Space Madness!

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Tue Oct 16, 2018 9:18 pm

Introducing "Native" Certs:

Native Belter (Hsan and Belter Lore+)
Character can pass as a Belter. All of the character’s tags are treated as advanced tags (+) when dealing with the Belt or Belters. Their teammates are treated as if they have the Belter Lore tag so long as the character is alive. If the characters already have the Belter Lore tag, they are treated as if they had Belter Lore+.

Native Lunar (Cat Lore and Lunar Lore+)
Character can pass as a Lunar. All of the character’s tags are treated as advanced tags (+) when dealing with Luna or Lunars. Their teammates are treated as if they have the Lunar Lore tag so long as the character is alive. If the characters already have the Lunar Lore tag, they are treated as if they had Lunar Lore+.

Native Martian (Azatha and Mars Lore+)
Character can pass as a Martian. All of the character’s tags are treated as advanced tags (+) when dealing with Mars or Martians. Their teammates are treated as if they have the Mars Lore tag so long as the character is alive. If the characters already have the Mars Lore tag, they are treated as if they had Mars Lore+.

Native Venusian (Senzar and Venus Lore+)
Character can pass as a Venusian. All of the character’s tags are treated as advanced tags (+) when dealing with Venus or Venusians. Their teammates are treated as if they have the Venus Lore tag so long as the character is alive. If the characters already have the Venus Lore tag, they are treated as if they had Venus Lore+.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Thu Oct 18, 2018 8:06 pm

Ranger Captains
The highest echelon of the Space Ranger Corps is not that much different from the rank-and-file in terms of raw numbers—they face the same restraints on equipment and must qualify for their Certs like everyone else. They are what player characters can aspire to be, not impossible posthuman entities with unique abilities. Breadth of experience often make them more versatile and dangerous than raw dicepool would suggest: with the Experienced and Mastery certs, for example, Space Ranger Captains are rolling more dice against lower targets, making them disproportionately more likely to succeed.

Still not sure if these NPCs need full descriptions, although I like these "building' notes. Two more NPCs left to make this section finished according to my outline...unless anybody has any other NPCs they want to see stat'd.

The full Xenobestiary is probably going to be a little different, using the abbreviated format and I still need to sort out things like stat ranges and how to code abilities that don't fit into existing certs et al. coherently.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Sat Nov 03, 2018 3:31 pm

Finished off the NPCs and the character creation example, although at 73k words and 174 pages the GoogleDoc is straining a bit. Still have the xenobestiary to go.

Zaranthan · Post by **Zaranthan** » Sun Nov 04, 2018 4:37 am

Speaking from personal experience with Google Docs becoming unusable when they grow too large (the editor won’t load and trying to download from the Google Drive interface simply produces opaque errors): split your work while you still can. You’ve got unlimited space for stuff in G’s native format, so no reason not to sort it into its own folder.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Mon Nov 05, 2018 9:11 pm

Trying to settle on a better format for xenobestiary. I kind of like how d20 had abilities specified, but not sure how I'm going to do it.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Tue Nov 06, 2018 3:21 am

Also debating having a generic profile for the species and then something like a template to apply for certain jobs/backgrounds. Meditating on that.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Tue Nov 13, 2018 11:45 pm

Xenoguide
The Solar system teams with life on its many habitable planets, moons, and other bodies; too many to provide stats for all creatures and sentient beings Space Rangers might encounter. The stats given for every entry below use an abbreviated format, and represent average numbers for a member of that species—individuals will possess Attributes, Skills, Tags, Certs, and Equipment suitable for their background. To speed up NPC creation, the gamemaster can simply add a background from Character Creation or choose one or more of the Xeno Backgrounds. Note that backgrounds like Terran and Lunar are only appropriate for beings that have extensive knowledge of or exposure to those societies and cultures—like spies gathering intelligence on human cultures. Alien and animal NPCs may have any Certs they qualify for.
Abilities represent capabilities different from humanity, and are broken into three categories:
Biological (Bio) abilities are functions of alien anatomy; these usually represent added capabilities or structures such as wings, venom, etc. They may represent certain Certs or Augmentation equivalents that all members of the species have, but they do not add dice to any Test or Contest.
Sapient (Sap) abilities represent some specialized training, cultural education, or specific aptitude members of the species have. These are represented by bonus dice to specific Tests and Contents.
Functions (Fun) are wand-like abilities that a member of the species can manifest. Unlike Mutations, a creature with these abilities is not treated as a living wand: the functions are innate and often very limited compared to those created by a Space Ranger with their wand, and often come with severe restrictions in how often they may be used.

