Minor Problems

1. Airlock Malfunction: An airlock refuses to work. Failsafe systems usually mean the doors stay closed, requiring manual operation. This could be a serious problem in an emergency though.
2. Artificial Gravity Failure: Everything floats off the floor. Liquids float out of containers, causing potential hazards. Characters may get space-sick. Restoration of gravity is possibly even more dangerous.
3. Auxiliary Craft Bay Failure: A shuttlecraft or ground or other vehicle bay refuses to open, or close. The vehicle either cannot be deployed or parked.
4. Computer Glitch: The ship's computer systems go into an unresponsive state and require a reboot. Sensible systems will have a backup, but not everyone can afford a sensible system. A glitch might also be responsible for some of the other effects on this list, requiring computer skills rather than mechanical skills to fix.
5. Door Jammed: An internal door gets stuck, blocking access through it. A mechanic will need to fix it, or cut a hole through it.
6. Entertainment System Failure: The ship's entertainment and amusement facilities break down. The crew are forced to play chess or (shudder) talk to each other.
7. Environmental Control Failure: Air circulation stops or temperature control goes haywire. Near a star ships will overheat quickly; further away they freeze.
8. Galley Problem: The food preparation equipment doesn't work properly. Everyone has to eat cold food, or the smell of burnt toast permeates the ship.
9. Internal Lighting Failure: A fuse blows or the lights otherwise go out. It's dark in space. Crew will have to fumble their way around until they find the flashlights. And hope somebody checked the batteries recently.
10. Landing Gear Failure: A warning light indicates a problem with the landing gear. This isn't an immediate danger, unless you're on final approach to a runway when it happens.
11. Plumbing Malfunction: The plumbing systems stop working. A pipe is blocked or a pump has failed. Going to the toilet in space becomes even more of an adventure.
12. Radar/Passive Sensor Array Malfunction: The ship's sensing equipment goes offline, or displays phantom blips. The ship is flying blind, but you can always look out the portholes, assuming there are any.
13. Radio Malfunction: The radio receives nothing but static, or transmissions fail, or both. Communication with other ships or traffic control is impossible unless something is improvised.
14. Running Lights Failure: External navigation lights are useful for dense traffic areas, or atmospheric operation. Without them, collisions become more likely, and hefty fines from authorities inevitable.
15. Shower Malfunction: Whether sonic, chemical, or plain old water, the showers quit working. The crew become smelly and a failed repair attempt may burst a water pipe, turning this into a . . .
16. Water Leak: A water pipe starts leaking. In zero gravity, blobs of water drift through the cabin, causing potential electrical failures in anything they touch.

Major Problems

1. Air Leak: The ship is losing precious air. The leak may be obvious, or hard to track down. An EVA might be required to patch the leak.
2. Control Systems Failure: The ship doesn't respond to maneuver controls, or possibly drive controls. The ship may end up going somewhere unplanned, or running into something.
3. Cryogenic Leak: Extremely cold liquid leaks out of a pipe or container, freezing everything it touches, including flesh.
4. Defensive Systems Failure: Force shields, point defence missiles, or chaff casters fail, leaving the ship vulnerable to attack.
5. Drive Failure: The main engine stops working. The ship coasts through space, unable to change course or speed.
6. Explosion: Part of the ship is destroyed and any crew in the area wounded or killed. Secondary damage to nearby systems may occur.
7. Fire: Fires consume oxygen fast and need to be extinguished. Nearby systems may be damaged or destroyed.
8. Fuel Tank Rupture: Fuel leaks from the tanks, either into space or into the ship's interior. Depending on the fuel, this could be an annoyance (water for fusion), a danger (chemical fuel), or disaster (antimatter).
9. Heat Shielding Damage: The shielding which protects the ship on atmospheric entry is damaged. Attempting re-entry might cause secondary damage or destroy the ship totally.
10. Hull Breach: A section of the hull is ruptured. Air, equipment, and crew are sucked out ferociously.
11. Impact: Something hits the ship, be it a rock or another ship. Hull breach and other secondary damage is possible, though not inevitable. The ship might just get shaken up.
12. Life Support Failure: Air supply stops. The crew will slowly run out of oxygen.
13. Power Failure: All power is lost, killing lights, computers, radio, radar, drives, and life support. If this isn't fixed quickly, the crew will have to abandon ship or die.
14. Radiation Leak: Dangerous radiation leaks from a reactor or other source. Crew without safety gear will take radiation damage.
15. Stardrive Failure: Warp, Jump, or Hyper-drive fails. The ship might be left sitting still, or flung into another dimension, or end up anywhere or anywhen.
16. Weapons Failure: A beam weapon fails, a missile jams in the launch tube, or a kinetic energy weapon misfires. The failure may be a backfire or explosion of the weapon itself, resulting in possible secondary damage.

Category Ships

Category Roleplaying