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Scary Monsters
Vote here for your favourite pen and paper dungeon crawl monsters! If yours isnt included in the list, make sure to add a reply to this topic
Im sure y`all will think this is nuts but itll make me chuckle hohoho |
Re: Scary Monsters
Unfortunatly, I've never had the pleasure of playing a real pen and paper game, but I have played and GMed a few 'free form' (make up your own rules) RPGs over the internet. In one game I GMed, I had a lot of fun with a room full of "living sand" that likes to clog your nostrils and choke you to death. Each grain of sand was an individual creature, so weapons were pretty much useless against it.
Solar |
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Freeform games are more fun in my opinion but the old skool games are fun too
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My favorite, by a narrow margin, is the owlbear.
Coming in a close second is the bulette (aka "landshark"). I've even got a pLastic figure for one from my AD&D 1/e days. |
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I always enjoyed the lower-level play in AD&D and the like, where every monster you encountered was a challenge and each choice of spell, weapon, or what-have-you really meant something. I think quite a few games loose something when you get to the higher levels.
Because of that, some of my favorite monsters are the lower level ones - the same kind that just become quick grease-stains later on. I remember a particularly memorable adventure where our freshly-minted characters had been sent to clean out an abandoned tower that was now a breeding ground for stirges (am I remembering the name right? The big mosquito-bird combo thingees that'd attach to you and drain away until dealt with . . . ) We battled the aforementioned nasties, plus the cheerfully insane cleric who was breeding them, and feeding captured villagers to them, thinking he could train them into a loyal force. In the end, we tossed him into a room with a bag full of his "pets" and spiked the door shut. Heh-heh! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif |
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Just been reminded of another great AD+D Old skool monster:
Stirges Bird creatures with a long pointed nose they use to drink your blood. My first ever expierence in a random monster encounter was with a D3 stirges! Oh, it brings a tear to the eye |
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BTW, they taste just like chicken! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
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Yeh! Does anyone have a nice stirge recipe???
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I find the secret is make sure they are properly tenderized. As such, I like to apply 2000 pounds of force per square inch to the stirge meat before slicing, battering, frying, and serving them up with a choice of dipping sauces.
I called the receipe <koff> "Press-Ton Stirges" . . . <dodge> |
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He he!
I'd been trying to think of a good "stirge" joke but that was magnificent Magnificent? Magnificent 7 was directon by... John Sturgess! he he! |
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Oooo, good one! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
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AH yes, nothing quite beats a few "stirge" jokes does it?
Werent Owlbears special eh? Couldnt cook one mind u |
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Nope, can't cook an Owlbear. After all, what kind of wine would serve with it? Red or white?!?
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I'd personally serve Owlbear fricase with White. But its down to individual taste I think,
or u could ask the Owlbear what it thought? On a simillar note, my all time fave AD+D illustration was for the Spell "Otto's irresistable Dance" which as it sounds, causes monsters to dance. It had a picture of a very suprised looking Umber Hulk dancing. That sure amused me |
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Would an owlbear taste like owl, or bear? Or like chicken?
Solar |
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he he
thats right folks come on in to the most sensible Shrapnel discussion yet anyone got a good recipe for a Carrion Crawler? thought not How about raspberry flavoured Gelatinous cubes? |
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I wonder how you eat a Piercer corpse... you can do it in Nethack http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif
(BTW, anyone know where I can find the joke article "Ecology of the Piercer"???) |
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Gelatinous cubes? That's easy, all you need is a spoon and some whipped cream.
Solar |
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Gelatnious cubes can be flavoured, whipped cream is optional
Piercer? dont know them, do tell! As far as I remember in Nethack you can even eat your Pet dog who comes with you. I doubt its very good for you though |
Re: Scary Monsters
An owlbear; looks like a bear, sounds like an owl and tastes like a chicken! Wine with meal; Champagne! Of course!
Sorry for the intrusion. Just couldn't resist! mlmbd http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif |
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Unless of course your Pet dog is a "Chow Chow"!
mlmbd http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif |
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Owch!
