 November 30, 2011 - 11:00am | I've updated the link below as it looks like the RPG archive site has been hi-jacked for someone doing somehting in the UK housing market. The new link is to an internet archive snap shot of the old webpage. Found this: https://web.archive.org/web/20020712204823/http://www.rpgarchive.com/index.php?advid=121&page=adv1 While trying to track a reference to the khad'dan from lost SF fan sites from the '90's I know that spirit creatures, like mentalist powers are not popular but there is definetly grist for the mill here even if you treat a clan shadow as nothing more than legend it cetainly speaks to ancient yazirian beliefs. I have still to track down a description of the khad'dan but if I had to make one up I'd go with a reversed curve scimitar. Reactions to the material in the link above? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 November 30, 2011 - 11:08pm | I like this as background legend material. Have it happen to others but never to the PCs. After a long while of this have some other cause that they can attribute to this so that they too begin to share in the legend. -iggy |
December 1, 2011 - 8:42am | That's what I was thinking, except I didn't want to use a Star Trek classic of an energy creature. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 8, 2012 - 10:14pm | It occured to me that night time is prominent in human horror stories because its difficult to see but for the yazirian it would day time in bright sunlight for the yazirian because that is when its difficult to see for the yazirian. What to do with the Hir-Kal? a creature of mentalist power, spiritual power, energy creature? or myth? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 9, 2012 - 6:09am | Instead of the Heat of the Night its the Heat of the Day for the Yazirian the yazirian grave yard shift is 7-3 They dont burn the midnight oil they douse the morning lights They dont pull all nighters they pull all day-ers They put on goggles and make love on the beach at high noon because they think no one can see them. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 9, 2012 - 6:41am | Creating a monster of pure mental energy: A quick read of the mentalist section in Zebs remastered: Beam- one method of attack Channeling I- not that it needs this for defense, its useful to screw with the PCs Channeling II- ditto Confussion- a great one for a drawn out encounter where the monster is toying with the PCs Cryokinesis- able to make the room cold- talk about giving yourself over to the methaphor Fear- yeah another method of attack Illusion- another screw with the PC ability Paralyze- another method of attack Pyrokinesis- opposite of cryoK but useful Static- file under screwing with the PCs and making your presence known Telemanipulation- good for making objects to float and fly at PCs Trap- if the PCs have a mentalist good ability to zap him Mentalist monster has 2-3 screw with the PC abilities and 1-2 attack abilities It also has Mental STA instead of regular STA. Most normal weapons don't affect it. If the campaign has technologies that allow for regular mentalist to be tracked or affected in some way by the device then a technician can modify these devices to track or affect the mentalist monster. Big problem is to have a vulnerability that doesn't make it easy to wipe this thing out but does allow the PCs to discover how to defeat it. The encounter can't be just about the mentalist monster but rather something else is going on and the MM is there following its own agenda and causing problems for the PCs, they can either resolve the regular worldly problem they face first or resolve the MM first. Perhaps the MM is a dead sathar and its mind and will (or perhaps its the will and emotions but no mind-pure malice) have been freed from its body so it goes after the PCs. Also would be good to have cannon fodder NPCs around to be killed in grisely ways to set the stage before the MM attacks the PCs directly. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 9, 2012 - 6:39am | Energy creature (thank you star trek for doing this one to death) Ghost in the Machine- acts like a virus infecting computer networks. Solutions to attack it- take down the networks, shut down the computer, air burst nuke and EMP could do the trick though the "fall out" over that can be negative and I'm not talking radiation. With constant discharges of electricity in a planetary atmosphere the energy creature exists as pure energy and its whole existence is spent zapping from place to place till comes in contact with a shuttle as a lightning strike. Now its the ghost in the machine, trying to get access to greater reserves of power and get back to where it came from. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 9, 2012 - 1:21pm | We should broaden our horizon to allow acceptable Sci-Fi creatures, so, I'm all for this. To appeal to a broad audience try writing something like; "use this creature as pure energy based, mental/psionic power, extra-dimensional, spirit-like, etc. Whatever fits into your campaign." I archived the below here; Shades of the BladeAuthor: Daron PattonHomepage: http:// System: Star Frontiers Type: Hook Category: Science Fiction Requirements: 3-6 PCs
Koraffo
stared at the Khad'dan buried deep in Ulkunk's amorphous corpse. He was the
sole survivor now. Why hadn't he simply refused to follow the human female's
orders? Why didn't matter any more. The Hir-Kal would be coming for him next.
