Gamma World Critters & Things

Tchklinxa's picture
Tchklinxa
November 9, 2014 - 3:22pm

I liked Gamma World with all it's crazy wacky campy stuff. One critter I always liked was the Centisteed which appears to have survived through the various changes the game went through:

I have the GW1 rules so here it is in that format:
Centisteed
# appearing 1
AC 9 (which for a PC would be shield only)
Movement 30
Hit Dice 7 (d6)
This long-bodied mammal was once a horse, but the mutations it has undergone have given it an almost insect-like appearance. A centisteed can trot at full speed on its 16 legs carrying two human-sized riders. Although not intelligent by human standards, the centisteed is totally immune to all forms of mental attack and possesses force field generation. While they make desirable mounts, these beasts also require enormous quantities of fodder because of their increased metabolism. In a combat situation, the centisteed is almost more trouble than it is worth, as one of its riders must devote all of his efforts towards keeping the centisteed under control.
Force Field Generation: This endows the mutant with the power to create an invisible wall of energy through which physical objects may not pass. The wall forms around the body of the mutant (about 15 centimeters out) and will take 5 dice of accumulated damage (as though it were the mutant) before being forced down. The force field requires no effort to maintain once it is established and will last up to one hour (unless it is driven down by damage) before it dissipates. Only one such force field may be generated by the mutant in a 24 hour period.
Increased Metabolism: This defect forces the mutant to spend great amounts of time feeding. it must carry large quantities of food when traveling, and in combat, must stop every 5th melee turn and spend one turn eating, before returning to battle, or lose 1 point of physical strength and 2 hit points each melee turn thereafter. NOTE: these losses are temporary 
*A melee turn equals 10 seconds. 


Okay I want to salvage this critter:
In general fan material on the web several changes have been made, first this creature has been suggested as a herd animal, so can be found in small herds... large herds would probably be bad for the environment, which is probably why it says 1 in the original material (that and the game designers probably wanted to make it hard for PCs to acquire). Also there is of course debate as to wether or not this is a natural mutation because of Gamma World environment or an escaped GMO developed for racing before civilization collapsed. Also there seems to be a tendency to imagine this animal as a trotter or pacer or ambler in gate.


I converted speed as follows:
1 GW1 melee turn = 10 seconds. The movement rules for creatures indicates the speed per turn in meters is average normal speed (walking along), and then you multiply by 5 to find the maximum speed. So a GW1 creature of 30 can move a maximum of 150 meters ever 10 seconds. Multiply this by 6 melees equals 900 meters a minute, multiply by 60 would give a speed of 54,000 meters per hour or 54 km per hour maximum. 30 x 6 = 180 meters per minute x 60 = 10,800 meters per hour or 10.8 km per hour for normal movement. In SF the turn is 6 seconds so that is 10 turns to equal 1 minute. 180 meters divided by 10 would equal 18 meters normal gait per turn or 90 meters per turn top speed. 
I like my Centisteeds to look a bit more insect/horse fusion than just horses with a lot of legs. When comparing Gamma World, SF Alpha Dawn & SF Gamma Dawn there are some differences… SFGD states: 

Force Field Generation 
Mental; Activated, SL
The mutant is able to create an invisible barrier of force around himself that protects him from physical danger. This includes energy attacks and radiation.The force field forms a smooth surface about half a meter from the mutant's skin.
The GW1 Centisteed only generates a 15 centimeter field versus 50 centimeter field, but 1/2 a meter is a good range and seems reasonable.
The character cannot make physical attacks while the force field is up, but can use mental powers.
There is no indication in GW1 that it can not make physical attacks or engage in physical activity.
The force field absorbs 5xSL points of damage. It renews itself at a rate of 5 + SL points per round. It can be kept up 5 + SL rounds. After that, the character must drop the force field for an hour before using it again.
In GW1 it appears to be a total of 5d6 or 30 points of damage, which would mean the Centisteed would be equal to SL 6 or SL 5. If I go with the SFGA rules as a guide that means it renews the field at the rate of 5 + 6 SL = 11 points per turn, and it can be kept up for 11 rounds (turns) as well for a total of 66 minutes. Or if using the lower number 10 points per turn, and 1 hour.
If the force field takes enough points physical damage to destroy it, the character must make a STA check or fall unconscious. Any excess damage is applied to the character. If the character falls unconscious due to a mental attack or some special circumstance, the force field shuts off at the end of the round.
My understanding is combat round and turn in SF are interchangeable terms.


