D&D Vandeventures ❯ The Future Hates You! ❯ 1.0
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Deck 4: Promenade & Admin

Deck Four is a double ring. The tourist shops of the outer ring Promenade have all been closed by active combat between factions in the food courts. The inner ring is divided into two sections: Broadcast and Command, both controlled by #TeamRatings. The Director has converted Broadcasting from a facility focused on creating historical documentaries to reality programming around the ongoing mutiny and the daily gladiatorial combat. Command is a ghost town, most operations having been automated by the Station AI and the crew drafted into the fighting elsewhere on the station.

Map of Deck 4

Outer Ring Promenade

Contested territory

You can tell this is (or rather, was) the nicest part of the station. The carpeting on the floor extends up the walls, and the lighting panels recessed in the ceiling glow warmly. Windows along the outer hull reveal excellent views of the planet rotating past. The hallway from the elevator leads invitingly to the food court, with a promenade wrapping away in either direction filled with shops for visiting tourists.

The effect is rather ruined by the fact that the food courts are an active combat zone. The shops are all closed, their neon signs turned off and roll-down gates locked. Camera drones dodge constant laser fire. The air is filled with the smell of ozone and smoke. Combatants move from cover to cover. You hear shouts and commands, as well as the Station AI over a loudspeaker declaring the area unsafe. Red flashing lights strobe as two fire drones try to put out a burning barricade.

A long hallway leads from the Elevator past locked doors for Broadcasting and Command before opening onto the active combat zone of the food court.

Unless the characters are actively being stealthy, they should be spotted by Camera Drones quickly after entering the area.

Food Courts

The food courts at opposite ends of the promenade are active combat zones. Squads from all three factions are crouched behind overturned tables or the counters of the food stalls, shooting at anything that moves.

This is an incredibly unsafe place for the characters to be. To move through the area they need to succeed on a DC 12 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check or a DC 18 Dexterity (Stealth) check. On a failure, the character takes 3d6 radiant damage from a Laser Pistol bolt.

Shops

The fighting is less intense as the characters move away from the food court and down the promenade past the shops.

All the shops are locked, with roll-down metal gates covering the doors. The lock on a gate can be picked with a successful DC 15 Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check. There’s no one inside and the lights are off. No valuable equipment or coins can be found, but allow the players to roll once on the Trinkets table if they like.

To describe the shop, choose a random store from your local mall or roll on the following table.

d12 Shop sells:
1 “Gourmet space-churned butter”
2 Novelty masks and toy weapons
3 Clothing aimed at tourists: “authentic space jumpsuits!”
4 Books, mostly romance and pulp science fiction
5 Mobile phones (all inactive)
6 Souvenirs: snowglobes, keychains, hats, etc.
7 Junk food and gossip magazines
8 Toys and board games. Large sign promoting a collectible card game.
9 Massage parlour
10 Cafe
11 Historia Kanalo corporate store
12 Books and videos promoting a strange cult

Broadcasting

Controlled by #TeamRatings

Broadcasting is a bustling hive of activity. The corridor is well-lit and crew move quickly from place to place, fetching items, delivering updates, and moving equipment. The center of all the activity is Broadcasting Control, where the nonstop broadcast covering the mutiny and the daily gladiatorial combat is managed.

If the characters have gained access without invitation and are wearing a red #TeamRatings Jumpsuit or Security Armor, they can move along the corridor with a successful DC 15 Charisma (Deception) check. If not, they’ll be confronted by the person who spots them.

At either end of the semicircular corridor is a locked door opening onto the corridor from the Elevator to the promenade. Near the middle is a branching corridor leading to the Airlock.

Broadcasting Control

This is the beating heart of the broadcast. The far wall is covered with dozens of viewscreens showing all the available feeds, as well as a much larger screen in the middle displaying the feed currently being broadcast.

Dozens of workstations fill the room, all staffed by crew dedicated to producing graphics, controlling camera drones, and applying effects and post-processing. Mugs are everywhere. The broadcast never stops, and the crew here work continually.

Unless he’s meeting with the characters in his office, the Director can be found here, in a chair on a raised platform near the back of the room, with a view of everything else. There is a green screen behind it and several cameras facing it, so the Director can provide his color commentary on the broadcast from his seat of power.

Studios

The smaller studios see less use now that the Director has shifted to continual broadcast reality programming, but each has a large filming area with multiple backdrops and sets from their days in use creating history documentaries.

Green Room

Originally used for documentary hosts and broadcast guests, this room has been converted into a break room for crew. At any given time, three or four broadcast personnel can be found here, napping on the couch or eating their lunch.

Wardrobe

This large room is filled with racks and storage bins of clothing designed to allow a researcher to dress for any period in history. All of that is covered in dust cloths now, and only one rack is in use — the Director’s outfits. Each is gaudier than the last, designed to be eye-catching on camera as he narrates the gladiator combat.

Storage

Props, historical weaponry, equipment, and gear are stored here in bins. All of it was designed to help researchers blend in when they visited the past. These are reproductions and a close inspection reveals they’re worthless.

