Beacon Rules Tri

MESSAGEBEACON
EXPLORING OTHER SYSTEMS

A System can only be scanned from within its System
Star hex. You must make a hyperspace journey between
System Star hexes in order to discover new systems.
Travel between systems must always end in the System
Star hex. Hyperspace travel from one System Star hex
to another System Star hex depletes 1 fuel cell per
hex traversed.
Fuel can be replenished via harvesting from capable

stars or by refueling at human artifacts and
habitations (Diamonds).
To harvest a fuel star, roll 1D6. Increase your fuel

by the result. You can refuel an additional 1D4 fuel
cells if there are any human artifact/habitation
hexes in the System. A ship can hold a maximum of 10
fuel cells.
ENDING
The game ends when you've searched the entire sector,
when you've run out of fuel, when you’re run out of
cards to draw, or when you have your answers. But you
never will. There's always more signal in the noise.
INSPIRATION
This game has taken significant mechanical inspiration
from Alone Among the Stars, The Black Hack, and The
Wretched, with setting, style, and technology
inspiration from TTRPGs like Mothership and Stars
Without Number and video games like No Man's Sky and
Elite Dangerous.
A GAME BY RYAN LALIBERTY 2023

EXPLORING THE SYSTEM DECRYPTION
BEACON is a game about asking questions and parsing
answers from the noise that responds. You must "scan" a System in order to discover its You use your Ship Computer to decrypt beacon
contents. datastreams. You can only decrypt message beacons in
You are the one who stayed behind. All that can be a System from the System Star hex of that System.
found of the ship you should have been on are the To scan a System, you must be in the System Star Hex.
message beacons — heavily encrypted excerpts of the First, roll 1D6 for the System Star. On a 5+, it can Decryption rolls alway start with 1D12 and reduce
ship's log and data recorder flung out into the black at be harvested for fuel. Next, for the 6 hexes down a die size for every failed roll (D12 > D10 >
intervals. The vessel itself can no longer be located. immediately surrounding the System Star, draw a card D8 > D6).
to reveal what's there.
You set out into the black with your ship, scanner, To decrypt a message beacon, roll your decryption
and computer. You have to scan the sector and the Label and describe the locations if you want to. They die against a target number of 6. If you equal or
stellar systems within, locate the beacons, and probably already have names, but it's your logbook, exceed the target, you have decrypted a portion of
parse the signals encrypted in their noise. space is vast, and time is fleeting. Mark the the message. You can choose to expend any number of
locations in some way on the map. fuel cells to increase your roll by 1.
Your goal is to construct a narrative of what
happened with whatever contextual clues and partial Spades and Clubs are nothing but the black vastness You'll roll on the Message table for every success.
messages you're able to pull from their garbled of space and the quiet vibrations of your drive and If you fail, reduce down a die and roll again.
datastreams. life support system.
Continue to roll, noting successes and reducing down
MATERIALS Hearts are celestial bodies – terrestrial worlds of a die every time you fail. Roll until the target is
You will need a set of polyhedral dice, a deck of rock and ice, water worlds with sprawling white and too high to be hit or when you fail on a D6 roll.
playing cards with both jokers, pen/paper to keep a blue oceans, swirling gas giants, or rare Earth-like You can only attempt to decrypt a beacon once.
ship's log, and a blank hex map. worlds with deep blue water and great land masses.
For every success, roll 1D20 and 1D8 on the
Diamonds are human artifacts and habitations - Message Table — D20 for the row and D8 for the
PLAYING BEACON research outposts of chrome and white plastic, column. Write the word down.
Answer the following questions in your ship's log. massive orbital stations, derelict mining rigs caked
Random tables are provided for inspiration. with the dust of their catch, capital ships of the When you've rolled for every word, assemble what
great federation navy, or the remnants of wrecked meaning you can. The words have no inherent order.
What is your name? What is your ship's name? What is ships. It is ok to add words or ignore words. Many times,
your background? What is the ship you’re looking for? the meaning will not be clear or you might only have
What was the expedition? Why weren't you there? The card value dictates how many beacons are present a couple of words. Apply context — where the beacon
in the hex. Number cards have 1 beacon. Face cards was found, other messages in the system, your
You start with 1D6 fuel cells. Fuel is expended and aces have 2 beacons. For Spades and Clubs, roll starting questions. It is up to you to parse meaning
during hyperspace travel between star systems. 1D6. On a 4+, they have 1 beacon. from the noise.
You'll begin in the center of your hex map — draw a If you reveal the Joker card, draw another card. If If you’re scanning multiple message beacons in the
star. This is the System Star for the first System the next card is red, proceed onto the next hex — you same hex, you can wait until all words have been
you'll explore. Now, generate the rest of the sector have avoided the danger. If the card is black... revealed before attempting to parse the meaning.
— For each of the 6 hex sides on the System Star
hex, roll 1D6. If you roll greater than or equal to Your ship shuts down and your vision stretches out as At the end of the game, bring all of the messages
4, draw another System Star that many hexes away. the world is pulled apart, yanked towards an together and try to weave a narrative between them.
invisible center. The game ends. What meaning can you Write as much or as little as you'd like.
The hexes immediately surrounding a System Star have make as you approach black oblivion where not even a
the potential to be worlds where beacons can be star shines?
found and decrypted. These will be generated when
you enter the System Star hex of each System. Do not reshuffle drawn cards back into the deck.

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MESSAGEBEACON

EXPLORING OTHER SYSTEMS

Fuel can be replenished via harvesting from capable

To harvest a fuel star, roll 1D6. Increase your fuel

A GAME BY RYAN LALIBERTY 2023

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