Spes Magna Games

kinetic: (adj.) of, relating to, or resulting from motion

Nota Bene: In keeping with my Old School theme this month, I’ve previously posted material for TSR’s 1st edition Gamma World and Chaosium’s 4th edition Stormbringer. In keeping with that trend, I’ve dusted off TSR’s Marvel Super Heroes for today’s post. If you like this game, check ClassicMarvelForever.

Khalid commands impressive power, both directly in the force of his ability to manipulate kinetic energy, but also through his extensive resources and connections. While much of his past is hidden in a tangle of contradictory stories, maybe none of which is actually true, Khalid is not an unknown quantity. He has amassed a considerable fortune through his business and scientific acumen, and he is well known and respected in international terrorist circles.

Within those circles, Khalid seldom takes a direct hand. Instead, he provides weapons and financial backing, always insulated from direct condemnation by layers of plausible deniability. Everyone knows Khalid is a terrorist, but no one can ever seem to show his involvement in any terrorist activity.

The source of Khalid’s superhuman powers is unknown. He does not seem to be a mutant. Given his intelligence and scientific knowledge, it is most likely he gained his powers through some sort of experiment. Regardless of the source of his powers, Khalid is not be underestimated. He is intelligent, ruthless, and sophisticated.

Khalid
Fighting: Good (10)
Agility: Good (10)
Strength: Typical (6)
Endurance: Excellent (20)
Reason: Remarkable (30)
Intuition: Remarkable (30)
Psyche: Incredible (40)

Health: 46
Karma: 100
Resources: Incredible (40)
Popularity: -20

Talents & Powers: Business/Finance, Engineering, Martial Arts A, Physics

Kinetic Energy Control: Khalid controls kinetic energy with Amazing ability. He has developed several Power Stunts, which are detailed hereafter.

* Kinetic Acceleration: Khalid can increase his speed and reflexes via Kinetic Energy Control. This duplicates Remarkable Lightning Speed.

* Kinetic Blasts: Khalid can fire blast of kinetic energy out to Amazing range, inflicting up to Amazing damage.

* Kinetic Reduction Aura: In a one area radius around Khalid, the force of kinetic energy is reduced. This imposes a -4CS to Fighting, Agility, movement powers, and damage from attacks that rely on kinetic force. Only damage from attacks that rely on kinetic force can be reduced Shift 0. Other affected qualities can be reduced to no lower than Feeble. For every affected target, increase Khalid’s Strength by +1CS (maximum Amazing). Khalid is not affected by his own kinetic reduction aura.

* Kinetic Sense: Khalid can detect sources of kinetic energy within his area. He uses his Kinetic Energy Control rank instead of Intuition for determining surprise, instead of Fighting for blocking, and instead of Agility for dodging, assuming the source of the threat results from kinetic energy.

Tags: A to Z 2014, Marvel Super Heroes, NPCs

jaded: (adj.) tired, bored, or lacking enthusiasm, typically after having had too much of something

Yeşim Taşı hails from Glædwine, where she grew up in modest circumstances for the first couple of decades of her life. When Yeşim was in her late teens, she scored “moderate potential” on psychic aptitude tests, but was later rejected from academy studies due to a “lack of discipline and moral seriousness”.

Yeşim’s psychic aptitude was not one of “moderate potential”, but instead represents a shift in psychic norms that no test at the time was constructed to properly evaluate. In truth, Yeşim possesses hyper-precognitive abilities, which she has developed and sharpened on her own through trial and error since being rejected by the academy. Yeşim now continuously “sees” several seconds into the future at all times.

In the decade since her academy rejection, Yeşim has experienced a lifetime of adventure. She has been a mercenary, an explorer, a grifter, an entrepreneur, and a smuggler, and she has enjoyed great success in all of these ventures. Indeed, her successes have been so great and so consistent that Yeşim has grown bored with it all.

Only in her early thirties, Yeşim is fabulously wealthy, and she has a list of influential allies nearly as long as her list of sworn enemies. She is restless, eager to answer some new challenge that for at least a while can keep her thrilled, feeling alive.

Due to her hyper-precognition, Yeşim succeeds where most people of similar experience and skill would fail. She “sees” the consequences of her actions before she takes those actions. This has three game effects:

1. Yeşim always rolls twice for any attack roll, skill check, or saving throw, and she takes the better of the two rolls. She is also better able to avoid attacks, even those she may not be aware of. Yeşim has a +4 bonus to Armor Class as a result.

2. Once per hour, she may use the omen precognition psychic power with no power point cost. This permits Yeşim to experience a brief subconscious examination of future possibilities. She must have a relatively straightforward choice before her, perhaps to open a box, swallow a pill, or go into a spaceport bar. Yeşim receives a distinct sense of whether following that course of action will result in physical injury or mental distress within the next ten minutes, according to the GM’s best judgment of likely outcomes.