Then it could rest again. The Yazirian sighed then dropped his blaster belt and
blaster to the deck. Lasers would be no use against such a phantom. According
to legend nothing was. The hissing song of his Khad'dan being swiftly drawn
from its sheathe echoed down the silent passageway. If an ancient evil wanted
his life, it would have to pass through ancient steel to take it.
The morning
rays of an unnamed star glinted off the ablative hull of the privateer,
Prodigal Sun as she lifted slowly into the air. In less than a quarter hour,
Sun had cleared the thin atmosphere of the likewise nameless planetoid the team
had spent two days exploring. Within an hour, the ship was already building up
velocity for the first void-hop back home.
In a
second-hand acceleration couch, Koraffo absentmindedly fidgeted with his
holster. His mouth cycled through tight-lipped, barely contained anger to
purse-lipped contemplation, back to anger. Pop. Close. Pop. Close. Pop. "Will
you cut that out," Marsha Teak said staring back at him from the pilot's seat.
Her seething glare cut through any veneer of civility the two had managed to
maintain to this point. "We are taking these artifacts back to base and that's
that. No more discussion. You read me, ‘Raff?"
"Loud and
clear," The Yazirian's lips curled back to show sharp canines and he flared his
nostrils in open contempt of Teak's decision to continue on in what Koraffo
felt was nothing less than tempting the gods. Ulkunk, the Dralasite
astrogator/engineer/every other free position on the ship, burbled for a
moment. "Perhaps we should reconsider, Captain. After all, disturbing graves
isn't standard even for Streel Corp."
Teak looked
at her second-in-command, a nonplussed expression pasted on her face. She
pulled her three-barred rank insignia from her collar and held them out to the
Dral. "Perhaps you should call, T'keec up here and make it a unanimous mutiny,
Ulk."
The blob
blustered at the accusation. "No one said anything about mutiny, Captain. I was
simply pointing out--
"Listen,
Gentle-beings. For better or worse, I am the skipper on this little bag of
bolts and what I say goes. The Executive VP has a thing for collections and he
wants anything unusual we run across. I'd rate those ancient Yazzie grave-sites
back there as unusual, wouldn't you?" "Well, yes,
but--
"Like I just
told our simian muscle-boy here, it's not open to discussion. Not another
gods-damned word about it. From anyone!"
No one knows
what happened to the crew of Prodigal Sun. When she was recovered, all four of
the crew had been killed by various grizzly means. The human female captain had
been strangled by some sort strap. The Vrusk male archaeologist was dissected
into component anatomical sections, joint by joint. Several deep stab wounds
were found in the Dralasite neuter's cadaver.
Circumstantial
evidence points to the crew's only Yazirian member, Koraffo except his remains
massed less than four kilograms when recovered, though it all seems to be
present based on proportional analysis. Piracy is one possible explanation, but
why would pirates leave a perfectly functional ship floating derelict?
Strangely the only thing missing from the ship's manifested cargo was a crate
listed simply as artifacts. Perhaps no one will really ever know what happened
aboard this ship.
The Hir-Kal
(Clan Shadow) is a venerable legend among the Yazirians. Protectors of their
masters' graves, these spiritual beings supposedly wreak vengeance on any
foolish enough to disturb a Yazirian warrior's tomb. According to myth, the
Hir-Kal are creatures of living darkness, taking their very substance from the
absence of light. From gnawtoki cats to Yazirian nightbirds, they are said to
be capable of changing form, passing through walls like a Khad'dan through
water.
Accounts of
Hir-Kal attack say that the only way to survive witnessing a Hir-Kal's fury is
to not be the offending party. Other than simple innocence in the offending
act, Yazirian folk history cites no known defenses against these shade
creatures.
