TEXT: LO-FI SCI-FI RPG • JASON TOCCI
  COSMIC
  HIGHWAY
  
  RULES
  CHARACTERS
  PLAY: Players describe what their characters do.
  The GM advises when their action is impossible,
  requires extra steps, demands a cost, or presents
  a risk. Players only roll to avoid risks.
  ROLLING: Roll a d6 skill die — higher with a rele-
  vant skill, or d4 if hindered by injury or
  circumstances. If helped by circumstances, roll an
  extra d6; if helped by an ally, they roll their skill
  die and share the risk. Take the highest die.
  1–2 Disaster. Suﬀer the full risk. GM decides if
  you succeed at all. If risking death, you die.
  3–4 Setback. A lesser consequence or partial
  success. If risking death, you’re maimed.
  5+
  Success. The higher the roll, the better.
  If success can’t get you what you want (you make
  the shot, but it’s bulletproof!), you’ll at least get
  useful info or set up an advantage.
  LOAD: Carry as much as makes sense, but more
  than one bulky item may hinder you at times.
  ADVANCEMENT: After a job, increase a skill
  (none➡d8➡d10➡d12), gain d6 credits (₡).
  DEFENSE: Say how one of your items breaks to
  turn a hit into a brief hindrance. Broken gear is
  useless until repaired.
  HARM: If killed, make a new character to be
  introduced ASAP. Favor inclusion over realism.
  SHIP: During an emergency, choose a duty to act
  or help with (e.g., command, piloting, sensors,
  weapons, engineering, boarding, etc.).
  RUNNING THE GAME: Lead the group in setting
  lines not to cross in play. Fast-forward, pause, or
  rewind/redo scenes for pacing and safety, and
  invite players to do likewise. Present dilemmas
  and problems you don’t know how to solve. Move
  the spotlight to give everyone time to shine. Test
  periodically for bad luck (e.g., run out of ammo, or
  into guards) — roll d6 to check for (1–2) trouble
  now or (3–4) signs of trouble.
  ►Choose your character’s specialty.
  CAPTAIN: Skilled in Persuasion (d8), Intimidation
  (d8). Take 1 ship upgrade of your choice.
  DOCTOR: Skilled in Medicine (d8), Reading
  People (d8). Take a medical bay for the ship.
  DRIFTER: Stowaway, passenger, or itinerant
  worker. Apply 3 skill increases as you like.
  ENGINEER: Skilled in Electronics (d8), Engines
  (d8). Take a sensors or drive upgrade.
  GUNNER: Skilled in Shooting (d8), Explosives
  (d8). Take a weapons upgrade or an armory.
  PILOT: Skilled in Piloting (d8), Navigation (d8).
  Take a drive upgrade or a shuttle.
  ►Choose your character’s origin.
  DOWNSIDER: Apply 3 skill increases as you like
  (three d8 skills, one d12 skill, or a d8 and d10).
  SPACER: Skilled in Spacewalking (d8) plus 3 skill
  increases. May be hindered in high gravity.
  ►Choose skills (as prompted), or make some up.
  Climbing, Connections, Deception, Hacking,
  Electronics, Engines, Explosives, Forgery, Hand-
  to-hand, Intimidation, Labor, Persuasion, Piloting,
  Reading People, Running, Shooting, Sleight of
  Hand, Spacewalking, Stealth, Tracking
  ►Take a commlink (smartphone) and 2. Most
  individual items cost ₡1 each. Ignore microcre-
  dit transactions (e.g., crowbar, knife, meal).
  ARMOR: Vest (break once for defense), battle
  armor (₡2, bulky, break up to 3×), hardsuit (₡3,
  bulky, break up to 3×, vacuum-rated, mag boots).
  WEAPONS: Grenades (4, any of fragmentation,
  ﬂashbang, smoke, EMP), pistol, riﬂe (bulky),
  shotgun (bulky), stun baton, tranq gun.
  TOOLS: Flame thrower (bulky), low-G jetpack,
  med scanner, repair tools, survey pack (climbing
  gear, ﬂare gun, mapper, tent; bulky), welding gun.
  
  SHIP
  DETAILS
  ►Your ship comes with the basic version of each
  of the following. Upgrades each cost ₡10.
  COMMS: Hail nearby ships and relay communica-
  tions with away teams. Upgrade with
  eavesdropper, jammer, tachyon burst (eliminates
  in-system lag, but when used in the same room,
  signal plays a split-second before you speak).
