Gorilian Thug

OnceFarOff's picture
OnceFarOff
August 11, 2012 - 8:25am
I was just reading over the Gorilian article in SFman #8. Does anyone use them in their campaign? Any thought on where they would come from?
Comments:

Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
August 11, 2012 - 10:13am
I use them as wanderers and muscle around the frontier. Haven't defined where they come from. What are you're thoughts on their origin?



Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
August 11, 2012 - 10:58am
Here's the article for discussion;

Content of Star Frontiersman project

A Gorlian Thug?

By Robert Bowman
Artwork by C.J. Williams

Gorlians

The Gorlians are mentioned in the original Alpha Dawn rules, in this example for Personality checks:

EXAMPLE: Dreevale the Vrusk has just insulted a Gorlian thug by accidentally spilling a drink on him. The Gorlian is very mad. Dreevale decides to try talking his way out of the situation.  "Oops, pardon me, my good fellow, how absolutely clumsy of me," the player says.  "Here, let me buy you a drink and let's forget about it. Dreevale' s Personality score is 40. The referee notes that the Gorlian is mad and wet and itching for a fight. He tells Dreevale to subtract 20 from his score. Dreevale rolls 91, which is greater than his modified score of 20.  The Gorlian punches Dreevale. 

Physical Appearance and Structure 

Gorlians are large (8 feet tall, or about 2.5 meters) mammals. They are muscular bipeds, with powerful arms and legs. They have thickly padded hands, each with four fingers and a thumb. Their feet are large and padded, ending in five clawed toes. Their torsos are wide and muscular. Gorlians have bullish facial features, with a short snout, and small horns projecting from their foreheads. Short, course fur covers most of their bodies, with color ranging from light brown for females to dark black for males.  Males are generally slightly larger than females. 

Senses 

A Gorlian's sense of touch, taste, sight, and hearing is very similar to Human's. Their sense of smell, however, is much more highly developed than humans. They can easily smell other beings nearby, even concealed ones, and make excellent trackers (see Special Abilities).

Speech 

Gorlians produce sound through a larynx. They have a primitive language that sounds very guttural, with lots of snorts and grunts. They can learn Pan-Galactic, as well as Humans and Yarizian languages. 

Society and Customs 

Gorlians have a society based on strength and honor. Their society is a similar to a tribal one, with tribes being referred to as herds by other races. In the past, positions of leadership, such as the "chieftain", were won by fighting in gladiator-like duels to the death. In addition, mates were chosen and won through combat. In more recent times, positions and mates are fought for though nonlethal contests of strength and 
Gorlian
physical prowess that are still considered brutal. Chieftain positions, however, are still fought for to the death. Chieftains rule their herds with iron hands, and cannot show fear or weakness. Female Gorlians can participate in duels, and can win mates and positions. 
Sometimes a female will become a chieftain; Gorlian custom does not prevent this, as long as she can defeat and kill her predecessor. Gorlians mate for life, and will have many offspring. All week, diseased, or deformed offspring are killed. Gorlians give birth to live young, usually two at a time. A Gorlian born without a (fraternal) twin is considered very special. Gorlians are not a scientifically or technologically advanced race. They can learn to use technology, but as a whole, their native technology tends to be primitive. Gorlians are now often hired as "muscle"'; they make good mercenaries, guards, and thugs, and their tracking ability has enabled some to become excellent bounty hunters. Most Gorlians favor melee weapons such as axes, and some have begun using powered weapons. Gorlians are not unintelligent, but as a whole, they are more primitive than other Frontier races. Individual Gorlians can be very intelligent, and may be able to learn technological skills. Gorlians have an innate animal cunning that can make them very dangerous.

Gorlian Characters Characteristics 
 Average Size  2.5 meters tall 
 Average Mass 120 kilograms (male)
 110 kilograms (female)
 Average Lifespan 100 years
 Reproductive System heterosexual, viviparous
 Body Temperature 38 degrees Celsius

Ability Scores
STR/STA +20 
DEX/RS +0
INT/LOG-20
PER/LDR+0

Movement 
Walking 10 meters per turn 
 Running 30 meters per turn
 Hourly 5 kilometers/hour 

Special Abilities 
Tracking Ability 40% (can be raised by spending experience). 
Incredible Strength No penalties in high gravity worlds.

