Sector I5 - New Manila Bay Marine Encounter Table

Our good friend John Till - the workhorse of Strange New World - has written in with a marine encounter table for New Manila Bay in Sector I-5. Enjoy!

Encounter Table - New Manila Bay Marine Encounters

Roll 2D6 and consult the results below.

2. Red patch of water
3. Pod of Rotorfins chopping its way through a school of fish – swimmers beware; number encountered 2-12
4. Quiescent patch of 1D100 nontoxic Cnidarians
5. Bioluminescent group of 1D100 Cnidarians engaged in synchronized pulse-signaling – Roll 1D6; result of 1-3 = toxic group, 4-6 = nontoxic group
6. Dinosauroids swimming deep under water; number encountered is 1-3
7. Dinosauroid catamaran fishing fleet; number of catamarans encountered is 1-6 (2-12 dinosauroids per catamaran, armed with blowguns, nets, spears, knives, and poison powders)
8. Huge hungry mosasauroid
9. Pod of Nautiloids; number encountered is 4-24
10. Radiation trail leading to 1D4 Enigma Boxes on the Bay floor
11. A school of 2D12 armored fish
12. Lone underwater dinosauroid guiding a pod of Rotorfins – toward you; number of Rotorfins encountered is 2-12

Attribution: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aigialosaurus_bucchichi.jpg

Sector I-5 - Intelligent Life Inland from Manila Bay?

New Manila Bay area

North shore of Hex 180.73: Several catamarans of local origin can be found hidden in small waterways within the wetlands on the north shore of Hex 180.73. Further exploration inland leads to the discovery of a cluster of several mud huts like these:

Photo c. 2012 John Everett Till

Exploration of the area around the huts proves slow going, as they are built on algae-rich shallow wetland areas with 10-20 cm of stinky green water over a dense layer of mud that is .5 to 1 meter thick.

The huts vary from 5-8 meters in diameter; inside the huts there is a variety of small objects (cutting tools, small piles of painted shells and stones, reeds woven into likenesses of wetland creatures). The center of the hut slopes steeply down so that the “floor” of the hut is in fact a bowl of wetland water with a mud bottom about 3 meters below.

A water-filled channel near the bottom of the hut pool connects this hut to a network of channels leading to the other huts. Visitors will feel they are being observed the entire time they are in this area.

Scanning the nearby forest areas with field glasses will indeed reveal that the explorers are being observed by several brown-green bipedal dinosauroids. These creatures are slightly taller than average humans: they’re about 6’8” tall. Most of them are caked in semi-dried mud. They also carry spears. They will withdraw if the explorers approach.

Hex 180.172: A bit further inland is a lagoon with deeper water. In the middle of the lagoon, three large plant structures rise up above a mud island. These structures are similar in diameter to the huts. The flat round upper structures of these plants have numerous holes. Some contain eggs within them.

Photo c. 2012 John Everett Till

All content copyright 2012 John Till

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An Intro to Sector T-3

Hereticworks does not mess around when it comes to Kepler22B!

Check out their intro to their sector BY CLICKING HERE

These folks put my inane ramblings to shame! Excelsior!

More Locales from Beautiful Sector C6

A few more looks into my region of K22b - enjoy!

The Pointer: A clearing here features a rather vast stone, dark grey, carved in the shape of the head of a magrippa bird, one of the local fauna, a black bird that resembles a cross between a shrike and a flamingo. The stone points toward an abandoned city of the short, headless crab people - an ancient people apparently now extinct.

Bunker: Folks walking through the underbrush of this hex might fall through a mat of dried, woven grass into a large, subterranean bunker. The chamber they fall into is dusty and filled with refuse. There are three sealed doors here that lead into the rest of the complex, which was apparently used in case of an atomic war - a war that very well might have happened, given the relative lack of native technology in this region. Explorers of the bunker might discover that it was built by the three-toed people. It contains some of their ancient, atomic-aged weaponry (no usable batteries, and one would have to rig up a way to make any of it work), samples of their pop culture (runs the gamut from books about philosophy to girly magazines), and a wide variety of colored lenses, the purpose of which is unknown.

Blazing Falls: A waterfall in this hex has a very high gas content and, in essence, is on fire. The fire runs into the pool beneath it and down the river a ways. The source of the gas is unknown, but would be a dandy thing for a scientific survey to discover!

