"Gaming MARTIAN Centipedes?" Topic

Back in the late 70s or early 80s, I remember reading a short story about the first human colony on Mars awakening long-dormant, and very large (6-10 foot long), centipedes.

Needless to say, as the story moved along, more and more humans became centipede food.

As much as I would love to give it a re-read, I have long since given up tracking that story.

Nevertheless, considering how fast (for their size) centipedes move on Earth when they are on the hunt, and how the gravity on Mars is considerably less . . .

. . . for the sake of gaming, how fast would a 6-10 foot long centipede move?

CC

If you must see actual footage of our terrestrial centipedes hunting, here are a few graphic ones for you . . .

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And some general background info:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centipede

CC

About the speed of an elephant?:-(

Strength of muscles goes with the cross-sectional area … so roughly proportional to the square of length.

Mass goes with the volume … about the cube of length.

So a 10 ft centipede would be 20 times longer, 400 times stronger BUT 8,000 times more massive than a 6" centipede.

OTOH you could just forget reality and scale up linearly:-)
So say a 6" centipede covers 10 body lengths a second.
A 10 ft centipede would do 6000 ft per minute or roughly 60 miles an hour. Much more exciting!

The moment I saw this…I thought 'Cthoor'? or whatever that David Gerrold (Trouble with Tribbles!) author series was about centipede-type aliens that liked to eat their prey ALIVE!!!(shudder)….

Then there was that bit in the science NEWS in the last 'month'? or so about MARTIAN 'caves'????? deep underground CAVES….not 'volcanic' or meteor…???

Hmmmmmmm….and water has been found on Mars…and there may be a whole 'underground ecology'…UNDER the 'hostile' (to us/most life as WE know it)…surface…

Maybe it will be even more HOSTILE underground to the first 'martian astro-spelunkers'…(another Scifi movie??? Caverns of Mars/Below, etc'???)….

Could be MORE 'science' in this sort of FICTION than WE would really WANT!!!

*slish…slish*

Sgt DWW-bartentacle wondering about 'truth being STRANGER than fiction'!!!

Hey DWW,

Is this the article you meant?

TMP link

CC

Chain Reaction and 5150 have "bugs" rules that would work, including random "bug hole" generation and stuff for co-operative play against swarms of bugs.

I guess that the low oxygen content in Martian air might actually prevent big bugs from developing or living there:

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Unless, of course, they depended on something else other than oxygen, right? :)

I guess that would be something like the sea-bottom fauna that subsists on chemosynthesis instead of photosynthesis.

CC

This is too funny (meaning too coincidental) a find:

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CC

Hey, CC…'hypothesizing' for a moment…in general about what we do 'know'?

Mars may have been warmer, wetter and had more air/etc for a long enough geological period that some form of 'life' could have evolved there, right?

Even now…while CURRENT surface condtions, radiation, low air pressure, temperatures, soil conditions, etc seem to INDICATE there is no real 'surface life'…(based on the tests/limited exploration we've done so far)…it still doesn't rule it totally out. Nor that there might have been some form of surface life at ONE time in it's history.

We have 'extremophiles' on earth…from symbiotic bacteria/lichen in rocks in dry valleys of Antarctica to smoker vents in the depths of the ocean and even in highly 'acidic/semi-boiling mud/water'?? (among other places. All that, just on EARTH alone…

Now…if there is water now BELOW the surface/ice/deep aquifers…as is 'hinted at'…and deep 'caverns' near volcanic regions….think about this.

On Earth, the deeper you go, the warmer it gets and also…the 'denser' the atmosphere SHOULD get…and if near water/volcanic vents….there would be gases other than JUST CO2…

If 'tube worms' and other bacterial/creatures can live on 'sulfur' etc…why not similar life-forms in the depths of martian 'cave complexes'?

I'm not saying we'll find 'Barsoomians' like Tars Tarkas…or even life as adanced as millipedes…(of any size)…but can we totally RULE it out, even now?

Or the fact that I MIGHT have existed at one time????

I think that would be 'highly premature'…even with all the probes we've sent and are sending. Even if we had manned bases ON Mars…(considering there are places even on EARTH, today that haven't been fully explored????)…who can really say at this point?

I think we'll have a lot more QUESTIONS for several decades at least…than we'll have answers…even when we finally get around to poking our noses down a few of those caverns ourselves!

Don't 'count the martians' out…just YET…past or PRESENT!!! Life is pretty 'tenacious' in some ways…(as we've seen just on EARTH! I don't think we can 'rule out' anything TOTALLY at this point…other than we haven't seen anything we RECOGNIZE as 'life/intelligence' on Mars…so far…whith how we've looked.

But sometimes…I look at the news here on earth…and wonder about humans/life here…too!

*slish…slish*…

Sgt DWW-bartentacle and VSF explorer extroidinair!

Arthropleura!

Check this out:

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So, imagine if they happened to have a cousin on Mars!!!

CC

MORNING CC!

MAN, your brain must spend more time whirling around remembering trivia and bursting with curiousity than mine! and lord knows my stays busy , night and day !

i remember this movie, too, but cannot tell y'all the title.

i highly recommend both CR2.0 and 5150 from THW for "BUG HUNTING" or "BUG HUNTED" style games played with other players, with all players vs the game mechanics, or as a solo game.

