By the time this article goes live, we’ll be several weeks into what will be the sixth and final season of Amazon nee SyFy’s live action adaptation of The Expanse. To that end, I want to share an adventure idea I’ve had noodling around in my head for Green Ronin’s The Expanse Roleplaying Game for a while, loosely based on the song “Panic Station” by the band Muse. Now keep in mind this is a scenario that is being actively developed with the eventual goal of running it for some lucky gamers at future conventions, so read on at your own risk.
Released on the 2012 album The 2nd Law, the name of the track is really what evoked something for me, but the final chorus (quoted below) really sold me on the concept as it evolved over time into what it currently is.
Oooh 1, 2, 3, 4 fire’s in your eyes
And this chaos, it defies imagination
Oooh 5, 6, 7, minus 9 lives
And I know that you will fight for the duration
Oooh 1, 2, 3, 4 fire’s in your eyes
And I know I’m not resisting the temptations
Oooh 5, 6, 7, minus 9 lives
You’ve arrived at Panic Station!
This adventure begins right in the action with the PCs finding themselves in the middle of a gun battle aboard a hangar bay of a small refueling station defending themselves against what appears to be a particularly violent sect of the OPA. After the battle concludes or a set amount of time occurs, the PCs lose consciousness only to wake up in the middle of an absolute bloodbath. Bodies litter the hangar, but none of them appear to be the OPA members they were fighting before they lost consciousness. Further investigation leads them to find similar scenes of carnage around the station, but no other survivors besides them. Eventually this investigation leads them to the security room, where they find any outbound communications destroyed save for a single transponder that is linked into the security feeds which are being tight-beamed off the station to a secure server. The transponder only has enough power to reach a certain distance, and the PCs are eventually able to trace it to a small asteroid, and what is a small research station. Getting close to the station proves to be something of a trick, with some automated sentry turrets defending the base. But if they manage to get through, they find the base abandoned, but it’s clear that it was done in a hurry, and the system purge, by whoever was in charge of the base, wasn’t complete.
The base was in charge of weaponizing a hallucinogen for an unknown client. Unfortunately, that data has been purged properly. But they find the security feeds from the station showing a shuttle docking with the station the day before the PCs showed up to transfer some cargo. The feeds continue to show the shuttle crew planting some devices within the ventilation system of the station and then leaving on a course headed back to the research station. When the devices went off, it unleashed a cloud of gas throughout the station, driving people into a complete frenzy, turning them on each other. That’s where the feeds end, but not the available data. Skilled PCs are able to pull up some partial money transfers that could help to point to whoever is behind this. But most importantly, they show two ship departures in the logs – one carrying several cargo containers heading towards a larger station, presumably to test the gas on a larger population. There was also a shuttle with the station’s crew that left with no clear destination, likely to another base to continue the experiments.
Now the PCs find themselves facing a choice. A hard burn will let them catch up to one of the shuttles before it reaches its destination. They can either catch up to the scientists in an attempt to find out more about who could be behind this. But if they do that, they will be potentially dooming a large number of people to the same fate they suffered aboard the refueling station. But will the partial data they managed to collect from the base be enough to help them piece together more answers on their own? Whatever decision they choose, they don’t have long to debate it, or both options will slip away from them. They could also just go their own way. But would they be able to live themselves if they did that? And who knows how they’re going to deal with aftereffects from their own exposure to the agent? And what of the sloppy data purge? Clearly, the researchers working on this would have been better equipped to destroy their own footprint. So was someone on the inside feeling guilty about their involvement and attempt to leave some breadcrumbs for anyone who discovered the base?
It’s not easy being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Unfortunately for the players, there’s a lot of that in this universe.
Now, ideally this concept works great as the beginning of a home game, and you’ve immediately introduced some powerful and dangerous antagonists in whoever is behind the development and funding of this weapon. And either way they choose to go, you’ve opened up a wealth of adventure possibilities. This scenario would also work great as a one shot for a convention, though the lack of future episodes could potentially take some of the impact away from the moral decision they are put into at the end of the scenario. But the right table could still have a lot of fun arguing over the right course of action. Just be prepared to step in should things get too heated.
If you’re interested in learning more about The Expanse Roleplaying Game, you can find it for sale through the Green Ronin webstore. And if you’re the type that prefers to try before they buy, you can find the free quickstart guide from the same store.
Ben Erickson
