I really should read ahead before ending a page. This one only covers about a third of the page, and it's just the reaction table with some DMs. I'll do page 24 as well.
So, the reactions range from 2 (Violent, immediate attack) to 12 (Genuinely friendly). The higher the number, the better the reaction you get. The DMs are pretty straightforward: If you've served five terms in the army, navy, marines or scouts, you get a +1 to your roll. If the planet is heavily populated (11 or better, which is a B), you get a -1. And that's it.
Reactions are rolled once upon the initial contact, and it's one roll for the group. And of course, the roll is just a guideline, not a hard and fast rule; rolling a two when your waiter comes to take your order doesn't mean he's going to grab the nearest steak knife and try to carve you. But he probably won't earn much of a tip.
Okay, next page. And we have Animal Encounters!
So, we get a brief overview of what to expect. Basically, every planet has its own peculiar ecology. And when people show up on a new world, that ecosystem is affected, and the animals might not welcome visitors.
Obviously, this system isn't designed to provide a list of alien animals; instead, it's going to go with broad classifications which can be used universally; big animals will have certain characteristics in common. Big predators will have even more in common, even if they look as different as a tiger and a shark. This is a good system for a sci-fi game, since the possibilities of alien life are basically limitless.
Animals are classified into four categories: herbivores, omnivores, carnivores, and scavengers. So, you've got deer, bears, wolves, and vultures. Simple enough. Then you get varieties within each group depending on their feeding and hunting habits. Examples given are grazers, chasers, and pouncers. So, cows, cheetahs, and tigers. Specifics of each type can be generated, such as their attack and defense methods. This allows customization, without relying on real-world animals to fill an ecology.
Oh, goody...the referee gets to create unique encounter tables for each world in the universe (there's that word again), although the rules generously allow that they don't all have to be done before play starts. Well, that's a relief. For the D&D players (the old-school ones, not the newbies), the encounter tables are divided up into columns, one per terrain type on the world. So, if you're in a Star Wars universe, every world gets one table, be it a desert, arctic, forest, or water world.
Yes, I always thought that was a silly baseline for planets.
Once you have the tables, you use them each day the players are on the planet in question to see if they run into anything hostile...or edible.
So, to create the tables, simply do up columns with eleven entries each (labeled 2-12). The sample encounter table gives a predetermined sequence of animal categories to use, although of course it can be modified, because the referee is the final arbiter.
I did check the next page, and it doesn't end with three lines of text, so I'll continue with this next time.
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