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ALPHA SECTION: INTRODUCTION 

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Alpha .1

OVERVIEW

Mastery of the Alpha Dawn Expanded Game Rules is important. Knowledge of the Knight Hawks Campaign Book is helpful but not essential. Read and study this module carefully before playing.

This adventure is designed for 4 to 8 characters of any race with strong technician skills and a mix of military skills. Environmental and medical skills are particularly important. Since the PCs (Player Characters) are caught by surprise in a crash, their selection of weapons, shields, defense suits, and other equipment is limited and incomplete. This module includes pre-generated PCs. Even if your players don't use them, they are a fine example of an appropriate party.

In the first half of this adventure, the PCs face wilderness obstacles as they travel overland to their ship. They must move swiftly and efficiently through uncharted territory to prevent the mutineer's escape with the ship.

In the second half of the adventure, the characters face a more immediate threat- the formidable weapons and technology of the survey ship Eleanor Moraes and the mutineer who defends it. If they survive his attacks and booby traps, they face their greatest obstacle; the enemy has taken hostages and is prepared to destroy them, himself, and the ship to prevent its recapture.

The tone of this module is serious science fiction adventure. The lives of the party and innocent hostages are at stake. Efficient problem solving and original approaches are the keys to success. If the PCs rely solely on firepower and unimaginative methods, the adventure may have a tragic conclusion.

Use the wilderness travel guidelines, the encounter descriptions, and your knowl edge of wilderness adventure (from films, TV, books, and personal experience) to create the atmosphere of a realistic trek across an alien landscape.

In the middle of this adventure book are several removable sections, including the System Brief, pregenerated Player Characters & NPCs (Non Player Characters), the Equipment List, and three maps. To remove these sections (p.13-20), bend the staples out with a blunt object and pull the sheets from the book. Then bend the staples back down.

Read the Players' Background Report and the System Brief which present the essentials of the adventure's background and setting. Then study the module from beginning to end, noting particularly the guidelines for wilderness travel

In general, the more familiar you are with this module, the more smoothly your adventure will run and the greater the excitement you and your players will enjoy.

Alpha .2

TRAVEL RECORD

Keep a travel record to prevent confusion about the party's position or travel rate. The record will also remind you when the PCs should begin to suffer the movement penalty for lack of rest.

Each time the party enters a new hex on the wilderness map, record their movement and the time of day. The following information should be included in your travel record.

1.	Time spent traveling.
2.	Time spent in extended rest (more than an hour).
3.	Time lost in delays and accidents.

The following information should NOT be noted on the Travel Record.

1.	Periodic rests during travel (travel rates reflect normal rests and delays).
2.	Minor PC activities that do not significantly delay them
3.	Time spent in character dialogue (most talking takes place on the march or at rest stops).

Here is a sample travel record for keeping track of time and location:

EXAMPLE TRAVEL RECORD

Alpha .3

PLAYERS' STARTING MATERIALS

Let your players copy the pregenerated PCS (if the players are going to use them). Then let the players read and study the Players' Background Report, the System Brief, and the Equipment List. They should also have access to the wilderness map (Map 1) and the floor plans ofthe Eleanor Moraes (Maps 5-11). Note that Map 6 is on p.30; the others are on the Cover. Don't let the players see Maps 2,3, or 4 yet. (You may wish to make private notes on copies of some maps.)

Alpha .4

CHRONOLOGY

If you haven't read the Players' Background Report yet, do so now, or you may become confused.

Even an organized, prudent, and fortunate party will require 30-35 hours to reach the Moraes from the crash site. A less experienced party can take considerably longer.

The sooner the party reaches the Moraes, the less prepared Terry will be to defend her.

Keep close track of time and distance traveled, since the mutineer's tactics and preparedness depend on the swiftness of the party's approach. (See Alpha .2)

The following time schedule shows Terry's actions after he captures the Moraes. The PCs actions may interfere with certain events. Note changes in this chronology if and when they occur. Feel tree to alter this sequence according to your conception of Terry's ingenuity and competence.

This module uses "military time"; that is, the hours of the day are numbered from 1 to 24 consecutively. A.M. hours are the same, but PM. hours run from 12:00-24:00.

