[Monster] Spawning Spawns with Footprints #24

The January 2019 issue of Footprints (#24), the e-zine of the AD&D community Dragonsfoot, includes a random generator for Spawns of Shub-Niggurath, written by Marco Caravagna. I love creature generators, so let's see how this compares to the Spawns of Shub-Niggurathizer that comes with Carcosa.

The generator takes up 5 pages (21-25) and takes you through a series of tables, as usual. The author warns us that "due to the complexity of the tables, it is recommended that the DM prepare spawn well ahead of time," well, yes, this takes up some time to roll up and interpret. The Spawns generated are TOUGH. 4+ attacks easily, lots of special attacks... There is a nice variety, a wide range of possible stuff...

And even if you don't need a monstrous HD 17 aberration, you can always spice up one of your regular monsters with just a few rolls on select tables.

E.g., you have a simple, boring orc, but with just two rolls on the body features table, your orc now has an exposed skeleton (flesh appears partly melted from bones) and an extra sucker-like mouth (potential extra attack, but at -3 to hit due to inconvenient location, 1-4 damage; blood drain for 1-4 HP per round). Simple boring orc no more! And it smells like... *roll roll roll* Perfume!! uhh... (wonderful smell detected to 100’; 10% chance of pheromones: if save vs. poison fails, victim refuses to harm spawn (but will defend against it))

Anyways, here's a full Spawn:

SPAWN OF SHUB-NIGGURATH

FREQUENCY: Very rare (common near Shub-Niggurath)
NO. APPEARING: 1 (3-36 near Shub-Niggurath)
ARMOR CLASS: 4 [18]
MOVE: 3"
HIT DICE: 17 (!!!)
% IN LAIR: 10%
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS: 6 (fangs / tusks / sucker / antlers / ovipositor / whip tail)
DAMAGE/ATTACK: Varies
SPECIAL ATTACKS: sucker, web spinneret
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Varies
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Non-, animal, or semi
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic
SIZE: L
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: ?

Locomotion: Flopping, 3"
Integument: Exoskeleton (AC 4 [18 in LotFP])
Limbs: zero
Eyes: 1
 > Black hole!
Mouths: 3
 > Fanged, 1-8
 > Tusked, 2 tusks, 2-8, worth 200 sp each
 > Sucker (e.g. as lamprey or leech), 1-4; blood drain for 1-4 HP per round
Other sensory apparatus: zero
Head features: 4
 > Bald
 > Ornamented: startling when flared; spawn gets 1 extra segment’s worth of attacks if it surprises enemies
 > Crest or comb
 > Antlers, damage 2-8 total
Tails: 3
 > Spiked Ovipositor damage 1-4; lays eggs that kill host in 4-32 turns; cure disease kills larvae
 > Spinneret fling webs 20’ as spell every other round
 > Whip, damage 1-4
Body features: 2
 > Leaves any color
 > Exposed organs, suffers double damage in combat
No scent, secretion, infestation or immunity :(

[Monster] The Kelipot Sovereignty, using the Elegant Fantasy Creature Generator

Another random monster post, this time using Elegant Fantasy Creature Generator by Raphael Sadowski / Nine Tongues Tales. It promises interesting, inspiring combinations (instead of silly results or randomized messy stats), so let's dive in!

Type: Swarm
A group of small creatures that live and work together. Smaller than human.

Theme: Mollusk/Squid
Soft bodies, sometimes a shell. Tentacles or primitive slug-like “foot”.

Mental Faculty: Primitive
Just above the “Smart Animal” – is able to create art, worship gods and probably wonders about the meaning of life.

Pigmentation: Translucent / White

Random Features:
Single Horn: Sports a single horn somewhere on its body. Ornamental or disfiguring, this horn may have function other than just a crude mean of defense.
Smoke: It’s always surrounded by smoke. Is it a humanoid smoking a hookah? A living censer? Or a salamander breathing out billowing smoke every time it opens its mouth?
Egg Laying: Kill it! Quickly, before it lays eggs! Or is it too late…?

Peculiar Circumstances: Worshiped
There are humanoids who treat this creature as their god.

Horrifier: Destiny
It will chase you and haunt you forever. It will crawl from under your bed to watch you sleep at night. It will be observing you from afar. You’ll never be alone for as long as it lives.

Weirdifier: Strange Diet
It eats something absolutely bizarre. Sand, glass, sea water, books, bones, excrements. This is the only way it can sustain itself.

Attitude: Oblivious
It will act as if you do not exist at all, even if you attack it.

Which all combines into...

The Kelipot Sovereignty

Sea mollusks. Live and prosper in the shallows. They feed on kinetic energy of underwater currents - starve in still water. For protection, they build exquisite shells around their soft bodies: there are no two identical shells and they are prized artifacts for collectors. When in danger, the creatures hide behind an ink-cloud.

Pearl divers worship these creatures. They know that each single mollusk is just an extension of the Kelipot Sovereignty, a terrible cosmic entity. Some people who come into contact with a shell become marked by the Sovereignty. One day, the Kelipot will arrive to Earth, and the Marked will prostrate themselves before it. The rest will be consumed by the Ever-Shell. 

[Monster] Beings from the "Level 1 Creature Generator"

Some monsters from The Level 1 Creature Generator by Michael Raston!

Level 1 Creature #1: Mushroomman Scholar

Basic Shape: 3x8
Mushroomman, AC11, 2HD, punch: d6, when attacked releases sleep-spores, all Nearby must test CON or fall asleep for d4 rounds.

Form: 4x9
Has evolved to become more manlike, more beastly shapes become humanoid and gain the ability of verbal communication. Pre-humanoid shapes become super intelligent or technologically.

