Labyrinth Campaign Table

The Labyrinth Campaign Table is a story generation mechanism for the Fleet Action of 2024, Labyrinth. Members should consult the Labyrinth Campaign Guide on how to best use this resource.

Results may refer you on to another table. That table might be another entry in this resource, or it may refer to the Additional Tables.

Phase 1

This phase is about the immediate experience of Underspace apertures opening and the consequences. In many cases, there is no prior warning - ships are going about their business or investigating odd sensor readings, or responding to a mysterious distress signal that sets them on their mission. While your characters may begin the story knowing something is happening, it is all very new and confusing. This phase is about confusion, survival, and adapting rapidly to a chaotic situation, as the disruption of the expanding Underspace network hits the Federation.

You can treat this as a self-contained story lasting only the length of the phase, with a whole new Underspace-related plotline beginning in Phase 2. If you’re looking to write a shorter story, these Phase 1 prompts are suitable for a narrative about survival spanning the whole FA. You may choose, however, to commit to this story prompt for the whole of the 6 weeks, with the events of new phases adding complications and developments.

Inciting Incident

Your ship stumbles into an Underspace aperture and is catapulted somewhere in the galaxy (go to the Catapulted by Underspace table below).
Your ship stumbles into an Underspace aperture and becomes trapped in the corridors (go to the Trapped in Underspace table below).
An Underspace aperture has manifested somewhere unexpected and is causing phenomena disruptive to the local area (go to the Local Underspace Trouble table below).
Travellers from elsewhere in the galaxy have stumbled into an Underspace aperture and been catapulted to where your ship is (go to the Travellers from Elsewhere table below).

1. Catapulted by Underspace

Your ship stumbles upon an Underspace aperture. Perhaps they are going about their ordinary operations, perhaps they are investigating odd sensor readings. Gravitational distortions pull the ship into an Underspace aperture, but before your crew can gain any understanding of what has happened, the ship is ejected from Underspace somewhere completely unknown in the galaxy.

Your ship must find its way home. But you are also Starfleet: explorers and scientists, who have just experienced something phenomenal and found yourselves in the complete unknown. You must survive, find your bearings, and understand where you are before you can return. What has happened to your ship?

End point: You could conclude this phase by your ship returning to the Underspace aperture and navigating home, to begin a whole new story in Phase 2. Or you can continue your mission still in this new location, with new complications arising in Phase 2.

Your ship has emerged from Underspace in a hostile environment that has left it damaged. Your crew must repair the ship, survive the environment, and find their way back to the aperture (roll on the Ship Damage and Phenomenon table).
Your ship has arrived in the territory of a government who aren’t expecting to find a Starfleet ship behind their borders. Evade, fight, or talk your way back to the aperture. (roll on the Antagonists table).
Your ship has encountered a scientific marvel worthy of study (roll on the Phenomenon or Planet/Planetary Biome table).
Your ship makes first contact with a completely unknown species (see the First Contact table).
Your ship needs to launch a rescue mission. This could be of their own crew or answering a distress call. Roll for the environment of rescue (choose between Planet/Planetary Biome or Phenomenon) and decide who is being rescued (lost members of crew, or roll on the Random Species table).
Your ship encounters aliens in need of assistance that your crew is reluctant to give (roll for Random Species and use the Planet/Planetary Biome or Phenomenon tables to determine the location and/or the problem).

2. Trapped in Underspace

Your ship stumbles upon an Underspace aperture. Perhaps they are going about their ordinary operations, perhaps they are investigating odd sensor readings. Gravitational distortions pull the ship into an Underspace aperture, where they become trapped within the tunnels. Your crew must understand this mysterious environment and find their way home. Underspace is a volatile place with many dangers - feel free to roll on the Random Underspace Effect table for additional challenges at any point in your story - but your priority is to find your way home.

End point: You could conclude this phase by your ship finding their way back to Federation space, to begin a whole new story in Phase 2. Or they could find their way out of Underspace - only to be somewhere wholly unknown at the beginning of the next Phase.

