IISS Form 113a: Spohont Species Data Record

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

My Lords,

Submitted is the rough draft of the first of the Sidur Haski Design Consortium's Campaign Aids, IISS Form 113a, The Sophont Species Data Record.

It is a free PDF, submitted to encourage growth in documentation of the many froms of sophontic life in Known Space. It is a design that is intended to capture the simplicity of the Classic Traveller forms and charts, while at the same time staying up to date by adhereing to T20 guidelines of presentation.

You can get it Here

This is a first draft, so as always, we would be delighted to hear your feedback and suggestions.

The sheet has ample room at the right for rendering your aliens in whatever form you see fit...

With Regards,

 

[kaladorn]

Originally posted by Baron Saarthuran:
This is a first draft, so as always, we would be delighted to hear your feedback and suggestions.

I have one: If possible, post it to somewhere outside the freakin' MS security perimeter....

If you'd like, I can offer to host a copy where more folks can get to it. (kaladorn at magma dot ca if you want to mail it)

I'd love to give feedback, but at present this is not possible thanks to Uncle Bill.

 

[Flynn]

I have to agree, as I cannot access this form either. Hard to give feedback when we can't see it.

The idea seems sound; I am interested in the execution.

Thanks in advance,
Flynn

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

I emailed you both copies, in zipped form , you will need Acrobat Reader 5 to view... working on a more reliable link... though the SHDC is now fully open to the Public...

 

[kaladorn]

Bonzer, my good Baron! Totally Bonzer and just the Naff!

I'd like to see a slightly amended form for CT/MT, but I'll get back to you on exactly how I'd think it should be amended.

 

[mad13142000]

no fair...
I can't get to it...

-MADDog

 

[kaladorn]

With the Good Baron's permission, I'll put it put it up somewhere outside the 'Black Curtain' (MS OS homogeneity is what I blame for the utter crash down of the Imperium).

Wot say Baron? Shall I make it available for the dot-net-less?

(MS can bite my fuzzy butt if it thinks I'm buying into one of their 'passports')

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

By all means, Lord Kaladorn... By all means... I opened SHDC to the general public today, could one of you please try to get it again and see if you run into the same block?

I know Bill is possibly the most goblinic human to come out of the mire, but I fear it is only a matter of time before he barcodes us all... unless that has already happened...

 

[kaladorn]

The wall comes up when you go to the Documents link, to the 'file cabinet' as it were. Then you get asked for your MicroShaft authorization goop.

As for human, he is really 'Dorkutus of Borg'. His motto is 'You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. Unless of course we Blue Screen...'

Anyway, I'll get it up somewhere autre....

 

[kaladorn]

A temporary home. I'm assuming when it is declared perfect, the good baron will consider donating a copy to the eLibrary here on CotI since that is generically accessible.

Alien Sophonts PDF Form (zipped up, 175 Kb)

I just noticed this thread is titled something about the mythical Spohont, which I assume is some minor non-human race from Out There.

I'm also assuming (too lazy to check) that the Good Baron didn't repeat this typo on the actual form....

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

Excellent, Lord Kaladorn! Many thanks...

You mean you've never seen a spohont? They're all over the place...

I have another Sheet in the works... Form CA-1, NPC Data Form, fit to list all of your freinds and foes...

 

[kaladorn]

Originally posted by Baron Saarthuran:
You mean you've never seen a spohont? They're all over the place...

Nossiree. But if it is anything like the Ixthiion in my game, which came from an encounter in the foothills from a computer gen'd H&E table, and weighed in at a Princely 65000 kg, I'm not really anxious to meet it.

But you know, now I'm going to have to write up a some sort of bestiary entry just for this because it amuses me.... The Spohont. Wonder what kind of beast that sounds like?

I think it is some sort of really sneaky creature that can suddenly move very quickly if it needs to get away. Maybe not all that bright. Possibly toxic to things that try to eat it. Maybe a slimy surface that is toxic if you touch it or get splashed by the slime. Maybe semi-amphibious.

Hmmmm.... Spohont indeed....

 

[Flynn]

Upon review, I do believe that this is a worthy beginning, but I would like to request that more structure be given to the various sections, such as lines, perhaps, to assist in the recording of information on the chart.

