Supplement 11: Animal Encounters Issues

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

I have already started on a whole set of houserules to create a new/exotic/alien "Class" of creatures such as "Mammal" or "Reptile".

Been doing some Taxonomy research as suggested by Merxiless... :wink:

I think I have figured out a way to make it all work... I am going to create a series of tables, maybe 6, that you roll on to get a general characteristic of the Class of animal. Then you create several of these Classes for each world and you can then create your creatures from those classes.

I am also trying to fit the known Earth Classes (from S11 and others) into this framework, so you can have Hybrid biospheres with Mammals from Earth, creatures from Vland (or where ever) mixed in with unique Classes of creatures from that planet.

It gets really complex really fast, so I can see why the author may have taken the "easy way out" of sticking with Earth-type Classes. Not sure that was his intention and I am not slamming him for it; just not how I would have done it.

Depending on how big this all gets, I will either submit it to S&P or publish it through one of the OGL companies out there (probably Spica). I am up to about 50 pages so far, but most of that is explanation. I have also come up with some MORE Terrain Types that might make sense from an encounter point of view.

I am trying to stay within the guidelines of the OGL, so I am NOT pulling info directly from S11, but a lot of what he did was based on real world science, which I CAN use.

Maybe someday...

 

[Rick]

I once considered a similiar system a long while ago, where you would put each type into a pyramid diagram for each region. The bottom layer would be for point and area producers (tree and grass analogues), the next layer up for herbivores, the next omnivores, then carnivores and finally advanced carnivores on the top layer - the key being that all the species on the diagram would only prey on the next 2 layers down. It seemed like a good idea that could show the relationships between the various species in an area - obviously the higher up the pyramid you got the fewer types there were and the fewer individuals of that type. I don't think I went much beyond that stage really.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

2300AD had a similar system with a 10 point pyramid leading up to the top carnivore/feeder.

I THINK I have figured out how to do it:

Planetary Characteristics (Quirks)= Number of Sexes, body symmetry etc
Planetary Classes = Alien equivalent to Mammals, Reptiles, Avians, Fish, Molluscs or whatever
Creature Description = Every creature has the Planetary Quirks and the Class Characteristics and some additional traits developed based on Terrain type and some other randomness.

Most of these are unnecessary for a simple animal encounter. If you just need a beasty to attack in the middle of the night, it really doesn't matter if it is a tri-laterally symmetric, three-sexed invertibrate with 9 limbs and sensor-stalks for eyes that lays eggs and abandons its young and has life-long mating triads. What you care about is the attack and defense modes and the skills associated with that as well as the physical characteristics.

So anything I do will have to be add ons that are not required for a quick encounter but could be used for a long-term game or a science based game instead. Mating the two systems seemlessly will be a bit tricky I think.

I got a couple of books on Taxonomy from my brother-in-law who has a BS in Biology and an MS in Environmental Engineering - so that should help.

 

[delrom5]

Nats has posted some unofficial errata from a previous edition. (See http://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=48618)

My complaint about animal encounters is that this info should have been included in the book for ease of reference. Referring to multiple books is rather a nuisance at times.