Name — Descriptor (Threat Assessment)
Charisma W (Skills:)
Courage X (Skills:)
Intellect Y (Skills:)
Perception Z (Skills:)
Tags:
Certs:
Equipment:
Health Circles:
Mental Health Circles:
Abilities:

Xeno Backgrounds
These backgrounds are deliberately generic, acceptable for any species. They are not recommended for use with player characters.

Commander
While not every culture has single leader, they usually have some individual who is in charge of other individuals, helping to direct their efforts toward some larger goal.
Attributes (Charisma/Courage/Intellect/Perception): 2/2/1/1
Skills: Deception 2, Empathy 2, Law 2, Persuasion 2, Screen 2
Tags: Economics, History, Linguistics, Psychology, Sociology, any Language
Special: Commanders have the Grace Under Pressure Cert.

Priest
Where Scientists inquire, Priests know; many of the alien religions that Space Rangers have encountered are not as metaphysical as human spirituality: they insist their gods are real, physical entities, and their worship ancient.
Attributes (Charisma/Courage/Intellect/Perception): 2/1/1/2
Skills: Deception 2, Law 2, Screen 2, Therapy 2, Visualization 2
Tags: Astronomy, Precursor Lore, Religion, Xenotechnology, any Language
Special: Priests have the Eldritch Lore Cert, even if they do not otherwise qualify for it, and a Tulu Charm.

Scientist
While not all cultures have the scientific method, most of them have philosophers, shamans, or other specialists dedicated to exploring and explaining the known and the unknown.
Attributes (Charisma/Courage/Intellect/Perception): 1/1/2/2
Skills: Computing 2, Engineering 2, Forensics 2, Law 2, Medicine 2
Tags: Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Philosophy, Physics, Xenotechnology
Special: Scientists have the Eldritch Lore Cert, even if they do not otherwise qualify for it. A Scientist always has an advanced tag (+) in their area of specialty (for example, a shaman might have Religion+ or Precursor Lore+).

Soldier
Most species have members dedicated to some form of authorized use of force, whether they serve a police function, gladiators, hunters, military, or security.
Attributes (Charisma/Courage/Intellect/Perception): 2/2/1/1
Skills: Deception 2, Combatives 2, Law 2, Screen 2, Visualization 2
Tags: Physics, Psychology, Sociology, Tactics, Xenotechnology
Special: Soldiers are issued any appropriate wand as their primary weapon.

Trader
Often the character humans interact with most often, Traders vary from brokers and barters to corporate ale representatives and guild masters: their tasks involve the trade in goods and services.
Attributes (Charisma/Courage/Intellect/Perception): 2/1/2/1
Skills: Deception 2, Empathy 2, Forensics, Law 2, Screen 2
Tags: Economics, Linguistics, Psychology, any two Languages
Special: Traders have a large wallet of local currency, or sufficient connects to obtain equivalent credit. They have one Tulu Token for emergencies.

Fuck its hard to find time to write these days.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Wed Nov 14, 2018 11:45 pm

Aihai and Yorhis are up. Debating generation of generic abilities table, a la Shadowrun, to make some of the entries a little shorter, but honestly there's not a lot of shared abilities...I gotta think about it.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Thu Nov 15, 2018 9:53 pm

General Abilities
Many species share similar abilities, so for simplicity a selection of general abilities are included below.

Animal (Bio): The creature has animal-level intelligence, though it is still sapient. They cannot take any Intellect-based skills or tags requiring sentient thought. For example, a Cat From Earth cannot take the Linguistics tag, but it could take the Cat Lore tag.
Trained (X) (Sap): These beings are trained in the use of a specific cosmic force, and gain a +2 dice bonus when using those wand functions or (Fun) abilities. For example, Yorhis with Trained (Odic) get +2 dice when using Odic Force wand functions.
X-life (Bio): These creatures are adapted for living conditions on Mars, their instincts tuned to Mars and its cycles. They have the appropriate Native Cert (Native Martian, Native Venusian, etc.), even if they do not qualify for it. For example, an Aihai would have the Marslife ability, a Cat From Venus the Venuslife ability, etc.
X-born (Sap): These beings are raised to interact within their own societies, and outsiders have difficulty interacting with them. They gain a +4 dice bonus on Charisma Contests against characters without the appropriate Native Cert (Native Martian, Native Venusian, etc.) So for example a Yorhis would have the Marsborn ability, a Cat From Saturn the Saturnborn ability, etc.

