Bell Digest vol10p07-3.txt
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To: RuneQuest-Digest@glorantha.holland.sun.com
From: RuneQuest-Request@glorantha.holland.sun.com
Subject: Volume 10, no 7: RQ rules for Tekumel monsters (3 of 3)
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Rules and conversions for running a Tekumel campaign
with the RuneQuest rule system. By Sandy Petersen.
Contents:
Part 3: Intelligent Races of Tekumel
Acknowledgments:
Tekumel and related materials are copyright M.A.R Barker
and used with permission 1-1-1994.
These rules and conversions are Copyright 1994 Sandy Petersen.
All rights reserved.
RuneQuest is the Avalon Hill Game Company's Trademark for its
fantasy role-playing game.
--------------------
INTELLIGENT RACES OF TEKUMEL
AHOGGYA (The Knobbed Ones)
Knobbly, brownish, bristly creatures 4-5 feet high, but
tremendously broad and strong. Their upper body is surmounted by
four powerful arms, and their eyes and eating apparatus lie beneath
these under a horny protective carapace. They have four thickly
muscled legs.
Their gruffness, rude ways, and rank smell make them
unappealing to humans. They are generally fearless. The Shen detest
the Ahoggya.
characteristic average
STR 4d6+12 26 Move 40
CON 3d6+6 16-17 HP 22
SIZ 4d6+12 26
INT 2d6+2 9 Armor: hide 4 + half-plate 4 = 8 pts
POW 3d6 10-11
DEX 2d6 7
APP 1d6 3-4
MAG 3d6-17 max 1
Weapon SR Attk% Damage Parr% Pts
Bastard Sword 6 25 1d10+1+2d6 25 12
Morningstar 5 25 1d10+1+2d6 25 8
Shield 8 05 1d6+2d6 20 16
COMBAT NOTES: their peculiar form allows them to attack twice
per round against a foe on any one side (if carrying enough
weapons). If surrounded, they can strike on all sides (i.e., 4
blows/round). They can only parry once per round unless surrounded,
in which case they can parry twice.
WEAPONS: huge swords, spears, halberds, flails, and
maces (all at 25). No missile weapons except occasional slings
(10/0). Use large shields (5/20).
MAGIC: 1 in 10 is a Magic Dampener.
ARMOR: sometimes nail convex plates of chlen hide or steel
over their carapaces. Vambraces & greaves of chlen-hide are common.
This adds up to the equivalent of half-plate
HLAKA (The Furred Flyers)
Flying beings with leathery wings and greyish fur. They have
flattened heads, and three eyes with nictitating membranes, set in
a bony crest. A furred ruff conceals their hearing organs. Two arms
& two legs and supplemented by a powerful tail fitted with a
poisoned rapier-like blade. They are skittish and nervous,
usually flying away from battles. They cannot use armor, are weak
on the ground, hate walking, and abhor sea voyages. Their curiosity
and constant chatter make them annoying companions, and downright
dangerous when silence is needed.
characteristic average
STR 2d6 7 Move 20 walking, 130 flying
CON 1d6+6 9-10 HP 10
SIZ 3d6 10-11
INT 2d6+6 13 Armor: None. Occasionally wear a
POW 3d6 10-11 chlen-hide skullcap for 1 pt.
DEX 3d6+6 16-17 DODGE: 35
APP 2d6 7
MAG 3d6-15 max 3
Weapon SR Attk% Damage Parr% Pts
Dart 2/7 25 1d6 20 6
Rapier 7 20 1d6+1 20 8
Sting 10 25 1d6 + poison -- --
COMBAT NOTES: can attack with their sting at 1/2 their DEX.
The sting can impale, and injects a poison with a POT equal to the
Hlaka's CON. Successful resistance means 1d6 damage.
Normally attack first with melee weapon, followed 3 SRs later by the
sting.
