Apeocalypse, Wow!

The esteemed Trey Causey, Official Friend Of The Field Guide, is running a nifty 1970s ape-thang.

Here is my character, created as a Pure Human with the Mutant Future rules (with added skills via Stars Without Number; I think we're also maybe using the default D&D ability mods?). Stats were generated via "4d6, drop the lowest, place, and ignore the +3 Pure Human attribute bonuses", so don't begrudge me his rockin' scores.

—

Dr. Conrad "Rip" Ripper
Two-Fisted Space-Psychiatrist

Character Type:  Mission Specialist
Alignment:  Heroic Impulsive

Level:  1
Hit Points:  78
Armor Class:  Whatever A Spacesuit Is (7?)
Movement:  Towards The Action

Abilities
STR:  14 (+1)
DEX:  11  (-)
CON:  15  (+1)
INT:  17  (+2)
WIL:  15  (+1)
CHA:  15  (+1)

Skills
)  Perception
)  Profession (Psychiatry)
)  Science!
)  Tech (Medic)

Modifiers
) To Hit / Damage (Melee) / Forcing Doors:  +1
) To Hit (Missile):  -
) AC:  -
) Technology Rolls:  +10%
) Reaction Adjustment:  -1

Saving Throws
Energy Attacks:  15
Poison / Death:  12
Stun Attacks:  14
Radiation:  13

Mutations:  None

Attacks/Weapons
)  Fists (1d3+1)

Equipment
)  All-Purpose "Space Gear" (looted from our stasis-satellite)
)  Pipe and Tobacco

XP:  None Yet (but plenty earned at The Med School Of Hard Knocks)

Description

Dr. Conrad "Rip" Ripper believes in handling problems head-on, whether they're deeply-rooted neuroses, mouthy drunks, or jaguars / robots / Commies / aliens / ape-men that need barrels thrown at their heads.

And while he may first lay you flat, Rip will gladly discuss your feelings, life choices, and maternal figures that led you to such an unfortunately necessary comeuppance.  See, he truly wants to help you, even if it requires a prescription-strength sock to the jaw.  This sometimes gets him into trouble when patients don't want his vigorous brand of therapy.

Rip is never without his trusty pipe [he unofficially has skill levels in "Smoking"], DSM-II (7th printing, 1974 edition), and journal in which to inscribe his insightful musings.

Mutants In The News — "Doc-In-A-(Big)-Box" Edition

NPR has a great article / podcast about the Strategic National Stockpile, those super-secret storehouses chock full o' medical machines, vaccines, and everything in between!

Each overstuffed site is apparently bigger than two Super Walmarts smashed together, with jumbo flags hanging from the ceilings.  You don't get much more American than that.

Just add renegade robots, killer fungi, and sentient cockroaches, and you have yourself a megadungeon just begging for a looting!

Mutants In The News — "See Ya Later, Alligator" Edition

For years, like some unhinged coot that warns strangers away from woodland cabins and summer camps, I've bellowed about the serpentine scourge afflicting Florida's swamps.

Turns out things are even worse than I prophesied, though, as it's been confirmed (via the awesome powers of SCIENCE!) that families of Nile crocodiles are inhabiting the region.

Yep.  The native alligator's bigger, meaner, deadlier cousins have taken up residence.

At this rate, there's really only one way The Everglades situaish can play out.  The Gods help us all!

"S" is for "Splicesaur — "Styracula"

Splicesaur — Styracula

No. Enc.:  0 (1d4)
Alignment:  Neutral
Movement:  120' (40')
Armor Class:  2
Hit Dice:  13
Attacks:  1 (gore or crush)
Damage:  2d8 + special, or 3d6
Save:  L7
Morale:  11
Hoard Class:  VII
XP:  7,800

Styraculas are freakish hybrids of ceratopsians and bats.   Throbbing veins and arteries criss-cross their bodies, and stunted, expressive chiropteric wings adorn their brows.  The enormous beasts communicate in screeches and squeaks.

Styraculas feed on the blood, which they drain from victims via hollow snout horns. Anyone gored suffers an immediate 2d8 damage and becomes impaled and incapable of movement, and suffers an automatic 1d10 leeching damage per round.  Impaled victims can't escape on their own, and it requires two allies performing successful Ability Checks Vs STR to rip them free (which inflicts an additional 1d6 damage).  Styraculas can both Charge and Trample.

As a styracula feeds, the blood pumps visibly through the creature's frill.

