destinations: spaceport trident vespa

8/18/2019 Destinations: Spaceport Trident Vespa

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Trident

Tabletop Adventures Presents :

By Martin Ralya S PACEPORT T RIDENT V ESPA

IntroductionTrident Vespa is the first spaceport in the

“Destinations” line from Tabletop Adventures. This

mini-PDF presents a fully described spaceport that

can be dropped into any sci-fi campaign that

features space travel. It needs little or no prep – just

read the overview, and you are good to go. Trident

Vespa is 100% description (no rules material orcrunchy bits), making it entirely system-neutral.

About the Author

Throughout this PDF you will find sections of text

that are designed to be read aloud to your players.

They follow this format:

Scene Name Read-aloud text. [Notes for the GM, not to be read

aloud.] Additional read-aloud text.

Where Can I Use This Spaceport?

Trident Vespa is written with the following

conditions in mind: the spaceport is situated on a

world with a breathable atmosphere and Earthlike

gravity, and in an area with a lot of atmospheric

and trans-atmospheric (space) traffic.

If you want to use the Trident on an airless world,

or one with non-Earthlike gravity, all you will need

to do is tweak the descriptions slightly. For

example, on a planet without a breathable

atmosphere, everyone walking around the spaceport

would be in a spacesuit.

one spot, the Trident Vespa, was a commercial

venture established by a progressive collection of

owners with space commerce in mind. Little did

they know what they were getting themselves into.

Trident Vespa from the AirSeen from above, Trident Vespa lives up to its

name – it looks like a vast pitchfork, with permacrete and ferrocrete lanes forming the

tines, and buildings around all the edges. The

outer two lanes are longer than the one in thecenter, and dozens of spaceships of all shapes

and sizes gleam and flash in the sunlight [starlight]. After a few seconds of taking in the

main shape of the spaceport, you start noticingthe details: ground cars moving between ships,

rotating gun turrets atop the largest buildings

and small atmospheric craft landing and takingoff on the far lane. Even from the air, though,

you can tell what you are getting into – the

ships may gleam brightly, but the station itselfdoes not. This is no glittering commercial hub,

clean, safe and corporate – it feels a bit more

like the frontier.

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Trident

Trident Vespa – or just “the Trident,” as it is more

often called – started out as a good idea: a

sprawling spaceport built to accommodate cargo

ships, smaller vessels and atmospheric craft, all in

one spot. But in the first three months after Trident

Vespa opened for business, there were three major

accidents at the spaceport: the Black Spark

exploded on its launch pad, the Iron Shaman’s

computers went haywire and launched her payload

of missiles while she was coming in for a landingand a large storage building simply collapsed,

killing four technicians and destroying the delicate

– and expensive – electronic components stored

there.

The simplest approach is to use the curse to provide

a bit of extra flavor: perhaps the occasional tool

goes missing from their ship, or the PCs witness a

terrible accident while conducting business at the

port.

You can also turn the curse into a springboard for

adventure, either as a hook to get the party involved

or as the heart of the adventure itself. (The Plot

Hooks section, below, features a hook for each of

these options.)

Lastly, you could introduce a mechanical element

that reflects the effects of the curse. For example,you could impose a penalty on repair rolls, give

tools a small percentile chance to break every time

they are used, etc.These three accidents were nicknamed the Trifecta,

and sometimes just called the Three Nails –

because they were nails in Trident Vespa’s coffin.

Three accidents within three months at a spaceportnamed Trident was an irony lost on no one – and

spacers, always a superstitious lot, began finding

ways to avoid the port. Half of the Trident’s owners

wanted to move on, invest in another venture; the

other half stood to lose everything, so they took the

only option that seemed available to them: they

made Trident Vespa a smugglers’ haven.

One byproduct of the spaceport’s past that is

immediately obvious to most visitors is thetendency of its staff and regular customers to avoid

things that come in threes. The general consensus

seems to be, “Why invite bad luck?” – and if that

means never designating any buildings with a “3”

(or 13, or 33, etc.), and turning away ships with

three in their names, so be it.