WEAPONS: darts or javelins (25), Spears (20), rapiers or
smallswords (20), occasionally light crossbows (15/5), plus their sting
(25). May drop rocks or incendiaries from the air. No two-handed
weapons or bows. Sometimes use small round leather bucklers (5/15).
SKILLS: if their Fatigue limit is surpassed, they cannot fly.
PACHI LEI (The Forest Dwellers)
Doughy eight-limbed creatures with four arms and four legs
(with prehensile toes). Their huge, platter-like eyes give them
nocturnal vision. They have a natural "sixth sense" that gives them
a chance to detect ambushes, secret doors, etc. within 3m if they
are searching. They are sociable and interested in human affairs.
Despite their four arms, they can only attack once per round,
though they can hold alternate weapons in their other limbs.
characteristic average
STR 3d6 10-11 Move 30
CON 1d6+2 5-6 HP 11
SIZ 3d6+6 16-17
INT 2d6+6 13 Armor: none natural. Use half-armor
POW 4d6 14 for 4 pts.
DEX 3d6 10-11
APP 1d6+6 9-10
MAG 3d6-15 max 3
Weapon SR Attk% Damage Parr% Pts
Greatsword 5 25 2d8+1d4 25 12
Mdm Crossbow 3 35 2d4+2 20 8
Buckler 7 05 1d4+1d4 20 8
WEAPONS: long 1H swords (20), 2H swords (25), plus long spears
and polearms (15). They are expert with the crossbow (35). Use
wicker or wood bucklers (5/20).
SKILLS: excellent climbers; base Climb = DEX x 5. Possess
Sixth Sense skill starting at 30%. This allows them to detect
things normally undetectable, like ambushes & secret doors.
ARMOR: they do not armor their lower bodies or legs, which
would make it hard for them to move.
PE CHOI (The Listeners)
The Pe Choi are graceful and agile. They stand approximately
seven feet tall, have six limbs, and are easily recognized by their
fan-like ear appendages and prognathous mandible-jaw. Males are
glossy black, females white. Their hearing is
excellent.
If wounded, their chitinous exoskeleton takes longer to heal.
Double all normal costs for healing spells and time needed to heal.
They have a double set of lungs, the lower pair of which is
situated in the abdomen with its breathing openings between the
overlapping segments of the upper tail. A Pe Choi can drown,
therefore, in about 1m of water, and can never swim. The Pe Choi do
not live as long as humans, normally living only 20-30 years.
They can strike twice a round. Their hearing is excellent.
They also possess a telepathic ability which manifests itself in
two ways; they can sense the presence of living beings within 2m of
themselves, and they know whenever another Pe Choi dies within 5
km. They are cultured and clever, and progress well in the
hierarchies of man's societies.
characteristic average
STR 2d6+6 13 Move 40
CON 3d6 10-11 HP 14
SIZ 3d6+6 16-17
INT 2d6+6 13 Armor: none natural. May wear half-plate
POW 5d6 17-18 for 4, or plate + mail for 5.
DEX 4d6 14
APP 2d6+6 13
MAG 3d6-14 max 4
Weapon SR Attk% Damage Parr% Pts
Javelin 3/9 20 1d10+1d4 20 8
Rapier 6 25 1d6+1+1d4 25 8
Target Shield 7 05 1d6+1d4 20 12
COMBAT NOTES: can attack twice per round in melee, using their
second set of limbs. If they do this, they do not get a damage
bonus on either attack. Use bucklers or targets.
WEAPONS: javelins (20); a variety of swords, including rapiers
(25); and light crossbows (20). Use small rhomboid bucklers or
larger targets (20).
SKILLS: excellent hearing (always automatically successful
except against special and critical successes, when a roll must be
made). Cannot swim.
PYGMY FOLK
Little creatures only about a meter high. They are rather
rodent-like in appearance, with sharp little faces, large round
ears, and three-fingered hands. Their glittering black eyes see
easily in pitch blackness. They are great traders and travelers and
enthusiastic bargainers. Their hearing at close range is even
better than a Pe Choi (they can hear faint sounds through a stone
wall 30 cm thick). They are good burrowers, good climbers, and good
swimmers.
