In its first attempts at colonizing the stars, United Terra discovered that the galaxy hosted horrible dangers. But given the incredible distances involved, the extent of those dangers remained unknown. In a growing effort to gain better information of Sol’s galactic neighborhood, United Terra decided to pepper the stars in Sol’s vicinity with a virtual shotgun blast of colony ships. Whereas Terra’s initial colonies were sent out in colonizer ships – huge, lumbering vessels carrying great contingents of colonists, incredible arrays of equipment, several years worth of supplies, and entire companies of synthetic human troops for protection – the colonies of the new effort were being sent in lightly loaded modified combat landers carrying just half a hundred colonists, minimal prefab buildings, barely enough supplies for six months of survival, and a mere squad of low-ranking United Terra Reconnaissance and Peacekeeping Force (UTRPF) troops.

The synthetic humans were relatively new as well. Vat-grown clones of human volunteers, specially modified to serve as starships crews, combat teams, and general troubleshooters for the human race, they were all part of UTRPF and superior than humans in many ways. They had been physically enhanced to react more quickly, to keep moving longer, and to endure more punishment in battle. Mentally, they were able to withstand the psychological stresses of hyperspace travel, a situation that disoriented normal humans sometimes to the point of madness.

Six brand-new UTRPF (utter-puff) troopers were quartered at UTRPF’s training facilities on Stargate station. PFC Jackson was the ranking synth in the group. His donor background was an infantry lieutenant with the U.S. Army, giving him more military expertise than would be expected of a private. He was armed with an assault rifle (with grenade launcher), several hand grenades of various type, and body armor. Private Two Fisk was the lowest ranking member of the squad and got most of the crappy jobs. His donor had been a factory worker and from him, Fisk had inherited a natural skill with various electronic, computer, and mechanical repair. He was also armed with an assault rifle and grenade launcher, hand grenades, and body armor. Private Two Boomer was listed as the heavy weapons expert in the group and his donor had also been a factory worker. In addition to his heavy pistol, he was responsible for a grenade launcher, a flame thrower, and had the typical body armor. He was a little miffed that Jackson was the squad leader, having only one week of seniority over Boomer. Flatline was the group’s radio operator and also a Private Two. His donor had been an office clerk but the recording was 46% patchy. It wasn’t easy making do with only half a set of memories, but his donor had died during the trauma of undergoing a mental recording for his cloned brain. He was quiet about his donor’s past and carried only a heavy pistol. Doc Martin was the squad’s medic and also a Private Two. His donor background was a chemistry professor who had been very intelligent. He was armed with an assault rifle. Finally, Runningwolf was the squad’s scout, also a Private Two, and armed with a heavy pistol and a laser sniper rifle.

On March 16, 2012, I ran a game of Bughunters at CaesarCon 2012. The scenario was Unnatural Selection” by Lester W. Smith from Polyhedron Magazine # 96. The players were Adam, Neal, Steve, and Rick.

The journal entry for the game can be found at http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/1702-Bughunters-Unnatural-Selection-2012-03-16-CaesarCon

A video of the game is on YouTube though the audio is not very good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax0aG4r9bmM

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