Spawn Of Devastation Drive-In — 'Bug' (1975)

Firebug

No. Enc.:  2d8 (5d10)
Alignment:  Neutral
Movement:  30' (10')
Armor Class:  -2
Hit Dice:  2 hp
Attacks:  1 (Ignition)
Damage:  4d6
Save:  L3
Morale:  12
Hoard Class:  None
XP:  15

The Ancients prided themselves on cataloging every Terran species, from the smallest microbe to the largest cetacean...

...but when The Apocalypse commenced, and fissures rent the earth asunder, prehistoric insects crawled topside...

...AND HASTENED HUMANITY'S DEMISE BY INCINERATING ALL IN THEIR PATHS!!! 

Firebugs are heavy, clawed, 4" long subterranean insects with bizarre physiologies, even for the Mutant Future.  Their carapaces are harder than steel.  Eyeless, they navigate by sound and smell; they also lack conventional digestive systems, rendering them immune to all poisons and diseases.  Firebugs feed exclusively on ash and carbon...

...which they procure by starting raging fires with spark-producing rear antennae.  Combustible materials go up instantly, and denser materials in 1d6 rounds.  And firebugs have no qualms about attacking live prey.  They crawl up their targets and dig in with mighty claws, unleashing ferocious heat that does a sustained 4d6 damage per round.  It takes a successful Breaking Doors roll to remove a smoldering firebug from a victim's flesh, and the extraction causes an additional 1d4 tearing damage.

The creatures require the intense pressures of subterranean environs to survive, and don't live long on the surface, expiring from "the bends" after 3d6 hours topside.  But firebugs spread quickly from region to region  by hitching rides on vehicles, usually by hiding in engine blocks or exhaust systems.

As menacing as firebugs are, they become even more terrible upon encountering ordinary cockroaches...for  they interbreed, creating hideous hybrids with powers far beyond mere fire-starting...!

Mutations:  Echolocation, Energy Blast (Heat) (Modified), Frailty ("Pressure Sensitivity") [D], Natural Armor (Extreme) (x4), Reflective Epidermis (Heat)

Vulcanbug

No. Enc.:  4d6 (6d12)
Alignment:  Chaotic
Movement:  75' (25')
Armor Class:  3
Hit Dice:  2 hp
Attacks:  1 (bite, or ignition)
Damage:  1d4, or 4d6
Save:  L3
Morale:  10
Hoard Class:  None
XP:  9

The 2" long vulcanbugs are the unholy offspring of firebugs and common cockroaches. Burning free from hardened eggcases, they grow to adulthood in a mere 5 hours.

Although retaining the same scorching abilities as firebugs, vulcanbugs are smaller, faster, and unaffected by pressure.  And they eat neither ash nor carbon...for they crave living flesh!  They even prey on their sires, as vulcanbugs cannibalize firebugs on sight.

Vulcanbugs possess something far more terrifying than their appetites:  intelligence.  They learn spoken language through observation, and then apply that knowledge so as to read—and comprehend!—the printed word, going so far as to replicate it with their bodies to communicate.  Some posit that vulcanbugs possess a low-grade telepathy, which explains why a swarm shrieks in unison when one of its fellows is slain.

The insects recognize useful technology...and have no qualms destroying it, if doing so serves their purposes.  They also intuit the "most powerful" member in a group of PCs, "addressing" that individual by name and communicating with them exclusively.  Vulcanbugs may be persuaded to follow orders, through superior force or bribes.

Vulcanbugs are viable hybrids, and reproduce rapidly.  They are highly protective of their eggcases, and shuttle them underground for safekeeping.  But when their offspring hatch, the young metamorphose again, transforming from vulcanbugs...

...into larger, flying, red-hot, glowing vulcanbugs!  These 2nd generation monstrosities have:  1 full Hit Die, AC 1, Fly at a rate of 210' (70'), the same ignition and mental abilities, and XP Values of 25.

Who knows what abominable forms they might take as they breed and evolve...?

Mutations:  Energy Ray (Heat) (Modified), Increased Willpower, Metaconcert, Reflective Epidermis (Heat)

Spawn Of Devastation Drive-In — 'Without Warning' (1980)

Cosmo-Poacher

No. Enc.:  1 (1)
Alignment:  Chaotic
Movement:  See Below
Armor Class:  5
Hit Dice:  13
Attacks:  See Below
Damage:  See Below
Save:  L13
Morale:  12
Hoard Class:  XVIII
XP:  10,500

The Ancients once had a saying that "man was the most dangerous game"...

