Revisiting Where No One Has Gone Before

In memoriam of Leonard Nimoy and his iconic role as Spock on Star Trek, I thought it would be a good time to index the Star trek posts I did (mostly for Starships & Spacemen) back when we had a short-lived campaign going in 2013.

I statted up several obscure species mentioned or given cameos in the series/films:

Arcturians
Cygnians
Kazarites
Ithenites
Nasat
Orions
Skorr

Here are the outline and notes on one of the adventures I ran: "The Clarity of Crystal"

I hope you enjoy them. Play a Star Trek game and remember the great character and series Nimoy helped bring us.

Phaser

We resumed our Google+ Star Trek game last night in Starships & Spacemen 2e. I had done some statting of Trek stuff that I hadn't shared on the blog, so I thought this was a good time to give the wider internet world a view of some of that.

Here are my stas for Phaser Type I from the original series, gleaned from FASA's version and non-RPG sources.  The ranges are low compared to the weapons given in S&S, but shorter ranges are in keeping with what we see in the show.  Weight of a Type I phaser is 0.44 lbs. The "drain" uses FASA's assumptions of 20 shots for the Type I.

Type I Phasers have the following settings:
1- stun: Save vs. stun check at a 2d6 penalty or be knocked unconscious for 1 turn. Range: 100’ (Drain: 1)
2- wide angle stun: Same as Stun above, but generates a cone-like beam extending for 30’. At 30’ it is 6’ ft.wide. (Drain: 4)
3- Heavy stun: Save check vs. stun (2d6 penalty) or be knocked unconscious for 2d4 turns. roll 1d6 for the results: 1-2, no damage; 3-5, 1d6 hp damage; 6, 2d6 hp damage. Range: 100' (Drain: 2)
4- heat: 1d3 damage to living things, but mostly used to warm up objects when applied over longer periods (roughly 1 round). Range: 6’ (Drain: 1)
5- disrupt: 2d6 damage. Range: 70’ (Dain: 2)
6-dematerialize: 4d6 damage on a hit, Save vs. energy attack or be disintegrated. Range: 30‘ (Drain: 4)
Overload: A phaser set to overload makes a progressively higher pitched warning sound for 1 minute until it explodes, doing 1d6 x its remaining charges in damage.

The purpose of the variable penalty on the stun effect was arrived at in playtest. It was a way to ensure stun was usually effective while still proving a bit of chance to it.

Hwuru

Hwuru are bipedal sophonts bearing some physical resemblance to Terran apes and sloths. They are shorter than humans but powerfully built with arms longer than their legs, and digits with claw-like structures (actually bony projections covered with horn) on their dorsal surface. They're covered with shaggy fur except on the anterior surface of their torsos, which are covered with leathery plates.

The hwuru evolved from arboreal insectivores. They have small, beak-like snouts (like the Terran echidna) and extendable tongues to aid in snatching up arthopods or their larvae in hard to reach places. Hwuru can’t swallow anything very large and must have bulkier foodstuffs made into a mash before they can consume it. Most hwuru have a mild dependence on chaoofsh a chemical attractant released by the trees native to their world. When off-world, they tend to wear a breathing apparatus to deliver this chemical.

On their native world, no hwuru have advanced beyond the Iron Age, and most live in tribal societies that use stone tools. Interaction with starfaring civilizations has afforded hwuru the chance to leave their planet, and they are sometimes found among the stars where their physical traits make them useful as hired muscle.

Stats for Starships & Spacemen:

Encountered: 2d4 (5d10)
Movement: 120' (40')
Intelligence: Average
Psionic Potential: 2d4, inactive
Hits: 1d8+1
Armor: -1
Combat Skill: 12
Save: L1
Attacks: 1 weapon or 2 claws
Damage: by weapon or 1d3/1d3
Morale: 9
XP: 15

Notes: This is an alien species of my own devising, inspired by an unnamed character in an episode of Superman: The Animated Series.

Talk to the Animals

For Starships & Spacemen, here's an obscure species from the background of Star Trek: The Motion Picture:

KAZARITES
Requirements: CON 9
Ability Adjustments: INT +1
Skill Adjustments: Contact +1
Metabolism: Iron Based

Kazarites are a Federation member species known for largely living a simple, bucolic lifestyle, despite their technological advancement. There are few cities on Kazar and herds of great beasts still migrate, guided by shepherds in telepathic communication with their charges.

