Llyrnians

[Garnfellow]

This minor race was written up in GURPS Traveller: Humaniti.

They're basically Xorn, right?

 

[tjoneslo]

Yes to both questions.

 

[Timerover51]

Pardon my ignorance, but what are "Xorn"?

 

[tjoneslo]

Pardon my ignorance, but what are "Xorn"?

They're a D&D race, from the original game. They were from the elemental plane of earth, ate gems and rocks, dug through earth, or magically phased through it.

 

[Timerover51]

Oh, that Xorn. I did not know that someone had cribbed them for Traveller.

Edit Note: The description for the Xorn is located on page 102 of the 1st Edition AD&D Monster Manual on the download from DriveThru. I have not gotten out my hard copy to verify the page number in that, but it should be either the same or close. There is a nice picture of the critter in the Manual.

 

[tjoneslo]

https://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Kolipian - The Kolpian are a second "Xorn" race from Old Expanses via the 1248 book The Freedom League.

https://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Beree - The Beree are a third "Xorn" race in Crucis Margin via Gateway to Destiny.

So many choices if you like the form.

 

[Timerover51]

Are there any other races or creatures that have been taken from D&D and adapted to Traveller? One candidate would be the displacer beast, which is based on A. E. Van Vogt creature in "Black Destroyer" and also with some modifications, Voyage of the Space Beagle.

 

[tjoneslo]

Are there any other races or creatures that have been taken from D&D and adapted to Traveller? One candidate would be the displacer beast, which is based on A. E. Van Vogt creature in "Black Destroyer" and also with some modifications, Voyage of the Space Beagle.

Most of the D&D monsters are taken from other mythology, so pointing at a specific creature or race and saying that's from D&D can be hard. The Xorn is a more unique, and identifiable, case.

I have not seen a write-up of the displacer beast.

 

[Timerover51]

I really should give the creature its proper name, which is "Coeurl". As described by Van Vogt in "Black Destroyer", which appeared in the July of 1939 issue of Astounding magazine (search online for it), it is a highly intelligent carnivore, the remnants of an advanced race. It Voyage of the Space Beagle, it is a creature developed by an advanced race. In either case, it is highly intelligent, but not very wise, with a high level of technical knowledge.

 

[GypsyComet]

I really should give the creature its proper name, which is "Coeurl".

The Coeurl is the Coeurl, and Displacer Beasts are Displacer Beasts. Gygax and company were shameless but rarely comprehensive unless it really was from a mythological source.

Many of the creatures that are distinctive to D&D would wreck a typical Traveller group, if only because a fair number of them are psionic and calibrated for powerful D&D encounters. Turning the tropes around could be fun, though.

Illithids, but as so far off the Human norm that they exhaust themselves using psionics on Terran forms (per the surcharge first seen in CT) and don't have a close enough biological compatibility to be able to eat the brains of anything but their own native life. Terrifying but harmless.

Githyanki and Githzerai. A race of natural Jaunters, locked in an internal war that others only get in the way of. Both sides are broadly honorable about it and try not to involve outsiders, but each also believes the other side is honorless, so they also snoop a lot to make sure. To the Traveller cognoscenti, the results will feel a lot like another skirmish in Grandfather's ongoing war, but is nothing of the sort.

I think Beholders would be a bit too blatant, but could be used much like the one behind the scenes in Waterdeep (no that's not a spoiler; he was on the cover of a 2nd edition book 30 years ago), similar to the Hutts of Star Wars.