...BUT MAN PROVED UTTERLY HELPLESS AGAINST THE DASTARDLY DEPREDATIONS OF PALLID PURSUERS FROM BEYOND THE STARS!!!

Almost nothing is known about the 7' tall, blue-skinned extraterrestrials dubbed cosmo-poachers.  They are neither of the Ancient Earth nor the Mutant Future, yet no one has ever seen their spacecraft, nor any evidence of their culture and/or technology.   Though clearly intelligent, communication with these beings has proved utterly fruitless, with stone silence (or an occasional unearthly shriek) their only reply.

Cosmo-poachers target isolated communities, and lurk on the fringes of the wilderness to stealthily pick off (by Surprising on a 1-4 on 1d6) lone travelers, campers, and explorers. They drag these victims back to their lairs-slash-larders, which are always housed in abandoned buildings long forgotten by the locals.

Cosmo-poachers have uncanny tracking abilities unimpeded by terrain, weather, and environmental conditions.  They are never Surprised, and can detect secret doors and traps on a roll of 1-4 on 1d6.  And they hunt by day and by night, seemingly never sleeping.

While cosmo-poachers clearly possess great physical strength (given that they can carry multiple humanoid corpses with ease) and sport savage claws, they have never been witnessed making brute physical attacks.  Instead, they wield bioweapons—literal living creatures, used offensively—known as toxstars [see below] to bring down their victims. Cosmo-poachers can throw one toxstar per round, and prefer to attack at long range (perhaps to heighten the sense of sport...but most certainly to avoid retaliatory attacks).

The beings are also surprisingly fast, but only when not being observed.  When watched, a cosmo-poacher methodically stalks towards its prey at a rate of 30' (10')...but when its victim turns to blindly flee, the hunter's movement rate shifts to 180' (60').  Again, this rate only applies when the cosmo-poacher is not seen.  Cosmo-poachers seemingly enjoy allowing their victims to think they've escaped harm, only to appear suddenly behind them with toxstars at the ready....

When attacked, cosmo-poachers' wounds erupt in geysers of fluid...but such displays overstate the degree of actual injury.  They suffer just half-damage from conventional weapons and firearms, and can seal up their wounds with but a touch.  This Body Adjustment takes 2 full rounds of inactivity to complete, and instead of being available 1d4 times per week, it's usable 1d6 times per day.

Cosmo-poachers disrupt compasses and radio reception within a 500' radius.  Whether this is a result of  natural body chemistry, or technology hidden in their attire, is unknown.

Mutations:  Body Adjustment (Modified), Increased Sense (Hearing, Smell, Taste, Touch, Vision), Know Direction

Toxstar

No. Enc.:  See Below
Alignment:  Neutral
Movement:  0' (0')
         —Fly:  180' (60')
Armor Class:  3
Hit Dice:  3 hp
Attacks:  See Below
Damage:  See Below
Save:  L1
Morale:  N/A
Hoard Class:  None
XP:  9

Toxstars are a species of 5" wide echinoderms utilized by cosmo-poachers as offensive weapons.  How cosmo-poachers procure them is unknown, as are their origins and natural behaviors...for like their wielders, toxstars are not found in the wilds of the Mutant Future.

A cosmo-poacher keeps 4d4 toxstars on its person at any given time.  While toxstars can't attain lift-off on their own, they levitate through the air when thrown, and can travel up to a half-mile at a rate of 180' (60').  They can even zip around corners and dodge/bypass objects to zero in on the desired target...and they instinctively land on the victim's most unreachable place(s) (usually the mid-back).

A toxstar latches onto a target with a combination of suction pads and gnashing teeth, doing an automatic 2d4 damage per round.  1d3 rounds after adhesion, the creature extends piercing barbs into the victim's flesh—doing another 1d6 damage—and secretes a viscous, pus-like, acidic Class 17 poison.  Those killed by a toxstar's fluids begin to dissolve within 1d6 turns...and those that make their Saving Throws still suffer the poison damage, plus an extra 1d12 Hit Points from blood loss, and endure wicked scarring (losing 1d4 CHA).

A toxstar can be forcibly removed from a victim by anyone with a STR of 15+, or by anyone with a STR of 12+ using an implement (knife, prybar, etc.).  Removal causes 1d10 damage.

