[ACKS] Dinosaur, Ankylosaurus

Armoured to the hilt with bony plates and armed with a massive club of a tail capable of crushing most predators, the Ankylosaurus has the abilities, as well as the necessary temper, to defend itself from any perceived threat. This herbivorous dinosaur is quick to anger, and views most other creatures of Man-size or larger as potential predators, hence to be minced with its crushing tail. At the length of 30' and with a weight of 6 tons, this is a difficult, but rewarding, challenge for hunters, and its meat may feed an entire tribe of barbarians for a few days.

[ACKS] Dinosaur, Alamosaurus

The Alamosaurus is an enormous sauropod herbivore, ranging up to 80' in length, with a shoulder height of 20' and a weight of approximately 30 tons. At this size, even Tyrannosauruses will hesitate to attack, unless the Alamosaurus is weak, or a youngster separated from its herd; when in a herd, virtually no predator will dare hunt this giant creature. An Alamosaurus, therefore, has little to fear from predators, and is rarely aggressive unless cornered, or unless defending its young. When it does attack, however, it uses its sheer weight to trample any smaller aggressor; against Human-sized or smaller creatures, it gains +4 to-hit to such an attack. While some tribes and city-states tame Alamosauruses to serve as giant beasts of burden, their slow pace and non-aggressive nature make them ill-suited to use as war-beasts.

[ACKS] Digester

The Digester, created from dinosaur stock by foul magicks, is a hunting and eating machine equipped with a powerful acid-spraying natural weapon where its head should have been. It stands about 5 feet tall and is 7 feet long from snout to tail and weighs about 350 pounds. When it is not hungry (which is rarely), it lies low and avoids most other creatures. When hunting, it looks about for a likely target, then charges forth and delivers a gout of acid. If the initial attack is insufficient to kill the prey, the digester attacks with its hind feet until it can spray acid again. As an ambush predator, the Digester has +2 to all surprise rolls.

A Digester may spray acid in a 20-foot cone, dealing 4d8 points of damage to everything in the area. Once a digester uses this ability, it may not use it again for 1d4 rounds. The creature may also produce a concentrated stream of acid that deals 8d8 points of damage to a single target within 5 feet. In either case, a save vs. Breath Weapons halves the damage.

[ACKS] Destrachan

The dungeon-dwelling Destrachan looks like some bizarre, nonintelligent dinosauroid, but it’s an incredibly crafty sadist with a sharp, malign intellect. A Destrachan has a pair of complex, three-part ears that it can adjust to be more or less sensitive to various sounds. It is blind, yet hunts with a sense of hearing more precise than most creatures’ sight. From its tubular mouth, a Destrachan emits carefully focused harmonics, producing sonic energy so powerful it can shatter a stone wall. So skilled is a Destrachan at controlling the sounds it emits that it can choose what type of material to affect with its attack.  A Destrachan is about 10 feet long from its mouth to the tip of the tail and weighs about 4,000 pounds. It uses echolocation to find its way unerringly in the dark, as if it possessed perfect eyesight. Lacking real eyes, however, this monster is immune from gaze attacks or any other effects based on eyesight, and, furthermore, saves against sonic or other auditory attacks as a level 12 Fighter. The Destrachan uses its claws only as a last resort or to finish off foes weakened by its sonic attacks. It often enters battle with surprise if possible. It first focuses on destroying metal armour and weapons and then changes to harmonics that disrupt flesh.

The Destrachan's main offensive power is its Destructive Harmonics – a powerful sonic attack. The creature may blast sonic energy in a cone up to 80 feet long, or, alternatively, it may also use this attack to affect any creatures or objects within a 30-foot radius. It can tune the harmonics of this destructive power to affect different types of targets. First, it may disrupt soft tissue and rend bone, dealing 4d6 points of damage to all living beings within the affected area (a save vs. Paralysis is allowed for half damage). Alternatively, it may focus its harmonics on knocking out foes rather than slaying them; this attack deals 6d6 points of nonlethal damage to all within the area (a save vs. Paralysis is allowed for half damage). Finally, when using a third form of harmonics, a Destrachan may choose between wood, stone, metal, or glass. All objects made of the chosen material within the area of affect are shattered on a roll of 15+ (if carried by a character or creature, the carrier may save vs. Paralysis instead in order to avoid losing the object. Magical or advanced technological objects are immune from this attack.