Kazarites are somewhat anthropoid in appearance and tend to dress in homespun garments. They possess active psi abilities: most notably, the ability to communicate telepathically with nonsapient lifeforms. Perhaps because of their abilities, many Kazarites are vegetarians and carry their own food for practicality’s sake. They wear small bags of pellets around their neck that can be mixed with water to make a yeasty paste.

Psi Powers: In addition to Animal Telepathy (functions similar to the telepathy, except that it is limited in the complexity of the thoughts that can be conveyed due to the limited intelligence of the animal), a player may select 1 more psi powers at character creation.

Note: Kazarites just appeared in the background of ST:TMP and have never been featured prominently. They don't even show up in any of the Trek rpgs. What little information has been published about them comes from the costume designers for the film.

A Bug of a Different Color

Here's another obscure Star Trek species for Starships & Spacemen:

NASAT

Encountered: 2d4 (5d10)
Movement: 90' (30')
Intelligence: Average
Psionic Potential: 4d4, inactive
Hits: 1d8
Armor: -2
Combat Skill: 12
Save: L1
Attacks: 1
Damage: By weapon or 1d4
Morale: 7
XP: 10

Nasat are short humanoids vaguely resembling Terran isopods. They are known to the Federation in the 23rd Century, but are not yet members.

Nasat average 4 ft. tall and have 8 limbs, but typically ambulate bipedally. Either of their upper pairs of limbs may be used as manipulators. Though they have an internal skeleton, they also possess thick plates of carapace that extend down their tails. Their integument is either green, blue, red, brown on yellow.  

These colors divide the Nasat into “shell-groups” which are geographically co-mingled but divide their society in a way analogous to kinship groups in human societies. Nasat have no other concept of kinship. or even pair-bonding. Mating is a casual affair, with no real associated emotion. Children are raised in communal nurseries  and shepherded through adolescence by minimal support from members of their shell-group.  

Nasat are cautious, often to the point of cowardice from the perspective of other species. They make poor fighters, but have a natural aptitude for technology and make excellent technicians and engineers.

Note: Em3Green was a thief and expert lockpicker  who appeared in the animated series episode “The Jihad.” His species was named and further members were introduced in the ebook series Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers .

Want A Science Fiction Adventure?

Last night I ran my first Starships & Spacemen: Star Trek game. Rather than do a post-play write-up, I thought it would be more interesting and maybe useful for people to turn it into a sort of mini-module. 

So here it is.

It's suitable for any science fiction game, really, but assumes Star Trekian universe.

Pirates of Orion

Here’s another Star Trek species for Starships & Spacemen:

ORIONS
Encountered: 2d4 (5d10)
Movement: 120 (40’)
Intelligence: Average
Psionic Potential: 2d4 (inactive)
Hits: 1d8
Armor: -1
Combat Skill: 12
Save: L1
Attacks: 1
Damage: By weapon
Morale: 8
XP: 10
The Orions are an ancient, multi-species society engaged in legitimate trade--but also involved in numerous criminal enterprises including piracy and slave-trading. Their most infamous commodity are the “Orion slave girls” or “Orion animal women,” members of a green-skinned humanoid species exploited by the more advanced members of the Orion congeries.

The dominate Orion species has pale blue to chalk white skins. They employ disruptor weapons and fly fast, stealthy starships. 

The Little Guys

For Starships & Spacemen, here's another obscure species from Star Trek:

ITHENITES
Requirements: None
Ability Adjustments: STR -1
Skill Adjustments: Contact +1
Metabolism: Copper Based

Ithenites are dwarf-like, metallic bronze-skinned humanoids from the planet Orodanga in the 61 Virginis system. They call themselves “Dayen.”  They have been longtime members of the Federation, joining shortly after it’s founding.

The Ithenites are a wide-ranging species, often encountered in small enclaves on the more cosmopolitan worlds. No one knows how long they have been a spacefaring culture--certainly for longer than most prominent Federation species. They have never been involved in any protracted conflicts with other species and have the uncanny ability to avoid offending either side in times of disagreement.

Ithenites are generally considered affable and easy-going, and are widely known for their love of good music, food, and drink--though they seldom over-indulge. Outside of the hospitality and entertainment industries, they are mainly encountered as traders. They're noted to be shrewd dealers, but considered fair and pleasant to haggle with.

Notes: These coppery skinned dwarfs were unnamed delegates at the Babel Conference in TOS episode “Journey to Babel.” An unfilmed scene from the script for the Enterprise episode “Terra Prime” called an ambassador resembling the characters from TOS “Ithenites.” The first mention of Ithenites was in the episode “Azati Prime.” An article for the FASA Trek rpg in Stardate Magazine #11 named this species “Dayen.”

