From: redden@ttidca.TTI.COM (John Redden) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp Subject: Other Suns : 30 Date: 17 Oct 90 15:14:43 GMT Reply-To: redden@ttidca.tti.com. (John Redden) Organization: Citicorp/TTI, Santa Monica ------------------ OS.30 ---------------------------------------- This is being posted to the net by myself for Niall Shapero. Others Suns is copyright by Niall Shapero. This gaming material is distributed on a shareware basis. If you do not use the material you owe the author nothing. If you do use it please pay him what you think it is worth at a fair price becasue it took a damn lot of work to develop and playtest. The USmail address is: Niall Shapero 2536 Short Ave Los Angeles CA 90066 USA Those of you with modems can dial into his BBS using this phone number: (213)822-6729 Please email any comments to my electronic mailing address and I will pass them on to Niall. ---------------- end of preamble ------------------------------------------- iceberg which has just broken loose. Characteristics of the iceberg are determined immediately. There is a 60% chance that the iceberg is of the familiar, pinnacled type; otherwise it has a fairly flat an low surface. The latter are to be preferred, as pinnacled icebergs, constantly melting from below, tend to be unstable. On each occurrence of an iceberg result when a group already occupies a iceberg, roll 1D100 apply the following results: (1) for 01-15 = collision with land, (2) for pinnacled icebergs, 91- 100 = iceberg shifts; for flat icebergs, 98-100 = iceberg shifts, (3) all other rolls result in no change of status. If the "collision with land" result occurs (and is not impossible given the rough position of the iceberg) the stranded group may escape; normally escape requires assistance of some type, or the ability to swim or fly over whatever gap has separated the ice- berg from the land. If the iceberg is about to shift, an Arctic Survival skill or an Awareness talent roll will allow the adven- turers sufficient advance warning to prepare so that they will not be unceremoniously tossed into the water. If neither of these rolls are made by any member of the group, a LUC as a percentage roll, or a Jumping roll is required of each adventurer in order to avoid a quick swim; however, ground vehicles cannot be saved if neither the Arctic Survival nor the Awareness rolls are made (though if properly equipped, they may still float). Bog: During summer in tundra, glacial streams from melting snow can water-saturate large patches of land, and characters entering such areas may become enmired. If ANY of the following skill or characteristic rolls can be made, the bog will be detected before it can become a threat: Arctic Survival, Awareness, Spot Hidden, Spot Trap, Arctic Travel, or INT x 5. A bog is not impossible to escape even if a character has become enmired; however, characters can sink and drown if they do not maintain control. At the start sinking, a character trapped in a bog must roll WIL x 8 or less on 1D100 (or make a Control of Self skill roll) to avoid panicking. If he panics, a character may take no action until he comes to his senses (he may attempt both a roll of WIL x 5 or less on 1D100 and a Control of Self skill roll each melee round until he recovers or sinks from view and drowns). If an adventurer does not notice a bog, and neither do his fellow adventurers (or, at least, they don't warn him), it is assumed that he begins with all feet enmired in the bog. Hit numbers for feet are as follows (those for Dakti are self-evident from the charts): Tailed bipeds -- 15, 19, Tailless bipeds -- 16, 20, Tailed quadrupeds -- 6, 9, 16, 19, tailed centauroids -- 10, 12, 17, 19. If an adventurer does not panic, he may attempt to move out of the bog. If the STR+DEX of the character overcomes his SIZ+the number of hit numbers enmired (see Chapter 6 of Other Suns for resistance rolls and their resolution) then he may reduce the number of hit numbers enmired by 1. If the resistance roll is failed by more than 25 on the 1D100 roll OR IF THE UNAIDED CHAR- ACTER IS PANICKING, the number of hit numbers enmired is in- creased by 1 (extended logically from the already enmired loca- tions). Once all 20 hit numbers are enmired, the character will begin to drown. After the first round, other characters may endeavor to assist in removing the adventurer enmired. If the trapped adventurer is not panicking, and his associates can reach him (either using a thrown line or by reaching out and grabbing him) they may add their STR and DEX values to his in attempting to overcome his SIZ+number of hit numbers enmired. Only if the resistance is not overcome as a result of a FUMBLE does an additional hit number become enmired. HOWEVER, if the trapped adventurer is panicking, those of his associates that can grab hold of him must overcome his STR+DEX+SIZ+number of hit numbers enmired in order to free one hit number from the bog. If a vehicle becomes enmired, it is assumed that all driving wheels/tracks etc., have gotten onto the bog area. If no action is taken, the vehicle will sink to the bottom of the bog. Given sufficient skill on the part of the driver, any of the powered vehicles will have enough raw power to get clear of the bog. A vehicle starts in a bog as if 2 hit numbers were enmired; for each hit number enmired, deduct 10% from the appropriate vehicu- lar skill. A successful skill roll