Savage Three Rocketeers

Rocket packs burn low grade alcohol combined with a special compound known as Element X. Without this highly secret element the packs do not produce enough thrust to lift a man off the ground, yet alone fly around for extended periods. A fully fuelled rocket pack has 20 units of fuel. Each player needs to track these using a counter. Each round a pack is used for movement or to hover in place, one unit of fuel is expended. It makes no difference how far a hero moves — the motors are more efficient at higher speeds, hence moving the regular Chase speed burns the same fuel as moving on the tabletop, despite the former being considerably faster. A character with an active rocket pack who lands at the very beginning of his turn, before taking any other actions, does not burn a point of fuel. Rocket packs have no gliding capability — when the pack runs out of fuel, the hero falls from the sky.

Rocket packs strap onto the wearer’s back and are held in place by four thick, leather straps. These straps connect to a circular buckle which is set square in the center of the user’s chest. Concealed within each strap are wires which feed back into the rocket pack. Unless all four straps are connected to the buckle, the rocket pack motor cannot be ignited.

Donning a rocket pack takes an entire round and two hands. If the Rocketeer only has one hand spare, then it takes two entire rounds. During these rounds the character can take no other actions. Free actions, such as moving up to one’s Pace, are permitted so long as the Ranger doesn’t use his hands. Removing a pack can be slightly faster. Normally it takes an entire round to release the straps. However, a character may make an Athletics roll as an action. With success, the pack is removed and the hero can perform other actions (with a multi-action penalty). On a failure, the character has had to spend the entire round undoing the straps. He may take no other actions, though free actions are permitted as above.

To activate the rocket pack, the wearer must firmly strike a large button located on the front of his safety harness. This is a free action, though it does require a Piloting roll. This button can be targeted in combat by an enemy, but any attack roll suffers a –6 penalty. Should the attack be successful, the pack switches on as if a special failure occurred (see below) or switches off if it was already activated.

Rocket packs have two speed settings. The first is tactical flight, while the second is long-distance flight. Tactical mode is used for tabletop encounters, while long-distance mode is used in Chases. Characters may run while using a rocket pack. The run die is equal to the character’s Piloting die type, not his usual running die. For instance, a Fleet Footed hero with Piloting d6 rolls a d6 when “running” with his rocket pack activated, not a d10 as normal.

Rocket packs have a single speed in each flight mode. The character has no choice as to the speed he moves—it’s all or nothing.

Because of the throttle controls that are in his gloves, a Rocketeer can control how far he moves in a round .

No roll is required to hover.

Regardless of the distance he moves, one point of fuel is burnt.

The rocket pack allows the wearer to maneuver as if he were on foot. That is, he can turn through any angle he wants, swerve around objects, maneuver through narrow gaps, and so on without having to make a die roll to avoid a collision. In a Chase, the character must still make a Piloting roll each round as normal.

Sooner or later, someone wil try to tinker with the rocket pack. A character who makes a Repair roll at –2, and spends 30 minutes, at work can tweak his rocket pack to perform better. Only one roll per pack is allowed per mission.

Rocket packs are a top secret piece of equipment highly prized by enemy nations and bad actors. To ensure they don’t fall into enemy hands, they are equipped with a self-destruct mechanism. The procedure for arming them is complex, but not particularly time-consuming. It requires a Common Knowledge roll as an action to set the mechanism working. If the character has no practical familiarity with rocket packs, there is a -4 penalty on the Common Knowledge roll. At the end of the round after the trigger is activated, the pack explodes.

The explosion fills a Medium Burst Template centered on the pack. Everything under the template suffers 3d6 damage, plus one extra point of damage per two whole units of fuel remaining. For example, a pack containing 9 units of fuel inflicts 3d6+4 damage when it explodes. The explosion automatically destroys the pack.