They normally fight in large groups. They are not brave when
alone, but are fierce when accompanied by others of their own
species. They have a bad reputation, despite their friendship for
mankind; they are thought to be devious, sly, cruel, and greedy.
They care little for loyalty or friendship, by human standards.
characteristic average
STR 2d6 7 Move 20, 40 in narrow tunnels & caves
CON 3d6 10-11 HP 8
SIZ 1d4+2 4-5
INT 2d6+6 13 Armor: none natural, can wear any
POW 3d6 10-11
DEX 5d6 17-18
APP 2d6 7 DODGE: 20
MAG 3d6-15 max 3
Weapon SR Attk% Damage Parr% Pts
Short Spear 7 20 1d6+1-1d4 20 10
Blowgun 2 20 1d3 20 4
WEAPONS: pikes or long spears (20), hatchets and axes (20),
swords (15), bows (20), and blowguns (20). Sometimes use oval
shields vs. missiles (only) (5/5).
SKILLS: Climb 75, Swim 75
SHEN (The Demon Warriors)
Their gleaming black scales and dragon-like appearance makes
them look like huge demon-warriors in fantastic plate armor. They
have long beak-like snouts and a glittering crest of slender
spines, whch they can extend or keep flat along their crowns. They
are bipedal, as are men, but also boast a muscular tail with a
mace-like horny knob at the end.
The Shen are gruff and harsh, disdaining sorcery, knowledge,
and other refinements of their human neighbors. They are divided
into different mutually-hostile "egg-groups", and their ferocity
during the summer mating season makes them dangerous even to each
other.
characteristic average
STR 4d6+12 26 Move 50 outside, 20 in confined quarters
CON 3d6 10-11 HP 19
SIZ 4d6+12 26
INT 2d6+4 11 Armor: hide 3 + half-plate 4 = 7
POW 3d6 10-11
DEX 2d6 7
APP 2d6 7
MAG 3d6-15 max 3 MP 6
Weapon SR Attk% Damage Parr% Pts
Axe-Sword 6 25 2d6+2+2d6 25 10
Tail Club 8 4 1d6+2d6 -- --
Pistol-Crossbow 4 20 2d4+2 05 6
Shield 7 05 1d6+2d6 25 16
COMBAT NOTES: can attack with the tail-club in any direction, 3 SRs
after another attack. If it uses the tail-club, this counts as one of
its two combat actions.
WEAPONS: short heavy axe-swords (like greataxes, but 1H, SR 2,
and take enormous strength to use), maces, halberds (all at 25),
plus the tail-club (25) and pikes or long spears (20). Also a
unique weapon, the pistol-crossbow (20/5) (as mdm crossbow, but
with range of lt crossbow; cannot be cocked by a human). Cannot use
crossbows, bows, or slings. Use heavy, large shields (20).
MAGIC: their MPs from POW are only 1/2 their POW.
SWAMP FOLK
They detest chlen-hide, and will not use weapons made of it.
They are excellent sailors, but have no magic aptitude at all. They
do not particularly hate or fear magic, they just cannot use it.
Hence, human sorcerers are often hired by them.
characteristic average
STR 3d6 10-11 Move 20
CON 4d6 14 HP 14
SIZ 4d6 14
INT 2d6+6 13
POW 3d6 10-11 Armor: none natural.
DEX 3d6 10-11
APP 3d6 10-11
Weapon SR Attk% Damage Parr% Pts
Light Mace 8 25 1d8+1d4 25 8
Cutlass 7 25 1d4+3+1d4 25 8
Sling 3/9 40 1d8 -- --
Buckler 8 05 1d4+1d4 20 8
WEAPONS: Long spears (20); cutlasses and 1H maces (25). expert
slingers (40), but indifferent archers or crossbowmen (5). Use
small square bucklers (20).
MAGIC: no ability at all. 1 in 50 is a magic dampener.
