This article originally appeared in Pyramid #18

First Contact

An Adventure for GURPS Space
by Scott Tengelin

Introduction

A distant, backwater alien race — now known as the Xrex — has recently developed space travel. In order to properly integrate them into the Galactic Community, Councilman Johnathan Rake (galactic head of diplomacy) is sending one of the Federation's top diplomats to the Xrex system. The PCs are contacted to escort the Irari diplomat, Telraree, to visit the Xrex and return.

PCs should be around the 100-150 point range, created with GURPS Space, and may use any of the standard PC races from GURPS Aliens. This adventure assumes there is some galactic community or federation of worlds. If the characters do not have a ship of their own, they may travel along with Telraree on board a Federation ship, piloted by a member of the Federation's navy. In this case, the PCs would only be Telraree's bodyguards.

Because of the multitude of races in this adventure, there is a short glossary for those without GURPS Aliens.

The Factions

The Federation is not the only group interested in the Xrex. The Markann have just discovered them, and are naturally curious (to the point of cruel experimentation). Also, there is a small cult of diverse peoples, the Cult of Chuchek, that follows an insane priest who claims that the Xrex are "demons" and their appearance heralds the end of the world. Neither the cult nor the Markann are aware of each other, but both realize the Federation's interest in the Xrex, and will learn quickly . . .

This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.



Article publication date: March 1, 1996

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