reduces the equivalent number of hit numbers enmired by 1, a failed skill roll increases the number by 1, a critical roll decreases the number by 1D4 and a fumble increases the number by 1D4. When 0 hit numbers are en- mired, the vehicle is free from the bog; when 20 hit numbers are enmired, the vehicle is lost to the bog. NOTE: the driver must avoid panicking, or he will fail to act correctly and 1 addition- al hit number will be enmired each melee round. ICE WORLD I (PART 28 OF 28) EXPLANATION OF RESULTS Detour: The character is delayed 1D6 turns; no forward progress is made during this interval, the time being spent finding a way around the drifts. Move Penalty: The character's movement is halved for the next hour. This represents the problems of going through or around the series of drifts. END expenditure is increased by one class for this hour of travel (Light Activity becomes Moderate, Moderate becomes Heavy, Heavy becomes Very Heavy, Very Heavy remains the same). Fall: The character must make a skill roll (either Arctic Travel or the skill roll for the appropriate mode of travel) or fall 1D6 meters; Jumping and LUC rolls may be attempted to reduce damage if the fall occurs. END Penalty: The character is exerting additional effort (typi- cally needlessly so) in order to fight through the drifts. END expenditure is increased by one class for one hour of travel (as described above under Move Penalty). Crevasse: Crevasses are deep cracks in shelf or pack ice, diffi- cult to cross and time-consuming to avoid. When a crevasse is encountered, roll 1D4 to determine the number of roughly parallel crevasses encountered. It is assumed that a crevasse roll on the encounter tables means that the crevasse lies across the desired line of travel of the adventurers. A detour may be attempted around the crevasses -- determine the length of the detour required as per pressure ridges earlier (except that instead of rolling 6D6 roll 4D6+10 for the number of kilometers that the crevasse runs in each direction). As was the case for pressure ridges, an Arctic Survival skill roll made allows the characters to know which direction provides the short- er detour; a clean action allows them to know the approximate length of the detour. There is a 40% chance of a bridge of snow or ice being present on EACH crevasse (roll separately) that may allow passage across the crevasse. Roll using the Thin Ice table to determine the thick- ness (and load limit) on this ice/snow bridge. An Arctic Travel, Arctic Survival, or Awareness skill rolls will provide informa- tion regarding the thickness of the bridge. If the crossing is attempted, and the bridge breaks, everyone on the bridge who does not manage to jump to safety will fall 2D100+20 meters. The normal falling rules will then apply to determine damage (see Section 14.2.2 Falling in Other Suns for details). Crevasse with Cornice: As with crevasse, but with an additional hazard, that of cornices (shelves) of solid-seeming snow over- hanging the edge of the crevasse. Use the Thin Ice Table to determine the thickness of each crevasses cornices with a 1D100+25 roll instead of a 1D100 roll (treat results of over 100 as 100). Any bridges across a corniced crevasse can be no thicker than the cornice. An Arctic Travel, Awareness, Arctic Survival, or Spot Hidden skill roll will detect the presence of the cornices; Arctic Travel, Arctic Survival, or Awareness skill rolls will then provide information regarding the thickness of the cornice. Animal Encounter: An animal encounter result indicates that an animal has been spotted. The Referee should choose an animal already created for the world in question (either picking one, or consulting a previously created table of likely animals). If the result is rolled for a trap, and the animal does not make a Spot Trap or LUC as a percentage roll, it is trapped (as de- scribed earlier in the section on Hunting). In any other in- stance, the animal may merely be sighted -- roll 1D10 (with no modifiers to the roll) and consult the Sighting range table. If the animal encountered is outside of visual range, the result is interpreted as being an opportunity to sight tracks of the animal at the limit of of visual range. It is up to the Referee to establish the likely behavior of the animal. It may not notice the adventurers; if it does it may stay still, flee, attack, or otherwise act in an appropriate fashion, depending upon its habits, dietary preferences, intelligence, instincts, and other behavior patterns. The resolution of an encounter is thus wholly dependent upon the Referee's decisions and upon the responses of the party. In fairness to the players, however, the Referee should remember that there are few wild animals on any settled world that will still attack a party of Humans, Altani, or other sophonts. Either such sophonts have become common sights, and thus their danger thoroughly driven into the thick skulls of the local life forms or they are still uncommon sights in the wild. In this latter case, they will represent a totally unknown quantity to the local predators, who w. It is often best to tailor specific tables for specific worlds, adding new results, and changing proportions of others to suit different conditions, and otherwise adapting the resources of the game to give the greatest variety an flexibility to the play of Other Suns in the planetary environment. (End of ICE WORLD I)