This design’s been floating around since at least the early aughties. If took a bit of digging to find the page for the guy, Atolm, on DeviantArt . He had a habit of taking strange shapes and crafting unique designs. This one, the Chariot-class, broke the mold by flipping the traditional long horizontally-oriented secondary hull and flipping it vertical. The result — to my eye — is magical.
The Chariot-class was an attempt to get back to an exploration-focused fleet. With an unconventional hull design more centrally-placed warp nacelles, and better positioned center of mass, these ships were designed to be maneuverable, with a wide placement of sensor pallets to allow for better, high-resolution scans. Dual-environment cabins and locations, coupled with extensive redundant systems were aimed at more representation of member races aboard ship, and to improve survivability of the spacecraft; the addition of an emergency medical hologram likewise the survivability of the crew. Modular laboratories allowed the ships to pivot their focus as needed.
Designed as a multi-role explorer, Starfleet did not ignore the increasing severity of the threat landscape. The Chariot carries the latest phaser arrays the 360 degree coverage on all axes, plus photon torpedo systems upgraded to fire either photon or quantum torpedoes.
Auxiliary craft include 6 Type 6A or Type 11 Shuttlecraft, 6 Type 9 shuttlecraft, and 10 workbees.
The copyright for 2d20 system is Modiphius, 2019. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios inc. Image copyright of Chris Reyes aka AtolmAzel — check out his stuff on DeviantArt. All Rights Reserved and no infringement is intended.
Every hero household needs an enemy…here’s the enemy house of the Cailean. Known for the control of Ladinum, the southern continent of Alba II, the family manages the region for the Fujimori. Recently, they scored a major win in the competition with the Cailean for favor with the daimyo; Lady Haina married Lord Milo of the Mazzola, making inroads against the famously loyal and effective Cailean.
The Mazzola govern by the notion of Faufreluches — a place for every man, and every man in his place. Social mobility is limited, save for those that prove themselves useful. There are several major families in Ladinum, especially the rich Gorvonello Valley, who have great sway — the makers of weapons, vehicles, and spacecraft components. The house, and the region, tend to be religious — following a purer Orange Catholicism of the empire, rather than the Shinto-tinged version of their masters, the Fujimori.
Advisor: Sao Mazzola — Milo’s younger brother and highly ambitious. In secret affair with Lady Haina.
Councilor: Miko Tamura — Count Fujimori’s “spy”
Marshal: Frey Hondo — corrupt, but he has a code: no kids, no women, no innocents.
Swordmaster: Miko Zano — Swordmaster of Ginaz
Treasurer: Horl Murino — tied to the Cavom crime syndicate.
Warmaster:Bator Jin Golor
Notes on the Mazzola
Like the Cailean, the Mazzola have a militia that can be called upon by the Fujimori when required. The parade and daily uniforms are resplendent — blue jackets chased with gold piping over red pants, and a shako-style headdress and white belt for equipment. In the field or combat, this is discarded for a more practical dark blue blouse and red pants, with combat armor in a camouflage pattern. they typically carry shorter 65cm gladius-style one-handed sword and lasgun rifles. Only one unit is shielded infantry — their elite Corpo Falcone (Eagle Unit).
They follow the typical Imperial ranking structure:
Supreme Bashar — a field marshal in command of an army.
Caid — a flag rank officer in charge of a planet
Oberbashar — a senior general or admiral
Bashar — also called general or admiral
Subashar — also called a colonel or fleet captain
Bator — a colonel, usually commands a regiment or division; also a senior captain in a space fleet.
Commander — usually a space fleet rank
Subator — usually commands a battalion-sized element.
Levenbrech — commander of ground forces; usually commands a company-size element.; sometimes called a captain.
Immenbrech — a platoon leader, also called a lieutenant..
Subedar — or sergeant, leads a platoon or squad
Havildar — or corporal, leads a squad
Standard conscripts and soldiers are called troopers.
Original material — Alba II and locations, House Cailean, Fujimori, and Mazzola — copyright of Black Campbell Entertainment, but go ahead and use it. That’s what it’s here for. Just give us credit.
