S&P 79: Vampyr and Zom-Bs

[apoc527]

Ok, who else thought the article in S&P 79 (just released) with the 5 new aliens that included "Vampyr" and "Zom-B" was totally awesome???

I'm betting there were some who were annoyed by it, but whatever, there is always room for space vampires and zombies.

Anyway, that was good stuff. I totally have to use them someday...this is why my group has annual Halloween Specials.

 

[alex_greene]

Yeesh.

 

[The Chef]

oooh cool i like!!

 

[Nuclear Fridge Magnet]

Sounds great- - except I can't look at it. I can't even download S&P anymore.
The past couple of issues have - according to 3 different computers I've tried to download them on - been corrupted or unreadable.

 

[Gravmonkey]

I like their take on zombies, not so much on vampires. I was actually pondering something along those lines for MTU.

 

[rust]

Sounds great- - except I can't look at it. I can't even download S&P anymore.
The past couple of issues have - according to 3 different computers I've tried to download them on - been corrupted or unreadable.

If the download from Mongoose's website does not work, you could try to
download it from Drive Thru RPG:

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=80244&filters=0_0_40050_0

 

[BP]

Nuclear Fridge Magnet - it might be the PDF reader you are using on all three computers.

You could try a portable one (it doesn't install and won't effect the other versions you have running) - on windows, I find PDF-XChange Viewer excellent. Just select the Portable Zip version.

(Sumatra and Foxit also have portable viewers, but they are not as feature-rich - I'm not sure on Macs and other Unix variants)

 

[AndrewW]

Sounds great- - except I can't look at it. I can't even download S&P anymore.
The past couple of issues have - according to 3 different computers I've tried to download them on - been corrupted or unreadable.

Are you trying to download and save the file or just view in the webbrowser using a plugin? You could try right clicking and save as to save it to the hard drive then open it up with a PDF viewer.

 

[nats]

I loved it. I dont usually like the dafter aspects of Scifi, but I could really see a Zom-B horde working well in a creepy Traveller scenario. Traveller has been getting far too serious of late and it needs a few more monsters.

 

[alex_greene]

As well as convention-defying weirdness:-

"Okay, so the Ancients kind of lived only about 300,000 years ago, right?"

"Yup."

"So where did all these 80 million year old dinosaurs come from?"

 

[DeadMike]

It beat the hell out of Signs & Portents 78 with that stupid gangsta character. I think I could handle a gangster PC, but if someone else had their character walking around with their combat armour hanging down past their backside with their underwear showing and wanting to axe me a question... I think I would have to shoot him in the face with an ARMP.

 

[cbrunish]

The only problem is my unreasonable fear of Zombies. I work as a paramedic and in all of the zombie flicks the medics get it first. You get called because a person was bit. Next thing you know the pt dies then attacks the medic in the back of an ambulance. It's even worse for my ambulance service because our owner is also a Funeral Director and County Coroner. Which means that we transport alot of dead bodies.

And I feel that it is possible for a corporation to create a bioweapon that animates life as a zombie. It's out there........ :shock:

 

[alex_greene]

The only problem is my unreasonable fear of Zombies. I work as a paramedic and in all of the zombie flicks the medics get it first. You get called because a person was bit. Next thing you know the pt dies then attacks the medic in the back of an ambulance. It's even worse for my ambulance service because our owner is also a Funeral Director and County Coroner. Which means that we transport alot of dead bodies.

And I feel that it is possible for a corporation to create a bioweapon that animates life as a zombie. It's out there........ :shock:

Some form of saprophytic fungus would probably do the trick. Taking over life functions by mimicking the CNS and brainstem using its mycelium as fake neurons, it'd probably be able to partially animate a cadaver, get it moving about for a while until decay processes rendered it unviable even for the saprophyte to continue animating. Then Stage 2: fruiting bodies and spores ...

http://io9.com/5520282/toxic-airborne-fungus-from-oregon-spreading-across-west-coast

 

[B_Steele]

I'm really glad you liked them, folks. There are many more "wacky" space critters in my head just waiting to rattle out onto the page when I get time...so I'll see what I can do.

-Bry

 

[Jame Rowe]

I'll say again (because noone responded when I said it over on CotI): Traveller skeletons are roboticized with a computer and sensors in the skull and some sort of mechanical joint put into the joints. Very basic computer, very simple, and doesn't have much, but good for cannon fodder.

 

[Techno-Guru]

It beat the hell out of Signs & Portents 78 with that stupid gangsta character. I think I could handle a gangster PC, but if someone else had their character walking around with their combat armour hanging down past their backside with their underwear showing and wanting to axe me a question... I think I would have to shoot him in the face with an ARMP.

I'd still take the gangsta over the miracle engineer. That was a career I could never figure out what to do with. But then most of my settings have rules against contacting civilizations not advanced enough to comprehend the idea of other worlds and make an attempt to contact them.

 

[alex_greene]

I'll say again (because noone responded when I said it over on CotI): Traveller skeletons are roboticized with a computer and sensors in the skull and some sort of mechanical joint put into the joints. Very basic computer, very simple, and doesn't have much, but good for cannon fodder.

Not at Cr 300k a pop, they're not. Cheaper to outfit a couple of thousand living meat grunts with Nomex and kevlar vests and send them on ahead in waves until some of them start coming back.

The only use for animated zombies in a war is as unliving walking surveillance drones. Maybe PSYOPS too. Nothing will demoralise the foe more than knowing that the loved ones they send to die in battle are going to get chopped up and reassembled as the walking dead fighting for the enemy.

Or maybe that would be the tipping point, and people on all sides would come baying for the blood of the government that would use zombies as a weapon.

 

[cbrunish]

Some form of saprophytic fungus would probably do the trick. Taking over life functions by mimicking the CNS and brainstem using its mycelium as fake neurons, it'd probably be able to partially animate a cadaver, get it moving about for a while until decay processes rendered it unviable even for the saprophyte to continue animating. Then Stage 2: fruiting bodies and spores ...

http://io9.com/5520282/toxic-airborne-fungus-from-oregon-spreading-across-west-coast

Thanks!!! Of course I'm reading this at work and it's 2:16 in the morning. Now I'm going to be paranoid when I have to pick up my first body!! :shock: They might not understand when I remove the body's head before transporting. :lol:

 

[alex_greene]

Some form of saprophytic fungus would probably do the trick. Taking over life functions by mimicking the CNS and brainstem using its mycelium as fake neurons, it'd probably be able to partially animate a cadaver, get it moving about for a while until decay processes rendered it unviable even for the saprophyte to continue animating. Then Stage 2: fruiting bodies and spores ...

http://io9.com/5520282/toxic-airborne-fungus-from-oregon-spreading-across-west-coast

Thanks!!! Of course I'm reading this at work and it's 2:16 in the morning. Now I'm going to be paranoid when I have to pick up my first body!! :shock: They might not understand when I remove the body's head before transporting. :lol:

You're welcome.

It comes from having cut my authorial teeth writing horror roleplaying games.Lots of research into the topic. I try my best, but so frequently, the real world exceeds my finest efforts at writing scary stuff.

 

[DeadMike]

I couldn't see transporting zombies to use as a weapon. Transporting the virus that animates corpese into zombies I could see though. Great fun to accidential release on a planet that is having a civil war. Well, one without nuclear weapons anyway. Hmm.
Actually, come to think of it. If you had a planet that had zombies as the only humanoid population you could probably make some serious credits out of that. Survival training and hunting for the rich and bored. "Sign this waver stating that if you get injured or die we will leave you there. If you survive the week, you get a patch to sew on your hunting coat. That will be 500,000 credits please."