The Techno-Matriarchs of Cygnet XIV

Here's another obscure Star Trek species for Starships & Spacemen:

CYGNIANS
Requirements: INT 9 (female); STR 9 (male)
Ability Adjustments: INT +1 (female)
Skill Adjustments: Technical +1, Contact -1 (female)
Metabolism: Iron Based

Cygnians are a humanoid species from Cygnet XIV, a class M moon orbiting a circumbinary gas giant. Cygnet XIV is a Federation member, notable for its technological acumen and gynocratic society.

Though female Cygnians are outwardly indistinguishable from humans, Cygnian males bear a greater resemblance to Neanderthals and have a much lower intelligence. Males are not allowed to participate in government and are essentially wards of a female family member. They are seldom seen off their homeworld.

Cygnian females are somewhat prejudiced against males of other humanoid species. Other Federation nations have found it expedient to use female representatives when dealing with them. Cygnians females often view males in positions of power as so bizarre or silly, that have been known to play pranks at the males' expense.

Notes: The natives of Cygnet XIV never appeared in any Star Trek show, but were mentioned in the Original Series episode "Tomorrow is Yesterday." The technicians of Cygnet XIV overhauled the Enterprise computer and gave it a stereotypical flirtatious female personality, much to Kirk's irritation.

Wings of War

Here's another obscure Star Trek species for Starships & Spacemen:

SKORR
Encountered: 2d4 (5d10)
Movement: 120' (40') (F) 480'(120')
Intelligence: Average
Psionic Potential: 4d4, inactive
Hits: 1d8
Armor: -1
Combat Skill: 12
Save: L1
Attacks: 1
Damage: By weapon or 1d4 (2 claws)
Morale: 10
XP: 10

The Skorr are avian humanoids found in several systems in the constellation Hercules. They are six-limbed beings, possessing a functional pair of wings. Skorr are taller than humans on the average with a more gracile body type. They are even less massive than expected for their physiques due the large number of hollow bones in their skeletal structure.

Though not a Federation member in the mid-23rd Century, the Skorr are a member of civilized galactic society. Two centuries prior, however, they were a warlike and expansionistic. They were capable of interstellar travel and bred rapidly, producing 1 to 3 eggs in a clutch that were rapidly aged in communal incubators.

The Great Teacher Alar brought a new religion and way of life to the Skorr people, and they abandon their warlike ways. Alar's brain patterns were recorded shortly prior to his death in an indurite sculpture known as "The Soul of Skorr." It is their holiest relic. It's theft once lead the Skorr to begin marshalling for holy war against all of galactic civilization. Luckily, the Soul was returned before hostilities broke out.

Notes: The Skorr first appeared in the Star Trek Animated Series episode "The Jihad." The location of their homeworld was never mentioned, but since the Skorr are virtually identical to the Aurelians who Worlds of the Federation says hail from Xi Herculis, it seems reasonable to believe their related and colocal.

Send in the Clones

For Starships & Spacemen, here's an obscure species from the background of Star Trek: The Motion Picture:

Requirements: CON 12
Ability Adjustments: CON +2, STR+1, CHA -1
Skill Adjustments: Combat +1, Contact -1, Technical -1
Metabolism: Iron Based

Arcturians are a Federation member species from a densely populated world in the Alpha Boötis system. They’re a militaristic people, valuing unity and discipline above individuality. Beyond military service in the Federation, Arcturian mercenaries serve throughout the galaxy.

Arcturians have reddish gray or purplish gray skin that droops in distinct wrinkles and folds, and deep set eyes. They have two sexes (though they’re often difficult for other species to tell apart), but Arcturians have given up sexual reproduction. Instead, all Arcturians are clones of a select few genetic lines.

Despite their military nature, Arcturians don’t revel in combat. Many display a degree of emotional restraint reminiscent of Vulcans, and they're often stereotyped as a dour people.

It’s unlikely the Arcturians' homeworld is the product of natural evolution: Their star is too metal poor. Federation scientists speculate that it was engineered by some super-advanced civilization in the distant past. Given their clone nature, some have speculated that the Arcturians themselves were engineered by this same race.

For more Trek conversions, check out our S&S Star Trek rpg group on G+.

Note: Arcturians just appeared in the background of ST:TMP and have never been featured prominently. They don't even show up in any of the Trek rpgs. What little information has been published about them comes from the costume designers for the film. See Memory Alpha.