A follow on post to the yesterday’s post on Alba II, here’s the minor houses of that world. Cailean is the family that my players have been running for their game; the Mazzola were their main rival for the first “book”.
HOUSE CAILEAN
House Minor, vassals to House Fujimori.
Traits: Loyal, Meritocratic
House Crest: A boar’s head on tartan (blue and green primary, white and yellow striping).
HOUSE CAILEAN was the first house to settle Alba II several thousand years ago. Much of the early history is half-legend, and even the Imperial Records have little on the first few millennia of Alban history. From the start, a rivalry with House Mazzola was established. Much of this has to do with early claims to the world, but as time has gone on, it is deeply tied to different views on the nature of government and its relationship to the people it governs.
The Cailean view their position as more of a steward of the people, rather than as a ruler. They have traditionally supported the education of their people and allowed for a certain amount of social mobility based on merit that the rigid framework of Faufruchles does not. The Mazzola, highly religious and socially static, view the Cailean attidues as “libertine” and dangerous. As a result, there is les incursion by official religious programming in Cailean lands than many places — one of the reasons for the 75th Padishah Emperor’s move to place the Fujimori over the Cailean and Mazzola on the planet.
They are famed for the Alban beef and stonefish — delicacies throughout the empire, as well as their excellent liquors: whiskies, gin, and ciders. Another point of fame comes from their liberal attitude toward education and expression: Alban, and specifically Cailean, poets, playwrights, and musicians are regular members of House Jongleur.
The peoples of Hyperborea view family as the center of life, and view those not part of the “clan” as something to be watched, if not outright distrusted. For this reason, most senior positions in the Cailean government and military are family, or closely trusted confidants. When a Cailean takes you as a friend or family, it is an unbreakable bond. They view the interfamilial court intrigue of the empire as distasteful and destructive. Cailean is a house with three main clans related to the noble house: the clans of Cailean, Calder, McCailean, and Mohr. There are other people and families related — the Moray and Stewarts — but these are the ones that are nobles. The House is lead by Laird Colm Cailean, or the Donchard and Laird of Ben Cailean & Glenmoran. His heir is Laird Halan Cailean. The Calder are lead by Laird Halan Calder, the Laird of Stanehome. He is a cousin to the main line. Laird Lorne, brother and advisor to Laird Colm, heads the recently created House McCailean, and is now Laird Lorne McCailean of Stainhome.
Their dialect is one of the purest forms of Galach in the Imperium — possibly going all the way back to Earth, itself. While most educated people also speak Nihon, the language of the Fujimori, once out of the cities, Galach is the dominant tongue in the north.
As a result, the Cailean Militia follows this rank structure:
Bashar — leader or the militia (Laird Colm)
Subashar — leads a division of militia
Bator — leads the air group
Commander — leads an air wing
Major — leads a regiment
Captain — leads a company
Lieutenant — leads a platoon
Sergeant — leads a squad
Corporal — leads a team
Trooper
The Cailean Militia are generally unshielded and wear light armor. Their uniforms are composed of a green, high-necked jacket over kilt in the Cailean tartan. Knee-high boots have a scabbard for the ceremonial dirk. This is topped off with a Glengarry cap and a fly plaid pinned with a Cailean badge in the house colors that is used as a blanket or cloak in the field. Standard equipment is a broadsword and lasgun rifle.
A new unit under Lady Siobhan, the Black Guard, wears the same uniform in black. They use shields and a Fujimori-style tanto.
To police the Cailean lands, the Cailean Constabularyis a separate force that can be used in ground defense situations. Their uniforms are blue, instead of green, and their carry the ceremonial dirk and a slug-thrower sidearm, as most of their encounters are unlikely to involve shielded opponents. The constabulary’s rank structure follows:
Marshal — military equivalent: bator; leads the Constabulary
Deputy Marshal — military equivalent: major; runs a city or province
Chief Inspector — military equiv. captain; leads investigation team
Detective Inspector — military equiv. lieutenant; leads investigations
Detective Constable — military equiv. sergeant; conducts investigations
Original material — Alba II and locations, House Cailean, Fujimori, and Mazzola — copyright of Black Campbell Entertainment, but go ahead and use it. That’s what it’s here for. Just give us credit.
