Buck Rogers XXVc – Murderwasp

Another gennie created to terrify my player characters. This one came out of a conversation around the tenacity of hornets who will chase a target for miles if suitably enraged. Add a little mad science into the mix and before you know it there’s a suspicious briefcase full of angry Murderwasps under the table waiting to be opened by remote control. Don’t bother packing insect repellent this time players!

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MURDERWASP ( vespa sicarius )

Conceived Purpose: Assassination tool
Climate: Terran standard / low gravity
Frequency: Very Rare
Organization: Swarms
Activity cycle: Diurnal
Intelligence: Animal (0)
No. appearing: 100s
Armor class: 7 (10 vs area effect weapons / heat gun / microwave gun)
Movement: 600 (flying)
Hit dice: d6 (per hundred)
Thac0: 16
No. of attacks: 1 (per hundred)
Damage: d4
Special attacks: Save vs Poison after an attack. On failure, take d8 damage.
Special defenses: Nil

Genotype: Paradise Genetics presented the Guardwasp at the Newyorg Interplanetary Genetics Expo late in 2481. Their innovation was seen as a simplistic ‘hack’ of the terran hornet and overlooked at the time. Paradise Genetics had manipulated the territorial instinct of the terran hornet to protect areas marked with a proprietary pheremone, customisable on request. Paradise Genetics lapsed into insolvency shortly afterwards. The template for the Guardwasp was picked up for pennies on the dolarube by the Antilles Foundation around the time that their Pacificus facility was destroyed in a mysterious fire.
From the initial template of the Guardwasp came the Murderwasp. Where Paradise Genetics had been unwilling to tread, the Antilles Foundation forged ahead. The Murderwasp template is primed with a sample of the target to be eliminated and produced in sufficient numbers according to a client’s means to pay. A swarm is transported in hermetically sealed containers near to the target’s location and released. With their aggression pre-primed at the pupal stage the swarm leave their container to seek and destroy their unlucky target, swarming through gaps in ventillation systems, cracks in doors and walls, stinging the target over and over with powerful venom.
Prices for the Murderwasp begin at 100 000 standard credits per swarm.

Physical / Cultural:
Physical Size: 2 inches long, 18g
External covering: Banded yellow/black exoskeleton. Other colours available on request.
Eyes: Multifaceted, hard cover
Ears: Limited auditory sense
Mouth: Biting mandibles
Nose: Excellent, through antennae
Cultural: Assassination tool. Should the target successfully evade a swarm the insects will soon die from starvation, or die from their own venom.

Advantages/Disadvantages:
The Murderwasp is focused on one thing: killing its target. Other creatures may die in the process but only if they impede the swarm. The individual Murderwasp is small, fast, and fragile. A swarm can be decimated by area effect weapons such as the microwave gun or heat gun and suffers a corresponding penalty to Thac0.
Their frantic activity leads to a short lifespan measured in hours. They are generally deployed close to a target’s location giving the victim minimal time from detection to effect an escape. They are improperly adapted for zero-G environments although the Antilles Foundation are reputedly working to overcome this deficiency.

Combat:
Swarm tactics. There is no subtlety to a Murderwasp attack. They will bite and sting the target, injecting it with their venom. They will chew through wood, plastic, and concrete to reach their target.

Habitat/Terrain:
Varied. Anywhere survivable by humans is a potential habitat, although zero-G environments present the worst possible location to release a swarm.

Ecology:
The average Murderwasp is slightly smaller than the endangered Japanese Hornet of Earth. Distinctive from not only it’s large size and loud buzzing noise, the Murderwasp possesses a powerful venom which negatively impacts the lifespan of the Murderwasp itself. Although the Murderwasp does not possess any regard for obtaining sustenance the venom is sufficiently powerful that it will kill the Murderwasp in a matter of days, long enough after the insect expires from starvation that the Antilles Foundation felt this an acceptable risk.

Buck Rogers XXVc – Sidhe

I wrote this particular gennie as part of a collaborative project to produce a new Buck Rogers XXVc sourcebook. The original Sidhe gennie from No Humans Allowed breaks all three of the cardinal rules of creation in the Buck Rogers XXVc World Book. I figured I’d take the idea, clean it up a bit, and give it a new spin. I imagine them as sheltered savants, solving the problems that no-one else can find a solution to. A secret think tank in space, if you will.

