Zero-G Derby
Sponsors, Sabotage, and the Void Between Walls
The Zero-G Derby is professional orbital athletics: teams of three compete in a rotating arena station where gravity is manufactured, inconsistent, and occasionally weaponized. The sport is spectacular, dangerous, and entirely funded by corporate sponsors whose logos cover every surface and whose demands shape every match. Players navigate three-dimensional arenas, score points by depositing a magnetic sphere into shifting goal zones, and manage the physics of an environment where 'down' is a suggestion. The real competition is not on the field. It is in the contract negotiations, where sponsors dictate play style, equipment, and risk tolerance.
“My sponsor wants me to use their new mag-boots. The boots are lighter, faster, and branded with a logo the size of my forearm. They also have a grip failure rate of 3%, which does not sound like much until you are thirty meters above the arena floor in variable gravity and your foot detaches from the wall. I told my sponsor about the grip issue. They told me about my contract’s termination clause.”
- Jenna Voss, Orbital Aces, Derby Season 7
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1. Setting Overview & Tone
The Zero-G Derby is played aboard the Carousel, a rotating orbital station with a cylindrical arena where gravity ranges from Earth-standard at the outer rim to weightless at the center. The arena’s gravity zones are adjustable, and the match director changes them during play, creating a dynamic environment where players must constantly adapt to shifting physics.
Tone: Kinetic, corporate-cynical, and physically thrilling. The setting is a sports drama about athletes who perform extraordinary feats in an environment that is trying to kill them, funded by companies that are more interested in logo placement than player safety.
Sensory Pillars:
- Sight: The Carousel arena: a massive cylinder with the playing field on the interior surface, gravity pulling players “outward” toward the walls. Goal zones that shift position as the match progresses, marked by holographic boundaries. Players in branded suits launching themselves across variable gravity zones, the magnetic sphere trailing electromagnetic shimmer. Sponsor logos on every surface: the walls, the floor, the equipment, and the players themselves.
- Sound: The hum of the gravity generators, which changes pitch as zones shift. The electromagnetic snap of the sphere being captured or released. The crackle of the arena’s PA system, which alternates between play-by-play commentary and sponsor advertisements. The silence of zero-gravity zones, where sound does not carry the same way.
- Touch & Smell: The pressure of a gravity shift, which feels like the floor tilting beneath you except the floor is a wall and you are sideways. The vibration of mag-boots gripping and releasing arena surfaces. The smell of recycled station air, ozone from electromagnetic equipment, and the sharp scent of the cooling system that keeps the arena’s electronics from overheating.
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2. The Station
The Carousel Arena is the primary playing space: a 200-meter cylinder with gravity zones that the match director controls. The inner surface is the playing field. The center is zero-G. The transitions between gravity levels are marked but not gradual, which means a player can step from full gravity into weightlessness in the space of a stride.
The Players’ Module is the residential section where athletes live, train, and recover between matches. It is comfortable, monitored, and plastered with sponsor materials. Training facilities include gravity simulation rooms and a zero-G practice space.
The Broadcast Center manages the Derby’s live feeds, which reach audiences across the orbital network. Broadcast director Kai Noor selects camera angles, highlight reels, and narrative framing. Noor’s decisions about which players receive screen time directly affect sponsor interest, which directly affects player contracts.
The Sponsor Suite is where corporate representatives watch matches and negotiate deals. The Suite is luxurious, well-catered, and separated from the arena by a viewing window that offers the best angle in the station. The sponsors see everything the players do. The players can see the Suite’s lights but not the faces behind the glass.
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3. Factions
The Orbital Aces are the Derby’s defending champions, led by captain Jenna Voss. The Aces are talented, disciplined, and increasingly frustrated by their primary sponsor, Helix Corp, which has been demanding equipment changes that prioritize brand visibility over player safety. Voss is the team’s voice: sharp, competitive, and caught between loyalty to her teammates and the contract that pays their salaries.
Helix Corp is the Aces’ primary sponsor and the Derby’s largest financial backer. Corporate liaison Derek Sato manages the relationship between Helix and the team. Sato is polite, professional, and unflinching: he considers player safety a cost-benefit calculation, and the current calculation favors visibility. He is not cruel. He is corporate.