Earthlife and Earthborn
Creatures from Earth have both of these abilities, but not humans or Cats From Earth. Generations of adapting to strange environment, exploration, and rigorous education have made humans more versatile and less bound to their home planet; although they can still buy the Native Terran Cert if they so choose.

This is sort of a gish of Shadowrun powers and D&D3.x style abilities, but I think they make a little more sense.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Mon Dec 31, 2018 10:19 pm

This isn't dead, although my spirit is broken. I need to rework how I want the bestiary to work and then just write it.

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Mon Dec 31, 2018 10:57 pm

In future, you should never make promises. That way you'll never have to keep 'em.

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Tue Jan 01, 2019 3:46 am

I kinda feel bad. I never intended this to be so spirit breaking for you when I made the reviews of your year-blog. If there were anything I could do/offer to help/repay, I'd be willing to try.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Tue Jan 01, 2019 8:58 pm

Okay, modified abilities slightly, added some new certs, now I need to start working on the rest of the Xenoguide.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Thu Jan 03, 2019 1:10 am

Asteroid Eater
Disguised as floating rocks, these creatures range from the size of a human head to planetismals, consisting of a rocky outer shell that conceals a seemingly endless bundle of serrated flat coils made of carbon fibers, the tips and edges of which contain microscopic diamonds, all contained around and powered by a compact Azathoth reactor. The creature has no brain, feels no pain, and cannot think, only react to certain stimuli. This bizarre biology—if it is biological, as many Federation scientists believe it must be some ancient, unknown piece of Precursor bio-technology—provides the Asteroid Eaters with their fundamental behavior.

Threat Assessment: Combatives 12
Charisma 4 (Skills: Deception 4)
Courage 6 (Skills: Combatives 6)
Intellect 4 (Skills: N/A)
Perception 6 (Skills: Navigation 4, Visualization 4)
Tags: N/A
Certs:
Health Circles: ⊡⊡⊡⊡⊡⊡⊡
Mental Health Circles: N/A
Abilities: Animal, Aptitude (Azathoth), Construct, Technoregeneration, Voidlife
Natural Wand (Bio): Asteroid Eaters count as wands with a Rating equal to their number of hit boxes (7 when uninjured) remaining, and 100 Sagans maximum charge. They can only manipulate Azathoth radiation.

Not going into the tactical approach on these critters.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Fri Jan 04, 2019 12:54 am

Bhlemphroims
The Bhlemphroims are also the most technologically advanced and militaristic of the Saturnian races. They are near-cousins of humanity: mostly-hairless bipedal humanoids with the vast majority of anatomical features in common with humanity. The major difference is that the Bhlemphroims lack a separate head and neck structure, with the brain located in the center of the torso, protected by the bony plates of the skull. Eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, etc. are expressed in the middle of the torso, or sometimes a bit off-center depending on individual anatomy. Bhlemphroims are almost universally male, their culture generally centers around fertile females, creating an analogue to insect colonies, with considerable social importance attached to the “national mothers” who perpetuate the race.

Threat Assessment: Class skill 11
Charisma 5 (Skills: Deception 2, Persuasion 2)
Courage 5 (Skills: Combatives 2, Screen 2)
Intellect 5 (Skills: Engineering 2, Law 2)
Perception 5 (Skills: Forensics 2, Visualization 2)
Tags: Saturn Lore, Tsatha, Xenobiology, Xenotechnology
Certs: Experienced (Class skill), Native Saturnian
Health Circles: ⊙⊙⊙⊙⊙⊙⊙⊙
Mental Health Circles: ⊚⊚⊚⊚⊚⊚
Abilities: Aptitude (N-rays), Saturnborn
Class (Sap): Each Bhlemphroim belongs to a specific social class, which they are trained in since birth. Choose one skill as the Bhlemphroim’s Class skill; they have a Rating 6 in this skill, and the Experienced cert in that skill. Bhlemphroims with Visualization as their Class skill will also have the Trained ability in one comic force, usually N-rays.

Always tetchy about giving different critters unique abilities - you want them to be distinguishable, but still easily utilizable.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Fri Jan 04, 2019 11:47 pm

Ydheems
Close relatives of the Bhlemphroim, the Ydheems still retain rudimentary heads, though the necks are fixed due to the fusion of the vertebrae, and they have a high incidence of mutation, resulting in a very heterogenous populace, made all the more so by a cultural tendency toward surgical augmentation, cybernetics, and cosmetic modification. They are the most cosmopolitan of the Saturnians, with many Ydheems integrated into Bhlemphroim megacities as well as their own vast City of A Million Temples, and as a whole seem to have an inclination for creative professions and to depend heavily on cultural exports. They are the artists, actors, and craftspeople of Saturn, as well as the priests, shamans, and oracles; they retain a reputation for hereditary madness as well as esoteric knowledge and, in some cases, strange powers.

