Okay, so, does anybody ever use these? We all know that Traveller is supposed to take a harder science view on sci-fi, but are you guys ever tempted to throw in a something-or-other for your merchant crew or scout ship to fight against?
Space Monsters
- Thread starter Blue Ghost
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Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
Have you ever read The Voyage of the Space Beagle by A. E. Van Vogt? That is hard science fiction and it has a couple of really good space monsters. Some of A. Bertram Chandler stuff has some as well. Then there is The Ballad of Beta-2 by Samuel DeLaney. I think if I spend some time thinking about it, I can come up with more. And you do have a fair number in Star Trek as well.
Also, take a look in Barlow's Guide to Extraterrestrials for more ideas.
DangerousThing
SOC-13
Hmmmm. If you're thinking of monsters that live in space, I have a few IMTU, but they are rare.
Then there are the Dreen, where the really old ones spend most of their time living in stars. People rarely have any contact with them. Highly intelligent and powerful but they have their own place in the universe and it has nothing to do with people.
And of course the Mi-Go and the Shoggoth. Yes, I like the Cthulhu Mythos (or as Lovecraft called it, the Yog-Sothoth Cycle).
I also have a few enigmatic and beautiful creatures that are assumed to be myth.
So yes, I have some space monsters.
Then there are the Dreen, where the really old ones spend most of their time living in stars. People rarely have any contact with them. Highly intelligent and powerful but they have their own place in the universe and it has nothing to do with people.
And of course the Mi-Go and the Shoggoth. Yes, I like the Cthulhu Mythos (or as Lovecraft called it, the Yog-Sothoth Cycle).
I also have a few enigmatic and beautiful creatures that are assumed to be myth.
So yes, I have some space monsters.
Never on the scale of SFB monsters nor the one seen in SW Ep V.
Vacuum beasties, occasionally, but not ship-sized ones.
Fritz_Brown
Super Moderator
He did specify "hard" SF. Most of the space-dwelling beasties in ST were fairly fantastic.
Chamax. In addition to the double adventure, they players were tasked with recovering a 30 kt SuSAG research vessel, which was dedicated to genetic manipulation of same. Megacorporations behave like Weyland-Utani when it comes to nasty critters to weaponize.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
I've used space whales and jump kraken in games.
Then there are the gas giant dwellers...
Then there are the gas giant dwellers...
How about your tramp freighter crew gets a Signal GK and finds a derelict with dead giant elephant-like guy and a bunch of creepy eggs inside?
Or the Arachnid Threat?
Or Reavers?
Or even The Monolith?
Does it have to be ship-sized monsters?
Or the Arachnid Threat?
Or Reavers?
Or even The Monolith?
Does it have to be ship-sized monsters?
Space whales 
No one else?
I've used the planet-fungi from Colonization before.
Oh, and Space Herpes, from Ice Pirates! Statistically speaking, I think that in my games you've probably got a 98% chance of getting Space Herpes before your ship turns 30. Impossible to get rid of, too.
I don't really believe in "monsters" or "bad guys." There's just people with goals. Sometimes, those goals are at odd with yours. But Critters That Live In Space? They exist too.
Oh, and Space Herpes, from Ice Pirates! Statistically speaking, I think that in my games you've probably got a 98% chance of getting Space Herpes before your ship turns 30. Impossible to get rid of, too.
I don't really believe in "monsters" or "bad guys." There's just people with goals. Sometimes, those goals are at odd with yours. But Critters That Live In Space? They exist too.
I tried using a sort of 'space whale' once but just couldn't pull it off when the time came for the players to encounter one. I just couldn't go through with it - it sounded goofy to me even as I tried to make the words come out. I kept having flashbacks to Lost In Space and Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea.
But I have thrown giant critters at them while scooping from a gas giant. The big beasties beat the heck out of their ship when they hit it. Sometimes I've had them get something caught in the "bugscreens" that act as alien FOD filters on the scoops. That always requires someone go outside to get the critter out and is good for some EVA fun, especially if the thing is still alive and really mad.
But other than jump rats inside ships during jump transit I haven't done anything in actual space.
But I have thrown giant critters at them while scooping from a gas giant. The big beasties beat the heck out of their ship when they hit it. Sometimes I've had them get something caught in the "bugscreens" that act as alien FOD filters on the scoops. That always requires someone go outside to get the critter out and is good for some EVA fun, especially if the thing is still alive and really mad.
But other than jump rats inside ships during jump transit I haven't done anything in actual space.
I like that
I guess the prevailing opinion is that Traveller isn't really a space-opera in the sense that we're updating The Odyssey like a few other science fiction franchises. No one here is taking their players up against Trekish Doomsday machines or vampire clouds. I think someone mentioned jovian hunters, a-la Sagan's cosmos, and someone else mentioned something like the vacuum serpent from Empire.
I guess YMMV on space monsters. Traveller might or might not benefit from monsters. They're not a likely force in real science, so maybe Traveller doesn't address them? I'm not sure. But, even though Traveller sticks closer to real science than other sci-fi, a space monster here and there might be in order.
Star Fleet Battles "Sunsnake" or serpent (or whatever it is) would make a fine adventure I think. Some monsters are just too big to address, like the Zentradi supreme commander from Macross in the final battle. Some monsters might be kind of too implausible, like a dragon; Players; "Give me a break" or "Aw, come-on, man! What the heck?"
I could think of a few others, but maybe I'll reserve them for an adventure seed booklet or something
I guess YMMV on space monsters. Traveller might or might not benefit from monsters. They're not a likely force in real science, so maybe Traveller doesn't address them? I'm not sure. But, even though Traveller sticks closer to real science than other sci-fi, a space monster here and there might be in order.
