Mythos Space: Planet of the Vampires (Terrore nello spazio)

A distress beacon brings a group of astronauts to an alien world where they discover a derelict spacecraft and its dead and calcified giant crew. When the astronauts start being picked off one by one the true horror of their situation begins to be realized. If this premise sounds vaguely familiar it might be because you’ve seen or at least heard of Ridley Scott’s seminal science fiction masterpiece Alien. What is odd is that both Scott and author Dan O’Bannon claim to have not seen Mario Bava’s Planet of the Vampires prior to filming Alien. Having just watched Planet of the Vampires I’m going to go out on a limb here and say someone is definitely fibbing or at least very forgetful.
As this movie is an excellent example of blending Planetary Adventure and Horror, it is an excellent source of inspiration for Mythos Space and using the Grit and Vigor RPG. And so I am detailing some major characters, its central monster(s) and a spacecraft below. Now I am not going to be giving away the plot and its numerous twists and appeals, but I am detailing a few characters, a monster and a new starship. As for the movie, I recommend that you check it out for yourself here, or wherever you may find it.
Note: These rules are designed for use with the excellent Grit and Vigor RPG by John Stater. Its an excellent game that is based off of the d20 system, but has a strong element of the grittier sort of "old-school" games.

Captain Markary (Barry Sullivan)
Captain Markary is the captain of the starship Argos and is the only character in the film that is almost immune to the psychic powers of the Auran aliens. He also appears to be the only person in the  movie with ANY common sense. Despite personal tragedy, weird aliens and the continuous danger to himself and his crew, Captain Markary keeps his head throughout the film and keeps on fighting.
In the film, the Captain is apparently a scientist as well as being a military man. He is smart, tough a decent combatant, and willing to throw himself into any fight that presents itself.
Overall, I found this character as a refreshing change from what is generally presented as leading men in more modern movies. Its nice to see strong, able and compassionate characters who are also capable of being tough guys.
Spaceman/Fighter, LVL 7/3, HP 39, AC 12, MV 40, ATK +4, SV F9 R8 W11, Str 13 Int 14 Wis 17 Dex 11 Con 13 Cha 13

Special: +2 bonus on Will saving throws vs fear and anxiety. 1/day can delay the damage dealt by a single attack or effect for 8 rounds. Can temporarily increase two physical ability scores at a time. At the end of the duration, the daredevil is fatigued for 10 minutes.
Can operate in zero-gravity conditions without any penalty, including combat, saving throws and all task checks. Proficient with the weapons on all spacecraft or aircraft, if any and can coax +10% more speed from aircraft and spacecraft. He can apply any combat feats that they have, such as Power Attack, Dodge and Expertise, to aircraft and spacecraft when using them in dogfights and space battles.
Knacks: Listen at Doors, Move Silently, Track
Skills (Spaceman): Acrobatics, Chemistry, Display Knowledge, Electronics, Endure, Jump, Mechanics, Pilot Aircraft and Treat Injury.
Skills (Fighter): Bend bars, break down doors, endure, gunnery, jump, lift gates
Feats: Iron Will, Leadership, Pugilist
Weapons and Equipment: Advanced Breathing Apparatus, Communicator, Electronics Repair Kit, Plasma Rifle (8d6), Space Suit.

Sanya (Norma Bengell) 

Crew-member Sanya is played by the delectable Norma Bengell, and one of the few members of the ships crew to not become completely useless under stress. Sanya is smart, calm and intelligent, and despite initially having trouple with psychic assault, she keeps her head throughout the film.
On the ship, Sanya is a pilot and minor tech, and apparently is a pretty good one. The other crew seem to respect her and Captain Markary trusts her insight and abilities.
As a fan of full-figured women, I really enjoyed the presence of this actress in this film. There were not an abundance of scenes with her in her underwear or anything, but the fact that she is a WOMAN is not shied away from. Sure her dialogues is wooden and she appears to be in the movie to stumble into trouble, but she is a handy shot and not afraid of danger.
Spaceman, LVL 5, HP 25, AC 12, MV 40, ATK +3, SV F11 R11 W12, Str 10 Int 14 Wis 15 Dex 12 Con 14 Cha 17

Special: +2 bonus on Will saving throws vs fear and anxiety. 1/day can delay the damage dealt by a single attack or effect for 8 rounds.
Can operate in zero-gravity conditions without any penalty, including combat, saving throws and all task checks. Proficient with the weapons on all spacecraft or aircraft, if any and can coax +10% more speed from aircraft and spacecraft. He can apply any combat feats that they have, such as Power Attack, Dodge and Expertise, to aircraft and spacecraft when using them in dogfights and space battles.
Knacks: Athletics, Etiquette, Influence People
Skills : (Spaceman): Acrobatics, Chemistry, Display Knowledge, Electronics, Endure, Jump, Mechanics, Pilot Aircraft and Treat Injury.
Feats: Lighting Reflexes, Iron Will
Weapons and Equipment: Advanced Breathing Apparatus, Communicator, Plasma Rifle (8d6), Space Suit.

