The void stretches forever, the empty, silent darkness broken only by occasional stars, satellites and planets. While thousands, perhaps millions, of ships sail this celestial sea every day, many of those who leave port simply vanish into the black, never to be seen or heard from again.

Some of these ships are found again, though… much to the regret of those who stumble across them.

While some of these vessels met with common disasters and system failures, others have been the victim of far worse fates. Some have been overrun by colonies of sentient fungi which sees interlopers as a new food source. Others were struck by betrayal, or madness. Some may be floating outposts for black hearted pirates, or dark sites that contain the horrors governments don’t want their citizens to see. Some contain anomalies that science simply cannot explain… anomalies that will leave another ship dead in the void if those who discover it don’t flee quickly enough.

The following ships and scenarios are meant to inspire Game Masters, and they can be used with a variety of sci fi RPGs. Whether you wish to use them as mere background and rumor heard round the starport, or if you want to use them as a basis for entire arcs of your game, is up to you!

To use the list, either roll d100 for a random result or select appropriate ones manually.

Here are some sample results:

66. Twisted Helix
This abandoned vessel has the massive proportions of an off-world grow ship, where entire crops can be grown and harvested in record time. The whole ship stinks of musk and excrement, though, and the sounds of bellowing, screaming beasts can be heard off in the echoing corridors. Corpses in white coats fill the hallways, all of them torn apart, the bodies bearing the marks of teeth, and what look like particularly strong fingers. Those who explore deeper into the ship catch glimpses of terrible creatures. From a distance they can be mistaken for disfigured men, but those who get closer see they have beady eyes and jutting tusks… features that speak of a far more brutish origin. Illicit experiments were conducted here by scientists attempting to make more intelligent, faster-growing animals who could be harvested for both replacement organs as well as meat. It seems the scientists succeeded at their task, but didn’t anticipate the pigs wouldn’t go quietly to the slaughter.

67. A Bad Trek
The interior of this lost pleasure cruiser is a bloody massacre. Bodies have been left strewn about the interior of the ship, most of them covered in deep wounds left behind by teeth and nails. The eyes and tongue have been gouged out of every single corpse, and closer inspection reveals the damage was self-inflicted. The center of the ship has been converted into some kind of laboratory complex filled with a number of controlled substances, all of which would require corporate backing to acquire. There isn’t a single serial number, logo or invoice that gives an insight as to which corporation is responsible for this floating death center, though. Those who find the private quarters of the head researcher find her headless body seated at her desk with her console still open, and a video journal still open in front of her. The video shows the director, her mood manic, her eyes dilated as she speaks. “Since we first discovered herbs and medicines, we have tried to peel back the veil. We have seen it. We have all seen it. The three-lobed burning eye never sleeps, and the Whisperer in the Void is never silent. There is only one escape for us, now.” The video ends with her placing the barrel of a boarding gun under her chin, and pulling the trigger.

68. Temptation’s Puzzle
This style of ship is common among transport vessels that deal in particularly valuable cargo. Armed and armored, the ship seems to have been adrift for some time. Those who attempt to open communications with it hear nothing, but gaining access to the ship takes a great deal of work. Once someone manages to get inside, though, they find that all the safe boxes and lock points that would usually be carrying cargo are completely bare. There is only a single item onboard, sitting on a padded cushion atop a shelf behind glass in the cargo hold. The object in question is a circular steel orb roughly the size of a man’s fist and made up of a number of parts and pieces carved with inexplicable symbols. There is no sign of any crew onboard the ship, but there are particularly notable bloodstains across the floor. Those who attempt to solve the puzzle (something the box seems to compel people to do), will begin to hear phantom sounds like bells in the distance. The orb cuts the fingers of anyone who touches it, and it seems to swallow their blood with every rotation. As the puzzle gets closer to being solved, the tolling bell grows more insistent. With every rotation, the box eats more and more of them, until they’re entirely devoured. Whether they’re dead, or taken to wherever that bell is ringing, only those who’ve solved the puzzle know for certain.rectify that.

Released: 20th September 2025 Pages: 44

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