Pretty good.. Needs to be finalized and submitted...

By Patrick H. Dillman (Patrick) on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 - 12:22 pm: Edit

Mmmmm, zombie ships!

But how do the "zombies" reload the munitions?
Seems to me that they could use whats already in the racks, but reloading should take more intelligence than a slime infestation would have.

That is, can it figure out that the long heavy
thingy over in the other room needs to be moved
to the funny tube thingy to make nasty annoying
ship out there go boom?

Probably not.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica) on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 - 02:12 pm: Edit

These aren't simple zombies; they are Cthtulu-esque critters, both nasty and cunning.

By Robert Snook (Verdick) on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 - 02:46 pm: Edit

I would think that the ship would have many of the benefits of a super-intelligent computer in terms of maneuverability.

By Greg Ernest (Grege) on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 - 08:23 pm: Edit

Somebody out there plays Ogre and has some of SJ's minis from the past couple of years, don't they???

This is fantastic!!! I need to see if I can spare a D5 hull for a conversion...

By Patrick H. Dillman (Patrick) on Wednesday, January 14, 2004 - 12:17 pm: Edit

Raymond: Submit it so that it can be playtested!
Love the idea, would like to play it myself.

By Ken Humpherys (Pmthecat) on Wednesday, January 14, 2004 - 05:28 pm: Edit

Here is a suggestion, "Eldrich" ships reproduce through certain types of damage to enemy ships. Examples:
Drones: Replace all drones with an unlimited supply of Spearfish-like drones. When the target is hit, roll vs the Hit and Run table. If the table indicates a successful H&R, the destroyed internal system becomes "infected."

Hit and Run Raids: If the ship has a chance it will perform a H&R vs a random system (use DAC to choose.) If sucessful, the target system is "infected."

Probes: Weapon Armed probes will fire a spore pod that hits using normal rules, but does damage like a Spearfish drone. A H&R roll is used to determine if internal damage is actually an "infection."

Infected systems will start spreading if not destroyed. An infected system generates 1 point of "pseudo-CDR" per turn. When this "CDR" is enough to repair the infected system, it is condidered to have been taken over. If after more 5 turns the infection is still not destroyed, it will perform a H&R raid against another random system every 5 turns.
Infections and taken over systems can be destroyed by applying CDR or other repair to the system. When repair points equal to repairing the infected system are generated, the infection is destroyed. If this "repair" does not count against repair totals, it does not repair the system. If you wish to use the system again, it must either count aginst repair totals, or be repaired at a later date.

If all systems are destroyed or infected, Boarding party combat will be now conducted against the crew with the number of H&R raids counting as the number of BP attacking that turn.

Infected systems count as Enemy BP to prevent self destruction.

By Raymond Ford (Raymond) on Thursday, January 15, 2004 - 11:27 am: Edit

This will teach me to post something and wander off for a couple of days.

Thanks, everyone, for the positive responses. I'm working on a final version for submission. I just thought that a little feedback on the working draft would reveal anything I overlooked.

By Craig Tenhoff (Cktenhoff) on Thursday, January 15, 2004 - 03:06 pm: Edit

I'd include 'shuttles' from infected ships as a way to spread the 'infection'. If the infected shuttle lands on an opposing ship, it counts as an infected system and begins to make H&R raids to spread the infection.

This will give ships without drone launchers another way to reproduce.

By Raymond Ford (Raymond) on Thursday, January 15, 2004 - 09:04 pm: Edit

Patrick Dillman:

Jessica Orsini's response was correct. An Eldritch Horror is intelligent. How intelligent is unclear, since it is a very alien form of life. On the other hand, the crew units and boarding parties that it spawns are not intelligent on their own. They don't need to be, since their only purpose is to provide the hands and bodies that an Eldritch Horror needs to survive.

Robert Snook:

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll have go over the rules for super intelligent computers.

Greg Ernest:

I've never played Ogre, but the mini that you are referring to was a source of inspiration.

Ken Humpherys and Craig Tenhoff:

I thought about including rules for starting an infestation during a scenario, but I had concerns about making capturing a ship too easy. If the process is too fast, the question of why there are not more Eldritch Horrors out there needs to be addressed.

On the other hand, I really like the ideas that both of you have come up with. Mind if I think it over for awhile?

By Craig Tenhoff (Cktenhoff) on Thursday, January 15, 2004 - 11:43 pm: Edit

No problem.