TINALIYA (The Listeners)
Tiny beings, and among the best magicians in Tekumel. They
have appallingly literal minds.
characteristic average
STR 1d6+2 5-6 Move 25 normal, 50 in constricted areas
CON 3d6 10-11 HP 8
SIZ 1d6+2 5-6 Armor: none natural
INT 1d6+12 15-16
POW 5d6 17-18
DEX 4d6 14
APP 2d6+3 10 DODGE: 20
MAG 3d6-13 max 5
Weapon SR Attk% Damage Parr Pts
2H Spear 7 15 1d8+1-1d4 15 10
Pistol-Crossbow 3 15 1d6+2 05 4
Buckler 9 05 1d4 15 8
WEAPONS: halberds, rapiers, and short spears (15). Have a
modified version of the Shen pistol-crossbow (15), doing damage as
a light crossbow, with 1/2 range. Use small oval shields (15).
SKILLS: excellent hearing (always automatically successful except
against special and critical successes, when a roll must be made).
HLUSS (Spawn of the Old Ones)
Insectoid in appearance, with six limbs, chitinous armor, and
a row of razor-sharp mandibles beneath their probosces. Their tails
are equipped with paralyzing stings. They collect gems and have
them set into their body-armor permanently. Their reputation and
the horror of their appearance frightens off most would-be
combatants.
They can be detected at sea by their constant buzzing sound,
and they give off a acidic sweet odor which can be smelled easily
at up to 30-40 m. They tend to be unimaginative fighters, and do
not employ ruses or strategems often.
characteristic average
STR 2d6+12 19 Move 25
CON 3d6 10-11 HP 17
SIZ 3d6+12 22-23
INT 2d6+6 13 Armor: hide 3 + sometimes helmet = 4
POW 4d6 14
DEX 2d6+6 13 DODGE: 20
MAG 3d6-14 max 4 MP 14
Weapon SR Attk% Damage Parr% Pts
Broadsword 5 25 1d8+1+2d6 25 12
Claw 8 20/2 1d6+2d6 -- --
Sting 8 35 1d6+2d6 -- --
Heavy Crossbow 3 25 2d6+2 10 8
Shield 6 05 1d6+2d6 25 16
COMBAT NOTES: can rear up and strike with a central claw (this
halves their attack chance with both claw and main weapon -- if they
only attack w/claw, the claw is not halved) 3 SRs after their main
attack. In addition, they can always attack with their sting 3 SRs after
their main attack at full chances, without reducing other attacks. Thus,
they can attack up to 3 times in a round; once w/ main weapon, then 3
SRs later with both claw and sting -- in doing this the main weapon &
claw are halved in attack %.
The sting injects a paralyzing poison with a POT equal to their CON.
WEAPONS: long swords in lightning-bolt designs (25), spears &
polearms (20), claws (20), and the sting (35). Employ all crossbows
(25/10). Use kite shields, with horns and scallops (5/25).
MAGIC: has automatic +2 Magic Skill Bonus.
HLUTRGU (The Swamp Frogs)
This swamp species hates all other intelligent life and
attacks indiscriminately and ferociously. They are rubbery,
four-limbed creatures with skull-like heads and wide toothy mouths.
They carry darts for spearing or throwing, using all four limbs to
do so. They have a particularly ugly reputation for torture and
atrocities upon prisoners -- this upon Tekumel!
They do not fight as disciplined soldiers, but as a howling
mob. They are led by asexual "bosses", distinguishable by their
grayish hide and yellow-mottled wattles.
characteristic average
STR 2d6+6 13 Move 30
CON 2d6+6 13 HP 15
SIZ 1d6+12 15-16
INT 2d6+6 13 Armor: none natural
POW 2d6+3 10
DEX 2d6+6 13 DODGE: 25
MAG 3d6-15 max 3 MP 10
Weapon SR Attk% Damage Parr% Pts
Javelin 3 43 1d10+1+2d6 25 8
1H Spear 6 43 1d6+1+1d4 25 8
WEAPONS: javelins and throwing darts (25 thrown or melee),
plus 1H maces and long spears (15). They use short bows and light
crossbows as well (10). Do not use shields.