Attitudes

Gorlians seem to get along best other mammalian races, such as Humans and Yazirians. They respect of strength and combat ability has lead them to have some affinity with Yazirians in particular. They are contemptuous of Vrusk and Dralasites, since these species are so different. They are not sure what to make of the Rim races, but do respect Humma's brawling and carousing attitudes.  The Gorlians as a whole have not had much contact with the Sathar. But they are hostile towards the worms, due to the threat they present, and have no problem fighting them if need be. But Gorlians do not have a centralized government, and have not been invited to join the UPF and serve in Federation military forces.  It must be remembered that Gorlians are very touchy beings to deal with. They have very short tempers, enormous strength, and are easily offended. Any slight or insult will result in a violent response. Bothering a Gorlian is not an advisable thing to do. 

Special Abilities 

Incredible Strength. All Gorlians are capable of incredible acts of strength. All Gorlians get a +20 bonus to their Strength/Stamina scores. This is summarized in the Ability Score modifiers listed in the table, but is such an extreme bonus that it qualifies as a special ability. Referee note: Gorlians are so strong because they come from a high-gravity world. On such planets, Gorlians can function normally, and are not penalized.

Tracking Ability. All Gorlians automatically have the Tracking subskill at 40% (that's the same score a first-level Environmentalist would possess). This score can be raised by spending experience. When using Zebulon's Guide rules, they have the Tracking Skill for wilderness areas, and Stealth skill for developed areas. Treat their sense of smell the same as Osakar. 

Editor's Note: I play-tested this race in a two-sitting weekend gaming session by using it as an NPC on a mission that my children's characters embarked on.  The large bonus to Strength and Stamina wasn't all that unbalanced. In fact, I found his terminally-low Intuition and Logic scores far more of a defining factor for the character. This bothered me a little, since the species is known as good trackers (normally Intuition should be high for such a race). I deviated from the submitter's racial statistics in order to reflect the proposed changes I developed after the gaming sessions. My son had one more suggestion, which I did not make official for the race but will present here instead as an option: It is reasonable that the race should only have a -10 to INT/LOG but a -10 to DEX/RS to reflect the bulky body. 
    
Used with permission from

jedion357's picture
jedion357
August 11, 2012 - 11:35am
Shadow made them one of his yazirian clans which was a very sensible solution. There was a write up portraying them as a gorilla like alien. I went gorilla as i liked the AT-43 kahman figures that look like gorillas in power armor.
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

OnceFarOff's picture
OnceFarOff
August 11, 2012 - 11:37am
Well it seems as though a race like this that's not too bright or technically advanced ends up being from a planet inhabilted by one of the core four. The problem in this case is that the article specifies that they are from a planet with high gravity.

So the only planets in the frontier with high gravity and were also in the AD era-where the seed came from:
Laco - 1.4
Morgaine's World - 1.5
New Pale - 1.4

I just don't see them as being spacefarers...

OnceFarOff's picture
OnceFarOff
August 11, 2012 - 11:39am
@ jedion - you mean he made them yazirians, but they called themselves by that name?

Karxan's picture
Karxan
August 11, 2012 - 5:42pm
My suggestion would be to make a high grav world in between Athor and Dixon's Star. Then they would be influenced by yazirians and humans, both of which would use them for hired muscle. In fact you could have their world discovered by someone trying to find a safe jump route for those two systems. Then the Gorlians could be discovered and then slowly add them to your campaign.

Laco is another good choice for an actual cannon world, but nothing is said of a race there, but that would be your own creativity having them there.

Shadow Shack's picture
Shadow Shack
August 11, 2012 - 5:43pm
OnceFarOff wrote:
@ jedion - you mean he made them yazirians, but they called themselves by that name?

To clarify...I drafted a random clan determination system for yazirians based on the inhabited yaz olds. One of the clan names is "Gorlia".
I'm not overly fond of Zeb's Guide...nor do I have any qualms stating why. Tongue out

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