Wednesday Comics: Storm: The Secret of the Nitron Rays

Storm: The Secret of the Nitron Rays (1981) (part 4)
(Dutch: Het Geheim van de Nitronstralen)
Art by Don Lawrence & Script by Dick Matena

Storm and the Earth forces set a trap for the Azurian pirates by hiding in a slow moving cargo vessel they know the raiders won't be able to resist. The plan works, but neither Bitak or the traitor Benjamin are among them. Apparently, she took one of the spacecraft the pirates had captured and they took off.

Storm is convinced he's got to pursue Benjamin. He takes a dimension ship to go from Azurian colony to colony looking for them. He doesn't have much luck.

Benjamin and Bitak have reached a Azurian colony Benjamin was searching for: a place where they find an old enemy of Storm's, the Supervisor. When Benjamin tells him why they've come, he agrees to help them.

Back on Earth, Storm decides they had best finally solve the mystery of Bitak's powers. Eventually, Mordegai's notes guide a young scientist, Correll, to the answer: Azurians of a certain rare bloodtype will develop powers when exposed to nitron radiation. As luck would have it, 100 Azurians they tested have the bloodtype and are willing to be experimented on:

It works!

Out on the Azurian colony, Bitak has become displeased with Benjamin. After he slaps her, she blows up some of his work and runs away. Benjamin tells the Supervisor it doesn't matter: he now knows the secret of her power. The Supervisor embarks on his on plan to develop more telekinetics.

In a stolen ship, Bitak is picked up by an Earth patrol. She tells Storm and the others about the plans of Benjamin and the Supervisor. Storm summons the telekinetic Azurians they created.

They don't have the wait long. The Supervisor's force arrive. His telekinetic forces create fierce storms and waterspouts, but they are neautralized by the Earth telekinetics. Then, it's old fashion ship to ship fighting.

The Supervisor wants to retreat. Benjamin pulls a gun on him; he's not willing to give up so easy. Unfortunately for him, the Supervisor also had the rare bloodtype:

The Supervisor manages to escape, but most of his forces aren't so lucky.

Bitak and the other telekinetics decide to take the dimension ships and find their own world where they can live in peace. Storm and Ember bid them good bye.

The Apes of the Redwoods for 5e

In a previous post, I presented the fairly human apes of the original Planet of the Apes films. The two (so far) prequel films present a far more ape-like vision of evolved apes. They are probably less suitable as PCs but would make interesting monsters/NPCs. This is the apes as we see during Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

Chimpanzees/Bonobos/Orangutans
Medium humanoid
AC 12
Hit Points: 11 (2d8+2)
Speed: 30 ft. (quadrapedal); 20 ft. (fully bidepal); 30 ft. (climb)
STR 16(+3) DEX 14(+2) CON 14(+2) INT 9(-1) WIS 12(+1) CHA 10(+0)
Skills  Athletics +5, Perception +3
Senses passive Perception 13
Languages sign language, limited Common

Actions:
Multiattack. A chimpanzee can make two fist attacks, but prefers a melee or ranged weapon.
Fist. +5 to hit, reach 5 ft.; Hit: 6 (1d6+3) bludgeon damage.
Spear. +5 to hit (reach 5 ft.; one creature). Hit: 1d6+4 melee piercing damage.
Rifle. +4 to hit (range 60/180 ft.; one creature).  Hit: 2d8+2 piercing damage.

The above stats hold for Gorillas, though I would make them a bit stronger, STR 17 (+3)--with damage adjusted accordingly--and a bit less intelligent (INT 8) and Charisma 9. This disagrees a bit with the Ape entry in the Monster Manual, but I think they undercut gorillas.

Mark over at Cross Planes presents a slightly different view of the same characters.

Star Trek Beyond

I finally got around to seeing Star Trek Beyond this weekend and I would agree with the assessment that it is an improvement over the last NuTrek film, and possibly the most Classic Star Trek in vibe of the bunch. It's certainly as "trekky" as most of the Next Generation era films.

Things I really liked:
- Several Explicit references to Enterprise. Enterprise-era technology comes into play, we see Enterprise-era uniforms, and the Xindi War is referenced.
- The design of the Yorktown Starbase and the swarm nature of Krall's fleet are a departure from anything we've seen in Star Trek before, true, but they're good visuals and good sci-fi, expanding the possible of the Star Trek universe. They also would fit really well in Strange Stars.
- Shohreh Aghdashloo from The Expanse in a small role as a Starfleet Admiral. Perhaps it was a bit of stunt-casting given her role in another science fiction series or maybe not, but at any rate she was a good choice.

Things they continue to be solid with NuTrek films:
- All the main cast members get something to do, and the actors are good in the roles.
- Good action sequences (and better than the last film) and good pacing.
- If you've got to destroy the Enterprise, this film does it in a reasonably gripping and spectacular way.

