15 Robot Features - Alphabetical

15 Robot Features - Alphabetical

Advanced Alien Alloy: An extremely rare material was used to fabricate the outer layers of the robot.  +2 to Constitution, +2 Bonus to AC, ½ damage from cold or heat.

Level 2: Firmware upgrade takes advantage of the alloy’s unique properties to extrude spikes when a current is applied.  All melee attacks add +4d6 spike damage to their normal damage.

Level 3: An expensive radiation curing process allows the metal to become flexible, adding +2 to Dexterity (double normal GP cost to level up this feature to this level).

Blades:  +2 to Strength.  Pop-out blades can be hidden in the durndest places (to be determined by the player).  Roll 1d6:

1: two melee attacks for 2d8 damage

2-4: two melee attacks for 2d10 damage

5: two melee attacks for 2d12 damage

6: four melee attacks for 2d6 damage

Level 2: The blades are energized, doing double damage.

Level 3: Blades can be launched as a ranged attack with a range of 50’.  

Catbot: +1 to Strength and Dexterity.  Inspired by the old Terran wild cats, this sleek body modification doubles movement rate and enables pounces of up to 100’.  Three melee attacks (claw/claw/bite) for 2d4/2d4/2d10 damage.  When pouncing, a single melee attack is allowed for 6d10 damage.

Level 2:  An add-on vocal modulator recreates the famous lion’s roar in the form of a sonic attack.  50’ cone range, Willpower attack – 3d6 damage and temporary deafness for 1d4 rounds.  If this attack does more than 12 damage it knocks the target to the ground.

Chains: The robots torso is wrapped in motorized chains that can be used to assist in locomotion, in defense or as a choking attack.  Movement rate is increased by 50%, +2 bonus to AC, and a Dexterity attack with range of 15’ can be made to to do 3d6 constricting damage and hold the target motionless.  Held targets automatically take 3d6 damage each round and up to three targets can be held at once.  A held target can attempt a Strength attack to break free instead of performing any other actions on its turn.

Level 2: Hardware Upgrade: +1 to Strength, +1 to Dexterity, constricting damage is now 4d6 each round.

Dozer: +2 to Strength.  Scoop attachments and hydraulic lifters enable the Dozer to lift and move up to 2000 pounds.  

Level 2: Software update allows the scoop to be used defensively.  +2 bonus to AC.

Elegant: +2 to Dexterity and Charisma.  Sleek lines and graceful movements make onlookers forget that the possessor of this feature is a robot.  

Level 2: Ballet Flurry: Three graceful Dexterity attacks per round for 2d12 damage.

Multi-Purpose Bot:  +1 to Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence.  Featuring multiple arms and tentacles, fine manipulators and heavy graspers, wheels and legs, this model can be programmed out of the factory for hundreds of different jobs.  The Multi-Purpose Bot should receive a bonus determined by the GM when attempting tasks that can normally only be performed by a trained professional (open heart surgery, for example).  

Multi-Section Design:  The body of the robot can come apart into several independent sections.  The hands and head are detachable and can fly using embedded micro-repulsor beams.  Each has audio and video inputs and can be remotely controlled to a range of 1000’.  A detached hand can manipulate objects weighing up to 15 pounds.  The head has two tentacles that dangle from it which are used to connect the head to the body, and which also serve as manipulators when the head is detached.  These tentacles can lift up to 30 pounds.  The main positronic brain of the robot is located in the torso.  It is capable of processing input from both hands and the head while simultaneously directing the movement of the main body.  

Level 2:  This feature grants the ability to make attacks with both hands simultaneously at no penalty.

Peacemakers: +1 to Dexterity. Wrist mounted energy blasters, Peacemakers are widely used throughout the galaxy because of their reputation for reliability in extreme conditions.  Two ranged attacks for 5d6 damage each.  The Peacemaker Energy Cell is the industry standard and has a lifetime guarantee (each cell good for 100 years of continuous firing).

Level 2: Software Hack: Overriding the factory safety settings ramps up the damage to 10d6 each.  On any attack roll of a natural 1, the Peacemaker overheats causing 10d6 damage to its wielder.

Level 3: Peacemaker Bomb Hack: As a last resort the Peacemaker Energy Cell can be tampered with in a specific way to create a time bomb with up to a 24 hour delay.  The energy cell explodes in a small nuclear reaction, completely destroying organic life forms within 1d6 x 100’ of the blast and doing significant structural damage as well.  The explosion will blind anyone looking directly at it without eye protection.

Reflective Armor:  +1 to Dexterity.  This military upgrade is an integrated automated reflector system that sends incoming fire back to its source.  It only works on energy and explosive weapons (projectile weapons receive +2 to each damage die) but it allows the robot to make a simultaneous ranged attack against the first opponent to attack it during each round.  If this simultaneous attack hits, it reflects the opponent’s attack and does ½ the regular damage of the reflected attack to the opponent.

Rocket Eyes:  The eyes of the robot can detach and fly up to 100 MPH propelled by miniature rockets.  They can be controlled independently and transmit visual data back to the robot with a communication range of 2 miles and 2 hours energy charge.

Level 2: +2 to Dexterity.  This hardware upgrade and firmware update outfits each eye with a laser attack.  Each eye can make a ranged attack independently of the other each round.  The laser has a range of 100’ and does 5d6 damage.

