Humanspace Empires: The Squidsnail

Space Adventurers fight a Squidsnail on Algol

Squidsnail
No. Enc.: 1-4
Alignment: Neutral (Hungry)
Movement: 180' (60')
Armor Class: 8
Hit Dice: 5+3 to 10+3
Attacks: 6 tentacles
Damage: 1-10 to 5-50
Morale: 6

Squidsnails can be encountered almost everywhere in the galaxy, since they don't have to breathe and can use their incredible brain to convert light into energy, and their tentacles to swim in the outer space. They can move on any surface, including vertical ones and ceilings, at their usual speed. They're always hungry. Squidsnails are quite intelligent: they never engage on a combat unless sure to have good possibilities, and rarely fight until death. If encountered in small groups, they are able to plan their attacks and ambush the victims. Squidsnails comes with various size:

Size	Hit Dice	Dmg per Tentacle
Medium	5+3	1-8
Large	6+3	1-10
Giant	7+3	2-20
Mastodontic	8+3	3-30
Gargantuan	9+3	4-40
Nightmare	10+3	5-50

Nightmare sized Squidsnails are big enough to attack transport spaceships, destroy them and eat the crew. Kinda like Twenty Thousands Leagues Under the Sea, you know.

The Ygòthlaq

Elder Ygothlàqi

History: Ygòthlaq (sing. Ygothlàqi) are one of the most mysterious sentient species of Yaqqothl. They claim to be the last descendants of an eons ancient society, which mastered the secrets of the universe since its dawn. They left their dying planet about a thousand years ago, and wandered through the galaxy looking for a new place to call home. They eventually reached Yaqqothl, and decided to settle down. Nowadays Ygòthlaq have lost most of their powers and knowledge, and rely on powerful hallucinogens and odd rituals to perform their magic. Few as they are, they live isolated from the other primitive forms of life, safe in their unreachable cities of shining metal and led by the Councils of the Elders.

Ecology: Ygòthlaq are all men. They have no sexual organs, and reproduce by means of a weird plant native of their home world, which they technologically refined during the course of many eons. This plant they call Klaq'kàdu is a proper symbiont for the Ygòthlaq: it feeds on their blood, and produces big, slimy eggs which mature during the course of a year giving the birth to a new Ygothlàqi. One of the main problem they are facing on Yaqqothl is that for some reason, their life span decreased drastically. If on their home world the average life span for a Ygothlàqi was hundreds of thousands of years (so that some of the Elder Ygòthlaq still remember much of their old native planet), nowadays is slightly higher than the one of a Terran, which is unbearable to them. This is the reason why more and more young leave their houses and rebel to their master, preferring to seek fortunes and glory among the lesser species, rather than dedicating their lives to the study and uncovering of the most precious secrets of the Ygòthlaq.

Statistics:

• +1 to Wisdom and Intelligence, -2 to Constitution;
• Always treat Knowledge (Technology) as Class Skill;
• Natural +2 bonus on Spell Save DC (only Sorcerers.)

Addendum: I guess Ygòthlaq should work fine also for Humanspace Empires, so if you want to write a more Tékumel-ian variant of this race, please do it!

The Junkyard: Humanspace Empires d20

If you still don't know what Humanspace Empires is, do yourself a favor and find it out!

After some months spent playing Pathfinder, I must admit I'm growing lazy-er (if any possible) and starting to appreciate some of the d20 System facilities. Better, I'm growing annoyed by some of the old edition oddities like un-steamlined mechanics and weird saving throws (yes, I know, blasphemy!) Humanspace Empires really is a little jewel, with many cool and widely adaptable ideas, like super-scientific powers and gears. The point is, I'm finding myself asking wether or not they would work the same (or even better?) under a different set of rules, like Kard és Mágia or other "light" variants of the original d20 System. I mean, keeping the simplicity while leaving the shit out. Mumble, mumble...

Humanspace Empires Character Sheet

I have just sent the Goblin to Ramsey, and now I'm here to restore balance to Karma. So all you guys in the blogosphere sector of Procyon now get a new, shiny, ready-to-print and use Humanspace Empires Character Sheet! For those of you who live in trees and actually have no idea of what I'm talking about, Humanspace Empires is the best upcoming Science Fantasy project on the net. Forget Stars Without a Number, embrace your Sub-atomic Disintegrator Rifle and go shoot some motherfucking demon in the outer space!! Here is a little preview – the download link is at the bottom of this post:

Front

Back

Being a character sheet addict, I often find it very frustrating working on my own, since I never quite reach my expectations. Working on this sheet was definitely different stuff. The Drune has done some really outstanding work with layout and particularly the choice of artwork, and it was great fucking fun to work on it. I have kept the header font (Para Aminobenzoic, as MyFont kindly pointed me to) but used Futura for the main body, for it really evoked in me a sense of Metamorphosis Alpha and Gamma World. The pictures are all from my most favorite science fiction comic ever, El Eternauta by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Francisco Solano López, which I used to read when I was about six, and I think they perfectly capture the feeling of Humanspace Empires. So, without further self-glorification, here you are!