What ruins the interplanetary cruise?

Here's a table to spark ideas for a side adventures the next time the player characters are traveling between planets in your sci-fi campaign. Roll 1d12 to determine what disrupts a peaceful trip.

1. Crew is seized by Space Madness
2. Martian Fever spreads among the passengers, killing them and reanimating their bodies.
3. The ship is hijacked by Venusian seperatists
4. The ship is boarded by space pirates
5. An old friend of the party seeks them out for protection
6. An old enemy of the party seeks them out for protection
7. A deadly being made of pure mental energy is moving from body to body, causing murder and mayhemn
8. Assassins are targeting a politician traveling incognito
9. Thugs want to kidnap a couple of eloping rich kids and hold them for ransom
10. Space Witches have chosen the ship and this passage as the time and place for their latest ritual
11. The life support systems mysteriously malfunction
12. A powerful energy beam draws the ship toward Uranus

Art by Joe Doolin

And here's a song that might provide a little inspiration as well!

The Super Hero Class (for d20 Modern)

Some five years ago, NUELOW head-honcho Steve Miller had an idea for a system of super powers that could be grated onto any d20 System game that used the feats and talents mechanic to advance character abilities. It began with the post linked here, and Miller and his partner in NUELOWness, L.L. Hundal, has been expanding upon it ever since... through posts here at the blog and with content in many of the comics/rpg hybrid products that they've produced.

   Miller & Hundal have agreed that they think they've just about covered all their favorite comic book heroes and their abilities via the rules they've been creating... and that it may be time to pull all the bits and bobs together into a unified and coherent whole and release an actual product! One of the last pieces may or may not be this new base class while Hundal has been using in her d20 Modern games for the last few go-arounds.

   All text in this post is released under the Open Game License and may be reproduce in accordance with its terms. Copyright Steve Miller 2018

THE SUPER HERO CLASS

By L.L. Hundal & Steve Miller

There are Fast heroes, Smart Heroes, Strong heroes... all the kinds of heroes you find described in the d20 Modern Standard Reference Document. But the Super hero stands above them all. Whether driven by supernatural forces, family heritage, or some life-altering trauma, the super hero has powers and abilities beyond those of mere mortals that he or she puts to use to defend the innocent from criminals and other evil people and entities that would prey upon them. It is a versatile class with access to the wide range of talents, as well as minor power feats.

THE SUPER HERO CLASS

Ability: Player's Choice; Super heroes come in all shapes, sizes and intelligence quotients.

Hit Die: 1d8

Action Points: Super heroes gain a number of action points equal to 5 + one-half their character level, rounded down, at 1st level and every time they attain a new level in this class.

Class Skills: The Super hero's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are: Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (mechanical) (Int), Drive (Dex), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Strength), Knowledge (current events, science [pick individual branches separately], streetwise) (Int), Move Silently (Dex), Pilot (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (none), and Tumble (Dex).

Also, the starting occupation the character selects can provide additional class skills to choose from.

Skill Points at 1st Level: (6 + Int modifier) x4.

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 5 + Int modifier.

Table: The Super Hero
Class Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Class Features	Defense Bonus	Reputation Bonus
1st	+1	+0	+1	+1	Talent	+2	+0
2nd	+2	+1	+1	+1	Bonus feat	+3	+1
3rd	+3	+1	+2	+1	Talent	+3	+1
4th	+4	+2	+2	+2	Bonus feat	+4	+2
5th	+5	+2	+3	+2	Talent	+4	+2
6th	+6/+1	+3	+3	+2	Bonus feat	+5	+3
7th	+6/+1	+3	+4	+3	Talent	+5	+3
8th	+7/+2	+4	+4	+3	Bonus feat	+6	+4
9th	+7/+2	+4	+5	+3	Talent	+6	+4
10th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+4	Bonus feat	+7	+5

Starting Feats

In addition to the two feats all characters get at 1st level, a Super hero begins play with the Combat Martial Arts feat, or a Weapons Proficiency feat of the player's choice. The character must meet any prerequisites before selecting a feat.

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Super hero.

Talents

At 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th level, the Super hero may select a talent from any the following talent trees. Some trees have a set order that must be followed, while others provide a list to choose from.

   Any and all Super Power talent trees for which the Super hero meets the prerequisites.

    No talent can be selected more than once unless expressly indicated in its description.

Feats

At 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th level, the Super hero may select a bonus feat from the following list.

   Any [Minor Power] feat, plus Alertness, Athletic, Blind-fight, Builder, Combat Expertise, Educated, Gearhead, Improved Disarm, Frightful Presence, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Meticulous, Studious, Trustworthy, Weapon Focus.

Masks of the Ninja Cuties

This post is a supplement to NUELOW Games' Ninja Cuties. You can also find drafts of the material from that booklet on this blog, but if you like this post, we hope you'll consider getting our product.

MASKS OF THE NINJA CUTIES

The first Grandmaster of the Ninja Cutie clan has six children--three sons and three daughters. Being unable to choose which of his adult children would be the best to take over leadership of the clan, he said that he would give the position to the child who defeated a Grandmaster of a rival clan and presented him with the mask that embodied that clan's spirit. Two weeks later, five of his children returned together, each presenting him with a clan's mask... all except the youngest daughter. The children explained that she devised the strategey that saw the siblings working together to defeat all the other clan leaders and take the artifacts from them. He was so pleased that instead of giving control of the clan to just one of them, he divided its resources equally among them. He gave his youngest child the Face of the Cutie, the mask that symbolized the Shouchiibi (Ninja Cutie) clan, and the rest retained the masks they'd seized as the symbol of the part of the clan--the "House"-- of which they were now in charge.
   As the Ninja Cutie Clan spread across the globe, the division of the clan that had happened in its early days served it well. Each part of the clain essentially ended up with its own "territory" and the masks were housed within the secret headquarters of the House in question. Here are the six Masks of the Ninja Cuties, as defined with the d20 System. (The rest of the text in this post is released under the Open Game License and it may reproduced in accordance with its terms.)

Art by Adam Warren

The Face of the Dragon (Located in Manchester, Great Britain)
This mask grants the wearer a +2 bonus to all Wisdom-based skill checks. Once per day, the mask will protect the wearer against a mind-affecting attack or spell (automatic failure; the GM doesn't even need to inform the player it happened unless its obvious). Once per day, the wearer can conciously invoke the mask's power to gain a +4 bonus to all Will saves for two hours.

The Face of the Fox (Located in New York City, USA)
The mask grants the wearer a +2 bonus to all Intelligence-based skill cheks. Once per day, the mask can be activated by touching its left ear to allow the wearer to automatically see through  technologically- or magically-created illusions for 30 minutes.

The Face of the Cutie (Located in Tokyo, Japan)
This mask grants the wearer a +2 bonus to all Charisma-based skill checks. Once per day, the mask allows the wearer to cast charm monster at 12th-level effectiveness.

The Visage of the Bull (Located in Rio De Janerio, Brazil)
The mask grants the wearer a +2 bonus to all Strength-based skill checks. Three times per day, the wearer may ignore the hardness of an object while striking to break it.

The Visage of the Cat (Located in Hong Kong, China)
The mask grants the wearer a +2 bonus to all Dexterity-based skill checks. For one combat per day, the wearer cannot be flanked and gains a +1 bonus to AC or DC (depending on the d20 System variant) against all attacks.

The Visage of the Bear (Located in Christchurch, New Zealand)
The mask grants the wearer +4 to all Constitution-based skill checks, as well as a +1 bonus to all Fortitude saves.

Ninja Cuties