Level 3: Cloaking devices for the eyes enable them to turn invisible at will.  

Space Flight: This robot is capable of flight with a maximum speed in a planet’s atmosphere of 800 MPH and capable of continuous acceleration to much greater speeds in outer space.  For small scale purposes the robot’s movement rate is 240’ with poor maneuverability.  

Level 2: +1 Intelligence, +1 Dexterity.  This hardware and software update allows for much better close-quarters maneuvering.  The robot can hover in place and perform difficult aerial stunts.  A melee attack made while flying does double damage with rocket power behind it.  In addition, better navigational computation allows for inter-stellar travel in half the time it took before.

Spiderbot: Most robot making civilizations evolved variations of the spiderbot independently across the universe.  Many legged metal monsters are a familiar sight no matter where the inter-stellar traveller goes.  Grants the ability to climb at full speed up walls and across ceilings.  Extra limbs are also extremely useful in holding off attackers; this feature grants a +2 bonus to AC and +1 to Dexterity.

Level 2:  Battle Spider Modifications add a vicious bite melee attack for 3d12 damage and a custom venom: (roll 1d4)  Save vs. Poison or suffer the following effect:

1.  Paralyzed for 2d4 rounds

2.  Permanent Insanity (Intelligence and Willpower reduced to 4)

3.  False Death – the target appears dead to most medical exams but can be revived by the spiderbot for up to 2d4 days after the poisoning, at which time the target truly dies.

4.  Truth and Suggestibility Serum: The target must tell the truth, and anyone can make a Willpower attack against the target to make them carry out a verbal suggestion.  This can include suggested actions that directly harm the target.

Translator Module: +2 to Intelligence. This combines a constantly updated database of the known languages of the universe with a predictive algorithm to allow for even previously unencountered languages to be translated.  The robot can understand and speak any language.  Codes and secret messages can be translated if an intelligence attack against the intelligence of the creator of the message is successful.  

Unique Energy Core:  A strange energy source powers this robot.  It could be of alien or magical origin, it could be from the future... +2 to Constitution and +25% Movement Rate.  Unarmed melee attacks do 2d8 damage.

Level 2: Hardware Modification: The energy core is harnessed to provide an energy blast ranged attack that does 6d8 damage (100’ range).

Holy Crap! I have time to write a post! (Mutant Future sessions 34 - 37)

Well folks, looking back at my last post I see that I drastically overestimated my ability to keep up on this blog.  Not a single 2e Tuesday post.  Sorry!

My weekly Mutant Future game has become an every other week affair, but the players are taking the campaign in interesting new directions.  I want to briefly outline what has happened since the players stole an alien spaceship in an alternate dimension that they were visiting.  This is still going to be a very long post even if I skip a lot of the details.

Sessions 34 - 37 have all taken place on the ship, although at the end of last nights session the main body of the ship was destroyed and the party barely escaped in the detachable flying saucer top of the space ship.  The flying saucer was heavily damaged and the party more or less crash landed it on a rocky planetoid.

The party took a while to feel out the ship.  A character death had necessitated that Danny roll up a new character during the session that the party stole the ship (alas, Rok was decapitated during a duel with an Elf Champion), and he made a robot using the optional rules I introduced here and here.  I let him roll twice on the optional Industrial and Civilian feature chart and once on the mental mutation table and he got the Plane Shift mutation.  Of course, this meant that he had just used his ability to materialize within the alien ship the day before the party stole it.  He had been working on interacting with the ship's computer the entire time, and spent much of the next two sessions pursuing this strategy.  His ability to wirelessly interact with the computers within 50' of him (thanks to that handy optional chart) let him attempt to do the job of a crew of humans on the bridge.  He spent a lot of time doing tech rolls and coming up with new and creative ways to use the ship's computers and attempt to wrest control of the computer systems from an unknown super-computer that was manipulating the ship's data feeds. 

One thing that the party learned right away was that one quarter of the ship, a large wedge, on two levels, had been completely disconnected from the ship's systems.  What lay in that large area, behind sealed bulkheads, the party had no way of knowing. 

Other party members familiarized themselves with the large weapons control deck and the robotics control deck.  Bob the mutant human had a great deal of success in figuring out how to remotely control what turned out to be a veritable legion of robots of many different varieties. 

An army of robotic minions was sent out to explore the ship when it was discovered that the optical feeds coming in from the ship's cameras were being tampered with by an unknown super-computer that appeared to have direct access to the ship's bridge.  It gradually became apparent that there were "invisible" creatures stalking around the ship (at least two of them were confirmed by reconnaissance squads in different locations simultaneously), but as they were cloaked from visual detection and the feed from the ship's sensors was being manipulated by the unknown computer the only way of detecting them was relying on the sensors of the robots directly controlled by Bob the mutant human in the robotics control center.  Attempts to engage the invisible creatures led to the destruction of numerous robots and no further knowledge of the invisible assailants


Amusingly, Shazaam attempted to "figure out" the weapons control system.  This was a complex touchscreen interaction with visual tracking that allowed the user to pull up enormous targeting windows along the outer wall of the deck.  Having already failed to understand the interface, he informed me that he was going to "press some buttons".  I had him roll the dice.  He rolled the worst possible result that he could of.  Everyone in the party stopped as I laughed and told them what happened next.  Shazaam had activated an emergency defensive sub-routine meant to be used as a last resort when taking intense enemy fire.  He diverted all available power to the ship's shields and the weapons systems.  The ship shut down all non-occupied areas, powering off life support and diverting everything to the shields. 

