Ephemeris Critters & Pests
By Ian Brazee-Cannon
An Ephemeris RPG supplement
Copyright 2010 by Nomadic Delirium Press
Learn more about the Ephemeris RPG at http://www.nomadicdeliriumpress.com/ephemeris.htm
Published by Nomadic Delirium Press at Smashwords
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In space, it is very often not the large beasts or other space fairing races that are the biggest threat to your safety, but the smaller creatures from all over the galaxy that have stowed away on spacecrafts and found new niches to thrive in. This book contains some of the better known and more dangerous of these creatures. Provided is the basic information about these creatures as well as the potential harm they may do and the best methods of managing these pests if you should encounter them.
The following information is intended to give game masters some new tools to use in creating adventures. The guide itself has been written on how to deal with these critters and pest if they were on board ships. GMs should feel free to use these critters and pests wherever they feel the need to, after all, due to the nature of space travel in the Ephemeris universe, these creatures could have easily made their way to just about any planet that has interstellar traffic.
GMs should also feel free to use the information here as an example to work from in creating their own critters and pests. All the creatures here are open to mutation and alteration as needed for your adventures.
As always, the GM should keep an open mind with his/her players. The methods of dealing with the critters and pests listed in this book are the most common ones. If your players come up with a unique method of dealing with these creatures and you feel it makes sense, then go with it.
Species: Blimms
Common Name:
INT: 5
CS: 4
CHA: 8
SAN: 6
STR: 12
AGIL: 10
END: 8
AD: 3D6+4
DD: 2D6+2
Health: 3D6
Type of Att: claws
DF: 1
Native Planet: Althani home world
Biology and Behavior: Blimms are clever bipedal rodents that are aggressive scavengers. They have two upper appendages that are stronger than they appear. They can carry or drag good sized loads. They also have sharp claws.
Unlike most rodents, Blimms do not hide from larger animals. Instead they will aggressively chase after larger creatures, especially when they have a ‘treasure’ they are fighting over.
They seem mostly attracted to shiny objects, but there are times when there is no obvious pattern to the items they will fight for.
They will build nests using the various treasures and no two blimm nests are alike. It has been speculated that this is part of male blimms attempts at attracting a mate, yet both sexes do this, and there has yet to be seen any pattern to it or any obvious relationship to the males gaining the attention of the females.
Blimms can be solitary creatures or run in small packs, although each will still have its own nest, just grouped together with other blimm nests.
They are very territorial, although it may be hard to understand just where their territory is. Often there is no sign of the nest they are fighting to protect, yet it could be meters away or fully hidden from view and safe from discovery.
Blimms are quickly weaned off their mothers and forced to go out and build their own nest. Mothers only share their nests with their offspring for a very short time.
Potential Harm: All manner of little, unattended trinkets, coins, jewelry and such will go missing, which is often a sign of blimms on the ship.
Blimms will attack for no obvious reason and they are good at finding exposed areas to claw into.
Management: Traps are not that useful against blimms. They have been known to disassemble traps and use the pieces for their nests. With blimms it is best to stun them on sight. Just finding one blimm does not mean there are any more, but it is always worth checking just to be sure. Find its nest, and if there is clearly a grouping of nests, then you know there are more blimms to hunt down. It is normally very obvious as to how many nests are part of any pack grouping.