Martian Weaponry and Technology

An Analysis of the Effects and Properties of the Martian Devices in Game Terms, for the Use of Referees.

MARTIAN FIGHTING MACHINES

There follows a list of the observed properties of the Martian Fighting Machines:

• Constructed from an advanced alloy of aluminium, they are heavily armoured enough that they can easily shrug off the fire of a Maxim gun and most man-portable weapons, as the military cordon around Horsell Common discovered to their cost.
• They can travel very swiftly when required, moving with a strange rolling gait at a speed of up to 50 mph.
• Measuring a hundred feet tall, they tower over the surrounding landscape, and have a SIZ of 80. Note that this means attackers receive an extra 25 percentiles to hit with bullet, thrown object or shotgun round. Other modifiers may apply for range, movement etc.
• Fighting Machines have six mechanical tentacles, actuated by the same pseudo-muscular arrangement as powers the long leverages of the machine's limbs. They are remarkably strong, and easily able to uproot young pine trees, giving an approximate STR rating of 15, although they are capable of very fine manipulation. They can also deliver a powerful electrical charge inflicting 1D8 points of stun damage, capable of rendering a grown man unconscious. The tentacles can also combine STR.
• The Fighting Machine has apparatus allowing it to direct a jet of superheated steam with which it lays the banks of Black Smoke once they have served their purpose.

OPTIONAL RULE: Hit Location

Because a Fighting Machine is such a large target, it is possible to try to select which part of it you want to hit. Some parts of the Fighting Machine have lighter armour than others, or can soak less damage before they are rendered inoperative. However, those parts may be harder to hit. Also take into account modifiers for range, size, moving targets, etc.

*An attack on the Cowl which penetrates its armour causes the Martian operator to take full rolled damage as the bullet ricochets around the inside of the cowl or the shell explodes.

**For each leg reduced to half or less of its original HPs, reduce the Fighting Machine's Speed by a third of its maximum amount. Destruction of a leg causes the Fighting Machine to fall over and renders it immobile until repairs can be effected.

***Attacks on the Heat-Ray Generator may cause it to explode or otherwise malfunction. After it has been damaged, each round it is fired match the number of shots fired by the Heat-Ray against its remaining hit points on the Resistance Table. Failure indicates a malfunction, the severity of which is left to the referee to decide.

THE HANDLING-MACHINE

The Martian Handling-Machine is a squat, crablike construct possessing a variety of tools and manipulatory appendages. It has five jointed, agile legs that allow it to reach a respectable speed, albeit nothing to compare with that of the Fighting Machines. They are also have lighter armour, the Martian operator sitting exposed atop the machiine while it works the complicated apparatus.

The tools, tentacles, grasping claws and other appendages may be used as weapons. Statistics are given below.

OPTIONAL RULE: Hit Location

Because a Fighting Machine is such a large target, it is possible to try to select which part of it you want to hit. Some parts of the Fighting Machine have lighter armour than others, or can soak less damage before they are rendered inoperative. However, those parts may be harder to hit. Also take into account modifiers for range, size, moving targets, etc.

* Attacks which successfully penetrate the Hood do full damage against the Martian operator.

** For each leg reduced to half HPs or less, reduce the Handling-Machine's maximum Speed rating by 1. If more than two legs are destroyed the Handling-Machine is rendered immobile until repairs can be effected.

THE HEAT-RAY

The Martian Heat-Ray is a powerful infrared laser, capable of melting lead, softening iron and incinerating any combustible material it falls upon.

For game purposes, Heat-Rays are considered to be burst firing weapons - the number of shots fired does not represent discrete shots, but rather the length of time the Heat-Ray is played upon a target. Basically, the longer the beam of heat is directed at a target, the more damage the target takes, whereas if the Heat-Ray only briefly passes over a target, then the target will take substantially less damage. The damage taken from the multiple shots is grouped in a single roll, and then modifiers for armour are subtracted. Additionally, in contrast to the normal situation, armour penetrated by the Heat-Ray is rendered useless, as it burns to cinders or melts into slag.

THE BLACK SMOKE

The tubes which fire the canisters of Black Smoke have a base range of 500 yards; within five rounds of impact the smoke itself covers a roughly circular area half a mile in radius in fifty feet of choking black vapour. Those inside the cloud must hold their breath - use the Call of Cthulhu drowning rules. Failure of a CON roll indicates that the target has inhaled the poisonous wisps, treated as a POT 20 poison, and dies in writhing agony in 1D3 rounds as the Black Smoke coats the inside of his lungs in a layer of smothering powder which causes the blood to instantly coagulate. Once inhaled, the action of the Black Smoke is irreversible, even if the victim is removed from its area of effect.

