Saluting Moonbase Central!

I am sure some of FATE SF's readers know about Bill Bulloch and Paul Woods' excellent space toy blog Moonbase Central. As as a celebration of the blog's fourth anniversary, Woodsy sent me a custom-made Project Sword Moonbase Supply Pack with a Sword Astronaut, a Recovery Chute, and a Thor Rocket! It arrived Monday in a well-packed box with a bookmark-sized personalized note and two illustrations by Woodsy.

The Thor Rocket is quite impressive. I asked Bill Bulloch for permission to use a couple of his photos of the Thor Rocket from posts on Moonbase Central. Below, you can see one of the Thor Rockets equipped with a 50 megaton missile launching from the lunar surface to intercept an incoming meteoroid.

Thor Rocket from the Moonbase Central Blog
Photo c. by Bill Bulloch, and used with permission.
http://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2010/07
/alert-state-red-codename-damocles.html

As a way of saying thank you, as well as celebrating the Moonbase Central blog's fourth anniversary, I thought I'd stat up one of these babies for Starblazer Adventures. So here goes!

I chose to stat-up the Thor Rocket as a vehicle, rather than a weapon, so you have the option of using them in space battles against large objects like a meteoroid. Here's an example of the Damocles Asteroid, which was destroyed pulverized obliterated by three Thor Rockets before it struck Moonbase Central:

Three Thor Rockets home in on the Damocles Asteroid
Photo c. by Bill Bulloch, and used with permisson.
http://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2010/07/
alert-state-red-alert-state-red-alert_06.html

The mechanics that follow are my own interpretation of the toy, informed a bit by the story told in pictures and text in the Moonbase Central blog. Enjoy using these at home (with adequate lead shielding), and be sure to check out the Moonbase Central blog. If your childhood was in the 60s and 70s, then you will probably see some things that bring back good memories!

OGL MECHANICS

Thor Rocket

Scale: Medium (3) - Advanced
Structural Stress: 4
Systems Stress: 3
Fate Points/Refresh: 7

ASPECTS:

• 50 megatons heading straight at you!
• This is a one way trip!
• Moonbase Central has plenty of these

SKILLS: 

• 2 Fair (+2): Projectile Weapon, Plasma Weapon
• 3 Average (+1): Hardened Structure, Maneuver, SL Engines (Chemical Rocket Motors)

STUNTS:

• Afterburner - Maneuver skill (p.323)
• Atmospheric Entry - Maneuver skill (p.323)
• Reinforced Prow - Hardened Structure skill (p.331)

NOTES: My guess is that you could also retrofit a Thor Rocket with a 1-2 person crew compartment rather than a warhead. This would be a tight fit, but it could work as a evacuation, courier, or one way rescue vehicle (such as to deliver a new pilot or crisis engineer to another spacecraft that is in trouble somewhere between Earth and the Moon). In that case, you'll need to: 

• Swap-in new Aspects for the first and third Aspects. 
• Replace the 2 listed Fair (+2) skills with the Advanced Sensor Suite skill (p.314) and the Protected Crew Stations skill (p.332)
• Substitute Military Sensor Suite stunt (p.314) for the Reinforced Prow stunt