Another One-Shot Episode of Tricube Tales Solo action. This one is from a banked idea about Interstellar Smugglers: a fleeing smuggler lands on a seemingly derelict space colony…only to realize there’s something already on-board. Now he must evade captors and the creature long enough for help to arrive.
[PRE-SHOW] INTRODUCTION, PART 1
Back around International Talks Like a Pirate Day 2026, I thought about doing a series of themed games featuring pirates in a variety of ways. Obvious I did not [or there would be some semblance/note on the blog even if no actual actual-plays] but one of the ideas stuck with me: a space pirate horror one-shot.
With the recent R’Lyeh Team one-shot to demonstrate the enjoyment and speed of Tricube Tales Solo play, it seems like a good idea to keep some of those ideas going forward. Same 2-card draw system — one main, one secondary —, same Doug’s Oracle of Changes, and maybe just a smidge of Random Realities to play out anything else.
I’ll keep the concept of this being something like a TV show with a few scenes and some “commercial breaks” where I jump into to tweak things or make bigger changes. Minimal formatting.
To clarify, the only tools I will be using are…
- Tricube Tales Solo
- With official deck (any 52 card deck works but you want four jokers added in)
- Tricube Tales: Interstellar Smugglers*
- 3d6 Dice, one different to be “first”
- Notepad++ and GIMP to keep track of quick notes and doodles
- Cezar Capacle’s Random Realities for any additional oracle work
- This blog to record everything
[COLD OPENING]
The Wetumpkan Fruitbat weaves through space near the Mantis Cluster. Somewhere out there, the Voidwraith is tracking. A Zwartz-class enforcer ship. After the ‘Bat because…
Doug’s Note: Normally you can use 3d6 to determine the mission, in this case I want to figure out what mission the character was on when it went south.
- Objective 4 → Military Scientist wanted safe transport to be near her family
- Location 3 → Far Frontier (which, in The Slice, would be closer to the Galactic Center)
- Complication 5 → Malfunction
…because the person piloting was supposed to be helping Elania Morris. United Slice Planetary Confederation scientist conscripted to work on self-piloting war machines who claimed she was being forced to sell USPC tech straight to Corps. She just wanted to go home. Would have paid pretty well but the ‘Bat lost cloaking at the worst time.
To the Voidwraith probably looked like a sneak attack. The man piloting…
- Geoffram “Jeff” Longst: Agile Technophile Pilot who is a bit too Cocky.
- 3 Karma and 3 Resolve
…Jeff Longst, panicked and yanked away from the Central Mantis Cluster where Morris was waiting and went into the outer sectors. Until he picked up a Lighthouse signal from MC174-3, designated Orestes. A quick scan shows it as seemingly abandoned.
He aims the ‘Bat straight for it, knowing that the Robin Redbreast is on its way and can outfly even a Zwartz-class ship…
having no idea that it is not as abandoned as it seems.
THEME MUSIC STARTS BLARING!
[COMMERCIAL BREAK 1]
Ok, the set-up is kind of obvious. Jeff is going to be on a colony which has been torn apart by something. We’ll call this the Primary/King plot. I do not know what the creature is only that it is some sort of creature or creatures. Every King card will be an encounter. “Good” encounters will be 2-Effort. “Bad” will be 3-Effort. An additional card will be used to describe the shape of the encounter. Losing all Resolve to the creature(s) will be death.
The Voidwraith is closing in the Secondary/Queen plot will involve them. Same 2-/3-Effort system. Losing all Resolve to the Voidwraith will be capture.
The Tertiary/Jack plot will be the Robin Redbreast landing and rescuing Jeff. A “Good” plot point is just a sign that it’s working. A “Bad” will require some additional roll that Jeff needs to perform. Failure will lose the card. Two Jacks will finish the game.
Due to the nature of this beast, ANY Jack/King/Queen counts…not just the main-card ones.
Those are the three main endings. ONLY if the Robin Redbreast ending happens is there still a chance to help Morris escape. In any scene where both cards agree on the SUIT, it will be 1-3 Effort depending on what the lowest card says (easy = 1, hard = 3) with the difficulty of the highest card [with lost Resolve per miss]. Every three “successful scene” cards will generate a Fudge It token but Jeff (meaning “me”) starts with zero.