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SIDHE ( homo oberonan )

Conceived Purpose: Enhanced intelligence human
Climate: Terran standard / low gravity
Frequency: Uncommon on Oberon; Very Rare elsewhere
Organization: Scholastic units
Activity cycle: Diurnal
Intelligence: Average to Genius (10-21)
No. appearing: 8-12 (on Oberon), 1 (elsewhere)
Armor class: 1
Movement: 300
Hit dice: d4 (unless otherwise by career)
Thac0: 20
No. of attacks: 1 (unless otherwise by career)
Damage: By weapon
Special attacks: Nil
Special defenses: Nil

Genotype: The Sidhe, pronounced SHE, are the experiments of a Celtic-descendant group registered as the Oberon Genetic Engineering Group (OGEG). The Sidhe look human. They tend to bald early in life, often losing their hair while still in their teens. OGEG scientists have made no major modifications to the external appearance of their creations, meaning that they cannot be easily detected. Rumours abound that the Sidhe are possessed of supra-natural intelligence, although the truth is far more prosaic.

Physical / Cultural:
Physical Size: 5 to 6 feet tall, 100-160lbs
External covering: Smooth, pale skin frequently heavily freckled. Deliberate genotyping prevents any tanning response to solar exposure
Eyes: Human normal
Ears: Human normal
Mouth: Human normal
Nose: Human normal
Cultural: The Sidhe are divided into small groups, colloquially referred to as ‘Families’ with no more than 12 Sidhe. They are cared for on a day-to-day basis by a team of primary carers and will interact with a regular set of secondary care givers. While a handful of Sidhe have been lost since the genotype’s inception those currently alive live on Oberon where they work unwittingly as the key component of the Oberon Solutions Group.

Advantages/Disadvantages:
The Sidhe were engineered for genius intelligence by the OGEG. While initial results were promising it quickly became apparent that the quest to boost the native intelligence of homo solaris carried a major penalty; an unavoidable preponderence for cognitive dysfunction. Sidhe are among the smartest human-derived gennies in the solar system but suffer from extreme levels of mental instability; full-spectrum autisum, schizophrenia, disassosciatve personality disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and others are common among the Sidhe.
A deliberate trait sequenced into the Sidhe is nostomania, an irresistable desire to return home or to familiar surroundings. PC Sidhe will have developed some form of coping mechanism to allow them to function despite this desire, perhaps through repeated mantras, trinkets, or photographs.
The Sidhe were also engineered for life in low gravity. While repeated doses of Gravitol can prepare a Sidhe for gravity equivalent of that experienced on Earth they find the experience highly uncomfortable. Sidhe do not experience any loss of bone density or strength from prolongued exposure to low gravity environments and can tolerate zero gravity environments much longer than the Terran genotype.

Combat:
The Sidhe are mentally unequipped for violence, requiring a wisdom check to participate in any kind of combat. Should they be forced to defend themselves they can use any weapon, as well as their fists and feet. Sidhe punches and kicks cause 1d4 points of damage with every successful to-hit roll. (The Thac0 and attacks per round listed are for a standard Sidhe. Class and level can alter these numbers.)

Habitat/Terrain:
All but a handful of Sidhe live on Oberon. They live in tightly-knit groups under the care of their OGEG creators and caretakers, unaware of the outside world. Their daily routine, beyond that imposed upon them by their carers, is working to solve problems. The Oberon Solutions Group, for a fee, will take the parameters of a problem and produce a solution in exchange for a sizeable fee. The Sidhe have solved problems ranging from domestic disputes, to cultural clashes, to orbital mechanics and medical treatment distribution all without ever being truly aware that their work was anything more than an exciting puzzle to solve.
The connection between the Sidhe and the Oberon Solutions Group is unknown outside of Oberon.