After having watched the second Dune movie when it came out, my young teenage daughter, and the wife were quite taken with the setting. I knew there was a 2d20 game, Dune: Adventures in the Imperium out by Modiphius. Since we were between campaigns, I decided to buy the book and GM screen, and set to work creating something for the ladies. What I came up with was a world split between three cultures — a sort of 18th Century Scotland and Italy, and a Meiji-period Japan that was placed in stewardship over them.
Here is Alba II and it’s ruling family, the House Fujimori.
ALBA
Home Star:
Taiyo (historically Alba) / HD223913, a G0V type star with a M1V companion, CPD-66 3810 B.
ALBA II
World Type: Habitable Forested/Ocean World.
House Affiliation: House Fujimori (major), Minor Houses Cailean and Mazzola
Military Power: Ground defense forces, a small space fleet, limited planetary defenses
Population: 500,000 million.
Industries: Primarily farming, fishing, and heavy machinery. Cailean known for their arts, especially poetry and song, as well as their superb liquors; Mazzola for their architecture, wine, and culinary skills.
Planet Notes:
Alba II has one satellite, Bano (formerly Elatha). The companion star to Taiyo is CPD-66 3810 B, a M1V red dwarf, called Sanakai — but to the majority of the planet it is “the Wee Yin” or it’s older name “Solino”. Solino/Sanakai is as bright as Bano in the night sky when it is in opposition to Taiyo, and is visible faintly when Taiyo is in the sky. At sunset and sunrise at certain times of the year, both stars are readily visible, with Sanakai having an apparent brightness of about a quarter of the main star. Also quite visible at night and even to the unaided eye during the day is Purana, or Gamma Tucanae, 11 light years away.
There are several continents on Alba, but the big three are Ladinum in the south — the lands of the Mazzola, Hyperborea in the north — settled by the Cailean, and Nanomi — which has steadily become the province of the Fujimori, along with the large Haino Island chain, where the world capital and spaceport, Ninga, lies. the Fujimori also directly control the mining and construction facilities on Bano.
There are several places of note: Ninga sports Shoja Castle, the seat of the Fujimori rule. Ben Cailean is the mountain fortress of the Cailean, perched over the largest city in their lands, Glenmoran. The Mazzola are based in Casseli Trento, in the beautiful city of Trento (which gives the region, Trentino, its name). Much of the heavy industry is owned by Mazzola and Fujimori-tied families throughout the Gorvanello Valley in Ladinum. Both the minor houses keep a smaller militia and are charged with law enforcement and tax collection in their regions.
Cultural Notes:
Alba II was settled by the Houses Cailean and Mazzola at roughly the same time. Most imperial histories on this world are a bit vague as to the start of colonization, but most evidence suggests the Cailean arrived between a half century and a full century earlier than the Mazzola. As a result many of the naming conventions in the north use Galach, while in Mazzola lands, the tongue of Nuladin reigns. The Imperial Society of Linguistics has noted that Alban Galach is the most unchanged of the Imperial tongue, going back to the original Anglo-Gallic roots.
A millennium ago, during the rule of the 75th Padishah Emperor, the Fujimori family was gifted with Alba to rule over. Initial resistance was quickly put down, with the Cailean quickly siding with their new masters. Attempts to introduce Nihon, as the language of Alba have been semi-successful. Most Albans can get by in Nihon, but once away from Nanomi and Haino, Ladinum and Galach are the chief languages spoken.
Alban beef, stonefish, barley, and whiskies are frequently found in the houses of the Great Houses, even when many don’t even know where or what Alba is. Trentino wines are similarly well thought of.