To convert standard PM. time to military time, add 12 to the hour For example, 7 PM. converts to 19:00(7+12-19).
 

DAY ONE

9:00 After the airship departs, Terry stuns or dozes the three other crew members aboard the Moraes and ties them up in the exercise room. Terry starts the ship's attacki defense security program. That activates the emergency defense systems and provides computer control of the ship's heavy laser turrets and the survey robots' weapons.

10:00 Terry directs the remote robot to fire upon the survey airship, causmg it to crash. After delivering his speech to the PCs, Terry severs all communications and computer links with them and their robot. Then he begins the engine overhaul.

16:00 Terry realizes that the PCs may reach the Moraes before he can complete the overhaul. He arranges to monitor their progress with a remote robot.

17:00 Robot surveillance of the PCs starts.
 

DAY TWO

1:00 After 15 hours of labor, the overhaul is only one-quarter complete. Unnerved by increasing time pressure, Terry decides to rig an automatic bridge sabotage. He sets demo charges in the ship's bridge that can be detonated by remote control. He then arranges other detonating switches linked to the emergency bridge systems. He continually reviews the party's progress through the remote robot's scanners.

4:00 Terry completes the bridge sabotage. When he is certain that the party cannot arrive immediately, he sleeps.

9:00 Awakened by an alarm, Terry returns to the engine overhaul.

12:00 Terry increasingly worries about the party's approach. He searches the ship for weapons and defenses. He also experiments with the ship and robot ordinance and a variety of grenades. He plans his ship defense. Then he moves the captives to the bridge, and straps them into acceleration couches with freeze fields to incapacitate them. He then moves all weapons and supplies to the bridge and prepares for siege. He improvises a search and destroy program for the survey robots.

14:00 After completing his ship defense plans, Terry opens the computer Sink to the party's robot and tries to take control of it. If he fails, he severs the link again. In either case, he returns to the overhaul work.

16:00 Terry sends a robot to attack the party (Gamma .22). He l's stunned and alarmed by the results. After more careful assessment of the strategic situation, Terry decides he must destroy the party to win time to complete the overhaul.

17:00 Terry revises the Search and Destroy program for the second robot and arranges an ambush in the Water Gap (Gamma .23). He works on overhaul for two hours.

20:00 Terry rigs traps on the engineering and lab decks, then works on the overhaul for an hour.

22:00 Terry rigs traps on the recreation deck and wrecks the radiophones and subspace radios in the Moraes, the aircars, the explorer, and the remaining airship. He overlooks possible modification of the lander module research station radio.

23:00 Terry devotes his full time to the engine overhaul.
 

DAY THREE

2:00 Terry remembers the radio in the lander research station and destroys it. He realizes a near-perfect sabotage plan and rigs the bridge to separate from the ship (the emergency escape capsule procedure) on remote/automatic control.

3:00 Terry uses drugs to stay awake, He realizes that the flight controls can be )'uW rigged (Torn engineeting o~ the computer center, even if the bridge systems are destroyed. He rigs automatic and remote-controlled booby traps to destroy both if he is captured or disabled.

3:00 Terry returns to work on the overhaul.

12:00 After 30 hours of work, Terry despairs of completing the overhaul without interference. He reassembles the engine and prepares for liftoff.

14:00 Terry places his hostages in the remaining airship gondola with survival supplies. Their freeze fields will deactivate when power runs out. He completes the final preparations for takeoff.

15:00 Liftoff. If the incompletely over- hauled engine fails (60% chance), the Moraes crashes and is totally destroyed.

After the party reaches the Moraes, game time will equal real time unless the party attempts elaborate procedures (repairing robots, searching rooms, computer programming). Estimate additional passage of time for such delays.

Unless talked into surrendering, Terry always successfully destroys the bridge controls. If they are wrecked, two weeks are needed to jury rig controls from the computer center and engineering deck. If engineering deck and computer center are destroyed, the PCs must wait for rescue.

When the party arrives after 12:00, Day Three, all radiophones are destroyed, but a technician can eventually improvise a radio to relay a call for help. Search vessels will come looking for the Moraes in 12-18 months even if no message is sent.