3. With no power point cost, Yeşim may use the foretelling psychic power. With ten minutes of focused meditation, she can activate this power for an impression of the next important event that is likely to involve her personally within the next week. Brief images and visions of place are usually obtained, usually involving those people and locations most important to the event. If no important event is likely to happen within the next week, the power returns nothing. This ability can be used only once per week or until the foreseen event comes to pass, whichever comes first.

Yesim Tasi
Armor Class: 5 (unarmored)
Hit Dice: 6+6 (21 hit points)
Attack Bonus: +3
Damage: 1d6 laser pistol
Skill Bonus: +3
Saving Throw: 12+
Movement: 30 ft.
Morale: 10

Tags: A to Z 2014, NPCs, Stars Without Number

infernal: (adj.) liable to or deserving condemnation

Savaş hails from an alien world. Once he was something at least very close to human. He had a body of flesh and bone and blood. He loved a woman and the children she bore him. He served proudly as a warrior in the army of his sovereign, fighting with honor and ferocity to protect his people and their interests. Then came the demons from the stars, who disguised themselves as men and murdered warriors, stealing and imprisoning their brains within infernal machines of almost limitless destructive power.

This is how Savaş became an inhuman, infernal machine, designed and used by the demons in their endless wars against their enemies spread across thousands of worlds. After centuries of bloodshed, Savaş managed to overcome the demons’ control. His mind, so long unmoored from his body, grew strong enough to make a decision.

And so Savaş deserted the demons’ war, stealing a transport capable of voyaging between stars. When he found a distant world untouched by the demons or their enemies, Savaş abandoned the transport, crashing it into the arctic, nearly airless heights of an ice-capped mountain range. Everything and everyone Savaş loved is gone and turned to dust. He bears the guilt of one forced by amoral masters to slay thousands of sentient creatures in bloody conflicts in wars fought on countless worlds for centuries. Still, perhaps at long last, Savaş would know peace and independence.

And even the gods might have trouble preserving those who would dare come between Savaş and those goals.

Savaş is a death machine from TSR’s first edition of Gamma World, modified slightly and adapted for Swords & Wizardry. He is a ridiculously powerful NPC, able to single-handedly wreak destruction on an enormous scale. As a machine, Savaş doesn’t require food, water, air, sleep, et cetera. He is immune to poison and disease. Savaş is 20 yards long, 9 yards wide, and 4 yards high. He weighs a bunch of tons, and he is powered by a fusion reactor.

Savaş
Hit Dice: 167 (750 hit points)
Armor Class: 1 [18]
Attack: up to 6 weapons +15 (damage varies, see below)
Special: Advanced weaponry, anti-gravity pods, energy screens, sensors, telepathy
Move: up to 90 miles per hour (flying)
Saving Throw: 3
Alignment: Neutrality
Number Encountered: Unique
Challenge Level/XP: 155/49,400

Advanced Weaponry: Includes the following weapons. A single battery is treated like one weapon.

* 2 Blaster Cannons: 10d10 points of damage out to 750 yards, 7d10 point of damage out to 1500 yards, or 5d10 points of damage out to 3000 yards. A cannon takes 4 rounds to recharge after being fired.
* 6 Black Ray Cannons: Instant death to a single living target with 300 yards who is not protected by a force field. A single cannon can be fired once every 4 rounds.
* 16 Batteries of 4 Mark VII Blaster Rifles: 32d6 points of damage out to a range of 450 yards. A single battery can be fired once every 5 rounds.
* 4 Trek Guns: Fires a trek bomb that disintegrates everything within a 30-yard radius of the point of impact. The gun has a range of 200 yards. Each gun holds 2d10 bombs.
* 8 Laser Batteries of 5 Guns: 20d6 points of damage out to 750 yards, 15d6 out to 1500 yards, or 10d6 out to 3000 yards. A single battery can be fired once every 5 rounds.
* 6 Mini-Missle Launchers: 1d100 missiles per launcher. A mini-missile has a range of 2 miles. It explodes upon impact, inflicting 10d10 points of damage in a 20-yard radius.
* 1 Fusion Bomb Launcher: 5d10 fusion bombs total. The launcher has a 3000 yard range. A fusion bomb explodes, inflicting 15d10 points to everything in a 50-yard radius.

Anti-Gravity Pods: Permit flight at up to 90 miles per hour.

Energy Screens: Take 400 points of damage at AC 1 [18] before they shutdown. Recover 50 points of capacity per hour when not used.

Sensors: Sight into the infrared and ultraviolet portions of the spectrum to a range of 6 miles. Standard sensors approximate human sight and hearing.