The Fujimori have been attempting to gain notice and support from the larger major houses for some time, and a recent marriage to a lady of the Richese family elevated them to a known name. With the misfortunes of their war with the Vernier, and their loss of Arrakis to the Harkonnen, the advantages of this marriage have no been realized. The official title of the ruler of Alba is Count Ariano Fujimori, Daimyo of Alba and Bano. His title of daimyo, is used on Alba.
HOUSE FUJIMORI
House Major, rules Alba II and its moon, Bano.
Domains: Primary, Industrial (Machinery); Secondary, Military (workers) and Farming (Produce)
Traits: Cautious and Honorable
Rivals:
House Maros — House Major: reason, competition (Agricultural products); level — rival.
Consort/Wife: Countess Saia (nee Richese), sister of Count Iblan.
Consort: Michiko Nanuri — older than Saia, she was the first consort of the Count.
Heir: Lord Hanzo — 21 year old and eager to prove himself.
Other Children,Nanuri: Shoja — 30 year old son; playboy and lay-about.Haina Mazzola — the eldest child, 40 years old, and married to Lord Milo Mazzola.Ari — 24 yo daughter.
Other Children, Saia:Goro — a year younger than the heir, he is interested in affairs of state.Merce — 18 and desperate to become a swordmaster.Noemi — 15 yo daughter waiting for marriage.
Advisor: Kan Veli (mentat)
Councilor: Lord Colm Cailean
Marshal:Rikusa (colonel) Masa Nigura — secret supporter of Lady Haina.
Swordmaster:Rikusa Ao Morime — trained by the Swordmasters of Haino Island.
Treasurer: Ola Aramaki — a genius gifted to them by the Richese.
Original material — Alba II and locations, House Cailean, Fujimori, and Mazzola — copyright of Black Campbell Entertainment, but go ahead and use it. That’s what it’s here for. Just give us credit.
Easily the best thing about Star Trek: Discovery has been their willingness to throw caution to the wind on designing starship. Even more than the (at the time) eye-popping redesign for Enterprise-D in The Next Generation, Discovery has not been shy about pissing off fans and swinging for the aesthetic fences. One of the cooler vessels of the 3rd Season of Discovery is the Angelou-class starship. Described by Ensign Tilly as “a flying rainforest”.
It’s obviously gigantic. A toroidal shape, it looks like the ventral side is the “ship” — the portions with crew areas, life support and gravitational creation, and the like. There is a forward (?) area on the left side of the image above. Is that the command areas? Crew quarters? Deflector dish or is this the back section with an engine? There is a “bridge” over the biodome that takes up much of the ship’s interior space. Judging from the vessel, it’s a good ten decks or more. Essentially, the Angelou-class is part spaceship/part space station. The central area around the donut hole would be massive — 50ish decks top to bottom. Include the biodome itself, you’re probably talking living space that would rival or exceed that of Spacedock One.
That puts it well above the starship framewrok, I think, so I wrote it up as a starbase and tweaked here and there.
ANGELOU-CLASS
Launch Year: Sometime in the 30-31st Century
Overview: With the Federation at the height of its power, stretching across the Alpha and Beta Quadrants and even poking it’s head into the Gamma and Delta Quadrants, as well as exploring outside the edges of the galaxy, there seemed a need for a dedicated, long-ranger vessel that could travel for century or more. Additionally, the size of the Federation meant that colonial enterprises were more and more risky and the supply chain grew. The Angelou-class was the answer to these needs: a vessel that could park well outside of Federation space, set up colonies, over generations, if needed; or which could make the trip to the nearby Magellanic Clouds…or further.
Capabilities: These massive generational agro-ships were not the fastest thing ever fielded by Starfleet, but the large agricultural dome allowed for any biosphere to be recreated and transported to a new planet for terraforming efforts, or to provide food, recreation, and life support material for previously unimaginably long excursions into the unknown. More a mobile starbase than a starship, the Angelou represented the Federation at its most imaginative, more hopeful, and most arrogant.
Refits & Variants: The Angelou-class was designed to massive replicator facilities that would allow the crew to modify and improve upon the craft while in service.
