Seasonal Monstrous Monday: the Turkraken!

Statted up in a festive yet generic OSR fashion (with art by JR Mounts)...

Twenty feet tall, with tentacle-like feathers, and hungry for blood and corn...

Turkraken

5 HD, AC 12, Attacks: Beak +5 (1d6 damage, save or get tossed for an additional 1d6 damage) and 3 feathers +3 (1d6-1 damage), Treasure: In its stomach are a golden crabapple and a copy of A Christmas Carol.

(I lifted that pretty directly from the holiday adventure I put out last year, by the way...if you still have some time for seasonal gaming, why not check out In Bleakest Midwinter and see if it suits your style...?)

Monstrous Monday: Three more Vrakkig beasts...

Some more critters drawn by my pal JR Mounts for summoning, Duel Masters-style, by the Card-caster class.  (You can see more of his creations in my Monstrous Monday posts from the last three weeks...!)  HD is in the upper left, AC (ascending from 10) in the lower right...

Monstrous Monday: More beasts to summon...!

Even more of the beasties created by my pal JR Mounts for summoning, Duel Masters-style, by the Card-caster class.  (You can see more of his creations in my Monstrous Monday posts from last week and the week before...!)

Monstrous Monday: More critters for the Card-caster

Here are a few more of the beasts dreamed up by my buddy JR Mounts for summoning by the Card-caster class.  (Be sure to check out the ones I posted last week, too...you just might dig 'em...!)

Monstrous Monday: Monsters summoned by JR Mounts

I haven't done much in the way of Monstrous Monday posts in a while, but I realized lately that I'm sitting on a stack of beasts that people might enjoy seeing on here.  I took part in the Tenkar's Landing crowdsourced hexcrawl project (which looks to be nearing a milestone of completion, actually!), and one of the hexes I got to play with included a cloister dedicated to the martial art of card battling (or vrakkig, as it's known in the native hobgoblin tongue).  I thought it'd be fun to actually work out a Card-caster class and come up with some cards they might use in their battles (and which PCs might stumble upon in their travels).  As I often do, I hit up my pal JR Mounts to see if he'd want to do some artwork for me to use on the cards.

As usual, JR completely outdid himself in coming to my aid, and so I want to show some of the cards off here.  Rules-wise, they're all pretty simple...they have to fit onto a playing card, after all...and the layout is similarly uncomplicated.  HD is shown in the upper left, AC (ascending from 10) in the lower right.

I'd like to feature a few beasts each week; I'll give the details of the Card-caster class soon...!

Be sure to check out JR's site to see more of his work, by the way.  These are pretty much doodles, and he does some really awesome stuff that more people ought to see!

Dungeonstack A to Z: Bugbear Scavenger

April marches on, and so does the Dungeonstack!  Since today is #MonsterMonday, I thought it only appropriate to post something...well, monstrous.

Encounters in Dungeonstack are centered on the monsters found in each room.  Like this guy:

Just print at 2.75x3.75" and cut on dotted lines.
Collect them all!

The top of the card has Hit Dice and name, and the bottom holds all the important combat stats (shifted down from just below the picture on the hero cards).  Based on typical old-school monster presentation, I know I could get away with not having the attack bonus listed...and probably hit points, for that matter...but I liked the consistency with the hero card.

And yeah...I realize that's probably not really a bugbear in the art, but I think it looks like it could be pretty close...even with the horns.  If you're a stickler for that kind of thing...accurate portrayal of bugbears and all...well, sorry!

Monstrous Monday: Bro Country Elemental

First, I'll just get to the monster.  Then I'll elaborate a bit in case you want to know what the hell I'm talking about.

The truck picture that I desecrated here is Red 1961 Chevy Truck Face View by tonythemisfit (Tony Fischer), licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Bro Country Elemental
HD 8d10 (44 HP)
Defense 15

Attacks:  Bite +8 (1d8 damage) and Tailgate +8 (1d10 damage)
(Can use both attacks in a round, but must attack different enemies.)

This is how it rolls:  A bro country elemental can achieve speeds up to 90 mph but prefers to cruise with the windows down.  Characters caught in its path while cruising must save or take 1d10 mud tire damage.

Special:  Immune to all sleep effects 'til the sun comes up.

Drawn to girls that are lookin' so good, especially those in cut-off jeans and T-shirts.  Gets +2 to all rolls with a girl up in its cab.

Will also seek out all drinkable ethanol within a range of 1/2 mile.  Gets +1 temporary HD (with both HP and attack bonuses) for one hour after consuming a gallon of ethanol.  This bonus is doubled if the ethanol is in the form of Jack Daniels, 'shine, homemade wine, or Fireball whiskey.