Tags: A to Z 2014, Gamma World, NPCs, Swords & Wizardry

hybrid: (adj.) of mixed character; composed of mixed parts

I can’t help but think that if I’d known John Candy I would’ve loved him. Requiescat in pace, Mr. Candy.

Mog

“I’m a mog: half man, half dog. I’m my own best friend!”

Appearance & Biology

Mogs combine canine and human traits, but they favor the latter more heavily that the former. Most mogs have dog-like ears and canine noses. Rather than hair, most have fur growing on their heads, arms, and legs. Also, most mogs have a tail. Mogs can be found on many worlds, especially those with substantial human populations. This race needs atmospheres and biospheres miscible with human life in order to thrive. Mogs tend to be carnivorous, but they seldom object to supplementing their diets with tasty fruits, vegetables, and grains.

History

Pre-Scream gengineering projects produced the first generation of mogs for use in law enforcement and disaster response. Dogs of various breeds had been used by humans since prehistory. Policy makers thought that adding human intelligence to the canine’s trainability and loyalty would produce ideal police and emergency response support assets. When humanity took to the stars, they brought their mogs with them.

When the Scream shattered human colonies, mogs were instrumental in helping many survivors live through the chaos that followed. Other mogs found themselves forced to survive on their own. In the six centuries since the Scream, mogs have expanded and become more diverse. They are a common sight on many more populous worlds.

Psychology

Most mogs are insatiably curious, constantly prying into the affairs of those around them. They still retain a strong sense of pack life, and the concept of privacy tends to mean little to them. Mogs love to explore new places and meet new sapients. Consequently, mogs love to travel, and many roam the stars, working on spike-drive ships. The mogs’ pack instinct becomes most pronounced when they form attachments to humans. A loyal mog can be counted on through thick and thin, and many believe that mog is man’s best friend.

Mogs as Player Characters

A mog player character must have at least a 14 in either Wisdom or in Constitution. They are unrestricted in terms of character class, although psychic mogs are rare. Perception is always a class skill for a mog.

Tags: A to Z 2014, Stars Without Number

godforsaken: (adj.) lacking any merit or attraction; dismal

At the end of the last age, the armies of two warring kingdoms met on the fertile plains of Chumvitupa. The opposing commanders were both grand clerics, one serving Veshah, the other paying homage to Cro*. The latter cleric, Sjarel the Seven-Fingered, agreed to parley with Lus-Neske, Grand Cantrix of Veshah, one last time before the two armies clashed.

Sjarel delivered an impressive string of expletives and threats so grotesque and imaginative that several of Lus-Neske’s aides turned pale and trembled. Lus-Neske herself remained calm, even bemused. After Sjarel had vented his spleen, the Grand Cantrix smiled.

And then she sang a transcendentally beautiful ode that smote even Sjarel’s twisted heart, shaking Cro’s champion to the very core of his being. In tears, so overwhelmed with emotion that he could barely speak, Sjarel surrendered, falling to Lus-Neske’s feet and abasing himself before the Grand Cantrix.

Cro was so amused by this turn of events that he sent a howling wind that drove a flood of scorpions before it. This chittering, stinging tide of poison swept across Chumvitupa, scattering both armies. Sjarel the Seven-Fingered screamed until stinging things clogged his throat. Days later, when the flood of scorpions dispersed and skittered away, the fertile plains of Chumvitupa had been transfomed into a godforsaken expanse of dust and bizarre formations.

Today, nothing native to Chumvitupa isn’t deadly. Scorpions, spiders, spitting cobras, and beaded lizards abound. Chumvitupa’s sparse plant life is inedible. What water can be found collected into hollows turns sour quickly, even should it fall during one of the region’s rare, violent downpours. Salts and noxious substances seep from the ground, quickly turning fresh water into a toxic soup.

Cleric and druid spells are also affected by Cro’s curse on Chumvitupa. Anyone who casts a cleric or druid spell, including spells cast from magic items such as scrolls, must roll 2d6 and consult the following table:

2-3: The caster suffers 1d6 points of damage per level of the spell. The spell is wasted.
4: Another one of the caster’s spells takes effect instead.
5: The spell takes effect, but targets the caster.
6-8: The spell is wasted. It has no effect.
9: The spell takes effect, but against a random target.
10: The spell takes effect, but at 50% its normal strength, range, duration, et cetera.
11-12: The spell takes effect as normal.

* Veshah, the Goddess of Good, Archery, and Music. Veshah represents the good things in life. She defends her commmunity with her bow and arrows, and she enriches the spirit with her music. Complex exhibitions of orchestral archery are part of Veshah’s high rites.

Cro, the God of Truth, Chaos, and Opposites. Cro always speaks the truth. Cro always lies. Cro stands firm against what is evil. Cro revels in evil, his hands stained with innocent blood. Cro is all things, and all things are Cro.

Tags: A to Z 2014, place of power, Swords & Wizardry