mounted on a ship, and these modules have different sizes.

Engine: The type of engine that is on your ship.

Armor: Simply put.

Screen: Shields!

Computer: Sensors and electronic warfare.

Weapon: ‘Nuff said.

Engines

There are three types of engine technology: Fusion, Ion, and Vectored. Fusion engines are a fusion reaction drive. On small ships, this amounts to a fusion rocket that affects how well you can turn. Ion engines are electric engines that can only be placed on ships up to medium class. Vectored engines are vectoring of your primary engine. It grants a modicum of speed, but a lot of agility.

Armor

There are three types of armor: Ablative, Heavy, and Polarized. Ablative armor has no penalties to it, Heavy armor affects how agile you are, and Polarized affects how well your sensors work due to electrical interference.

Screen

Screens are simply shields. These are brand new advancements from the great minds of the Governance. There are two classes of screen. There are directed screens that simple charge into existence when a threat is detected, and then there are bubble screens that are always on. Both types of screens negatively affect the sensor power.

Computer

There are three types of computers. Standard provides decent sensors and modicum of electronic warfare, Scanning is all sensors essentially, and Ewar is a reverse of the Scanning.

Weapons

There are four types of weapon technology: Laser, Missile, Plasma, and Projectile.

Laser: Lasers are the weakest of the weapons, but the technology allows them to track targets better.

Projectile: Standard fare on combat ships. Rail and gauss weapons are totally standardized across the board.

Plasma: Plasma weapons are the most damaging on average, but they have the worst tracking.

Missile: Missiles are like projectile weapons, but when they hit, they roll to hit again. If they hit the second time, they do double damage.

Spaces, Size, and Vehicles

All ships have an average of five spaces. This number can be more or less, but it cannot exceed ten. To be considered a ship, it must have an engine. If it does not have an engine, it is a vehicle. A vehicle cannot exceed four spaces.