seneschal

Thoat These ill-tempered, eight-legged, vaguely sauropodian, creatures are the primary riding animal on Barsoom. Herbivorous, they gain most of the moisture their large bodies need from the short yellow moss that covers much of the Martian surface. Like terrestrial camels, thoats can endure long journeys without eating or drinking. Their dorsal surfaces are dark gray while their legs and feet are yellow, enabling them to blend into the horizon. Their broad padded feet make no noise. Their wide, flat tails narrow where they meet the animals’ bodies but can still deliver powerful blows. There are two primary species: a larger variety standing 10 feet tall at the shoulder employed by the Green Martian tribes and a smaller, slightly better-natured breed ridden by the Red Martians. Both Green and Red Martians control their mounts telepathically, a good thing since any attempt at fitting bit and bridle into a vicious thoat’s wide mouth would be a foolhardy undertaking. STR (6D6+32) 57 CON (3D6+18) 28-29 SIZ (6D6+42) 63 INT 5 POW (2D6+6) 13 DEX (2D6+6) 13 Move: 12 Hit Points: 46 Damage Bonus: +6D6 Armor: 6 (tough hide) Attacks: Bite 50%, 1D6; Tail Bash 30%, 1D6+1/2DB+Knockdown; Trample 45%, 2D6+DB Skills: Act Ornery 90%, Find Water 70%; Go Without Food and Water 80%

Ulsio Ulsios are ubiquitous, omnivorous scavengers that inhabit the ancient cellars and passages that underlie nearly all Barsoomian cities. Growing about as large as a medium-sized dog, the creatures fill a niche similar to that of rats on Earth. Like all Martian fauna, ulsios are hairless, leathery, and have multiple pairs of limbs. Their wrinkled backswept faces are dominated by a set of ten forward-facing teeth that stick out like a set of sharp pincers. They are quite aggressive but fortunately are usually solitary hunters (in the food-poor environment of the pits, their relatively large size and voracious appetite discourages pack tactics). They are excellent diggers, and hatch their young in tunnels burrowed within and beneath the masonry. They are hunted by other burrowing predators, including kaldanes, who find ulsio flesh delicious. Their meat and hides have no commercial value. Red Martian maintenance crews waste much time and money in vain efforts to control ulsio populations. STR (2D6) 7 CON (3D6) 10-11 SIZ (1D6+1) 4-5 INT 3 POW (3D6) 10-11 DEX (4D6) 14 Move: 10 Hit Points: 8 Damage Bonus: -1D6 Armor: AP 1 (Leathery hide) Attacks: Bite 55%, 1D6 Skills: Climb 50%, Dodge 30%, Hide 45%, Jump 35%, Sense 60%, Track 55% Powers: Dark Vision

As the song says, "Hey, don't you know bird is the word?"

Does this mean the mighty Ducks will be making their triumphant return? I mean, lots of fantasy settings have trolls, elves, and tough gals in sexy bronze armor. Only traditional RuneQuest featured the wondrous web-footed warriors of Dragon Pass.

I want Chaosium to survive and prosper. I want RuneQuest 6 to sit alongside Gideon Bibles and phone books in every public venue. May Glorantha become as familiar as Middle Earth and Narnia. I just wish BRP and its associated books and monographs -- separate from either RuneQuest or Call of Cthulhu -- had had a chance to succeed. It was barely distributed and weakly promoted. Of course it didn't turn into a cash cow, no matter how good the quality was.

Auton soldier Source: “Spearhead From Space,” Doctor Who, BBC Television, 1970 Auton soldiers are plastic robots animated by the Nestene Consciousness, an alien energy entity determined to conquer the Earth. The Consciousness is a hive mind; each Auton is inhabited and motivated by a piece of it. Although the Consciousness has since come up with more sophisticated units, the mannequin-like original model comprises the bulk of its troops. Autons were initially assembled by a British doll factory which had been subverted by a Nestene agent. They were shipped to department and clothing stores throughout the United Kingdom in preparation for an eventual takeover attempt. A typical automaton resembles a bald 6-foot-tall department store dummy, either male or female. Units already in shops are dressed in whatever is in fashion, sometimes topped with a wig and/or hat. Units directly from a Nestene-controlled factory wear identical blue jumpsuits and beige ascots. Each soldier is equipped with a ranged weapon system, usually installed in the right arm and hand. The hand folds in half to reveal the business end of the weapon. Death rays are standard but some units are loaded with knockout gas projectors. Autons move slowly and deliberately; a human who keeps his wits and is not crippled can easily outrun them unless he allows himself to be maneuvered into a tight space. They are strong, but not inhumanly so, and can be successfully grappled with by brawny adventurers or by heroes working in concert. On the other hand, the plastic soldiers are largely imperious to physical blows and bullets. It is difficult to incapacitate them with kinetic damage. Autons are, however, vulnerable to heat; they can easily be burned or melted like any other plastic. Also, electro-magnetism, radiation, or any other energy that interferes with their connection to the Consciousness will disable them. Once a unit is destroyed, the piece of the Consciousness that animated it is dissipated. Units that are not destroyed remain inert until activated during the inevitable next invasion attempt. They can wait for decades, even centuries, without wearing out or breaking down. Unlike traditional robots, Autons are actually alive and have the ability to sense others of their kind. Most troops have limited ability to act independently. They operate according to pre-programmed instructions supplemented by commands from a central controller, sending audiovisual feedback in return. However, a few units, unable to communicate with their Nestene masters for extended periods of time, have managed to learn from experience and have developed a basic self-awareness. STR 13 CON 19 SIZ 17 INT 5/10 veteran POW 6/10 veteran DEX 9 APP 7 Move: 6 Hit Points: 18 Damage Bonus: +1D4 Armor: 10 (kinetic) fantastic plastic Attacks: Brawl 25%, 1d3+DB; Grapple 25%, 1d3+DB; Death Ray 30%, 1D10 Skills: Climb 40%, Sense 45%, Spot 25%, Stealth 50% Notes: http://www.doctorwho.tv/50-years/monsters/autons http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Auton

