Spes Magna Games

Merry Third Day of Christmas!

This day, I shift from 5E D&D to Mutant Future, the game of mutants in the future.

Paindeer appear much like ordinary reindeer, but their large eyes show intelligence. It is common for paindeer to wear simple items of humanoid apparrel, such as caps or scarfs. They also make use of tools, including gizmos and medical equipment. The paindeer live in strictly regimented communities in which each family is typically led by the eldest married male. Clever and territorial, paindeer aggressively defend their domains. They honor physical strength, and much of their education system emphasizes various “paindeer games” that inculcate skills and attitudes useful for discipline and combat. About one in a hundred paindeer is born with an unusual mutation similar to optic emissions, but with the generated energy coming from the paindeer’s nose. Few of these rare paindeer survive to adulthood as the community exiles the mutant in early adolescence for a period of not less than several years. Those that survive and return are viewed with awe and afforded special status.

Paindeer

Number Encountered: 2-12 (40-80)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 240′ (80′), fly 120′ (40′)
Armor Class: 7
Hit Dice: 4
Attacks: 1 (butt, +4 to hit)
Damage: 1d8+1d6
Save: L4
Morale: 7
Hoard Class: XV
XP: 245

Mutations: Martial Affinity, Neural Telekinesis (120 lbs.), Psionic Flight

Tags: Christmas, monsters, Mutant Future

Among the many reasons I’m thankful for Canada, my national neighbor to the north, is the gleefully awful movie The Brain. The plot, such as it is, revolves around the evil machinations of Dr. Blakely (B-movie icon David Gale), the host of television’s Independent Thinkers, a pseudo-religious self-help program that serves as an alien brain’s platform for world domination. Fortunately for the people of Earth, high-school prankster Jim Majelewski (played by then 23-year-old Tom Bresnahan) can resist the Brain’s hypnotic powers. Unfortunately, resisting the Brain’s hypnotic powers causes bizarre hallucinations, which for prankster Jim often involve a topless nurse.

Brilliant!

Alien Brain

Number Encountered: 1
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 90′ (30′)
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 12+12
Attacks: 1 (tongue-tacle or bite)
Damage: 1d6 tongue-tacle or 4d4 bite
Save: L10
Morale: 8
Hoard Class: XIX
XP: 4,400

Mutations: Mental Phantasm (unique), Neural Telepathy, Possession (unique)

An alien brain has remarkable Intelligence and Willpower (20 and 18, respectively). In melee combat, it lashes out with its barbed tongue-tacle, which has a range of 15 feet. If the tentacle hits, it grabs the victim and draws him 10 feet per round toward the alien brain’s huge, tooth-filled mouth. There is a 2 in 6 chance to break free from the tongue-tacle, modified by Strength, and the attempt counts as an attack. The alien brain swallows its prey whole on a roll 4 higher than the needed number, or if the alien brain rolls a natural 20. It can swallow anything the size of a man or smaller. A swallowed victim suffers 2d8+2 hit points of damage per round inside the alien brain’s digestive tract. The damage stops if the alien brain is killed.

The alien brain’s most insidious attack is its unique possession mutation. If the alien brain’s psionic energies are broadcast and received via technology, the Brain can affect dozens (or even hundreds or more!) of intelligent creatures at once. It can broadcast a simple instruction to all affected creatures, or it can specifically take over one creature, as normal for the possession mutation. A creature who resists the alien brain’s mental control is automatically subjected to mental phantasms, the nature of which are drawn from the victim’s subconscious.

Tags: monsters, movies, Mutant Future

Just when you thought it was safe to adventure in the water again, here come two new monsters, one for Swords & Wizardry and the other for Mutant Future.

Carcharidaemon for Swords & Wizardy

The fearsome carcharidaemon prowls the watery depths as well as the coasts of hellish realms. It preys on lesser creatures not because it must eat to live but because it enjoys inflicting pain and causing death. A carcharidaemon is equally at home swimming in the water or crawling and hopping frog-like on land. Twenty feet long and immensely strong, few creatures dare challenge the might of the carcharidaemon.

Hit Dice: 20
Armor Class: 0 [19]
Attack (Damage): 1 bite (3d6), 2 tentacles (1d6), 2 claws (2d6)
Move: 15/24 swimming
Save: 3
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 30/7,400
Special: +1 or better weapons to hit, constriction, immunity to acid and poison, magic resistance (75%), spells, swallow whole, telepathy 100 ft.