Threat Assessment: Visualization 11
Charisma 6 (Skills: Deception 2, Persuasion 4)
Courage 3 (Skills: Combatives 2, Screen 4)
Intellect 3 (Skills: Law 3, Medicine 2)
Perception 5 (Skills: Visualization 6)
Tags: Art, Music, Saturn Lore, Tsatha
Certs: Native Saturnian
Health Circles: ⊡⊙⊙⊙⊙⊙⊙⊙
Mental Health Circles: ⊚⊚⊚⊚⊚⊚
Abilities: Aptitude (N-rays), Saturnborn
Most Ydheem possess one of the natural functions below, although it is unclear if these are do to natural ability or augmentation; those who do not possess the Mutation and Supermutation certs.

The Song of Shub-Niggurath (Fun): The Ydheem may generate an N-pulse, as the function, at will as though the character had paid the minimum Sagan cost. To be maintained, the character must make another successful Combatives Test each round.
The Song of Hziulquoigmnzhah (Fun): The Ydheem may use the Tillinghast Resonator effect, as the function, at will as though the character had paid the minimum Sagan cost. To be maintained, the character must make another successful Visualization Test each round.
The Song of Tsathoggua (Fun): The Ydheem may use the Zann's Harmonic effect, as the function, at will as though the character had paid the minimum Sagan cost. To be maintained, the character must make another successful Deception Contest each round.
The Song of Ghisguth (Fun): The Ydheem may use the Blind Spot effect, as the function, at will as though the character had paid the minimum Sagan cost. To be maintained, the character must make another successful Deception Contest each round.
The Song of the Old Ones (Fun): The Ydheem may use the Song of the Old Ones effect, as the function, at will as though the character had paid the minimum Sagan cost. To be maintained, the character must make another successful Law Contest each round.

Ydheem Mutants
Ydheems mutations never include any N-ray functions, making their Aptitude useless unless they are using a wand that can access this cosmic force. Culturally, the Ydheem do not consider those with mutations to be deviations in the same sense as humans, but as atavistic throwbacks to the children of one or more of the deities they worship.

Zaranthan · Post by **Zaranthan** » Sun Jan 06, 2019 8:23 am

Ancient History wrote:Always tetchy about giving different critters unique abilities - you want them to be distinguishable, but still easily utilizable.

I think you've walked the tightrope here. "Unique" abilities that are actually previously-defined abilities that the creature otherwise wouldn't qualify for are a good way to make a creature distinct without actually bloating your rules.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Mon Jan 07, 2019 1:03 am

Finished the major Saturnian races, getting my notes together to address the Cats.

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Mon Jan 28, 2019 1:46 am

The Duelist equipment package gives an external power supply for 3 CLP and a second Mark IV for 4. The equipment cost lists the external as 4, and I'm not 100% certain how a Sweet Ermengerde can be that cheap?

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Mon Jan 28, 2019 2:15 am

...and he woke up and it was three weeks later, dark gods dammit.

Fixed.

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Mon Jan 28, 2019 6:22 pm

Kinda awkward to ask, but is it alright if I compile and do layout of Space Madness into a physical book? The intent is purely for personal use with myself and my friends.

Related note: what are your opinions of other people (who don't have any awareness of the Den) seeing your work, even if it's just me sending them a link to your Google Doc?

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Mon Jan 28, 2019 8:09 pm

Kinda awkward to ask, but is it alright if I compile and do layout of Space Madness into a physical book?

It's still not finished but yeah, sure, go ahead.

Related note: what are your opinions of other people (who don't have any awareness of the Den) seeing your work, even if it's just me sending them a link to your Google Doc?

Don't care, go for it.

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Tue Jan 29, 2019 3:28 pm

What are the kinds of robots in the Federation?

Post by **fbmf** » Tue Jan 29, 2019 3:52 pm

Where is said GOOGLE DOC? Did I miss a link somewhere?

Game On,
fbmf

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Tue Jan 29, 2019 3:54 pm

It's on like page three, here's a relink

https://docs.google.com/document/d/184P ... vOEXg/edit