In my Impulse Drive campaign, before facing the BBEG, the PCs needed to run a last gig to earn some lucre to repair their spaceship, buy some gear, and pay down their debt.

I typically offered two or three gigs for the PCs to pick from, having them choose at the end of a session so I could prep the right gig. In this case, I really wanted to play the Mothership adventure The Cleaning of Prison Station Echo (by Haig Morrison and Dave Kenny), so I offered two gigs inspired by some of the six items listed under “Reason for Taking the Job” (good modules always provide multiple hooks, as done here).

In a more typical Impulse Drive campaign, the PCs are building a reliable reputation with some parties, increasing how much gigs pay them over time. As one of the PCs put it, “We are looking for a big job from someone who likes us!” Unfortunately, by this time in the campaign, they were notorious and wanted by most everyone, so any reputable gigs were gone, as were any high-paying/low-risk gigs.

I basically gave them a choice between two contracts:

  • Contract +2, wants the team to do a prison break and rescue Zafran Four (not sure what crime Zafran committed).
  • Contract +0, a rogue hacker (affiliation unknown) wants the team to scrape all experimental data from an AI in the prison and return some physical samples. 

Though I should have foreseen it, the PCs decided to take on both.

First, they had to find the asteroid the prison was on. I decided it was a trojan asteroid sharing the orbit of the gas giant they were circling. The hacker used his skills to study local spaceship traffic and came up with a list of candidates. He also found some old prison brochures selling the prison services, which included a standard design for these prisons.

We had adapted this move from Scum & Villainy and had been using it to short-circuit planning for many of our gigs:

The Devil’s in the Details

When someone asks “What’s the plan?” provide a missing detail to a type of engagement to jump to it in action.
Assault -> Do violence to a target. Detail: The point of attack.
Deception -> Lure, trick, or manipulate. Detail: The method of deception.
Infiltration -> Trespass unseen. Detail: The point of infiltration.
Social -> Negotiate, bargain, or persuade. Detail: The social connection.
Transport -> Carry cargo or people through danger. Detail: The route and means.

Adapted from Scum and Villainy, © 2018 Off Guard Games, itself from Blades in the Dark.

The players wisely picked infiltration, which in this case covered not being seen as they traveled to the asteroid and not being caught outside the prison. Of course, things went immediately wrong with the mad science way they attempted to enter the prison, triggering an air leak and causing all the bulkheads to start to close. They were suddenly in a firefight and cut off from accomplishing the more valuable contract.

The ensuing firefight used all of the PCs’ skills – hacking, lock-breaking, violence – to secure the experimental data, but then they had to fight their way to get the samples, which weren’t where they expected. Despite some severe injuries, and being hit by psychotropic drugs (taken from a table of hallucinations), the PCs managed to find safety, then made a desperate attempt to rescue the prisoner and fulfill the more lucrative contract. They did, but killed the guards and most of the other prisoners in the process.

We ended up spending two sessions on the prison break, and it was an excellent final “regular” adventure of the campaign.

For Impulse Drive, I often used modules more for their blueprints and art (typically Coriolis modules), but in this case I used much of the prepared materials. The players loved the announcements over the PA system, for instance, and the general flavor of the setting.

If you’re looking for an adventure set on a space prison, The Cleaning of Prison Station Echo is perfect, no matter which system you’re running. Great ideas, fun illustrations from Evlyn Moreau, good design. And details of other places, factions, and NPCs on the asteroid, as a basis for a sandbox campaign. 

You can buy the PDF from Itch or the hardcover from Tuesday Knight Games.