Moon men

[Whisper72]

Well.. as to the moon men, maybe use Modrons. They sure are weird enough, and vary enough in power level to supply bosses as well as chaff.

As to the mooncalf birthing thingy, I like the idea of needing water for the incubator. The moon has no water, so the moon-men need to do this someplace else.

As a lead, there may be some prophecy, as the mooncalf thingy is a recurring event. On the first full moon after the passing of the Mooncrossed Meteor across the southern sky, terrible things will happen unless brave adventurers dare the frozen waters of....

Maybe in the past, another adventurer group that was succesful installed caches of stuff or indeed mechanical guardians to help the fight 'the next time around', which could be the source of unexpected aid...

 

[Bragol]

Gidney and Cloyd

The old Rocky and Bullwinkle show (I watched the reruns as a kid) had a couple of recurring "Moon Men" called Gidney and Cloyd. They could turn (mostly) invisible at will. They used a weapon called a "scrooch" gun that would freeze people in place.

http://bullwinkle.toonzone.net/moonmen.htm

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I liked the idea that the moon men need water (Moon attracts water, creates the tides...)

So they might have a special "water-extracting gun". Basically a low level Horrid Wilting effect. Maybe stat the gun like a d20 Modern pistol or rifle. The ammunition works different then usual - they are small capsules that receive the water extracted from targets. Without them, the gun doesn't work (at least not for long). The Moon Men could use this capsules to heal themselves.

 

[EricNoah]

Again I want to thank you all for the excellent idea fodder.

You gotta love a game that lets you tinker around with stuff like this!

I started working on the stats last night. I decided that, as constructs, they would have normal construct immunities, but since they are controlled by intelligent forces they would be vulnerable to mind affecting abilities.

I made them vulnerable to electricity (machines + electricity = short circuit, right?). I'm thinking that a sonic vulnerability might be good, too.

I made it so their "gun" arms can be detached from a defeated moon man and can serve the PCs as short-term wands.

I gave them relatively low STR, DEX and speed because I figured they were created to move about on the moon and thus on earth, with higher gravity, they are a bit hampered. This will help keep them from overpowering my relatively low level PCs.

When they "die" they go through a death routine where their faces open up and the light balls (I call them "moon motes") emerge, causing the Wisdom damage suggested earlier. The moon motes then depart earth to return to the moon on a shaft of moonlight. Thinking about jazzing that up a bit.

 

[EricNoah]

Ugh, but now the dromite suggestion is appealing to me. As is a vision of a flying moon ship that has come down to the tower. Too ... many ... ideas!!

 

[GreatLemur]

Ugh, but now the dromite suggestion is appealing to me. As is a vision of a flying moon ship that has come down to the tower. Too ... many ... ideas!!

Well, the dromites could just be the actual, organic moon men who build the automatons, and then transmit their consciousnesses into them as "moon motes". The tower, of course, would be a sort of focusing device that allows them to project all the way from the moon. It'd be this same property that's screwing up the psionicist's control of his astral constructs.

In fact, maybe the automatons were built in the tower by the fish people (or whatever) on orders from the moon men, because neither group has any viable way to get themselves or their equipment there or back. Instead, they psionically contacted the (probably primitive and impressionable) fish people, and commanded them to set up their terrestrial base of operations.

Of course, the first thing they set to work on once they projected themselves into the automatons was the construction of a portal device so that they--and their mooncalf "queen"--can visit in person, and really get down to business.

 

[Mean Eyed Cat]

There was a d20 product that came out in '03 called "Moonshot." I believe I got my pdf copy from rpgnow, but it looks like they no longer carry it.

I had hoped to use it for a future campaign, but never got around to it. I haven't read much of it, but with a cursory glance, it looks pretty detailed. Here's the Table of Contents:

