Random Alien Tables 2: The ‘Nomad’ Solutions

Since my last attempt was a bust, I’ll look to purely Nomad-based solutions for my Nomad-based problems.

Xenofauna

This time I’ll generate some base species using the Xenofauna tables in FTLN (pp 242-253, 259), then “evolve” them into sapients.

Sample Base Species

Here are the steps to create xenofauna in Nomad. I’ll create 6 at a time.

1. Determine the terrain type. For simplicity I’ll choose “Mixed” for all six of my candidate species. I may regret this later.

2. Determine the creature’s Niche.

   #	2d6	Niche	Size Modifier	# Appearing	Stamina	Armor	Damage
   1	4	Prey	-2D	+2D	-1D	-2D	-2D
   2	5	Opportunist	-2D	-1D			+1D
   3	6	Opportunist	-1D		+1D	+1D	+1D
   4	7	Herbivore	-1D	+3D	+1D	+1D	-1D
   5	9	Herbivore	+1D	+1D	+2D
   6	12	Predator	+1D		+3D	+1D	+2D

3. Determine a size for your animal. This will give the rough size and dice to roll for the number appearing, Stamina, Armor, and Damage

   #	Roll	Size	# Appearing
   1	2D-2D	Small (dog)	4D
   2	2D-2D	Medium (human)	1D
   3	2D-1D	Medium	2D
   4	2D-1D	Medium	5D
   5	2D+1D	Large (horse)	2D
   6	2D+1D	Titanic (t. rex)	1D

    

   #	Roll	Stamina	Roll	Armor	Base Damage
   1	2D-1D	9	1D-2D	1	-3D
   2	4D	11	1D	3	+1D
   3	4D+1D	17	1D+1D	3	+1D
   4	3D+1D	12	0D+1D	0	-2D
   5	6D+2D	26	2D	9	+1D
   6	8D+3D	34	4D+1D	12	+5D

4. Determine two Traits for the creature.

   #	Traits
   1	Caustic Spray, Paired
   2	Ambushes, Paired
   3	Automaton, Pursuer
   4	Rapid, Night Vision
   5	Brachiator, Night Vision
   6	Mimic, Trample

5. Determine Special Abilities, if any.

   #	Special Abilities
   1	Cling, Mind Blast
   2	Iron Stomach, EMF Sense
   3	none
   4	Medicinal Properties
   5	none
   6	none

6. Assign four Skill points to Combat, Physical, Stealth, and Social.

   See below.

Putting this all together, we have

(I decided to replace one of the Paired traits with another randomly rolled trait, and got Hibernates.)

I was hoping one of these would happen to have Proto-Sapient or at least Crude Hands. Ah well.

Sapient Species?

Let’s review our species so far.

1. Our caustic spraying, hibernating, mind-blasting prey species looks like a good candidate for Uplift, especially since it already has a psionic talent. I almost imagine something like a cranky Gekkonid.

2. Our paired, ambushing opportunist also sounds like it exhibits intelligent behavior already.

3. The automaton opportunist, on the other hand, sounds profoundly unintelligent: charge ahead at prey that crosses its path, stop for nothing. Cross that one off.

4. Herbivores don’t usually make for intelligent species. This looks like a herd animal that keeps watch day and night and runs when it sees danger. I’m inclined to cross it off too.

5. Humanity descended from brachiators, but I don’t see how a horse-sized nocturnal tree-dweller would end up any different from man. (Or even work.) Scratch that one too.

6. A titanic predator that mimics its prey then tramples it wounds hilarious, even more so if it could talk, but I’m going to say no to this one.

New Sapient Species

I’m going to leave these as NPC Only species – Class III – because I’m not sure how to balance all their inherent abilities.

Evaluation

Hmm, I don’t know. It works, I guess, but I’m just not feeling it.

Synthoids

The Synthoid supplement introduces genetically engineered humans into Nomad. Maybe we can create non-human species with it.

Catperson

Synthoids are built from “steps”, increments of add-ons, much like starships.

Let’s allow six steps, equivalent to Late Galactic Age tech.

Mountain Aliens

Or how about “Species 1” from the previous article?

Evaluation

This method certainly works … if you have an idea what you want. If you’re looking for inspiration, something with random tables (like the Xenofauna table) would be a better fit.

Freestyling

In my own notes I designed a living Ship and the crab-like Repairers that scuttle around her. I don’t know whether this is good design or bad – I probably overdid the Traits and Special Features – but here’s what I came up with for the Repairers:

If I built this creature as a Synthoid I’d be well into Cosmic territory. Each of its many Special Abilities performs a function:

• The creature must secure itself to the hull and make repairs. (Cling, Hands)
• It must brave hull breaches and even crawl outside the ship. (Oxygen Storage, Vacuum Adaptation)
• A quick way to seal breaches is to spray them with fast-setting glue. (Glue Spray)
• The Repairers must remain in tune with the Ship and each other to most efficiently find and fix broken hull and mechanisms. (Hive Mind, Hyper Touch, Symbiotic with Ship)
• Some of the repairs are quite complex. (Sentient)
• The creature originally came from non-human stock. (Immune to humanoid diseases)

Also not noted: Repairers are wholly dependent on the Ship for their life support, not only in the usual way but in the sense of gaining all their nutrients from the ship itself. Their digestive systems are practically nonexistent, so they can commit more mass and energy to their duties. They are, in a sense, the Ship’s self-repair robots.

Anyone who tried to board the Ship without permission would face about two dozen of these monsters who would try to restrain them with Glue Spray and then toss the intruders out the nearest airlock or hull breach.

Appendix: New Special Abilities

Hands

The species has manipulators with opposable digits at roughly human dimensions, allowing them to use human tools with no penalty. Sapient

Immune (to condition)

The species is immune to a specific condition, like disease or poison.

Manipulators

The species has manipulators with opposable digits, allowing them to use human tools with a -1D penalty. Specially-made tools have no penalty. Sapient

Psionic

The species has two psionic talents, and can gain more with experience.

Sapient a.k.a. Sentient

The species has intelligence, tool use, and language roughly comparable to humanity. Crude Hands, Hands, Manipulators

Symbiotic (with species)

The species has a symbiotic relationship with another species. The two (or more) species rely on each other to fulfill basic needs like food, locomotion, or defense. Hive Mind, Pheromone Communication

Vacuum Adaptation

The species lives in airless or nearly airless conditions, and is therefore inured to the rigors of hard vacuum. This creature doesn’t need to breathe. Either it feeds directly on energy (e.g. solar radiation, temperature differentials) or its orifices are natural airlocks. Oxygen Storage