Are you looking for the radiation rules? pg. 403 of the CRB.
Nuclear reactors are the sort of thing that is extremely varied in size and function. At a basic level, they are a power supply and an excuse to break out the rules for radiation.
Yeah, it sounds like the radiation rules have got you covered unless you want to do something like have the PCs adventure into the nuclear power plant to clean up the mess or something.
That would require a map, encounters, fun non-combat obstacles or goals, and a basic understanding of nuclear science. If that's the case, then I would look into media sources for inspiration. The season 1 finale of Z Nation had a similar scenario I think.
My advice would be to not have it just be a combat grind in a reflavored dungeon. This is Starfinder, after all.
Maybe the PCs find a datapad from a missing science team that shows that the reactor breakdown had been predicted. Among other useful pieces of information, it details a time table of expected events related to the reactor shut down, some of which have already passed, resulting in your colony of ghouls. More stages of the breakdown have yet to pass, and if allowed to do so, would result in the annihilation of the entire colony.
The PCs will have to go in and make peaceful contact with the ghoul colony, possibly stabilize a chaotic social scenario. Then they will need to travel to the plant to stabilize the reactor. Along the way, perhaps they encounter some horrific mutated beast, or a band of crazed ghouls, or a troupe of civilized (but violent) ghouls who mistakenly believe the PCs are only there to make matters worse for them. Upon arriving at the plan, the PCs not only have to do a dungeon crawl through the complicated facility, but also have to pass several skill encounters where they have to use computers and engineering (and maybe some explosives) to get past automated security measures, survive a number of dangerous hazards (runaway fires, bursting pipes, heavily radiated areas, collapsing ceilings, etc.), and perhaps one or more of the above-mentioned combat encounters that wasn't used outside the facility (or even a hostile undead mutation of the science team that came in before them and failed). Finally, the PCs will have to make a number of skill checks to shut down and stabilize the facility (different checks in different areas) all before the colony is annihilated.
Want to make it even more interesting? Have the colonists ask the PCs not to destroy any of the feral ghouls, but instead capture or disable them instead (they were once their loved ones, after all).
This would allow for a variety of different PCs with different abilities to really shine, require indepth teamwork on the part of the players, and makes it so the end goal isn't as simple as "kill everything" or "bombard the reactor facility from orbit." It also makes it so the PCs can't just ignore the problem without repercussions. If they take too long planning things out, the colony melts into slag.
Anyways, just some ideas off the top of my head. Hope they help!
I doubt Starfinder uses anything as primitive as nuclear reactors.
I doubt Starfinder uses anything as primitive as nuclear reactors.
No, it would be an aetherial reactor(?). Not sure what you would call an aetherial engine.
I doubt Starfinder uses anything as primitive as nuclear reactors.
For a tiny colony, they very well may. Startups can't usually afford the best tech, after all. It would probably use a bit of magitech though.
Perhaps a npc hesper is involved? Would be fun, they are called reactor fairies afterall... I threw one at my players and they had a blast and some violent mutations lol.
The antiquated magitech might also explain why the colony is having so many problems.
Perhaps a npc hesper is involved? Would be fun, they are called reactor fairies afterall... I threw one at my players and they had a blast and some violent mutations lol.
Haha, yeah.