[X-Plorers] New Races For X-Plorers - Gunkers

Gunkers are gritty, hard-working and like big guns.

A while back Mike D. over at Sword +1 brought up the idea of adding alien PC races for the X-Plorers RPG. The basic setting of XP makes no allowance for alien PCs and even downplays the existence of sentient aliens in the setting to mostly encounters. This is fine as the setting for XP is very much a "man in the stars" sort of setting whre humans are mostly alone in their adventures. Mikes ideas were pretty cool and established a nice D&D sort of way to insert aliens into the game.

Will over at Green Skeleton Gaming Guild and I took these initial ideas and ran with it, creating several species for a setting we hoped to turn int oa full fledged RPG setting with a more populace version of the galaxy. We worked out several core races for our setting but unfortunately the task of creating a setting from the ground up was a bit more than either of us was able to manage at the time. Rather than let the ideas and art die, I asked Will if it would be cool if I posted some of it here and he agreed, so I am.

HUMANS
One thing that I personally thought was that if you were going to throw in a bunch of aliens you had to do somethign with humans to make them still desirable to play. I couldn't justify giving them a huge range of special abilities but figured that they could have the full range of professions available to them as well as a bonus of +2 to any one skill at the time of character generation.

GUNKERS

While they originally certainly had another name, ever since the first humans encountered this cetacean descended mud dwelling alien species, they have been called Gunkers, a name they bear with pride.

Most of their world is covered in a viscous mud. Originally, the species had to burrow into the muddy waters and holes to find food, feeding mostly on bugs and worms. Despite this diet, they love to eat, gobbling up copious amounts of their wriggling fair. After a hard day's work, Gunkers like nothing better than to relax in a nice tepid bath of muddy water and dine on a bucket of bloat worms.

Humans are mortified by their diet and Ardirians are horrified at all the mud! (All that mud would look horrible on their feathers!). Gunkers are a friendly and jovial, if somewhat dirty, species and get along well with the other races in the Third Solar Union. They are quite talented in designing weapons and gear that can withstand even the harshest punishment and abuse, never overly flashy or fancy but always reliable. Even the most flamboyant Ardirian pilot will admit to being glad to have Gunker-designed survival equipment available should they ever need it (though it would never do to bear such mundane items at an important affair of state).

Gunkers are short, but not so much as Iskabob. They stand about 1.5 meters on average with broad, paunchy bodies and powerful muscled limbs. Due to a protective layer of blubbery fat under their thick skins, they seem a bit soft and squishy, an appearance that belies their power. Each of their hands features four stumpy digits – three fingers and a thumb, ending in a tough nail.

A Gunker’s eyes are small and located low on their head, but their most distinctive feature is their massive mouth causing them to speak with a croaking, booming tone. Gunker skin coloration comes in grays, greens and browns differentiated by the regional mud colorations on their home world. Differing variations on speckling and thick fleshy bristles on their heads and bodies can also further define their heritage,

Restrictions

Gunkers cannot be ESPers or Pilots. Gunkers are physically awkward and may never add their AGI bonus to their movement.

Attribute Adjustments

Gunkers are physically robust and strong, receiving a +1 bonus to PHY. They also have sharp and ingenious minds that give them a +1 INT. Gunkers receive a -2 AGI due to their squat and lumbering build.

Bonuses
Gunkers are particularly resilient and receive a +2 HP per level.