Day 6 Prompt: Reach
Week 1 Prompt: Intellect
Weekday Prompt: Far to Go
Another entry in the RPGaDAY 2026 Challenge; for Day 6, I’m not changing the prompt. After the creative enjoyment from the Burden or Burned entry on Day 5, I’m writing another entry by just putting my fingers on the keyboard. The prompt is enough without having to twist it around, and I was able to add the Weekday prompt for once.
The following RPG blog post is system agnostic. I hope it inspires GMs for science fiction games like Star Trek Adventures, Traveller, FrontierSpace, Stars Without Number or Star Frontiers.
Dataset Report: Far-Reach Station and Colony
Location: Marcus III, Marcus System, Kestrel Expanse
Number of Planets: Six full sized planets, unknown number of dwarf planets
System Breakdown: Marcus I (Rocky, No atmosphere, No moons); Marcus II (Rocky, Thick atmosphere, No moons), Marcus III (Rocky, Standard atmosphere, Two moons), Asteroid Belt, Marcus IV (Gas giant, 12 moons), Marcus V (Gas giant, 17 moons), Marcus VI (Ice giant, Two moons)
History: Fifty years ago, a one-way transport arrived at Marcus III to start up a colony of human survivalists. They used the hull components of their vessel as the building blocks for the first colony, and were able to eke out a living. The group, known as The Children of Mankind, had been able to grow the colony. Fifteen years after planetfall, a second group of colonists arrived with additional followers. This also included a few non-human residents. Primarily, the group just wanted to be left alone from the core-worlds. When there was vessel from Earth, they greeted them, showed them that they were self-sustaining and in no need of follow up. Secretly the group feared that a life-ending disaster was about to befall the core worlds. By setting up a colony in a remote region of space, they could ensure the survival of the species.
Then, a disaster did strike, but not the one they were expecting. A group of colony prospectors came across an alien ship of unknown origin that had crashed before they had arrived. When they opened it, delta radiation was released and was starting to expand from the still active reactor. The colony lost several educated members who were attempting to seal the vessel off. The colony had no means of leaving Marcus III as they had cannibalized their vessels for planetary use. Merchant vessels were rare to stop by a remote colony and their radio transmitter only covered the area of the solar system.
Colony leaders were attempting to see if they could reassemble the FTL transceiver when a miracle happened. Or was it a curse? Infamous scientist Dr. Antonio Kron arrived in the system with several of his followers. While their vessel was too small to evacuate, he did offer them his services. Dr. Kron and his assistants had the equipment and knowledge needed to re-seal the unknown alien vessel. It would take several years for the delta radiation to dissipate, but with the source cut off, it wouldn’t expand any more, no longer threatening the colony or its agricultural sources.
Had the colony known of Dr. Kron’s crimes in the core worlds, they probably wouldn’t have agreed to reward him. Dr. Kron needed a place to hide from the authorities, and he wanted to continue his banned experiments. He had found that one of the moons around Marcus IV had the materials needed for his research. He wanted to set up Far-Reach Station on the surface of the ninth moon. If needed, the colony could reach the station with their transmitter if another emergency came up. Dr. Kron was able to discreetly use his resources to build Far-Reach Station. And he was willing to purchase fresh foodstuffs from the colony in exchange for their continued silence to the station’s location. If anyone came searching for Dr. Kron, the colony leaders only informed them that he had stopped by then continued on his way after helping them with the radiation issue.
Stephen Milken, one of Dr. Kron’s assistants, discovered that the left-over residue of the softwood tree found on Marcus III contained properties that would imitate one of the illegal narcotics in the core worlds. The fruit of the softwood tree was one of the foodstuffs that helped the colony survive and was held in high regard with the colonists. The residue had no value to them, so when the station requested it “for research purposes”, they gladly sold it to them. The Doctor’s team used the profits from selling the narcotic as a way to fund their research.
At the time this report was compiled, the following questions had not been answered.
1- What was the unknown alien ship found on Marcus III?
2- What medical crimes (besides narcotics) had Dr. Kron and his associates been charged with?
3- How far did the narcotics network reach into the core worlds?
4- Would the disaster that The Children of Mankind feared come to pass?
Answers that a good GM might be able to use for a science-fiction roleplaying campaign. Which one was your favorite? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.