The party held its breath, looking at monitors depicting an inky black ship.  Over in the bridge, Volcom (the plane shifting robot computer tech) managed to restore the ship to its normal operating parameters but multiple alarms demanded his attention.

Entire decks of cryo-chambers had opened, releasing a bizarre horde of part plant, part animal monstrosities.  Stang, the giant mutant wasp with four defective paranoid brains, leapt at the chance to rush into action. 

I probably shouldn't go into detail with the battles that raged across the ship, first with the newly awakened abominations (this battle was actually mercifully short thanks to grenades and an entire legion of robotic defenders activated by Bob to aid the party) and later with the invisible assailants.  These turned out to be shapeshifting plant-toads that walked upright and had enormous gaping mouths (I used the Grey Slaadi stats from the Fiend Folio, with a few tweaks:  150 HP, flame strike does 15d6, and they could transport themselves with/transform themselves into their "ball of lightning" ability which I left at 8d6+6 damage).  The creatures proved to be quite formidable.  One showed up in the bridge in the guise of a holographic doctor that had been activated during the accidental ship-wide power shutdown. 

The party was all too eager to believe in the holographic doctor, especially as he told them a lot of information that made sense.  Eventually, the ruse was revealed and the toad-thing attempted to slay the party in the bridge as another attacked the party members that were down in the lower decks.  Nothing the party tried seemed to be able to hurt the creatures.  Even mental mutations seemed to work only infrequently (I applied the Grey Slaadi's 55% magic resistance to mental mutation attacks and the party wasn't trying the "magical" weapons they had, two long swords +3 of light from the elves and several glargore weapons from the badders).  At one point James Bomb received a wound and an egg pellet was implanted in his arm by the toad-plant.  He panicked and fled, tying off his arm above the wound and blasting his own forearm off with his laser pistol as he retreated to the med chambers.  The elevator let him off in a strange, plant covered chamber and it took all his wits to evade another toad creature that came looking for him.  Back in the bridge, Shazaam had realized that his elvish Light Sword could injure the creature and the tide of battle turned.  The toadstrosity retreated.

I have to mention one epic moment:  a later battle pitted Shazaam one on one against another Slaadtastic Plant Toad.  Dr. Hops the mutant were-rabbit lay dead at his feet, victim of the Slaadi's flamestrike which thankfully Shazaam had succeeded in his saving throw against.  The slaad traced a strange symbol in the air and projected energy through it - Volcom's player Danny made a specific point to mention that Volcom was watching this symbol closely over the monitors from the bridge - and Shazaam and Volcom promptly became blind.  In the case of the robot Volcom, his optical sensors were still working but his processors had lost the capacity to crunch the visual feed and he had no image to work with.  Shazaam hefted his Light Sword and made a called shot to the neck, an attempted decapitation, acknowledging my admonition that he would be at a severe penalty to hit due to his BLINDNESS, and...  rolled a natural 20.  He cut the thick head off the shoulders of that thing, and then stumbled off to the med labs.

Several sessions slowly revealed that the entire ship was riddled with a single organism, an immense plant that had filled the ventilation systems, the spaces between decks, and presumably had a main body in the section of the ship that was sealed off from the party.  Sorties into this sealed section revealed rooms of robot plant cultivators tending to small "sapling" versions of the death's-head tree the party had encountered at the elven castle.

The party had also been experiencing symptoms of a physical ailment, symptoms that manifested for some of the party members as bloating and discomfort in the bowels and in others as sinus pressure or a sore throat.  Eventual scans revealed that an alien organism was growing inside most of the party members (Bozko never ate any elvish food and Volcom arrived in the spaceship without contacting the elves at all).  It appeared to be forming a second nervous system that was intertwining itself along and around the nervous systems of the infected party members.  Of course, many methods were tried to remove the organism but it was too closely linked to vital nerves to allow for any surgical extraction and the robot doctors warned strongly against even attempting it.

The party gained access to what appeared to be several thousand years of ship's medical logs - apparently, the ship had been cruising around space for over 5,000 years acting as the host of the parasitic alien plant-creature.  The plant creature infected the original crew of the ship and once the alien nervous systems grew inside the crew members, the plant-creature sent out signals that activated the alien nervous systems and seized control of the crew members' bodies. 

I wish I had time to go into the biology, philosophy and survival adaptations of the alien creature and its offspring because it is really fascinating but I don't.

Long story short:  A violent struggle for control of the ship broke out between the alien plant-creature that filled the ship and the party, who holed up in the bridge.  The bridge and the other three important main decks were all located in a detachable portion of the spaceship, a large flying saucer that also contained the weapons systems but not the hyperdrive.  The party eventually cleared the entire flying saucer level of the alien plant creature and achieved a stalemate of sorts as both sides waited for the ship to complete its jump and come out of hyperspace.

