From: DAWGFACE47@w...
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 19:25:29 -0600 (CST)
Subject: THOSE PESKY PIRANHA BUGS
LOL- WOW! THIS is an interesting discussion, and it went off in a tangent I did not expect but do appreciate! SOME ANSWERS ABOUT MY PIRANHA BUGS. a. The area of multiple mounds DOES NOT REPRESENT DIFFERENT COLONIES of piranha bugs. Each mound is just an entrance to the below ground hive, which, covers an extensive subsurface area. Piranha bugs are a lot like terrestrial bees. (LOL - who ever wrote about the chance of breaking through the surface by accident and ending up in the main chamber was correct- there was a chance with a heavy enough vehicle to do so. NOW would n't that brown your pants?) b. The vast majority of piranha bugs are workers, that emerge from nest at night to forage for food (scavage), and return to the hive with their goodies. During the daylight hours, the piranha bugs are inside the hive and inactive unless dis - turbed. Other types are Queen, Princess, Drone, and the egg-things (braindeath! Cannot remember what thes are called) c. They are aggressive and territorial in defense of the hive and mounds but do not go crazy at the approach of a alien who is just passing through the area and does not bother the mounds. d. In fact, native gazing critters, and predators live in harmony with the piranha bugs until the bugs swarm in defense of their hive then these animals move out smartley for safer places. e. The piranha bug hives are generally given a wide berth by the colonists and their domestic animals, as the colonists are aware of the defensive swarming. f. The bugs seem to be irritated by loud noises, and bright colors (red, yellow, blue). g. The bugs seem to be active all year around, and since the arrival of MAN on the world, no one has seen any evidence of a massive swarm (like South American army ants) roving about eating EVERTHING IN ITS PATH. h. They are not very vulnerable to attack by projectile firing or HEW ( narrow beam) small arms, or swatting (basically not enough casualties to produce a "HIT") but are extemely vulnerable to explosive weapons, area effects incidiary weapons, flame jets, and gas weapons. It is supposed that flooding a hive will drown any of them that are unable to escape. i. Low temps (as in freezing) will reduce them to dormant state. j. In games terms, each mound had the potential to release 1D6 swarm templates (6"circles), and one swarm could fly from an intact mound each turn. If the mound is blowup, 2D6 swarms can fly out of the hole each turn. k. The swarm has no defensive armor of any type and can make 4D6 attacks against anything under the template. A swarm can sustain 10 hits, before being "dispersed". Bugs ever have "bad" morale results. l. A swarm can move 2D6 inches, has no turning or terrain penalties, has a max altitude of 12", and hover inplace. Movement is from 0" to what ever the dice score says in a turn. m. Swarms automatically move toward any "enemy" with 12". If there are no "enemies" within 12" swarms move rn a random direction based on 1D8 as below; 1=N, 2=NE, 3=E, 4=SE, 5=S, 6=SW, 7=W , 8=NW. (and of course there are "millions" of the suckers lurking below ground) Overall this is a useful critter to have hanging about for games. ANYWAY, guys and gals, I use things from sci-fi that tend to add uncertaintity to my games, and alien animals, insects, plant life, and sentients all work for this. I tend to keep notes and records of what has gone before, and who, what, where, when, how, and why something happened in a game. And maps of regions, cities, and table top battles so I knnow what has happened previously and can make sense of what is going on. I can also fall back on scenarios from my nice dependable library of hard and paper bound sci-fi books , occassionally movies, or tramsplated historical events, or themes from other types of books and movies, if my own imagination does not work up sometihng on its own. I am a gamer and GM for fun, nt to make a living at it, not a scientist, or anything like that. Just an old fart out to get the most out of his hobby. By the way, is there an archive some where of these posts that I can go back and read through? HAVE FUN! PLAY GAMES! DAWGFACE