A carcharidaemon swallows a person whole on any attack roll in which the die rolled is 4 or more over the required number, and always if the die roll is a 20. Swallowed victims suffer 1d6 points of damage each round from powerful digestive fluids. This monster’s tentacles extend to 20 feet. If a tentacle hits, it automatically constricts, claws, and gnaws for 2d6 points of damage per round (instead of the normal 1d6). There is a 50% chance that the tentacle also pinions one of its victims limbs. A carcharidaemon can always Detect Invisibility, and it can cast Dispel Magic up to thrice per day. Once per day, it may Raise Water (treat as the reverse of Lower Water).

Sharktopus for Mutant Future

A monstrous combination of giant octopus and great white shark, the sharktopus may have its origins in an ancient military lab. Released or escaped into the oceans, the sharktopus threatens both open water and coastal regions. This cunning beast attacks quickly, especially once it senses blood (which it can do to a range of 300 feet). When in its feeding frenzy, a sharktopus never checks morale. Its tentacles grow to lengths of 15 feet. On land, these tentacles are strong enough to act as legs, and the sharktopus can survive out of water for several minutes.

Number Encountered: 0 (1d3)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 90′ (30′), Swim 120′ (40′)
Armor Class: 5
Hit Dice: 15
Attacks: 9 (tentacles x8, bite)
Damage: 1d6 tentacle/2d8 bite
Save: L7
Morale: 7
Hoard Class: None
XP: 3,300

Mutations: Chameleon Epidermis, Echolocation

When swimming to attack, the sharktopus jets at three times its normal speed. Once in melee range, it sprays a 40-foot-radius cloud of black ink that obscures its prey’s vision. With a successful hit, a tentacle constricts a victim, automatically inflicting damage each successive round. The victim suffers a cumulative -1 attack penalty per tentacle constricting it. A hit with an edged weapon that inflicts at least 8 points of damage with a single blow severs a tentacle.

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In keeping with the theme of this post, I’ve put both versions of Sharks & Shallows on sale for a mere $0.50 for the rest of this month. The title link goes to the product description page. The discount link adds the PDF to your cart at the discounted price. In either case, Shallows & Sharks presents a half dozen predators to challenge your players.

Shallows & Sharks: Old School Fantasy Version and its discount link

Shallows & Sharks: Old School Mutant Apocalypse Version and its discount link

If you missed the two other posts with discounts, this post includes Aquatic Depths & Denizens at a discount whereas this other post includes That’s a Goblin!? and Terrors of the Toxic Waste at reduced prices.

Tags: monsters, Mutant Future, Swords & Wizardry

Let’s return to 1983’s Monster Manual II to find a creature suitable for translation to Swords & Wizardry and Mutant Future. For reasons that become thematically apparent, I’m searching for an aquatic monster. After some flipping out and checking ideas against the Swords and Wizardry SRD, I settle upon the Giant Catfish.

A huge catfish occasionally survives to grow even larger and become a giant of its kind. Catfish of all sorts inhabit fresh waters in warm-temperate to tropical climate regions. Giant catfish are found only in very large rivers or in lakes fed or emptied by them. They are principally bottom-feeding scavengers, although they are sufficiently aggressive to attack any creature recognized as “food” and of a size small enough to swallow. The largest giant catfish reaches a length of 24 feet (Monster Manual II 23).

For Swords & Wizardry

Hit Dice: 7-10
Armor Class: 7 [12]
Attack (Damage): 1 bite (3d4), 1d2 spines (2d4 + poison)
Move: 0/18 swimming
Save: 9, 8, 6, or 5
Alignment: Neutrality
Challenge Level/XP: 7 HD (9/1,100); 8 HD (10/1,400); 9 HD (11/1,700); 10 HD (12/2,000)
Special: Poison spines, swallow whole

When biting, a giant catfish swallows its prey whole on a natural roll of 18-20, assuming the prey is small enough. A 7-HD giant catfish can swallow a gnome or halfling whole. At 8 HD, a giant catfish can swallow whole a dwarf or elf. At 9 HD, the giant catfish can swallow whole a human, while a 10 HD giant catfish can swallow whole a creature as large as an ogre. In addition to its bite attack, a giant catfish has several stiff feelers around its mouth and gills. A giant catfish lashes its head about in combat, which lets it makes one or two spine attacks each round. A creature hit by a spine must make a saving throw to avoid suffering an additional 1d4 points of damage from the giant catfish’s painful venom.