The second the ship returned to normal space Volcom initiated the detach flying saucer sequence.  The party had prepared for this moment by hacking into a section of the ship's life support code and eliminating the barrier on how hot the internal temperature could be raised to.  Then, the party had activated the sprinkler system and filled the hallways with mist.  As soon as the flying saucer was clear, Volcom was cranking the heat inside the main body of the spaceship up to nearly 1,000 degrees.  The plan was to steam the vegetable, as it had been proven earlier that head dried up and killed the mycelium-like tissue of the plant-creature. 

The plant-creature proved to be a wily adversary as well, jettisoning four large sections of the ships hull that opened into the sealed plant-sections of the ship and revealing four enormous "arms" of plant matter, that reached out thousands of feet and snagged the flying saucer as it was attempting to fly away.  Twisting and turning, pulled by the long plant-tentacles, the flying saucer and its crew blasted away with the pulse-laser cannons and soon succeeded in destroying the arms that bound the ship.  Volcom steered the flying saucer a safe distance away and the rest of the party remained in the weapons control deck, manning pulse cannons and missiles aimed at the ship "just in case". 

Soon, two cloaked slaadi flew out after the flying saucer.  Impossible to detect except as a void where background radiation should have been coming through, the slaadi proved difficult to target with the pulse cannons and were dangerously close for missile fire.  The slaadi took advantage of this moment of confusion and transformed into lightning ball form and travelled at the speed of light to directly outside the saucer's hull, from whence they sent lightning balls inside the ship to attack the party.

The slaad attempted to tunnel in to the ship, but Stang picked one of with the pulse cannon, overcoming its energy resistance (55% magic resistance) and utterly obliterating it with something like 780 damage done with the one shot (the ship-to-ship pulse cannons do 1d100 x 10 damage).  The second slaad made it into the walls of the ship and was eventually stopped, but not before severe damage was done to the computer and life support systems in the bridge. 

Volcom piloted the crippled saucer back close enough to the mother ship to be able to wirelessly tap into its computers (the transmitter in the saucer had been damaged beyond repair and the party had lost all feeds from the mother ship).  Once the party had access to the feeds again, it became apparent that the plan was working.  The alien flesh was being slowly cooked, and it looked like within five or six more hours the middle of the alien creature would be "done".  Mmmm, roasted alien mycelial networks. 

Suddenly, a huge ball of the creature shot out from the spaceship and began hurtling away into space, apparently making a break for it.  As the astonished party swung their weapons toward it, they saw it preparing some kind of energy charge that it was aligning toward the main body of the ship.

Volcom diverted all of the shields to directly between the flying saucer and the main body of the ship, just before a nuclear explosion happened in the chamber recently vacated by the plant-creature.  The ship was ripped to shreds and then disintegrated, but the alien creature had readied a shield of energy to "surf" off the explosion and accelerate away.

Luckily, the shields held because of Volcom's last second maneuver, but the power resources of the flying saucer were almost completely drained.  The party did manage to destroy the alien creature with pulse-laser fire as the explosion was happening, and then eventually Volcom armed a missile with a planet buster and sent it off after the creature.  Once it got within a few hundred miles it detonated and annihilated the plant.

Stang remarked that she kind of missed the plant now, because she had really gotten to know the tricky creature after several sessions in a row of fighting against it.

Volcom piloted the saucer to a nearby rocky planetoid that the party had previously scanned.  It contained a robotic automated mining station but no life forms. 

And there you have it folks, the extremely brief version of what has been going on in my Mutant Future campaign!

Android Features (android substitute for mutations)

I just found this cool Mutant Future wiki - there was a blank page called "Android Features" which inspired me to create some.  I encourage everyone to go add stuff to the wiki!  

I will now allow any of my players creating an android to substitute one mutation for a roll on the tables below.

Roll 1d6 - on a result of 1-5, roll on the Industrial and Civilian feature chart below, on a result of 6 roll on the Military feature chart below.

Industrial and Civilian feature chart:  

These android features were commonly installed in industrial and civilian androids - roll 1d4 once and consult the following list:

1.  USB 4.0 - this particular model of android has USB 4.0 compatibility.  USB 4.0 has an extremely high data transfer rate and wireless connectivity to a range of 10d10 feet.  Any high-tech device within this range that is compatible with the USB 4.0 protocol can be accessed remotely provided it is not password protected.  Data can be transferred, devices controlled and tech-rolls can be made at up to this range.  Examples of devices that commonly were compatible with USB 4.0 include most computers made after 2017, smart houses, many televisions, many smart phones and most smart vehicles.  In addition, some androids can remove their positronic brains and, as long as the range of the USB 4.0 is not exceeded, control their brainless bodies remotely. 

2.  Blow Torch - commonly installed on industrial androids.  Roll 1d6 - on a result of 1-5, the blow-torch replaces the left hand.  On a 6, the blowtorch emerges from a compartment in the left arm (the android still has the use of its left hand).  The blowtorch can be used as a melee weapon but its extremely limited reach makes it relatively ineffective.  Attacks with the blow torch are at a -4 penalty to hit - however, they do a healthy chunk of damage if the attack is successful: 4d8 damage.  They can also be used to cut through metal or burn through other substances that are not more than 2" thick.  

3.  Vocal Modulator - the android is capable of perfectly replicating sounds that it has heard through its vocal apparatus.  This ability is not limited to speech, and indeed, the android can hear and reproduce sounds above and below the audible frequency range of human hearing.   

