A downloadable game

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Die Hard meets Alien in this thrilling escape from a hijacked station, made for the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG.

In Dying Hard on Hardlight Station, your team of grizzled PCs will be torn between saving friends locked in the Healthtek facility or crawling to freedom in the vents of the corporate-controlled Hardlight Station, all while avoiding capture by the brutal Blackshield Mercenary Company. However, unbeknownst to all, Blackshield’s invasion has caused the containment protocols at the Healthtek facility to malfunction. Now, in the bowels of the station, something horrible has awoken, and, after a long, torturous sleep, hungers to feed.

Dying Hard on Hardlight Station is a 28-page, full-colour adventure zine designed to work as a one-shot, mini-series, or as a part of your ongoing Mothership (or any other Sci-Fi RPG) campaign. Its control panel layout is table-ready and packed with efficient, evocative details big on imagination and light on overlong prose; each page is stuffed with unique locations, scheming NPCs, and terrifying horrors on the hunt. A night on Hardlight Station is one you won’t soon forget.


Sci-fi mayhem and a horde of haunting horrors await in the pages of Dying Hard on Hardlight Station, including:

  • Four Station Locations - Mapped out and loaded with loot tables, adventure hooks, custom encounters, and interesting NPCs.
  • Three Original Factions - The Blackshield Mercenary Company, Station Administration Nakatomi Solutions Inc, and Healthtek AG with their ravening Alien Hybrids. Each vying to come out on top in the battle for the station.
  • The Hardlight Station Gazetteer - a guidebook filled with shops, entertainments, NPCs and jobs for your crew... should anyone survive the initial adventure. 
  • Custom Art and Professional Design - bringing the whole adventure alive in glorious red, black, and white.


Plus, thanks to the 1365 backers that brought this project to life on Kickstarter, each purchase of Dying Hard on Hardlight Station will also include:

  • decrypted/the.nakatomi.papers - A 32 page, in-world bonus zine packed with even more original art, compelling story hooks, new monsters, lore, and NPCs for your games.
  • Hardlight Radio - Three emergency broadcasts, two sci-fi Christmas carols, and three ambient remixes totalling 8 original audio tracks to enhance your games. 
  • GM Screen and Printable Maps - A digital GM reference for key factions and NPCs along with printable maps for your home or virtual tabletop. 


Physical Copies Available Now From:
Tuesday Knight Games (USA)
Four Rogues Publishing (BC, Canada)
Monkey's Paw Games (Ontario, Canada)
Iglootree (UK)

Coming Soon from:

Exalted Funeral (USA)

StatusReleased
CategoryPhysical game
Rating
Rated 4.8 out of 5 stars
(12 total ratings)
AuthorMagnum Galaxy Games
GenreRole Playing
TagsCyberpunk, Horror, mothership, Sci-fi, Space
Average sessionA few hours
LanguagesEnglish
MultiplayerLocal multiplayer

Purchase

Buy Now$7.99 USD or more

In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $7.99 USD. You will get access to the following files:

Dying Hard on Hardlight Station - Spreads - 0e.pdf 20 MB
Dying Hard on Hardlight Station - Pages - 0e.pdf 20 MB
Decrypted Spreads - 0e.pdf 29 MB
Decrypted Pages 0e.pdf 29 MB
Dying Hard on Hardlight Station - Wardens Screen - 0e.pdf 8 MB
Hardlight Radio.zip 42 MB
Decrypted (Digital pages) 1e.pdf 29 MB
Decrypted (Digital spreads) 1e.pdf 29 MB
Dying Hard on Hardlight Station (Digital pages) 1e.pdf 20 MB
Dying Hard on Hardlight Station (Digital spreads) 1e.pdf 20 MB
Hardlight_Wardens_Screen 1e.pdf 3 MB

Development log

Comments

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Hi,

I'll be running HLS this weekend for two friends and I'm really excited.
Do you know any good maps to use along the module?

Rad - glad to hear it. The map in the centerfold of the module is the only one I know. I haven't discovered any cool others - but would love it if someone were to make one. That said, Vil's original works great. 

So a short game report from last weekend: Two players were dying hard and another one couldn't make it to the session. The two are currently hiding in medbay. Comms are completely down and they want to reboot the mainframe in Engineering to reset it but that's on the other side and locked up. So they need to find someone that can bypass the sealed door. They heard about this tinkerer in the Docks...