—

Mutations:  Echolocation, Increased Sense (Hearing), Shriek

Mutants In The News — "Everyone Needs More -OIDs!" Edition

There's new mutant minis afoot!

EffinCoolMinis has a new Kickstarter for Official Metamorphosis Alpha minis.

There are multiple tiers that include such mutalicious menaces as "Techno Terrors", "Human Survivors", "Anthro Aggressors", and "Mutant Monsters".

Metamorphosis Alpha creator Jim Ward himself will be writing an adventure and a bestiary for the project, too!

Have some prototypes!

Mr. Ward is an Official Friend Of The Field Guide, so I'm always happy to put money in his pocket.

(And there's even a pie chart of how the finances break down.  Licensing fees always interest me.)

Anyhow, give them some moolah.  Even if you don't need minis, a measly $10 still gets you both PDFs of Mr. Ward's scribblin's!

"Blackmail Is Such An Ugly Word. I Prefer 'Extortion'. The 'X' Makes It Sound Cool." — Bender Bending Rodriguez

The Star Wars juggernaut is upon us, and there's no escaping it's Force-choking clutches.

My household is pretty pumped about the upcoming flick, and The Woman expressed interest in Fantasy Flight's current rpg line.

So what better way to check out the SW: Edge Of The Empire game than by making a character?

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11-H8

Species:  Droid

Career:  Bounty Hunter

Specialization:  Assassin

Obligation:  Criminal (starting 10 points; +5 additional)

Motivation:  Ambition (Greed)

Characteristics

Brawn: 2, Agility: 2, Intellect: 2, Cunning: 3, Willpower: 1, Presence: 2

Figured Characteristics

Soak: 3, Wounds: 12,  Strain: 11, Defense:  0 / 0

Combat Skills

Brawl: 1, Melee: 2

General Skills

Athletics: 1, Medicine: 2, Perception: 1, Piloting (Planetary): 1, Skulduggery: 2, Stealth: 1, Streetwise: 1, Vigilance: 1

Talents

Enduring, Lethal Blows, Stalker

Weapons / Equipment

Vibro-scalpel, "Med Kit" (Anaesthetic (2), Avabush Spice, Neurotoxin), Binders (2), Comlink, Utility Belt, 5 credits

—

Haughty and egotistical cosmetic surgery droid 11-H8 grew to despise his vapid, dull-witted clientele, and decided to remove more from them than cellulite.  He extracted secrets from his quasi-anaesthetized patients, and began a campaign of blackmail, extortion, and thievery...

...which completely blew up in his faceplate, as his clients were some of The Empire's richest, mightiest, and most unforgiving plutocrats.

Hijinks ensued... fleeing-and-going-underground-and-turning-to-even-more-crime-to-survive-related hijinks.

11-H8 now specializes in fugitive-reclamation, leg-breaking, and assassination, gleefully using his medical expertise in ways counter to his factory programming.

—

He has "LV" engraved on his left claw-knuckles, and "H8" on the right.

"I" Is For "Isothrope"

This entry is based on a monster model kit I painted up all post-apocalyptic.  And there wasn't a decent pic of the box art on The Interwebs, so consider my personal scan a gift for the masses!

Isothrope

No. Enc.:  1 (1d4)
Alignment:  Chaotic
Movement:  150' (50')
Armor Class:  4
Hit Dice:  11
Attacks:  3 (2 claws, 1 bite)
Damage:  1d8 / 1d8 / 2d6+4
Save:  L6
Morale:  11
Hoard Class:  VII
XP:  10,800

By day, isothropes are feral Pure Human derelicts who haunt the wastelands... but beneath the Mutant Future's shattered full moon, they transform into corrupted creatures akin to those of Ancient mythology.

Isothropes glow a scintillating neon, and their eyes burn with blue radioactive rage.  Their blackened, cracked skin sloughs off in sheets.  Tainted blood seeps from every orifice. Isothropes are always clad in the tattered remnants of radiation suits.

Isothropes are immune to radiation, toxins, and disease, and all weapons inflict only half damage [to simulate their hyperactive healing].  The creatures spread their infectious metamorphic condition as per the lycanthropy disease [Labyrinth Lord Core Rules, p. 86].  