Auran Fiend (Monster)

Type: Undead
Size: Medium

Intelligence: Genius (17-19)
Hit Dice: 5
Movement: Fly 45/450
Armor Class: 14 [laser]
Attacks: Corrupting touch (1d6)
Saving Throws: F13, R13, W11
Special: Incorporeal, natural invisibility, rejuvenation, imprisonment, psychic powers
Environment: Any
No. Appearing: 1d4
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
XP Value: 600 (CL 7)
Auran Fiends in their natural form look like lights that can be yellow, white, green, or blue. They are capable of taking possession of a living body. The Aurans are an alien race of undead spirits that are a remnant of an ancient, evil race that seeks to continue existing by taking over other civilization.
Once per round, a haunt can merge with a living creature and seize control of its body. The target can resist the spirit’s attempt at possession with a successful Will saving throw. If the save succeeds, the spirit is rebuffed and pushed away. A target that successfully saves cannot be possessed by that spirit for 24 hours. If the save fails, the spirit vanishes into the target’s body and takes control of it. Leaders among the Aurans are always powerful occultists, and use their powers to create undead servants (zombies, ghouls and vampires) and create weird arcane technology.
Auran Haunts have the following psychic powers: Clairsentience, cloud mind, dominate, ego whip, empathic projection, ESP, id insinuation, mental barrier, mind thrust, telekinesis, thought shield; 1/day—Negation, psychic crush, tower of iron will. Auran Leaders (Spells): Animate dead, audible glamour, augury, control weather, create undead, desecrate, exorcism, phantasmal force.

NAVICELLA-Class Deep Space Cruiser

Tremendous Construct
HD 99 (347 hp),
AC 12 (Titanium DR 14)
SPD 80 mph (4M mph in space)
MVR -6
CP 4/20
WT 1,650 tons
Special: Spindizzy drive, Fully-stocked machine shop, research lab and electronics repair shop.
The Navicella Class cruiser is a deep space explorer and science ship designed for long journeys. The interior of these vessels is spacious and has room for a considerable amount of equipment. These vessels have the equivalent of a fully stocked machine shop, electrical repair lab and medical research lab onboard, as well as room and supplies for up to twenty crew-members. These ships are an old model, but still in use by survey teams and universities as research craft. As they are not warships, they do not come equipped with weapons, but many owners outfit them with a few just in case.

Keep your plasma rifles ready!

Pulp Age: Space Patrol

Space Patrol is an organization of peacekeepers in outer space, and central to the security of the United Planets (planets allied with Earth). This organization got its start shortly after the second Martian Invasion of 1932 when the need for patrol craft keeping watch along the space lanes was made apparent. At that time, most Western nations contributed resources to the Patrol, hoping to prevent further invasions and to help protect and supply the colonies.
Unfortunately, even with this effort, the Sarmak did invade again in 1953, and following biological and chemical terrors left by the Invaders and subsequent economic collapse left the earth Patrol to fend for themselves. During the long years of rebuilding the Earth and her allied planets into the United Planets the Space Patrol had its hands full protecting the Lunar and Mars colonies.
Now, in the year 2753, the Space Patrol is central to space travel. Not only does the patrol watch over the space-lanes, but it has the best trained pilots, engineers and ship-builders out there. Also, as the Space Patrol and the Selenites of Luna have control of the largest Hugmetite (needed to create anti-gravity fields) processing plants in the solar system grants them considerable leverage in the politics of space.
Space Patrol agents are a combination of Cops in Space and UN Peacekeepers, answering to the United Planets government (Earth, Luna, Mars and colonies).  They have jurisdiction between planets and in high orbits above planets, and on asteroids, dwarf planets, and on Space Patrol bases. Otherwise, its up to local or corporate police. This has a feel of Wild West Marshals, with agents often having to work alone or in small groups. Agents are frequently outgunned, underfunded and severely taxed.