Grand Altar: An alien ruin in this hex looks like a giant, spherical construction of pink-gray stone. A set of stairs leads up to a portal of pale pink jade and a door long since battered down. Within the temple, there is a floor of mosaic tiles depicting some sort of pink worms and the mysterious three-toed people destroying the headless crab people. There is a hole in the floor from which seeps some sort of colorless gas with a petroleum smell. If lit, it bursts into flames which form into a weird sphere that fills the center of the temple like a great, flaming all-seeing eye. The effect is extremely unnerving. The temple heats up quickly, and will be nearly unbearable in 10 minutes time.

Sector I-5 - First Look from John Till

Welcome to Sector I-5! The majority of the sector is tropical and/or subtropical with major land masses, islands, and oceans. This looks like a very lush area, with plenty of opportunity for jungle and deep sea exploration. There are also some desert and hill areas on the southwest side of the largest land mass. There is bound to be something interesting in that area as well.

Our initial focus is on Hex 180.73. It is located on the southeast corner of the tear-shaped island to the center-right of the sector map. Most of this hex is a great ocean bay that was identified from orbit as a potential area suitable for coastal settlements and harbor construction.

The bay has been dubbed New Manila Bay due to its oppressive humidity. It has abundant marine life including both armored fish (similar to Placodermi) as well as analogues of Earth’s more modern soft-bodied fish.

There are also numerous bioluminescent Cnidarians (jellyfish-like creatures) which surface and congregate several times per day. Their pulsating nocturnal displays are quite remarkable! The creatures also congregate in patterns that display mathematical progressions, which has been rather unsettling for observers.

Another distinctive feature of the bay – one which has been subsequently observed in other ocean areas – is the appearance of red scum on the ocean surface. This coloration is actually the chum created when pods of huge Rotorfish plough through schools of soft-bodied fish, slicing and dicing them before filter feeding on the blood and meat bits.

The soft bodied fish are also a potential food source. Analysis will reveal that if a few genes are altered, the fish will be an excellent source of nutrition for human settlers.

Humans are not the first intelligent species to explore the bay. Indeed, several large catamarans are hidden in one of the bay’s many lagoons. Diligent explorers will find them on the north shore of Hex 180.73.

Be sure to also check out FATEsf.blogspot.com for new and alternative information on Kepler 22-B.

*I hyphenate this because an I (i) looks so much like an l (L)

What The?

I don't know what this is. Found it on Wikimedia Commons. I do know that it is the work of Gnot Guedin, so don't steal it. Just enjoy it.

Click to make larger - you need to see if full size to appreciate the work.

More from Sector C6

Image from wikipedia

Hermits in the Hills: These hills have long been attractive to a breed of strange, religious hermits from the south. The caves are dry and cool, and the landscape abounds in easily accessed edibles, especially a button-sized mushroom that helps the hermits slip into their trances. The soft-shelled southerners have built quite a pilgrimage business around these hermits, with well-traveled trails leading down from the hills to large wooden roadhouses with grand courtyards, stables, etc. These are linked to the southern market towns via brick roadways that are beginning to show their age. Spacers are generally unwelcome at the roadhouses and in the Hermitage Hills, as they are considered a pox on the local culture and a threat to the ruling elite of the market towns. The loudest opposition comes from the few spacers that live among these people and have "gone native" - though not so native as to not use a blaster to fry unwelcome intruders.

Mining Operation: A small band of prospectors has set up an illegal mining operation here, using heavy industrial disintegrators to plow up large swathes of the landscape to get to the veins of valuable ores (triskellium, lopadite and pseudo-silver deposits) below. The last batch of rains washed down from the hills and destroyed a portion of the camp and caused a flood in the lowlands. The sodden landscape is now crawling with bee-spiders, whose stings carry a rotting disease that has claimed many of the miners.

Landing Strip: The survey scouts have cleared this area to build a landing strip. The strip is too small for large, interplanetary craft, but is perfect for the light atmosphere freighters that deliver supplies from the Port Gernsback. A small caretaker's shack has been constructed from corrugated plaz-board and tin packing sheaths, and is lived in by Urgo Ezbik, an odd man who survived a zombie war but lost his left arm (he thinks it is still out there looking for him) and a small piece of his sanity. Still, he's a wiz with aircraft repairs. He has stocks of ammunition and food hidden throughout the area.

Olvugai Scout Survey: A team of olvugai are scouting this area in pogos on behalf of the Andromeda Confederation. They are mercenary scientists, but not particularly violent. One has been infected by alien bacteria (an oddity for olvugai) and they are at a loss to solve the problem, as their small supply of medicinal powders and tonics has proven ineffective.

