Spes Magna Games

epileptic: (adj.) of, relating to, or having epilepsy

Nota Bene: Today’s mutant creature is designed for TSR’s 1st edition of Gamma World, the greatest post-apoc RPG of all time. The panyar was made with the help of my scuffed and marked 1981 gamebook. Enjoy!

Panyar
No. Appearing: 5-40 (plus females equal to males and young equal to 50% of females in a burrow)
Armor Class: 6
Movement: 12
Hit Dice: 4

Panyars (also called quake rats) are sentient (intelligence 12-15, mental strength 10-13) and peaceful mutated naked mole rats. They live in elaborate burrows connected by twisting passages best suited for four-legged creatures. An adult panyar is about 2 meters long and half as tall. Wrinkles and blotches distort the panyar’s brownish-pink, nearly hairless flesh. A panyar has squat legs, a stunted tail, and a flat, almost shovel-like head with two tiny, nearly sightless eyes. Despite their fearsome appearance, a panyar’s teeth are seldom used for anything more than chewing roots and bugs. (If hard-pressed, a panyar can bite for 2d6 points of damage.)

Panyars require only about one-fourth as much oxygen as other mammals, making them well-adapted to life in their burrows, which tend to have high concentrations of carbon dioxide due to poor ventilation. These mutants have diminished eyesight, but also have heightened hearing and heightened smell. Consequently, panyars are nearly impossible to surprise. Once every four melee turns, a panyar can generate a burst of high-frequency sound waves that damage exposed tissues within 10 meters of the panyar, inflicted 3d6 points of damage. Panyars are immune sonic attacks.

Fully 85% of panyars suffer from stress-induced epilepsy. An epileptic panyar has a 25% chance immediately preceding any combat situation of having a paralyzing seizure that lasts for 1d6+4 melee turns. During an epileptic seizure, a panyar’s sonic attack ability intensifies, creating a 10-meter radius burst of intense sound waves that inflict 6d6 points of damage every melee turn. These sound waves are so powerful that they can crack stone and cause underground tunnels to collapse.

Panyar burrows are protected by non-epileptic leaders. A panyar leader has 1d4-1 additional beneficial mutations, divided as evenly as possible between physical and mental mutations.

Tags: A to Z 2014, Gamma World, monsters

brood: (adj.) kept for breeding

A fumgaji (plural, wafumgaji) haunts the outskirts of civilization, lurking in shadowy places, emerging at night to hunt and breed. Wafumgaji practice a horrible form of brood parasitism in which a pregnant female fumgaji sneaks into the home of a sleeping, pregnant humanoid and magically swaps its gestating offspring for the humanoid’s unborn child.

The humanoid victim likely remains unaware of this monstrous switch for weeks, as pregnancy with a gestating fumgaji almost totally resembles a normal pregnancy. Eventually, the unborn fumgaji’s wicked intelligence awakens, and it starts to communicate with its host via telepathy (while she is awake) and vivid dreams (while she sleeps). During this time, the host usually grows increasingly insane. By the time she is ready to give birth to the fumgaji, the host has fallen completely under the monster’s psychic domination, and she will do whatever she must do to protect her “child” until it can return to its true family.

The stolen, unborn humanoid continues to develop within the fumgaji’s womb, and, barring unforeseen circumstances, he or she will be born. At that time, the newborn’s nightmare existence as a “domesticated pet” begins. Raised to amuse and serve evil masters, the child almost certainly grows to become evil as well due to years of physical and mental torture too horrible to speak of.

At first glance in dim light, a fumgaji might appear human, but a second glance likely reveals the truth. Wafumgaji have sickly, pale gray flesh. Anger, hatred, and disgust twist their facial features, sliding uncontrollably from one bestial expression to another. Razor sharp fangs fill their mouths, barely concealed by ragged, blood-red lips.

Wafumgaji attack with these fangs, preferably by surprise. All wafumgaji are telepathic; they have no spoken language (although they are capable of terrifying vocalizations). If a fumgaji does nothing else for the round, it can telepathically assault its victim. A saving throw is permitted against this psychic attack, modified by the fumgaji’s age (+2 for toddlers, +1 for children, +0 for adolescents, and -1 for adults). A failed saving throw causes the affected victim to be confused (as the spell) until the end of its next turn.

Fumgaji
Hit Dice: 1 (toddler), 2 (child), 3 (adolescent), 4 (adult)
Armor Class: 9 [10] (toddler), 7 [12] (child), 5 [14] (adolescent), 3 [16] (adult)
Attack: 1 bite (1d3, toddler); (1d4, child); (1d6, adolescent); (1d8, adult)
Special: surprise opponents on a 1-3 (1-4 for toddlers), telepathy
Move: 6 (toddler), 9 (child), 12 (adolescent), 15 (adult)
Saving Throw: 17 (toddler), 16 (child), 14 (adolescent), 13 (adult)
Alignment: Chaos
Number Encountered: 1d3 toddlers and/or children, 1d4 adolescents, 1d6+1 adults, plus a number of enslaved humanoids of various ages equal to one-half the number of non-adults present
Challenge Level/XP: 2/30 (toddler), 3/60 (child), 4/120 (adolescent), 5/240 (adult)

Tags: A to Z 2014, monsters, Swords & Wizardry

Yuan of the Five Venom Fist serves as governor of Tsinghai Province, the remoteness of which grants Yuan greater autonomy than enjoyed by governors closer to the Imperial City. Terror and brutality characterize his rule, but taxes flow to the capital on time, which is the Jade Emperor’s primary concern. Yuan has mastered the Five Venom Fist, an evil martial art that uses dark chi further corrupted by deliberate exposure to the stings of scorpions. Yuan has also had dark gold armor stitched into his very flesh, granting him remarkable resistance to injury.