Naming Conventions: While only a few of these craft were produced, and only one of these vessels is known to have survived the Burn, it is possible that others may still be out there, beyond the rim of the galaxy…
Quantum Torpedoes: Torpedo, Damage 6, Calibration, High Yield
Tractor Beams: Tractor/Grappler 8
Talents:
Advanced Emergency Holographic Crew: The ship hasseveral holographic supporting characters equal to half the ship’sComputers score (round up); their appearance and personality aredetermined when the ship is created, though the supporting charactershave a species trait of Hologram. These can be activated or deactivated asa minor action, and they do not require any Crew Support to appear. They cannot operate outside of the ship, and they do not improve when introduced in subsequent adventures. However, if any character advances are used to improve these supporting characters, all thesupporting characters granted by this talent receive the advance.
Advanced Medical Ward/Sickbay: he ship gains theAdvanced Medical Ward or Advanced Sickbay trait, which applies to alltasks relat- ed to medicine and biology performed within the ward orsickbay, and stacks with the normal benefits of being in sickbay. This traitis lost if the ship’s Computers system is disabled. In addition, the shipreceives one additional Crew Support, which may only be used tointroduce supporting characters from the Medical department.
Advanced Research Facilities: The vessel is equipped withadditional laboratories and long-term research facilities. Whenever acharacter aboard the ship succeeds at a task to perform research, andthey are assisted by the ship’s Computers + Science, they may ask twoadditional questions, as if they had spent Momentum to ObtainInformation.
Dedicated Personnel, Science: The ship gains two additionalCrew Support, which may only be used to establish SupportingCharacters who are part of the Science department.
Dual Environment: The vessel has several dedicated areas for differing atmospheric and other life support requirements.
Special Rules:
Larger Crew: The ship’s Crew Support is increased by 1.
The copyright for 2d20 system is Modiphius, 2019. STAR TREK and related marks and logos, and images are trademarks of CBS Studios inc. All Rights Reserved and no infringement is intended.
After the demise of Eaglemoss, the likelihood of new Star Trek starship models looked slim. FanHome, which took over the license and (I’m assuming the dies and related materials), has just announced today that they will be relaunching the Star Trekstarship collection starting with ships from Picard.
These include the gorgeous Enterprise-G and Enterprise-F (not so gorgeous…but that’s just me), Stargazer and Titan, as well as Eleos, and Shrike from season 3. Subscribers also garner exclusive gifts — a dedication plaque, a USS Eaves starship, and the like. For me, being a Strange New Worlds fan, the big announcement is Farragut, NCC-1647 from that show. Right now, it looks like the focus will be on the current or most recently broadcast shows, rather than the older series.
They are supposedly starting shipping in November this year with USS Titan, and will be following the Eaglemoss ship a month plan, with every four ships being an XL style (at ten bucks more than the regular). So, if you’re a fan of the new shows and want to see new ships — jump on it.
If the quality is the same as Eaglemoss, the standard sized ships are typically on the small side. I found them overpriced and I’m sure this will hold. Much of this is, I suspect, licensing fees. The XL models, on the other hand, were pretty darned good. The Discovery and the Battlestar Galactica XL ships were detailed, and the bigger size really made them pop. They’re more expensive, but there I thought they were more worth the price.
I still hold that the Broken Compass RPG and the Kickstarter that spawned it was one of the best bang-for-your-buck games I’ve ever bought. The Kickstarter (and now Backerkit) campaigns that 2 Little Mice ran were well orchestrated — with constant updates, quick turn-arounds that had the PDFs on time, and delivered their products on time or only slightly late for physical materials, in the case of Outgunned. Now, they are releasing Outgunned Adventure — the successor to Broken Compass. Their system now has a name: Director’s Cut, but it’s the same basic mechanics we’ve seen since BC, just with some tweaking here and there to improve the product. The PDF landed in my inbox a few weeks ago, and the physical product is in the offing. So how is it?
