Space Monsters: do they fit in Traveller?

[Maladominus]

Space monsters. You know... exactly like that gigantic 2000-ton slug that tried to eat the Milennium Falcon while inside a large hollowed-out asteroid cavern.

I think it was Episode IV Star Wars, tho not certain on this.

Anyways.... do you use "space monsters" in your Traveller games? I have never seen a single GDW canon adventure that mentions such beasts. But then again, this IS a science fiction game... so in theory, almost anything goes. But how do we explain giant monsters that can live out in deep space? Or maybe even in an asteroid? Or a vaccuum moon? Can they be rationalized?

 

[Valarian]

Episode V - Empire Strikes Back. The WEG Star Wars books explained the deep space creatures as silicon based.

I'm not sure whether these fit in Traveller, which strikes me as more serious / hard sci-fi than the Space Opera of Star Wars. The Traveller universe has some elements of the Space Opera genre, but not to any extreme.

I'd prefer the more subtle forms of space monster (e.g. Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Puppet Masters (Heinlein?), Alien). More conspiracy / bug hunt scenarios than the overt in-your-face Space Slugs and Mynocks.

Take an idea such as a scenario based on an Imperial Research Station. From here you can go down several routes:
- a plague (Michael Crichton's Andromeda Strain; Resident Evil; Quatermass Experiment)
- follow Ancient biotechniques (Species). A 'what have we created' scenario
- jump space research (B5 Thirdspace; Doom; Event Horizon)

All good 'space monster' scenarios - but without the silliness of slugs in space.

 

[daltoncalford]

Fact is, there are tons of 'space monsters' in traveller, for every sentient, in all it's forms is alot more scary than a reactive animal.
But what about biological constructs-huge creatures-think of the giant slug in star wars. A creature like that could be bio-formed to naturally mine the astoroids and eliminate claim jumpers. You come along later, hunt the beast, and find that the carcus is full of the materials you wanted -all nicely refined.

Bio-constructs which are sub-light transports, or other such things are all within the boundries of 'hard' sci-fi.

So I would say yes to such creatures because, there is nothing to say that such creatures can't get out of hand or go wild.

Best regards

Dalton

 

[Spud]

What about the various threads I've seen on the horrors of jumpspace? Too subtle for _monsters_, maybe, but certainly creepy. What if there really is something out there that wants to get in? Inside your head - he he he.

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

I do not know the facts per se, but I seem to recall a Spican Species called the Xoar. I am not sure if they were some sort of migratory creature, or race, or what...

They have several planets all with xoar in the name. Xoar delta, Xoar Epsilon, etc.

 

[Jeff M. Hopper]

As long as you and your players are having fun, then what does it matter?

I've been toying around with an idea about sentient asteroids from the old Space Academy Saturday morning TV show that was out in the '70s. Highly improbable and requiring a lot of handwaving, but it could be fun.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Jeff, you might want to read The Talking Stone by Isaac Asimov. It was a short story in the book Asimov's Mysteries (which was a really good read).

Oh, and don't forget about The Creature That Ate Sheboygan VII. I don't think that Traveller precludes space creatures. You just have to be able to justify it with Hard Science, right?

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

Let's not forget Jason of Star Command! The model work on both shows was pretty sweet.

 

[kafka47]

I have always pondered, what were those creatures on the cover of TNE that are on the Asteroid?

Early on, I concluded the next step of the Virus was to assume a corporeal identity. That is what these became. Living thinking machines that took the traits of a thousand different species across Charted Space. Biogeneered to allow them to withstand a hard vacuum for short periods of time with all the cunning and deadliness of the Aliens with an intellect of a supra-genius. Capable to being downloaded to another body in next to no time. A secondary offshoot of the Virus' experiments were to create nanobots which given time and enough raw materials could construct an entire army.

Furthermore, as viruses have been shown to be able to survive in the hard vacuum, many asteriods/comets were seeded by the Vampires for when these bodies passed within the main planetary body, these were deposited and would grow and feast upon the lifeforms present. Destroying them would only cause further dispersal of "seeds".

Borg with attitude.

Asteroids also might have a micro atmosphere. In that soup on a worldlet like Ceres something could have survived a very long time. Here I have taken my cue from 2300ad and the psionic plant and merged it with the Fendahl.