4.  Limited Transformation - the android was designed with movable parts such that it can undergo a limited transformation into one other form, determined at character creation in consultation with the Mutant Lord.  Common forms include vehicles such as motorcycles, pallet lifts or hoverscooters, and furniture items such as chairs or desks.  A common variant is to have only portions of the android's body transform - legs slide open and reveal wheels, or arms extend and hands become clamps, etc. 

Military Android Feature Chart: 

These Android Features were commonly installed on military android models.  Roll 1d4 once and consult the following chart:

1. Laser Guidance System - as long as the android has line of sight to its target, it can emit a laser beam that aids in targeting ranged attacks.  The android gets a bonus of +4 to hit stationary targets and +2 to hit moving targets with ranged attacks.  

2.  Camouflage - the android has special, durable LCD screens mounted on its body that can be used to mimic its surroundings, granting an effective camouflage.  There is a 2 round delay while the surroundings are processed before the camouflage takes effect - when used for camouflage, in all other ways this feature functions like the Chameleon Epidermis mutation.  In addition, these screens can be used to emit light (at the choice of the android, the light can be emitted from its entire body or only certain areas).  This light can illuminate out to 30'. 

3.  Com-Link - the android is equipped with a com-link that enables it to communicate at up to a 1d4 mile range with anyone else who has a com-link, radio tuned to the correct frequency, satellite, or similar piece of technology.  Roll 1d6 - on a result of 1-5, the android has one additional com-link that can be used by any being with ears and on a result of 6 the android has 1d4+1 additional com-links.  Any additional com-links are stored in a small compartment in the androids chest when not in use.  

4.  Rocket Boots - the android has rockets mounted to the bottom of its feet.  It can fly at speeds of up to 1d6 hundred MPH.  While flying at high speeds (over 100 MPH), the android has very poor maneuverability.  This is left to the Mutant Lord to adjudicate.  The android can fly for a total of 6d10 minutes each day (both max speed and total flight time to be rolled once at character creation).  When this total is used up, the android cannot fly again until 24 hours have passed and its energy cells have recharged. 

Robot (homo)Sexuality

Random tables for harlots and bust size speak to the long history of PCs seeking sexual satisfaction in RPGs.  The latest example of this occurred last night as Dataan the robot tried to persuade his five newly acquired slave boys to sample his sweet, intoxicating robot man-love.  This is interesting to me in several respects - first, I believe Dataan represents the first openly gay PC in any of my campaigns, and frankly, I am a little surprised it has taken 17 years of DMing to get to this point.  I mean, it is 2000 frickin' 9, you would think that barrier would have been broken by now.  Second, I am a little taken aback by the concept of robot sexuality in general.  I don't know why, but the concept of a robot with a libido is a little disturbing to me.  Somehow, it seems like that sort of thing would be left out of the basic programming, but perhaps it is a necessary consequence of self awareness?  I will have to think about this further.  Thirdly, the mechanical aspects of robot sex are far from clear cut.  It is unclear which of the requisite tools Dataan actually possesses- we know he has a mouth (which he consistently puts to brash use over the loudspeaker of the Swamp Orca) and hands, but what other equipment is this former data entry bot packing?  As I learn more, I will probably post it here - hopefully I do not have to change my blog's G-rating!

The Megadungeon in the Mutant Future

James had a thought provoking post about megadungeons over at Grognardia this afternoon, and it made me want to share a little about my own post-apocalyptic megadungeon.  This first post will be a session recap of the first expedition into the megadungeon, and I plan subsequent posts detailing the party's later (and much more thorough) explorations as well as a "behind the screen" look at how I run a megadungeon (sneak preview: add 1 part map, 1 part critter encounter list, a dash of preparation in the form of quick notes on areas, and a whole lot of winging it and that is Grandma Nashes Old Fashioned Megadungeon recipe!).

In the first few sessions of my campaign I had thrown out a bunch of possible plot hooks to see what the players wanted to bite at.  One involved a group of cephalopoid traders showing up in Spanky Butt with a ton of strange artifacts and a story about exploring a building to the west in the swamp, causing a cave in, and releasing an outpouring of thick, hot mist.  As the swamp used to be covered night and day in a similar mist, allowing the dreaded vampire bats to fly around at all hours, the players were quite keen to get to the bottom of this and "turn off the mist" as they put it.

So I cobbled together a couple maps of two high rise buildings that I snagged on Google image search, sunk them into the earth, drew connecting passages between the two and called them an ancient military complex.  This worked quite well as the basis for my megadungeon, as both floorplans allowed for choice in exploration both within a level and between levels.  I drew several expansions off the sides of the buildings (being underground, I was not constrained by the footprint of the ground floor as an actual high rise building is).  Multiple stairwells and elevator shafts connected the levels, and it was out of one of the open elevator shafts that the mists were pouring.  I made a few quick notes about the general theme of each level, wrote down a few reminders to myself (effects of prolonged exposure to the "mist", which was really the noxious atmosphere of the Oozyxphgian homeworld pouring out of an open portal in the lowest level, visibility in the mist, where the active security cameras were and what sort of security robots were still working), and went to the next session ready to wing it.  I had sketchily keyed the top level and the rooms directly around each entrance to the second level.

