Alternity Dark Matter The Voice

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“
The Voice
” is an introduction to the
D
ARK
·M
ATTER
™
campaign setting for the
Alternity
®
Science Fiction Roleplaying Game, a world not unlike our own – at least on the surface. Underneath
lies a shadowy world of mystery, magic and strangeness – a complex web of conspiracies covered up
by the organisations and individuals who know the truth. The heroes in the world of
D
ARK
·M
ATTER
are looking to find that truth, often as agents of the Hoffmann Institute and other secret organisations.
The
By Stephen Kenson
Illustrated by Alan Rabinowitz
First Published on Dragon #265, November 1999
First Electronic Release by Spicer
Current Electronic Release by IlCorvo
1
WHAT DO YOU NEED?
To play this solo adventure, all you need is
a pencil and some dice. Keep the hero sheet
for Diana Hunter, agent of the Hoffmann Insti-
tute, handy as you play; you'll need to refer to
it often in the adventure. Just start at “The
Call”, below, and read through it as the text
directs; you’ll learn the game mechanics as
they're needed. Important game information is
set apart from the main adventure text in side-
bars.
The
Alternity
game uses the following
dice: d20, d12, d8, d6, and d4. The d20 is the
“control die.” You always roll the control die
when you need to make a roll. The other dice
are “situation dice”, which are added to or sub-
tracted from the control die depending on the
situation's difficulty. First read “The Game
Mechanics” in the sidebar; other game me-
chanics are explained as the adventure unfolds,
starting with “The Call.”
THE GAME MECHANICS
Using the dice described above, the basic
Alternity
game rule is fairly simple. Roll
a number equal to or less than your target
score to succeed at an action. Target scores
include your ability scores, skill scores, and
action check scores. If you roll higher than the
target score, your hero fails. You always want
to roll as low as possible — the lower the roll,
the more likely the hero succeeds.
The scores on the hero sheet are divided
into three categories by slash marks. These
represent the target scores for three possible
results, respectively:
Ordinary
,
Good
, and
Amazing
. Rolling the appropriate score or
lower is an Ordinary success, one-half the
score or lower is a Good success, and one-
quarter of the score or lower is an Amazing
success. Any roll greater than the target score
is a Failure (or, in the case of an action check,
a Marginal success).
success, 6-4 is a Good success, and 3 or less is
an Amazing success.
THE CALL
You're beginning to think your contact
won't call, that you've wasted over an hour sit-
ting in your car in one of the most run-down
sections of town in the dead of night. It would-
n't be the first lead that turned out to be a dead
end—and probably not the last, either. Then
your cell-phone rings, breaking the silence.
"Hunter,” you answer.
"Hello, Diana,” comes the quiet voice from
the other end of the phone. It's your informant.
You call him the Voice. You don't know his
real name or anything else about him, except
that his information has been accurate so far.
He knows things about secret U.S. government
projects, things nobody should know, but
which match information in the Institute's most
secret files. All efforts to track him down have
failed, but that's not surprising. If anyone knew
the things that the Voice was telling the Insti-
tute, the Voice would have been killed by now.
"All right,” you tell the Voice. “I'm here.
Now what?"
"I'm glad you came, Diana,” the Voice says,
his calm tone reflecting some genuine appre-
ciation. “I'm glad you decided to trust me."
"Don't push it,” you reply. “Get to the
point."
"Of course,” the Voice says. “I want to
show you something important."
"What's that?” you ask.
"I can't tell you over an open line,” Voice
says. “You have to trust me."
Easier said than done... Still, the Voice has
been right so far, and the knowledge he has is
tantalizing. “All right,” you say.
"Good. Just follow my directions. Did you
receive the package I sent you?"
Your hand drops down to rest on the small
cardboard box on the passenger seat. It arrived
this morning from a post-office box registered
under a false name.
"Yes."
"Good. Put on the headset from the box,
then hang up your phone."
The box contains a small, sophisticated
Example:
Diana Hunter has an action
check score of 13. A 14 or greater is a Mar-
ginal success. A roll of 13-7 is an Ordinary
ALTERNITY
®
/ DARK
MATTER
TM
SCIENCE FICTION ROLEPLAYING GAME
SOLO ADVENTURE HERO SHEET: DIANA HUNTER (FRONT)
2
3
ALTERNITY
®
/ DARK
MATTER
TM
SCIENCE FICTION ROLEPLAYING GAME
SOLO ADVENTURE HERO SHEET: DIANA HUNTER (REAR)
throat-mike and headset. You take it out and
put it on, then hang up the phone.
"Can you hear me?” the Voice says over the
headset. You reply, “Yes."
"Now drive as I direct..."
You start up the car as the Voice guides you
through the darkened streets toward an area
filled with warehouses standing in dark rows.
You stop the car in a nearby alley and kill the
headlights.
"Go to the third warehouse building,” the
Voice says. “There's a side entrance with a
coded lock, but I'm sure that won't prove too
difficult for a woman of your talents."
"Then what?” you ask.
"Get inside, and you'll see,” the Voice says.
The headset falls silent.
You pause to check your equipment before
heading out, your 9mm semiautomatic fully
loaded and ready to go. You've also got a
small flashlight, and you took the precaution
of wearing some light body armor under your
dark clothing, just in case. You're as ready as
you'll ever be. You just hope that this isn't
some kind of trap.
Stepping out of the car, you approach the
warehouse carefully. There's no sign of anyone
outside. Still, you approach cautiously.
Make a Skill Check:
To approach the ware-
house unseen, make a Stealth skill check for
Diana. It's dark, and Diana is wearing dark
clothing, so roll a d20, then roll a d4 and sub-
tract it from the d20 roll. Compare the result to
Diana's Stealth skill (11).
• If the roll is a success, go to 1.
• If the roll is a failure, go to 2.
4
- 1 -
You make your way cautiously to the ware-
house door. It looks like reinforced metal with
a small electronic keypad. The door is locked,
but you should be able to decode the keypad to
get it open.
Make a Complex Skill Check:
Diana has to
overcome the electronic lock to open the door
into the warehouse. Fortunately, she has the
Knowledge-computer operations
skill to allow
her to do so. Roll against Diana's skill of 13
with a d20.
Overcoming the computerized lock is a
complex skill check
, so Diana must accumulate
more than 1 success. In this case, she must roll
skill checks until she achieve 5 successes be-
fore rolling 2 failures. Each roll of the dice
represents 1 minute of work on the lock. An
Ordinary result counts as 1 success, a Good
COMBAT AND DAMAGE
Secondary Damage:
For every 2 points of mortal damage Diana causes to an opponent, she
also inflicts 1 point of wound damage and 1 point of stun damage. For every 2 points of wound
damage, she also causes 1 point of stun damage.
Results of Damage:
For each point of damage inflicted, mark off one point of durability from a
character (stun, wound, or mortal, depending on the type of damage). If all of a character's stuns or
wounds are marked off, the character falls unconscious. If all of a character's mortal points are
marked off, the character dies.
Recovery:
Stun damage is temporary, and any stun damage a character has disappears at the end
of a scene. (Each of the numbered sections is one scene.) Wound damage remains until healed by
rest and medical attention. Mortal damage requires the use of Medical Science-surgery and medi-
cal attention to recover.
Armor:
Some characters wear armor. After a successful attack, roll to see if the armor protects.
For example, Diana's armor offers d6-2 points of protection against high impact (HI) weapons like
guns. Any result of 0 or less means no protection. Any positive result is subtracted from the
amount of damage inflicted.
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