Adventure
Hook #1: The crew of Prodigal Sun discovered a hastily made grave for a
Yazirian warrior and looted the ornate weapons and equipment that had been laid
to rest with his remains. The PCs could stumble on a similar find complete with
several nearly irresistible items of great value. Will they respect the dead
and leave the tomb undisturbed or will they try to make off with the valuables?
A Hir-Kal or events the PCs could ascribe to a Hir-Kal might just follow them
should they disturb the slumbering warrior.
Adventure
Hook #2: The PCs are part of a starship crew that finds a jettisoned crate
marked Streel Corp Cargo (control number:189AA8293:archaeological artifacts)
floating out in the middle of nowhere. Shortly after the crate is brought
aboard, strange things begin happening aboard ship. Accidents, system failures,
maybe even a death. Has the Hir-Kal come aboard with the relics?
Adventure
Hook#3: A frantic and sleepless looking Ifshnit merchant offers to sell one of
the PCs a pea-sized black crystal that he claims came from an ancient Yazirian
Khad'dan. He offers to sell the gem for a fraction of its worth. Strange
behavior for an Ifshnit especially one with a rare ebony emerald; is the stone
stolen or does he have another reason for wanting to part with it? |
February 19, 2012 - 8:50am | Another possibility: Seemingly ghostly occurances that can be explained by mundane occurances but taken together could also be viewed as a "ghost"- pretty much what iggy wrote. I'm toying with a TNG rip off creature- one that when studied by scientist is compared to cameleons due to the unique abilities of its skin. That is able to move stealthfully and hide do to color change/camoflague features of its skin or has a light shift ability making it effectively invisible like the holo screen or the Predator's stealth screen tech. If its a legit flesh and blood animal that can explain the "ghostly" occurances then no energy, psychic or ghost creatures need apply. Or do they? In Star Trek TNG Geordi was infected by one of this light shift creatures while on an away team and the infection began to re-write his DNA making him into one of these creatures- it turns out they reproduce in this method. Naturally he was saved before the change was permanent. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
February 19, 2012 - 9:09am | Creature To Be Mistaken As a Hir-Kal- Clan Shadow TYPE: medium humanoid omnivore NUMBER:1 (1-10 at a nest/infestation) MOVE: Slow but can move Medium though it loses 1/2 of its special defense if moving at the faster speed IM/RS: 5/50 STAMINA: 100 ATTACK: 60 DAMAGE: 1d10 plus special SPECIAL ATTACK: ? SPECIAL DEFENSE: ? NATIVE WORLD: Unknown Ok the big questions to be answered: Name: Nile's Ghost, Zim Cameleon, Night Shade, ? Special attack: I was thinking poison or infection of some sort Special Defense: I rather like the light shift ability of the predator. Give the creature a stealth ability INS check to spot at over x amount of meters but if over that amount of meters and in cover its undetectable and -20 to target when spotted or if closer than x amount of meters. need a description of it as well for when its imaged via infa-red or ultra violet. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 June 6, 2014 - 8:25am | Just have to say that the khad'dan is probably the worst weapon to give a Yazirian. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
June 6, 2014 - 12:20pm | I'd be in complete agreement with you, rattraveller, if it were not for one small fact: battlerage. One could argue that this one ability has defined the character of the race more than all the others certainly more than the ability modifiers. When I discovered stories in the lost internet archive by two different authors, Daren Patton and Mathew Crymble, using the kah'dan I tracked the creator of it down and confered with him by phone. He had reasoned that the zamra, which is cannon, was a crappy honor weapon since it could not be used with battle rage and that a race with a natural battle rage ability would have had a melee weapon that it would have used with said battlerage. Sure they have lower strength but they would not have known that till they reached the stars and encountered other races. For centuries they would have judged their strength by their own standard not in comparison to mythical races on other planets. Thus I dont really see them making a decision to eschew melee weapons for the strength reason though i can see individuals with high dexterity favoring ranged weapons simply becasue they were so good with them. Matt also reasoned that based on the lower strength of the yazirian they would perfer a weapon that could end a battle quick and for this he took inspiration from the Ghurka kukuri but of sword length. The kukuri, by virtue of its forward sweeping blade and heavier tip can chop through a small tree or limb in one stroke and thus a kha'dan could chop through a limb and end a combat with one strike. I agreed with his analysis of the natural desire of the yazirian to use a weapon that allows