OSR Commentary - H.G. Wells' iconic Martian war material tailored for The Burrows & Borderlands Rpg

Here  is a conversion of H.G. Wells' iconic Martian war material tailored for Burrows & Borderlands (a standard fantasy tabletop roleplaying framework utilizing classic six-attribute blocks and d20-style mechanics).

1. The Fighting Machine (The Tripod)

The crown jewel of the Martian vanguard. This massive, 100-foot-tall engines of glittering metal parodies the human gait with a terrifying, rhythmic, three-legged stride. It is propelled by intricate electromagnetic muscular systems rather than wheels, emitting puffs of green vapor from its flexible joints.

Size: Gargantuan (100 ft tall)
Type: Construct / Alien Warmachine
Attributes:
  STR: 26 (+8)   DEX: 14 (+2)   CON: 22 (+6)
  INT: 10 (+0)   WIS: 14 (+2)   CHA: 08 (-1)

Armor Class: 20 (Heavy Martian Alloy plating)
Hit Points: 210
Speed: 60 ft (Ignores difficult terrain under 15 ft high)

Traits & Senses

• Brazen Hood (Panoramic Cockpit): The pilot sits in a swiveling brass cowl at the apex, granting immunity to being flanked and blindsight up to 120 feet.

• All-Terrain Strider: The tripod can wade through deep coastal waters and step cleanly over structures, trees, or defensive walls up to 30 feet high without slowing down.

• Iron Cage / Collector's Basket: A large, mesh white-metal basket hangs from the rear of the main chassis. Up to 10 Medium-sized creatures can be held captive inside.

Actions

• Multiattack: The Tripod makes two Tentacle attacks and uses either its Heat-Ray or fires a Black Smoke Canister.

• Articulate Steel Tentacles: Melee Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, reach 30 ft. Hit: 18 ($2d10 + 8$) bludgeoning damage. The target is grappled (escape DC 18). While grappled, the target can be placed into the rear collection basket as a bonus action.

• The Heat-Ray (Recharge 5–6): A jointed metallic arm aims a polished parabolic mirror, projecting a beam of pure, invisible thermal energy in a 150-foot line (5 feet wide). Each creature in the line must make a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw.

  • Failure: 55 ($10d10$) fire damage. Combustibles ignite, water vaporizes instantly, and targets reduced to 0 HP turn to ash.

  • Success: Half damage.

• Black Smoke Canister (2/Day): Fires a canister from a gun-like tube up to 300 feet away. Upon impact, it releases an inky, heavy poisonous gas in a 40-foot radius. The smoke clings to the ground, contours to the landscape, and sinks into valleys or trenches.
  
  

  • Any breathing creature that starts its turn in the smoke takes 22 ($4d10$) poison damage and is blinded.

  • The Martians can discharge built-in steam nozzles to instantly clear and neutralize the smoke when they wish to advance.

2. The Handling Machine

A low-profile, highly dexterous workhorse. Looking like a cross between a metallic spider and a glinting crab, it stands roughly 7 to 8 feet tall. It is used primarily for excavation, building other warmachines, and direct resource processing. It possesses an unsettling, near-organic fluidity.

Size: Large (8 ft tall, wide base)
Type: Construct / Alien Labor Unit
Attributes:
  STR: 18 (+4)   DEX: 16 (+3)   CON: 18 (+4)
  INT: 10 (+0)   WIS: 12 (+1)   CHA: 05 (-3)

Armor Class: 17 (Reinforced Shell)
Hit Points: 85
Speed: 40 ft, Climb 30 ft

Traits & Senses

• Complex Articulation: Features 5 agile, jointed legs and an array of levers, bars, and reaching levers. It has advantage on checks made to grapple, disarm, or manipulate objects.

• Cerebral Sync: The machine mimics the movements of its pilot perfectly. It suffers no penalties to dexterity or precision despite its heavy mechanical nature.

Actions

• Multiattack: The Handling Machine makes three attacks: two with its Clutches/Levers and one with its Grasping Tentacles.

• Jointed Levers / Metal Claws: Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft. Hit: 11 ($2d6 + 4$) slashing or bludgeoning damage.