So here is what I am suggesting for SF. Input is most welcome.


Background: If this is a general setting it could be a domestic GMO or if your space includes a colony/planet that got heavily nuked say by the Sathar... maybe this critter just appeared, and with the planet being reclaimed it has been discovered and has become a creature that can be encountered in the wilds of said planet, perhaps Centisteeds have even become a popular racing animal, or future rodeo animal that is now exported from said world to the rest of the UPF. Some fan sites suggest that wild Centisteeds can actually through a rider with their force field alone, and require specialized tack and saddles to ride... no bareback riding these ponies.


Suggested SF Stats: Centisteed:
Type: Large Herbivore
Number: 1-5 in the wild, can be kept in larger herds in domestic settings.
Move: Fast: (Paces 90 m/t, Fast Ambles 30 m/t, and normal ambles/walks 18 m/t)
IM/RS: 7/65
Stamina: 200
Attack: 55
Special Defense: Force Field Generation
Special Attack: n/a
Damage: 4d10 (all those hooves)
This long-bodied mammal was once a horse, but the mutations and or genetic modifications it has undergone have given it an almost insect-like appearance. The Centisteed has tougher hide that is more of an exoskeleton like hide than what occurs on normal equines and they posses compact eyes. This hide can be very beautiful, striped, spotted, brightly marked and even posses iridescent qualities. A Centisteed can pace at full speed on its 16 legs carrying two human-sized riders, at slower speeds the animal has various gaited or ambling gaits that give an incredibly smooth ride. Although not intelligent by human standards, the Centisteed is totally immune to all forms of mental attack and possesses force field generation. While they make desirable mounts, these beasts also require enormous quantities of fodder because of their increased metabolism. In a combat situation, the natural Centisteed is almost more trouble than it is worth, in combat one of its riders must devote all of his efforts towards keeping the Centisteed under control. The only exceptions to this would be very rare Combat Modified Centisteeds, such beasts would probably have implants or be part of further genetic modification breeding experiments by governments or corporations working on improving the wild Centisteed type for military use. A natural Centisteed attacks with it's hooves but will usually choose to flee if it has that option.
Force Field Generation SL5: This endows the Centisteed with the power to create an invisible wall of energy through which physical objects may not pass. The wall forms around the body of the mutant (about 50 centimeters out) and will take 30 points of accumulated damage before being forced down. The force field requires no effort to maintain once it is established and will last up to one hour (unless it is driven down by damage) before it dissipates. In combat the field renews at the rate of 5 + 5 SL per round. Only one such force field may be generated by the Centisteed in a 20 hour period. If the force field takes enough points of physical damage to destroy it, the Centisteed must make a STA check or fall unconscious. Any excess damage is applied to the Centisteed.
Increased Metabolism: This defect forces the Centisteed to spend great amounts of time feeding. In combat it must stop every 8 turns and spend one turn eating, before returning to battle, or lose 1 point of strength and 2 stamina points each melee turn thereafter. NOTE: these losses are temporary.


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 "Never fire a laser at a mirror."
Comments:

Tchklinxa's picture
Tchklinxa
March 20, 2015 - 10:44am
I was thinking about the D&D module Expedition to Barrier Peaks and how to recycle it. As a setting for an adventure I am unsure it would be as big as a challenge for modern SF Core 4, unless there where factors that made it so.

