Supplement 11: Animal Encounters

[AndrewW]

Once players start venturing out from the safety of civilisation and into the wilderness, they will be confronted with all manner of exotic and strange fauna. From deadly predators that will stalk a heavily armed part for weeks before making their lethal ambush, to harmless furballs that make for good pets, Animal Encounters will allow a referee to create new creatures to populate his worlds, each tuned specifically to its environment.

As well as providing a many examples of animals already discovered on distant worlds, Animal Encounters not only provides a complete system for referees to create their own, but also a chapter on very strange animals, such as those that live in super-dense gravity environments, or those that can be found floating in the higher reaches of the atmosphere in a gas giant.

Critters in Traveller will never be the same again!

Shipping date: April 2011

 

[alex_greene]

From deadly predators that will stalk a heavily armed part for weeks

As well as providing a many examples of

Typos spotted in the blurb (bolded).

Also, I really have looked forward to this one.

 

[kafka]

Will it be illustrated with pictures for each animal profiled? ie a Monster Manual or another book with a collection of stats...

 

[alex_greene]

Will it be illustrated with pictures for each animal profiled? ie a Monster Manual or another book with a collection of stats...

Hopefully not a Monster Manual. Traveller's animal encounters are supposed to be based on ecological principles, such as no short-legged chasers, no big creatures on ground that won't support them and so on.

Leave the flumphs and carnivorous treasure chests and trousers for the other game.

 

[DFW]

Will it be illustrated with pictures for each animal profiled? ie a Monster Manual or another book with a collection of stats...

I doubt it. That would boost the production costs too high. t would be nice but not essential as long as good descriptions are provided.

 

[SJE]

I think for an alien animals books, pictures would be necessary - after all, if they are worth a thousand words, what they spend on art can be recouped from writing and extra page count

 

[alex_greene]

I do have to ask whether or not the book will consider the different ways animals have adapted to the environment, such as arboreal animals having manual dexterity and prehensile tails, avian and aerial creatures having light, hollow bones and high metabolisms, aquatic creatures being naturally larger than land-based ones because of the increased buoyancy of dense sea water and so on.

 

[Ishmael]

I hope they use information about Klieber's law and metabolism to work out each animal's place in the ecology and think about such things as trophic levels and carrying capacity, and population dynamics, etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_theory_of_ecology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophic_dynamics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_dynamics

 

[rust]

I do have to ask whether or not the book will consider the different ways animals have adapted to the environment, such as arboreal animals having manual dexterity and prehensile tails, avian and aerial creatures having light, hollow bones and high metabolisms, aquatic creatures being naturally larger than land-based ones because of the increased buoyancy of dense sea water and so on.

A potential problem with this approach would be that the resulting animals
could become too much like Earth animals because they would use the
same solutions for the same problems as Earth animals do. I would prefer
a system that enables me to design creatures which are more alien, using
different strategies than the ones of Earth. For example, an aerial creatu-
re which uses lifting gas to fly could do well without any bones at all and a
very slow metabolism based upon photosynthesis, and a lack of nutrients
in the sea water could lead to an ecology where all aquatic creatures are
much smaller than land creatures.

 

[alex_greene]

I do have to ask whether or not the book will consider the different ways animals have adapted to the environment

A potential problem with this approach would be that the resulting animals
could become too much like Earth animals because they would use the
same solutions for the same problems as Earth animals do. I would prefer
a system that enables me to design creatures which are more alien, using
different strategies than the ones of Earth. For example, an aerial creatu-
re which uses lifting gas to fly could do well without any bones at all and a very slow metabolism based upon photosynthesis, and a lack of nutrients in the sea water could lead to an ecology where all aquatic creatures are much smaller than land creatures.

About a decade ago, a paper postulated that the method of locomotion adopted by quadrupeds the world over, and even used in adapted form by bipedal animals such as humans, not only originated with an oceanic ancestor, the coelocanth - this method of propulsion could well be close to a universal constant.

Similar environments will likely produce, over time, the same kinds of solutions for the same situations you would find on Earth: cold-adapted creatures in arctic climates will develop thick, blubbery skins and efficient thermal regulation to maintain core temps in the water, creatures adapted to flight in low atmospheric pressure will need to develop long, bony limbs with patagia or banks of feathers to maximise surface area and lift while minimising mass as well as very efficient respiratory tracts, carnivores with insufficient speed or strength to outrun or overwhelm prey will evolve venom from adapted salivary glands and a method of poison delivery and evolve into lurkers, sirens, trappers or pouncers, and so on.

There's no need to imagine dragons and gelatinous cubes and Otyughs; just because your chasers look like Terran cheetahs retooled with horizontal go-faster stripes and a venomous bite, it doesn't make them any less scary or challenging.

 

[DFW]

I think for an alien animals books, pictures would be necessary - after all, if they are worth a thousand words, what they spend on art can be recouped from writing and extra page count

The cost of good art exceeds what you pay to write and print "1000 words".

 

[alex_greene]

I think for an alien animals books, pictures would be necessary - after all, if they are worth a thousand words, what they spend on art can be recouped from writing and extra page count

The cost of good art exceeds what you pay to write and print "1000 words".

Tell me about it.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

While I do not want a Monster Manual per se, on my part I hope that they model the size table at least generate animals from our planet present and past. The existing charts did go far enough up the scale, going up to 5000 kilos.

7900 kg: speculated T. Rex mass
11000 kg: Largest African elephant found
100000 kg: Blue Whales
50000kg-113000kg: speculated diplodicus mass.

I also hope they line up the target sizes from the alien traits (Tiny, Small, Large, Huge) to go along with the size table should combat/hunting need to be done. It would be odd that hitting the broad side of a blue whale not provide an +DM to hit it.

 

[alex_greene]

I know I keep skirting the issue, but part of me seriously wants rules for dinosaurs, if for no other reason than to enact Pat Mills' legendary 2000AD strip "Flesh" in the TU some time.

A TL 8 commercial submarine vs. a Liopleurodon. Taking bets now ...

 

[Nathan Brazil]

Blood of Satanus II
A cool Strontium Dog adventure hook:
You team of mutants takes on it toughest bounty yet. On a distant planet, a "reptile" of enormous proportions called Satanus has been eating dogs and various tourists. Of note, it does not seem to eat children, at least those that are not obnoxous to creature. Some bigwig finally had their poodle eaten and is offering a 20MCr for the beast to be captured and brought back alive...

 

[Jacqual]

This book along with the World Builder's book are IMHO very important for the game. Setting the basis for deveolping new planets, filled with what can be very dangerous creatures. I really hope that this book will take into account planetary conditions that will be developed with the world builders book. These 2 books can tie in very closely with each other more so then some might realize with a first glance. This is one of the books I am very excited about getting, and I cannot wait to see a preview of it.