Being in the middle of a bit of an ALIEN or HOSTILE kick for my roleplaying games (RPGs), I pulled out an older Cepheus Engine product to help me experiment with aliens (no pun intended). I am using the digital version of Flynn’s Guide to Alien Creation by Jason “Flynn” Kemp as published by Samardan Press in 2010. I also dug into the wayback machine of this blog an looked at my Br’ron Subsector posted in February 2022 (see “#TravellerRPG Tuesday – My B’rron Subsector using #CepheusEngineDeluxe #ttrpg”). In particular, I looked at the non-aligned planet of “Castaway” (0309 / X410100-3 / Low Tech). At that time my “hook” for the planet read:
The few people living on Castaway are not some primitive race, but the crew of a ship lost that “went native” and refuse to leave. There are rumors that this may actually be an elite special forces team from the Quinto Expanse sent to man a secret listening post to defend against The Heresy and pirates. Who knows?
Using Flynn’s Guide to Alien Creation I worked through the process and created a new “resident” alien, colloquially known as the “Castaway castaway.”
Castaway castaway
The Castaway castaway is a carnivore chaser that is warm-blooded, hermophroditic and egg-laying. It breathes air (though the planet has only a Trace atmosphere) and is Medium sized though a bit on the taller side (averaging 215 cm) but only weighing an average of 62 kg. Locomotion and manipulation are provided by limbs, of which there are four in two pairs; a pair of Hands/Manipulators and a pair of Legs/Locomotion. The Castaway castaway moves at average speed (6 m per round) and has no natural armor but large teeth that are considered a natural weapon. A castaway castaway has poor vision but standard hearing. Given the planet of origin, the Castaway castaway acquired various traits including Low Gravity, Trace Breather, Desert Adaption, Cold Endurance, Cold Resistance, and Fire Invulnerability. Abilities are generated as follows:
- Strength (Notable): 2d6+1
- Dexterity (Notable): 2d6+1
- Endurance (Notable) 2d6+1
- Education (Feral) 1d6-2
- Social (Weak): 2d6-1
- Intelligence (Notable) 2d6+2
The typical Castaway castaway reaches maturity at age 14 and typically does not start aging until age 34 (Aging Modifier: DM-1).
I note that Flynn’s Guide to Alien Creation tends to create a movie ALIEN or maybe the movie Starship Troopers alien Bug. This is not an issue if one is playing ALIEN: The Roleplaying Game but one aspect of Traveller or Cepheus Engine that I appreciate is that neither is a “clone” of a particular sci-fi setting.
Feature image courtesy WordPress AI image generator using the Castaway castaway description above…yeah, very ALIEN-like.
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