ORIENTAL TRADING COMPANY used to have some truly spectacular giant centipedes made from soft ot rigid plastic, realistically colored, that would be about 10 feet or 12 feet long when compared with a 25mm/28mm/30mm human figures. as i recall, these centipedes were 144 for around $6.00 USD USA.

i had some of these same centipedes that i got at a local ollar store toy department several years ago (been misplaced since my last move, dammit!)

ORIENTAL TRADING COMPANY also offered large numbers of other, useful, carnivorous insects, some up to 6" long and 2" tall.

this is also the source of those wonderful , real life colored, plastic spiders that one sees now and then in photos from THW battlereports. 144 spiders
for about $5.00 USD USA.

another set on MARS sci fi horror story/game is based on an OUTER LIMITS tv episode from the early 1960s. MARS 1 lands and contact is lost not long after it lands on the surface (i forget exactly where). NASA then sends MARS 2 to find out what has happened (MARS 2 has handguns and rifles, maybe frag grenades or seismic explosives: MARS 1 was unarmed). basically think of the sands of MARS as "seas", with sub-surface lifeforms, including a deadly shark-like predator.

thus we have the possible the origins the idea of the pre-cambrian predator worms from TREMORS movies . . .

DAWGIE, ancient BUGHUNTER/BUGHUNTED gamer

"Back in the late 70s or early 80s, I remember reading a short story about the first human colony on Mars awakening long-dormant, and very large (6-10 foot long), centipedes.
Needless to say, as the story moved along, more and more humans became centipede food."

It was really a short story, though I would thrilled if it was actually made into a movie!

CC
PS. Hey, I remember that Outer Limits episode with the dragon-like sand creature!
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This is REALLY DISTURBING, but imagine if one of these was really hunting a human:

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CC

This video is narrated by David Attenborough:

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They look slow, until they bite!

CC

The Arthropleura replicas are a bit scary-looking:

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CC

As BooneC points out, scaling up critters means that strength goes up by the square while mass goes up by the cube. Giant versions of smaller things quickly become too heavy to move or move very slowly. OTOH, in this case we are talking about Mars with 1/3 the gravity of Earth. This would help a bit and might permit the killer centipedes.

Hi,

I found and bought these a while back:

auction

What are those "assassin centipedes of coruscant"? Anyone know?

CC

"What are those 'assassin centipedes of coruscant'? Anyone know?"

Answers were provided here:

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CC

Wouldn't you hate to be this guy?

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CC

These look nice, even though a bit pricey:

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CC

"OTOH, in this case we are talking about Mars with 1/3 the gravity of Earth. This would help a bit and might permit the killer centipedes."

Great thinking.

QUESTION:

About shooting something that is coming at you very low and fast . . . and is a color almost identical to its surroundings . . .

You wouldn't have the advantage of aiming at the entire body. You would only see what's coming directly at you, such as the head and some of the legs undulating side to side, right?

However, if it was on profile, as in attacking another colonist, then your chances to hit it would improve, correct?

CC
TMP link

WOTC D&D Minis have a great Centipede, it's a common so it's cheap to get. I've got about 3 in like 4 or 5 boosters

Here's a pic of the figure with others for size comparison. Left to Right: WOTC Storm Trooper, WOTC Centipede, Moongoose SST, and GW Empire Gun Crew.
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Here's the set they are from:
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Cheers, Xin

Xin,

That is a GREAT figure.

I wish it came in other positions, such as running flat along the ground, like the unknown black one on the left in this photo (or even the one on the far right):

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CC

This real one definitely looks alien – like it could belong on Mars:

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I guess some of these could work in a pinch:

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I wonder how long these realistic plastic ones are:

mooncostumes.com/item/4502
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This is interesting and exotic (for night action):

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This one might be a little too big for the gaming table:

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CC

I think these must be made out of gold or something:

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CC

This is just plain wrong:

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That's what happens when you start feeding them table scraps.

CC

I would prefer something that would be more like 6-10 feet long (a more difficult target – harder to spot), but this is cool nonetheless:

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Though this prop is much much smaller, I think it is more frightening, since it can crawl and hide anywhere, where you least expect it.

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CC

Otherworld's centipedes:

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Mississinewa's centipedes (NEW):

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TMP link

CC

Arthropleura was one big sucker:

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CC

This critter is interesting, in a centipede-ish kind of way:

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CC

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From their canals maybe?

Definitely a weird critter:

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CC

This guys is in some SERIOUS trouble!

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Those Mississewa critters are enticing:

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CC

This big fellow looks like it would feel right at home on another world:

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CC

CC, you certainly do your research.

Good stuff, I see some serious problems for my Nazis on the red planet!

Guiscard,

Thanks!!! I try to make it easier for others to provide replies. It just takes a few minutes, and then you have lots to talk about after that.

Dan

Guiscard,

They would have a hard time with something like this prop:

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Or the one in Animal Planet's Lost Tapes episode on giant centipedes . . .

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YouTube link

CC