[The Scrapyard] Carcosa Re-Imagined with Stars Without Number?

I own a copy of the very cool, high-production-value hardcover version of Carcosa by Geof McKinney, an ultra-weird horror-fantasy-sci-fi setting by Lamentation of the Flame Princess. This setting, if you recall, had some controversy going around it due to the very horrific (and utterly perverted) nature of some dark magical rituals contained therein. Anyhow, this is heavy metal sword & sorcery played to the hilt, and over-the-top, with aliens, robots, Cthulhu, dinosaurs, lasers and terrible sorceries, all intermixed with loin-clothed barbarians with strange body colours.

Despite the utmost coolness of this setting, it does have some weaknesses, such as the utter lack of hope (in a sense, what your characters do means very little in the big picture), which is suitable for Call of Cthulhu but not very suitable for the D&D type of heroic sword-and-sorcery, as well as the very random nature of the game mechanics added in Carcosa.

So one of my "scrapyard" projects (i.e. ideas I keep stashed for a time I'll have more free time on my hands) is a Carcosa Redux of my own, similar to Carcosa Rehab by Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque's Jack. That is, keeping the coolness of Carcosa while editing out the less interesting, and more random, bits.

And for that, I think I found the perfect ruleset: Stars Without Number, as well as its Post-Apocalyptic supplement, Other Dust. They have plenty of rayguns, robots, machines, aliens and psionics between them, as well as ample rules for low-tech combat, for a particularly enjoyable game of Carcosa Re-Imagined.

If I will pull this off, this will mean converting the various creatures and artefacts of Carcosa into SWN stats, as well as using the Other Dust settlement rules for Carcosa villages.

What do you think?

An Agama in the Winter

A wild Starred Agama (Laudakia Stellio) enjoying the sunny winter afternoon in Rehovot, Israel.

[Alkonost Sector] Type-52 Submachinegun

The Laana-made Type-52 Submachinegun is a very cheap and simple submachinegun, produced by Liberation Industries (state-owned by the Liberated Worlds government). It was originally made underground by the ULF resistance on Laana to arm the guerillas fighting the Machine overlords, but after the Liberation it has been supplanted by better weapons - such as the Type-84 Combat Rifle - and now this simple submachinegun is handed down to militia units and third-echelon troops. Oh, and it is also given to the various insurgent groups around the sector which Laana supports...

(inspiration for this gun came from two RL simple and cheap SMGs - the Sten and the PPS-43).

Here are a few sketches of it by Arthur Pollard (posted with his express permission):

The Standard Commercial version is the most widely available and commonly encountered. It is produced under license on a variety of worlds, predominately Sicarii, Apep and Chemosh, in addition to the main production line on Laana. Typical features include high quality finish of all metal surfaces and real wood on the buttplate, rear stock and hand grips.

This variant - the original - was used by United Liberation Front in Laana's highlands during the fight against the Machine overlords. Maintained, repaired or fully rebuilt under pre-industrial conditions, the guns see long service and endure conditions as hard as the men who use them. Typical modifications include a 'browning' finish on all metal parts, simple leather or canvas wraps and laces to replace fancier wood or composite decorations, removal of the trigger guard, and a heavy barrel without the typical cooling shroud. It is not uncommon for the gun to have two magazines laced together for fast insertion of a new magazine during combat.

The Government Pattern is an uncommon variant that is, none the less, occasionally encountered among private security forces or for sale on the civilian market. The original 'Type 52GP' was produced as part of a special order of 1000 improved Type 52 submachine guns for Liberated Worlds Security Forces. While only marginally successful in government service and eventually replaced by other weapons, it continues to be popular in a niche market of private security forces that like the rugged simplicity of the Type 52 and are willing to pay extra for a better quality weapon. Typical features include brushed stainless steel for all metal surfaces and molded synthetics on the buttplate, rear stock and hand grips. The barrel shrouds are replaced with a tactical rail for customizability and some form of quick aim optics are usually fitted to the receiver. An improved trigger assembly with a safety switch complete the upgrades.

In SWN game terms, this is a Submachinegun as presented in the SWN core rules, BUT it may only fire bursts (no single shots); the bursts add +2 to damage or a total of 1d8+2 danage per burst) but do not add the regular bonus to-hit from bursts due to the weapon's inaccuracy. The base version costs Cr120 rather than the regular Cr200.

The Government version, on the other hand, follows the regular SWN rules, and costs, for an SMG.