  CRAFTS: Escape pod ﬁts 4, emits tachyon dis-
  tress beacon. Upgrade with additional escape
  pod, ﬁghter (ﬁts 2, armed, sub-light only), shuttle
  (ﬁts 8, sub-light only, reentry-rated hull).
  EQUIPMENT: Includes vac suits for entire crew.
  Upgrade with armory (bulky riﬂes, stun batons),
  heavy loader (robotic exo-frame), monitoring
  gear (body cams, homing beacons), mining gear
  (drills, explosives), tow cable.
  HULL ARMOR: Break harmlessly for defense.
  Upgrade with heavy armor (break 3 times),
  reentry-rated (land on planets with atmosphere),
  sun shielding (for Mercury-range exposure).
  JUMP DRIVE: Required for interstellar travel.
  Upgrade with supercooled (faster/longer range).
  SENSORS: Discern between large objects in
  nearby space. Upgrade with deep-space sensors
  (100× reach), life-sign scan (rough count on
  nearby vessel or colony), planetary survey (topo-
  graphic/atmospheric scan), probes, tactical scan
  (details nearby ship’s active systems).
  SPACES: Includes bridge, cargo hold, barracks,
  galley, life support. Upgrade with brig, gym,
  lounge, living quarters, medical bay, secret
  compartments, science lab.
  SUB-LIGHT DRIVE: Suitable for slow burn in
  space. Upgrade with maneuvering thrusters (help
  evasion), racing engine (help speed).
  WEAPONS: Standard defense turrets are only
  useful for deﬂecting asteroids and torpedoes.
  Upgrade with laser cutter, military-grade turret,
  torpedo (1 EMP or warhead), torpedo tube.
  ►Invent or roll for personal & team details.
  NAME
  1
  Acker
  2
  Black
  3
  Cruz
  4
  Dallas
  5
  Engel
  6
  Fox
  7
  Gee
  8
  Haak
  9
  Iyer
  10
  Joshi
  11
  Kask
  12
  Lee
  13
  Moss
  14
  Nash
  15
  Park
  16
  Qadir
  17
  Singh
  18
  Tran
  19
  Ueda
  20
  Zheng
  PATCH
  1
  2
  53% H2O
  3
  BAMF
  4
  BUY TERRAN
  5
  Caduceus
  6
  Ghostbusters logo
  7
  Ford logo
  8
  GEEK
  9
  GMO free
  10
  Hard Rock Cafe, Io
  11
  Low-battery icon
  12
  NASA logo
  13
  NY Mets logo
  14
  Peace sign
  15
  Robot rights NOW
  16
  Skull & cross-riﬂe
  17
  Spacer Local 5990
  18
  ↑THIS END UP↑
  19
  U. of Titan logo
  20
  Winged skull
  CREW ATTIRE
  1
  Baggy astronaut
  2
  Bomber jacket
  3
  Cabled sweater
  4
  Dress uniform
  5
  Grimy coverall
  6
  Merc fatigues
  7
  Navy peacoat
  8
  Neat jumpsuit
  9
  Pulpy spacesuit
  10
  Racing ﬁresuit
  11
  Rocketeer jacket
  12
  Ship logo t-shirt
  13
  Space activity suit
  14
  Space pirate chic
  15
  Street clothes
  16
  Stylish mismatch
  17
  Silver ﬂight suit
  18
  Trucker hat
  19
  Two-tone bodysuit
  20
  Vests & dusters
  SHIP NAME
  1
  Arion
  2
  Blackjack
  3
  Caleuche
  4
  Canary
  5
  Caprice
  6
  Chance
  7
  Darter
  8
  Falkor
  9
  Highway Star
  10
  Moonshot
  11
  Morgenstern
  12
  Phoenix
  13
  Peregrine
  14
  Restless
  15
  Silver Blaze
  16
  Stardust
  17
  Sunchaser
  18
  Swift
  19
  Thunder Road
  20
  Wayfarer
  
  ►Jobs
  1
  Claim bounty on an accused terrorist
  2
  Evacuate a colony before meteorite strike
  3
  Ferry client (a retired pirate) to a wedding
  4
  Gather data from inside strange nebula
  5
  Intercept a shipment (meds for the needy)
  6
  Investigate inexplicably abandoned station
  7
  Make delivery to hidden asteroid belt base
  8
  Mine a certain asteroid for mysterious ore
  9
  Mine inhospitable world for valuable ore
  10
  Salvage (seemingly) alien vessel or artifact
  11
  Salvage ship (military, client fails to note)
  12
  Salvage ship with (weird, unlikely) survivor
  13
  Salvage wreck (with a strange pathogen)
  14
  Ship “superpigs” (that seem to watch you)
  15
  Smuggle a (seemingly) benign crop
  16
  Smuggle (illegal and stolen) tech
  17
  Smuggle weapons to “freedom ﬁghters”
  18
  Tow a derelict with (fugitive) survivors
  19
  Transport humanitarian aid to a war zone
  20
  Transport vials (fragile, with hallucinogens)
  ►Twists
  1
  Bonus if you get it done quietly
  2
  Bounty hunters after you (erroneously?)