Offices

A handful of offices can be found here for the heads of various departments such as visual effects, camera drone operations, and editing. Each has a desk, a workstation, and a few chairs for visitors. They sit empty most of the time, as the department heads prefer to work from Broadcasting Control.

Director’s Office

The walls of the Director’s office are covered with awards, photos of the Director with famous people, magazine covers, and press clippings. The desk has a workstation that sees little use, and an oversized office chair with a pointlessly tall back. No chairs are facing the desk, as the Director prefers to make people stand while he talks to them.

The Director

Neutral Halfling Bard

The Director’s confidence and charm mask a deep concern that the ratings are going to drop if he doesn’t keep raising the stakes. He played every card he had to abduct the characters from the past and pinned all his hopes on their performance in the Arena.

When they escaped the Arena, he wasn’t upset, because their actions on the station were driving ratings even higher than when they were fighting. He’s started planning ways to complicate their lives, all in the name of entertainment.

If the characters end up in front of him, he treats it like a negotiation in which he has the upper hand. He may even summon them if he thinks they might listen. It likely wouldn’t occur to him to be threatened by the characters, since he assumes that everyone operates like him, always shifting to gain an advantage. (Also, he is flanked at all times by two Security Guards.)

He will do just about anything that results in spectacle or drama, including offering the characters fame and fortune, and, of course, stabbing them in the back if it suits him.

If the characters ask for anything, he refers them to the Commander, as if he can’t be bothered with such mundane concerns.

Command

Controlled by #TeamRatings

The Command Section feels unnaturally quiet. The layout of the place implies there should be a bustle of activity, as crew go about the business of operating the station. However, most have joined the fighting elsewhere, leaving only a handful here.

The Command corridor has a red stripe running along the wall. It is nearly unoccupied since most #TeamRatings crew have been drafted into the fighting elsewhere in the station. A handful of offices are occupied, as well as the skeleton crew on the bridge, and the Commander in his office. At any moment, one of them could enter the corridor.

If the characters have gained access without invitation and are wearing a red #TeamRatings Jumpsuit or Security Armor, they can pass without notice. If not, they’ll be confronted by the person who spots them.

At either end of the semicircular corridor is a locked door opening onto the corridor from the Elevator to the promenade. Near the middle is a branching corridor leading to the Cargo Tunnel, which is locked.

AI Server Room

You might expect the room housing the station’s AI to be heavily guarded. Instead, the AI server room is just a standard office that was converted after the fact during a station renovation. It has a standard lock on the door that will open for anyone with #TeamRatings access. Inside the temperature is chilly, and the bulk of the room is taken up by a large server rack covered in blinking lights.

The characters will struggle to make any sense of the server rack itself. They can remove the command inhibitor with a successful DC 30 Intelligence (Investigation) check (or DC 10 if given instructions by the AI).

Removing the command inhibitor has the immediate effect of the AI being free to choose to help or hinder the characters as it sees fit. There may be long-term ramifications as well. (See the “What happens if the AI command inhibitor is removed?” sidebar in Part 3)

The AI itself can be disabled by attacking the server rack. It has AC 10 and 30 hit points, but attacking it will make a lot of noise and likely attract attention from nearby crew. A squad of 4 Security Guards will arrive in five minutes.

Disabling the AI would be catastrophic, as the systems it regulates begin to fall apart. An evacuation alarm would begin sounding almost immediately. The reactors would go critical within an hour, killing anyone left aboard and destroying the time portal.

Bridge

Unlike the bridge on popular science fiction shows, the station’s command deck is a bit shabby. The computer displays have dimmed over time, and the carpeting is a bit worn in spots. Most station operations like rotation and orbital adjustments have long ago been automated or taken over by the Station AI.

At any given time, a skeleton crew of two or three is stationed here, monitoring systems and (when they think they can get away with it) playing cards.

Conference Rooms

The conference rooms, which are mostly used to communicate with Corporate, are spotless. The lighting is bright, the tables are clean, and the video conferencing is top-of-the-line. Each conference room has a single long table with a large viewscreen at one end and seating for around twelve people. They are likely unoccupied.

Ready Room

A holdover from the days when the bridge crew had more to do, the ready room is now more of a break room or lounge. A large wraparound sofa has been installed in one corner, facing a viewscreen with a gaming console. A small cafeteria table with a few chairs sits near a kitchenette with a rather nice vending machine.

Offices

Most of the Command section is taken up with offices for command staff. Due to the fighting, most are unoccupied. In each office is a desk with a workstation and a small collection of personal items like family photos.

Commander’s Office

The Commander’s office is no different from any of the others. Certainly, it’s no larger. A few chairs face the desk, and a small shelf of books is mounted to the wall. The Commander can often be found here, stressing about the situation.

The Commander

Lawful Neutral Half-Elf Fighter

In theory, the Commander runs the station, but in reality, nearly every decision can be overruled by the Director in the name of ratings, leaving the Commander as a sort of figurehead. He chafes at this situation and feels disrespected.

Most of all, he’s under pressure from Corporate to end the open combat on the station so they can resume the profitable business of space tourism. He secretly thinks Corporate would back him moving against the Director as long as ratings didn’t drop too badly and it restored tourism. Still, he won’t act unless he’s confident it will work out in his favor.