The Derby Commission regulates the sport and theoretically enforces safety standards. Commissioner Ayla Chen has been pushing for equipment certification requirements that would prevent sponsors from mandating untested gear. The sponsors are blocking the requirements through legal channels. Chen is running out of procedural options.
The Independent Players are unsponsored athletes who compete in lower-tier matches and dream of major-league contracts. Their organizer, a veteran player named Tomas Reeve, advocates for a players’ association that would negotiate collectively with sponsors. The independents have leverage (the Derby needs players) but lack organization (collective bargaining is difficult when your colleagues are competing for the same contracts).
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4. Unique Mechanic: Sponsor Pressure
Each player tracks Sponsor Pressure from 0 to 6, starting at 2.
Pressure rises (+1 each):
- Accepting a sponsor demand (using branded equipment, performing a specific play)
- Receiving increased screen time from the Broadcast Center
- Winning a match that generates significant sponsor revenue
- Signing a new contract with additional sponsor obligations
Pressure drops (-1 each):
- Refusing a sponsor demand (risks contract penalties)
- Playing a match without sponsor-mandated equipment
- Negotiating better terms through the players’ association
- Commissioner Chen passing a safety regulation that limits sponsor control
Pressure effects:
| Pressure | Player Status |
|---|---|
| 0-1 | Full creative freedom. The player chooses equipment, strategy, and play style. |
| 2-3 | Manageable. Some sponsor obligations, but the player retains core decisions. |
| 4-5 | Constrained. Sponsor demands affect equipment, play style, and risk tolerance. Roll at -1d6 when the sponsor’s preferred approach conflicts with the player’s judgment. |
| 6 | Controlled. The sponsor dictates decisions. The player performs as directed. Athletic judgment is overridden by corporate interest. |
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5. Character Archetypes
The Team Captain
You lead the Orbital Aces. You are the best zero-G athlete in the league and the person most responsible for your teammates’ safety. Your sponsor wants you to use untested mag-boots. Your contract says you have to. Your experience says the boots will fail in high-G transitions. You are caught between the contract that pays your team and the judgment that keeps them alive.
- Drive: “Win the season without losing a teammate, and renegotiate the contract before Helix’s equipment demands get someone killed.”
- Approach Distribution: Force 2 | Finesse 3 | Mind 2 | Presence 1
The Corporate Liaison
You represent Helix Corp’s interests in the Derby. You are not a villain. You are an employee managing a sponsorship portfolio worth millions. You understand the safety concerns. You have also run the numbers: the current equipment generates 40% more broadcast visibility than the certified alternatives. You consider this a reasonable trade. The players do not. Your job is to make them use the equipment anyway.
- Drive: “Maintain the sponsorship’s ROI while preventing a safety incident that would damage the brand more than the visibility gains justify.”
- Approach Distribution: Force 1 | Finesse 2 | Mind 3 | Presence 2
The Independent Player
You compete in the minor leagues without a sponsor. Your equipment is secondhand. Your training time is self-funded. You are trying to earn a contract through performance alone, which in the Derby is like trying to earn a promotion by being good at a job nobody is watching. You are also organizing the independents into something that looks like a union, which the major sponsors consider threatening.
- Drive: “Get a contract that does not require selling my safety, and build a players’ association that gives athletes bargaining power against sponsors who treat us as billboards.”
- Approach Distribution: Force 3 | Finesse 2 | Mind 1 | Presence 2
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6. Starter Scenario & Why It Matters
The Grip Failure: During a quarterfinal match, an Aces player wearing Helix’s new mag-boots experiences a grip failure at the transition between a 0.8G zone and zero-G. The player is injured but alive. The match is paused. Helix Corp claims the failure was user error. Voss claims it was the boots. Commissioner Chen sees an opportunity to push equipment certification through. Derek Sato is calculating whether pulling the boots costs more than the liability. Tomas Reeve is rallying the independents: if the Aces walk off the court in solidarity, every unsponsored player in the league will follow. The characters must navigate the aftermath of an injury that was preventable, in a system where prevention conflicts with profit.
Why It Matters: Zero-G Derby asks who controls an athlete’s body when the athlete’s body is a corporate investment. The sponsors are not evil. They are rational actors in a system where player visibility generates revenue and player safety is an expense. The setting is about labor, spectacle, and the specific vulnerability of people whose extraordinary physical abilities make them valuable enough to exploit.