 

[Whipsnade]

Maladominus,

If you need them for your campaign, they exist. It's as simple as that.

Kafka,

The creatures on that TNE cover are 'borgified' K'Kree courtesy of Virus. That's straight from Dave Nilsen himself. He said so in a thread here.

Oddly enough, 'borged' K'Kree also appear in M:1248. MJD independently recreated them, although I think its a good bet that his version is very different from the ideas GDW had in mind.


Have fun,
Bill

 

[kafka47]

Thanks, for the tip, it just goes to show great minds think alike. Actually, I was into TNE well before Nilsen and MJD were writing up their stuff. So, we need not worry Chartered Space is big enough for all the visions to live together until my Borg with attitude comes to clean up the chickens from the roost.

 

[Commander Drax]

The creatures on that TNE cover are 'borgified' K'Kree courtesy of Virus. That's straight from Dave Nilsen himself. He said so in a thread here.

I've just had a look at that cover and they don't look much like K'Kree to me, not unless they have been completely re-written much as TNE should have been

 

[daryen]

Originally posted by Commander Drax:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr /> The creatures on that TNE cover are 'borgified' K'Kree courtesy of Virus. That's straight from Dave Nilsen himself. He said so in a thread here.

I've just had a look at that cover and they don't look much like K'Kree to me, ... </font>[/QUOTE]Bill isn't trying to defend the explanation. He is just stating it.

Go over to "What would you ask Dave Nilsen" in the TNE forum and check all ~38 pages to see his various answers to TNE related questions. This is in there.

 

[mike wightman]

The borgified K'kree were on a T-shirt.

Dave Nilsen said:

If any of you bought the TNE T-shirt, those beetly-looking things with six legs are cyborged K’kree.

Which you can find here:
http://www.travellerbibliography.org/gdw-tne/tneT.html

 

[Whipsnade]

Originally posted by Commander Drax:
I've just had a look at that cover and they don't look much like K'Kree to me, not unless they have been completely re-written much as TNE should have been

Drax,

What part of That's straight from Dave Nilsen himself. He said so in a thread here didn't you understand?

The GDW Line Editor for TNE says they were meant to be K'Kree cyborged by Virus. Period. They were cyborged K'Kreet when the art was commissioned and they are cyborged K'Kree now. This is no ret-con, it was what was planned.


Have fun,
Bill

 

[Commander Drax]

Wow, I didn't think this throw away comment would cause so much angst...

Dave Nilsen may well have said they were borgified K'kree, great - I am not disputing that - All I am pointing out is that they do not like any other illustration of a K'Kree I have ever seen. Actually I would prefer it if all of the other illustrations of the K'kree resembled the ones on the TNE cover, because at least they look like they might be alien, as opposed to Horses...

 

[Commander Drax]

Whilst I'm on this subject - Space monsters do they fit into the Traveller universe.

Consider this - Traveller is Science-Fiction

The Fiction in the genre's name gives you licence to create anything you want - The science in the genre's name means that you need to have a convincing explanation as to how they exist. Meet those requirements and I don't see any problem.

 

[Maladominus]

Originally posted by Commander Drax:
The science in the genre's name means that you need to have a convincing explanation as to how they exist.

OK, I'd appreciate anyone on this thread giving their ideas... for convincing explanations as to how they exist.

Oh wait. That's exactly what I asked for in the original post of this thread.

 

[TheEngineer]

Hi !

Sounds like a new topic for a colorful BBC documentation:
After "Future is wild" > "Space is wild"

But seriously, evolution is a pretty method to move lifeforms into very strange environments.
Purly technical I see no reason, why something like a space monster = "actively uncooperative huge space living system" could not exist.
Given the evolutionary potential of the universe or the OTU background with ancients and stuff thoughts about something appearing to be a space monster to some Travellers IMHO is just quite valid.

Somehow I have to think of either (exo)biological spaceship like things or weird space drifting contructions controlled by an artifical entity.
But the amount of possible variations / combinations is perhaps endless.

Will think on...

 

[kafka47]

Enter if you dare... for the ultimate in Space Creatures and more akin to what I was thinking of before Dave Nilsen & MJD have me thinking in another direction.