Thursday, April 28, 2016

90s-Era Sci-Fi Horror Monster Stats From Ken Hite

The other day I was browsing Facebook and the most interesting thing popped up via the Timeline of the Alien and Predator Universe page, and cited as being from the July 1998 issue of InQuest Gamer magazine, specifically the article titled "Terminators: Five Movie Monsters to Torment Your PCs" by none other than Kenneth Hite. What three of these terminators may have been was not specified (though the cover of the magazine suggests, well, Terminators), but the two that were are, of course, a Xenomorph and a Yautja:





While we see that even these two brief pages give that same sort of world-building story-hook hints that Ken's work is so well known for, it's also an interesting time capsule into the state of gaming in the 90s. While the subject matter surely influenced this a bit, I find it entirely appropriate that the three games these creatures are statted out for are Star Wars (presumably the D6 version from West End Games), AD&D, and Vampire: the Masquerade.

Also, with the idea of using Aliens and Predators in a Star Wars game in close proximity to AD&D rules, I'm also reminded of White Star, the Swords & Wizardry-based Sci-Fi game. Surprisingly, thinly disguised versions don't already appear in the book (maybe they're in the White Star Companion), but it should be fairly easy to convert them from Ken's AD&D stats.

White Star Xenomorph
AC: 4 [16]
Hit Dice: 5
Total Hit Bonus +5
Attacks: Bite (2D10)
Saving Throw: 12
Special: Acid Blood (1D6 damage per round of contact)
Movement: 12
HDE/XP: 6/400

White Star Yautja
AC: 5 [14]
Hit Dice: 6 + 3
Total Hit Bonus +6
Attacks: Shoulder-mounted Blaster Cannon (4D10+2), Bladed weapons as standard equivalents.
Saving Throw: 10
Special: Thermal Vision, Cloaking Device (as Ring of Invisibility)
Movement: 12
HDE/XP: 11/1700

The neat thing about White Star is that both of these would fit right in with the Replica Cyborgs, Fluffs, and Void Knights, as the following artwork clearly shows:

Art by justinetutubi
Art by bobbyrubio

Art by byzwa-dher
Now that's a campaign I want to play in, even if I have to run it myself to get the proper mood.

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