Zoological Survey | Star Frontiers

Discussion area to discuss animals we like and dont like from the Volturnus series. From Alpha Dawn: 1. Strangler Chutes- lighter then air floating jelly fish that eat trees and have accidental electric attack. This one I like and think the lighter than air feature should be explored in greater depth, possibly developing an explantion for "floating" biology on Volturnus and even a better explanation of the Air whale. Love the art work for this one. Jedion gives Thumbs Up! 2. Army Rats- more or less earth rats in swarms of 1000 individuals that carry disease. Not very original and neither is the art work. Jedion gives Thumbs Down. 3. Funnel Worm- a classic from right off the random encounter table! Good art work, and I have a painted miniature. The fact that you have this creature and the sand shark, and the burrower snake gives you a whole category of Volturnian fauna to discuss: burrowing animals. Jedion gives Thumbs Up. 4. Megasaurus- giant cat made into a dinosaur- has artwork and very very brief description. I'm ambivelent toward it. Jedion gives Thumbs Level but edging toward up. 5. Land Whale- weird giant 8 legged hippo. not sure about the plausibility. Has artwork. I feel about this one like I do the Megasaurus. Jedion gives Thumbs Level but edging toward down. 6. Slither (sathar attack Monster)- probably more properly discussed in the sathar project but after 900 years on Volturnus sathar creatures could be said to have established a niche in the ecology; this gives us a whole category of Volturnian fauna: the sathar introduced invasive species. so Jedion gives Thumbs Up. 7. Sand Shark- Another classic from right off the random encounter table. Great art work and miniature. Belongs to the burrowing fauna category. 8. Winged Ripper- There is a dinosaur theme to some areas of Voltunus' evolutionary track so Jedion gives Thumbs up. Some thought should be given to identifying this category of dino like evolution; the eorna and yernoids, lopers belong to it as well as several other obvious creatures. 9. Queequeg- more weirdness but looks related to the edestakai so Jedion gives Thumbs Up. 10. Tomar's Horses- art work in AD matches the animal's description but the artwork in the modules makes it look like an earth horse. Frankly I think this animal was not needed, you can simply replace it with a loper every place it appears; in fact it might make sense to do just that. Jedion gives Thumbs Down. From SF-0 Crash On Volturnus 1. Burrower snake- obviously belongs to the dino like evolutionary tree. Jedion gives Thumbs Up. 2. Droppers- great for messing with the player characters and looks like it is part of the same evolutionary tree as the strangler chutes. Jedion gives Thumbs Up. 3. Flitter- looks like something out of the D&D monster manual. With different artwork and description I would give it a Thumbs Up but for now Jedion gives Thumbs Down. 4. Jaw Fish- and why not a jaw fish? sharks are just plain fun to use. Looks to be in the dino and sand shark evolutionary tree. Jedion gives Thumbs up 5. Loper- ahh the venerable loper, love this creature. Jedion gives Thumbs UP! 6. Magma Monster- one of the weirdest presented in the series. I have never been a fan as i felt it stretched believability beyond the limit. I would entertain someone arguing differently, perhaps explaining how such a creature could be possible. Jedion gives Thumbs Down! 7. Not detailed but mentioned in the Ul-mor update file: Kwidges- some sort of domesticated herding animal raised by the ul-mor. Should be detailed and worked into the evolutionary tree. Jedion gives Thumbs Up 8. Not detailed but mentioned in the Ul-mor update file: Cactus whompers- some sort of domesticated herding animal raised by the ul-mor. Should be detailed and worked into the evolutionary tree. Jedion gives Thumbs Up. 9. Mutating Fungus- another weird one but usable. Jedion gives Thumbs Up. 10 Quick Death- of all the sathar monsters this one has become an important part of the ecology and culture of the native peoples, which is a shame as they really need to be killed off. Jedion gives Thumbs Up. 11. Rasties- How many times have GMs stated the names and Players launched into a rastifarian rant and goofed off for the a game stopping 7-10 minutes? The creature is acceptable and looks like its related to the volturnian cave bear. Jedion gives Thumbs Up. 12 Shovelmouth- part of the dino evolutionary tree Jedion gives Thumbs Up. 13. Volturnian Cave Bear- not such a fan but why not? Jedion gives Thumbs Up. From SF-1 Volturnus Planet of Mystery 1. Air Whale- I have a problem with this one but think it can be retooled- it should be distantly related to the strangler chutes and perhaps not emitting lasers but electrica discharges like the strangler chutes. Jedion gives Thumbs Down until its reworked. 2. Mordax- 10 cm long poisonous insect- Jedion gives Thumbs Up. 3. Volturnian baboon- part of the cave bear and rastie evolutionary tree, why not? Jedion gives Thumbs Up. 4. Korrvarr- another mammal like creature and a burrower- after threatening the PCs with the very dangerous burrowers a GM could use this one to spook the players by announcing its arrival with ground vibration. Jedion gives Thumbs Up. 5. Roller- or better known as toilet paper roll nose. Certainly my least favorite. I hate the concept of this creature but you cant just get rid of it as they are important to the kurabunga section of the module. Needs a rewrite, Jedion gives Thumbs DOWN! 6. Slave Bot- another sathar creature. Jedion gives Thumbs Up. 7. Cybo sluggs- another sathar creature. Jedion gives Thumbs Up. 8. Rogue Crystals- crystals are important on Volturnus and apart of the memory storage of the mechanon's brain. So I hate to trash this creature as unplausible. If you accept the magma monster than silcon base life is certainly possible. Jedion gives Thumbs Level- he doesn't know what he should feel toward this entry. 9. Scraak- flightless bird that dwels int he bachandra trees. Jedion gives Thumbs Up. 10. Spitter- a reptillian acid spitter that eats glass shards fromt he shard grass plant. I think this creature and the shard grass as well as the roller all should get some rethinking. though the spitter offends me less then the roller. Jedion gives Thumbs level but tending toward down. 11. Tangler vine- killer plants? a refreshing change. Jedion gives Thumbs Up. From SF-2 Star Spawn of Volturnus 1. Cybo dragon- as with all sathar introduce creatures this one gets a pass but they dont really run wild on the planet surface since they require maintenance and para battery changes. 2. Giant Eagle- not very original, would perfer that it get a rework. Jedion gives Thumbs Down. 3. Yernoids- obviously in the eorna evolutionary tree Jedion gives Thumbs Up. All told is 37 creatures described for Voltunus not counting the sapients.

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