For Mutant Future

Number Encountered: 1
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: Swim 180′ (60′)
Armor Class: 7
Hit Dice: 10
Attacks: 1 (bite) plus 1d2 (spines)
Damage: 3d4+4 plus 2d4+4, poison
Save: L5
Morale: 9
Hoard Class: None
XP: 3,100

Mutations: Gigantism, Toxic Weapon

When biting, a giant catfish swallows its prey whole on a natural roll of 18-20, so long as that prey is no larger than horse. A victim swallowed whole takes 1 point of damage per round from digestive fluids and has a 5% chance of suffocating each round. These hazards stop when the victim dies, the catfish is killed, or the victim escapes. A giant catfish lashes its head about in combat, which lets it makes one or two spine attacks each round. The giant catfish’s spines carry class 1 poison (save or take 1d6 points of damage).

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I’ve added Aquatic Depths & Denizens to the short list of Spes Magna OSR products that are on sale this month. If you click on this link, Aquatic Depths & Denizens shall be added to your DriveThruRPG cart for the discount price of 75 cents.

Aquatic Depths & Denizens dives into Old School aquatic environs, offering the Referee and the players several tools to help bring new worlds of excitement to life via guidelines for adventuring underwater, the addition of five aquatic races suitable for PCs, and many new spells and monsters to be cast or fought while submerged.

(N.B. The other two products on sale are That’s a Goblin!? and Terrors of the Toxic Waste, details to be found in this post.)

Tags: monsters, Mutant Future, Swords & Wizardry

I’m now heading further back in time to 1978’s Gamma World to find a new monster for conversion to both Swords & Wizardry and Mutant Future. Way back in the day, we played Gamma World quite a lot. For a time, it completely replaced AD&D as our game of choice. It remains one of my most favoritest RPGs. This post is not my first foray into Gamma World conversions. Click here for other such posts.

These oddly mutated plants have a horizontal trunk and movable branches, adapted to rapid locomotion. A large clump of roots, and keen visual and olfactory appendages at the base of its trunk vaguely resembles a shaggy horse’s head. It feeds on nutrimental matter, which its tendrils thrust into the trunk cavity where it is absorbed by thousands of tiny rootlets. The pineto takes on moisture much like an animal, by dipping its “head” (root clump) into a stream or pond. Pinetos can be domesticated for riding or work as a beast of burden (carrying up to 800kg on their backs). Control is by a sharp goad stick which is jammed into the pineto, just behind the root clump. (Gamma World 25).

For Swords & Wizardry

Hit Dice: 3
Armor Class: 4 [15]
Attack (Damage): 1 slam (1d6+2)
Move: 18
Save: 14
Alignment: Neutrality
Challenge Level/XP: 3/60
Special: Needles

A pineto is covered with short, sharp needles. It attacks by slamming these needles into its target. A target with an armor class of 7 [12] or better takes half damage from this attack. A rider without a saddle or other suitable protection takes 1 point of damage each round it rides the pineto.

For Mutant Future

Number Encountered: 1 (1d8)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 180′ (45′)
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 3
Attacks: 1 (slam)
Damage: 1d6+2
Save: L2
Morale: 7
Hoard Class: None
XP: 110

Mutations: Free Movement, Full Senses, Natural Armor (Plant), Vegetal Weapon (Needles)

A pineto is covered with short, sharp needles. It attacks by slamming these needles into its target. A target with an armor class of 7 or better takes half damage from this attack. A rider without a saddle or other suitable protection takes 1 point of damage each round it rides the pineto.

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In other news, if you’ve enjoyed my recent monster posts, you might enjoy these for-sale offerings available via DriveThruRPG. Both are on sale for July at half their normal price. For each PDF, the first link takes you to the product page and the second link applies the discount code to your cart for checkout.

That’s a Goblin!? (Discount Link)

Catch your players off guard with That’s a Goblin!?. This Old School supplement presents 23 goblin mutations, 15 fey goblin abilities, 3 goblin subspecies, and 6 goblin tactical specialties. Mix and match to create scores of different goblins! That’s a Goblin!? also includes Tributary of Terror, a mini-adventure taking place within Reyr’s Well, a detailed fantasy hamlet suitable for just about any campaign world.

Terrors of the Toxic Waste (Discount Link)

Terrors of the Toxic Waste presents 21 new mutant foes, hazards, and NPCs – from the psychotic killdren to the benevolent Yozuvchi of the Endless Tales – all ready to add more danger and excitement to your post-apocalyptic world.

Tags: monsters, Mutant Future, Swords & Wizardry