Excellent. There are a few differences in character creation: there is one less Attribute than in BC, and each attribute has four — rather than three — skills associated with it. You start with one pip in skills, two in attributes, and these get added to as you choose your role (Hunter, or Professor, for example) and your Trope (Like Action Archeologist). That’s the die pool you roll for a task, plus or minus a die per advantage or disadvantage gear or scene traits, etc. provide. You look for matches onthe die face, so you can use their fancy dice or normal d6s, just like in Broken Compass.
Only the players roll — you either take an action or a reaction to things happening. Tasks, challenges, fights — all the same mechanic. It’s dead simple and easy to learn and play. It’s Broken Compass, but with improvements.
What improvements? Gear, for one. It pulls the gear “feats” from Outgunned, and which I have suggested should be applied to Vehicles here. Strangely, the one set of rules they left out were the Chase rules, replaced by the Run rules in Chapter 5. The real additions to BC/Outgunned are made here: chapters five and six.
Chapter 5 gives us Temples & Traps, and makes suggestions for how ancient temples should be deployed in your adventures. Does it have to be a temple? No — it could just as easily be a library, ancient building, whatever. Traps gives suggestions for what kind of taps are cinematically appropriate and gives plenty of examples. After this are the Run rules — the trap is sprung, the bad guys are on your tail — You set up the number of turns they must run to escape the danger, what kind of reactions are appropriate, and what happens win or lose. It’s very Indiana Jones-flavored, but what about a car chase or the like. You could absolutely use this; it’s simpler in some ways than the “Need for Speed” car chase rules in Outgunned, but I think I would probably use those, instead. Chapter 6 delves into the Supernatural. It is a location, a creature, a treasure…and rules for what traits and dangers these opponents would pose. It also gives examples, once again. There’s a chapter after that on how to run the genre and a complementary adventure at the end.
At 250 pages, it’s the same general length as the other core books for Broken Compassand Outgunned. It will most likely be the same size for the books (9.5×6”) wth a hard cover and bookmark ribbon. the art is much improved from the more spare stuff in Broken Compass, and there’s more color art from Daniela Giubellini, and the few pieces that aren’t are — as with Outgunned — simple black & white (well, sepia-tone) line art. The writing and the translation from Italian to English is good; the tone is still more conversational than American audiences might be used to, but less so that Broken Compass (something one of my gaming group had remarked on while reading Outgunned was that it was a bit more polished.)
Paul Harrell was a YouTuber who did excellent videos on guns, ammunition, and other subjects connected to the shooting community. A former Marine and soldier, he brought a no-nonsense approach to the sport that advocated safety, provided reviews of products, compared different types of ammunition for their efficacy, while always bringing a wry humor to his presentation. So it was completely in character to pre-film a video entitled “I’m Dead”, in which he apologizes to all his 1.2 million viewers that he had passed. Harrell was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer that was much more aggressive than originally thought.
“My sincere apologies…I had hoped that I would continue in this format for the next 10 or even 15 years. And even once I was diagnosed I had hoped we would be here two or three more years, and it’s turned out to only be a few more months. And my apologies for that. It really makes me feel like I’ve let everybody down.”
The video channel Harrell created will continue to be available on YouTube and his brother will supposedly be creating new content.
A couple of the NPCs in our Star Trek Adventures campaign are Caitian — the Chief Engineer and one of the lead security officers. Whilst using BC Holmes’s excellent website to build characters, I noted that the Species Talent options were “prehensile tail” and “disarming nature” — both from STA 1.0 and they would have been just fine. However, I seem to remember Caitians as possessing fangs and claws, something that was confirmed in the prison break episode of Star Trek: Prodigy when the cute Caitian kid below rips up the baddie pretty spectacularly.
The nice thing about Talents is they don’t pull from the other talents you get to choose. So I dropped one in of my own: Tooth & Claw as a species talent, seen below.
Species Profile: Caitian
Eras: Originial Series, Next Gen era, Picard era, 32nd Century (?)