Superstitions:A week of suspicious accidents, mysteriousdisappearances and one outright murder (stillunsolved) took care of the owners who had cold

feet, and the Trident grew into the bustling hive of

seedy commerce that it is today. The “curse” of the

Trifecta stayed with the Trident, though, and

accidents – some large, some small – have

remained a fairly regular occurrence at the

spaceport. For the many smugglers, rogues,

mercenaries, adventurers and scoundrels who use

Trident Vespa every day, though, it is worth the

risk.

As you move through a busy section of the

spaceport, you see a group of mercenaries in

flight suits heading your way, deep in a heated

conversation with two Trident guards. As they pass by, you hear the guard say, “Like I said,

no threes. I do not know how you got past

landing control, but no ship named Three Suns

is going to be in my spaceport for long.” People pause as the group moves through the

crowd, and several exchange knowing looksbefore returning to their business.

The CurseA Terrible Accident:


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Trident

deep within the smoke. The people around you

start to point and shout, and port personnelbegin running in that direction.

Lane One: Atmospheric CraftLanding:

As your ship closes with Trident Vespa, you seethree distinct landing areas up ahead. On the

far side are small and midsize space vessels,

ground crews crawling over their hulls. Thecenter lane is a line of wide landing bays for

large spaceships, each surrounded by massive

blast shields. Several ships are docked there,dwarfing the rest of the spaceport. The lane

you are approaching is divided lengthwise intotwo sections: A row of buildings and ground

vehicles, and a lengthy stretch of landing strip,

open save for the dozens of vehicles that dot its

surface.

Seconds later, the freighter comes crashing toearth in a blinding fireball – so bright that its

outline is burned into your retinas, making youwince. A thunderclap of sound hits you an

instant later, washing over the whole

spaceport. People begin to scream, and many

run for their ships. A Trident guard bolts past you, headed for the crash site, and you hear

her mutter under her breath, “That is anothernail in this place’s coffin.”

As you get closer, a string of small skiffs takesoff, heading in the opposite direction andtrailing arcs of white smoke. Another small

aircraft is approaching to one side of you, its

landing lights blinking steadily. The closer you get, the busier it looks – and after a few more

seconds, your landing gear hits the ferrocrete

with a jolt, and you are coasting down Lane

One between ground crews, rows of fightersand other small craft.

Spaceport LayoutTrident Vespa’s name is no accident: The whole

spaceport is laid out in a trident shape, with three

long, parallel “lanes” where ships land and take off,

and the hub at the point where the landing areas

join together. Each lane is built to handle a different

type of traffic.

One outer lane is for atmospheric craft, with small

hangars and other buildings on the inside edge.

Because many atmospheric craft require runway

room, the rest of the lane is left open for takeoffs

and landings (much like the deck on a present-day

aircraft carrier). The center lane is for large ships:

Cargo freighters, warships, mining vessels, factory

ships and the like. It is the shortest and widest of

the three lanes, and each landing area is surrounded by thick, curved blast shields that protect the other

two lanes. The other outer lane handles smaller

spacegoing vessels, and it is the most active of the

three lanes. All manner of smaller craft land here,

from pleasure cruisers and brothel ships to

mercenary fighters blockade runners and shuttles

On the Ground:

Looking down the length of Lane One, you cannot see more than a few hundred feet. After that

point, there are simply too many people,

taxiing aircraft and ground vehicles in your

way to see any further. The air smells like jet fuel, hot exhaust and scorched ferrocrete, and

between the roar of engines, the shouts of the

port’s personnel and the rumble of ships takingoff nearby, there is never a moment’s silence.

All around you, people are quietly wheeling


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Trident

Lane One is Trident Vespa’s second-busiest section

– less active than Lane Three, more active than

Lane Two. Commercial craft ferry people from all

over the planet to the Trident, and from Lane One

those travelers catch a flight on an outbound ship

from one of the other lanes. Smugglers and other

rogues also land here to conduct their business, and

to transfer goods from the spacegoing vessels for

distribution to planetside destinations (as well as to

those same vessels, for distribution offworld).