<killed by super pun> he he |
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Piercers are basically living stalactites that inhabit the ceilings of dungeons. When an adventurer passes underneath, the piercer drops, impaling him - I guess the piercer then absorbs the adventurer's internal organs or something... never actually got to read "Ecology of the Piercer" so I don't quite understand these guys http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif
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They sound friendly
doubt u could eat one tho |
Re: Scary Monsters
Ok, you asked for it. Here is all the information I could dig up on piercers.
_______________________________________________ Piercers resemble stalactites found on cave roofs. They are actually a species of gastropods that, without their shells, resemble slugs with long tails. A piercer climbs onto the ceiling of a cavern and waits patiently; when it detects prey beneath it, it drops from the ceiling and impales the victim with the sharp end of its shell. Piercers look like limestone growths on the ceiling of a cavern, just like ordinary stalactites. They come in the following sizes: one foot long (1 Hit Die), three feet long (2 Hit Dice), four and one-half feet long (3 Hit Dice), and six feet long (4 Hit Dice). Piercers can be identified on very close inspection by a pair of tiny eyestalks that curl along the side of the stalactite. Combat: Piercers have only one chance to hit; if an attack fails to score a kill, the piercer cannot attack again until it slowly scales a wall to resume its position. Piercers can hear noises and detect heat sources in a 120-yard radius; these heat sources include humans. If the noise and light are stationary for many minutes at a time, piercers will slowly edge into attack position over the source of the stimulus. Piercers are virtually indistinguishable from natural phenomena. A group of characters has a -7 modifier on its surprise roll against a piercer (this guarantees that the group will be surprised unless it has some positive modifiers). A piercer, after it has fallen, is slow and fairly easily slain. Its soft underbelly has one defense mechanism; when exposed to air it covers itself in a corrosive acid which inflicts 1 point of damage on contact with flesh. This is usually enough to dissuade natural predators from disturbing it. Habitat/Society: While piercers are nonintelligent, the piercers in a colony are aware of each other. They often fall simultaneously, to feed on those killed by other piercers (which makes the area suddenly very dangerous). Piercers dwell in caverns, where they live in Groups of about 10 members. They prefer to hang over high traffic areas, so they will usually be found near cave entrances. Aside from mating, the piercers are not social creatures. There are rumored to be great caverns deep underground that contain colonies of hundreds of piercers. Piercers are not attracted to treasure, only to food. Ecology: The piercer is a mollusk, hatched from a hen-sized egg which the parent lays in clutches of six to eight in isolated areas of the cavern. When they hatch, the young appear to be slugs feeding on fungi. After several months, they climb the cavern walls, secrete a chemical that hardens into the familiar stalactite shape, and then wait for prey to come. A piercer has a lifespan of four years and grows one Hit Die per year. In any group of piercers, the number of creatures with one, two, three, and four Hit Dice will be nearly evenly divided (e.g., in a group of 12 piercers, there will be three one Hit Die piercers, three with two Hit Dice, three with three Hit Dice, and three with four Hit Dice). A piercer can go without food for months. It stores food in a second stomach that can preserve food for long periods of time; some alchemists seek out piercers to extract a substance from this organ and refine it for human use, as it can keep foodstuffs and precious ingredients fresh for weeks. Piercers also store large supplies of water, extracted from their victims. Piercers can maintain this water supply for months. The taste of a piercer is said to resemble that of a snail, but with a bitter aftertaste. Their eggs and offspring are not traded on the open market. _________________________________________________ Hmmmm.... snail with a bitter aftertaste. I think I'll pass. Solar |
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Well 'Slugs' are edible. Not appetizing, but edible! So, one might eat one. OK! Where did I put that horseradish?
mlmbd http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif [ January 16, 2003, 11:23: Message edited by: mlmbd ] |
Re: Scary Monsters
I know the article in question, part of Dragon's "Ecology of" series. It'll take me a day or two to dig it out of the archives (i.e. figure out which box I packed those magazines in, and find the right issue) but I can send it to interested parties. I think what Solar just posted is the section from the MM, right? The article, if my memory serves me, is quite a bit longer. Length as well as copyright restrictions forbide me posting it here, but if anybody wants it, I'll be happy to e-mail it. (I doubt the author would mind having something 15 years out of print recirculated a bit!)
