> > The Goruff > > Goruff are a man sized humanoid race with the head of a goat. > > > > I ent posting the racial details here right now as it isn't relevant to > > the stats: Hill and plains nomads; Clan based; Barbarians. > > > > Attribute Modifiers: ST+1 [10]; HT+2 [20]. > > Secondary Characteristic Modifiers: Per+2 [10]. > > Advantages: Absolute Direction [5]; Acute Hearing 2 [4]; Acute Taste and > > Smell 2 [4]; Damage Resistance 1 (Partial, Skull Only, -70%) [2]; Damage > > Resistance 1 (Tough Skin, -40%) [3]; Peripheral Vision [15]; Reduced > > Consumption 1 (Cast Iron Stomach) [2]; Striker (Horns; Cutting; Cannot > > Parry, -40%) [5]. > > Disadvantages: Appearance (Hideous) [-16]; Bad Temper (12) [-10]; Odious > > Racial Habit (Will Eat Anything Organic) -2 [-10] > > Features: Goat's head and shaggy neck. Short tail, doesn't affect > > clothing. > > [But normally does sit outside] > > I've not written up anything like this myself; thinking over it, I haven't > seen many non-demonic goat headed critters at all. American folklore has > the occasional unique goat-man living under railroad tracks or in > "haunted" forests or the like, but normally it's goat-headed demons (with > optional pitchfork).
Meh... tis race came into my original fantasy setting 25 years ago. <eep> when we built it from the bits we couldn't get on with from Runequest. The Broo are RQ's orcs. Big, dumb, worshippers of chtuloid nasties that warp them into horrible forms at random... extra legs here, fire breathe there... However, there was this picture of a goat headed footman with a tattooed face and an irritated look that I just adored. It was one of those guy-at-rest pictures. Full of life. So I dropped the Broo's chaotic aspect and made them simply a race. > My usual rule of thumb when writing up a pseudo-furry race is to eyeball > the base creatures weight. If they weigh significantly less than humans, > they get a Strength or Hitpoint penalty. If they weigh significantly more > than humans, they get a Strength and/or hitpoint bonus. Meat/Dairy goats > fall in the 100-300 lbs range, depending on breed (yay domesticated > animals, totally variable :P) which is pretty darn close to the range of > weights for humans, so I'd avoid giving them a ST bonus at all (but no ST > penalty). > > HT +2 might be a bit higher than I'd pick, but doesn't seem excessive. I was looking at the Ibex as a point of origin, for all I intended on closer curled horns... Oh, and re ST - the race are known to be big - Gigantism is common amongst males. -one of the points I wanted to leave out. I have a magical disease in the setting responsible for ... long story - suffice, amongst the Goruff, it left a growing number of males Gigantic - and usually ST+5+, IQ-2+ and Berserk Perhaps +1HT and +1HP and Fit? Goat does rather equate to hardy in the my mind and the setting image of the Goruff > Absolute Direction is a strange choice, I wouldn't have thought of it at > all. Nomadic race - legacy item. I could drop it for cost reasons and make it common I suppose. Its _setting_ established 'fact' that Windsong calls to them when its time to migrate and they know where to go when they do. And that across the Great Shivering Grass you want a Goruff guide. > Minotaurs, sure, because gamers at some point got confused and > started assigning navigational prowess to the classical Minotaur (it > should be the exact opposite - the Labyrinth was a prison for Astarion, he > was as lost in the Labyrinth as were the sacrificial Athenians). I don't > associate it with goats even on a mythological basis, so I'd leave it out. Point, I guess. > The rest of your advantages list is good, but I'd add in Super Jump 1. > Domestic goats are like cats - they like being high up, and they LOVE > climbing around on things. They're notorious for getting up in trees and > nibbling off half the leaves, and of course general rock climbing > exploits, even for the domestic breeds. I'd also add a Feature saying that > Perfect Balance is not an exotic trait for Goat-men (but perhaps not > making it a required part of the template). Hmm. Mooted this. In the past I have used multiple sub-races and freaked my players as I had at one point the Arch setting Bible had over a hundred races. All playable... well, templates for all of them, I would argue about the playability, but some guys will try to play anything. I am keeping it as a Feat - a category of learnable/earnable Power a PC can get or be born with. But that's atm. > I don't know enough about goats to comment on Bad Temper, but the > stereotype for male goats would include Lecherous ;) And stubborn, but I am told no. But this way cats should have solipsistic and sadistic and the natural clannishness of all species is tough to make for a setting that isn't pre-bent to allow player character movment. > You could swap out the OPH for Gluttony for some versions as well. Point. I have friends who lost goats to hemlock. Both goats were called Socrates too. Perhaps this is proof that names matter. Or that goats have crappy sense of smell. > Emily Smirle Ta. McE _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