ARMOR: leaders sometimes wear leather (often of human skin),
but this seems to be more in the nature of a uniform than armor.
SHUNNED ONES
Tall ragged-looking spectral beings, with long arms and legs.
They have a terrible and repellent stench which drives off almost
every other species known in Tekumel. Humans can smell them up to
60m away, even in a mild contrary breeze. They are excellent
sorcerers and knowledgable in the use of ancient technological
devices. Most humans will flee rather than face this alien and
merciless race.
They cannot survive more than a week in Tekumel's present
atmosphere, and are thus limited to quick forays and expeditions.
They are only average fighters and thus depend on sorcery to defend
themselves. Each group is accompanied by a leader, somewhat taller
than the rest, who uses the most effective spells.
characteristic average
STR 4d6 14 Move 40
CON 3d6 10-11 HP 15 (doubled inside their cities)
SIZ 2d6+12 19
INT 2d6+6 13 Armor: 3 pt wrappings
POW 3d6+6 16-17
DEX 3d6 10-11
MAG 3d6-13 max 5 MP 17
Weapon SR Attk% Damage Parr% Pts
Long Spear 4 30 1d10+1+1d6 30 10
Battleaxe 5 30 1d8+2+1d6 30 8
Javelin w/atlatl 2 40 1d10+2d6+1d6 20 6
Shield 6 05 1d6+1d6 30 16
WEAPONS: long hooked spears, greatswords, mauls, polearms,
shortswords, and axes (30). They use atlatls (40), and with their
long arms, atlatl bonuses are doubled. Use oblong metal shields,
cut horizontally in two spots to form an "S" shape (30).
SSU (The Enemies of Man)
Tall, slender six-limbed beings wrapped in what look like
grayish shrouds (actually loose integument which keeps shredding
and pulling off). They smell like musty cinnamon and make a high,
sweet chiming sound. They can see well in the dark, but prefer a
dim, blue light. They are excellent sorcerers. They are good at
tunneling and never get lost underground.
A Ssu can choose to hypnotise an opponent rather than attack.
The victim must resist or obey the Ssu's will. The Ahoggya, Swamp
Folk, and Tinaliya are immune to this power.
They are poor swimmers, and become waterlogged and sink if
they must remain in water for more than 10 minutes. They are
hampered by a rigid command structure; male "leaders" must be
present to direct a party; otherwise the Ssu tend to retreat and
become demoralized.
Gray Ssu Black Ssu
characteristic average characteristic average
STR 2d6+6 13 STR 3d6+18 28-29
CON 3d6 10-11 CON 4d6 14
SIZ 2d6+6 13 SIZ 3d6+18 28-29
INT 2d6+6 13 INT 2d6+6 13
POW 5d6 17-18 POW 2d6+3 10
DEX 3d6 10-11 DEX 2d6 7
MAG 3D6-12 max 6 MAG 3D6-16 max 2
Move 40 normal, 50 in rough tunnels
Hit Pts 12 Hit Pts 22
Armor: half-plate 4 pts Armor: full armor for 6 pts
Weapon SR Attk% Damage Parr% Pts
Scimitar (U arm) 7 30 1d6+2+1d6 30 10
Dagger (L arm) 8 30 1d4+2+1d6 30 6
Mdm Crossbow 3 30 2d4+2 20 8
Large Shield 8 05 1d6+1d6 30 16
COMBAT NOTES: can hold weapons in their central limbs. The
Grey Ssu must halve their attack and parry chances when using
weapons in both limbs simultaneously. This is not the case for the
Black Ssu, so they almost always do this.
WEAPONS: long swords, short spears, and daggers. Typical
missile weapon is the mdm crossbow. Use shields in the form of
three ovals with a point at each end. (All weapons at 30.)