Ecology:
A Sidhe is all but incapable of existing without the care of their handlers. While they are supremely intelligent in some regards they are also a danger to themselves in many others. They are well adapted to low gravity environments as noted elsewhere, and conversly ill-suited to life under standard Terran gravity. By design, all Sidhe are sterile. This is as much to protect themselves as it is to protect the investment undertaken by the Oberon Genetic Engineering Group

Attribue Modifiers:
Strength: -2 Dexterity: +1 Intelligence: +3
Wisdom: -1 Constitution: -1
Charisma: / Tech: /

Saving Throw Modifiers:
Explosion/Plasma: / Electrical Shock: /
Paralysis/Stun/Fall: / Toxic/Gas/Poison: +1
Suffocation: / Radiation: +1
Extreme Heat: / Extreme Cold: /

Buck Rogers XXVc – Crocotillian

I wrote this particular gennie up for an adventure where I needed the team to be stalked by an indomitable ambush predator.
Naturally the one I use will be one of the super-giant Crocotillians that’s 20 metres long and covered in a lifetime of scars and failed attempts to kill it. Don’t go near the billabong, players!

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CROCOTILLIAN ( crocodylus porosus giganticus )

Conceived Purpose: Territorial predator / guard
Climate: Wetland, river delta
Frequency: Very rare
Organization: Solitary
Activity cycle: Nocturnal
Intelligence: Animal
No. appearing: 1
Armor class: 4
Movement: 800 / 400 swim (short bursts)
Hit dice: Length/2 x (d10)
Thac0: 12
No. of attacks: 1 (grappling bite), 1 (tail lash)
Damage: 1d12(+4), 1d6 (tail lash)
Special attacks: A successful attack immobilises the victim. In water, this can lead to further damage as the Crocotillian drags its prey under and suffocates it.
Special defenses: Nil

Genotype: The Crocotillian is part fact and part myth. Originally created in the late 2300s by a RAM Genetics Division from the genome of crocodylus porosus, the Crocotillian
was deployed to protect RAM facilities on Earth. It’s natural territorial instinct exaggerated the Crocotillian will prey on anything regardless of size in the vicinity of it’s
home base. Originally these gennies were encoded with an aversion to the Martian phenotype although this has weakened over generations.
The myth of the Crocotillian comes from a faulty encoding regulating the size of the creature. Given sufficient prey wild Crocotillians have been observed as large as twelve
metres long with apocryphal stories of others reaching over twenty metres from snout to tail. With it’s habit of striking from ambush, many who see a Crocotillian for the first
time never live to speak of it.

Physical / Cultural:
Physical Size: 8-12 metres in length, 4000lbs, although larger specimens are rumoured to exist
External covering: Tough, thick scale
Eyes: Small, sensitive to movement
Ears: Small holes on sides of skull
Mouth: Large, filled with numerous teeth and capable of exerting major bite force
Nose: Large, sensitive snout. Capable of being closed airtight.
Cultural: Territorial ambush predator. Aboriginal freedom fighters express a particular hatred for this gennie and its proximity to sensitive RAM installations.

Advantages/Disadvantages:
The Crocotillian is more aggresive and territorial than a normal crocodile. It will not pursue retreating enemies, nor will it attack Martian PCs unless it has no other option.
Although originally based on the genetic material of the saltwater crocodile, a Crocotillian can survive in both fresh and salt water environments.

Combat:
The Crocotillian has a powerful bite, much like smaller crocodiles. On a successful attack the victim is immobilised until the Crocotillian is either wounded or a strength feat
has been achieved to free the victim. If surrounded a Crocotillian will use it’s thick, muscular tail to lash out and scatter those surrounding it.

Habitat/Terrain:
The Crocotillian is found throughout Oceana, particularly in the multiple river systems of coastal Australia, along with their adjacent billabongs and estuaries. Although the
Crocotillian occupies an apex position in the food chain, the combination of its natural aggression and the hatred that many natural Terrans have for these creatures means that
their numbers have remained merely stable. Once individuals reach a certain size (over 8 metres in length) they effectively displace all other predators in their territory
through virtue of their size and appetite.

Ecology:
The Crocotillian is found in greatest density around RAM facilities in South-East Asia and Oceana such as RMS Goulbun River and the Jakartorg Military Spaceport. Aboriginals
hold the creatures in particular revulsion for its origins and the number of their comrades lost to these beasts during daring raids on RAM facilities. As noted above, they are
natural predators. Unlike their genetic forebearers they are more aggressive and active until they reach their full size. At this point they become more territorial than before,
establishing themselves as the only major predator by killing off any competition.