Your ship is badly damaged, and your crew have to rush in a race against time to repair it until the dangers of Underspace rip the ship apart (Roll on the Ship Damage table).
Your ship finds a dangerous debris field of other vessels once destroyed in Underspace. It must be safely navigated, but what clues to surviving and escaping might the wreckage contain?
Your ship encounters another trapped in Underspace and an unexpected alliance forms to plan an escape (roll on the Random Species table).
Your ship encounters another travelling through Underspace, and they’re hostile. Defeat them, evade them, or talk them down (roll on the Antagonists table).
Navigating home through Underspace is extremely difficult. Your ship’s efforts to find their way back becomes either an undertaking of scientific prowess and teamwork, or a claustrophobic, tense, and paranoid challenge of forging through the unknown.

3. Local Underspace Trouble

When Underspace apertures appear, they cause ripples in space-time and gravimetric distortions. This can be perilous for a ship stumbling upon them unawares, with the gravitic pull dragging ships in, but is otherwise relatively harmless in deep space. There are, however, possible dangers caused by their opening. Your ship is dispatched to deal with one of these dangers, in or near Federation space. In all circumstances, your crew are directed to not only deal with the issue, but conduct scientific study of the aperture, to try to understand its nature and this new phenomenon.

End point: You could conclude this phase by resolving the crisis to begin a whole new story in Phase 2. Or you can end the phase with this situation still ongoing, rendered more complicated by the developments of the next phase.

The gravimetric distortions or tachyon emissions of an aperture are causing agitations with a nearby stellar phenomenon, exacerbating its dangers (roll on the Phenomenon table).
You receive a distress call; someone has been - or is being - dragged into Underspace and must be rescued!
An aperture has opened near a planet. The gravimetric distortions could cause massive environmental catastrophe, such as seismic activity, volcanic eruptions, or extreme weather phenomena, endangering the inhabitants and ecosystems. Your ship must either somehow shield the planet, or evacuate people from harm’s way (roll on the Planet/Planetary Biome tables).
Debris from Underspace has emerged from the aperture. It must be investigated and recovered, to prevent it from endangering anyone nearby and/or for study.
An aperture has opened and locals want to investigate or even enter - Starfleet needs to keep this situation under control, as it could be dangerous. Police the area to stop people from getting themselves hurt. (roll on the Random Species table as needed)
An Underspace aperture has just opened in neutral space near the Federation border. A neighbour - another government, or perhaps local pirates - wants to seize control, though they have no territorial claim. Stop someone from seizing absolute control of an aperture (roll on the Antagonists or Random Species table as needed).

4. Travellers From Elsewhere

Underspace seems to have stretched across the galaxy, and Starfleet ships aren’t the only ones being pulled in to emerge somewhere new. These stories take place in or near Federation space, where your ship may be in the vicinity already, or be dispatched to respond to reports of an Underspace aperture opening - and someone (or something) from far away arriving.

End point: You could conclude this phase by resolving the crisis to begin a whole new story in Phase 2. Or you can end the phase with this situation still ongoing, rendered more complicated by the developments of the next phase.

An unknown species has come through Underspace, but the Universal Translator isn’t bridging the language gap. Make first contact, try to understand these new people, and help them get home.
The people who have come through are known to Starfleet, and they’re not friendly. Perhaps they think Starfleet are responsible, or perhaps they simply smell an opportunity (roll on the Antagonists table).
Stellar fauna have stumbled through Underspace. They are distressed and injured and outside of their natural habitat, and need assistance.
Whoever has come through has come from far away, but their ship(s) have been badly damaged by travel through Underspace. You are on a mission of mercy to save lives, discover who these visitors are, and help them get home (roll on the First Contact or Random Species table)
Whoever has arrived requests sanctuary in Federation space. They could be political enemies of a neighbour or refugees fleeing a crisis. Whoever they are, helping them is more complicated than just saying ‘yes.’ What are the political ramifications? Can the Federation give them the help they need?