him to employ his battle rage and i like the idea of the kha'dan it has a lot in common with the kukuri and the Ghurka- a ghurka is perhaps not the biggest or strongest mother in a knife fight but he is possibly the most dangerous and so to the yazirian- he is not the strongest of the core four but armed with a kha'dan he is possibly the most dangerous in a melee. Mathew could not remember what the stats that had been posted on the list serv were but he seemed to agree with me that the kha'dan should not do more damage than a regular sword and I suggested that its special ability should be that in the hands of a yazirian attempting battle rage there is a +5% bonus to the battle rage attempt. I'm now of the opinion that it should be +5% battle rage bonus and all damage dice of "1" be re-rolled so that the weapon doesn't do more damage than a regular sword but consistently does higher damage by virtue of its designe. Finally, I would use your reasoning about str. to explain its dwindling popularity in the Frontier- that many yazirians realize that ranged weapons like say gyrojets or lasers give them more bang for their buck than a sword especially if they are to face opponents of mix races. RE: all of your other suggestions, I would endorse them with one other item: reaper claws- brass knuckles with wolverine blades- primarily intended as a weapon used while gliding and slamming into a victim with them and grappling and taking that victim down. They would also help with latching onto a giant tree and could be used to parry a sword blade or even a thrown zamra. call it 2D10 damage for normal combat, 3D10 for a gliding attack and grapple (RS check for victim to avoid the grapple) 5% bonus for defensive fighting (the rules allow a character to declare themselves on the defensive and this modifies their attacker's roll by -20; thus fighting on the defense with reaper claws is -25% to attacker's roll to simulate its parry ability) This weapon would sync with the yazirian abilities of both gliding and battle rage. it needs a good yazirian name as reaper claws dont feel right as a name to me. Perhaps Jhira'dan I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
June 7, 2014 - 5:14am | OK here are my counterpoints Battlerage---overrated. Not as a skill but as a defining quality of the Yazirians. To begin with a new character has a 5% chance of going into battlerage. 1 in 20 is not good odds. If the character trains themselves they could after spending 45 experience points they could get a 50/50 chance of battlerage. But at that point everyone else in his party would have level 6 primary skill or level 4 0r 5 secondary skills. The Vikings had beserkers and the Whirling Dervishes are the basis of this skill. But both were only a small part of their armies and not what they were primarily noted for. Strength---My point was not that they are weak, which they are it was that they naturally are better shots then they are melee fighters. As a race they would have realized this and gone with their "strength" of being better shooters and developed weapons to go with their strong point. Humanizing---Yazirians are not Humans. Humans demand a face to face look in the eye defeat of their enemy. Yazirians life enemy requires them to defeat them. Since they can choose anything as a life enemy they would not be as determined to look the enemy in the eye but to defeat their life enemy and let others know the deed was accomplished. This puts less emphasis on the need to look the enemy in the eye and more on defeating them even if it is at range. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
June 7, 2014 - 11:44am | Actually in the rules for making a melee attack it says that you use STR or DEX which ever is higher. So there wont be a real consciousness as a race that they are better shooter then melee fighters. What you will get is traditiions of combat that emphasize speed. No knights in shining armor period for the yazirian. They can equally play Robin Hood in the trees or a whirling dervish dancing deadly with a blade. Of course the blade user can still use his heritage of battlerage. I still like your thoughts on ranged weapons and the comment on eye to eye combat bare thinking on- it feeds into telling stories and singing of songs. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
June 7, 2014 - 7:10pm | The expanded game rules only state to give a +20 to hit. There is nothing about penalties while in battle rage. I do not think we can compare yazirian battle rage to wild uncontrolled killing spree. They are not human so their berserk battle rage does not have to be uncontrolled like ours and full of strength bonuses like humans. Rather with a +20 to hit this seems more like a hightened awarness that allows them to control the hit better. I also don't any restrictions to melee weapons. So battle rage applies to ranged weapons as well implying the raged yazirian has heightened awareness of his aim and control to make that aim, breathing, fine motor adjustments, etc. -iggy |
