Spes Magna Games

The Erosians are human-like aliens who travel between worlds in saucer-shaped vehicles. At the core of Erosian beliefs lies a mysterious substance they call solaronite. Erosians believe that countless invisible, tiny particles compose light, especially sunlight, and that solaronite can cause these particles to explode. The result would be an unstoppable chain reaction capable of destroying entire kingdoms, maybe even entire worlds.

Since non-Erosian creatures — especially humans — are stupid and untrustworthy, the secrets of solaronite must be kept at any cost. Thus, the Erosians have developed reanimation rays specifically for the purpose of creating zombie armies to eradicate populations believed too close to uncovering the truth of solaronite.

In short, what follows is retooled from Plan 9 from Outer Space, the king of B-movies, for use with Dungeon Crawl Classics.

Erosian

Erosians are virtually indistinguisable from normal humans. They are highly intelligent, quixotic, and effete. Their society has a deep respect for bureaucratic decison making and bizarre, often elaborate plans of conquest. It is rare to encounter a single Erosian or Erosians in odd-numbered groups. They prefer to travel in male-female pairs, or in groups with equal numbers of males and females.

Init +1; Atk probe +1 melee (1d4 plus paralysis) or ray gun +2 ranged (2d6 or paralysis); AC 12; HD 1d8+1; MV 30′; Act 1d20; SP half damage from cold and fire; SV Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +3; AL L.

Erosians seldom engage in hand-to-hand combat or even resort to direct violence. Their loose-fitting, flouncy clothing provides a degree of protection from harm.

An Erosian probe is a combination melee weapon and exploratory medical instrument. It has a hilt with a flippable switch and a “blade” consisting of a flexible, curled wire. A creature struck by the probe suffers an electrical shock and must make a DC 12 Fortitude save or be paralyzed for a number of hours equal to the points of damage suffered from the attack.

A Erosian ray gun fires a concentrated bolt of electrical energy. The ray gun has two settings. One forces a DC 12 Fortitude save to avoid paralysis for 1d4 hours. The other inflicts serious wounds. A creature that is reduced to zero hit points by a single ray gun bolt glows brightly for a second or two and then crumbles to gray powder.

Reanimation Ray Gun

A group of Erosians will possess a single reanimation ray gun. This weapon fires an audible but invisible beam that affects a 60-foot long cone that is 30-feet wide at its terminus. Dead humanoids within the beam animate as Erosian zombies. If the reanimation ray gun is destroyed, any Erosian zombies animated by it crumble into a pile of bones. The ray gun also serves as an Erosian zombie control unit.

Erosian Zombie

Shambling and stiff-limbed, an Erosian zombie results from the effects of a reanimation ray gun on a humanoid corpse. If left uncontrolled, an Erosian zombie will wander about, bumping into things, and attempting to kill living creatures, especially creatures that are of the same type of humanoid the Erosian zombie was in life.

Init -3; Atk pummel +3 melee (1d5+2); AC 12; HD 2d8; MV 20′; Act 2d20; SP choke, infravision 60′, mindless; SV Fort +4, Ref +0, Will +0; AL N.

An Erosian zombie is slow but strong. It attacks with its bare hands. If it hits a creature with both hands in a single round, it locks its steely fingers around the creature’s throat and chokes for 1d5+2 points of damage each round thereafter (no attack roll necessary). Being mindless, Erosian zombies cannot be affected by magic that requires a living mind on which to work.

Tags: B-Movies, DCC, monsters

Almost five decades ago, Mom took me to the historic Plaza Theatre in El Paso, Texas, to see Creature from the Black Lagoon in glorious 3-D. Today, I offer a re-imagining of the famed Gill Man for Dungeon Crawl Classics.

Gill-Folk

These fearsome creatures live in not-so-distant swamps and tropical rainforests, venturing through submerged tunnels from hidden caves to hunt, fish, and abduct humanoids to offer to their horrid queen.

Init +0; Atk slap +4 melee (1d6+1 plus stun) or claws +4 melee (1d4+2 plus poison); AC 14; HD 2d8+2; MV 25′ or swim 40′; Act 2d20; SP camouflage, infravision 60′; SV Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +1; AL L.

Most gill-folk encountered are warrior-drones in the service of a queen. These man-sized creatures combine the features of humanoids, fish, and reptiles. They have large hands and feet with webbed, strong digits. Their fingers end with wicked claws. Gill-folk have lungs and gills, making them able to breathe both air and water. They grow increasingly uncomfortable as their scaly flesh dries out, however, making them prefer to remain at least partially submerged as much as possible. Gill-folk are adaptively colored for their usual environments, gaining a +4 bonus to hide attempts.

Gill-folk often attack with the intention of subduing humanoids, doing so with a powerful slap. Man-sized or smaller creatures slapped must make a Fort save (DC 8 + damage inflicted) or be stunned and helpless for 1d7 rounds. A gill-folk may quickly bind a stunned victim’s wrists and ankles with crude ropes to make the victim easier to drag back to the gill-folk’s queen. A gill-folk may also rake with its venomous claws (Delivery Wound, Fort 12, Successful Save no damage, Failed Save 1d4 temporary Stamina, Recovery normal healing).

A gill-folk queen seldom leaves her lair. The warrior-drones bring her food and victims. Victims are kept subdued and bound by guards until the queen has need of them.

Gill-Folk Queen: Init +2; Atk claws +8 melee (2d6+2 plus poison); AC 16; HD 6d8+12; MV 30′ or swim 50′; Act 2d20; SP camouflage, infravision 60′, mindlink; SV Fort +6, Ref +2, Will +6; AL L.

The queen towers over the tallest human and has considerable bulk along with the strength needed to move her mass quickly. Her powerful arms are disproportionately long. A frill of blood-red, bony plates adorns her frog-like head and extends down her neck and spine. The queen’s venom is deadly (Fort save DC 15), causing immediate unconscious followed by death in 1d4 rounds with a failed saving throw. After death by this venom, 1d4+6 eggs begin to grow in the corpse, hatching in 1d3+3 days. The gill-man tadpoles devour the host corpse and rapidly grown to adulthood.

Tags: B-Movies, DCC, monsters

For the second time, I draw on 1958’s wonderful Fiend Without a Face, which was based on “The Thought Monster“, a short story by Amelia Reynolds Long published in Weird Tales in the March 1930.

Faceless Fiend

In some bygone age, a monomaniacal wizard sought to give thought physical form to create servants to assist in magical experimentations. After tapping into primal energies, the wizard succeeded in part, creating a cunning, corporeal creature from incorporeal thought, but the entity proved too strong-willed to serve its creator. It killed the wizard and escaped into the wild.

Init +4; Atk tail +3 melee (1d4 + constrict); AC 12; HD 1d8+1; MV 40′ or climb 20′; SP brain burrow, constriction 1d4, invisibility; Act 1d20; SV Fort +1, Ref +3, Will +3; AL C.

In its normal state, a faceless fiend is invisible. When visible, a faceless fiend resembles a melon-sized brain. From its frontal lobe grow two snail-like eyestalks which provide almost a 360-degree field of vision. From its occipital lobe grows a tail composed of a spine-like series of bony structures by which the creatures crawls, climbs, and hops. Beneath the base of its tail extend whip-like strands of prehensile muscle.

Coupled with its small size and speed, targeted attacks against an invisible faceless fiend miss automatically half the time, assuming the attacker has managed to determine the fiend’s location. Fortunately, a faceless fiend is not particularly stealthy. Its soft, moist body squelches when it moves, and it often emits involuntary trilling or thudding noises. A PC can make an Intelligence or Luck check as an action to locate an invisible faceless fiend.

This monster’s attack while invisible is made with a +2 bonus. Immediately after a faceless fiend attacks, it becomes visible until the end of its next turn. With a successful attack, the faceless fiend wraps its tail about its victim’s throat and constricts for an automatic 1d4 points of damage.

At the same time, its strands of prehensile muscle burrow toward the victim’s brain. Each round, the victim makes a DC 11 Fortitude save; failure results in unconsciousness for 2d5 minutes. The next round, the faceless fiend extracts the victim’s brain and spinal column, causing immediate death. The extracted brain and spinal column transform into a new faceless fiend in 1d3 rounds.

Tags: B-Movies, DCC, monsters

Inspired by Larry Buchanan’s awful The Eye Creatures, which was a rip off of the less-than-good Invasion of the Saucer Men, which was inspired by Paul W. Fairman’s short story “The Cosmic Frame”, today for Old-School Essentials I present a grade-B alien menace.

Hailing from some distant space void or strange dimension, the bizarre eye creatures travel in saucer-shaped flying vehicles of unfathomable construction and operation. Highly intelligent and dispassionate, these alien beings view other forms of life as inferior and suitable for a wide range of horrifying experiments. Bright light is fatal to them.

Eye Creature

AC 7 [12], HD 2+2 (11 hp), Att 2 x claws (1d4) or 1 x ray gun (2d6), THAC0 17 [+2], MV 120′ (40′), SV D12 W13 P14 B15 S16 (2), ML 7, AL Chaotic, XP 500, NA 2d4 (1d4), TT V

▶ Detachable Hands: Hands detach (even after death). Hands move at half speed, have 3 hp each, and make melee attacks.
▶ Infravision: 120′.
▶ Light Vulnerability: Take 2d10 damage from contact with bright light. Save versus breath weapon halves the damage.
▶ Ray Gun: Requires two hands. Fires a bolt of electricity. 120′ range with no range modifiers. Battery is good for 6 shots.

Tags: B-Movies, monsters, movies, OSE

Recent posts elsewhere on the interwebz about revisualizing the kobold both charmed me and also got me thinking about retooling kobolds to be closer to the ways they’re depicted in their mythological origins. Thus, here are kobold reimagined as spirit creatures capable of taking corporeal form.

Common Traits

Kobolds live most of their lives as invisible, intangible spirits. Kobolds tend toward capriciousness, but they are generally well-meaning so long if treated with respect and appeased by regular gifts. They are natural shape-changers. To detect invisible, a kobold in spirit form appears as a halfling-sized, humanoid shape, and it cannot be harmed except by magical weapons.

A kobold must manifest to attack. A kobold cannot attack the same round it changes form. There are three known types of kobold: aquatic, domestic, and mining. Regardless of type, all kobolds can manifest as fire. In this form, a kobold cannot be harmed by nonmagical weapons, and it takes double damage from water. All kobolds have Darkvision with a range of 60′ (or 90′ for mining kobolds). They speak their own language as well as Common.

XP Value: 16

Kobold in Fire Form: AC 13; HD 1d4 Hit Points**; #AT 1; D 1d4 (+1d4 against creatures which are cold or icy in nature); MV 30′, fly 20′; #APP 1d4 (1d12+3 Wild, 1d12+3 Lair); SV Normal Man; MOR 8; TT P and Q each, C in lair.

Aquatic Kobold

These kobolds live in coastal regions and on ships. They help sailors and fishermen, and they are expert carpenters. In spirit form, they move through water, coral, and sand as easily as humans move through air. They can polymorph self into any sort of coastal bird, fish, or crustacean. They can also assume a humanoid shape, roughly halfling sized with noticeable piscatory features such as gills, small fins, et cetera. Once per day, an angry aquatic kobold can become visible to a single creature with no more than 7 Hit Dice; this creature must make a saving throw versus Death Ray or die instantly.

Aquatic Kobold: AC 13; HD 1d4 Hit Points**; #AT 1; D 1d4 or by weapon; MV 20′, Swim 30′; #APP 1d4 (1d12+3 Wild, 1d12+3 Lair); SV Normal Man; MOR 8; TT P and Q each, C in lair.

Domestic Kobold

These kobolds live in homes or on farms. They help the residents with domestic chores. In spirit form, they move through wood and stone as easily as humans move through air. They can polymorph self into any sort of domestic animal. They can also assume a humanoid shape, roughly halfling sized and resembling a pudgy child with a short tail. Once per day, a domestic kobold can cause disease.

Domestic Kobold: AC 13; HD 1d4 Hit Points**; #AT 1; D 1d4 or by weapon; MV 30′; #APP 1d4 (1d12+3 Wild, 1d12+3 Lair); SV Normal Man; MOR 8; TT P and Q each, C in lair.

Mining Kobold

These kobolds live underground in or near mines. They help the miners find valuable ore and avoid subterranean dangers. They are expert miners (equal to dwarves) as well as skilled metalworkers. In spirit form, they move through earth and stone as easily as humans move through air. Unlike other kobolds, they cannot polymorph self in animal forms. In humanoid form, they appear much a like a gaunt dwarf or gnome with luminous eyes. They can use ventriloquism at will, phantasmal force twice per day, and wall of stone once per week.

Mining Kobold: AC 13; HD 1d4 Hit Points**; #AT 1; D 1d4 or by weapon; MV 20′, Climb 20′; #APP 1d4 (1d12+3 Wild, 1d12+3 Lair); SV Normal Man; MOR 8; TT P and Q each, C in lair.

Tags: Basic Fantasy RPG, monsters