The player who didn't make it to the session last time wants to go "Full McClane". My idea is now to let him start in the Commerce District (other side of the station from where the first two started) when shit is about to go down. As soon as he makes it to Medbay he will meet the other two players hiding there. He is kinda playing the same situation from another perspective. And in the third session they can finish together.

The module is really cool. As a warden you have so many tools to step on the gas and make an exciting evening. That is also the hard part. You really need some experience in good session prep and planning ahead to pull it off. All in all we really had a blast! Thank you for this awesome module :)

This is great. I love the full McClane mode idea for your player who missed the session to meet back up with the rest of the squad. I bet it will work really well. So glad you are enjoying it! I'll be curious to know how things end up in sessions three!

Hello, I'm not sure if this is the place to bring this up, but I'm finding some issues with the conversion to 1E, in both this module and also The Horror on Tau Sigma 7 (which i purchased on another platform).

I see that the horrors have had their damage output reduced to fall in line with the more fragile player characters in 1E, but there are some other discrepancies. Horror HP totals have remain unchanged even though weapons and player damage output have also been greatly lowered, often by half.

Examples:

0E Combat Shotgun 4d10 - 1E Combat shotgun 2d10

0E Pulse Rifle 5d10 - 1E Pulse Rifle 3d10

This feels off in play.


Also, the horror stat blocks aren't updated to the new format, retaining "Hits" rather than the new "Wounds" and missing the AP value (although I understand that stat isn't applicable to all horrors.)

Thanks!


BTW, I'm loving this module! THoTS7 and DHoHLS are the perfect intro for my players to Mothership.

Thanks for picking up my Hardlight modules, glad you are digging them! To answer your first question, yes, this is a great place for a question like this. 

I posted a brief devlog about the 1E updates I made back when the first version of the Mothership Conversion guide came out. Here are the key parts:

"The changes to DHoHS are fairly minimal and are as follows:

  • The "Vomit and Bleed Crimson Goo" move has been reduced to 1d5 DMG/round until treated.
  • Hanne Gruber's Mastercrafted SMG “Liebling” now does 3d10 DMG.
  • Administrator Takako McClane's Handgun “奥の手/Okunote” now does 2d10 DMG.

I decided to leave the hybrid's claw damage alone so they are a little deadlier now. Otherwise, that is it!"

To answer your questions the devlog doesn't cover:

1. Horror HP levels haven't changed as I think having them be more tough works well. That said, if you think they are too tough feel free to cut down their HP to suit your table's style and taste. Alternatively, one rule variant I like to play with is rolling on the applicable wounds table when monsters/NPCs take wounds as well. I think the wounds table is super flavorful and it also makes enemies easier to kill.

2. The Horrors don't have AP values because being largely goo based I think HP captures their toughness better than an armor value. 

3. Overall, with the final version of the 1E conversion guide out now I will have another look through to see if there are any major balance changes necessary. Though I think if any changes are needed they will likely be minor (Hits to Wounds, etc). 

I hope that helps and that you all have an awesome first couple of sessions of Mothership. Happy to answer further questions anytime!

This is a great reply. Thanks for taking the time to address my questions. I look forward to exploring these modules further and to your next project!

(+1)

I don't if this is the right way to contact the creator, or if there's a direct messaging system. In my excitement to buy this at 50% off I bought it and then realized there was a bundle with everything else I wanted, so I ended up buying both. Is there a way to get refunded for my double purchase of Dying Hard? If not, all good, it's worth it anyhow.

Hey, thanks for picking up the bundle! I looked into getting you a refund and it looks like the only way is to contact support. As per itch's terms of service "To request a refund, please contact support with your purchase information". So, send them a quick message and they should process it. If they don't give you the refund for any reason, send me a message and we'll figure out a plan B. 

Enjoy Hardlight Station and the rest of my games! 

Dave

Is this possible to order a physical copy?

Absolutely, you can pick up a physical copy in several places. Right now there should be copies available in the USA from:

In the UK from IglooTree. And in Canada from Monkeys Paw Games

(+1)

Hi,

Fantastic game and stunning artwork. I have just received my copy through Iglootree and was wondering if i could also gain access to the audio files and extra docs from the kickstarter? I can provide proof of purchase if needed. 

Thanks, 


Tc991

Absolutely! Send an email to dekennygalaxy@gmail.com and I'll set you up asap.