Blog: Worlds Beyond Earth

[ericthered]

A Fishing Boat using Spaceships


For one of my games, I needed a deep ocean fishing boat, mostly for getting to and from the adventure site. I looked around on line for something suitable, but couldn't find much in the way of solid stats for the craft. I also had a hard time figuring out how big of a boat was appropriate. And I couldn't really find any equivalent craft in gurps resources.



So I sat down with spaceships 1 and pyramid #3/34, and built a boat, using spaceships to figure out how big I needed the boat.



And it turned out pretty good, I think.

[ericthered]

The Gunbot Mark II


I started off robots as spaceships by making the Gunbot, and then analyzing to see what we could improve. Now we have the Gunbot Mark II... which I am pretty happy with. Its been a long time coming. A lot more robots will follow!

[ericthered]

Review: Nightreign


I read Nightreign almost as soon as it came out, and here are my reactions on this book, and just how deeply it is integrated with the Horror line.

[ericthered]

Robots as Spaceships: Coms and Sensors


In which we use ultra-tech coms and sensors for spaceships instead of their com/sensor arrays, and I discuss some of the gritty details that result from this.

[ericthered]

Spaceships Missiles by Weight


A while back I worked out a system to buy spaceships guns by weight rather than using the quirky scaling of the spaceships books. It's a fairly popular post, and I reference it myself, but it needs a slight extension for use with missiles. Fortunately, its really quite a clean process. I hope you find it useful!

[ericthered]

25 Space Cats


A list of many alien creatures that all fill the roll of a cat. In case you need one on the fly or inspiration for alien creatures.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by ericthered

25 Space Cats


A list of many alien creatures that all fill the roll of a cat. In case you need one on the fly or inspiration for alien creatures.

Heh... I don't recall we ever did a write-up of van Vogt's Coeurl (which should have a pricey template).
Nor a Cat from Saturn... I should try to find my copy of Petersen's Field Guide

[ericthered]

PaverGuard Striders


An offshoot of my robots as spaceships efforts, these machines are sized between modular mecha and the battle-suits in Ultra-tech. They fill the 1.5 to 5 ton range. Its a nice size for a lot of vehicles shown in fiction, being roughly the size of a car. I hope you find it useful!

[ericthered]

Adventure Generation: Setting, Conflict, Position, Detail


I love generating adventure ideas, and I have a few patterns I follow. This is by far the pattern for adventure generation I've put the most thought into, and the one I use the most. I hope you find it useful in planning your games!

Yes, this is one of many posts by Gurps Bloggers about Writing and Preparing Adventures! Others include:

How I prepare for my Sessions
How Mailanka Plans a Session

[Inky]

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

Heh... I don't recall we ever did a write-up of van Vogt's Coeurl (which should have a pricey template).
Nor a Cat from Saturn... I should try to find my copy of Petersen's Field Guide

I made a rough version of the Coeurl. It works out at about 330 points just as a racial template, without even adding skills.

Attributes based on the Tiger stats from the Basic Set. Lion would be the same except ST+6. It's not made clear exactly how big the coeurl is, but it's big enough to crack open human bones with its bare paws.
ST+7 [63]
DX+3 [60]
IQ+0 [0]
HT+1 [10]
Will+1 [5]
Per+2 [10]
Move 10 [20]
Total [168]

Claws, Sharp [5]
Combat Reflexes [15]
DR 1 (Tough Skin) [3]
Doesn't Breathe [20]
Doesn't Sleep [20]
Extra Legs (4 legs) [5]
Teeth, Sharp [1]
Temperature Tolerance 1 [1]
Unaging [15]
Total [85]

Most of the "vibration" abilities fit Electrokinesis. I eyeballed the cost of the coeurl's ability to temporarily weaken or strengthen matter based on Control Matter.
Electrokinesis Talent 2 [10]
Electrokinesis abilities, all at -10% Electrokinesis modifier.
Dampen 1 [13]
Detect (phosphorus compounds of a kind it can eat) [18]
EK Shield 5 [18]
Electric Vision 2 [12]
Power Source [1]
Strengthen or Weaken Matter (Persistent, Ranged, Very Common, Requires a sufficient source of electricity nearby) 1 [18]
Surge 1 [10]
Telecommunication (Radio) [9]
Total [109]

Restricted Diet (phosphorus, possibly only in certain forms) [-20]
Bad Temper [-10]
Bestial [-10]
Hidebound (but instead, penalty to understanding anything involving teamwork, e.g. guessing enemy's strategy) [-5]
Total [-45]


For a civilised coeurl, drop Bad Temper, Bestial and Hidebound, but lose a point each of ST and DX.