Toxstars are clearly unintelligent, as those that miss their targets inevitably attach to other objects—trees, vehicles, buildings, etc.—and ineffectually extend their hooks and secrete venom.  They even adhere to glass, but are dislodged with the slightest pressure.  Any "loose" toxstars can be gathered up and placed in containers, where they seemingly live indefinitely (even in water, formaldehyde, or other liquids).

Mutations:  Psionic Flight (Modified), Toxic Weapon (Venom)

Toxstar  (Top View, Secreting)

Toxstar  (Bottom View)

Spawn Of Devastation Drive-In — 'From Hell It Came' (1957)

Tabonga

No. Enc.:  1 (1)
Alignment:  Chaotic
Movement:  60' (20')
Armor Class:  4
Hit Dice:  12
Attacks:  2 (2 fists)
Damage:  2d6 / 2d6
Save:  L12
Morale:  12
Hoard Class:  None
XP:  8,600

Death abounds in the Mutant Future, from toxic waste to atomic fallout to murderous factions bent on chaos and destruction...

...BUT EVEN DEATH ITSELF CAN'T STOP THOSE DRIVEN BY AN ALL-CONSUMING VENGEANCE MOST VINDICTIVE AND VICIOUS!!! 

When a strong-willed (15+ WIL) Pure Human or Mutant Human meets a particularly unjust fate at the hands of ne'er-do-wells, and is in turn buried in radioactive earth, his/her psychic essence merges with the surrounding plantlife.  Then, over the course of the next week, a stump-like plant sprouts from the grave, throbbing and pulsating with rhythms that mirror a heartbeat...and at the end of the 7 days rises a misshapen, hulking, 8' tall vegetal biped fueled by revenge!  THE TABONGA LIVES!!!

A tabonga possesses such awesome strength that a successful strike with both fists leads to a crushing squeeze for an additional 2d10 damage.  And its thick, woody hide is impervious to open flame, explosives, and conventional firearms, and renders the creature almost invisible in verdant foliage (allowing it to Surprise on a roll of 1-5 on 1d6).  Bladed weapons inflict only half-damage, and melee To Hit rolls of 1-3 against a tabonga result in the weapon(s) wedging in the bark, requiring an Ability Check Versus STR to remove.

Tabongas are highly radioactive (treat as Class 3 exposure to all involved in melee), and bleed a luminous green ooze.  They have no need for sustenance or rest, and are immune to all known poisons and diseases.

Driven by rage, a tabonga methodically tracks down and slays those that wronged it...but once its mission is complete, it slaughters indiscriminately.  And in addition to crushing attacks, they often cruelly toss victims into sucking quicksand, deep ravines, poisonous pools, etc.

Mutations:  Natural Armor (Extreme), Reflective Epidermis (Fire/Heat, Radiation)

IT... IS HERE!!! AND YOUR BRAIN WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!!!

Last October, A Field Guide To Doomsday traumatized you with celluloid scares and filmic frightmares the likes of which your be-bombshelter'd brains had never before beheld!!!

We subjected you to 21 heapin' helpin's of mucky monstrosities and tentacular terrors, of sanguinary squirts and evolutionary aberrations!!!

But this year, beginning October 1st, we go bigger and bolder, with 31 STRAIGHT DAYS of mindbendingly macabre movie mayhem those other Ol' Spineless Recreant bloggers are too timid to tackle!!!

THEY WOULDN'T DARE...BUT WE GO THERE!!!

—

NO EXPENSE SPARED!!!  A YEAR IN THE MAKING!!!

Featuring ALL-NEW crazed content and classification categories...plus more, More, MORE OF EVERYTHING YOU DEMENTED DEGENERATES COVET AND CRAVE!!!

MORE THRILLS!!

MORE CHILLS!!!

MORE CARNALITY!!!

MORE BRUTALITY!!!

MORE SICKNESSES!!!

MORE SQUICKNESSES!!!

MORE GORE!!!

MORE TO ABHOR!!!

And, most of all...

MORE, MORE, MORE MALEVOLENT MOVIE MUTANTS FROM THE MOST MISERABLE AND MALIGNED MOTION PICTURES OF THE TIME BEFORE!!!

ALL GARISHLY, GIDDILY RENDERED FOR YOUR GAWKING GAZE, SUPPLEMENTED BY A SHAMEFUL SURFEIT OF STUPEFYING STILLS TO SHATTER YOUR SENSES!!!