Normally, I tend to play with 2-4 characters and treat death as more of a concept that reality. In this one, Jeff is more likely to perish or get captured before getting rescued.
With the potential large (or very short) number of scenes, I’ll be playing this a bit more like skipping stones. Let’s see how long this goes.
[SCENE 1] Landing…
Let’s start with seeing what it takes to land the ‘Bat.
- 4♡ Hard Agile (right off the bat, pun intended)
- 8♡ Easy Crafty
Hard Agile/Crafty with 1 Effort.
Orestes is on a dark rocky shore next to what might have once been a sea. Like most of the planets in the complicated Mantis Cluster, immensely complicated gravitational forces of inner galaxy stars has caused the planets to enter into long term multi-stellar orbits. Unfortunately for MC174-3, it went from being too close to a couple of stars for too long, burned into an ember, and then got flung into a stable orbit too far away to recover any life.
However, the place is full of heavy metallic elements and compounds. The corpse of at least two generations of stellar birth. Great for mining. Terrible for vacations.
Jeff aims for a shallow cliff near Orestes to ditch the ‘Bat. It should be somewhat shielded from the Voidwraith’s scanners.
- 3d6 vs Hard Agile/Crafty → 2,5,1 = a miss. Alas, technophile doesn’t quite match what would be needed so we’ll say -1 Resolve and this is now a crash site.
Unfortunately he is a bit too low and a bit too fast as he enters the rim and skims across the top before dropping into the ancient, very rocky, seabed below.
[SCENE 2] Escaping the “sea bed” …
- Main Card: 7♢ Hard Brawny (oh no)
- Secondary Card: 9♢ Standard Crafty
2-Effort Hard Brawny/Crafty. This is about to be a *really* short game.
Jeff looks up the cliff and realizes it will take a mixture of strength and smarts to find a way out.
On his first attempt…
- 2d6 vs Hard (6) → 4,4 = Nope. Another -1 Resolve. He only has one left.
…he only gets a bit a few meters up the cliff before tumbling down and adding what feels like a cracked rib to his problem.
Before he tries again, he goes into the ‘Bat and rips out a few anti-grav modules.
- 2d6 vs… → 5,2 = -1 Karma to use the module for 1 success.
- 2d6 vs… → 5,3 = -1 Karma. Jeff now has just 1 Resolve and 1 Karma left but has gained a single “win card”.
[SCENE 3] Trying the back door…
- Main Card: 10♢ Hard Crafty [ahahahahahaha]
- Secondary Card: 8♣
At least it’s not an Effort struggle this time around.
- 2d6 vs Hard (6) → No.
The old door resists all of Jeff’s efforts to get it open. He keeps glancing around to see if the Voidwraith is above. A few lights in the dark sky glint in his atmo-helmet, but he can’t be sure any are the ship he is afraid of seeing.
He needs to get inside, fast. He starts looking for another way…
[SCENE 4] The Wraiths attack…
- Main Card: Q♢ Secondary Plot, Positive…
- Secondary Card (again): 4♢ Hard Agile…
Dude is the most cursed character I have played in a bit…
…alas, it turns out some of the lights really were the Voidwraith. The smaller Wraith modules are detaching and searching for him. Getting closer and closer.
- 3d6 vs Hard (6) → 2,4,3 = No, not even enough to use Karma on…
As he is trying to get into a air vent, a stun prod catches him the back. He’s being lifted out as he sees another trio of Wraiths starting to lift the ‘Bat.
If he sells out Morris, he might can get a reduced sentence, but there is lots of contraband on the ‘Bat so it might not really matter.
…and deep in The Orestes, something roarrrrrrssss….unheard in the near vacuum of MC247-3’s barely there atmosphere.
[END CREDITS] Doug’s Commentary
Well, I thought we would at least get inside of the creature-containing old space colony but four scenes involving Hard rolls and three scenes involving loss of Effort? That’s tough. Really tough.
It could be fun to explore either Elania Morris’s plight OR what actually stalks the Orestes but for now this chapter is at a close.
Maybe the next spooky/horror-game will actually get to the horror. Maybe not. Jeff’s curse might be a particular horror all on its own.