Mutations:  Increased Senses (Hearing, Smell, Taste, Vision), Metamorph (Modified), Optic Emissions (Gamma Eyes), Regenerative Capability, Toxic Weapon ("Isothropy")

"What's Nuked, Scooby-Doomsday?" — Ghastlynaut

Ghastlynaut  ("Space Kook")

No. Enc.:  1 (1)
Alignment:  Chaotic
Movement:  75' (25')
Armor Class:  2
Hit Dice:  13
Attacks:  2 (2 fists)
Damage:  2d6 / 2d6
Save:  L13
Morale:  11
Hoard Class:  XV
XP:  7,800

Ghastlynauts are 8'-tall, armored, skull-faced horrors from beyond the stars.  Their bone-chilling cackles are the soundtracks of nightmares, and their helms flash hellish red in syncopation with their wails.

The beings feed on fear, and channel it back through debilitating psychic assaults [Mind Thrust].  Though plodding and ponderous, ghastlynauts stalk inexorably and unerringly towards their quarry, and emit both a pulsing glow and low-frequency hum while doing so (meaning they never Surprise when on the prowl).  That said, hiding does no good, for they always find you...and you'll always know they're coming!!!

Ghastlynauts can take control of electricity-based machinery, vehicles, and artifacts and operate them from afar, no matter the condition of the contraption.  Control extends to only one device at a time, and said gadget must remain within a half-mile radius to function.  Ghastlynauts also surround themselves in combat with 3d6 illusory duplicates that mask their true location on the battlefield.  All opponents with visual senses (including robots) are susceptible to the effect.

Ghastlynauts travel in dilapidated "haunted saucers" that are essentially rocket-powered spookhouses.

Mutations:  Enhanced Vision (Night), Fear Generation, Know Direction, Mind Thrust, Unique Mutations ("Holographic Replication", "Overriding"), Unique Sense ("Stalker-Sense")

—

Inspired by Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! episode #15, "Spooky Space Kook" (1969).

And for the Savage Worlds version, click here!

"What's Nuked, Scooby-Doomsday?" — Cutler

Cutler

No. Enc.:  1 (1d4)
Alignment:  Chaotic
Movement:  90' (30')
     —Swim:  90' (30')
Armor Class:  5
Hit Dice:  10
Attacks:  2 (2 fists)
Damage:  1d8 / 1d8
Save:  L8
Morale:  10
Hoard Class:  X +1d4 waterlogged-n-rusted gizmos
XP:  4,500

Congregating near "graveyards" of sunken ships and beached hulks, cutlers are the centuries-dead corpses of Ancient aquanauts reanimated by colonies of intelligent algae.  Their quasi-living husks pulse with unholy radioactivity; accordingly, they only Surprise on a roll of 1 on 1d6.

Cutlers feed on the fluids of their victims, which they leech through weedy, vampiric tendrils. Vine-entangled targets suffer the standard automatic 2d6 constriction damage per round, plus an additional 2d6 draining damage.  A cutler with prey in its coils may still pummel other targets without penalty.  Victims can only be freed by killing the cutler itself.

Cutlers can be communicated with via telepathy, but their dark thoughts are peppered with salty expletives from both human vernacular and the secret language of plants.

Mutations:  Fear Generation, Full Senses (Sonar), Prehensile Tendrils (Constricting) (Modified), Radioactive Emissions, Reflective Cellular Structure (Fire / Heat, Radiation)

—

[Inspired by Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! episode #2, "A Clue For Scooby-Doo" (1969)]

"What's Nuked, Scooby-Doomsday?" — Wendighost

Wendighost

No. Enc.:  1 (1)
Alignment:  Chaotic
Movement:  120' (40')
        —Fly:  210' (70')
Armor Class:  3
Hit Dice:  12
Attacks:  2 or 1 (2 claws, or 1 weapon)
Damage:  1d10 / 1d10, or by weapon
Save:  L12
Morale:  9
Hoard Class:  XXII
XP:  7,600

Wendighosts are burly, 8' tall, satan-browed bipeds that terrorize mountainous forests and polar climes.  Shaggy white fur makes them almost invisible in the snows, so they Surprise on 1-4 on 1d6 in such environs.

If a wendighost successfully strikes with both claws in the same round, it crushes with a powerful hug for another 2d8 damage.

Highly intelligent, wendighosts are proficient with Ancient tools and artifacts.  And they are straight-up the most malicious and bloodthirsty beasts in the Scooby-Doomsiverse, as they've been known to hurl crushing barrels, lob explosives, pitch enemies off cliffs, and even tie kidnapped victims to lumber-mangling buzzsaws!

Seriously.  They're brutal.

Mutations:  Enhanced Vision (Night), Fear Generation, Increased Balance, Increased Willpower, Psionic Flight, Reflective Epidermis (Cold)

—

[Inspired by Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! episode #17, "That's Snow Ghost" (1970)]