I just ran this one-shot in the Monolith system (free on itch.io). It is a sci-fi hack for cairn and is such a pleasure to play. New and old players alike can pick in up in a few moments without needing to read through any rules.

I used my own hack for the character creation to give it a more hard science vibe (since I set my one-shot in the Traveller universe, but the default one would work just as well.

I am currently working on a more Traveller style life-path chargen system to use in an upcoming Monolith campaign, borrowing the party debt concept from Electric Bastionland. I will be sure to post it here once its reasonably presentable.

Hook

Andresis Clark, of Kelex Technologies, has contacted the party to undertake a search and destroy mission for them. Kelex Technology is a shell company (of a shell company of a shell company) owned by Cannis Weapons Lab, a manufacturer of pseudobiological, expert, and war robots.
Andresis hires the party to infiltrate a company blacksite, Observation Lab 119B and destroy any research materials and data on the research that was being done there. He claims that Kelex Tech bought another company, not knowing that they owned this illegal blacksite, and were planning on shutting it down discreetly until the site went dark 7 days ago. Andresis maintains that Kelex Technologies has no clue what research the lab was undertaking—only that the code name was Project Antlion.
Andresis gives them a keycard to gain entry into the lab and pays them half of the agreed upon 6,500 credits up front. He says he can send the other half remotely—just to send him confirmation that the job is done as soon as they leave orbit.

Elidos-119B

The lab is located on Elidos-119B, a moon orbiting a gas dwarf in the Yorbund system of the Regina Subsector—part of the spinward marches.

It has slightly reduced gravity and a toxic atmosphere. Outdoors require a vac-suit.

The Approach

The party will see a glistening white shuttle crash-site a few miles south of the lab. It was shot down by the AA emplacement programmed to ensure nothing escapes the blacksite during a red alert. If they investigate the crash site, they find two bodies. They have a few encrypted data files (research). The black box will inform the party that their own lab shot them down. They cursed Kellex Technologies as they died.

As the party gets closer to the lab, they will see the radio gun spin towards them and start to fire blue pulses of light. The AA emplacement (4 SHI) deals 1d6 damage to SHI and then SYS.

Gaining Entry

The only portion of the lab not underground is a bunker-like entrance and a retractable shuttle awning. There is no ship here currently. The key that Andresis gave them does not work due to the external power being knocked out. If power were rerouted, the key would work. They might also gain entry through brute force. Behind the bunker door is an airlock.

The Antlion

The “Antlion” is a psionic beast captured and studied by Cannis Weapons Labs for possible pseudobiologic robot applications. It has precognitive senses and its mind emits a telepathic data noise field—which makes it functionally invisible to robot targeting software. It has no psionic “weapons,” but does have claws.

It escaped its restraints while in the testing lab, killed two researchers, and sent the lab into lockdown.

HP-8, STR-16, DEX-12, WIL-10

Claws (d6 + d6, rolling 6 destroys vac-suits)

Intelligence: as monkey.

Precognition: Players announce their turns, but antlion takes its turn before their actions happen. Foresees and avoids highest three damage rolls per round when attacked. Can be fooled through misdirection (WIL save).

Noise Field: invisible to computer vision.

Observation Lab 119B

This underground lab is decorated in a utilitarian manner, with unpleasant yellow walls. It has the stench of a pet store.

No lights except for spinning yellow warning lights above all doorways. Doors are unlocked.

Airlock. Standard airlock. There are manual door locks for both doors inside.
Break Room. Couches and a small kitchen. Partially torched. Door to storage is barricaded, this side.
Gym. Small gym with weights, a few machines. Partially torched.
Hall. There is a blood trail from the observation room to the med bay.
Med Bay. Body of a researcher. Guts torn up (was shot by a drone) and stitched together. Autonomous med bot stitched them up post-mortem. It didn’t clean up the mess. Lab coat has a Kelex Technologies logo on it.
Security Room. Cameras for airlock, break room, gym, hall, observation room, and storage.
Robots can be shut down from here.
Observation Room. Window into the containment chamber.
Research Lab. Tables, computer library, lab mice, encrypted data books (the research). There is a fridge with 6 frozen antlion eggs. There is an emergency decontamination switch for the testing lab and antlion containment chamber. (torches everything in those rooms, killing anything in there.)
Testing Lab. No random encounters. Two bodies, torn apart and mostly eaten. Broken restraints.
Antlion Containment Chamber. No random encounter. Empty yellow room with a water dish.
Storage. Cluttered with boxes of rations, extra research materials, leftover construction materials, a forklift. Boxes have the Cannis Weapons Lab logo on them.
3/6 chance antlion is here if the party unbarricades the door from the break room. Else, antlion is here. It lurks, deciding if it should fight or flee.
Quarters. Three rooms. Two have double bunks, but each is only home to a single researcher. A researcher's personal journal can be found here, revealing that “the subject” has precognitive and localized data field psionic abilities.

D4	Random Encounters
1	Security drone (3 HP 2 armor) attempts to torch intruders with a futile ignition sound, but the flamethrower has no gas remaining. If they get near it it will attack with its arms (d6).
2	Two security drones (3 HP, 2 armor) attack the party. One has a machine gun (d6) and the other a flamethrower (d6 blast). Bots are of CWL design, but unbranded.
3	The antlion is startled, and attempts to flee—attacking if its escape is blocked.
4	The antlion pounces offensively. It targets whoever lags behind.

Leaving Orbit

As the party leaves the moon and notifies Andresis that the job is done, their radar will identify two small ships closing on them. These are mercenary fighters hired by Cannis Weapons Lab to eliminate the party. Morale rolls should be made when each ship’s shield is broken and when the first ship is destroyed.

Merc Fighter

SHI-4, HUL-10, ENG-10 (reserve 2), SYS-12

MOVE-5, MOB-3, Armor-1

Ship 1: Flak Cannon (d4, front facing only)

Ship 2: Auto gun (d6), Auto smart shield (Activate once to impair next attack)

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Project Antlion | One-shot for Monolith