Ancient City: The remains of an ancient city of the three-toed people sits here, choked by jungle and as-yet unexplored by spacers. The ruins hide large reservoirs of fresh water (much of it heavy), a large idol of golden-radium, subterranean laboratories, armories, treasure vaults and summoning chambers, and other wondrous things. Those who enter must beware the fungal growths that look like unicorn horns that will inevitably spring up on their unprotected skulls. The images of the three-toed people all show similar horns on their heads. They are, in fact, a form of fungal parasite/symbiote that did most of that species' heavy thinking and planning. They survive as an airborne fungus that clings to and then grows on sentient beings. There is a 1 in 6 chance per person they grow on that they will make meaningful contact and begin conquering their mind. Otherwise, they scramble a person's synapses and leave them a shuddering, incoherent mass on the forest floor.

Three bull zartodons have taken up residence here, sending out arcs of photovoltaic energy to attract females.

Every Alien Planet Needs a Good Logo ...

... and thanks to Judy and Jim Garrison at Hereticwerks, Kepler 22-B has one!

Says the artiste:

"We've been working a bit on our section of Kepler 22-B, and have created a graphic (a sample is attached) that we're using in our side-bar and in our posts to identify our Kepler 22-B/Strange New World posts. One of the other contributors to the Strange New World project has asked permission to use this graphic, so we thought that we'd contact you and offer to make this graphic available for use by the members of the project as a free resource. We have set up a Page at Hereticwerks that spells everything out fairly simply. The graphic is free to use, so long as we are given credit, it is not used commercially (without permission), and it is shared alike. A variety of sizes are available at the Photobucket folder in both JPEG and PNG format, and we can make things available in other sizes/formats if asked.

You can see the graphic in the right-hand side-bars at both Hereticwerks and Garrisonjames, and it will be in-use at John Till's SciFi-RPG blog currently under construction."

So, my sincerest thanks to Hereticwerks for the spiffy logo. If you are a contributor to the blog and want to use it, make sure you follow the rules. I don't want to have to sic Star Patrol on your sorry utt!

More Previews of C6

Alien Dinos: A herd of alien lifeforms that look like long-legged, soft shelled turtles, are grazing on the dark, spicy fruit of the tall umbrella trees that fill much of this hex. One of them has been tagged by some other survey team, and the group are wary around aliens (i.e. there is a 1 in 6 chance they will charge).

Androids: A band of the silver-faced androids from Crux 12 has set up shop here. They purport to be doing a scientific survey, but their equipment is outdated and mismatched, and they seem as though they are hiding something. In fact, they are religious cultists and worshipers of the Worm - a 22nd century computer virus that targets computer systems and artificial intelligences. They seek out computer systems and do their best to infect them.

Danglers: This hex holds one of the more unusual life forms on the planet. Strips of amino acids that look something like gossamer threads drape the Y-trees here. They are not dangerous, and when (or if) ingested in the proper sequence (this could be determined by a biologist with the proper equipment and a genius for creative thinking) put people into a waking trance that allows them to view, from a deep, biological perspective, the evolutionary history of the planet. There is always a chance, though, that the strings are poisonous to some aliens, and that they might play havoc with the DNA of others.

Tripods: The woodlands give ground to rolling plains of orange onion-grass and white feather-fronds. Amidst this natural beauty there are hundreds of alien monuments that look like tripods about 20 to 30 feet tall made of amethyst-colored glass. This glass substance is extremely durable, and actually behaves more like metal when damaged (i.e. it bends and dents, rather than shatter, but can be scratched). Each tripod has three legs (obviously) that join a ring. The interior of the ring carries a strange static charge. What this means is a mystery. (P.S. -Amethyst Tripod would be a great name for a band).

Canyon of Bones: A canyon here, with rugged walls (many hand and toe-holds and small, shallow burrows of the local petting-spiders) is filled with thousands upon thousands of bones. Most are animal in nature, but there are many humanoid bones mixed in as well, representing most of the intelligent species native to the planet. Kaiser-dogs burrow through the damp ground at the bottom of the canyon (it appears to have once been the bed of a small river) and the native bacteria seems to have given them a dim sentience of their own. Those who spend the time to dig deeper into the muck might find strange beings with large heads and small, bony bodies curved into a fetal position buried in the muck. These creatures appear to be carved from ivory, but are in fact a profoundly powerful species of psychics in suspended animation, awaiting the return of the river. Many of the locals regard them as sleeping gods, and make sacrifices to them (i.e. the bones).

Sector C6 Takes Shape ...

Source

These previews are my own (and about damn time I wrote them) ...

DOME OF THE PRESERVERS: Dwarfed by the soaring jungle canopy, one might discover a great Dome of the Preservers in this hex. The dome is constructed of a greenish metal of wholly alien origin, and, unlike many of the ruins to be found in the galaxy, this one is intact!

