Captain's Guide: Half pdf, Half Excel spreadsheet, all alien
INTERSTEL: Captain's Guide to Alien Lifeforms is a zip file consisting of a pdf and an Excel spreadsheet.
Interstel is a product designed to aid GM's with creating strange and unique alien lifeforms. Interstel provides some generic background information but the non-specificity allows the content to be easily adapted to a variety of settings. The pdf describes the types and qualities of the lifeforms and the Excel spreadsheet provides a random lifeform generator.
PDF
The Interstel pdf is 14 pages long and is completely black and white except for a full-color cover and back page (which is an ad for other Bad Axes Games products). Of the 14 pages, 10 are actual content. The other 4 are the cover page, trademark and copyright page, OGL page, and rear advertisement. It is laid out in a landscape (sideways) format and is written in two columns. The typeface and style is reminiscent of the Grim Tales book. Drawings of various alien beings are also contained in the pdf. While small, they are well-done and add some nice visuals to the text.
Interspersed throughout the pdf are sidebars detailing the diary entries of Science Officer Thrr'assh who is on a ship piloted by a man named Captiain Veeg. In these entries, Thrr'assh describes an expedition to an unkown planet in order to secure lifeforms to sell at the Starport and the subsequent miscalculation by Captain Veeg...
The sidebars are a nice touch and incorporate some of the terminology and equipment detailed in the pdf.
Interstel is comprised of five sections: Introduction/Table of Contents, Classification of Lifeforms, Creature Abilities, Reward Criteria, and Terrain Vehicle Technology.
Introduction
The Introduction begins with a short notice of various Interstel Directives, most notably, Four, Five, and Eight (also known as the "Prime Directive"). Directives Four and Five are elaborated on in the Reward Criteria section. The Prime Directive has something to do with encountering new lifeforms (a la Star Trek). The pdf is presented as a field guide to those seeking out these lifeforms.
Classification of Lifeforms
This section details the five criteria used to describe alien lifeforms: Biomorphic Symmetry, Biomorphic Divergence, Intelligence Analog, Aggression Analog, and Type. Each category has a variety of choices used to classify lifeforms.
Symmetry is used to describe the general shape of the creature (amorphous, radial, etc) and Divergence details the number of appendages or limbs (monopedal, bipedal, etc).
Intelligence and Agression Analog describe behavorial characteristics using known animal types. For example, if a lifeform has an Intelligence Analog of a Slug will seek out food and avoid danger but not much else whereas an Ape can problem-solve and make simple tools. Similarly, a lifeform with the Diasy Agression Analog will barely defend itself but the Piranha will attack without reason.
The last criteria is Type, which is the same as the various types in the Monster Manual. Lifeforms are classified using five types: Animal, Construct, Ooze, Plant, Vermin.
I found the Classification section to be extremely useful, even in non-spacefaring settings. The Intelligence and Agression Analog descriptors can be applied to creatures in any setting and are an excellent way to quickly describe a creature's behavior.
Creature Abilities
This section is the largest of the pdf. It is 4 pages long and describes all the abilities found in the lifeforms. Most of these abilities can be found in the Monster Manual or SRD but some are new or have been altered slightly. While there isn't a lot of new content in this section, it is presented in a well-organized fashion. It can also be easily printed to have as a quick reference.
Reward Criteria
This section further details Directives Four and Five, which basically instruct captains to collect data on and bring back lifeforms. To encourage this, a reward system has been setup by Interstel for those captains that do bring back lifeforms or data.
The Reward Criteria is based on the lifeforms Biomorphic Classification, Aggression Analog, Intelligence, and Size. The reward is also modified by the distance travelled, if the creature is brought back dead, or if only data is brought back. The rewards are given in Monetary Units (mu).
Terrain Vehicle Technology
This section gives stats for a Standard Issue Terrain Vehicle (TV) and various pieces of equipment.
The stats for the TV are fairly vague. It is described as an anti-grav hovercraft with a range of 100 km. It does not list the size of the vehicle or its speed. It lists the crew as six officers and/or crew but does not state how many the vehicle can seat. Again, some of the stats are intentionally vague but I was left wondering at what does the info become TOO vague so as not to be useful. Since only one vehicle is listed, I would have liked a better description of it.
The other equipment listed in this section are a biocorder, laser, nav computer, scanner, stasis field, and stunner.