Lane One is a mile long and 300 feet wide, with

roughly one-third of its width taken up by parked

vehicles, outbuildings, hangars and pedestrian

traffic. The rest of the lane is devoted to takeoff and

landing space for the dozens of aircars, skiffs,

hovers and other small craft that use Lane One

every day. The landing surface is very well

maintained, but the other third of the lane is inmuch worse shape. When the Trident became a

smuggling waypoint, the focus shifted away from

providing exemplary service to facilitating swift,

secretive transactions – and truth be told, most of

the Trident’s clientele do not worry too much about

the spaceport’s appearance, either.

Some of the buildings adjacent to Lane One are

held by the spaceport, while the rest are rented outas needed. At any given time, up to a quarter of the

hangars and other buildings here are available for

rent. Front organizations, cartels and other groups

rent about half of the buildings on a more or less

permanent basis, while the remaining quarter are

used by individuals, adventuring groups, mercenary

companies and the like.

Lane One is hectic, rough-and-tumble place, andoffers plenty of danger – in the form of ships

landing and taking off (a process that is much less

controlled than it is at a present-day airport), and

due to the spaceport’s fine selection of customers.

Smugglers who can afford spaceships are not too

likely to start fights when they are in port, but

nearly anyone can afford the docking fee for Lane

One…

Lane Two: Large Spaceships

Landing:

You are coming straight down, and fast, allengines burning, like a massive boulder sitting

atop a falling star. As you near Trident Vespa,

you see the spaceport on the monitors [through

the viewports]: three long landing areas joinedat one end by a cluster of buildings. Your ship

is dropping down towards the center lane,

which is divided into nine circular landing

bays sitting end to end. The bay you are aiming for is surrounded by a ring of heat-seared blast

shields, and its center is a black expanse shotthrough with cracks, scorched by the engine

flares of countless ships. While the other two

lanes are buzzing hives of activity, the center

lane appears lifeless by comparison – there areno techs running from ship to ship, and no one

is standing near the landing area and looking

up at your ship.

On the Ground:

To get anywhere on Lane Two, you have to

travel through tunnels just like this one. It has

a very functional appearance, all bare, brushed

metal and directional markings, but there arealso touches that reveal the wealth behind it –

like the monitors every fifty feet, which display

views of the nearest docking bay, as well as thetwo adjacent to it. The light in here is soft and

oddly soothing, in marked contrast to the rest


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Trident

Lane Two is shorter and wider than the other two

lanes at Trident Vespa, and it sees a lot less activity.

This lane is built to handle all but the largest

spaceships, with room for up to nine vessels on the

ground at a time. Seen from the air, it looks like a

row of circles, each circle connected to the next by

a series of tunnels, with small buildings around the

edges.

The circles are the landing bays – large spacecraft

that are capable of landing most often come in

straight down, braking with their main engines,

which is why there is no runway space provided on

Lane Two. The center of each bay is scorched black

from the heat of countless fusion engines, and

heavy blast shields 40 feet tall run around the

outside. These shields protect adjacent bays – as

well as the rest of the spaceport – during takeoffs

and landings.

Shielded tunnels join each bay to the ones on either

side of it, and tunnels run along the exterior, as

well. These tunnels are wide enough to

accommodate most small ground vehicles, and they

allow the crews of vessels docked here to go fromthe lane to the hub in safety. The exposed central

areas of each bay are almost exclusively the

province of Trident Vespa’s repair techs and

service people, and seen from above there is verylittle human activity in this lane.

The clients who use this lane are the richest and

most powerful people at the spaceport, and as such

Lane Two is in great shape – it has the newest

equipment, everything works (and works well) and

the Trident’s staff are very attentive. It is also the

best-guarded lane, and the one where the PCs

would be least likely to get themselves into trouble.

Lane Three:

Small Spaceships

comes up amazingly fast before your descent

levels out, and then it begins streaking bybeneath you as you speed towards the spaceport. Up ahead, a heavy freighter is

maneuvering its bulky frame into a landing

berth, and a cloud of sensor drones darts out ofthe way as you near your landing area.

You come in hot, forward attitude jets blazing

as you brake, and then drop down on a dime –

in an area barely twice the size of your ship. Atruck trailing hydraulic hoses pulls up to the

ship, and other visitors close in around it ontheir way to destinations elsewhere on the lane.

In under a minute, you would not know that

your ship had not been here all along, so

quickly does it become just another part of the spaceport.