Star Fleet Battles "Sunsnake" or serpent (or whatever it is) would make a fine adventure I think. Some monsters are just too big to address, like the Zentradi supreme commander from Macross in the final battle. Some monsters might be kind of too implausible, like a dragon; Players; "Give me a break" or "Aw, come-on, man! What the heck?"
I could think of a few others, but maybe I'll reserve them for an adventure seed booklet or something
For the most part I agree with you about monsters being possibly too much for Traveller, but maybe it is also a function of age among the players. I was only 15 when the game came out and I was playing Metamorphosis Alpha and D&D at the time. I never had any of those "oh, c'mon" moments in the early days of my Traveller campaign no matter what I threw out there.
Over the years, though, it seems like as I matured (or at least aged) my campaign seemed to get a little stodgy, or at least I had to work harder to keep less plausible things in it rather than turn the whole thing into something harder and duller. But I have been (lately) kind of missing the old days when my imagination could run wild without having to rationalize and justify everything and be more free. Like when I was a kid.
As a result MTU now has a whole half a sector on the other side a of vast rift from the rest of the campaign that is full of all sorts of wild and wooly alien worlds, and lurking in the nebulae are some fearsome space beasties rumored to eat ships passing through. This is my "Alice In Wonderland" universe where it is very much more space opera (though I still have plenty of that in regular game) with lots of Barsoom/Tschai types of things in it and since the entire theme is more out-there, it makes it more 'safe' for me to introduce any weird idea I swipe from pulp scifi, anime, or comes from too much coffee hagen-dazs and painkillers.
SO I think you could have space whales in Traveller, it's just that the rest of the campaign has to support that sort of thing somehow, and rationailizing them with even psuedoscience seems to fail the suspension of disbelief test. At least for me. I'd rather just say "there be whales" and leave it at that, and since there are also things like talking otter slavers that eat human crews and electric eels for snacks to contend with, the space whales are easier to swallow. The whole theme of the game supports them.
Over the years, though, it seems like as I matured (or at least aged) my campaign seemed to get a little stodgy, or at least I had to work harder to keep less plausible things in it rather than turn the whole thing into something harder and duller. But I have been (lately) kind of missing the old days when my imagination could run wild without having to rationalize and justify everything and be more free. Like when I was a kid.
As a result MTU now has a whole half a sector on the other side a of vast rift from the rest of the campaign that is full of all sorts of wild and wooly alien worlds, and lurking in the nebulae are some fearsome space beasties rumored to eat ships passing through. This is my "Alice In Wonderland" universe where it is very much more space opera (though I still have plenty of that in regular game) with lots of Barsoom/Tschai types of things in it and since the entire theme is more out-there, it makes it more 'safe' for me to introduce any weird idea I swipe from pulp scifi, anime, or comes from too much coffee hagen-dazs and painkillers.
SO I think you could have space whales in Traveller, it's just that the rest of the campaign has to support that sort of thing somehow, and rationailizing them with even psuedoscience seems to fail the suspension of disbelief test. At least for me. I'd rather just say "there be whales" and leave it at that, and since there are also things like talking otter slavers that eat human crews and electric eels for snacks to contend with, the space whales are easier to swallow. The whole theme of the game supports them.
I put smiley face for space whales because I thought it was such a simple concept. It's like space-cattle, or a school of space-fish or something. It may give you a smirk, but it''s probably what our descendants might call such real examples, were they to exist. And that kind of falls into the hard science sphere for Traveller's science leanings.
In retrospect I did think that Traveller didn't lend itself to things like space-monsters. But just thinking about it, it just may be a facet of science-fiction that Traveller has never addressed.
Traveller leans towards political or social science-fiction themes, and so we don't get things like space dragons or space squid attacking scout ships. But, it might be something worth visiting.
In retrospect I did think that Traveller didn't lend itself to things like space-monsters. But just thinking about it, it just may be a facet of science-fiction that Traveller has never addressed.
Traveller leans towards political or social science-fiction themes, and so we don't get things like space dragons or space squid attacking scout ships. But, it might be something worth visiting.
Space Monsters for your pleasure and perusal;
Mutalisks from Starcraft
Here's a doozy I came across. Let's some adventurers take that on!
I'm not sure what this thing is, but it's bigger than a bread box, and most starships!
Well, not a space monsters...but still. Where's Gojira when you need him
http://roberthood.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/giantmonster_pp52-53.jpg
That's good for now. I don't know if this helps local REFs conjur stuff for their next gaming session, but there you go.
Any feedback?
Mutalisks from Starcraft
Here's a doozy I came across. Let's some adventurers take that on!
I'm not sure what this thing is, but it's bigger than a bread box, and most starships!
Well, not a space monsters...but still. Where's Gojira when you need him
http://roberthood.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/giantmonster_pp52-53.jpg
That's good for now. I don't know if this helps local REFs conjur stuff for their next gaming session, but there you go.
Any feedback?
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Tardigrades were taken to space in the shuttle and survived for several days outside the craft. They were alive when they brought them back in and the little beasts are capable of surviving temperature extremes that would kill a anything else. And all this is despite the fact that they are an aquatic animal.
I imagined, after looking at one, that these could be suitable spaces monsters if large enough. They look like they would eat a scoutship venturing too close to some ice asteroid the giant monster was gnawing on.
I imagined, after looking at one, that these could be suitable spaces monsters if large enough. They look like they would eat a scoutship venturing too close to some ice asteroid the giant monster was gnawing on.
Yes, please don't include any images over 800px wide... it makes it hard to read the page.
