Spes Magna Games

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

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

causal: (adj.) of, relating to, or acting as a cause

The causality virus, designed by the Highbeam Multistellar’s most skilled engineers on Bellatrix, carries on the in the same weapon-of-mass-destruction tradition as the Bellatrixian plague fungus. Despite its name, the causality virus is not an organism of any sort. Instead, it is a nanotech weapon system built to infiltrate energy systems and disrupt the causality of energy transfer within those systems.

Like almost all nanotechnologies, the causality virus is self-replicating. The initial payloads are delivered to the target areas via conventional means, such as a missile. The virus then spreads, seeking out energy systems. It “infects” these systems, disrupting energy transfer by using that energy to fuel the nanotech’s self-replication. Once the “infection” within a system reaches the point at which no further energy transfer occurs within that system, the virus seeks out a new target.

The virus devastates target areas. Obviously, it shuts down all technology more sophisticated than simple machines such as waterwheels. Organisms also have energy systems, and the causality virus attacks biological processes as well. The effects on a human, for example, produce blindness and deafness almost immediately, rapidly followed by paralysis and then the complete cessation of all biological functions. Death is swift and almost painless.

After the causality virus has done its deadly work, coded broadcasts from orbital assets signal the nanotech to self-destruct by shutting down its own energy systems. This permits invading forces to move into the previously infected areas to clean up the dead and reactivate technologies affected by the virus.

Tags: A to Z 2014, Stars Without Number, Tiamat's Throne

Another April is upon us, which means it’s time for another A to Z Blogging Challenge. (Nota Bene: Click on the pic to the right for more information about the challenge.) This will be the third year in a row I’ve picked up this particular gauntlet. If you’d like to review my previous efforts, please do so:

* A to Z 2012

* A to Z 2013

This year, I’m shooting for a theme. Since it’s April and the first letter is A, I’m going to build that theme around adjectives, with each blogpost featuring a different monster, villain, et cetera, each one characterized by a different adjective that starts with the day’s letter and focusing on OSR game systems, especially Swords & Wizardry and Stars Without Number. So, for example, if I weren’t copping out today with this introductory post, I might have instead written up some sort of atrocious villain.

Anyhoo, that’s it for today. See you tomorrow.

Tags: A to Z 2014, Stars Without Number, Swords & Wizardry

The holy man called Babur the Solicitous travels the spaceways, seldom in luxury but often for little or no cost to himself. Babur is an adherent to a tiny Buddhist sect, and the faithful believe Babur has been shown special favor due to his sacred lineage. Wealthy members of the sect provide Babur with generous stipends that permit him to wander the cosmos, spreading the message of enlightenment and aiding the oppressed, including those who are oppressed by their own selfish attachments.

Due to his martial arts training and unusual psychic powers, Babur is remarkably agile and quick-footed. His graceful punches, kicks, and walking stick moves can inflict damage even against targets that would otherwise be immune to low-tech attacks. A victim reduced to 0 hit points by such attacks is either unconscious for 1d4 minutes or helplessly restrained by the holy man, at the Babur’s discretion. Babur has an intuitive ability to communicate via psychic empathy with animal-intelligence xenobeasts. Such creatures seldom menace or attack Babur, and he can often influence them to follow simple mental instructions.

Stars Without Number Data

Babur the Solicitous
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 4
Attack Bonus: +4
Damage: 1d6+2 walking stick, or 1d8 weaponless
Skill Bonus: +3 (+6 for anything related to athleticism or perception)
Saving Throw: 13+
Movement: 45 ft.
Morale: 10

Tags: NPCs, Stars Without Number