On the Ground:

You can see why they say this is the busiest section of Trident Vespa – it is not the volume

of ships, because there are two or three times

as many on Lane One, it is the combination of

scale and diversity. Scale because the shipshere are relatively large – ranging from

cruisers, gunboats and small freighters all the

way down to personal shuttles and little scout ships that barely qualify as trans-atmospheric

– and diversity because there are ships and

l h f d f ld L Th


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Trident

The busiest section of Trident Vespa is Lane Three,

the lane that handles the port’s small spacecraft

traffic. This lane is used around the clock, and it is

nearly always a bustle of activity, with ships

landing and taking off, personnel servicing

grounded vessels, loading and unloading, etc.

Lane Three is dotted with walls and barriers, which

are interspersed between stretches of open landing

area. It is designed to accommodate spacecraft that

require short runways (shuttlecraft, for example), aswell as ships that take off and land vertically, and

need only a small footprint. Service buildings and

storage areas are scattered throughout the lane, and

the noise of ship engines here is just incredible –

earplugs, helmets or other headgear are more or

less required.

While Lanes One and Two are fairly uniform in

appearance from end to end, Lane Three is a hodge- podge of new and old buildings and equipment, as

well as the most diverse population of ships.

Spaceships come here from all over the galaxy, and

Lane Three features a range of bars, brothels, stores

and small hotels, all designed to cater to the crews

of these ships.

Lane Three is also the center of the spaceport’s

illicit activity. This is where the most deals arestruck, and the most money and smuggled cargo

changes hands. It is not cheap to land on Lane

Three, since a sizable portion of the docking fee

goes towards bribing local officials, customs

inspectors and other bureaucratic irritants. For most

of the spaceport’s customers, the high price is

worth it – there is no other spaceport like the

Trident within a hundred parsecs, if in fact there isone like it anywhere.

The Hub

Approaching the Hub:

ships. The Hub’s buildings are dotted with small, thick windows and covered in signs in a

multitude of languages. There are cameras at

every corner, and dozens of people are comingand going through the many doors on ground

level – pilots, spacesuited traders, Trident

guards, customs inspectors. The spaceport’slogo, a golden trident, is over the doors of the

main building, and you can see where someonehas spray painted over one tine, leaving the

other two untouched.

Located at the base of Lane Two, the Hub is the

Trident’s nerve center. This collection of shielded

buildings houses all of the spaceport’s offices,

meeting rooms and other administrative areas, as

well as living quarters for personnel. Since most

docking fees are handled by computer, it is quite possible to land at Trident Vespa, offload some

smuggled goods, acquire new cargo and take off

again without ever setting foot inside the Hub.

Docking fee transactions are transferred

independently from any manifest data or cargo

identifiers; and a complex system of accounting is

used at the port that is more than one auditor’s

nightmare. If the Trident had been successful as an

honest port of call, these flaws would obviously

have been fixed, but as such, it is a haven for any

type of illicit business.


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Trident

Apart from supporting the day-to-day activities of

the spaceport, the Hub has a secondary – and

arguably more important – function, too:

obfuscating the customs process as much as

possible. While Trident Vespa is widely known to

be a smugglers’ paradise, proving this is much

more difficult – and that is where the Hub comes

in. The Trident employs a whole layer of staff

solely for bribing inspectors, misdirecting

government officials and otherwise keeping the

wheels of the spaceport’s illicit commerce wellgreased.

Bringing TridentVespa to Life The Trident can feel like a pretty lawless place to

first-time visitors, and there is a sense of barely

controlled chaos about the place. Lanes One and

Three are always buzzing with activity, and you

can emphasize this by focusing on motion and

colors as you describe them to your players.

Observant PCs will also notice shady dealings

going on everywhere (except right in front of the

Hub), almost – but not quite – out of sight.

The Hub is also home to the spaceport’s defense

system: eight large gun batteries, each capable of

accurately striking targets up to three miles away.

These are mounted on the roofs of several of the

Hub buildings, and they are manned around the

clock by port personnel. At least four batteries can

be brought to bear against any part of TridentVespa, including the furthest sections of any lane;

all eight can be fired at any airborne target. A small

fleet of spotter drones hovers around the port at all

times, relaying images to the Hub’s gunners.