Well, the best laid plans of mice and Mutant Lords, as they say.  The players were totally freaked out by the cameras tracking their movements and the oppressive mists and they ran through the first level in the direction that they could feel the mists coming from and came to the open elevator shaft.  They tossed some debris in and realized they were standing in front of a drop of at least several hundred feet (actually more like 500' to the bottom!).  I described the metallic clickety clack of the spider bots that were closing in on them and the heavier thud thud thud of the scorpion's armored legs following close behind.  And thats when the party surprised me, as they are wont to do.  Bozko the giant shapeshifting mutant plant altered his form to completely fill the elevator shaft and I told him that the mist was pressurized and began lifting him up toward the top of the shaft.  He changed his form slightly to allow the mist to stream through several holes in his body and told the rest of the group to climb on top of him.  He enlarged the holes enough to decrease the pressure to the point that he began descending the shaft.  They ignored all the side exits and went straight to the bottom, all the way down to the 7th level, ignoring everything that I had prepared.  Good thing I had made a few notes on the main themes of each level!

I knew that they had just emerged in a vast hangar, filled with the twisted wreckage of old military vehicles of all descriptions.  The mist was incredibly thick down there, as the atmospheric pressure of the Oozxyphgian homeworld is quite a bit greater than that of earth, so the fumes were being pushed through the portal by the crushing weight of an alien atmosphere.  As I described the fused remains of the tanks and unmanned drones  emerging from the choking fog that they were walking through, I also told them that they could hear something clattering down the sides of the elevator shaft above them.  They fought against the streaming mist and made their way to its origin, two peculiar poles of an unknown metallic composition, between which a shimmering gate opened into an alien landscape.  The air breathers in the party were making saves every minute of game time or taking damage, and were slowly dying.  As they tried to figure out how to shut off the gate, the spiderbots and scorpion made their appearance and I thought I might have a TPK on my hands.  Well, it wasn't my fault they had chosen to descend all the way to the near airless depths when they could have fought the robots on their own terms 500' above!  Nowhere to run to, baby, nowhere to hide.

Cue party surprising Mutant Lord, part two.  Millard Fillmore, the intrepid swamp trapper, mutant human and NOT the 13th president of the United States despite many vociferous claims to the contrary, has a light-controlling mutation which he used to displace the laser targeting dots the spiderbots were shining on the party back onto one of the spiderbots.  The scorpion launched some missiles, and most of the spiderbots were vaporized.  Unfortunately, some of the party was caught in the radius of the explosion and also suffered some near fatal damage.  Meanwhile, the two technologically inclined party members were hard at work messing with the gate.  They figured out that the seemingly seamless pillars actually were composed of 8 rotating sections, each of which clicked into 8 different positions as they were rotated (that was complete improv on my part, I had not got as far as figuring out how the portal worked or how to turn it off!).  They began twisting the sections and observing the results as the rest of the party tried to hold off the robots.  Someone had the bright idea of hiding on the far side of the gate (which was one sided - that is the mist only poured out of one surface of it and from the far side it simply appeared as a rippling obstruction of space) while Millard projected the image of the party in front of the gate so that the fire of the scorpion would go through the gate and explode harmlessly in an alien world.  This worked on the scorpion, but the remaining spiderbots had much too sophisticated sensory equipment to be fooled for long.

In the meantime, however, I had been having the two tech-heads make tech rolls to see how much progress they were making on the gate.  I had decided on the spot to start out with a relatively difficult benchmark and every roll above that would cause the gate to expand, while rolls below it would cause the gate to contract.  Each roll that caused a contraction would raise the benchmark, making it progressively easier to shut it down - I reasoned that since they were observing the effect each manipulation of the pillar had on the gate, it would be easy to tell what was working and what wasn't.  As the spiderbots were making their way around the gate and picking up the actual position of the party, the players managed to shrink the gate considerably with several very low rolls.  The spiderbots targeted the party using their vibration sensors, and signalled their position to the scorpion.  Just as the scorpion began to come around the portal to unload on the party, the tech guys rolled a near critical failure.  I think they got a 98 on a d100, or something like that; in any case, the portal expanded dramatically and swallowed the scorpion up in its expansion.  Their next roll was ridiculously successful, a 3 on d100 minus their combined bonuses put it at something like -20.  I ruled that they had closed the portal, trapping the scorpion on the other side.  It just seemed too dramatic and serendipitous an ending to pass up.  The remaining spiderbots quickly high tailed it, lacking any firepower of their own.

Most of the party was near death and everyone except Dataan the robot (who had actually not revealed to the party yet that he was a robot, so he was pretending to be suffering along with the rest of them) and Bozko the plant were about to succumb to the poisonous gases that still filled the chamber.  They went back to the elevator shaft and quickly realized that without the atmospheric pressure pushing the mist, there was nothing to propel them up the shaft!  They were 700' below ground and had to start up a stairwell to get out the hard way...

And that is how the party truly began the exploration of my megadungeon, from the lowest level up!

Bestiary part the second - Robots and Apes

In this second installment of my Mutant Future bestiary, I will present another military robot developed by the resistance using alien technology, as well as two of the genetically engineered ape super soldiers that the party encountered in the ruins of the military complex they spent several sessions exploring.