Over time the vapour sinks and spreads. Every 1D4 hours, depending on weather conditions, increase its radius by half a mile, and halve its height. Elevated positions above the level of the smoke will allow one to escape its billowing darkness. Damp conditions will accelerate this settling of the dust, while wind will cause it to spread further away from the wind than into it.

MARTIAN MIND CONTROL

The Martians have developed a method of mind-control that allows them to direct the actions of human minions, by means of a combination of surgical implants, hypnotic suggestion and telepathic influence. These unfortunates are selected from the humans captured, and released to perform the Martians' bidding. The exact nature of the procedure used is still uncertain. What is known is that it requires the implanting of a fine platinum wire into the target's brain, and powerful hypnotic instructions by the Martian controller. The victim typically has no memory of his time at the hands of the Martians, his memory having been somehow erased. Attempts to recall the blanked period universally cause the victim to suffer a painful headache.

The Brain Implant used by the Martians effectively allows them to cast the spell Mesmerise at a range equal to half POW in miles. To successfully engage the implant the Martian must make a POW vs. POW roll on the Resistance table. Each time after the first that a Martian attempts to control a given victim, that victim receives a +1 bonus to their POW for the purposes of making the resistance roll. A single Martian may command no more than one minion at any given time, although there is no limit to the number of minions it can implant. Victims lose 1D4/1D8 Sanity points from the mental contact with the Martian controller each time they are controlled, or 1/1D4 Sanity points if the Martian failed the POW vs. POW roll. If a victim suffers injury the Martian controller must make a POWx3 roll, otherwise control over that victim is lost until a new POW vs. POW roll is made.

While the implant remains dormant, the victim is an outwardly normal person, the implant virtually undetectable save by X-Ray examination or a very close inspection of the victim's scalp, which will reveal a small incision half an inch long with perhaps a quarter of an inch of hair-fine silvery wire protruding from it. Once activated the Martian has almost complete control over the target, allowing the Martian to control the victim's actions and state of mind telepathically. This control can range from suggestions, such as what to say or do, to complete domination. When under the Martian's complete control the victim is a mindless automaton. Completely dominated victims walk around with disjointed movements and blank, staring faces. When merely receiving suggestions victims might wear a faraway expression or be insensible to stimuli for a short time, usually no more than a second or two. When the control is broken the victim retains no memory of their actions.

At first this mind-control is almost absolute, but through an as yet unknown mechanism the victim gradually builds up a resistance to the Martian's telepathic commands. Control diminishes from absolute subjectivity to the Martian's commands to powerful impulses to a slight urge or compulsion. Victims often go insane after a short time, rarely more than a week, driven mad by "voices" in their heads which compel them to do things. Many such unfortunates kill themselves to silence the voices. There have been cases in which someone under Martian control has , with medical assistance, recovered from Martian domination, but these are sadly rare, as such aid was generally difficult ot come by during and immediately after the invasion.

THE TELEPATHIC RESONANCE TRANSMITTER

The primary form of communication between Martians is thought transference, or telepathy. Over short distances, a few miles or so, this is perfectly adequate for communication between individuals. However, communication across interplanetary distances is another matter entirely. The Martians are simply unable to transmit thought across such vast distances, and so have developed an apparatus to overcome this limitation - the Telepathic Resonance Transmitter. Though its operation and underlying principles are yet to be understood by human scientists, it is known that this device allows a number of Martians to combine their telepathic energies to allow them to transmit messages between the planets. It is known that crystal prisms of an unknown composition play a vital role in its function, somehow acting to trap psychic emanations and amplify them. It is believed that without this apparatus the Martians are unable to harness psychic energy in sufficient quantities to extend the range of their telepathic abilities.

In game terms, the Telepathic Resonance Transmitter vastly increases the range of the Martians' Telepathy spell. One Martian, the operator, is the focus of the procedure, and is the actual sender of the message. Other Martians patch into the apparatus and add their own psychic energy to the transmission. For each five magic points contributed, the range of the spell increases by a factor of 10. Thus spending 5 magic points gives a range equal to the operator's POW in miles, 10 magic points gives a range of 10 times POW, 15 magic points gives 100 times POW, and so on. Normally the Martians use a large number of assistants, each spending a small number of magic points.

The table below gives an example of how the Telepathic Resonance Transmitter would affect the range for a Martian operator with the average POW of 13-14.

And so on. Add another 5 magic points, add another zero. Thus to contact Mars at its farthest distance from the Earth, across 250,000,000 miles of void, would require an expenditure of 45 magic points.

Vehicle Statistics

Here are the statistics of a Martian Fighting Machine and Handling-Machine to conform with the format given in the Vehicle Chases rules (pp. 252-3 in CoC 5.5):

Weapon Statistics

Below are the game statistics of the various Martian weapons to conform with the format given on pp. 58-9 of CoC 5.5:

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last updated and validated May 1, 1999. SHD