The Caitian are a bipedal felinoid species with a strong history of service within Starfleet. Their homeworld of Cait is a pleasant Class-M planet with extensive grasslands that support sprawling city complexes that integrate seamlessly into the environment, for which the Caitians have great respect. While known to be extremely effective and proud warriors, the Caitian culture holds artistic and philosophical endeavors in extremely high regard. Following their acceptance into the Federation in the late 22nd Century, Caitians have come to serve at all levels of Starfleet – to include high-ranking flag officers as well as often being elected to serve on the Federation Council. On average, Caitians tend to be slightly smaller than most other humanoid species. While this often results in Caitians being somewhat weaker than Humans, they more than make up for this in their balance, agility, and dexterity. Caitians are one of the few species actively serving within Starfleet that possess a tail – which requires alterations to standard Starfleet uniforms.
Example Values: War is Instinct, Conflict is an Art
ATTRIBUTES: +1 Daring, +1 Fitness, +1 Insight
TRAIT: Caitian. Caitians are all slightly smaller in both height and weight than average humanoids – with most reaching between 1.5-1.7 meters. They have retained the retractable claws of their evolutionary ancestors along with a flexible tail. Caitians are carnivorous and prefer uncooked meat. While they evolved from predatory felines, the Caitians are regarded as some of the greatest poets and philosophers within the Federation.
TALENTS: The character receives access to the following Talents:
DISARMING NATURE
REQUIREMENT: Caitian, or Gamemaster’s permission. Despite their reputation for being fierce warriors, Caitians are extremely sociable and adept at putting others at ease. Whenever you are engaged in a Social Conflict, you reduce the Difficulty of any Test to make your target relax or to trust you by 1.
PREHENSILE TAIL
REQUIREMENT:Caitian, or Gamemaster’s permission. While most Caitians have some functional control over their tail, characters with this Talent have worked to increase their control over the appendage to the point of it becoming fully functional. This provides the character with the ability to hold and operate an additional piece of equipment, like an additional hand. In addition, the character gains a bonus d20 to any Fitness Test to maintain balance or to climb.
TOOTH & CLAW
REQUIREMENT:Caitian, or Gamemaster’s permission. While all Caitians have claws like a Terran cat and sharp fangs, characters with this Talent have learned to use these to great effect in combat. This provides the character with the ability to turn an Unarmed Combat melee attack into injury type deadly, not just stun. The character may choose either type of injury, although moving to deadly is an Escalation 1.
NAMES: Caitians derive their names from their familial units, to which they have strong connections. Their names often have a near-musical quality, though most humanoid species have difficulty pronouncing them correctly – as the species generates extremely low frequency vibrations that are at the far range of Human hearing.
Most of this verbiage comes from the Star Trek Adventures, Alpha Quadrant sourcebook, copyright for 2d20 system in Modiphius, 2019. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios inc. All Rights Reserved and no infringement is intended.
The ship is doing a survey sweep through an unremarkable system when they encounter a space-borne life lifeform.
OPENING LOG ENTRY
Science officer’s log: We are doing a sweep of system SSC-0913. The parent stars are a pair of unremarkable M4V main sequence stars of similar size. Both are 0.8 the size and brightness of Sol and are circling a barycenter 3AU from each star. Survey probes have been launched to map the system.
MAJOR BEATS
1) Do the Science Thing
While moving through the system, the flight control officers can set up courses for the probe with a Reason+Conn, Diff 2 to create an advantage of “Probe Data” for the science officer. The science officer can scan the system with a Insight or Control+Science, Diff 2 to gather information.
The system has a pair of red stars circling each other at roughly 6AUs with a barycenter that is littered with asteroids and gas in a bar-bell shape where the stars are pulling on them. Each star has a J-class gas giant companion at half an AU and 1.1 AU, respectively, with a T-class superjovian orbiting the pair at 12AUs out. But the real surprise: they note an anomalous vector change on one of the asteroids. It’s a bit smaller than their vessel and looks like it had an outgassing of material. It’s weirdly shaped — almost shrimp-like, and with a momentum spend of 1) it’s warmer than the surrounding rocks with a crust of nickel-iron, and the material expelled is a curious mixture of elements; another 2) the rock appears to have an extensive system of caves and is pinging back EM and heat signatures, as well as chemical signatures that indicate life. Lots of it!