Trying to put the monster in game terms. Here's what I've come up with so far. Suggestions appreciated. Italian Gorgon Source: Medusa Against the Son of Hercules, Embassy Pictures, 1963 No snake-haired lady, this creature is a 9-foot-tall anemone-like creature with a single baleful yellow eye in the center of its tentacles. It crawls along on crab-like or root-like legs at the base of its stalk. Although it can grapple foes with its tentacles, the medusa’s primary attack is its evil stare, which requires prolonged eye contact to petrify a victim. The creature is able to endure multiple sword strokes without serious injury, but its eye is its Achilles heel. A land creature despite its oceanic appearance, the medusa lives in a perpetually mist-shrouded valley strewn with statues, the bodies of men and animals it has slain. It actively hunts intruders. Legend has it that the medusa’s victims will revive if the monster is killed, but so far no one has managed to do that. STR 30 CON 24 SIZ 31 INT 8 POW 30 DEX 10 Move: 5 Hit Points: 28 Damage Bonus: +3D6 Armor: 5 (tough hide) Attacks: Grapple 60%, 1d3+DB; Petrify 70% (special) Skills: Projection 70%, Sense 45%, Stealth 60%, Track 55% Chaotic Trait – Hideous appearance; POW vs. POW, if target fails all tasks against the medusa are Difficult for 1D6+2 rounds. SAN penalty 0/1D8. Powers: Petrify – Projection 2d6 (radiation), must make eye contact, victim totally calcified when reaches 0 hit points; 20 points, 2 power points Create Mist – Extra Energy, Failings: Notes: POW based on average for Call of Cthulhu critters. It was hard to determine the creature's INT. It defends its territory, but no more cunningly than any beast, and it certainly makes no attempt to communicate with its victims. I finally settled on a medium value between smart animal and dumb human level.

So, after a listen do you think it is gameable?

http://darkerprojects.com/star-trek-lost-frontier/ http://star-trek-lost-frontier.blogspot.com/ I know we've got posters here who love post-apocalyptic drama and others who love space opera. Here's a 19-episode radio drama, Star Trek: The Lost Frontier. Think MegaTraveller's broken Third Imperium applied to the Star Trek universe. Set after Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager, galactic civilization has been wrecked by a devastating plague that swept all races, even the Borg. A certain Captain Trask is recruited by what remains of the Federation to oversee a mission aboard the Enterprise F to reunite former members and contact former alien allies and enemies. Trask's job is complicated by a resentful second officer, a sneaky Ferengi quartermaster, a Starfleet attache with an agenda of his own, scheming spies from a rival xenophobic Federation, intergalactic assassins and gangsters. It is hard to determine friend from foe. The current Enterprise is the height of Federation technology, but it is only one ship against the galaxy.

Medusa Against the Son of Hercules, Embassy Pictures, 1963. Original Italian title something like Perseus Invincible. We've seen Medusa petrify folks in Clash of the Titans, The Gorgon, and assorted other movies. She gets a different take in Medusa Against the Son of Hercules. The film is your standard sword-and-sandal epic, brawny hero opposing evil king and winning heart of nubile princess. However, it features a pretty good lake monster. Medusa herself isn't a snake-haired lady but a 9-foot-tall anemone-like creature with a single baleful yellow eye in the center of its tentacles. It crawls along on crab-like or root-like legs at the base of its stalk. It is capable of grappling with a foe but its main attack is its evil Care Bear Stare, must make eye contact to work. The creature is pretty tough, able to take plenty of sword strokes without serious harm. Its Achilles heel is the eye itself. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056343/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1

http://www.erblist.com A Barsoom Glossary by David Bruce Bozarth -- No game stats but a good general resource Warriors of Mars by "Doc" --A fan-made D&D supplement, 28 pages. Unfortunately, I can't remember where I got it from. Under the Moons of Zoon by Luigi Castellani -- Can't get the rights to Burroughs? Create your own (similar) setting. Uses its own system, 75 pages. http://artikid.altervista.org/files/Moons_zoon.pdf

No interest? No ideas?

