Cepheus Review Ch13: Planetary Wilderness Encounters
Oh the things you will see.
TOC
The Story So Far
Since it’s been a while between some commentary and dealing with work and other distractions:
In our last outing we spent some time with the generation system for creating the stellar map for the region the characters are playing, and the main world or feature for each system . The Cepheus system adds a few details, but much like the basic CT rules doesn’t go into obsessive detail.
Lest you think said detail is solely the province of T5, I invite you to look at the expansion book “Scout” for CT. I wasted a lot of time in high school using a pencil as a D6 to roll up complete star systems. The book not being anywhere near as large as the DMG or Battletech rulebooks helped keep me out of trouble with the teachers.
Bluntly, half the fun of being a GM / Ref in Traveller is playing with the creation tools.
Another thing is obvious so far, that there is an essential spirit baked into CT that continues all the way through Mongoose/Cepheus and into T5 - that a large part of the game is in the creation of things, and that the tools are there to give you a structure so that you as the GM don’t have to think of everything, but can instead riff off of what you discover. Granted, in T5, you have to remind yourself that you don’t need to use all of the granularity available. As an aside - a lot of the fun of Battletech and Car Wars back in the day was the ability to design your own vehicles and mechs - something that the latest iteration of what’s labeled “Car Wars” seems to have completely forgotten. Even Gaslands, as simple as its system is compared to classic Car Wars, gives you options.
What has changed so far are to lesser and greater degrees the following : a more standardized task resolution system that still hews to the original concept, and starship combat has left CT’s wargaming roots for something far more amenable to role-playing. Other details have changed as well, but those are so far the biggest systemic changes.
In short - the Traveller series of rules is both a complete role playing system with a means to create characters, scenarios, and campaigns for them (via patrons and other random encounters) but also the tools needed to define the world up to nearly any depth the GM needs instead of leaning entirely on his own imagination.
Wilderness Encounters
Wilderness encounters are one of the places we see both the original CT ideas in play, and some new philosophy in how to use them. We still have the basic four types: herbivore, omnivore, carnivore, and scavenger. On the other hand, we now have a couple additions that are further fleshed out in the T5 edition rules:
Instinct: Instinct is the animal equivalent of Education. Animals apply their Instinct DM to tasks such as sensing prey or solving problems.
Pack: Pack is the animal equivalent of Social Standing. The higher a creature’s Pack score, the larger the group that it is associated with, and the more standing the creature has in that group.
One other thing made more obvious later in the chapter that should be kept in mind are that these rules have been slightly rejiggered to explicitly allow creation of animal encounters on the fly, as well as for filling out a CT-style animal encounter table.
Choosing Terrain
The first step. The terrain type has an impact on both the size (water animals can often grow much larger than their landbound equivalents) as well as a modifier for the subtype found in a later table. You also roll a D6 to determine the basic form of locomotion (A for Amphibious, F for Flight, S for Swimming, and W for Walking)
Types and subtypes
Interestingly the basic type is determined either by GM fiat or by placement in an encounter table, rather than roll, but that’s easily enough addressed. Subtypes include filters, pouncers, grazers, and so on by general behavior for gathering food.
Subtypes also have modifiers, and earthbound examples of each.
Carrion-Eater (vulture): Scavengers which wait for all other threats to disperse before beginning. Carrion-eaters have Recon. Instinct +2.
Chaser (wolf): Animals which kill their prey by attacking and exhausting it after a chase. Chasers have Athletics. Dexterity +4, Instinct +2, Pack +2.
Eater (army ant): Eaters will eat anything they encounter, including characters. Endurance +4. Pack +2.
Filter (earthworm): Herbivores which pass their environment through their bodies are termed filters. Unlike grazers, which move to food, filters move a flow of matter through themselves and filter out the food. Endurance +4.
Gatherer (raccoon, chimpanzee): Gatherers are herbivores that collect and store food. Gatherers have Recon. Pack +2.
Grazer (antelope): Grazers move from food source to food source, often in large packs. Their primary form of defense tends to be fleeing danger. Instinct +2, Pack +4.
Hijacker (lion): Scavengers which steal the kills of others through brute force or weight of numbers are hijackers. Strength +2, Pack +2.
Hunter (baboon): Opportunistic predators that stalk easy prey. Hunters have Survival. Instinct +2.
Intermittent (elephant): Herbivores that do not devote their entire time to searching for food. Intermittents have Pack +4.
Intimidator (coyote): Scavengers which establish their claim to food by frightening or intimidating other creatures.
Killer (shark): Carnivores that possess a raw killing instinct, attacking in a frenzied manner. Killers have Natural Weapons and either Strength or Dexterity +4, Instinct +4, Pack –2.
Pouncer (cat): Pouncers kill by stalking and ambushing their prey. Pouncers have Recon and Athletics. Dexterity +4, Instinct +4.
Reducer (vermin): Reducers are scavengers that act constantly on all available food, devouring even the remains left by other scavengers. Pack +4
Siren (venus fly-trap): Sirens create a lure to attract prey. Usually, this lure will be specific to the species the siren preys on, but some rare lures are universal. Pack –4.
Trapper (spider): An animal which allows its prey to enter a trap. Generally, any creature surprised by a trapper is caught in its trap. Pack –2.
Size and characteristics
A 2d6 roll is used to determine the size, modified as above. This is used to determine strength, endurance, and weight. Animals still have intelligence but roll 2d6 plus modifiers for instinct. All animals will have level-zero in athletics, recon, and survival, with many having 1d6 split between them. There are also skills available based on the behavior of the animal and subtype, as well as any natural weapons if relevant.
Weapons, armor, speed
Speaking of, there are of course tables for that. For weapons omnivores and carnivores get varying bonuses, while herbivores get a negative modifier. This skews the list to hooves and horns for herbivores and teeth, claws, and stingers for predators. Projectiles are also a possibility. Armor on the other hand gets a boost from size, and herbivores and scavengers also get a bonus, while predators tend to have less armor.
Speed, however, instead of being a general table with modifiers, has a list of specific entries by subtype to determine a multiplier of standard human speed:
I think this is one place where a bit of granularity is entirely reasonable but not present. There may be creatures that can move, but nowhere near as fast as a human - think in terms of a D&D slime that can creep along at a meter per second or several meters per minute.
Damage is determined by taking the strength, and based on the value, how many dice of damage are dished out.
Encounter Tables
Two basic templates are offered here for encounter tables, 1d6 and 2d6, along with a completed example. The GM is free to create a subtable for events, and on some worlds, such as airless ones, encounters with lifeforms will likely either be rare - but known - or vanishingly rare and unique.
Universal Animal Format
Because there is more information on animal types, there is now a recommended format closer to that of NPCs for defining an animal and its relevant traits and skills.
Reactions
I love reaction rolls. They have resulted in both the utterly expected outcome, the completely unexpected outcome, and more than a fair bit of hilarity including orcs in Dwimmermount leaving offerings and their own candles next to to the candle the party cleric would place at the furthest point of exploration.
In Cepheus, these reactions largely boil down to flight or fight by subtype, where “fight” may be predicated on numerical superiority and not just a straight die roll.
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