Saturday, 9 July 2022

DW Monsters: Ogrons


The remaining two stories of season 8 are:

  •          The Colony in Space – apart from their leader, the aliens here do not seem very different from humans in their basic biology, although they do have specific skill sets
  •          The Daemons – so far as we can tell, most, perhaps all, of the Daemons’ special abilities come from their near-magical technology, so I will pass on them

This brings us to season 9 and Day of the Daleks which, apart from including the obvious (albeit only briefly), introduces the Ogrons. These appear in two more stories during the Third Doctor’s era but have not been seen since then in the TV series. They have, however, often been mentioned or made brief appearances in other media, with significant roles in at least five novels and six audio plays to date. They mostly appear as mercenaries, but the audio Planet of the Ogrons does give us a brief look at their homeworld and native culture adding a little to what we already see in Frontier in Space.

Description and Biology

The Ogrons are tall and heavily muscled humanoid aliens with ape-like faces.  Given that they are alien, we don’t know how distinct they may be from humans biologically, although the implication would be “not by much”, at least to anyone that isn’t, say, trying to perform abdominal surgery on one. At least on TV, we haven’t seen any females of the species, so technically we don’t know that they’re mammalian, although they certainly seem to be and the likelihood is that here, too, they are little different from humans.

Game Attributes

The most obvious distinction between Ogrons and humans in terms of their statistics is that the former are much stronger. Given their builds and basic biology, it seems unlikely that their typical strength exceeds the human maximum, although some exceptional individuals clearly might. Nonetheless, even the average Ogron is clearly much stronger than the average human. There is some evidence that they are physically resilient, too – one would certainly expect them to have high endurance and they seem to be quite difficult to hurt. On the other hand, they are not inherently armoured, although they are usually seen wearing something that’s probably equivalent to leather armour. (Going from looks alone, it could also be some sort of Kevlar, but they don’t seem to be bullet-proof, so probably not).

It's also clear that Ogrons are relatively unintelligent. Nor do they seem especially strong-willed, given that they’re mostly seen working as grunts for the Daleks, implying a rather pliable mindset. Quite how stupid Ogrons are is difficult to say; they are clearly capable of using high-tech equipment provided to them by others, although this may require a fair bit of training. Even so, while it’s low, it’s probably not dramatically so, with the main limitation being their lack of native technology.

All the Ogrons we see are mercenaries (in a manner of speaking; it’s hard to imagine that the Daleks are actually paying them). They clearly have good combat skills, including with weapons beyond their native technology – after all, it doesn’t require tremendous smarts and understanding to point and fire a gun. They may have some other basic military skills, but otherwise they must be geared towards what’s essentially a tribal life on their home planet.


5E - Ogron

Medium humanoid, neutral

Armour Class: 11 (light armour)

Hit Points: 34 (4d8+16)

Speed: 30 ft.

STR 16 (+3)

DEX 10 (+0)

CON 18 (+4)

INT 8 (-1)

WIS 8 (-1)

CHA 8 (-1)

Saving Throws: Strength +5, Constitution +6

Skills: Athletics +5, Intimidation +1, Perception +1

Combat Skills: Ranged Attack +2, Melee Attack +5

Senses: Passive Perception 11

Challenge: ¼ (50 XP)


BRP - Ogron


STR 3D6+6 (16-17)

CON 3D6+9 (19-20)

SIZ 2D6+9 (16)

INT 2D6+3 (10)

POW 3D6 (10-11)

 

DEX 3D6 (10-11)

CHA 2D6 (7)

 

Hit Points: 18

Move: 10

 

Base SR: 4

Damage Bonus: +1D6

 

Armour: 1-point light armour

Skills: Throw 40%

Combat Skills: Brawl 70%, Energy Pistol 60%


GURPS - Ogron

ST 16

DX 10

IQ 8

HT 16

Thrust: 1d+1

 

Swing: 2d+2

 

Speed: 6.5

 

Move: 5

 

Advantages: Extra Hit Points +2, Fit

Disadvantages: Status -1 (mercenary)

Skills: Beam Weapons (energy pistol)/TL10-12, Brawling-14, Intimidation-10, Knife-11, Soldier-10, Survival (quarry-like planets)-12, Throwing-10


Savage Worlds - Ogron

Agility: d6

Smarts: d4

Spirit: d6

Strength: d10

Vigour: d12

 

Skills: Fighting d8, Shooting d8, Survival d6

Edges: Brawny, Brute

Pace: 6                  Parry: 6                Toughness: 10 (1)                   Size: 1


STA - Ogron

Control: 8

Fitness: 11

Presence: 8

Daring: 9

Insight: 7

Reason: 7

Command: 0

Security: 2

Science: 0

Conn: 0

Engineering: 0

Medicine: 0

Stress: 13

Resistance: 1

 


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