The dome is approximately one mile in diameter and about 300 feet high without an apparent means of entry. In fact, there are several access points on the exterior, all of them leading into the outer ring of the dome. One can open one of these access points by playing five musical notes (you know the five, and your players should be able to figure them out). Upon playing these notes, a door simply appears, the metal appearing to pull back almost like a curtain - at this point, scientists will note that the dome (exterior and interior) is composed of billions of tiny "granules" of green metal that react primarily to musical notes.

The outer ring of the dome is a passageway lit by a dim radiance that seems to just radiate from the walls, floor and ceiling. The same musical notes that gained one entry can be used to open passages into the inner ring, from which one can enter various chambers (offices, storage, etc.) of the alien Preservers, or call up from a subterranean storage tube thousands of alien animals from the past of Kepler 22B and many other planets. All of them are stored in force cages in temporal stasis, though various tunes can awaken and even release them (one must take care). The Referee should assign effects to the eight basic musical notes, both singly and in combination, allowing explorers to cause all sorts of havoc as they puzzle their way through them. The force cages literally rise from gaps that form in the green floor of the central hall of the dome. One can bring up 100 different cages at a time, creating a little zoo.

You can use the handy dandy alien animal generator in Space Princess to whip up the inhabitants of the force cages, as well as throw in a few famous beasts drawn from sci-fi literature. The Preservers also maintained a few sentient beings in temporal stasis, so a rare musical combination could bring one of these aliens up from the depths.

TRANSHUMANISTAS: The Transhumanistas are a motorcycle gang that roams the galaxy in search of rare components to help them leave their human shells behind, that they might ... oh hell, they're a bunch of nutty cyborgs who like to steal things and cause trouble. Fifty of them have set up camp here. They're scouting out the alien ruins and contemplating making a run on Galaxy Ranger post in the hills. The gang is led by The Black Daedalia, a woman who is now only 13.5% organic.

SLIME POTS: In this area, the thick jungle gives way to rocky plains dotted by tufts of tough, orange-green grass and something the explorers have termed "slime pots". The slime pots look something like the famous Indian paint pots of Yellowstone (a national park located on Earth in the United States of America), but they are filled with a shimmering, shivering ooze that is capable of spitting globules at creatures that approach too close (15 feet is usually a safe distance, but the pots have been known to spit up to 22 feet away). The slime globules burn the skin and cause their victims to hallucinate and lose their balance. They are gradually eaten away, hosting a new colony of slime, which begins constructing a new slime pot where its victim has fallen.

The entire area is crisscrossed by underground thermal vents, making the rocky ground warm and allowing various gasses to escape through cracks. These gasses have a tendency to inebriate humans and human-like aliens, making them easy targets for the slime pots.

An artificially intelligent communication satellite of the Jark Collective has recently fall into the area of the  slime pots, and is waiting impatiently to be recovered and repaired.

BROWN BELLIES: The brown bellies are massive fungal domes that grow in the shade of the jungle. Each dome is a hemisphere measuring 1d4 + 6 feet in diameter. These domes play host to hives of alien wasps who operate on a higher mental plane than the average insect, using telepathic signals to link their miniscule minds into a single mind that is the equivalent of a 6 year old child with severe anger management issues.

VAMPIROIDS: A cruiser of the vampiroids was brought down on Keppler 22B some 500 years ago in a freak mishap. The ship's titanium superstructure has survived somewhat intact, though mostly buried, in the jungles here. The descendants of the vampiroids have survived as devolved, bat-like creatures with jutting fangs and a hankering for blood. They now dwell in the tree-tops in small cabals led by large, overbearing males. The females are capable of projecting illusions into people's minds, making themselves look like the seductive vampiroids of yore. Getting into the superstructure would present one with a treasure trove of vampiroid artifacts, and perhaps two or three members of the original crew in suspended animation.

Planet Building ... Silver Age DC-Style

Via HEROPRESS, a nifty map of Silver Age DC Krypton. Helluva place to adventure, wouldn't you say?

Who else would like to run a Krypton Science Police campaign on this map?

A Little Sci-Fi Inspiration from Basil Wolverton

Some classic image from the 1930's by Basil Wolverton, via Golden Age Comic Book Stories. Enjoy!

Are these things like a tourist's delight on this planet, or an actual menace?

As alien as our seas are, I can only imagine at actual alien seas.

Best part of this illo - the sci-fi utility shorts the aliens are wearing.

"I told you damn kids to play outside!"

I find myself drawn to 30's era spaceships more and more as I grow older. I have this weird feeling they got it right.

This and Leng were the prime inspirations for the plateau of Tsanjan in my Nod setting.