The biocorder allows the user to determine the various classes of the lifeform being analyzed (size, type, agression, etc). The text states a DC 15 skill check is required but doesn't state the skill needed to operate the biocorder. This makes sense considering any number of settings or rules systems might be used but some examples or guidelines would have been helpful. The Scanner is similar to the biocorder but is used to find mineral deposits. It has a table with increasing DC's (from 10-20) depending on how much information is gained. Again, a specific skill is not listed.
This section also describes two weapons that are mounted on the TV: the laser and stunner. Basically, the laser does 4d6 lethal damage and the scanner 4d6 non-lethal, although it has the added benefit of knocking a creature unconscious for 2d6 rounds if it fails its Massive Damage save (from Grim Tales). The laser states that it consumes energy directly from the TV fuel reserves, although how much fuel it consumes with each usage or the amount of fuel the TV actually has are not given.
The equipment section offers some new things that would definitely fun to use in-game, especially the biocorder and scanner. I would have liked a little bit more information on the mechanics of these devices although they are still easily incorporated into any game.
EXCEL SPREADSHEET
The Interstel spreadsheet is made up of four sheets: the same cover page in the pdf, a sheet with instructions for use, the random alien lifeform output statblock sheet, and the OGL license.
The instructions are easy enough: Click on the Alien Lifeforms tab and press F9. A random lifeform will be generated. The instruction sheet also has a brief FAQ which deals mostly with lifeform names that don't sense. The basic answer is that since the spreadsheet can generate over 10,000 different names, some combinations might not make sense. It goes on to say that sometimes starship captains aren't really sure how to classify certain creatures. I actually like the randomness. While some lifeforms probably aren't usable, sometimes getting something really strange is part of the fun!
The Alien Lifeform page is the heart of this product. This sheet outputs a random lifeform in a two-column statblock that can be copied and pasted into another document. The sheet uses black and white text and is void of borders and lines. This makes for a very clean display.
So let's take it for a spin - hit F9 and BAM! I get a Great Spider - a Gargantuan Ooze (Amorphous). Hmm, that might work. Maybe it's an ooze with a bunch of little tendrils or prickly things sticking it out of it. Let's look at its abilities. It has 28 HD, moves at 60 feet, and has a gore attack. Hmm. Not sure if gore makes sense but that could easily be changed to a slam attack perhaps. It also has blood drain, a breath weapon, disease, engulf, and ferocity special attacks. Yikes, this thing is nasty. The stat block also lists the Biomorph (Amorphous for this creature), Intelligence Analog (Insect), Aggression Analog (Spider), and CR (11). I think this creature would give a group of 11th-level characters a run for their money. This would be a great ooze on some forlorn planet. I could see this engulfing the ship of the hapless explorers.
Let's try it again. F9 and Presto! A Golden Creature - a medium animal (Bilateral Tri-Quadrupedal). This only has 1 HD. It has 2 slams and a bite and has the frenzy, paralysis, and trip special attacks. Maybe it's some kind of golden-furred, 3-legged wolf. I might change the slams to claws but no biggie.
Here's a few other quick names: Dizzy Shaggy Bane, Frenzied Gulper, Crystal-Legged Tortoise.
Right off the bat, this spreadsheet is FUN. Just clicking away gives you a seemingly infinite number of exotic creatures right at your fingertips. After a few minutes of using it, I wanted more features. I would really love to be able to set the CR and have it generate creatures of that CR only. From there, I could see uses for being able to set each criteria one at a time (like type, for example).
CONCLUSION
Interstel: A Captain's Guide to Alien Lifeforms is a great, short pdf: it's a fast read, it gets right to the point, and the material is presented in an organized and easy-to-read fashion. The content is useful and easily adaptable to a multitude of campaigns. And while I would have liked a bit more info on a few things, the lack of info does not take away from the usefulness of the product as a whole.
While the price may be a tad on the high side for a pdf of similar length, the Excel spreadsheet more than makes up for that. It's easy and fast to use and the random creature output is awesome. The problem was that the more I used it, the more features I wanted it to have. This is by no means a fault of the spreadsheet itself. It just illustrates how great a product it is. Bad Axes games has a winner here and I hope to see more products like this from them in the future.
This is a tough product to rate since it is really two distinctly different things. The pdf is nice but could use a bit more info. I would rate it between 3.5 - 4.0. The spreadsheet is easily a 4.5 and possibly even closer to a 5.0. On a scale of 1-10, I would give the pdf a 7 and the spreadsheet a 9. Average these together, you get 8/10 or a 4/5.