[sblock=Contents]
Introduction: Selenautica 6
AUTHOR’S PREFACE 6
VOYAGE TO THE MOON 6
NOTE ON THE NAME OF THE MOON 6
LUNAR LORE 6
Names for months on the World of Mystery 6
Ancient stories about the inhabited Moon 9
TICKET TO THE MOON 9
Skyships 9
Stowaway, Kidnapped or Accident 10
Teleportals: The Dancing Giants 10
Thought Projection, Astral Travel and Spells 10
From The Earth To The Moon 11
STARTING OUT 11
Rovac Kirbuck 11
HOW DO THE ADVENTURERS GET INVOLVED? 12
The Rovac adventures 12
The items 12
Other complications 13
MYSTERIOUS BENEFACTORS AND ENEMIES 13
AGENTS OF THE REALMS 13
RELIGIOUS MANIACS 13
COMPETITORS 14
How is Ravoc planning on getting to the moon? 14
Rovac’s Moon Voyager X-Ship (Icosahedron) 14
Rovac’s Skin of the Selenaut 15
Moon Nearside Map (unkeyed) 16
Moon Nearside Map (keyed) 17
Mithra Geography Primer 18
ATMOSPHERE 18
“The Slow Death” 18
BREAKING THE SHACKLES 19
CRATERS 19
DUST SEAS 19
GRAVITY 19
TEMPERATURES ON THE MOON 20
Crateropolis Map (unkeyed) 21
Crateropolis Map (keyed) 22
Mithran Cities 23
CRATEROPOLIS 24
PORT RATING 24
SUMMARY 25
GOVERNMENT 25
CITY FEATURES 25
Crater Wall 25
Factories 25
Gaol 26
Hilltop Citadel of the Science Council 26
Mono-Rails 26
Reservoir 26
Residences 26
Shroom Farm 26
Stables and Docks 27
Temple Island 27
Waste Treatment Plant 27
Mithran Items, Weapons, Armour and Artefacts 28
ARMOUR OF THE ASTRONAUT 28
LUNARIAN DUSTBLASTERS 28
MITHRAN ENERGY WEAPONS 29
MOONSHIPS 30
MOONSKIMMERS 30
Mithra Hazards and Obstacles 31
LUNAR SPELUNKING AND ROCK BREAKING 31
METEOR STRIKES 32
MOONWATER 32
SHEER-SIDED CRATERS 35
SLIME CRATERS 35
Crater Slime (CR 4) 35
WHIRLY-WHIRLY (DUST WHIRLPOOLS) 35
ORGANIC HAZARDS 36
Arillon Fungus (CR 0) / Moonstorms (CR variable) 36
Bayonetweed (CR 1) 36
Beercheese Fungus (CR 1) 36
Bladderweed (CR 2) 37
Brain Coral (CR 4) 37
Candela Fungus (CR 0) 37
Crystal Coral (CR 0) 37
Moon Motes (CR 6) 38
Phages (CR variable) 38
Amzandi Fever (CR 1) 38
Blue Death (CR 3) 38
Drugorth’s Distemper (CR 2) 38
Metalvirus (CR 3) 39
Mithra Monsters 40
MITHRA MONSTERS BY CHALLENGE RATING 40
Anorthostrosity (Archaeoselenodon aka Genesis Beast) 40
Bakthor (Amanaticulus Communatrox Robustus) 41
Charagoon (Selenichthys Oleodontidae) 42
Crater Cat (Felis Gracilis Selenia) 43
Crater Mummy 44
Crater Tiger (Felis Horribilis Dianae) 45
Darul (Umbrapenopteryx Cheryops) 46
Dreth Grazer (Cryptocoelentura Osicranius Cavenum) 47
Dust Ghoul 48
Dust Shark 50
Half-Mithran (Homo Selenis Superior sp) (Template) 50
KREEP (Archaeonebularis Dispersis) 52
Lunar Beast (Template) 53
Lunar Centaur (Paracentaurus Ioiuscis Hexopod) 54
Lunarians (Holoanthropus Artemisia) 55
Mind Lord (Oedicrananthropus Archaeomethis) 57
Mithran (Homo Selenis Superior) 58
Mooncalf (Hymenoptera Neotenendi Spathadontidae) 60
Moon Giant (Gigantanthropithecus Multibrachiae Selenis) 63
Moon Ogre (Troglodytus Spelunaris Selenis) 64
Moon Merrow (Troglodytus Maris Selenis) 65
Moon Roc (Gigantoselenornis Superbus sp.) 66
Selenite (Hymenoptera Dianae) 67
Skeletonoid (Parahomonoida Ferox) 68
Solar Vampire (Template) 69
Steel Spider (Oryxeon Ferropodidae) 71
Mithra Negative Feats 73
Negative Feats 73
Aesthetic Tendencies (-) 73
Inflammable (-) 73
Irrational (-) 73
Susceptibilities (-) 73
Mithra Skills 74
Exotic Weaponry: Crystal-Powered Weapons 74
Exotic Weaponry: Dustblasters 74
Language: Moontongue 74
Lunar Lore (1 slot, wizard, Charisma) 74
Lunar Survival (1 slot, warrior, Intelligence) 74
Mental Defence (1 slot, rogue, Constitution) 74
Pilot, Moonskimmer (1 slot, rogue, Wisdom) 74
Pilot, Moonship (1 slot, rogue, Wisdom) 74
Jumping the (Dust) Shark: Refereeing Mithra 75
Ready Reference 77
[/sblock]

I've tried to Google the product, but I can't find anybody that is currently selling it. The publisher is "Pisces All Media." It sounds like something you might be able to use.

 

[xnosipjpqmhd]

I came late to this party, and my idea is a tad radical, but if you want to take your campaign in a different direction (literally), the tower rises from the sea once a year because its been (magically? psionically?) programmed to do so when the moon is at perihelion. In the space of 3 days the stranded moon men inside must retrieve a device in human hands (originally taken from the tower long ago) in order to return home. The PCs don't know this, follow the trail of the missing whatzit to the weird-looking tower, and get there just in time to see the moon men reactivate the tower, which immediately and violently lurches from the sea and begins hurtling to the moon (with the PCs aboard). Adventure ensues.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

But the moon-men aren't quite beaming down ... the moonlight that forms a link to raise this tower actually creates a temporary staircase than the constructs can travel on (the real moon men are using constructs, because they're not sure they can survive off the moon).

Once the PCs stop the birth of the mooncalf, they will have to ascend the moonlight staircase to put a stop to the moon men, or the bad guys will just try again someplace else on the next night of the full moon.

And if they don't get it accomplished by the time the moon sets, they'll be trapped on the moon for a month!

 

[Pale Master]

Thinking of Ramsey Campbell's story "The Mine on Yuggoth" -

Perhaps the tower acts as a two-way portal between the earth and moon, which the moon-men (or "lizard-crustaceans" if you like) use to access minerals not found on their world. The tower not only provides transport, but modifies the physiology of creatures using it, allowing the moon-creatures to survive planetside and, presumably, PCs to survive on the moon.

Whether you choose to have them emerge on the Dark Side of the Moon is entirely a matter of taste.