SHIPS OF SPACE PATROL
The Space Patrol operates rocketships of nearly every size and description, from the massive new space dreadnoughts coming out of Ceres Shipyards to the tiny, one-man insertion rocketships used by the Space Patrol Intelligence Service to infiltrate enemy worlds for information.
The most often seen vessels of the Space Patrol are small craft such as the Patrol Cruiser and Personal Rocket Flyers, who do their best to watch the spacelanes. These vessels try to maintain a communication web of linked vessels in the hopes of preventing space piracy, and to watch for Sarmak troublemakers.


Patrol Cruiser
Gargantuan Construct
HD: 51 (179 hp)
AC: 17 (DR 12)
SPD: 90 mph
MVR: +1
ATK: 4 x rocket cannons (10d8)
CP: 4/12,
CARGO: 3000 lbs., the equivalent of 15 passengers or six passengers and four personal rocket fliers
WT 500lbs
Roughly 50-feet long, rocket cruisers are fish-shaped armed and armored spacecraft typically painted bright primary colors. Despite their steel plate and rivet appearance, they weigh only a few hundred pounds because of the Cavorite used in their construction. Unlike standard aircraft, they don’t have to expend energy to remain aloft. Their performance more closely resembles that of a dirigible than of an airplane. A cruiser’s cannon are mounted in two forward-facing turrets and two rear-facing ones.
Spindizzy Drive: This specialized engine, based on the work of Nikola Tesla (after studying captured Sarmak equipment), allows spaceships to travel the vast distances between planets at great speed. Simply put, when activated outside of a gravity well (an asteroid, moon or planet), a vehicle equipped with a Spindizzy drive can travel 100 million miles per day, or 4 million mph.


Rocket Flier
Large Construct
HD: 10 (30 hp)
AC: 15 (DR 8)
SPD: 70 mph
MVR: +4
ATK: One light rocket cannon on swivel mount (4d8)
CP: 1/2
CARGO:  400 lbs., the equivalent of two passengers or one gunner and one passenger
WT: 100lbs
Rocket fliers are 12-15 foot torpedo-shaped craft used for both civilian and Space Patrol  purposes. Armed with a swivel-mounted rocket cannon, they are fighter aircraft often used to complement rocket cruisers. Unarmed they serve as flying taxis or personal vehicles. Like rocket cruisers, they can hover in place or drift with the wind without expending power because of the Cavorite used in their construction.

Pulp Age: Space Battles

Space combat in the Pulp Age and Pulp Space Opera settings are dangerous affairs. Rather than the dogfights depicted in Star Wars, spaceship against spaceship combat is more like submarine warfare. Its more about long distance battles, often seen as mere blips on a screen for most gunners. However closer engagements do indeed occur, and are suitably terrifying.
For more information on these rules, check out the Grit and Vigor roleplaying game by John Stater. Its a fun game, and an entertaining read. Check it out.

SPACE BATTLES

Space battles are best handled on either a ship vs. ship basis, or a fleet vs. fleet basis, to keep things simple. The rules are essentially the same as for dogfights and naval battles. Each ship captain (or each fleet commander) makes a Spacemanship task check. The faster ship enjoys a +2 bonus to this task check. The captain that beats his target number by the most (or fails by the least) has the advantage, and can either close with his enemy or increase the distance between them.
If the ship with the advantage beats his opponent’s task check by five or more, he may make a full attack while his opponent may only make a partial attack. Otherwise, both vessels can make a full attack.
For our purposes, a full attack uses all the vessel’s ship-to-ship weapons on turrets, and half of its non-turreted ship-to-ship weapons. A partial attack only permits the vessel to use its forward or rear weapons.
The character on board a vessel with the best Gunnery skill makes the Gunnery task check to fire the weapons. Follow the normal rules for firing artillery (see Tools: Artillery).
Each ship deducts damage from its hit points, and makes a roll on the following table. If the ship has lost less than 25% of its hit points, roll 1d6. If it has lost 25-49% of its hit points, roll 1d8. If it has lost 50-74% of its hit points, roll 1d10. If it has lost 75-99% of its hit points, roll 1d12.

If a ship’s hit points are reduced to 0, it explodes in 1d6 turns. People aboard the ship have to either make their way to a lifepod or die instantly when the ship explodes.
Many ships can enter planetary atmospheres, but are clumsy (-2 to Maneuver) as they are built for space. While a spaceship is in an atmosphere, it is vulnerable to aircraft. Aircraft in the air can attack a ship each round, and in turn can be targeted by the ship’s weapons aboard. Use the normal rules for attacking vehicles to resolve attacks against aircraft, and attacks by aircraft.