Bro country elementals are formed when trucks gain sentience while cruising back roads.  Unlike traditional country elementals, this may not be an old truck.  No one knows the precise magical accident that leads to their creation, although examination of their remains has led some to believe that key components may be sleeveless shirts, gaudy male jewelry, shot glasses, tanning spray, and clothing and decorations featuring American flags.

They're basically lawful elementals, they just like to get a little chaotic on the weekend.

-----

Okay, so, "bro country" is the term given to a subgenre of American country music that rose to extreme popularity a few years back (it even has a Wikipedia page).  Songs in the category often feature a distinguishing set of musical tropes, including a notable hip-hop influence.  And the songs are pretty much about three things: girls, trucks, and drinking.

So, some of you are thinking, other than the hip-hop thing, what makes that any different from all other country music?  Well, some would say that, in addition to turning the sexy up to 10, it turns cookie-cutter song production up to 11.  In 2014, a songwriter "exposed" the formula by mashing six bro country hits together into what could almost be a single song.  Seriously, check this out, or at least the part at the end where he has all six songs going at the same time...

Bro country has taken some heat from the industry establishment for its formulaic nature and vapid lyrics.  And yeah, it's ridiculous.  Images like this don't help:

From Brantley Gilbert's video for "Bottoms Up," by the way.

But man, there's something about the unapologetic rejection of any sort of complexity that I just can't help but appreciate.  I'm a little obsessed at the moment...it's like a truck crash that I just can't turn away from.

And in defense of the artists, MOST musical subgenres...or, really, subgenres of any form of art...are going to have some tropes that get repeated over and over.  Hell...that's pretty much what OSR roleplaying is built on, right?  And to the credit of the songwriters and performers, all the swagger, backbeats, and hard rock solos seem to be carried out unironically.

And then there's the fact that some artists who bleed bro country are still able to pull off some legitimately good songs.

At the very least, it makes for a nice monster.

Monstrous Monday: Brain-Bats revisited!

About a month ago, I posted the classic Basil Wolverton story "The Brain-Bats of Venus" for #MonsterMonday.  +Justin Isaac suggested that some stats for the Brain-Bats would make for a good follow-up, and I had to agree.  (In fact, they probably should have been there in the first place...!)

Today, I finally make good on that suggestion!

Venusian Brain-Bat

HD 2d6 (7 HP)
Defense 10

Venusian Brain-Bats are flying creatures with a width of around 6 feet and a pair of hooks at the tip of each of their fleshy wings.  They are vulnerable to Psychic and Electrical damage (taking double).

Attack:  Brainsmother +2 (1d6-1 psychic damage)

Sentient beings hit by a brainsmother attack must save or come under the control of the Brain-Bat.  While under this control, a creature finds that its thoughts and impulses are affected in addition to its actions.  Each time the Brain-Bat compels the being to perform an action, it may resist with a save, and it may perform actions of its own desire if succeeding at a saving throw.  After 1d4 hours, no more saving throws are allowed, and the effect ends only if the Brain-Bat is killed or removed from its victim (or leaves voluntarily).

---

And now...my favorite part for some ridiculous reason...here it is as an underground elemental beast.  Remember to collect 'em all to see who rules the monsterfighting pits...!

Monstrous Monday: Basil Wolverton's Brain-Bats of Venus

Basil Wolverton has one of the more distinctive styles among Golden Age (and really any age) comic book artists.  He may be best known for his Mad magazine work, but I found about him just a few years back with the reprinting of his intergalactic epic Spacehawk by Fantagraphics.  As with many of the greats, people seem to love or hate his style.  I tend to love it.

Here's a great monstrous piece from Mister Mystery #7 (1952):

Monstrous Monday: Tuberrible! (Elemental Beast)

There's a good chance I think about Underground Elemental Beastfighting a lot more than I should.  I even took the time recently to make a list of elements I want to use and map out how they should typically interact...

I think I'm getting closer to turning this theme into...a thing of some sort.  Exactly what hasn't materialized yet.

In any case, though, the next step to thinghood is probably making some Elemental Beasts that aren't just Pokémon rehashes.  So, my general plan will be:

1.  Find a public domain image that looks like an Elemental Beast.
2.  Give it a name, hopefully containing some ridiculous play on words.
3.  Stat it up in a way that's simple enough to fit on a card but suitable for use in an RPG.
4.  Repeat.