Resurrecting this thread since I recently got my greedy paws on Astounding Adventures myself. I've loved pulp adventure role-playing since I discovered Hero Games' Justice, Inc., in the 1980s. The AA adventure generator reminds me a bit of the one in TSR's old Buck Rogers Adventure Game, which is perfectly appropriate since Buck Rogers is classic pulp science fiction. Here's what I came up with during my first set of random rolls: Hook and MacGuffin – Captured or stolen groundbreaking invention NPCs – An archeologist, a soldier, and a professor Plot Twist – The player-characters or their non-player character friends are captured by the villains Locations – An old mansion or castle, a desert, a jungle or forest, a secret base, and the mountains Action Scenes – A chase (x2), a gunfight (x2), an investigation I wasn’t too thrilled with the repetitious action options, so I thought a few rolls on the "Mad Mayor’s Thrilling Tale Generation Gizmo" might help. Here’s what I got to stir into the potboiler: -- Attacked by an animal (we've got desert, forest and mountain locations) -- Finding an old friend in trouble (which might fit in with the either the hook or the plot twist) -- Trekking through the mountains (which fits in with one of my locations) -- A showdown in a nightclub -- Terror at the airfield -- Cut power line Hmm, given the set-up, the obvious choice would be that the Professor (an old friend of the adventurers) has come up with some sort of amazing scientific discovery which villainous parties want very badly to get their mitts on. They're even willing to snatch him or his nubile daughter in order to get it. On the other hand, perhaps the old friend is the Archeologist, who has stumbled upon some ancient medical secret or weapon which modern (1920s or '30s) science cannot duplicate -- and the Professor is an evil genius out to part him from it. How does the Soldier fit in? Is he an agent or pawn of one of the other two, a stolid good guy out to protect the Great Secret (perhaps allowing the PCs to help), or a representative of a foreign power with his own plans for the ... whatever it is?

Still got the NPC write-ups? FYI, the original six-part 1958 BBC television serial is apparently available on DVD as well as the Hammer movie. According to customer reviews, it is even more effective than the bigger budget film despite its age.

No, no, no ... we need unlimited editions ... of everything in the catalog.

I re-watched Hammer Films' 1967 Quartermass and the Pit and was struck by how Lovecraftian the whole thing is. You've got ancestral taint, ancient aliens, mutant humanoids, a history of supernatural occurrences, and a threat to sanity and all humanity. You've got inexplicable phenomena that leave even the smartest man in the room, Bernard Quartermass, speechless.

It may be moot at this point, but here's the rundown on the adventures (no spoilers): Mission to Epsilon and Spacejack! are outer space scenarios in the vein of Classic Traveller. Cabin Fever is a post-apocalyptic mystery. Descent, with Modification is an undersea yarn. A Mortal Coil is the odd man out, a straight Call of Cthulhu tale with no science fiction pretensions. They are all challenging, with colorful NPCs and strange critters. All of them could have used a second set of eyes for editing but glaring errors are few.

My copy arrived today, Monday, 6-22. My Blow-Out Sale items arrived Saturday.

Great list, but I notice that most of it is monograph or fan-made material. Other than BRP Mecha and River of Heaven, "official" BRP sci-fi sources are few. Ringworld is out of print; Futureworld can be found lurking on the web. If Chaosium really does ditch the monographs, we'll have a much shorter list.

Sadly, the RPG retailers in my region don't participate. I'd literally have to travel out of state to find a store that does.

I agree. Surely it wouldn't take too much editorial polishing to bring the better monographs to the level of "official" books. I mean, the stuff was deemed worth publishing in the first place.

Just curious, when did your copy ship? Mine supposedly did the 8th or 9th but hasn't yet arrived. Oops, you said the 25th. Maybe I'm just being impatient.

Why, of course the ancient Sumerians were fluent in French! They were the shining apex of civilization at the time, after all.

https://www.figurerealm.com/viewcustomfigure.php?FID=44998 A little context -- circa 1967, Mattel marketed a toy called the Strange Change machine. Basically, you heated colorful plastic squares and they unfolded into giant bugs, dinosaurs, spacemen, robots, mummies and other assorted critters designed to delight a young boy's imagination. One of the most unusual and memorable creatures was the Membrane Man, a big-headed humanoid with tattered, wing-like membranes instead of arms. No back story was provided. So, in Cthulhu terms, what exactly is a Membrane Man and what does it do?

It would be nice to have Superworld and its Companion available POD. Or to have the appropriate material retooled as a superhero supplement for BRP (unlikely given the current Chaosium workload). While I've written up lots of supers using the Big Gold Book, having those few extra powers from the full version of SW would help make character creation more flexible.