Tycho Times: Faction Roster

Column One: THE LUNAR AUTHORITY
"Order Above All"

Motives: Keep Tycho quiet, profitable, and firmly under the thumb of the central board. The Authority wants clean ledgers, calm streets, and no surprises.

Strengths: Badges, budgets, and bureaucracy. They bring disciplined security teams, crisp uniforms, and the kind of paperwork that makes rebels vanish between the lines.

Tactics in Tycho: Checkpoints at choke points, curfews on the crater rim, and quiet deals with station managers. They prefer raids at dawn, sealed warrants, and a press release ready before the dust settles.

Roster Notes: Think black‑and‑white ID photos: square jaws, clipped hair, regulation collars. Insignia: a stark crescent over a grid of stars, like a corporate seal stamped on every report.

Column Two: THE MINERS’ UNION
"No Air, No Work"

Motives: Better pay, safer tunnels, and a real say in how Tycho is run. They fight so their kids don’t grow up coughing regolith.

Strengths: Numbers, grit, and the kind of loyalty you only get from sharing bad coffee at 0300. They know every shaft, vent, and forgotten service hatch in the crater.

Tactics in Tycho: Slowdowns that look like accidents, walkouts that hit the Authority’s quotas, and sudden flash rallies in the cargo yards. When pushed, they trade pickaxes for improvised barricades.

Roster Notes: Headshots in smudged overalls, helmet lamps off, eyes steady. Insignia: crossed drill bits over a crater rim, printed like a union card stamp in the corner of the page.

Column Three: THE CORPORATE CONSORTIUM
"Profit in Every Crater"

Motives: Turn Tycho into a balance‑sheet miracle. They want exclusive rights, locked‑in contracts, and a monopoly on every useful rock in sight.

Strengths: Deep pockets, sharp lawyers, and private security that doesn’t ask many questions. They buy what they can’t bully and lease what they can&rsquot buy.

Tactics in Tycho: Quiet acquisitions, sudden buyouts, and “pilot programs” that edge out rivals. They sponsor Authority crackdowns, then swoop in to “stabilize” the district with new investments.

Roster Notes: Tight, studio‑style portraits: crisp suits, thin smiles, reflective visors. Insignia: a stylized lunar disk sliced by a rising bar graph, like a stock ticker frozen mid‑climb.

Column Four: THE FREEBOOTER CREWS
"No Flag, No Rules"

Motives: Fast scores, clean exits, and legends told in back‑room bars. Tycho is their hunting ground and hideout rolled into one.

Strengths: Nerve, improvisation, and ships that shouldn’t fly but do. They thrive in the gaps between patrol routes and the blind spots in every camera grid.

Tactics in Tycho: Smash‑and‑grab raids on under‑guarded depots, sudden docking under false transponder codes, and “lost” cargo that never makes it to the manifest. They vanish into the crater shadows before the sirens finish warming up.

Roster Notes: Grainy mug‑shot frames: mismatched jackets, patched pressure suits, cocky half‑smiles. Insignia: a skull‑like visor over crossed wrenches, stenciled like a back‑alley tattoo.

Column Five: THE LUNAR UNDERGROUND
"Voices in the Dust"

Motives: Break the Authority’s grip and rewrite the rules of life on the Moon. They dream of a Tycho run by its own people, not distant shareholders.

Strengths: Cells, secrets, and a knack for turning everyday workers into quiet sympathizers. They move messages through rumor, graffiti, and hijacked broadcast loops.

Tactics in Tycho: Sabotage that looks like bad luck, anonymous manifestos slipped under bulkhead doors, and coordinated unrest that hits three districts at once. They turn every crackdown into a recruiting poster.

Roster Notes: Shadowed profiles, faces half‑lost in grain. Insignia: a simple black crescent breaking a chain link, printed like a clandestine stamp in the margins.

Column Six: THE SCIENCE DIRECTORATE
"Data Before Dawn"

Motives: Protect their labs, their grants, and their freedom to experiment. Tycho is both test site and treasure trove, and they intend to map every secret it holds.

Strengths: Brains, sensors, and a quiet network of technicians who can make cameras “malfunction” on cue. They trade information like currency and hoard anomalies like gold.

Tactics in Tycho: Discreet escorts for “high‑value samples,” sealed corridors during “routine calibration,” and data leaks timed to embarrass rivals. They rarely fire first, but they always know who did.

Roster Notes: Lab‑badge portraits: high collars, reflective goggles, clipped expressions. Insignia: a thin crescent orbiting a stylized atom, printed like a research stamp in the corner of the column.

Pull‑Quote Strip: RIVALRY IN BLACK AND WHITE
“Tycho isn’t a city,” one veteran miner mutters in a sidebar quote, “it’s a scoreboard.” Every shift change, every cargo transfer, every quiet meeting in a pressurized back room adds another line to the standings. Authority patrols trade glares with union stewards; corporate fixers share elevators with Underground couriers; freebooters drift just outside the docking lights while the Directorate watches from behind one‑way glass. In the early‑80s columns of the Tycho Times, the factions read like rival teams locked in an endless season, their black‑and‑white headshots staring each other down across the fold.