Trident Vespa also looks and feels very lived-in. It

has been a long time since anything here was new,

and countless crews have personalized their

favorite landing areas with graffiti, additions,

murals and other touches. The only exception is

Lane Two, which feels like a different world –

sterile, clean and somehow lifeless. It stands out

from Lanes One and Three in every way.Cast of CharactersRoughly 250 Trident employees are onsite at any

given time, broken down as follows: 50 bureaucrats

and officials, 50 repair technicians, 100 service

staff (loaders, drivers, etc.) and 50 guards. About

20% of the staff will be at the Hub, with another

20% on Lane Two and 30% each on Lanes One and

Three.

Interestingly, almost no one takes the short way

between lanes – simply turning left or right and

cutting across the open ground that separates the

landing areas. Some spacers will say that this is

superstition, that on the Trident it is bad luck to

cross between the lanes, but more pragmatic folk

will make the point that all of the really good stuff

happens along the lanes – and why would you want

to miss that?

On an average day, 500-1,000 visitors pass throughTrident Vespa, with about one-half of that number

present at any particular moment.There are lots of superstitions on the Trident, most

(but not all) of them involving the number three.

They are part of the spaceport’s culture, and they

serve as a good way to tell new visitors from old

hands. Bored spaceship crews often use this to their

All of the guards are well armored, and each one

carries a light, hull-safe rifle (a weapon that will not

penetrate an average ship’s hull, but has no trouble

against soft targets – like people). In addition, 10 of

th 50 d l h ll t ti h


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Trident

Plot HooksCursed? Yeah, Right:

Shortly after landing at Trident Vespa, the PCs hear

about the spaceport’s “curse.” The next day, their

ship stops working – entirely, all at once, and with

no apparent cause. There is a cause, of course: A

handful of small malfunctions in specific, essential

parts of the ship. But were they the result ofsabotage (and if so, by who?) – or were they caused

by the curse?

Cleanup on Lane Two:

Currently, Lane Two – the most prosperous section

of the port – sits empty, all because of space bugs.

Or space mold. Or the curse. Or – well, or

something, although no one knows exactly what.What is known is that the last spaceship to dock on

Lane Two, the Eye of Argon, left something behind

– something that made everyone else on Lane Two

sick within two days of its departure. Port officials

have evacuated the lane, and since then a greenish-

red growth has started appearing on the outside of

Lane Two’s buildings. A hefty reward is offered for

anyone willing to investigate – are the PCs up tothe task?

Enough is Enough:

In the past week, the Trident’s curse has struck 13

times – and the last one was a doozy: A merchant

ship crash-landed on Lane Three, damaging or

destroying three other ships in the process. One of

the Trident’s owners in particular has had enough,

because she has recently uncovered evidence that

the curse might actually be a conspiracy ofsabotage perpetrated by members of the spaceport’s

staff. Not wanting to involve insiders, she involves

outsiders instead – the PCs, who are tasked with

getting to the bottom of the infamous Trident Vespa

curse.

Tangos at Five O’Clock:

While the PCs are docked at the Trident, the port is

attacked by a fleet of mercenary fighters – fast,

lethal atmospheric craft, nimble enough to avoid

the Hub’s defensive fire. Several of them strafe

each lane, firing indiscriminately, but another

contingent seems to be going after a specific target:

A large steel spire of a ship, docked in the center

bay of Lane Two. There are several unoccupied

gunships parked right nearby, and just as the PCsare thinking over their options two of the merc

fighters break off and head in their direction, their

nose guns strafing the surface.

You Like it? It’s Yours:During the course of a visit to Trident Vespa, the

PCs are approached by a stranger – a wealthy trader

and the owner of the Vector Omega, one of themassive ships docked in Lane Two. He introduces

himself, makes a bit of small talk – and then offers

the PCs his ship. As a gift. No strings attached, here

are the keys, it’s yours. Who is he really? And why

on earth would he do this?

CreditsWriter: Martin Ralya Editor: Vicki Potter


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Spaceport Sections:• Lane One: Atmospheric Craft

• Lane Two: Large Spaceships

• Lane Three: Small Spaceships

• The Hub

•

The Tunnels(Around Lane Two Landing Bays)
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