So here's the first...  Tuberrible...!

Type: Wood Beast
HD 3d4 (7 HP)
Defense 11

Attack:  Bite +3 (1d6 Wood damage and defender must save vs. poison.  If failed, the poisoned character has disadvantage on all d20 rolls until healed.)

Tuberribles will live happily in greenhouses until they feel they are threatened.  They can quickly shift into a mobile, carnivorous form and turn on their caretakers.

(As always, I get these icons from the awesome site Game-icons.net, which has tons of amazing bits of art to use in games, completely free of charge!  These "cards" are proportioned such that they can be printed out at 2.75"x3.75", with 1/8" then trimmed around the edges to bring them to standard poker size.)

One last OSR Eeveelution

I kind of feel like I should have something a little more weighty for my first post of 2017...but I suppose this'll do.  After missing #MonsterMonday yesterday (due to one final surge of holidays), I now present the last of the Eeveelutions (so far), translated to generic OSR terms.  Here is the Generation VI monster known as Sylveon...

(As always, I get these icons from the awesome site Game-icons.net, which has tons of amazing bits of art to use in games, completely free of charge!  The "cards" I post here are proportioned such that they can be printed out at 2.75"x3.75", with 1/8" then trimmed around the edges to bring them to standard poker size...and I've now added dotted lines for the trim...)

Sylveon is a little more...I dunno, abstract(?) in the elemental sense...than previous Underground Elemental Beasts, since its Pokémon type is Fairy.  That's not really an element.  It's not even a quasi-element like Mind or something.  But with an attack called Fairy Wind, Air seems like a reasonable element, doesn't it?  So...that's what that icon up there is supposed to represent...the element of Air...weak to Air and resistant to Lightning.

Yep.

One more note on Underground Elemental Beastfighting...I'm starting to play around with incorporating these into an RPG campaign and/or competitive game unto itself, so I also started playing around with cardbacks.  Here's one of my first go's at it...

I hope everyone's 2017 has started out on the right track!

Monstrous Monday Tuesday: Two more OSR Eeveelutions

In the lingering holiday rush, I didn't quite hit Monstrous Monday with this post, but I wanted to continue looking at Eeveelutions for old school RPGs by hitting the next two to enter the Pokédex...Glaceon and Leafeon.

These two showed up in Generation IV of the Pokémon games, adding Ice- and Grass-types to Eevee's evolved forms.  As with all Eeveelutions, they're as cute as they can be.

Leafeon is especially interesting to me, as it's depicted as a sweet little nonconfrontational, tree-hugging critter, with Pokédex entries like:

When you see Leafeon asleep in a patch of sunshine, you'll know it is using photosynthesis to produce clean air.

...and...

It basically does not fight. With cells similar to those of plants, it can perform photosynthesis.

So it basically does not fight, which is pretty cool...oh, I guess except for the times that it's forced to fight in a ridiculous bloodsport by the humans who hold it captive, which is, y'know, the entire point of the Pokémon franchise.

Here are the Glaceon and Leafeon entries at Bulbapedia, and here they are in simple forms for old school games...

(As always, I get these icons from the awesome site Game-icons.net, which has tons of amazing bits of art to use in games, completely free of charge!  These cards are proportioned such that they can be printed out at 2.75"x3.75", with 1/8" then trimmed around the edges to bring them to standard poker size.)

Monstrous Monday: More Eeveelutions for old school games

It's still Monstrous Monday!  Just enough time for me to continue last week's look at the Eeveelutions for old school gaming by featuring the next two to hit the scene...Espeon and Umbreon.

These aren't quite as "elemental" as the first three, but Pokémon's Darkness seems like it could easily be interpreted as Aether, and the Mind as an element should also work in this system, eh?

As noted before, I get these icons from the awesome site Game-icons.net, which has tons of amazing bits of art to use in games, completely free of charge!  Also, these cards are proportioned such that they can be printed out at 2.75"x3.75", with 1/8" then trimmed around the edges to bring them to standard poker size.

Monstrous Monday: Old school Eeveelutions for old school games

Continuing the Pokémon theme...let me note that I've long been a fan of the so-called "Eeveelutions":

From Bulbapedia

One juvenile stage, with the potential to metamorphose into a variety of elemental adult forms depending upon the method and circumstances, is pretty fun.

There's also the fact that we've always thought our dog Brady looks like an Eeveelution.  (Jolteon, especially.)  Thus, his nickname (among others)...

(Out on the town with his late soulmate Marsha...)

So here are the three Generation I Eeveelutions, converted for battle in your favorite icosahedron-based combat system...