I thought of a Commune Colony of Core 4 types living the simple life, but didn't really like that idea. My second idea that I like better is based on the idea I read some place that Yazirians got a leg up on their technology from a crashed ship. So I am thinking it might work as an adventure for pre-space traveling Yazirians that leads to some events in the present. The dead alien skeletons are humanoid, which could been several different races not just human. The tech is some areas is more advanced than what is in use in SF, but that would make sense if the Yazirians had to try and figure it out over generations. Simply 'cause you got a magic box does not mean you know why the magic box works... how many people have a clue about the cars they drive, and even though they drive one every day they could not design or build one. Anyway kicking around the idea and how to tie it to SF game's future, specifically Yazirian legends, beliefs and politics.
 "Never fire a laser at a mirror."

jedion357's picture
jedion357
March 21, 2015 - 3:26pm
@ tchklinza: imagine yazirians finding human skeletons. The skeletons look like theirs and the first artists renderings of what these aliens looked like had them with pataguim skin flaps. Later on other yazirian scientist analyze the bones and come to the conclusion that they were too heavy to glide but the first "impression" has taken root in the local population's collective consciousness. Enter the yazirian stereotypical mad scientists bent on proving his theories and enlists the help of the PCs. If the whole party of PCs is to be all yazirian i would strongly recommend that you adapt shadow shacks yazirian clan article (sfman 9 or 10ish) so that you get some differentiation in PCs.
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

Tchklinxa's picture
Tchklinxa
March 21, 2015 - 8:16pm
I like the scientist angle, that would be a nice fit for the early Industrial Period... I was thinking Feudal/Clan period prior to the Warhon, but both have potential. I agree I need to have distinct skills, abilities and differences for the Yazirians so the party has the diversity it will need to survive.

 I am currently slowly rereading every thing Yazirian in SF & SFM, etc, I want to really immerse the players in an alien world setting.

 I am going to start first with converting the alien creatures and give each a new Yazirian name, I will need to redo some art, convert tech and make sure I have descriptions in terms primitive or early industrial age people would explain what they see... retype everything up so I can find it all easily in the form I need. 

The idea is that the players get to experience an epic tale from Yazirian history as a way of learning about Yazirians that latter ties into different adventures in the future with their regular spacefaring PCs.

The one hitch is the "human" androids... but if I allow the ship to change the look of the androids to be more Yazirian like as part of the ships passenger interaction system then I have a lots more wiggle room. This then allows for the the sleeping beauty android encounter to be an Yazirian and I have an additional fun idea with her in mind on a myth & legend side.  (I did a quick review of the module and noted the sleeping beauty motif potential).

Now assuming the party somehow survives the deadly adventure in the olden days the ship would have consequences... one the creatures on the ship where all alien extract, either normal for their world or mutated, many species had escaped and naturalized... so Yazirias mythic extinct creatures & rare plants are not necessarily all that mythic just naturalized alien life, if explorers in the future start discovering on various planets, plants & animals that were extinct & or mythic on Yazari before their Ark ships where built, and say ancient artifacts of importance made with hide, hair, teeth, wood and bone prove the DNA link then that is both a reason for the Yazirians to be excited & the Family of One to be annoyed (this might cause some to wonder about how supposably extinct Yazirian animals & plants are alive on other planets with no Yazirian colony ever & what that means religiously... a lot of potential there in different directions).

Now if another section is found it might be noticed by a Yazirian that the ship section has a remarkable similarity to the description of an ancient mythic palace/castle/fortress/stronghold/place from an epic story. 

In addition when I reread the background for how the ship ended up in the World of Greyhawk, I noted the following (ignoring the black-hole to a fantasy world cliche) the ship section was landed intact and safely by the automated systems because the crew had died from a plague, further this was just one section, the ship had been separated into separate individual navigable sub-ship sections in an attempt to stop the spread of the disease through the whole exploration/colony ship and at least save a few people. Now obviously the plague is dead by the time the adventures go forth (but maybe not), but spread throughout the galaxy are several of these ship sections, one is bound to have been a highly contaminated bio-medical-science section, if that section was preserved in away that allowed the contagion to survive and someone breached that ship at a latter date they could easily release the plague on a different planet... I am thinking one of these sections being breached will end up being the backstory for the Blue Plague in my setting. 

I will post the conversions here as I plug away at this... I think the first critter will be a Ceiling Lurker. How does Ntzenra sound for a name?





 "Never fire a laser at a mirror."

