Random Space Finds #4

Floating flotsam and jetsam, tumbling slowly in the void (1d10):

1. Golden Plump turkey, 13 lbs.
2. Universal translator gadget with artificial intelligence, ill regard for users
   
3. Royal gala event invite for two, dated for two days from now
4. One tank of hydrogen fuel, 1000 liters, target hastily painted on one side
5. Pair of stiletto heels, red
   
6. One electromagnetic rail gun, (50% personal armament; 40% fighter craft-mountable; 5% battleship mountable; 5% asteroid emplacement)
7. Canine tooth, 4 meters in length
8. Steering wheel from your previous spacecraft, unmistakable
9. Digital imaging device, stored memory contains photos of planetwide destruction, wedding
10. Turkey baster

Moon Wagon Train to the Stars!

Part of my original purpose for the Exonauts! blog was to give some inspiration for early space pioneers and the type of gear that they'd need to employ. I remember reading recently (somewhere I can't recall at the moment) that the originally Star Frontiers didn't have spaceships. This, to me, is ridiculous. Apparently they introduced actual starfaring craft in the Knight Hawks expansion.

How you can you not have space travel in a space opera RPG? It's THE basic element that all space-RPGs require! What do you mean you need to get the expans--wha? What's that on the cover?

And then I saw it, and immediately I was in love...

Huminna-hummina! It's called the Explorer, and it's basically a futuristic monster truck. Sort of like the A-Team van but with bigger wheels and lasers! And who can resist the striping?!

I immediately saw potential here for a class of ground vehicle that was more robust and rugged than an ordinary rover. I did some digging and before long I'd come up with not one, but TWO concepts for non-hovering, heavy ground vehicles. These are rough concepts at this point, so I won't go into stat specifics in this post.

So, I think the Explorer is a good start, but I see it belonging to a bigger family of planetary excursion vehicles. Something monstrous, but still dedicated to it's primary purpose: exploring. I call it the Moon Wagon.

MOON WAGON
The primary mission of a moon wagon is exploration. It may also serve scientific, reconnaissance, and survivalist missions. They provide excellent protection from harsh planetary environments and are considered a cross between a mobile headquarters and the Conestoga wagon of yesteryear. Moon Wagon's are built to endure harsh climes and terrain and come in a variety of configurations employing either axeled drive (two wheels per axel), can be fit with independent wheel drives so each wheel moves independently, or a combination thereof. In addition, MW class vehicles adhere to the following criteria:

• General purpose and complement: exploration, scientific, and engineering purposes; boast scientific instrumentation, cargo/personnel focused
• The fewer the axles, the bigger the tires
• If axel powered, Moon Wagons have a minimum of 2 axles (with a 2-wheel minimum per axel), however 3 axels (with a 6-wheel minimum) are more common
• Moon Wagons must always have some wheels, caterpillar treads are okay, but at least one axle or wheel pair is required to keep classification
• Moon Wagons often employ external accessories like robotic arms, construction implements (buldozer blades, drills, etc.) sensor modules, communications arrays, etc., or combination thereof for general use in many mission types
• Moon Wagons may have some external weaponry, but they may not bristle with weapons as warfare is not their primary function

Examples:

 

  

  

 

The other main ground vehicle type is, as you've probably already guessed, the big guns. No reason to be coy here, it's a @#$! Space Tank!

SPACE TANK
Heavily armored and armed, Space Tanks or "Spanks" as they're called by the grunts who operate them, are ground force artillery vehicles dedicated to offensive/defensive campaigns. Strictly speaking, spanks "bring the pain" on a given battlefield and adhere to the following guidelines:

• UPDATE: Built for heavy combat situations, Space Tanks are always equipped with two pieces of equipment: an obvious, primary weapon and extremely durable--if not outright heavy--armor plating
• Spanks have limited space for cargo and crew, most interior space is dedicated to housing artillery, ordinance, and mission critical personnel 
• Spanks must always have treads, an axle  or use of independently powered wheels are acceptable, but at least one caterpillar is required to keep the classification (BigTrak would seem to break this rule! Also, the Mako from Mass Effect is quite obviously a tank, where it had previously been classified as a Moon Wagon)
  
• UPDATE: Space Tanks may be wheeled or use treads
• Obvious communications and sensors are kept to a minimum, but a variety of defensive accessories such as bulldozer blades, drills, etc. may be added as long as they serve the vehicle's primary mission

Examples:

 

  

 

Both Classes:

• UPDATE: Both vehicle classes must be able to operate in an absence of atmosphere (vacuum), hence required pressurized/sealed life support systems
• Cross-over designs should be avoided to alleviate any confusion
• Either class may use a variety of chasis sizes and power plants to serve their specific mission types
• Either may have on-board robotic pilots, and may be controlled remotely, but should not act as unmanned vehicles or robotic rovers (these are separate classifications)
• Both Space Tanks and Moon Wagons may act as personnel carriers or increase cargo space, but sacrifice some of their primary components to do so (i.e., a MWs carry lighter, scientific equipment, STs carry less ammunition and possibly fewer weapons).
• All ground vehicles will have 1980s color-coordinated striping, this is non-negotiable

