This episode covers starships in Stars Without Number: hull classes, fittings and hardpoints, crew requirements, and the maintenance costs that keep a ship flying between sessions. Brian pulls his case study from Episode 28, "I'm Not Angry, I'm Disappointed," where the Scapegoat has to dock at the derelict Causeway 3 station and Felix spacewalks out to hack the exterior control panel by hand. He breaks down what a ship's stats actually mean at the table, what happens when repairs get skipped for too long, and why a GM can usually just grab a pre-built ship instead of designing one from scratch.

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This episode was released two weeks early for patrons. To skip the wait on every episode, Star Master Log, and rules breakdown, join us at https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarAdventurecast

Three days in the fuel queue, and Felix hasn't left his data slab. When he cracks open what Voss left buried in Strake's transmission, the crew punches in the coordinates and doesn't look back. Eighteen days of transit, one unmarked station in a dead red system, one ship AI with a gift for fake names, one convincing Victor Strake impression, and a server room full of things Virodyne doesn't want them to read.

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Meet the Crew:

• Jeff as Star Master
• Brian as Captain Thorne
• Stephanie as the warrior Haleyy
• Doja as the wildcard pilot Robert
• Scott as the transhuman hacker Felix

Special thanks to Brad and Holly, our Scapegoat Syndicate members!

They're keeping the lights on, and the airlocks sealed.

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Brian, who plays Captain Thorne, joins Jeff to talk about Episode 27. They get into how Thorne's role as captain took shape through play rather than any plan, and what it's actually like to give orders to a crew that sometimes does something completely different. The conversation also covers the Thorne and Haleyy relationship, and closes with a speed round where Brian makes a few things permanent canon, including one he might already regret.

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This week's SWN Rules Explained covers drones, cyberware, and equipment mods. Brian uses the security drone spotted at the Helium Dock in Life Is Unfair as the case study, then walks through drone stats and combat rules straight from the Stars Without Number revised rulebook. He also gets into system strain and cyberware installation, plus how the Fix skill covers modding and maintaining gear.

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This episode was released two weeks early for patrons. To skip the wait on every episode, Star Master Log, and rules breakdown, join us at https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarAdventurecast

The crew leaves the Omnitech ship with a name, a lead, and no answers. And now: a midnight heist at the Helium Docks, a hacked security gate, one fake employee named Gregory Overton, and 3am waiting in the dark.

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Meet the Crew:

• Jeff as Star Master
• Brian as Captain Thorne
• Stephanie as the warrior Haleyy
• Doja as the wildcard pilot Robert
• Scott as the transhuman hacker Felix

Special thanks to Brad and Holly, our Scapegoat Syndicate members!

They're keeping the lights on, and the airlocks sealed.

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Jeff sits down with Doja, the player behind Robert Ross, to talk through Episode 26: You're a Good Person, Robert. Doja gets into his first steps in the hobby, the moment Robert stops waiting and starts planning at the spaceport, his take on why Robert hates other clones, and what it actually costs Robert to hear Haleyy call him a good person.

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This rules breakdown was released two weeks early for patrons. To skip the wait on every episode, Star Master Log, and rules breakdown, join us at https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarAdventurecast

Brian walks through Stars Without Number character creation from scratch, covering attributes, backgrounds, skills, classes, and foci. Inspired by the events of "You're a Good Person, Robert," he builds a Robert Ross clone as the worked example, rolling randomly for background and attributes, and ends up with a telepathic courtesan built for assassination.

New SWN Rules Explained episodes drop every other Thursday, breaking down the mechanics behind the adventure.

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This episode was released two weeks early for patrons. To skip the wait on every episode, Star Master Log, and rules breakdown, join us at https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarAdventurecast

The crew tracks the assassin back to a docked Omnitech ship at the spaceport. What they find inside is a face they know. Dr. Iso gets her revenge. And Robert and Haleyy have the conversation they've been circling for years.

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Meet the Crew:

• Jeff as Star Master
• Brian as Captain Thorne
• Stephanie as the warrior Haleyy
• Doja as the wildcard pilot Robert
• Scott as the transhuman hacker Felix

Special thanks to Brad and Holly, our Scapegoat Syndicate members!

They're keeping the lights on, and the airlocks sealed.

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Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This Star Master Log was released two weeks early for patrons. To skip the wait on every episode, Star Master Log, and rules breakdown, join us at https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarAdventurecast

Starting with Episode 25, the Star Master Log gets a new format: Jeff sits down with a rotating cast member for a spoiler conversation about the episode that just dropped. First up is Stephanie, who plays Haleyy with two Y's, breaking down Rock Tumor: the Spigot arc premiere and the episode that introduces Iso.

New Star Master's Logs drop every other Tuesday, bridging the gap between our main adventure episodes.

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This rules breakdown was released two weeks early for patrons. To skip the wait on every episode, Star Master Log, and rules breakdown, join us at https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarAdventurecast

Brian breaks down the Adventurer class, skill checks, grenades, and saving throws in Stars Without Number, using scenes from Episode 25 "Rock Tumor" as a case study. The Adventurer is SWN's hybrid class — a way to mix any two of the three core classes and build something new, at the cost of each class's signature ability. Brian covers how partial classes work, how the Star Master picks attributes and skills for any given roll, how grenades function as an area-of-effect attack, and how saving throws are calculated and used.

He covers:

• (00:00) - Intro
• (01:37) - The Adventurer Class
• (03:37) - Skill Checks
• (07:04) - Grenades
• (08:20) - Saving Throws
• (10:17) - Outro

New SWN Rules Explained episodes drop every other Thursday, breaking down the mechanics behind the adventure.

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