Dark Gold Armor: In addition to augmenting his Armor Class, Yuan’s dark gold armor enables him to completely avoid damage from any single weapon attack or magic missile spell once per round by making a saving throw. If his dark gold armor is somehow negated or removed, Yuan’s Armor Class drops to 1 [18].

Five Venom Fist: Any hand strike made by Yuan can be empowered by dark chi. A Five Venom Fist strike inflicts only 1d8+4 points of damage, but the target must make a saving throw. Failure means dark chi enters his body, causing terrible lesions and pain that inflicts 1d4+2 points of damage for 2d4 rounds.

Thieving Skills: Climb Walls 94%, Delicate Tasks 70%, Hear Sounds 5 in 6, Hide in Shadows 75%, Move Silently 80%, Open Locks 75%

For Swords & Wizardry:

Yuan of the Five Venom Fist
Hit Dice: 10
Armor Class: -3 [22]
Attacks: 2 weaponless attacks (2d8+4), or by weapon (+4 damage)
Saving Throw: 5
Special: dark gold armor, five venom fist, immune to mental control and mind reading, immune to poison, slow falling 40 ft., surprised on a 1 in 6, thieving skills
Move: 21
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 15/2,900

Tags: monsters, NPCs, Swords & Wizardry

Welcome to Rantz’s Fair Multitude! This Old-School game supplement offers 30 pages of ideas to challenge and reward your players. Among the multitude, you’ll find the following:

* Nine new magic items, including Demon Cymbals and Nails of Prynn
* More than 25 new monsters (with plot hooks), including the book golem, hungry ghosts, and the Seekers of the Eternal Flame
* Six special places you can drop into your campaign, including the Bridge of the Damned and Stadgaar Manor
* Eight new spells, including Arcasparv’s Doomful Gullet and Valfoxell’s Adventitious Pretense
* Brief descriptions for a 12 deity pantheon, including Cro, the God of Truth, Chaos, and Opposites

Rantz’s Fair Multitude can be purchased for $1.50 at DriveThruRPG with special discount.

Tags: monsters, place of power, spells, Spes Magna Products, Swords & Wizardry

When Andrej Cherno married outcast harridan Vilma, the newlyweds dedicated themselves to Seskoe*, the goddess of winter, witches, and creation. Andrej and Vilma have three daughters: Mária, the eldest; Anastázia, the middle girl; and Dorota, the toddler. All members of the Cherno family thrive on murder and terror. Andrej and Vilma plan atrocities as creative undertakings designed to both honor Seskoe and encourage the twisted development of their wicked daughters.

In order to protect their identities, the Chernos wear bizarre disguises when on their family outings. These outings include such foul deeds as arson, murder, abductions, and acts of terrorism. Andrej and Vilma are careful to ensure that their daughters all have a chance to contribute to the family’s activities.

Seskoe has granted special powers to the Chernos as rewards for their service:

• Andrej’s melee attacks are vampiric, inflicting an additional 1d4 points of damage. Andrej gains one-half of this additional damage as hit points, healing his injuries and even permitting him to increase his hit points beyond their normal amount (up to a maximum of 44 hit points). Andrej’s bonus hit points fade at a rate of 1d4 points every turn.

• Vilma can use Charm Person, Darkness 15-Foot Radius, Invisibility, Polymorph Self, Sleep, and Suggestion once per day each. Also once per day, she can summon an 8-HD ice elemental.

Ice Elemental: HD 8; AC 3 [16]; Atk 1 strike (2d8 plus Slow); Move 9; Save 8; AL N; CL/XP 9/1100; Special: immune to cold and non-magic weapons.

• Mária can transform herself into a cloud of chilly mist. In this form, she can fly, albeit slowly (speed 3), as well as flow through small spaces.

• Anastázia’s gaze paralyzes those who meet it. Her own family members are immune to Anastázia’s gaze.

• Dorota can backstab for double damage like a thief. She hides in shadows and move silently with a 75% chance of success.

*Seskoe turns water to ice, rain to snow, and sorrow to callousness. She is served by witches who seek to swallow life’s warmth. At the same time, Seskoe represents creation, but devoid of the light of inspiration. She creates without originality or love for her creations.

For Swords & Wizardry:

Andrej
Hit Dice: 5+4 (26 hit points)
Armor Class: 4 [15]
Attacks: 1 weapon (1d6 plus 1d4 vampirism)
Saving Throw: 12
Special: Vampirism
Move: 12
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 6/400

Vilma
Hit Dice: 5+4 (22 hit points)
Armor Class: 4 [15]
Attacks: 1 weapon (1d8)
Saving Throw: 12
Special: Magic use, regenerate 1 hp/round
Move: 12
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 7/600

Mária
Hit Dice: 4+3 (20 hit points)
Armor Class: 5 [14]
Attacks: 1 weapon (1d6)
Saving Throw: 13
Special: Gaseous form
Move: 12
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 5/240

Anastázia
Hit Dice: 3+2 (16 hit points)
Armor Class: 6 [13]
Attacks: 1 weapon (1d6)
Saving Throw: 14
Special: Freezing gaze
Move: 12
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 4/120

Dorota
Hit Dice: 2+1 (10 hit points)
Armor Class: 7 [12]
Attacks: 1 weapon (1d4)
Saving Throw: 16
Special: Backstab x2, stealth
Move: 12
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 3/60

Tags: horror, monsters, Swords & Wizardry