Illustrations are still in the works for these entries; I will add them as soon as I finish them up.

MR1200 "Jumping Jack"

This military robot represented the pinnacle of human understanding of Oozyxphgian technology.  Utilizing force-field generation, repulsor beams, and an organic computer "brain" capable of telepathically contacting nearby sentient organisms and hijacking control of their bodies, the Jumping Jacks were ideal security bots for sensitive areas that could ill afford to be strafed with the kind of explosive firepower that earlier security bots were equipped with.  They resemble a large iron ball from which protrude four rods tipped with repulsor disks.  These four rods are arrayed in similar fashion to the points of a caltrop so that when the Jumping Jack is at rest it sits on three of the rods with the fourth pointing straight up into the air.

They were the first robots to be built with no electronic circuitry at all, instead relying entirely on the artificial neural network and organic computers copied from the Oozies.  They use a form of sonar (70' range) to sense their surroundings and also use their telepathic ability to detect the presence of sentient beings.  They are incredibly maneuverable, capable of changing directions almost instantly by virtue of their four opposed repulsor beams. While utilizing their telepathic possession ability, they enter "defensive mode", spinning and bouncing around so rapidly in place that it is nearly impossible to hit them.  While they are quite smart in their own way, most Jumping Jacks were given a set of directives at creation that they cannot override - the human scientists responsible for reverse engineering the alien technology never fully understood the process of "programming" the organic computers, so these directives must be relatively simple (guard this chamber and attack anyone who does not present a gold key card, for instance).  Within the bounds prescribed by these directives, the Jumping Jacks demonstrate amazing creativity and a keen mind for tactical maneuvers.  Over the centuries, some have managed to break free from their directives and it is possible that there are rogue Jumping Jacks wandering the land, following their own inscrutable whimsy.  Jumping Jacks need no food or fuel, subsisting on the nutrients provided by the wormhole generating tissues inside their metal shell (in fact, a Jumping Jack may have a much larger physical body than one might imagine, but the bulk of it resides far away on an alien planet, soaking in a nutrient rich environment and transmitting the energy gathered back to its metal-shelled brain through these tiny wormholes).

HD:10 (50 HP)
Movement: 240' (repulsors allow it to fly up to 40' in the air)
AC: 2 (or -2 in defensive mode,see below)
Forcefield: Ignore the first 25 damage each round (ignore the first 40 damage each round in defensive mode)

Attacks:  4 repulsor blasts (range 40'), or possession (range 50', requires a successful mental attack roll)

Damage: repulsor blast: 2d6 and pushes target backwards 2d20' - if this causes the target to slam into an obstacle, they take 1d6 more damage for every 5' traveled.

Save: L8

Intelligence:14

Willpower:14
Mutations (these are actually innate properties of the particular tissue cultured for use as organic computers in the Jumping Jacks):  Neural Telepathy, Possession

Special:  defensive mode - the Jumping Jack diverts energy from the repulsors to the force field, increasing its strength, and begins spinning and hopping wildly in place to make it extremely difficult to land a solid hit.  No attacks can be made while in defensive mode, but the Jumping Jack can maintain a possession.


The Ultrasimianus Project:


The Ultrasimianus project was an attempt by the resistance movement to genetically engineer supersoldiers using the great apes as a starting point.  After achieving a great deal of success in creating apes that were both incredibly strong and as smart as the average human, the resistance went farther by grafting robotic implants into the skulls of the apes, replacing one eye with a sophisticated camera directly connected to the brain.  These implants also allowed the resistance scientists to control their experimental soldiers by remotely regulating bodily functions such as heart rate, adrenaline output, etc.  A genetic aptitude and predisposition for combat was a primary goal of the genetic engineering; in this regard, the project was an unqualified success.  Some populations of these apes have survived; most no longer have the robotic implants, but some have persisted for centuries in the military complexes where they were created, and if the automated equipment of the facility is intact, apes that enter the surgery chambers could still be outfitted with the robotic sensory device.


Ultrasimianus Pan Troglodyte (War Chimp)


War Chimps are quite intelligent and always display an innate understanding of tactics and strategy in combat. They will attempt to engage when the conditions favor them, and will often use their superior climbing abilities to ambush foes when they least expect it.  However, once injured they tend to abandon strategy and enter a terrifying frenzy, wading in to hand to hand combat without fear of death.  Unlike an ordinary chimpanzee, the War Chimps are capable of fully articulate human speech and most speak and understand a human language in addition to having a complicated sign language for silent communication between war band members during an attack.

Number Encountered: 3d6+2 (war band)
Movement: 180' (climb 120')
HD: 13
AC: 5 (unarmored, reflecting -2 from tough hide and -2 from dexterity bonus - most war bands wear armor)

Attacks: 2 (blows from arms, legs or weapon - all melee attacks at +5 to hit, all ranged attacks at +2)

Damage: 1d8+5 or by weapon+5

Save: L12

All adult War Chimps have at least a 22 Strength and a 16 Dexterity.  Intelligence and Willpower should be determined as normal with a roll of 3d6.

Most war bands will be led by an alpha male with 18 HD and 24 Strength (+6 to hit and damage) who saves as a level 13 monster.