(Ah, and a couple of things I've neglected to mention in the past...first is that I get these icons from the awesome site Game-icons.net, which has tons of amazing bits of art to use in games, completely free of charge!  Second is that the cards I put up here are pretty consistently proportioned such that they can be printed out at 2.75"x3.75", with 1/8" then trimmed around the edges to bring them to standard poker size.)

(Pocket) Monstrous Monday: Underground Elemental Beastfighting (Revisited)

I was hoping to get this post up today, to get started again on Monstrous Mondays...and then seeing the excellent post by Tim over at The Other Side (on a "monster naturalist" campaign) energized me to make sure I wrote a bit about the 'Mons this week.

Pokémon has seen a bit of a surge in retro fun lately, starting with the focus on first-generation monsters in Pokémon Go.  Then, earlier this month, the newest set for the trading card game (Evolutions) dropped in English, also revisiting a bunch of G1 critters to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the franchise.  And this new set doesn't just feature the older monsters; some of the cards are essentially identical to those from the game's very first set, and some are updated just enough to take into account the game's power creep over the years.

For example, back at the start of the game, one of the most dangerous Pokémon in the game was the quick- and hard-hitting basic beast Hitmonchan.  His original card looked like this:

Back in 1999, that was a force to be reckoned with.  Today, those stats aren't nearly as impressive.  So, for the new set, the designers have given us this:

Basically, they took a B/X character and converted it to Pathfinder.

Now, overall, this seems like it would be easy to chalk up to lazy design and an attempt to grab more of players' money while putting out minimal effort.  I'll admit, though...these nods to the game as it used to be make me want to pick it up and play again!  (And that's coming from someone who thinks...as ridiculous as this probably sounds...that there might be a legitimate ethical problem at the heart of the Pokémon franchise.)

So, for today's Monster Monday, I'd like to start getting into the habit again of statting up monsters for the Underground Elemental Beastfighting theme that I've explored a little here on this blog.  It'll be easy this first time around...I'm just going to take a few of the beasts from the new TCG set and convert them to generic old school RPG monsters.  (Quick and dirty conversion rules:  HP/10, 1d6/30 damage, HD = Level/20 rounded up, bonus to hit for 1-energy attacks, penalties for attacks requiring 3+ energy, AC based on retreat cost...and a few little tweaks here and there...)

So let's see...may as well start with some basic elements that form a nice triangle, and go from there...

Start with water...

...which is sure to be good against fire...

...which should burn wood pretty easily...

...and bring us right back 'round to water.

Happy Monstrous Monday, all!

Monster Monday: Reptisaurus the Terrible

For this weeks #MonsterMonday, I'm going to hit on a slightly different Kaiju of the Silver Age.  This isn't a monster that inhabited a mainstream superhero universe, but one that held down its own title for a while during the silver '60s:  Reptisaurus!

In 1961, Charlton published two issues of a comic based on the Danish/American kaiju film Reptilicus (there are apparently versions of the film in both Danish and English).

After losing the license, they turned him red and continued the series as Reptisaurus, where it lasted for another six issues and a special edition.  He even made an appearance in Charlton's comic series featuring the monster Gorgo (whose mother appeared here on a previous Monster Monday).

You can read a good summary of Reptisaurus's backstory over at the Public Domain Super Heroes wiki (yes, it seems that Reptisaurus has fallen into the public domain!) or in the first issue of the series that holds the title Reptisaurus.  To really summarize, an ice age sent a pair of Reptisauruses (or...Reptisauri, if you prefer) into a deep hibernation in a warm volcanic area.  And then...well...

Isn't that always the way?

Luckily, Reptisaurus seems to be a bit more helpful than his inspiration Reptilicus.  Instead of introducing himself by destroying Copenhagen, he helps to fight off an alien invasion.

I like to try to at least guesstimate a size on these big guys.  According to this wiki entry, Reptilicus was around 90 feet (27 m) long.  I initially thought the Reptisauruses were meant to be bigger than that.  Here's an establishing shot with what may be a blue whale...

...which would make me want to put it at well over 100 feet.  But...who knows?  That 90 feet may be a good guess, as we also get shots like this that make it seem pretty reasonable:

The perspectives I've seen just make it difficult to judge.  Could be a small plane and a small blue whale, after all.

If you're interested in reading more about the history of this beast, there's a very good writeup to be found at this link.

Thanks for checking this guy out!  I'm really enjoying covering these four-color monsters and hope you'll stop by again next week for another Kaiju of the Silver Age!