—

So grab your dice, your snacks, your flasks, and your date's jiggliest bits, and get ready for the most nail-gnashing, gut-crunching, skull-stomping, psyche-scrambling, libido-loosening, fluid-flurrying, psychotronically phantasmagorical shock-show that is the...

...SPAWN OF DEVASTATION DRIVE-IN!!!

YOUR BRAIN WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!!!

IT... IS COMING!!!

CAN YOUR DELICATE DISPOSITION DEAL WITH THE MOST DESPICABLE OF DEPRAVITIES?!!!

With a special bonus...FOR THE LADIES!!!

IT... IS COMING!!!

DARE YOU RISK FISCAL SECURITY, TO PEEK THROUGH YOUR FINGERS AT THE NSFW WONDERS THAT AWAIT YOU?!!!

(REST ASSURED, YOUR FAMILY'S DESPONDENCY IS INCONSEQUENTIAL COMPARED TO THE GLORIES IN STORE!!!)

IT... IS COMING!!!

PRAY TO YOUR GODS!!!

IT... IS COMING!!!

THERE IS NO PLACE TO RUN!!! 
THERE IS NO PLACE TO HIDE!!!
NOWHERE IS SAFE!!!

IT...IS COMING!!!

JUST HOW MUCH INSANITY CAN YOU STAND?!!!

IT... IS COMING!!!

PREPARE YOURSELVES.

"V" is for "Vamphibian"

Vamphibian

No. Enc.:  1d6 (2d8)
Alignment:  Neutral
Movement:  90' (30')
     —Swim:  120' (40')
Armor Class:  5
Hit Dice:  2
Attacks:  1 (bite)
Damage:  1d4
Save:  L2
Morale:  8
Hoard Class:  VI
XP:  71

Vamphibians are diminutive, 2'-3' tall bipeds that lurk in ponds, streams, and assorted toxic pools.  They glide beneath the surface with their broad "fin-wings", then spring forth en masse to mob hapless prey. They doggedly waddle-hop after escaping victims.

Vamphibians inject a Class 11 anesthetizing neurotoxin with their bites, and can cling to, and scale, any surface with ease.

Never has a species of tiny, ferocious, bloodsucking, slimy freak been so adorable.

Mutations:  Aberrant Form (Gills / Lungs), Toxic Weapon (Venom)

"C" is for "Cottonball"

Cottonball

No. Enc.:  1 (1)
Alignment:  Neutral
Movement:  120' (40')
Armor Class:  0
Hit Dice:  3
Attacks:  4d4 (bites)
Damage:  1d4 per attack, + poison
Save:  L2
Morale:  12
Hoard Class:  None
XP:  110

Cottonballs are fused collectives of dozens upon dozens of writhing aquatic serpents.  They are literally all mouths and tails, and locomote by "rolling" over the surface of bodies of water.  Intrusions into their territory are met with relentless aggression.

Each of a cottonball's bites injects a Class 4 poison.  The Mutant Lord need only make a single To Hit roll for the entire collective; a success automatically grants the 4d4 bite attacks.

A cottonball's low AC represents its sinuous agility and distinct lack of solidity.

Mutations:  Aberrant Form ("Aggregate Mass"), Toxic Weapon (Venom)

"S" is for "Splicesaur — Cytops"

Splicesaur — Cytops  ("Eyesaur")

No. Enc.:  0 (2d6)
Alignment:  See Below
Movement:  120' (40')
Armor Class:  4
Hit Dice:  9
Attacks:  1 (gore)
Damage:  2d6
Save:  L9
Morale:  8
Hoard Class:  None
XP:  3,100

Bizarre by even splicesaur standards, the quadrupedal cytopses sport immense, bony frills housing a single eye 6' in diameter.  They plod along the savannas in search of scrub grasses and tubers, just blinking and chewing...blinking and chewing....

Cytopses Charge when threatened, or protecting their young.  They are never Surprised.

Cytopses are the most susceptible of all splicesaurs to the strange radiations of the Mutant Future.  Some attain sentience (with unique motivations, dispositions, and temperaments), and a corresponding suite of Mental Mutations.  They may even make arrangements to serve as mounts.

Mutations:  Aberrant Form ("All-Seeing Eye"), Increased Sense (Vision)