Neither Class:
Neither class includes the following vehicle types:

• Urban vehicles or assault craft (often appearing with 3 axels but serve different functions)
• Limbed vehicles
• Robotic drones or rovers
• Juggernauts

It's likely I'll revise this in an ongoing fashion--including a growing gallery of images for inspiration--so expect a fair amount of updates/edits. And yes, I'll get to spacecraft in a future post. ;)

Thoughts?

Random Space Finds #3

Floating flotsam and jetsam, tumbling slowly in the void (1d10):

1. 17 anti-armor artillery shells, each with different symbols or names etched on them
2. Heirloom case containing two dueling ray gun pistols
   
3. Voyager 1, human representations defaced with obscene graffiti
4. Binary Dyson sphere
5. World's #1 Dad mug
6. Paperback copy of Machiavelli's "The Prince,"annotated and highlighted
7. Eight 55 gallon drums of high-grade DDT-based insect spray
8. Bank drive-thru canister, deposit slip inside for 4 million credits
9. Wishbone, size of VW beetle
10. Hatch and with explosive bolts blasted, bloody hand prints

More Intersteller Inspiration

Click on images to enlarge

 

  

  

 

  

 

Random Esoteric Aliens

Preamble:
The theories for positing life not-of-this-world (both extraterrestrial and extradimensional) are numerous and omnipresent in popular culture, scientific discourse, and everywhere in between. Astrobiologists believe they've only scratched the surface when it comes to presupposing the type, incidence, and morphology of non-earth life, as well as the definition thereof. They've turned their focus back on Earth for new perspectives. From undersea smokestacks to Martian meteorites, it's presumed that alien life could take just about any form--large or small, complex, or single-celled. In recent years, the discoveries of exoplanets have forced many theories to be continually discussed, challenged, and revised--owing to even greater diversity of hypothesized life and it's prevalence in the universe. In the previous century through today, science fiction writers have expounded on all manner of life and how we might encounter and interact with it. It's time science fiction gaming caught up.

Proposal:
So here's a "what if?" scenario. What if EVERY encounter with alien lifeforms in a campaign were randomly created? Now I'm not talking "no pre-gens," but let's say for a second that aliens were created using the Random Esoteric Creature Generator by the esteemed James Edward Raggi IV. What I'm thinking here (and it's by no means an original thought) is anything extraterrestrial could/would/should have completely sporadic biology. I'm also not meaning "intelligent" life--but definitely "fightable"!

Part of me wonders if the RECG even goes far enough--things like horns, claws, etc. are still all based on the anatomy of earthly organisms (and for good reasons, which I think should be obvious) but it would be neat to see something sprout up in the OSR that's even more "sci-fi" in it's approach. Not to say that the RECG doesn't do an excellent job in the first place--it does and there is quite a bit of diversity in that little book! But, well, here's a few other possibilities for lifeforms cruising the great void:

• Silicon-based lifeforms (also mineral/crystalline life)
• Astral (non-necrotic or undead) beings
• Mechanical, electronic, or nano-tech lifeforms 
• Liquid, ooze, vaporous lifeforms
• Mega-sized, single cell organisms
• Living starship, organic mecha or vehicle-based lifeforms
• Parasites/symbiotes

That's off the top of my head, I'm sure there are plenty I've missed, but you get the general idea. I know a good many of these are obvious, and I'm sure they're covered in a many RPG supplements in a variety of formats. But I've noticed not one true beastiary among the sci-fi RPGs besides an aliens supplement in Star Wars or a few others centered on humanoid-type aliens. (And there might also be a Cthulu Tech book out there, but you get what I mean....) To my knowledge, there's not a true sci-fi "Monster Manual." So the creature generator gets my vote, because as we all know aliens should--as a rule--be weird as hell.

I should also note just briefly, that James' includes all kinds of attack types and whatnot in the generator to flesh creatures out and make them combat-ready. So I'm not just talking about an encyclopedia, it's got to be a product for encounters both combat and otherwise.

So what do you think of my half of a thought here? Is there room or need for a Sci-Fi Random Creature Generator out there? What kinds of creatures would you want your PCs to blast into atoms? And what about using as mounts? Vehicles? Familiars, pets, or sidekicks? Let's not forget playable PC templates!

So, thoughts? Feel free to educate me as well (I'd never claim to be an expert about the wealth of resources out there!). Discuss!

More thoughts about:
Extradimensional planes (no, I don't get it either)
The Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence
Xeno/Astrobiology, also
Exoplanets