• Grasping Tentacles: Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 15 ft. Hit: 9 ($1d10 + 4$) bludgeoning damage and the target is grappled (escape DC 14).

• Blood Extraction (Grappled Target Only): The machine drives an direct feeding apparatus into a living creature grappled by it. The target must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 27 ($6d8$) necrotic damage on a failure, or half as much on a success. The pilot Martian is nourished by this extraction.

3. The Flying Machine

Built toward the end of the campaign as the Martians adjusted to Earth's thick atmosphere. It is described vaguely as a flat, broad, and very large shape. It acts as an aerial transport and carpet-bombing platform, flying silently through the cloud cover to rain down darkness.

Size: Huge
Type: Construct / Alien Aircraft
Attributes:
  STR: 20 (+5)   DEX: 12 (+1)   CON: 16 (+3)
  INT: 10 (+0)   WIS: 14 (+2)   CHA: 05 (-3)

Armor Class: 16 (Lightweight Alloy)
Hit Points: 115
Speed: 0 ft, Fly 90 ft (Hover)

Traits & Senses

• Aerodynamic Mastery: The machine does not rely on wings or loud combustion; it glides with a quiet, ominous hum, giving it advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks while flying at night or inside heavy weather.

Actions

• Aerial Heat-Ray: Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 100/300 ft, one target. Hit: 27 ($5d10$) fire damage.

• Rained Darkness (Recharge 5–6): The Flying Machine releases a specialized payload of Black Smoke canisters directly beneath it. It coats a 60-foot square area directly under its flight path in a dense cloud of toxic black vapor (identical properties to the Tripod's Black Smoke).
  
  

Here is the entry for the Martians themselves, designed to pilot the war machines and terrorize the woodland defenders of Burrows & Borderlands.

The Martians

The Martians are a chilling testament to pure, intellect-driven evolution stripped of emotion, empathy, or physical beauty. They are sluggish and physically vulnerable under the heavy gravity of the mortal realms, yet they possess a terrifying telepathic malice and a completely alien biology.

An individual Martian is essentially an enormous, fleshy head roughly four feet across, dominated by a pair of massive, dark, unblinking eyes. Instead of a body, a cluster of sixteen thin, whip-like tentacles projects directly from the base of the head, arranged in two groups of eight. They have no internal nostrils (smelling via their skin), no ears, and no complex digestive tract. Because they cannot digest solid food, they sustain themselves by directly injecting the fresh, living blood of captured creatures into their own veins.

Size: Medium
Type: Aberration / Alien
Attributes:
  STR: 06 (-2)   DEX: 08 (-1)   CON: 10 (+0)
  INT: 22 (+6)   WIS: 16 (+3)   CHA: 12 (+1)

Armor Class: 11 (Natural unarmored sluggishness)
Hit Points: 32 (5d8 + 10)
Speed: 10 ft. (Crawling/dragging)

Traits & Senses

• Vulnerability to Earthly Flora/Fauna: The Martians have no immune system. They have disadvantage on saving throws against diseases, blights, and infections native to the setting.

• Telepathic Unity: Martians do not speak. They communicate with each other instantaneously and silently via telepathy up to a range of 1 mile. They can project a crushing, wordless sense of dread into the minds of non-Martians within 60 feet.

• Overwhelming Intellect: The Martian adds its Intelligence modifier (+6) to any saving throws made against magical illusions, charms, or psychic attacks.

• Senses: Darkvision 120 ft., Passive Perception 13.

Actions

• Tentacle Slap: Melee Weapon Attack: +1 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 bludgeoning damage. (The Martian rarely fights physically outside of its machines due to its profound weakness).

• Psychic Static (Recharge 5–6): The Martian unleashes a wave of raw mental energy. Each non-Martian creature within a 30-foot radius must make a DC 16 Intelligence saving throw.

  • Failure: 18 ($4d8$) psychic damage, and the creature is Frightened for 1 minute.

  • Success: Half damage and is not frightened.

• Vampiric Transfusion: Melee Weapon Attack: +1 to hit, reach 5 ft., one incapacitated or grappled creature. Hit: 9 ($2d8$) necrotic damage. The Martian regains hit points equal to the damage dealt. This represents the Martian using a needle-like tube to harvest and inject the target's blood.