The whole series was rather interesting. They took piercers, beholders, dryads, and so forth, and made mock-scientific articles about them. Some were more tongue-in-cheek than others, but they all were interesting reading. (See, and this is good, cuz if anybody wants the article, it means I'LL NEVER HAVE TO THROW THE MAGAZINES AWAY! If anybody tells me, "but you never read them anymore," I can just say, "but remember that time I went and found something for somebody? I NEED them!!!!" Heh-heh! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif ) Oh, and speaking of slugs, a friend of mine and I once wrote a list of 101 things to do with a dead slug as part of a 200+ thread on the subject of slugs. It's humor, obviously, and I'm rather proud of it. It not only made people laugh, it also grossed out an amazing number of innocent folks just browsing along. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif |
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Correct, that's a section from the MM. Go ahead and email those articles to me, if for no other reason than to save your magazines. Anything to help a fellow packrat. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif
Solar |
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Psi, we would not want to destroy such a valuable part of literary history. Now would we? So by all means, email a copy of the articles to me. Thanks!
mlmbd http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif |
Re: Scary Monsters
I'll find it this weekend and e-mail it off to y'all. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
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Send me a copy too! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
For your things to do with a dead slug list, did you put "feed it to a robot"? I'm serious! http://www.ias.uwe.ac.uk/goto.html?slugbot |
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I found it! Oddly, it was in the fourth one I pulled out. I thought I'd be searching all evening. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
A color diagram of the anatomy is a big part of the article, so I'm going to wait until Monday and scan it at work. The slugbot is cool! We missed that use on our list too! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif |
Re: Scary Monsters
Quote:
The chief difference between fantasy and SF monsters is that the latter needs some kind of "scientific" justification of why they exist. Otherwise, they're pretty much interchangable. The bigger problem in SF RPGs is that the weapons tend to be deadlier, making it easier to dispatch the monsters. |
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sci fi rpg monsters tend to be boring? agree or disagree?
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Re: Scary Monsters
I disagree as well. One of things that makes any monster really frightening, or at least particularly interesting and memorable, is the environment in which it dwells. Sometimes, it's the fact a monster has entered the realm of the everyday that makes it especially disturbing, but, in gaming, it is usually the fact the adventurers have ventured into the weird world of the dungeon.
In a sci-fi game, that environment can be just about anything. The adventurer can be far more the alien, forced to carry environmental gear and/or remain inside his ship, that little bit of "home" he's brought with him. Venturing out to confront a sci-fi monster in its own alien world can be just as frightening, if not more so, than battling something in the claustrophobic depths of a dungeon. It also gives you the opportunity, albeit now a rather cliched one, to reverse the situation when the alien comes onboard the ship for the final battle. |
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Hey, y'all,
Just wanted to apologize for not getting that article scanned yet. Things have been hectic! I should be able to do it tomorrow though, assuming I can find a free scanner at work. |
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Email the article to me and I'll scan it at school http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
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Unfortunately, the big diagram that's the 2nd page is essential to the piece. I couldn't get into the room together (a Computer Concepts class is apparently going through basic scanner use right now <sigh>) . . . sorry!
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OK, I've got it scanned at Last! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif
I'll email it 'round to everybody who said they wanted it. |
Re: Scary Monsters
Quote:
[ February 05, 2003, 05:32: Message edited by: Omega_Prime ] |
Re: Scary Monsters
he he!
I never thought about wether Carrion Crawler was kosher or not? I wonder if they do AD+D kosher provisions too? I had been suggested a good recipe for Umber Hulk, but it turned out that they eat u |
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Psitticine,
Thanks for the page. It is GREAT! mlmbd http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif |
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You're welcome! Sorry it took me so long!
BTW, do you think any of those clerics could be rabbis? Maybe if they did the supervision thing when you finish off something in the dungeon . . . Satyrs would still be off-limits though. Cloven hooves!!! |
Re: Scary Monsters
I like the more unusual dungeon-inhabitants best.. trolls and orcs get boring after a while. Since I draw quite a lot I like to make up my own monsters as well, this one must be my favourite at the moment (I don't advise eating it) :
http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/loth/h...tharg.jpg.html |
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