In addition, I believe a small historical section would be good, to provide some insight into the race's place within interstellar society.

Sadly, I don't believe that the racial traits section is large enough for the game mechanics of most races, particularly those that might have racial feats to select from as part of their develoment. I would recommend providing a second page for additional specifics, in the event it proved necessary. Users can print it out if needed, or simply use the first page if that's enough.

In a lot of ways, I was expected something more akin to a tabular format of a T20 statblock of some sort. Now that I think about it, though, I don't think that approach would have been as appropriate. This is consistent with the presentation of races in the T20 Traveller's Handbook and Gateway sourcebook, and I like it.

Keep up the good work, and I hope that this feedback proves helpful,
Flynn

 

[tjoneslo]

This falls vastly short of what I think a form of this type needs to include.

* get rid of the "Personality" section.
* Get rid of the "Language" section, both should go under the cultural section below.

* expand the homeworld section to include a list of other worlds where the species has a significant impact (colonies, etc)

* Make the physical description larger. The picture helps, but unless you intend to allow us a 3D holograpic image...

* Move the Species traits to a second page, and divide it into physiological and sociologial (physical and mental) sections.

* On a third page you need a cultural description to descibe the main (and perhaps secondary) cultures of the species.

* You need more of the little

characters on the page.

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

I disagree, Lord tJoneslo...

the presented form is "minimalist" for a reason, most of the other items you describe can be put in the writeup of the Species in question, and probably shouldn't be summed up in a tiny sheet entry, esp. the other planets in thier control or subcultures... that is more the ken of a good, well-written Library Data entry...

And it follows closely the Parameters that the THB sets...

In my own opinion, I would add a "Adventurers" type entry, denoting what sort of typical character Classes one might encounter from the race, or what types you wont...

I would Also add a "Example Names" entry for those industrious folks wanting to play the Species as a PC.

 

[tjoneslo]

I have just grasped what you are trying to do. I had assumed you were working on either an in-character IISS form, or a descriptive out-of-character player handout for each sophont race.

What you are trying to do is an player handout with the game mechanics and brief description of each race so they can become (N)PCs.

Modify my suggestions as follows:
* Merge the personality and physical description sections and re-name it: Description. They are still too small for my liking, but if the intention is to simply have links to relevant Library Data ntries then it should be more than sufficient. Even in the THB these sections are several paragraphs long and wouldn't fit into that space, even using a 4-point flyspeck font.

* D20 (and by extenstion T20) have a very specific layout of data for the species (D20 racial) traits. I would suggest adding some of those in this section. Items like: Ability modifiers, base speed, size, skill modifiers, other abilities, and (as you mentioned) permitted/illegal classes.

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

There is indeed a format for such an entry... it seems to go...

Ability Score mods
Base Speed
Physical bonuses/penalties for hearing, sight etc.
Skill Bonuses/Penalties
Languages (though tis is a redundancy)
Miscellany (Sleep habits, other crap, extras skill or extra feats bonuses, etc...)

If one goes by the book, Admiral...

 

[Traveller]

Baron,

The reason your form refused to display on screen is due to the spaces that you placed within the URL. As a malformed URL, the page will not display.

What you need to do when making your directories and file names is to avoid spaces whenever possible, replacing them with underscores if desired. Thus:

http://www.msnusers.com/SidurHaskiDesignConsortium/Documents/Forms and Charts/Sophont Species.pdf

should become:

http://www.msnusers.com/SidurHaskiDesignConsortium/Documents/FormsandCharts/SophontSpecies.pdf or http://www.msnusers.com/SidurHaskiDesignConsortium/Documents/Forms_and_Charts/Sophont_Species.pdf

MSN isn't the major problem here, though that too doesn't help. It's the spaces in the url that hurt.

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

It shall be corrected at once, Sire.

I now have a total of Five Pdfs available, the sophont sheet, the Npc sheet, the Character Class Development Form, the Prior History form, and a test of a 3D subsector map.

I will of course emailthese, if the Emperor so wishes it.

 

[Tanuki]

Baron -- Can you post these anywhere else? I went round and round with that stupid server last nite trying to log in and view the pdfs and nover could. Every time I tried to view anything other than the photos it sent me back to "my" welcome page.

Typical microsloth crap... [sigh]