"The Void is not just empty space, you know that. There are violent galactic currents; radiation, moody nebula, and unpredictable asteroid fields a plenty.
You avoid these bad places if you can.
Kid... you think you have it beat, because you win your races with the customs chumps. You have a little luck and a lot of talent, and you are not afraid to hide in the bad places... eventually you will discover there are other horrors out there waiting for you."
A well traveled smuggler to a cocky young freighter pilot. Somewhere in the
Outer Rim.
Epic Interstellar Terrain &
Void Horrors are special projects that I have wanted to do for a while now. I have focused on learning the X-WING rules this year, and now I feel that I understand them very well and I am ready to take it to the next level by making my own rules for several cool additions to the game.
As I have stated in several of my related articles, I am all about X-WING EPIC!
Now that FFG has produced their excellent rules establishing the Epic System for us, I can finally get to work on competently setting everything up so that Epic will play the way that I want to. I am not going to change X-WING EPIC mind you, but I am going to add to it, and make it even cooler... for me.
In EPIC we are adventuring in a greater arena than X-WING affords us. Asteroid and debris fields as well as Nebula should be huge and dangerous spaces on the game table, that will make our missions incredibly fun and challenging.
With that stated, in many of the best space operas; Flash Gordon, John Carter Of Mars, Buck Rogers, Star Wars, Star Blazers, and Star Trek there are
monsters in these bad regions of space. It is this extra level of wonderful detail that makes these Sci-Fi Classics an important part of our nerd-lore.
So...
Space Monsters... horrors out there in the void, how will they make the game more interesting and exciting?
In my firm view the very fact that these wonderful things are even on the table make the game cooler. Bring them into play with their own simple but engaging rules and their part in the adventure becomes something extra special and awesome.
Imagine that you have just achieved a goal in your mission that is likely going to win the scenario for you, now a monster springs up out of a rock and eats the ship directly responsible for completing the missions primary objective...AHH! That is just fun and funny... and it is going to be in my Epic-Me-Tah... because I can.
I intend to make about a dozen models to represent several types of Void Horrors.
I am going to stay true to the themes presented in the beloved space operas that many of us grew up with. I will sculpt some of these terrible beauties, while others will be converted from base models, particularly the AD&D Clicks.
Void Horrors dwell in both
Interstellar and
Intergalactic space. Several stalk their prey in dense asteroid fields, while others patiencely lurk in nebula.
As of this posting I have a mind to make one or more models of the following Void Horrors.
Dracidizar
These large space dragons stalk asteroid fields and make their burrow in the surface of massive rocks or small planetoids. They will eat any bio-matter they can catch particularly young Exogorth and Starflies. They also survive on ice, and raw soft minerals.
Dracidizars are intelligent and often perceive that a manned craft is a treat worth aggressively pursuing. These deadly hunters doze in their caves after feeding, thus a passing craft may be luckily considered as only a curiosity. If Dracidizar are hungry and on the prowl however, they will attack
any craft which dares to enter their territory.
Exogorth (Hatchling & Juvenile)
The huge Exogorths, or Space Slugs, are asteroid field dwellers and mineral eaters. They are not violently aggressive, but will attack any passing craft that comes near their burrows. Hatchlings claim their own asteroids like any other Exogorth and choose larger bodies as they mature. Because of this behavior a variety of different sized individuals may be encountered anywhere in a dense field on various sized asteroids and planetoids.
Hazer
These bizarre gelatinous beings lurk in the upper atmosphere and within the planetary rings of ice worlds. Hazers are also encountered in cold nebula and frozen asteroid fields.
If they are disturbed during their mating seasons, or while they are hunting, these typicality serene beings can become terrifying monsters capable of great destruction to small and large ships.
Mynock Hunter
Hunters are unusually long-lived beast which have grown beyond
the norm to dwarf their younger Mynock cosines in stature and ferocity. One of these
beast is capable of attacking small or large ships causing all manner or damage and loss of power.
Skligg
These worm-like quadroid-mawed beast are extremely aggressive denizens of warm asteroid fields. They typically hunt microscopic biological and mineral growths for their nourishment, but will aggressively stalk any lifeforms which they perceive as a threat to their burrows or have a chance to acquire for their breeding larder.
Star Haunter
Star Haunters, or
Haunters, are large manta-like beings that ride the interstellar currents between systems. Haunters are always
seeking raw conductive minerals and energy sources in massive quantities. They will
attack any Large or Huge craft they happen upon and attempt to consume it's power cells.
Thunder Mawler
These great lizard-like asteroid and planetoid dwellers live off rich mineral deposits and ice. While they are aggressive with each other in the defense of their caverns Mawlers are normally very passive towards other life. Mawlers spend most of their time tunneling with their great metallic teeth and claws, seeking out the best feeding grounds.
When these peaceful beast are disturbed by an
ongoing battle they have been known to warn off any trespassing ship with a bolt of static energy which they can easily generate from their great teeth.
Mawlers have been know to bite ships that pass over the entrance of their cavernous dens. There have been no reports however of any beast leaving their domiciles to press the issue of their territorial boundaries beyond the entrance of their den.
Vorachnid
These bizarre crystalline arachnids live in ice and mineral asteroid fields and on comparable moons. They build webbing between asteroids to form a network which they guard at all times, even when they are dozing they will awaken immediately to deal with disturbances in their territory. Vorachnids will collect and slowly consume any bio-matter they catch in their crystalline webs.
Some captured pilots have been rescued by their fellows who managed to kill the Vorachnids then carefully blast the ensnared ships free from the crystal network.
This is my core group... but I may dream up some more Void Horrors later.
PROJECTS PREVIEW
ASTEROIDS PART 1
Boss out.