Special:  If a War Chimp is outfitted with a robotic implant, it gets an additional +2 to hit on all attacks, and the camera acts as a 16 X telescope and 64 X microscope, seeing into the infrared spectrum (heat vision)  and allowing the War Chimp to operate in low light situations (night vision).

Ultrasimianus Pongo Pygmaeus (Warangutan)


Warangutans tend to operate in smaller bands than the War Chimps.  They are just as intelligent and always display an innate understanding of tactics and strategy in combat. They will attempt to engage when the conditions favor them, and will often use their superior climbing abilities to ambush foes when they least expect it.  They are highly disciplined fighters and will maintain their ranks and follow orders even unto death.  Unlike an ordinary orangutan, the Warangutans are capable of fully articulate human speech and most speak and understand a human language in addition to having a complicated sign language for silent communication between war band members during an attack.

Number Encountered: 1d8+3 (war band)
Movement: 180' (climb 130', brachiation 200')
HD: 15
AC: 6 (unarmored, reflecting -2 from tough hide and -1 from dexterity bonus - most war bands wear armor)

Attacks: 2 (blows from arms, legs or weapon - all melee attacks at +6 to hit, all ranged attacks at +1)

Damage: 1d10+6 or by weapon+6

Save: L13

All adult Warangutans have at least a 24 Strength and a 14 Dexterity.  Intelligence and Willpower should be determined as normal with a roll of 3d6.

Most war bands will be led by an alpha male with 20 HD and 26 Strength (+7 to hit and damage) who saves as a level 14 monster.

Special:  If a Warangutan is outfitted with a robotic implant, it gets an additional +2 to hit on all attacks, and the camera acts as a 16 X telescope and 64 X microscope, seeing into the infrared spectrum (heat vision)  and allowing the Warangutan to operate in low light situations (night vision).

Bestiary part the first - Robots

Here are a couple of the robotic guardians the party ran into in the ancient military complex.  After hacking into the defense network, the party successfully reprogrammed several Spiderbots to follow their commands and have used them to great effect in subsequent adventures.  The Scorpion provided the first two character deaths in my campaign, as well as polishing off three NPCs.

MR7000 "Scorpion"

An early attempt at military robotics, the MR7000's rolled off the production lines before the force-field generating tissue utilized by the Oozyxphg was fully understood and cultivated.  As a result, the Scorpions are relatively easy to destroy (compared to the later military robots), but the considerable firepower they pack make them a deadly adversary.  Coupled with a few Spiderbots (see below) to assist with targeting, these bad boys could be your party's worst nightmare.  The body measures 3' long, with a 3 1/2' leg span.  The Scorpion has a very limited artificial intelligence and cameras and microphones in its head are its only sensory inputs.
HP:60   (10 HD)
AC: 5


Attacks: 2 mini-missiles (2 mini-missile launchers on right claw, each with 12 missiles) or 2 grenades (2 grenade launchers on right claw, the Scorpion has a total of 20 grenades in an internal magazine) or 1 grenade (stinger) or 6 machine gun (left claw) or 2 lasers (left claw)


Damage: mini-missiles 7d6, 30' radius explosion, 3000' range, grenades 10d6, 15' radius explosion, 600' range (-2 to hit from 200-400', -4 to hit from 401-600'), machine gun 2d8, laser 10d6, 200' range (these powerful beams can be used to cut through metal at the rate of 1" per round)

If a single Spiderbot is assisting the Scorpion with targeting, the Scorpion may use two of its attack options in a single round (as long as they are on different appendages - left claw and right claw, or either claw and stinger).

If two or more Spiderbots are assisting with targeting, the Scorpion may use three of its attack options as long as they are on different appendages (stinger, left claw and right claw).

If the Scorpion chooses to use only a single attack option while one or more Spiderbots are assisting with targeting, the Scorpion gets a +2 to all attack rolls for each assisting Spiderbot up to a +6 bonus.

When a Scorpion is destroyed by gunfire or explosion, there is a 30% chance that any remaining grenades or missiles will explode (for their regular damage and radius of explosion).


MR9000 "Spiderbot"


The first real success in reverse engineering Oozyxphigian technology, the Spiderbots were essentially copied whole cloth from the small robots that emerged from the Oozies' powered suits.  Some alien materials could not be duplicated on Earth, so the MR9000 is slightly weaker than the real deal, but they still represent the first military use of force-field generating tissue.  The military recognized the potential in the organic computers used by the Oozies and cultured the "brain tissue" used for this purpose, so the Spiderbots are just as smart (wily might be a better word) as their alien counterparts.  This organic intelligence along with the incredible dexterity of their 8 limbs allows a Spiderbot to be used for many purposes, from maintenance and repair of other robots to scouting missions.  The sensory apparatus loaded into the small frame (8" body, 1' legspan) of these robots are incredibly sensitive, picking up minute vibrations and seeing far beyond the spectrum of light visible to humans.  Laser sighting built into the raised "abdomen" of the Spiderbots enable them to assist other military robots in targeting intruders, but the Spiderbots have no real weaponry of their own (besides miniscule torches, blades and screwdrivers built into their legs and used in maintenance and repair work).  Spiderbots can move at full speed on any surface (including ceilings).

HP:15  (3 HD)
AC: 4
Force Field: Ignores the first 15 HP of damage taken each round
Attack: torch or screwdriver or blade
Damage:1d3