Behavior & Strategy

Outside of their warmachines, Martians are nearly helpless, dragging themselves slowly across the ground with wet, heavy gasps. Consequently, they are almost never encountered unprotected. They spend 99% of their time sealed within the pressurized cockpits of Tripods or Handling Machines. If a player manages to breach a warmachine's hull and expose the pilot, a single well-placed arrow or sword stroke from a brave badger or mouse knight can easily dispatch the alien mastermind.

Stars Without Numbers rpg : Campaign Pitch: The Red Dawn of Sector X- War of the Worlds Update - The Martian Manta Ray Craft From 1953's War of the Worlds Movie

 

Here's an update to the Stars Without Numbers rpg : Campaign Pitch: The Red Dawn of Sector X- War of the Worlds & that's the Manta ray craft from the 1953's classic War of the Worlds movie for this campaign. The Martian War Machine from the 1953 War of the Worlds film, often described as a "stingray" or "manta ray" craft, is an iconic piece of sci-fi.

Since there are no official Stars Without Number (SWN) stats for this specific vehicle, We can create a custom profile for it using the rules for Alien Craft or as a specialized Walker/Grav Vehicle from the SWN core rulebook (Deluxe Edition, or adapting from the standard vehicle/robot rules).

Here is a proposed stat block and description, focusing on its unique features:

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Martian War Machine (1953 Film)

This sleek, manta ray-shaped craft hovers on three invisible energy "legs" and is an incredibly resilient and terrifying war engine of an alien race.²

Trait	Value	Notes
Class	Grav Vehicle, Very Heavy	Treats Rough terrain as Normal. Ignores difficult terrain.
Crew	1 Martian Operator (Single Occupant)
Speed	50 kph (Standard), 200 kph (Max)	Standard for tactical movement; max for rapid travel.
Armor	15 (Force Field)	Invulnerable to all non-nuclear conventional weaponry.
Hit Points (HP)	40 (Structure)	Structure can only be damaged if Armor is bypassed/disrupted.
AC	10	The craft moves too smoothly to be targeted by small arms.
Hard Points	2 (Fixed)	Heat Ray (Fixed Fore), Wingtip Pulsars (Fixed Broad)
TL	5 (Alien)	Represents the Martian technological superiority.
Cost	Priceless (Alien Artifact)	Cannot be bought or replicated with known technology.

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Special Features

•  Invisible Energy Tripod: The craft hovers on three invisible "legs" of magnetic or energy force.³ Any attempt to ground the vehicle by damaging the earth beneath it is ineffective, but the energy emissions leave three scorched areas beneath the hull, briefly visible at takeoff or in wet terrain.

• Molecularly Cohesive Armor: The craft's hull, and more importantly, its powerful force field (represented by the high Armor score), is nearly impervious to conventional weapons. All attacks from TL0-4 conventional weapons (bullets, rockets, kinetic weapons) do no damage unless a Critical Hit (Natural 20) is scored. Even then, the damage is halved. Only nuclear weapons, extreme TL5 energy weapons, or the unique vulnerability (see below) can effectively damage it.

• Siren of War: The machine emits a terrifying, wailing siren sound when attacking or maneuvering. This can impose a -1 penalty to Morale checks for any troops within 100 meters who are actively aware of the machine.

Weapons

The Martian War Machine fields two devastating alien weapons:⁴

1.  Heat Ray (Mounted Fore, Cobra Head)⁵

   • Range: 1,000 meters

   • Damage: $4\text{d}10$ Energy

   • Special: The Heat Ray is a focused stream of energy capable of rapid molecular disintegration. It ignores 5 points of mundane Armor (but not the machine's own Force Field). Against objects (buildings, vehicles), it deals $\times 2$ damage. It is a slow-to-fire weapon and can only target one vehicle or area per round.

2.  Wingtip Pulsars (Broad Arc/Point Defense)⁶

   • Range: 300 meters

   • Damage: $2\text{d}6$ Energy

   • Special: Two pulsing ray emitters, one on each wingtip.⁷ They can target two different opponents or one target twice per round. These are primarily used to incinerate infantry or lightly armored vehicles.

The Vulnerability (Spoilers)

In the source material, the Martians and their technology are vulnerable to terrestrial bacteria.