June 7, 2014 - 8:27pm | OK on battle rage the bonus to hit is not for extra skill, it is for sheer attacking power. Ever fought a bellegerent drunk, paranoid meth head or bath salt taking face eater? Those beings are not overwhelming you with their black belts in karate they beating you down literally by unstoppable physical power. That is battle rage. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
June 7, 2014 - 9:35pm | OK, if you look at the ranged weapons and melee weapons procedures in the expanded rules, pages 22 and 25, they only give the battle rage +20 to hit for melee. However there is no penalty for ranged weapons while in battle rage. A race that can rage without artifical stimulants has to have some control beyond what we humans have. He's angry, he's pumped, but he can still remain level enough to not have penalties when making a ranged attack, including sniping. Yazirians are not monkeys that loose control when on adrenaline or whatever their biology gives them. They are more akeen to vulcans, very inteligent but with rage too. Maybe I should compare them to romulans. They are alien and their battle rage does not have to be like human battle rage. -iggy |
June 8, 2014 - 3:22am | I think there are some good points here: 1. I do think its about raw power 2. the fact that battle rage does not degrade shooting is a good point to so that it is a controlled thing- note they dont lose control and attack friends. Chalk that up to the natural LOG ability mod of the yazirian. sure they can be emotional and grumpy at times but underneath it all they remain logical (grumpiness might be a logical ploy to gage your reaction or a conscious recognition of a need to keep up a reputation because they are aware of not being as strong as humans and dralasites) Its also possible that they neglected the issue of shooting and battle rage because once you close with an enemy to melee range the general assumption is that you will stay there and not retreat to ranged range. After all if you were in a sniper position you would not waste time with attempting battle rage- no point to it. Finally on the control issue battle rage stops when a combat ends. visually and mentally the yazirian knows a combat is over and this ends, he does not keep it going. i think that suggests control 3.The issue with it only being 5% to start and that its a 1 in 20 chance of battle raging in any given combat is about game balance- battle rage is two free levels of melee skill when called upon. I would suspect that there was a fear of yazirians unbalancing the game with this ability when the rules were written. Some systems separate weapons into those that use str and those that use str but could use dex to modify the combat roll but this in not SF. Most systems that do them make smaller swords a speed or strength option and heavy two handed swords a strength option. The Kha'dan with its heavier tip would probably fall into the strength only option in such a system. However yazriains are taller with longer limbs and one might argue greater leverage. No matter what yazirian culture will have a traditional melee weapon. That will figure in stories where the hero has battle rages and kicked butt against out numbering opponenets without bothering to take down names. It makes for a good story after all. Over time as the best stories figure larger in the collective consciousness battle rage will seem to play a larger roll in yazirian history even though the turth is that for John Q Yaz he only has a 1 in 20 chance of entering battle rage. Its not so much about whether an individual yazirian is likely to do it but that all yazirians could and this becomes part of the romantic tradition of yazirian culture that their history is repleet with stories of heroes putting down enemies and all yazirians identify with this perhaps even on some level imagining they too could be that hero. So why not a sword? 3d10 damage, +10 melee modifier in game terms its kind of a no brainer: modified by their higher dex, an occassional +20 battle rage mod, +10 melee modifier Lets take a yaz that rolled a 50 for DEX/RS at character creation this would be a 45 DEX/RS (+5 for ability mod)= 50 and that he has level 1 melee skill His attack chance is 45% without battle rage and 65% with it. And one good damage roll could put an average yazirian out of the combat or at least below half sta for the wounds penalty If he was a shooter with level 1 skill its 35%, He is far more deadly with the right melee weapon especially if he ever upgraged to a sonic sword. Range combat has a lot of negative modifiers (there are far more negative modifiers than possitive). the hunting tradition goes back to before the clan war period. I dont see the yaz fooling with bows and arrow or even mini cross bow but giant trees would have large branches and these would certainly make a decent shooting platform. javelins might be a good weapon for the hunter glider especially if he's grounded as he would have the option to ground the butt of the javelin to recieve the charge of a beast. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
