The "Tears of Corruption" campaign is a sort of prequel, dating back before the 2340-41 war and its dramatic consequences.
Background :
Shortly after the shattering discovery of the proto-molecule by a Martian science mission to Phoebe in 2331, a top-secret base was built there and research on the proto-molecule began, as a joint project involving the Martian Government and MKM.
In 44/2335, apparently alarmed by the implications of these ideas for the human race, one of the scientists on Phoebe contacts an OPA agent on Ceres, offering to smuggle to him a sample of a new bio-weapon. The transaction is planned via a buyer on the moon of Pandora. Unfortunately, the Martians quickly realise what has happened and launch an IS team after the sample.
The Scenario :
The players will fight for the control of two samples of what to them is an unknown substance, smuggled out of a top secret Martian research base on Phoebe. One player represents the crew of the pirate vessel Tears of Corruption, the other a search and destroy team of the Martian Intelligence Service.
Players' Briefing :
Tears of Corruption :
You have been contacted by Cornelius Groot, a black-market trader based on the Saturnian moon of Pandora, a 100km long lump of rock within Saturn's outermost F-ring (yeah, guess what the F stands for). He was in possession of some hot material smuggled out of the top secret Martian base on another of Saturn's moons, Phoebe. He didn't mention who gave it to him, but you know where it is supposed to go : to an anonymous buyer on Ceres. The problem is that a few days after Cornelius got his hands on the goods, the Martians obviously figured out what had happened, and they were pretty pissed off about it. Within a few hours, the MCRN had warships over Phoebe and the Saturn system started locking down. Which is great news for you : under these conditions, nobody in their right mind wants to ship spooky material from Phoebe to Ceres, Martian IS has started to sniff around, and Cornelius is running scared and paying good money.
The Tears of Corruption has moored at Pandora A, and your crew have picked up the package from Groot - two vials containing some sort of liquid with blue specks floating around in it. You have no idea what it is, and you really don't care - Cornelius only said that whatever happens, don't touch the liquid. No matter what.
It isn't just good money Cornelius is paying, it is frigging great money, and all up front. It is going to be a rough ride, so you've given the crew exactly one hundred and twenty minutes of down time, and headed yourself to the most expensive stim-bar on the whole god-forsaken rock to celebrate. Rendez-vous on Pandora A Space Dock 221 at 0700, until then enjoy the ride…
Martian Intelligence Service :
12 days ago, something really important was smuggled out of a top secret Martian Research Station on Phoebe. Nobody is particularly forthcoming about the details, but you do know that they aren't showing anyone the body of the traitor.
Mars wants those samples back, and badly. Priority A1. You tracked them to a second-rate black-market dealer on Pandora called Cornelius Groot, to whom you paid a visit an hour ago. You didn't have long, so Cornelius didn't talk as much as you would have liked during the last few minutes of his unglorious existence, but you do know that the two vials are now in the hands of the Belter captain of a pirate ship, the Tears of Corruption.
The vessel is docked, but Pandora isn't Martian so its docks are under interplanetary juristiction, you can't impound her. You can however stop the crew from reaching her, and no-one is really going to care how you do that. You've called in a marine fire-team from the MCRN frigate Whispering Shadow and, whilst waiting for Intel to PCD you the faces of the Tears of Corruption crew, have headed into Pandora A to ask about and track them down.
If you don't bring those samples back, it has been made clear that heads will roll, which is IS's way of telling you to shoot to kill.
Setting up :
0m90 x 0m90 gaming surface, portraying the downtown area of a remote moon-city.
Combat in The Expanse can be deadly, so there should be plenty of cover.
Anything physically placed on the table offers some cover. Small elements of scatter terrain, or bystanders, are soft cover. Walls and buildings provide hard cover; doors and windows are always WYSIWYG. A character can climb up a surface if there is physically portrayed some way of doing so (even a drainpipe to shimmy up), or if the obstacle is under 4cm tall.
Cover is defined as "concealing" if a character could lay down behind it, either from choosing to go prone, or having to go to ground. This includes all doors and windows and corners of walls, as well as any terrain feature which is either at least 15mm tall and 15mm wide, or of any height but at least 30mm wide. Obviously, concealment is dependent on direction of LOS and it should always be obvious on what side of the cover a figure is.
Note : plenty of such cover allows characters with Move and Shoot weapons, which are common in this setting, to "stand, fire and duck back", and therefore also rewards well chosen overwatch tactics.