Saturn is proof that reality trumps imagination every time.

Some More K22B Previews from Luke DeGraw

Note: These Doctor Who fish-people are not necessarily related to those in Hex 160.59

Well, stocking old K22B has been a little slow - I finally have some ideas generated for my own chunk of the planet, though several other projects are holding me up on completing them. In the meantime, enjoy some more previews from Luke DeGraw and Sector B8 ...

Hex 67.18
Many animal trails lead to this hex from all directions, merging as they become progressively closer to an epicenter. Animals of all kinds make their way to the center of the hex, where all the trails merge. Once there, they stand without moving for several hours before moving away. Sometimes, a multitude of animals will be present, ranging from snakes, spiders, and other small vermin to desert deer and large predators. They will push together, attempting to be as close to the center as possible. No animal attacks another. Animals in the center of a group will leave by pushing their way past the others and another animal will take it's place.

Should an animal be attacked by a player character, all animals currently caught in the trance will quickly turn their head (or their body, if they have no independant head) and gaze at the offender. Their eyes will immediately emit a glowing red light. The red light acts as an Intimidation effect against all who can see the light equal to the median HD/level of all animals present plus three, and it has a 100 ft. range. Should the offender cease attacking (by their own volition or intimidation), the animals will continue gazing for 2d6 seconds before the light dies out and they turn back to the epicenter. Should the offender continue attacking, all animals present will attack. If the offender moves 100 ft. from the epicenter, the animals will cease attacking and move back to the epicenter. However, if the offender moves back within 100 ft., the animals will immediately attack again.

Should the players dig ten feet down at the epicenter, they will find a disc mesuring two feet in diameter and three inches thick made of metal. It will have a red light in the center of one side. If pressed, the red light will turn off; another press will turn it back on. When on, it attracts animals from all over the sector, at an effective rate of 1d20 per day. If the device is turned off when an animal is present, it will immediately begin acting like a normal animal, i.e. run away, attack, etc. Predator animals are likely to attack other animals, if present, before attacking the player characters.


Hex 160.59
A peaceful village rests here on the shore of a mountain lake. It is populated with a race of fish-scaled humanoids who live both on land an in the water. They speak of a time when they had access to a water-without-end, but now they cannot leave the lake because they cannot survive the surrounding desert. The village is a trading post of sorts, though travelers are infrequent. There are commodities to be bartered for here, most importantly metal workers who shape metal using high-pressure water techniques. All metal items produced here are extra durable (double applicable durability), and bladed weapons are extra sharp (+1 damage).

The local people will tell of a water-stop at the bottom of the lake. If the players can find a way to get to the bottom of the lake, they will find a spring that has been gummed up with the barnacles of some kind of creatures. Straying too close, crab-like creatures will spill forth and attack the group. These crabs are about the size of a dinner plate and have razor-sharp pincers. Strength in numbers is their advantage, so individually they will not be difficult to kill. Once the crab threat is removed (by destruction, or other means), the barnacles can be broken away, releasing a full torrent of spring water. This will cause the lake to fill far more than it's current level and over the course of a few weeks it will spill over to create a new river. This river will flow south into Sector B9 and into the sea there. Randomly determine the direction the river takes in each new hex it enters, though it will always bear southerly. The fish-people will reward the players for their gracious feat.


Hex 12.65
A statue-fountain of a humanoid woman is at the top of this mountain. The fountain is in the shape of a woman kneeling before a basin. The water from the fountain trickles from the woman's eyes and into the basin. The stream of water does not break when falling off the woman's chin, creating a silent flow. Should the players drink from the fountain, they will feel greatly refreshed and focused, removing fatigue and giving them +1 to skill checks for four hours. The water can be bottled, and there is enough water in the basin to fill three normal sized water skins or flasks. The water in the basin refills in one hour. When bottled, the water will retain is unique properties for fourteen days.

The statue-fountain is actually a rendition of a mother-goddess who eternally weeps in joy and sadness for her children. If a player prays to or meditates on the goddess for one hour before the statue and then sleeps at its base during the night, the player will be visited by a dream of the goddess. In the dream, the goddess will reveal the presence of an ancient evil inside the bowels of the arcology to the east. Should the player be willing, the goddess will task him or her with destroying the evil and pledge her assistance. When the player wakes, a 1-inch cube will be in the player's pocket. When confronting the alien at the bottom of the arcology, the cube will strongly vibrate and emit a sound like a continuous bell chime. If presented before the alien, the runes will glow bright blue and the alien will be incapacitated and weakened for five rounds. During that time, the alien will not be able to move, attack, or defend, and all player attacks will automatically hit.