TYCHO FRONT LINES: HOW THE CAMPAIGN UNFOLDS

Special Report: Rules Briefing for Frontline Players

Tycho Gazette, Evening Edition, 1983 — As rival factions converge on the cratered sprawl of Tycho, military analysts and street-corner bookmakers alike are asking the same question: how will this campaign actually be decided? Our correspondent files this exclusive rules briefing, disguised as tomorrow’s headlines.

SECTORS AT STAKE: HOW THE MAP IS CARVED UP

Tycho is divided into clearly marked sectors, each containing one or more resource nodes. These nodes are the lifeblood of the conflict: fuel depots, data relays, ore pits, and supply yards. Control them, and your side writes the next day’s front page.

Infobox: Sector Snapshot
• Each sector has a name and ID code.
• Sectors contain 1–3 resource nodes.
• Control markers show which team holds the ground.
• Neutral sectors start unclaimed at campaign launch.

At the start of the campaign, the map editor or referee publishes a Tycho Sector Register, listing every sector, its nodes, and any special rules. Players are urged to clip and save.

RESOURCE NODES: WHAT TEAMS ARE FIGHTING FOR

Every node on the Tycho map has a type and a value. Type determines what it represents in-universe; value determines how much it matters in the final tally.

Infobox: Common Node Types
• Fuel Yards — power vehicles, boost mobility.
• Data Relays — improve intel, reroll options.
• Ore Pits — increase strategic “budget” or points.
• Supply Docks — unlock reinforcements or upgrades.

In game terms, a node usually grants campaign points or a special bonus to the team that holds it at the end of a round. The newspaper may report these as “logistical advantages” or “backroom deals,” but players will recognize them as hard numbers.

CAMPAIGN TURNS: HOW TIME IS REPORTED

The Tycho campaign advances in rounds, each one treated as a fresh “edition” of the conflict. A round can represent a game night, a weekend, or any agreed interval. At the close of each round, the editor-in-chief (or campaign organizer) publishes a Round Bulletin summarizing the action.

Infobox: Round Structure
• Step 1: Teams choose which sectors to attack or defend.
• Step 2: Players schedule and play their tabletop battles.
• Step 3: Results are reported to the campaign desk.
• Step 4: Control markers and bonuses are updated.
• Step 5: Headline story and map are reprinted.

Each battle is a story; each round is a front page. The campaign ends after a fixed number of rounds or when one faction meets a victory condition, such as holding a majority of high-value nodes.

BATTLES AND REPORTING: HOW RESULTS ARE LOGGED

When two teams clash over a sector, the outcome is recorded as a battle report. These reports are the raw copy from which the Tycho Gazette builds its narrative.

Infobox: Battle Report Fields
• Sector name and code.
• Attacking and defending teams.
• Scenario or mission played.
• Final result (win, loss, draw).
• Nodes gained, lost, or contested.

Organizers may encourage players to add short, in-universe headlines (“NIGHT RAID SHATTERS DOCKSIDE QUIET”) but the key function is mechanical: who now controls which nodes?

CONTROL AND CONSEQUENCES: WHO HOLDS TYCHO?

Control of a sector is determined by who holds the majority of its nodes at the end of a round. If both sides hold an equal number, the sector is marked as contested, and the Gazette prints it in gray ink, so to speak.

Infobox: Control Rules
• Majority of nodes = sector control.
• Ties = contested, no full control bonus.
• Some sectors grant extra points if fully controlled.
• Losing all nodes in a sector flips control immediately.

Teams place or move control markers on the map to show their grip on Tycho. These markers are the visual shorthand for the entire war: black for one faction, white for the other, or any agreed symbols.

VICTORIES, LOSSES, AND CAMPAIGN MOMENTUM

Each victory or loss does more than change a headline; it shifts the campaign’s underlying math. Winning a battle usually grants campaign points and may unlock temporary bonuses for the next round.

Infobox: Typical Victory Effects
• +1 campaign point per captured node.
• Bonus points for seizing enemy-held sectors.
• Temporary buffs (extra units, rerolls, defenses).
• Narrative events triggered at point thresholds.

Defeats, meanwhile, can strip a team of nodes, reduce their bonuses, or trigger in-universe setbacks: fuel shortages, comms blackouts, or political scandals back home. The Gazette reports these as “shocks” and “upsets,” but players will feel them as modifiers on the table.

TRACKING THE WAR: LEDGERS AND LEAD STORIES

Behind the scenes, the campaign desk maintains a Tycho Control Ledger: a simple record of sectors, nodes, and points. After each round, the ledger is updated and translated into a new front-page map and a short summary article.

Infobox: End-of-Round Summary
• Total sectors controlled by each team.
• High-value nodes and who holds them.
• Current campaign points and lead margin.
• Announced “Top Story” for the next round.

Players can read the ledger as a scoreboard or as a war diary. Either way, it tells them where to strike next.

ENDING THE CAMPAIGN: FINAL EDITION

The Tycho campaign concludes when a pre-set number of rounds has passed or when a faction reaches a victory threshold in campaign points or key sectors. The last bulletin is the Final Edition, declaring the winning side and summarizing the decisive battles.

Whether your team is hailed as “SAVIORS OF TYCHO” or remembered as “THE LOST ARMY IN THE DUST,” the rules remain clear: fight for nodes, track your rounds, and let the map tell the story.