Starman’s Village

Population: 774

This is the Player’s starting point for any Gamma World Texas Campaign adventure. They are presumed to begin as young adults in this village equipped with primitive weapons, armor and equipment. As their first task, to complete their rite-of-passage and become adults (and Novices) after they are tasked by the village chief to travel to the nearby Hunter’s Village which is located about 25 miles North (A two day journey) to carry a secret message, as well as much needed medical supplies, and herbs, to the village elders there.

Map Key

1. Star Hall. The place where everyone meets with the elders to discuss important issues.
2. Armory. Weapons, but only for clansmen. Outsiders can buy weapons with permission, and only after making a vow of peace or brotherhood with the Starmen Clans.
Weapons Available: Long Bow, Short Sword, Hunting Knife, and Spears.
3. Community Kitchen and Dining Hall. Food preparation area for the entire tribe. Almost always busy.
4. Star Captain’s House.
5. The Trading Circle. Various merchants here have booths, kiosks, or traders carts to trade during the day. At night the booths and kiosks are closed, and the carts wheeled back to the clan houses.
6. Library. The Starmen keep a library of books and information that they have collected from the pre-war era. They also make their own paper here, and record their history as it unfolds.
7. Trader’s Store. These are permanent merchants and include a blacksmith to forge weapons, tools, parts, and supplies. It includes a leathersmith who makes armor, and carrying bags, backpacks, belts, and boots. It includes a weaponsmith who can craft swords, spears, bows, arrows, and daggers.
8. Wolf Clan House. Clan house of the warriors, scouts, and runners.
9. Bear Clan House. Clan house of the farmers and gatherers.
10. Horse Clan House. Clan house of the scribes and animal handlers.
11. Eagle Clan House. Clan house of the descendants of the starmen.
12. Fish Clan House. Clan house of the fishermen and boatbuilders. Also includes an adjacent smokehouse where smoked fish is dried for all the clans and to trade with.
13. Water Purification Lodge. Members of the horse clan, filter with charcoal, purify, and distill pure water here. They use techniques and equipment of the ancients to remove biological and radiation hazards from water.
14. Shaman’s Lodge. Lodge of the Clans healers and Medicine men. Come here for a herbal remedy, and to have wounds treated. The men of the village have a wound salve; the secret of which is known only by the Healer and the Star Captain. A wound anointed with this salve does not rot. It is wisdom from the old days which has saved many lives.
15. Northeast Watchtower. 60’ wooden tower with 1d4+1 guards on watch at all times to protect the village.
16. Southeast Watchtower. 60’ wooden tower with 1d4+1 guards on watch at all times to protect the village.
17. Southwest Watchtower. 60’ wooden tower with 1d4+1 guards on watch at all times to protect the village.
18. Northwest Watchtower. 60’ wooden tower with 1d4+1 guards on watch at all times to protect the village.
19. High Rock. Where the clans gather to conduct weddings, rites of passage, festivals and other religious ceremonies.

About The Starmen

The Star Men have records to prove that their forefathers had traveled to other worlds as traders and scientists engaged in secret research.
“Our forefathers were brought to this place because they were truly men of the stars. They landed here because this was the place where their forefathers were being trained to a life on distant stars, on other worlds. The records tell us that man had conquered space when his madness fell upon them and they reached again for slaying weapons.”

The Star Men have a book of jotted fragments of messages from the war. This book speaks of invaders from the sky, enemies who struck with paralyzing swiftness. The radiation sickness cut the number of survivors in Star Village to less then half within two years after the war. The radiation sickness had been fatal to the dogs of the region, but the tribe adopted large cats and wolves in their stead. The men of Star Village are a small tribe of few clans. The men of Star Villlage have outposts scattered around the region (to alert them of intruders?). In the winter time they often go lean and hungry for the mountains are a hard country.

The Starmen trade, and are allied with the villagers of the Hunter’s Village. The often clash with the mutants and beastmen that live in the mountains to the West.

A mutant is deemed a full man and if born of a clan is deemed a member of that clan. Any man who has been called to the council fire (for some malfeasance) and hasn’t answered is outlawed and banished to the wilderness. Any man who has been outlawed has the right of repeal for a period of six mooons.

The Elders of Star Village

Guardian (the leader of the Elders?)
Shaman and the Healers(Healers)
Recorder (Horse Clan)
Master of the Fields (Bear Clan)
Commander of the Hunters (Wolf Clan)
Commander of the Defenders (Wold Clan)
The Star Captain (Eagle Clan – Starmen Descendants)

Symbols – Twin snakes coiled about a staff — the universal sign of the healer. Balanced scales of justice

The Animal Handlers of the Horse Clan train animals, Horses, Mules, Cougars, Panthers, Lions, Tigers, Eagles, Falcons, Ferrets, and Wolves. Any Starman can pick an animal companion from these, or have an animal totem assigned to him by the Star Captain or Shaman of the village, and will rfeceive an animal companion.