Each player prepares a 450 pt group. The Martian player adds 2 additional figures as lures. These lures have Q4+, may have Fireteam if other members of the group do, but cannot use actions to shoot or engage in hand to hand combat. They are immediately removed if shot at.
Environment :
Gravity : Pandora is a spun-up moon, with 0,68g. Any characters with the "No Earth-G" penalty trait increase their Q by 1 during the rest of the scenario if they cause a turnover during an activation for which they used 3 dice.
Oxygen : Pandora A is a domed city with normal oxygen levels.
Spin : Thanks to the dome, the spin of Pandora is imperceptible.
Deployment and First Player :
Two members of the crew, secretly identified by the owning player before deployment, are each carrying one of the vials.
The crew of the Tears of Corruption are deployed in a 30cm x 30cm square in one corner of the playing surface, using any appropriate random system (for example, dividing the central square into 36 x 5cm x 5cm squares, and rolling position using 2D6). This represents the crew splitting up for their two hours of R&R.
The Martian IS team can be split up between any or all of the other three corners of the playing surface.
The Tears of Corruption crew play first.
Special Rule 1 : Spreading the Alert
The Tears of Corruption crew have switched off their PCDs. At the start turn 1, one random crew member receives warning that Martian IS are closing in. He or she is the only crewmember who can activate in the first turn.
As of the second turn, any crew member within S of an alerted crew member becomes alerted, and may activate. Alerted crew members turn their PCDs back on for free.
Special Rule 2 : Who are we looking for ?
Martian IS are waiting for Intel to show them what the Tears of Corruption crew look like. An enemy character may only be affected by Martian actions (shot at, attacked, jammed,...) if one of the following applies :
- It is turn 6 or greater
- The character has, at some point, used more than one action to move
- The character has, at some point, engaged in combat
- The Martian character has the enemy character in LOS and obtains one success with a one action Quality check, rolling 3 dice at S, 2 dice at M and 1 die at L or more
- The character has, at some point, been identified by a Martian character
Special Rule 3 : Gimme the thing
A character in base contact with another friendly character may spend 1 action to give him or take from him a blue-liquid vial. It is possible to use this action as a simple lure, even for two characters not carrying a vial.
A Shaken, Handcuffed, Out of Action or Killed in Action character can be searched by an enemy character for 1 action. If he has a vial, it is taken.
A character that fails a morale test and flees off board, will drop a vial it is carrying at the table edge.
Special Rule 4: Getting back to the T of C
A Tears of Corruption crew member in contact with either of the two table edges that are not part of their starting corner, can use actions to escape the Martians and get to the spacedock.
Two actions must be accumulated in this way if there is no enemy with 2 Long, three actions if no enemy within 1 Long, otherwise four actions. This is possible even if an enemy is in base to base contact (he is assumed to be tightly pursued through the narrow alleyways of Pandora A).
Once starting to accumulate these actions, if the character is Shaken, Out of Action or Killed in Action, or performs any other action, the number of successes drops instantly back to zero.
Game Over
The scenario ends instantly if the each of two vials is either off-table or in Martian hands.
Victory Conditions
Either side wins if they are in possession of both vials when the scenario ends. Otherwise victory goes to the side who has the least number of points Out of Action or Killed in Action.
Post-scenario bonuses
Tears of Corruption is a campaign, which means that the characters involved can acquire advantages or suffer penalties for future scenarios. Only named (recurring) characters are concerned by this.
Any character that suffered a Gory Death result is permanently dead, and cannot be used again in the Campaign.
Any Tears of Corruption crew member that was put Out of Action rolls 1D6, to which he or she adds +1 if they went down within M of a table edge, and +2 if within S. There is a -2 penalty is the character was Killed in Action
0 or less : Dead
1 - 2 : Captured and will need rescuing, and may not gain Renown
3 - 4 : Badly Wounded; manages to get back to the T of C but may not gain Renown and cannot take part in the next scenario
5 - 6 : No Effect
Any Martian character that was put Out of Action may not gain Renown but is not otherwise affected. A Martian character that was Killed in Action is Dead on a D6 roll of '1', otherwise considered as Out of Action.
All characters eligible for Renown gain it as follows :
+1 if on the winning side
+1 for each enemy the character put Out of Action or Killed in Action
+1 if the character was in possession of one of the vials at the end of the scenario
Renown
Renown has no actual in game impact, but serves to measure the importance of the character in the Expanse universe and affects their storyline. For each 10 Renown gained by a character, something special should happen to him (promotion for a soldier, a ship hand on a pirate vessel getting their own ship as a captain, and so forth...)
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