Things I didn't like:
- I thought the uniforms in NuTrek were great. The change isn't terrible, but it's a step down for me.
- A whole bunch of aliens in multiple scenes but never any we've seen before. (Old Trek films are guilty of this same thing, though.) Would it kill 'em to show me an Andorian or Tellarite?

Dangling Questions:
- What is the "in story" reason that Krall and his cronies' true identities were obscured? Was it purposeful or a by-product of their life extension somehow?

Mutants of the Forbidden Zone

MUTANT 
(Medium humanoid)
AC 10
Hit Points: 11 (2d8+2)
Speed: 30 ft.
STR 10(+0) DEX 10(+0) CON 12(+1) INT 19(+4) WIS 14(+2) CHA 14(+2)
Skills  Insight +8
Senses passive Perception 12
Languages telepathy 120 ft.; Common

Mental Powers. A mutant has the equivalent of innate spellcasting based on Intelligence (save DC XX). They can utilize the following abilities:

At will: detect thoughts, dissonant whispers, dominate person
1/day: equivalent of phantasmal killer, clairvoyance

Combined Illusions. Three or more mutants working in concert (all concentrating) can great large scale illusions over long distances less than 5 mi.) similar to arcane mirage, hallucinatory terrain, or programmed illusion. Saving throws are the same as if one Mutant were creating them.

Actions:
Melee weapion--though Mutants tend to rely on mental powers.

The Mutants are a sect of humans living in the Forbidden Zone, in the underground ruins beneath what was once Manhattan. Exposure to radiation has led them to develop powerful psionic abilities but scarred features that they hide beneath human masks.

Mutants claim to be pacifists. There primary means of defense is not direct confrontation, but keeping enemies away. The stats above present an "average" psionically talented mutant. A guard would have slightly more robust physical abilities.

Some reports suggest the Mutants are able to mind control people over great distances as well as project illusions. Like the illusion powers, this is likely done by groups working together.

Go Ape with 5e

As presented in the original films, the apes are fairly un-ape-like in characteristics (because of course, they are played by people in masks, but that’s beside the point). Taking what we see on screen and what we are told of ape history as true, we may assume they have been genetically modified/selectively bred to something closer to a australopithecine morphology. They don’t possess the long upper limbs and associated strength, relatively stronger jaws, or opposable great toes of modern apes.

Ability score increase. +1 to any two abilities of their choice.
Speed. The apes of POTA are more bipedal than extant apes, but their foot structure still doesn't appear to be as optimized for upright walking as a humans, and they tend to have a stooped posture. Base walking speed is 25.
Grounded. For whatever reason, apes are less susceptible to illusions and mind control. They have an advantage on saving throws to resist such attacks or attempts at subterfuge.
Keen Nose. Proficiency in smell-related Perception checks.

Subraces/Subspecies:

Chimpanzee
Ability score increase. +1 Intelligence.
Studious. Gain proficiency in either one Intelligence or Wisdom skill, or a tool proficiency.

Gorilla
Ability score increase. +1 Strength.
Menacing. Gain Intimidation proficiency.

Orangutan
Ability score increase. +1 Charisma.
Knowledge Keeper. Gain proficiency in one Intelligence skill.

Wednesday Comics: Storm: Secret of the Nitron Rays

My exploration of the long-running euro-comic Storm, continues. Earlier installments can be found here.

Storm: The Secret of the Nitron Rays (1981) (part 4)
(Dutch: Het Geheim van de Nitronstralen)
Art by Don Lawrence & Script by Dick Matena

The human traitor Benjamin again faces execution by the Azurian pirates who want to shoot him into space on what looks like a surfboard. Bitak again intervenes with her powers, explaining that if they killed him, she wouldn't have anyone to play with.

Meanwhile on Venus, Storm and Ember gear up and dive into the lake. They find the drowned ruins of the mysterious temple and the room with towering statues of Storm. Suddenly, a door in the chamber opens. The water drains from the room and it fills with air. Then:

The fishmen appear to worship Storm as the living lord of the statues. They found them when a ship crashed into their lake home. Storm theorizes that they must have been made to honor him by some weird cult after he disappeared into Jupiter (which seems a bit of a stretch, but ok).

The fishmen have a surprise for Storm and Ember. So that they can worship them forever--they plan to turn them into fishpeople! Before they can go to work, the door is blasted open and some soldiers from the surface come to the rescue. They can looking for Storm and Ember when they knew it would be time that their tanks would be running out. The fishmen are chased off.

Storm and crew return to the surface. He's got a plan to catch the Azurian pirates.

TO BE CONTINUED

The Sacred Scrolls, Illustrated

Having watched Planet of the Apes (1968) on the big screen this weekend, I've got the PotA franchise on the brain. I've blogged before about a couple of great reference works written by Rich Handley. I discovered there's another by that same author and others: Sacred Scrolls: Comics on the Planet of the Apes.

I haven't got it yet (it's on order), but it promises to cover everything from the Gold Key stuff to BOOM! Studios. As long as the story depicted on this cover gets the attention it deserves , I'll be happy: