Spes Magna Games

Yesterday, I watched Monster From a Prehistoric Planet via Amazon Prime. This one is boilerplate giant monster movie, complete with two distraught parent monsters on a destructive quest to retrieve their stolen offspring. The dubbing is pretty bad. The movie is preachy, maudlin, and sexist. Of course, the various toys and firecrackers deployed against the gappa fail to do anything other than make noise, smoke, and start fires. In other words, the movie is silly fun that took me back to the days of UHF and Saturday creature feature movies.

When writing up the gappa for Mutant Future, the scale of the monster presents some challenges. Most weapons are useless against the gappa. These beasts are more like natural disasters. To help me with the stats, I pulled my AD&D Oriental Adventures off the shelf to re-read the Gargantua monster entries.

Gappa
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120′ (40′), Fly: 480′ (160′), Swim: 180′ (60′)
Armor Class: 2
Hit Dice: 25
Attacks: 2 (stomp/stomp) or 3 (claw/claw/bite)
Damage: 5d10/5d10 or 3d10/3d10/6d10
Save: L25
Morale: 11
Hoard Class: None
XP: 10,000

Mutations: None.

The gappa appears as an enormous bipedal creature combining the features of reptiles and birds with a distinctive humanoid body shape. It can hold its breath for hours. An adult gappa stands nearly 100 feet tall and weighs in excess of 125 tons. Its thick hide is nearly impervious to harm. Primitive firearms, primitive melee weapons, and advanced melee weapons cannot damage the gappa. Other advanced personal weapons (pistols, rifles, and grenades) inflict one-half minimum damage (drop fractions). For example, a plasma rifle inflicts but 4 points of damage to a gappa with a successful attack. Nothing as weak as a stun baton or stun pistol could ever stun a gappa. A plasma grenade inflicts 6d6 points of damage to a gappa, and bombs and missiles inflict one-half normal damage. If wounded, a gappa regenerates 10 hit points per round.

Against targets on the ground, the gappa attacks by stomping its enormous feet. Each stomp affects a 15-foot radius, but the two radii cannot be more than 50 feet apart. Make a melee attack against each creature in the area. Success inflicts 5d10 points of damage; a failed attack inflicts half damage. Instead of stomping, the gappa may sweep its tail, affecting a 90-foot wide, 90-foot long cone. Each creature in the path of the tail must make a death save or suffer 8d10 points of damage. Against airborne or suitably large creatures, the gappa attacks with its claws and beak-like maw.

Each round of combat, there is a 1 in 6 chance that the gappa forgoes all melee attacks in favor of its fiery breath weapon that affects a 10-foot wide path along a 200-foot length. Against targets on the ground, this path need not be a straight line, but may sweep an area, making one 45-degree change of direction every 40 feet. The gappa’s breath inflicts 100 points of damage to everything caught in its path. Living creatures must also make a save versus radiation or suffer the effects of class 10 radiation. The gappa is immune to fire and radiation.

Tags: monsters, Mutant Future

Well, it’s been a week and a half since I resigned from my teaching position. In that time, I’ve not had a single migraine, which is a great improvement from the almost daily pain. My blood pressure has also improved, and the tinnitus in my right ear is all but gone. My tutoring services have born fruit. I tutor an hour every day Monday through Friday, I’ve had another contact, and I have a meeting Friday with director of a home-schooling co-op about offering my expertise to families during the summer.

Best of all, I’m able to do stuff at home other than get home late and then fall asleep by 2000. For example, all by 0930, I dropped my son Christopher off at university, went to the grocery store, and played my wife Katrina in Words With Friends. Later today? I’m going to get some writing done.

Earlier this week, I watched Killer Mermaid via Amazon Prime. It’s kind of fun, mashing together a serial killer, a monster, and some beautiful locations. Of course, this also means I have to stat up the killer mermaid, once again using Mutant Future.

Killer Mermaid
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 30′ (10′); Swim: 120′ (40′)
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 4
Attacks: 3 (claw/claw/bite) or 1 (tail)
Damage: 1d4/1d4/1d6 or 4d4
Save: L4
Morale: 8
Hoard Class: VI
XP: 300

Mutations: Echolocation, Increased Smell, Metamorph, Siren Song

Killer mermaids are Mutant Human females adapted to life underwater, but capable of breathing air as well. Killer mermaids have two forms: a monstrous one (shown in the picture above), and a secondary form in which they appear as beautiful women with the tails of fish. In this latter form, killer mermaids can only attack with their tails, which inflict 1d6 points of damage due to the lack of barbs and spikes. It takes a killer mermaid two full rounds of inactivity to change form. In either form, killer mermaids gather information about their surroundings via natural sonar to a range of 90 feet. Due to their sonar, killer mermaids receive a +2 to hit in combat. Killer mermaids also have an exceptional sense of smell, able to pick out and identify scents out to 180 feet. Creatures downwind or downstream can never surprise a killer mermaids.

In their beautiful woman form, killer mermaids may emit a hypnotic, ethereal song that affects a designated Mutant Human and Pure Human male within 180 feet. Roll 2d6+7 to determine a killer mermaid’s WIL. The killer mermaid makes a mental test against its target. Success renders the target incapable of violent action and with an irresistible desire to to embrace the killer mermaid. The effects last only until the start of the killer mermaid’s next turn, but the killer mermaid may re-target the victim each round it remains within range.

Killer mermaids speak their own language.

Tags: monsters, Mutant Future

A week ago, I resigned from my teaching position. Starting tomorrow, I go from unemployed to semi-employed. I’ve started offering my services as a private tutor. You can read about me here.

Also, during my abundant spare time last week, I released Narvon’s Sinister Stair and The Bishop’s Secret, two short adventures for Swords & Wizardry and Swords & Wizardry: WhiteBox, respectively.

I also watched The Creeping Terror, one of the worst movies ever made, which explains what follows for use with Mutant Future.

Nearly 20 feet long, covered in both fur and some sort of chitin, multiple eyestalks bobbing about as it shuffled forward, emitting the most terrible noises, the creeping terror advanced through the hail of bullets and arrows, seemingly unconcerned about the damage it suffered.

Creeping Terror
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 60′ (20′)
Armor Class: 5
Hit Dice: 10
Attacks: 1 (bite)
Damage: 3d8
Save: L5
Morale: 10
Hoard Class: None
XP: 2,400

Mutations: Alien Physiogomy, Digestive Analysis, Sonic Paralysis

Some alien civilization engineered creeping terrors as a means of testing the native fauna of distant worlds, perhaps to see if those worlds would be suitable for colonization. Due to their extraterrestrial origin and Alien Physiogomy, creeping terrors can withstand incredible punishment. They take half damage from physical attacks, and they are immune to poison and radiation. Creeping terrors move slowly, dragging themselves forward with two blunt feet and undulating their lengthy torsos in a series of motile contractions.

When they sense prey, creeping terrors emit a cacophony of shrieks and howls. Living creatures within 30 yards of the creeping terror must attempt a Stun Attacks saving throw. Failure induces sonic paralysis for 2d4 turns. Affected creatures stand motionless, perhaps screaming and gaping in fear, but otherwise unable to act. Creeping terrors attack with a powerful bite. On an attack roll of 19 or 20, the target is swallowed whole, and takes 3d8 points of damage per turn from the creeping terrors powerful digestive enzymes (see page 58, Mutant Future, for more details about paralysis and swallow attacks).

Within the digestive tract, creeping terrors have a variety of alien technological artifacts that analyze creatures swallowed whole. Powerful transmitters send collected data into space, presumably to be collated and studied by whatever alien creatures create creeping terrors.

Tags: monsters, Mutant Future, Spes Magna Products

I took 12 isometric dungeon maps that I’ve drawn and put them together as Map Collection I, which is now available at DriveThruRPG at the cost of 10 cents a map.

And now, a new monster for Swords & Wizardry!

Kobold spiders worship various horrifying demons that invariably take forms resembling monstrous arachnids. Rumor has it that Buibui, their chief deity, is a terrifying spider king that rules a hell full of twisting passages, vast webs, and shriveled corpses that scream constantly.

Kobold Spider
Armor Class: 7 [12]
Hit Dice: 1/2
Attacks: Claws/fangs (1d4) or weapon -1
Special: Arachnophilia, climbing
Move: 6
Save: 19
HDE/XP: 1/15

Kobold spiders, strange creatures that start their lives as evil dog-like men with hairless, scaly rust-brown skin. As mentioned above, they worship various horrifying demons that invariably take forms resembling monstrous arachnids. Rumor has it that Buibui, their chief deity, is a terrifying spider king that rules a hell full of twisting passages, vast webs, and shriveled corpses that scream constantly.

Kobold spiders that survive into adulthood often slowly mutate, taking on arachnid characteristics and becoming more powerful. For every 10 kobold spiders in an encounter, roll 1d3 times on Table: Early Kobold Spider Mutations to create an elite monster. A lair with 30 or more kobold spiders will be ruled by a chieftain. Roll 1d4 times on Table: Early Kobold Spider Mutations and once on Table: Chieftain Kobold Spider Mutations. Adjust HDE/XP of elite and chieftain kobold spiders appropriately.

Kobold spiders always have an affinity for arachnids. Such monsters never attack kobold spiders unless controlled. Otherwise, the monsters either ignore kobold spiders or attempt to flee. Kobold spiders cannot control arachnids, but they often live in close proximity to monstrous spiders. Kobold spiders are expert climbs, able to scurry up sheer surfaces and even across ceilings at normal speed.

Spider Swarm
Armor Class: 7 [12]
Hit Dice: 1-4
Attacks: Swarm (see below)
Special: Swarm (see below)
Move: 3
Save: 18 (1 HD); 17 (2 HD); 16 (3 HD), 15 (4 HD)
HDE/XP: 2/30 (1 HD); 3/60 (2 HD); 4/120 (3 HD), 5/240 (4 HD)

A spider swarm covers a number of 5×5-foot squares equal its Hit Dice. They do not make attack rolls. Any creature within the swarm automatically suffers 1d3-1 points of damage if armored, or 1d6-1 points of damage if unarmored. Once a victim has moved out of the area of a swarm, the victim continues to suffer damage for 1d3 rounds. If a victim wards off the spiders, he or she takes half damage (round down). A creature may ward off a swarm with swinging a weapon or similar object around, but most weapons cannot harm a swarm. A torch inflicts 1d6 points of damage on a swarm with a successful attack. A swarm is considered to be a single creature for the purposes of spell effects (such as Sleep).

Tags: monsters, Swords & Wizardry

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned Dangerous Monsters for 5E over on Patreon. Dangerous Monsters 3 is on track for release by Easter. Here’s a preview. Here’s another preview.

Did you know that most of what I write for Spes Magna Games gets published on this site and then that’s it? In many cases, this is because I’m writing monsters or villains for game systems for which one cannot publish. For example, check these posts related to AD&D.

If you’ve ever thought that it’d be nice to help support this site, please notice the addition of a tip jar in the sidebar to the left. One may choose to drop $1, $5, or $10 into the tip jar. PayPal processes the payments, which then helps me do things like buy groceries, pay for Internet access, et cetera.

And now for more fun with The Black Hack.

The hamlet of Blato has seen better times. Few residents remain. Most have abandoned their homes. With one exception, ruin has visited the surrounding farms, and the one remaining farm family fights a losing battle against the creeping blight that has devastated crops and livestock.

Blato’s end started when Eadgar Iarna, proprietor of the Brass Knave, decided to expand his basements. Workers broke through a layer of rock and plunged into flood caverns. The shift in pressure altered water levels, and ruined the hamlet’s well water. A few days later, the worms arrived, burrowing up through poorer residents’ hard-packed dirt floors in the dark of night. Nearly a dozen residents died screaming that night.

Between the contaminated well water, the deadly worms, and the altered water levels turning the streets and much of the immediate countryside into a sodden mess, the first typhus outbreak did not come as a surprise. Today, Blato is almost a ghost town. Eadgar remains, trying to eke out a living even as the Brass Knave slowly sinks into the muck. One farm family struggles to bring in a crop. A handful of others stubbornly refuse to leave. One of those who remains is a thief and possibly a murderer as well.

Giant Burrowing Worm
A thick as a man’s arm and twice as long, its smooth skin glistens with slime, its wedge-shaped head cracks open to reveal a jagged beak.

Hit Dice: 1
Damage: 1d4 (2)
Special: This horrid worm burrows through earth. It moves somewhere Close as part of an action at any stage of the move, or it can forgo its action and burrow somewhere Nearby. Its venomous bite forces a CON test to avoid paralysis. Make a new CON test at the end of each of your turns to recover.

Tags: monsters, places of power, The Black Hack