The Starmen Have an ancient cave sheltered hydrofarm nearby with functioning robots that do the bidding of the Starmen.

They use flint and steel. The men of the village have lost the secret of fashioning plate glass, and glassblowing. The Star Men know about cars and understand their workings but the materials and fuel for their production are unknown.

Star Men are honored by the tribe, consecrated to the gathering and treasuring of knowledge, to the breaking of new trails and the exploration of lost lands. Every year at the council fire candidates are chosen to be trained as Star Men.

Trainees are called Novices. They must learn trails, Read/Write, to Map/Observe, and find one of the intelligent hunting cats as a companion. All of these things must be done to be chosen as a Novice. Potential candidates have a 6 year window of opportunity.

A Novice can expect: more schooling, 15-20 years of roving the lowlands, further honored years to look forward to as an instructor and guardian of knowledge.

Star Hall: made of stone, bunks of the Star Men on duty are in the forepart of the house, there is a storage room in the back that contains: blankets, canteens, traveler’s corn (parched corn). In the middle of the building is a large room with long tables, benches, and the pouches of the Star Men. The Star Hall has a big map to which is added a tiny mark at the return of each roving explorer.

The Star Captain is exempt from travel, it is his duty to remain at the village and portion out the tasks of other Star Men. Star Men carry a shoulder bag (called a star pouch), with a badge (five pointed star).

Star Men Weapons: Long Bow, Short Sword, Hunting Knife, Spear.

It is the law that all of a Star Man’s weapons must be made with his own hands. It is the law that to eat food found in the old places is to court death.

Once or twice before the Star Men have discovered a ruined city only to have another tribe discover and stake a claim to the city before they could return. In the past twenty years the Star Men have mapped four cities, one of which is “sand city”. These cities were known to other tribes and were combed almost clean or else were held by the Beast Things and were unsafe.

Star Men have found atomic powered cars almost intact.

The Star Men wear homespun leggings, belts, boots, and a sleeveless jerkin which is laced across the chest. The Star Men have steel tipped arrows into which is set a tiny silver star.
Every Star Man keeps a daily journal.

Star Men scouting rules (ruined cities): Look For
Libraries
Hospitals
Hardware Stores
Paper and kindred supplies

Avoid Food, even if found in unbroken containers.

No one has ever raised sword against the Star Men. The Star Men are known in far lands where they have never walked. The Star Men have lived in the tents of the Plains Men.

The Large Hunting Cats

What service they give is of their own choosing. The cats are able to communicate with the men they choose to honor with their company using Empathy or Telepathy. Because of the radiation sickness the cats changed. Small domestic animals of untamable independence had produced larger offspring with even quicker minds and greater strength. Mating with wild felines and escaped zoo animals had established the new mutations. They are all about the size of a prewar mountain lion. In addition to heightened intelligence there is a 25% chance the giant cats have additional mutations.

The Starship

Was once a fully functioning Starship, but now lies inert here in the village where it landed. The lower deck cargo doors are all open, allowing access. The ship is powered by a fusion reactor that uses distilled purified water for cooling. The Star Captain is in charge of the forty-five or so novices that make up the ship’s crew.

The maneuver drives work, and all of the avionics and astronautics remain functional and the ship can liftoff and fly throughout the solar system, but neither the Star Captain, nor any of the previous novice know how to fly this, and the knowledge to fly and control the starship has been lost for generations.

As it is, the crew of novices maintain the starship with the aid of mysterious and silent maintenance and repair bots that automatically fabricates repair parts and electronics.

The jump drives do not function, and new drive parts must be sourced from the wreckage of other starships to repair the drives and enable FTL travel to distant star systems.

All the novices that are members of the Ship’s crew live onboard the ancient starship. The autodoc keeps them healthy, and extends their lifespan to three hundred years or so, as well as providing medicines and healing kits for the others in the village. The Shaman has access to the medical bay, and can perform surgery and treat serious wounds, but insists on keeping the knowledge only to himself, until a successor is appointed by the Star Captain and is similarly trained to use the secret knowledge of the ancients.

The Star Captain has full access to most of the Starship, but due to some unfortunate programming of a previous Starship Captain is currently locked out of the bridge, the armory, and various weapons lockers, and it is up to the players to learn how to access these areas, as well as repair the damaged FTL jump drives.

The Texas Gamma World Campaign should revolve around them searching ancient ruins and bases for knowledge of how to repair or override security systems in order to restore the starship to fully operational status.

A full deckplan of the Starship is included here for reference.