Tchklinxa's picture
Tchklinxa
March 22, 2015 - 8:58am
1st Draft of Conversion for SF of the Lurker Above:

NTZENRA: THE LURKER ABOVE

TYPE: Giant Carnivore
NUMBER: 1-4 
MOVE: Very Slow 1.5 meters/13.5 meters
IM/RS: 2/20
STAMINA: 60
ATTACK: 90
# AT: 1
DAMAGE: 1d10 Constriction
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Smothers
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Camouflage/silent movement
NATIVE WORLD: Yaziria (Naturalized) & Unknown - caves, caverns, tunnels.

DESCRIPTION:

This terrible beast somewhat resembles a large manta ray. Its grayish belly is so textured as to appear to be stone, and the Lurker typically attaches itself to a ceiling where it is almost impossible to detect (PCs have only a 10% chance to detect it by eyesight alone) unless actually prodded. They move about by means of a gas, which makes them neutrally buoyant, and a flapping of their wing like appendages, which can be over 6 meters tip to tip. Size of this creature varies by its age from 1 to over 6 meters. Generally PCs will be attacked by a Large to Giant Lurker, though a Lurker as small as 2 meters can easily attack an individual human sized or smaller PC. Lurkers can attack multiple victims at once if large enough, a 1 meter sized Lurker can still kill if it engulfs the head of it's victim. Despite the creatures potential full-grown size and strength it is very light weight. When disturbed the Lurker drops from the ceiling, smothering all creatures beneath in the tough folds of its "wings." This constriction causes 1d10 STA damage per turn, and the victims will smother in 3-8 turns in any event unless they kill the Lurker and thus break free. Unintelligent, the Lurker will fight until dead. Prey caught in its grip cannot fight unless the weapons used are both short and in hand at the time the creature falls upon them. The female Lurker lays glutinous sacks of eggs on the ground, and newborns feed upon vermin that can be found on cave floors. This creature though dangerous to pursue have a hide that became prized by Yazirians for a variety of uses and ultimately led to its' extinction on Yaziria. Note to the referee this creature was nauturalized to Yaziria when an alien ship crashed on it; Yazirians believe it was a native creature; actual planet of origin unknown.

This creature first appeared in The Strategic Review #3 August 1975, first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons original Monster Manual 1977, and was an alien creature introduced to D&D from a crashed space ship in Module S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks by Gary Gygax published 1980 but was originally a 1976 Origins II tournament scenario. 
 "Never fire a laser at a mirror."

Tchklinxa's picture
Tchklinxa
May 1, 2015 - 8:37pm
I am tweeking the Centisteed a bit more... for SF I am turning it into a Sather bio-form that they had not finnished.
 "Never fire a laser at a mirror."

Tchklinxa's picture
Tchklinxa
May 2, 2015 - 9:09am
A fun read on the history of GW... http://www.headinjurytheater.com/gammaworld.htm

I admit when borrowing from GW to SF one needs to be careful and thoughtful and keep the campaign's setting in mind, I tend to make the wacky a bit more serious... but funny & zany has a place.

I am inclined to think Snowball is a Gamma World Arctic setting for arctic critters and that culture to a certain degree. New Pale because of the Sathar bio-forms has potential for some critters. The Quarantined worlds offer potential as well. Don't forget secret research facilities and finally if Terra Firma existed in your setting where is it and how far is SF in the future from it... I figured by STL time SF could be easily be over 40,000 years in the future from when Earth becomes GW, a lot can happen in over 40,000 years including mutated life escaping into the universe. GW critters could have completely different back stories as well in SF... right now I am reworking my conversion of the Centisteed as an uncompleted Sathar bio-form and an abandoned experiment due to the fact it is immune to mental attack aka Sathar hypnosis. In other words they considered it a failure, a few had escaped and multiplied but to the UPF races it's an opportunity, a chance to develop UPF bio-form technology and uses.

I have changed & fleshed the Centisteed a bit more... it is now the New Pale Centisteed.

I need to work on cybernetic, control and nutritional enhancements for it now, & specialized tack that makes sense to others as well. Suggestions welcome.