  3
  Deal’s oﬀ if you incite any violence
  4
  Distress signal, not quite on the way
  5
  Extremely tight deadline
  6
  Got some kind of infection on last job
  7
  Infamous politician gets in touch directly
  8
  Insurance adjuster demands passage
  9
  Local sun scrambles ship systems
  10
  Location gradually makes you sick
  11
  Location makes you black out sometimes
  12
  Military checkpoints and blockade
  13
  Old ally in a tough spot asks for a favor
  14
  Organized crime syndicate demands tribute
  15
  Pirates!
  16
  Rival crew trying to steal the job
  17
  Route dangerously close to black hole
  18
  Shakedown by authorities
  19
  Stowaway (annoying, possibly lovable)
  20
  Your ship reported stolen for some reason
  ►Ship problems (₡1 each to get ﬁxed)
  1
  Airlock must be cycled a few times to open
  2
  Artiﬁcial gravity gives out from time to time
  3
  Comms are always staticky, garbled
  4
  Console powers up after banging bulkhead
  5
  Coolant leak leaving puddles all over
  6
  Environmental controls stuck on freezing
  7
  Escape pod giving an error message
  8
  Fuel cells leaking from who knows where
  9
  Hold doors won’t open more than halfway
  10
  Inertial dampeners sometimes glitch
  11
  Jump drive misses coordinates by a lot
  12
  Persistent fungal growth on hull
  13
  Power cables chewed by space pests
  14
  Proximity alarms loudly, erroneously go oﬀ
  15
  Screen ﬂickers while plotting jumps
  16
  Sensor array has a big blind spot
  17
  Thruster outage complicates maneuvering
  18
  Unidentiﬁable banging noise in walls
  19
  Waste disposal not cycling properly
  20
  Weapon targeting oﬀ by several degrees
  ►Roll d6 to try to ﬁnd a job. Spend ₡1 to re-roll.
  1–2 Nothing. Roll on “Ship problems.”
  3–4 Found a job, but roll on “Ship problems.”
  5–6 Choose between 2 jobs.
  YOU’VE GOT A SHIP. You’ve got a crew. Now you
  need the credits to keep ’em ﬂying. Salvage,
  smuggle, shoot, or speed your way to your next
  payday. Come on—let’s go space truckin’.
  ►Locations
  1
  Brahe’s moon, bad atmosphere, good soil
  2
  Branislava’s Arms Emporium
  3
  Chill-E ice hauling facility in planetary rings
  4
  Colony, settled by Church of the Hive Mind
  5
  Control Tower AA-83 (“hey hey, leave it be”)
  6
  Darcy’s Hope, struggling colony world
  7
  Derelict battlecruiser with all escape pods
  8
  Draugr, low-G pulsar planet, odd structures
  9
  Emerald, a gated community/oﬃce park
  10
  The Gremlin, making fence service runs
  11
  Hyperborea, “paradise” with no-ﬂy warning
  12
  Judd’s Fuel Stop in the Oort cloud
  13
  K&M mining facility in an asteroid belt
  14
  Military academy on a high-G world
  15
  Moon laboratory, hidden on dark side
  16
  Ra, city inside a hollow, spinning asteroid
  17
  Slinger’s, a posh orbital casino
  18
  Space elevator docking station
  19
  The Victory, a drifting ﬂea market
  20
  Yoshida’s, a blessed dive of scum & villainy
  Version 1.3. Art CC BY BEEPLE. More 2400 at jasontocci.itch.io/2400
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/2400 System/2400 Cosmic Highway [v1.3]/2400 Cosmic Highway v1.3 singles.pdf