They can reorient the probe to have another look or bring the ship in. As they get close, they can take another look. Insight+Science, Diff 1: their scans look to be making the rock outgas again, changing course and moving away. Whatever it is, it’s alive and responding to their scans. A momentum spend will also confirm there appear to be multiple life forms inside the network of caverns; some kind of ship? Ant attempt to communicate will not get a response, but the transmissions also seem to make the rock thrust away from them.
2) Beachhead
Control+Conn, Diff 2 to beam the landing party into the cave system. The extensive life signatures mean locking in on the party to return them will require a Control or Insight+Conn, Diff 3 to bring them back. (If they take transporter signal repeaters with them, this gives “Signal Repeater” trait that will give an advantage to this test.) The initial scan suggests a toxic atmosphere; they’ll need space suits.
As soon as they beam in, the creature will react to their transport and start to move away from the ship, requiring a Control+Conn, Diff 2 to stay in transport range, but not cause the creature to react.
Having beamed into one of the outer areas, they will find it has a more organic quality and are smaller than they were ready for. There’s no gravity, either. There are critters moving around the “corridors” and avoiding the team. Insight+Science, Diff 2: there’s everything from microorganisms up to creatures that are person-sized. Some of these look to be cleaning plague off of the corridor walls. If they have used their tricorders or set up signal repeaters (Control+Conn or Engineering, Diff 1), this counts as an Escalation 1. (What they don’t know: the radiation signatures of their equipment has drawn the attention of the creature’s immune system.)
Exploring the interior will require a Control or Daring+Conn, Diff 2. The Spacewalk trait knocks this down to Diff 1. As they explore, a Insight+Science or Medicine, Diff 2 to note there are areas of damage — the walls of the corridors have collapsed exposing musculature and vascular material. A spider-like creatures is appears to eating the damaged tissue, like a maggot, then excreting material to “fix” the damage. A momentum spend or second test using Reason to determine it’s either had some form of disease or injury. With a +2 momentum spend — it’s damage. It looks like something has eaten its way through the flesh? If they scan — or have the ship scan — the creature, Insight+Science or Medicine, Diff 3 to locate the reason: the creature has some form of parasite. It’s a nematode of some sort, but big — ten to twenty meters long.
As they’ve worked their way into the interior, their comms get more and more spotty from interference. They’ve found a sort of energy plexus, where energy is surging through massive conduits through a central spine. Reason+Science or Medicine, Diff 2: the “digestive” system, maybe? What is it “eating”? Could it be absorbing radiation and channeling it through this system? Is it eating rocks?
3) Immune Response
The team’s communications and scans will attract the attention of the creature’s immune system and they will be aggressed by some kind of critter — an ameboid like thing with tentacles/cilia. It’s main target is the repeaters (the radiation is being deemed a threat.) Reason or Insight+Medicine or Science, Diff 1 to realize there is something about the repeaters the creatures are responding to. It will attempt to eat them. Using phasers will be an Escalation 2 and will bring more immune response.
Beaming out could be difficult. If they left a team with the transport repeaters, they will also be attacked — the leucocytes are going after the repeaters. They’re not interested in the crew — just the stuff that is transmitting. If they left them alone, the repeaters have been eaten; Control+Conn, Diff 3 to beam the team(s) out.
4) Call a vet…
If they’ve found the parasite, they can either monitor the activity for science-sake, or they can attempt to help creature S-69281 by going in and killing it. (When I ran this, the doctor actually got creative and they used the transporter to beam the brain out of the worm.) Any use of transporters, phasers, etc. caused the creature to try and escape. Inside, any use of phasers or other energy weapons will bring the leucocytes within two rounds. If they can damage the worm, this will distract the leucocytes, which will attack the worm.
CONCLUSION
The crew should have assisted the creature and learned a little bit about it’s biology and behavior. If they monitor it for a while, they will also find that some of the asteroids in the system have the creature’s larvae inside. They eat the interior of the asteroids and wear them as a shell once they are large enough to set off on their own.
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The Black Campbell 