• Infectious Failure: If the Martian occupant is exposed to the local planetary environment for a significant period (minutes/hours), their biological systems will begin to fail. This is a progressive threat. Once the occupant dies, the machine immediately becomes inert, its force field and systems shutting down. Its Armor drops to 5 (Structure) and its HP is now its main defense, allowing it to be damaged by any weapon.

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This stat block should give you a terrifying challenge for your Stars Without Number players, respecting the machine's near-invulnerability while keeping it within the system's framework.

Stars Without Numbers rpg : Campaign Pitch: The Red Dawn of Sector X- War of the Worlds

 

Campaign Pitch: The Red Dawn of Sector X

Core Premise

A distress signal from a forgotten, fringe world in your sector (or a newly discovered system) leads the players to an invasion zone. This isn't a high-tech star war, but an asymmetric, ground-based invasion by a terrifying, utterly alien species from Mars (or some ancient, isolated corner of the sector). The Martians rely on massive, immune-to-local-weapons war machines and a bizarre bioweapon (the Red Weed) to pacify the planet before moving to the next. The PCs are among the few capable of understanding and counteracting the threat.

Campaign Theme: Technological Asymmetry and Resource Scarcity

The Martians' Heat-Rays and Tripods are TL5+ tech that simply ignores the local TL3-TL4 conventional weapons. They are immune to lasers, kinetic rounds, and even light tank shells (this is represented by their high Armor Class and damage reduction). The PCs' advantage lies not in firepower, but in Pretech, Psionics, and ingenuity—discovering the Martian weakness (biological vulnerability) and finding the rare, ancient weapons or materials needed to exploit it.

Initial Adventure Hooks

1. The Cylinder: The PCs are contracted to investigate a mysterious "meteorite" crash on a backwater world (e.g., a high-tech planet in a low-tech sector, or a classic pre-Collapse Earth analog). They arrive just as the first Tripods are being deployed, witnessing the horrifying debut of the Heat-Ray. Their primary goal becomes escape and warning the nearest planetary authority.

2. Salvage Run: A powerful faction hires the PCs to retrieve a Pretech component from a planet that has just gone dark. The mission is to get in, get the tech, and get out, navigating a collapsing society and the patrolling Martian tripods. The Pretech might be the key to designing an anti-Tripod weapon.

3. The Panic: The PCs' home planet/base world is next on the Martian itinerary. They have only a few weeks of in-game time (or a couple of Faction Turns) to arm, organize, and fortify defenses, or find a way to stop the invasion before it starts.

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 The Faction: The Martian Vanguard

The Martians are a horrifying, telepathic, parasitic species. Use the Stars Without Number Faction Turn rules to track their slow, methodical conquest.

Attribute	Score	Description
Cunning	4	Cold, ruthless strategic logic; flawless coordination via telepathy.
Force	5	Devastating combat assets (Tripods, Heat-Rays) and total air superiority.
Wealth	1	No need for currency; they consume all local resources.
Goal	Extinguish all native intelligent life in the sector; establish Red Weed colonies.

Martian Assets (Examples)

Asset	Type	Cost (Force)	Faction Turn Action
Invasion Cylinder	Base	N/A	Arrives at a planet, deploys Tripods.
Fighting Machine	Military	2	Assault: Destroy a local military unit or infrastructure.
Handling Machine	Military	1	Bioprocurement: Gather bio-material (humans/livestock) to sustain the Martian core.
Red Weed Bio-Plague	Project	2	Pacification: Reduces the planet's Wealth and Force for every turn it's active.
Flying Machine	Recon	1	Scout: Reveal hidden Faction assets or safe zones on a planet.

Martian Faction Feat: Telepathic Coordination

The Martian Vanguard automatically succeeds on all Opfor or Assault actions where two or more Fighting Machines are involved, unless the target Faction successfully executes a Rival action against them that same turn.

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The War Machine: Fighting Machine (Tripod)

This uses the Stars Without Number rules for Vehicles/Mechs. The Martians are TL5+ but this design is deliberately simplified to be manageable for a GM.

