RE: SGII -- Scenario with alien creatures

Hello, my comments below are marked by [Bri]

-Brian Bell

-----Original Message-----
From: Beth.Fulton@csiro.au [mailto:Beth.Fulton@csiro.au]
> -----Original Message-----
G'day,
[snip]

> You're all smart people; you can see where this is going....
> They will cheerfully trample anything or 
> anyone that gets in the way of their dinner

This could be funny ;)

[Bri] Sounds fun!!!

 
> Now, in their defence, they have fat.  Lots and lots of fat.	
> It takes a lot of damage to kill an adult Beast; predators 
> often tear off bits, leaving horrendous 
> wounds that would kill most animals.	The beasts, however, 
> survive...and don't even feel much pain, since the fat 
> deposits are pretty insensitive areas.  

I doubt they'd be completely insensitive (they're going to want to know
a
predator has just bitten them on the butt so they can try and get away
from
it). However, pain could make their stampedes more chaotic or they could
turn to try and defend themselves...

[Bri] Agreed. How does the animal protect itself from preditors?
Charge them like Rhinos & Elephants? Run away (they do not seem
the gazelle type)? Fast Healing and regeneration? Poison glands 
on skin? Some reaction should be observable.

> As a result, gunfire isn't going to do much to discourage 
> them.  It's doubtful that they will even notice at first.

Assuming you don't hit those tiny heads. 

> So the question is: how do I handle all of this in game 
> terms?  To start out, the Beasts will move randomly, if 
> slowly, until the gunfire begins -- d6 inches 
> in a random direction, determined by the roll of a d12. 

I'd probably even leave them as stationary until gunfire starts up
(consider
them grazing or resting up).

[Bri] Stationary or moving 2-3" each turn somewhat randomly.

> Once they start charging, though...d8 inches, twice a turn, 
> towards the source of gunfire?  They 
> are determined, but they have these stubby little legs to 
> deal with.  As targets, they are easy to hit (treat as one 
> range band closer than normal), but very 
> resistant to damage.	d10 armor, ignore any "Wound" results?	

I'd play it this way first and have them effected by wounds if they
prove
too overwhelming.

[Bri] Agreed. You don't want them too difficult to kill (but not
too easy either).

> That's against standard small arms; they might have d6 armor 
> vs. a plama gun.  

Or d4, all that fat may just mean they cook up nice ;)

> What's a good mechanism for trampling, though?  

When a squad is hit by a stampede treat them as being in CC with PA (the
beasts). I'd probably rate the beasts as D8 or D10 quality for this.
This
way some may be able to escape with scratches, but the majority of
riflemen
will be in big trouble if they don't get out of the way first (which is
probably fair). You can consider any "wounded" beasts as ones that
tripped
as they ran or ones where the squadie got a final shot off as they were
hit
or something. If you're getting too many dead beasts from this
interaction
up the quality die or say that when resolving casualties after CC for
the
beasts 1 = dead, 2-3 = wounded, 4-6 = stunned.

[Bri] This sounds good!

> And how can I deal with a *different* 
> source of gunfire when the Beasts are 
> already charging?  

Have them always head for the closest. Or have each beast on the edge of
the
herd (so the lead on, and leftmost/rightmost ones) do a reaction test,
if
they pass they continue as they are, if they fail they head off for the
new
sound (or vice versa) with any beasts behind them following them (so you
may
well see the number of herds increase as they split and head in
different
directions).

[Bri] Yes. I would think that they would deal with the greatest
and closest danger first. If there is no gun fire near the heard,
and no new casualties, they should move toward the potential food.
But if there is (close fire or fighting), they should stay and
protect themselves.

> (I've had another fun thought, as well: If rifletree 
> detonations draw Beasts from miles around, they're llikely to 
> draw some predators that *feed* on the 
> Beasts, too.	There are some nasty lizard creatures that came 
> from the same set as the figures that I'll be using as the 
> Beasts.....)

I'd say the predators are a bit more cautious in their approach or try
to
set up near the "explosive noise" and ambush as the beasts come in. On
top
of the danger for the riflemen of running into said preds, the facts
preds
do this would make the beasts pretty scittery around the goo (and thus
the
firefight), so more likely to stampede if something scares them.

Cheers

Beth

[Bri] You can also add some interesting characteristics to the plants.
Perphaps the plants are sound sensitive. If one goes off the others are
triggered to go off as well. Perhaps gunfire could set off the plants.
The
goo could be sticky or slippery. Either way could effect movement of
soldiers caught in it (shift down 2"/1 die type).