Colony outpost

Prefabricated domes, a landing pad, a greenhouse and a fence against whatever lives outside. Everyone has three jobs, supply drops are late, and the colonists argue about whether the company still remembers them.

Light
Lit
Going
Easy

Hear it

Hazards

  • Unbreathable air. There is air, but not air a human can live on: too thin, no oxygen, or the wrong gases. A mask and an oxygen supply are enough where the pressure holds; a full suit where it does not. D&D 5e: A creature holds its breath for 1 + its Constitution modifier minutes (at least 30 seconds), then gains 1 Exhaustion level at the end of each of its turns until it can breathe; it then loses all the Exhaustion it gained this way. Starfinder 2e: Thin atmosphere (GM Core): a few hours make a creature that is not acclimated fatigued; in severely thin air it attempts a Fortitude save every hour or becomes drained 1. With no oxygen at all, use holding breath and suffocating (Player Core). Armour environmental protections cover both. Archives of Nethys
  • Alien microbes. Life that never met a human: most of it cannot touch our chemistry at all, but nobody knows which of it can. Quarantine, filters and patience decide who goes home. D&D 5e (House rule): House rule: a creature that breathes the open air or eats unscanned food makes a DC 12 Constitution saving throw at the end of the day; on a failure it has the Poisoned condition for 1d4 days. A creature that succeeds three days in a row is safe from this world's microbes.

What may happen

  1. The supply drop lands a kilometre off target, and three people race for it.
  2. Something tested the fence last night; the sensors logged it and the cameras saw nothing.
  3. The colonists vote whether to stay or to call for evacuation, and the count is tied.
  4. The greenhouse yields its first crop; everyone gets one strawberry.
  5. A stranger walks in from the wasteland with no vehicle and a suit that should have run out of air days ago.
  6. The first child born at the outpost has her naming day, and the whole colony crowds into the greenhouse for it.
  7. The airlock filters clog every week. Today it is the party’s turn on the cleaning rota.
  8. The water recycler stops with a grinding noise. The colony has three days of reserve and one mechanic.
  9. The school is one room in a dome, eleven children of all ages and a teacher who also runs the radio.
  10. A dome panel has cracked in the cold. The patch crew works from a cherry picker in a cutting wind.
  11. Two colonists marry in the canteen. The cake is mostly protein paste, the music is excellent, and nobody leaves early.
  12. The company supply ship misses its window, again. On the noticeboard someone has crossed out the date and written "maybe".
  13. A survey rover rolls in a day late with a cracked axle and two exhausted geologists who found something they will not talk about.
  14. The elected chief of the outpost, a tired former miner named Hal, asks the party to settle a dispute over a greenhouse plot.
  15. A grey blight spreads across the potato beds. The botanist works through the night, and the colony counts its rations.
  16. The solar panel cleaning rota is posted. The party’s names have been added at the bottom, in fresh ink.
  17. A leak drill: the sirens wail, the doors seal, and the colonists race to their stations in under a minute, laughing.
  18. The outpost chess tournament is in its third week. The champion, an old woman called Petra, has never lost a game here.
  19. The medic is also the vet for the colony’s few animals and the dentist for everyone. She has a waiting list.
  20. The radio picks up another colony, far over the horizon, asking whether anyone has spare antibiotics.
  21. Beyond the fence stand a row of markers, each with a name, a date and a little object left by friends.
  22. A shuttle drops twelve new colonists with too much luggage and too many questions. Nobody has beds ready.
  23. The quarterly inventory finds a whole pallet of rations missing from the store, and the books say it was never delivered.
  24. Power is rationed overnight. The domes go dark, and the colonists gather around a single lamp to tell stories.
  25. Someone has painted a mural of a green, rainy hillside on the canteen wall. People sit facing it at every meal.

Adventure hooks

  1. The colony charter expires in a month unless someone proves the outpost is self-sufficient.
  2. Children of the colony have started drawing the same creature, and none of them has been outside.
  3. The company's relief ship arrives with soldiers instead of supplies.
  4. The greenhouse is being robbed at night, and the tracks lead under the fence.

Who and what is met

Each is an SRD stat block under another name, as game masters reskin them.

Other places among the stars

Orbital station, Derelict ship, Precursor ruin, Asteroid field, Gas giant orbit, Deep space relay, Terraforming works, Prison hulk, Research lab, Crashed freighter, Nebula, Neon city, Junktown, Spaceport, War front, Alien hive, Living ship, Undersea base, Lava foundry

This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 ("SRD 5.2.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.

This product is licensed under the ORC License located at the Library of Congress at TX 9-307-067 and available online at various locations including paizo.com/orclicense, azoralaw.com/orclicense, and others. All warranties are disclaimed as set forth therein. Attribution: this rules layer is based on the following Licensed Material: Starfinder Player Core © 2025 Paizo Inc., Authors: Jessica Catalan, Thurston Hillman, Jenny Jarzabski, Mike Kimmel, and Dustin Knight; Starfinder GM Core © 2025 Paizo Inc., Authors: Jessica Catalan, Thurston Hillman, Jenny Jarzabski, Mike Kimmel, and Dustin Knight; Starfinder Alien Core © 2025 Paizo Inc. Authors: Kate Baker, Lau Bannenberg, Rigby Bendele, Vishesh Bhartiya, Joseph Blomquist, Jeremy Blum, Tineke Bolleman, Brent Bowser, Michael Bramnik, Patrick Brennan, Charlie Brooks, Jessica Catalan, Brite Cheney, Jeremy Corff, Caryn DiMarco, Anthony Dollinger, Steve Fidler, Kim Frandsen, Andrew D. Geels, Basheer Ghouse, Sen H.H.S., Katrina Hennessy, Thurston Hillman, Joan Hong, Jenny Jarzabski, Sara Jeffers, Mikko Kallio, Lysle Kapp, Mike Kimmel, Dustin Knight, Cole Kronewitter, Mahpiya, Letterio Mammoliti, Randal Meyer, Jacob W. Michaels, Matt Morris, Dennis Muldoon, Quinn Murphy, Elizabeth V Nold, Chesley Oxendine, Emily Parks, Glen Parnell, Randy Price, Kyle T. Raes, Jessica Redekop, Erin Roberts, James Rodehaver, David N. Ross, Pidj Sorensen, Joel Southall, Kendra Leigh Speedling, Drew Taylor, Sam W Tennyson, Jalen Todd, Ruvaid Virk, Viditya Voleti, Christopher Wasko, Nicholas Wasko, Jackson Wery, Shan Wolf, and Basil Wright. If you use our Licensed Material in your own published work, please credit us as follows: Biomes, Starfinder Second Edition rules layer © 2026 Michael Ghelfi. Reserved Material: the names of Biomes and its catalogues, its descriptions, sounds, art and code. Starfinder is a registered trademark of Paizo Inc.; this site is not published, endorsed, or specifically approved by Paizo Inc.

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