Another thought is that an Eldrich Horror must 'capture' a ship through a boarding action with spawns, so that it can dock and 'infect' a new host ship.

By Scott Tenhoff (Scottt) on Friday, February 06, 2004 - 01:55 pm: Edit

A new monster for the Tholian Home Galaxy.

One that feeds on Web, Space Leech, came from the Storm Zone around the THG Core before the Selt Revolt. After losing numerous bases, they were hunted down and exterminated (their breeding ground) in the Storm Zone (with great loss of Selt life, awe shucks)

Immune to phaser fire, so only damagable by PCs or Lab researching a way.

Make the Tholians rely on Selts for something.

By Herb Diehr (Direwolf) on Monday, February 09, 2004 - 12:51 am: Edit

A simple idea for why there are so few horrors: while the takeover is quick, the next spawning takes some time before it may occur due to the need to mature. Many of the CTHULU creatures did their evil slowly, in out-of-the-way places and spread very slowly.

By Robert Eddy (Tar_Zhay) on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 06:25 pm: Edit

Just a thought.
The boarding parties and crew sent to capture a new ship can be use to "Infect" the new ship and reproduce a new Horror. Using the killed or wounded crew/boarding parties of the new ship start CDR on the about to be captured ship...
Example:
4 Eldritch boarding parties and 1 Eldritch crew is beamed on the Victim ship. The Eldritch crew starts using the Killed crew as supplies and start repairing a transporter with CDR. After completion only the Eldritch Crew can use this transporter and now can start repairing the rest of the ship for complete absorption. If all the command station (bridge, Aux, Emr) are repaired the ship is under the eldritch control and (normally) is lost…

This way they can slowly absorb the ship. The only way to destroy the absorption is to “Vandalizing” the ship…

For even more horror: For every two boarding parties “Killed” or one Militia, one Eldritch boarding parties are created (remember when a boarding party is destroyed every other is “killed”).

It's good to know their are still Cthulhu players out there...

By Gerhard Thamm (Gthamm) on Sunday, March 14, 2004 - 01:22 am: Edit

Love the game and would buy in a second. I like the idea of more solo missions. I have a hard time getting others together and my addiction can't be stopped.

By Gerhard Thamm (Gthamm) on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 01:53 pm: Edit

Is it posible for someone to reprint the Juggernaut scenerio here I have never seen it and I couldn't find the moudule that a person here said it was in. That would be cool if you could thanks.

By Oliver Dewey Upshaw III (Oliverupshaw) on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 02:06 pm: Edit

It was not in a module, it was in Captain's Log #1. IIRC SVC is planning on releasing all of the older Captains Log's fiction and the Nexus Fiction along with their scenarios in a future product. Putting it on the website would hurt sales of the future product and so most proably will not be done.

By John Erwin Hacker (Godzillaking) on Saturday, April 03, 2004 - 01:39 pm: Edit

To whom concerned:
Where can I get a copy of the Ancient Space Dragon mentioned in the archives here. Everytime that I click on the link it comes up "OOPS" and I get nowhere. Thank You.

By Robert Russell Lender-Lundak (Rusman) on Wednesday, April 21, 2004 - 05:48 pm: Edit

Robert Snook (Verdick),

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I would think that the ship would have many of the benefits of a super-intelligent computer in terms of maneuverability.

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It's good to know their are still Cthulhu players out there...

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By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 11:32 am: Edit

Rusman,

I suspect that your terminology is not quite correct...IIRC a 'seance' (sic) is still an occult practice...check with any resident witches or warlocks to be sure though!

If Verdick's wife takes it from a different POV, the opposing term might be exorcism.

By Jay K Gustafson (Jay) on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 06:07 pm: Edit

How about a space ghost.

By Jim Cummins (Jimcummins) on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 06:23 pm: Edit

I had an Idea for Monster Asteroids, actually three ideas the first would be like a Rocky PAC-MAN, fast and maneuverable trying to take bites out of ships.
The Second was asteroids with giant maws and control of gravity, sort of like black hole attractions for short bursts, to draw foods, and themselves closer together. The gravity would work on each other, and they would hunt in packs.
The third was to fill an asteroid field with giant Venus flytrap asteroid. They look perfectly normal and then snap from 1-2 hexes away. SNAP!
some interactive terrain.

By Robert Russell Lender-Lundak (Rusman) on Sunday, April 25, 2004 - 05:35 pm: Edit

Jswile,

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terminology is not quite correct...IIRC a 'seance' (sic) is still an occult practice...

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