Keep it simple

[kafka47]

As much as there surely is a diverse universe composed of Gene modified lifeforms and local planetary critters. Traveller's genius is that it does not go into depth what the creatures are. By placing it in the ecology of the planet, it removes the need for detailed nasties. Instead, of making more furry creatures from Alpha Centauri. Pick up a thesaurus or H.P. Lovecraft's list of descriptors.

Remember the brontosaurus, even the most placid of herbivores can seem terrifying if you don't know what it is.

 

[MT++]

It also avoids things like Denebian Slime Devils!

I usually described critters in terms of what Terran animal they most closely resembled. Or animals.

"It looks like a combo of an orangutan and a ladybug, with a bit of Okapi thrown in"

Let the players do the imagining!

Actually, seriously most of my critters were reasonable. Looking at Earth, and adjusting for gravity (high equals generally squat critters, low equals wispier) I figure in general convergent evolution produces more or less the same things.
How many large pouncer are there?
Reptilian (Komodo dragon)
Feline (most mammals) subdivided into thin (cougar), powerful (jaguar) and chunky (wolverine)
Add in birds (thrush) and you have less than a dozen basic forms

Small is different - insects are free to be weirder

Carnivore weapons: claws, teeth (sometimes poisoned) plus slam attacks (teeth includes beak)
Other: head ornament (antlers, horns), teeth, claws, slam, hooves, tusks

Again, smaller gets weirder. Ladybugs have poisonous blood that they can leak from their head and poisonous elbows, and there are ants that are essentially suicide bombers

 

[Ron]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by MT++:


Actually, seriously most of my critters were reasonable. Looking at Earth, and adjusting for gravity (high equals generally squat critters, low equals wispier) I figure in general convergent evolution produces more or less the same things.
How many large pouncer are there?
Reptilian (Komodo dragon)
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

MT++, you´re being conservative.

Some really large reptilian pouncers: Australian Crocodylus porosus can reach up to 10 m length, about the same size as the biggest Anaconda. I am no paleontologist, but I think that there was a fossil lizard much larger than the actual Komodo Dragon living up to a few thousand years ago. And I am not even listing the dinosaurs.

Anyway, I like Traveller's animal encounters rules. They are simple, straigthfoward, and don't limit the imagination of the players.

[This message has been edited by Ron (edited 19 September 2001).]