Component	Details
Type	Large Walker (100 ft. tall, tripod configuration)
TL	5 (Pretech/Alien)
Speed	30m/round (Ground)
AC	16
HP	100
Armor	10
Crew	1 Martian Controller (Psionic)

Martian Armor Trait: Kinetic Immunity

The Tripod's metallic shell and energy fields are immune to conventional small arms and all non-Heavy Weapons (TL4 or lower). Heavy Weapons and Energy Weapons (TL5+) deal damage normally, reduced by Armor. Psionic attacks and Maltech/Pretech weapons bypass the armor and deal full damage to the Tripod's HP.

Martian Tripod Weapons

Weapon	Attack Bonus	Damage	Range	Notes
Heat-Ray	+8	3d12 (Energy)	50m/100m	Ignores all non-Powered Armor; targets must make a Physical Save or suffer an additional 1d6 damage due to being on fire.
Black Smoke Gun	+5	Special	10m burst	Cone or small area. Targets must make a Physical Save (Difficulty 8) or take 2d6 Chemical Damage and suffer a -2 penalty to all actions for 1d4 rounds.
Grasping Tentacles	+6	1d8 (Crushing)	5m	On a successful hit, the target (vehicle or person) is Grappled. The next round, the Tripod can repeat the damage or use a special action (e.g., toss the victim, feed them to a Handling Machine).

Special Action: Martian War Cry

The Tripod can emit its terrifying, echoing "Ulllaaa!" (from the 1953 film version, or the novel's description). All enemies within 60m must make a Mental Save (Difficulty 8) or be Shaken (penalty to hit and saves) for 1 round.

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This setup gives the players a seemingly insurmountable foe that must be defeated through careful planning, acquiring rare technology (Pretech/Maltech), or exploiting the hidden biological weakness.

This expanded material deepens the Martian threat by detailing their core weakness, adding a second, horrifying machine (the Handling Machine), and outlining the key Pretech the PCs must find to fight back.

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The Martian Core Weakness: Biological Vulnerability

The Martians, a highly evolved, telepathic race, purged their home world of microscopic life long ago. They are biologically defenseless against the microbes of any colonized world.

The Plague (The Foe of All)

In your Stars Without Number setting, this takes the form of a hyper-virulent, fast-acting microbe.

• Mechanism: When the Martian body is breached (even by a minor wound), or they are exposed to highly contaminated local atmosphere for extended periods, the infection takes hold.

• Contamination Level: A standard battlefield (especially one with Black Smoke deployment) is considered Contaminated. Planetary settlements (TL3-4) are Heavily Contaminated.

• Infection Roll: Any Martian exposed to a Heavily Contaminated environment for 24 hours must make a Physical Save (Difficulty 6). If they fail, they are infected.

• Infection Effects: Infected Martians suffer a cumulative -1 penalty to all attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks per day of infection. After 4 days, they are too weak to pilot a machine and perish shortly after.

PC Objective: Exploit the Weakness

The PCs must figure out two things:

1. Diagnosis: A successful Tech/Medical (Diff 8) check on a Martian corpse or a captured specimen is required to isolate the Martian's total lack of immunity and vulnerability to local pathogens.

2. Delivery System: The PCs need a method to deliver the contagion past the Tripod's shielding. This usually involves recovering a specific piece of Pretech (see below) or engineering an explosive dispersal system with a Tech/Postech (Diff 9) check.

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Martian War Machines (Expanded)

1. Fighting Machine (Tripod)

• Type: Large Walker (100 ft. tall, tripod configuration)

• TL: 5 (Pretech/Alien)

• Speed: 30m/round (Ground)

• AC: 16

• HP: 100

• Armor: 10

• Crew: 1 Martian Controller (Psionic)

Tripod Traits

• Kinetic Immunity: Immune to conventional small arms and all non-Heavy Weapons (TL4 or lower). Heavy Weapons and Energy Weapons (TL5+) deal damage normally, reduced by Armor. Psionic attacks and Maltech/Pretech weapons bypass the armor and deal full damage to the Tripod's HP.

• Unsettling Presence: The Tripod's sheer size and alien motion is terrifying. Any non-psychic PC seeing a Tripod in combat for the first time must succeed on a Mental Save (Diff 7) or suffer a -1 penalty to all attacks and checks for the duration of the encounter.

