riffing off Passengers

[Johan Larson]

The movie Passengers is about two people aboard an interstellar hibernation ship who awaken early. Way early.

Let's see what RPG scenarios we can come up with, based on this idea.

1. The goal is to redirect the ship. The PCs are agents of a rival faction that is in favor of a different target world than the one selected. The ship is loyal to its original mission and will try to stop them with internal security systems when the PCs' intentions become clear.

2. The goal is to survive. The PCs' hibernation capsules failed, but they are alive. Unfortunately there are only a few days of emergency rations nearby and the ship isn't currently aware of their presence. The PCs will have to try to repair the hibernation capsules or try to survive awake for decades in an environment that wasn't designed for it.

3. The goal is to figure what's going on. The ship woke up the PCs because something is wrong. But it isn't sure what the problem is. Malfunctioning subsystems? Ghosts? Data corruption? Stowaways? Micrometeorite damage? Something isn't right.

Other possibilities?

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Johan Larson

3. The goal is to figure what's going on. The ship woke up the PCs because something is wrong. But it isn't sure what the problem is. Malfunctioning subsystems? Ghosts? Data corruption? Stowaways? Micrometeorite damage? Something isn't right.

I came up with a similar scenario for a game concept.

The PCs awaken from emergency hibernation. Reactivated from backup, the ship's AI doesn't have access to memories of the last several days, and because of entering hibernation without the proper medical preparation, neither do the PCs. The ship's internal systems are mostly down, and the game proceeds as you navigate and slowly reactivate the systems of the damaged ship. Gradually, it begins to look like the AI killed the rest of the crew, and the AI suggests you take it offline for your own safety.