Anyhow check out the site, fun read & trip down memory lane.
 "Never fire a laser at a mirror."

iggy's picture
iggy
May 8, 2015 - 7:00pm
I like my Gamma World to be a bit crazy and sometimes silly.  I've never put magic into it, but it is the only time I play with psionics.  I never mix Gamma World with SF or D&D.  I like the analysis the guy did of the different editions.  He noticed alot of things that changed over the years but doesn't know the political reasons behind them.
-iggy

Tchklinxa's picture
Tchklinxa
May 9, 2015 - 10:01am
Yes I noticed he missed the issues of the day. Gamma World is at it's best when a bit silly but deadly I think.

As to mixing or rather borrowing bits and pieces in the past I probably would not have. I like my magic magic in fantasy & my "magic" (aka weird science/super science) in sci-fi explainable with science, mutations, and psionics but not "magic".

 Of course sci-fi super science can look like magic, but lets face it animated flying living claw footed enamel bath tubs that look like RL bath tubs are fantasy magic creations of whimsy, and would not work in SF, but a hovering flying robotic personal wallow for a Sathar would... it would still be a tub technically, and a PC could operate it in a pinch (while sitting in the slime wallow tub part) to say hoover/fly away from danger in an adventure.  

 I had found myself looking back at GW to get ideas about future human society, and help me create a more retro pre-frontier setting as well for all the races. Then I started asking the question what if this idea or creature or gizmo had been created for SF instead of GW or D&D or some other game? 

The Centisteed posted in the thread for instance is very GW1, but my re-write draft which I have not posted is still very much a Centisteed but I tweaked it as a Sathar bio-form experiment and I added the ability for it to camouflage it's self along with adding info that is on fan sites for GW.

There are a surprising number of critters, personalities, places and things in the greater TSR universe such as D&D that are actually 100% inspired by sci-fi or borrowed from early TSR space settings... The Displacer Beast is an excellent example of an alien monster in a Fantasy Setting. It along with a ton of classic beasties are all from a crashed space ship... so recycling I have gone, but with the idea of returning the thing, creature, etc to it's sci-fi form in SF. 

So I am just picking things I find interesting to "convert" as an exercise in self-torture mainly, but also to ponder... is there is a place for Arks (Intelligent Psionic Canine type descended bipeds) in space, only each ref can decide that, but intelligent Canines as native species did occur in original TSR Space Games such as Star Empires.

So I converted the Ark & posted it, the basic Ark as it occurred in GW1 but for SF rules, if however I where to consider it further (which I probably will at a latter date) it will need more tweaking... why those psionic abilities, are they space faring or a primitive native species, why do they like eating humans or do they even eat humans in this setting, are they a human lab experiment gone wrong, are they escapes from the long dead Space Humans' Home World or colony? Lots of Qs to think about if used in SF... they might make good alien pirates actually... eat their captives... invading from an unknown location. 

So that is what I am doing and why. I encourage folks to use, comment or abuse the critters & things as you all wish. If you borrowed something I would love to hear about it and how it worked out in SF or did not.

Right now I am reviewing tech ideas in SF, GW1 & a few other games to set a tech flavor for each of the Core 4 in the early days & working on the Sathar, but I am bound to suddenly decide to convert something just for giggles.



 "Never fire a laser at a mirror."

Tchklinxa's picture
Tchklinxa
October 24, 2015 - 5:09pm
I am still working on this project, please check out progress on stuff here http://www.starfrontiers.us/node/8678

Feed back is welcome...

This project area also includes other subjects I am poking at.
 "Never fire a laser at a mirror."

Tchklinxa's picture
Tchklinxa
December 19, 2015 - 1:59pm
I have converted a Mutant Future encounter from a blog site for play by regular SF AD or GD play... Dying Of Thirst. (I did not write this Tim Snider is the original author but it has a couple creatures in it and seemed a good start play quick stand alone outing sort of adventure).

I also uploaded the creatures a seperate documents as well.  I would like some feed back on the conversions of the creatures Apemen & Glass Plasm. 

http://www.starfrontiers.us/downloads/8678

I am also working on the Gluey as a mutant Dralasite.

 "Never fire a laser at a mirror."

Tchklinxa's picture
Tchklinxa
December 23, 2015 - 2:47pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_24glfSBnA
 "Never fire a laser at a mirror."