Tripod Weapons

Weapon	Attack Bonus	Damage	Range	Notes
Heat-Ray	+8	3d12 (Energy)	50m/100m	Ignores all non-Powered Armor; targets must make a Physical Save or suffer an additional 1d6 damage due to being on fire.
Black Smoke Gun	+5	2d6 (Chem)	10m burst	Cone or small area. Targets must make a Physical Save (Diff 8) or suffer a Stun for 1 round and a -2 penalty to all actions for 1d4 rounds.
Grasping Tentacles	+6	1d8 (Crushing)	5m	On hit, target is Grappled. Tripod can sacrifice its next attack to instantly Crush or Toss the target (2d8 damage).

2. Handling Machine

These smaller, insect-like walkers accompany the Tripods. Their primary role is reconnaissance, resource harvesting, and the handling (capture) of biological specimens.

• Type: Medium Walker (15 ft. tall, multi-limbed)

• TL: 5 (Alien)

• Speed: 20m/round (Ground)

• AC: 14

• HP: 30

• Armor: 4

• Crew: 1 Martian or Telepathic Drone Brain

Handling Machine Traits

• Rapid Retrieval: Can move up to its full speed and perform a Grapple attack with its claw in the same round.

• Kinetic Resistance: Its armor reduces damage from Non-Heavy kinetic weapons (like assault rifles) by 2, but it is vulnerable to all Heavy Weapons, Energy, and Psionic attacks.

Handling Machine Weapons

Weapon	Attack Bonus	Damage	Range	Notes
Collection Claw	+4	1d6 (Crushing)	5m	Target is Grappled. If the grapple is maintained, the target is considered Captured and will be transported to a Cylinder.
Stun Discharge	+4	Special	10m	Target must make a Physical Save (Diff 6) or be Stunned for 1 round. Deals no damage.

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 Essential Pretech Salvage Missions

The PCs cannot win by conventional force. They must find the technology capable of piercing the Tripods' defenses. These relics are excellent hooks for adventure.

1. The Gravitic Field Nullifier

This is the core target. It's the only known device capable of creating a temporary field that interferes with the Tripod's own TL5 power generation and anti-kinetic shielding.

• Location: Found in a sealed Pretech Vault beneath the ruins of an ancient world (or a TL5 research facility on the target planet). The vault is protected by formidable AI Defenses and Security Constructs.

• Effect: Once found and activated (requires a Tech/Pretech (Diff 8) check), the Nullifier, when mounted to a vehicle or heavy weapon platform, can target a Tripod within 200m. If successful, the Tripod loses its Kinetic Immunity trait for 1d4 rounds, dropping its effective Armor from 10 to 4. This is the window for conventional weapons to hurt it.

• Salvage Requirement: Requires 3 units of Pretech Salvage and 1 unit of Rare Earth Metals to restore and mount.

2. The Metastasis Projector (Maltech/Biological Option)

An outlawed Maltech weapon designed to accelerate biological failure. This is the perfect delivery system for the Martian plague.

• Location: Held by a dangerous, isolated Cult or a paranoid Crime Lord who views it as their ultimate defense. The PCs must negotiate, steal, or fight for it.

• Effect: A successful hit (using the Shoot skill) with the Projector forces the target to make a Physical Save (Diff 9). If the target is a Martian, they are instantly subject to the effects of The Plague at day 2 of the infection, bypassing the initial exposure time.

• Drawback: If a human target fails the save, they suffer debilitating, long-term health issues (e.g., permanent -1 penalty to Physical saves, lost point of Constitution).

3. The Siren Array (Psionic Option)

A Psitech device of the Biopsion or Telepathy disciplines. It doesn't hurt the machines, but attacks the pilots.

• Location: Found in an abandoned Psionic Academy or hidden base of a former Mandate Faction. The site may be protected by dormant psychic traps or other hostile psionics.

• Effect: When activated, it broadcasts a targeted, chaotic psychic noise. All Martians (who are telepathic) within 1km must make a Mental Save (Diff 8) or suffer System Strain and be unable to take an action for 1 round due to psychic feedback.

• Salvage Requirement: Requires a PC with the Psionic class and a successful Tech/Pretech (Diff 7) check to operate.