Ability: 1x6
Can choose to divide self in half once per lifetime, each half has half original total HP but current HP is restored fully to each half.

The Mushroomman Scholar is a highly intelligent strain of the general mushroom-people. It can converse about a wide range of subjects, and is ashamed of releasing its spores in public. 

For higher levels: It can either be an accomplished occultist (spellcasting a Magic-User 2), or a researcher into weird new technologies (wields a Space Alien weapon, generated via Carcosa's random tables: Rifle, range 1000', damage 4d6, 50 charges; projects a beam of cosmic radiation). 

Level 1 Creature #2: The Charmer Snake

Basic Shape: 1x2
Snake, AC11, 1HD, poison bite: d6, test CON or d4 damage for d6 rounds.

Form: 4x4
Form morphs into that of its target, becoming a mirror image. Is globular and amorphous otherwise. (Getting rid of this clause)

Ability: 4x4
A being born of chaos, roll on this table twice and combine results:
4x1: Magically sings d4 x HD beings to sleep once day.
1x1: Can charm a target once per day for d6 hours.

Used to be a snake charmer's pet, but learned a couple of tricks, broke free, and now it is the Charmer Snake!!!!!! 

Level 1 Creature #3: Dodo Avenger

Basic Shape: 2x5
Flightless bird, AC11, 1HD, claw/beak: d8.

Form: 2x5
Is regular size for shape until the point is attacked or attacks. At that point form grows/shrinks to be the same size as target. Modify HD and attack damage as appropriate.

Ability: 4x5
HD times a day can summon a biologically or magically appropriate trap mechanism that holds target completely in place for d10 rounds.

The Dodo Avenger will fight to death to avenge the death of its species.

Overall, this is a really nice generator. Instead of spurting out mad cosmic abominations, tt gives a solid baseline (table #1 by itself generates a simple, but complete creature, to which more variations and abilities are added). Great for weird/whimsical settings!

[Monster] Summoning the Spawns of the Nether-Realms with the LotFP Summon Spell

More random creatures! This time with Lamentations' notorious Summon spell. Of course, the easiest way is firing up Ramanan's automatic Summon script, but rolling dice on a weekend is a nice thing, so let's roll some dice!

Summoned Entity #1, casting save made

HD: 6

Basic form: Organic Rot (causes disease on a hit)

Appendages, base number (1d8): 1

Appendages: no appendages :(

Special powers, base number (1d8): 4

Special powers: none :(

The Perspiring Mound of Pandemonium is a crawling, oozing abomination, spreading the Ochre Plague.

Summoned Entity #2, casting save failed

HD: 6

Basic form: Insectiod (+2 AC) = 14 AC

Appendages, base number (1d8): 6

Appendages:

5 - Skeletal Stinger; 1 - Adhesive Eggs/Seeds 

Special powers, base number (1d8): 6

Special powers:

2 (41) - Immune to Physical Attacks; 1 (99) - Wall of Fire (at will, one at a time)

The Abyssal Dragonfly-Dragon, straight from the 6th Circle of hell. Translucent wings shimmer like cosmic fire.

Summoned Entity #3, casting save failed

HD: 4

Basic form: Polyhedral

Appendages, base number (1d6): 3

Appendages: none :(

Special powers, base number (1d6): 3

Special powers:

2 (100) - Web (at will, one at a time)

Fragment of a Shattered Fractal Dimension, mad and uncontrollable, paralyzing people with Tron-style meshes.

[Monster] Spawning Spawns with Carcosa's Spawn of Shub-Niggurath generator

I like random creature generators! I was reading through Carcosa, and there is a short section with tables for generating random Spawns of Shub-Niggurath. Two examples follow:

Spawn #1: G'hal, The Niggurathean Spore-Sack Bastard

AC: 13
Movement: Land only, 30'
HD: 6
Alignment: Chaotic (duhh...)
Body type: Fungoid
Color: Gray
Hide: Scaled
Eyes: One
Mouth: Circular gaping maw
Special Attacks: None
Special Defenses: Regenerate 1HD every 1-3 rounds

Crawling and ever-growing fungal fruiting body. Its slow movement is not "movement" per se, but actually rapid directional growth. Which explains the regenerative powers as well. The single eye makes it quite phallic too. Creepy. 

Spawn #2: Tsath-Shub Hybrid

AC: 12
Movement: Land 60', Flying 120'
HD: 3
Alignment: Chaotic (duhh...)
Body type: Batrachian
Color: Green
Hide: Smooth
Eyes: Three
Mouth: Circular gaping maw
Special Attacks: None
Special Defenses: None

A three-eyed flying frog, nothing less, nothing more!

Overall, the generator serves the purpose well - it can quickly spurt out a couple of spawns. 3 minutes for a creature, tops.  Its utility outside of Carcosa seems more limited.

One of the main problems with this generator is the low number of special attacks. There is a 84% chance of "none", and then 16 powers. Admittedly, in the context of Carcosa, this is alright, as Spawns are encountered ALL THE TIME, and having each and every one of them with a special attack would be too much even for the Carcossan gonzo.

Another thing I find underwhelming is the Eyes table. The results are just quantitative (zero to six eyes), with just one result being a qualitative descriptor ("multiple/insectile"). Not very inspiring. The Mouth table is short (1d6), but with four good qualitative results in there.

It can yield interesting combinations, but it lacks that emergent inspiration that you can find in RECG, for example. But, again, this was not created as a general monster randomizer, so it's unfair to criticize it as such. Go Spawns!

[Swamp '70] The Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water

"Swamp '70" is the tentative working title / tag I've given to the 1970s occult game I'm brainstorming.

So, do you know this classic public information short from 1973? Pure genius. And it is a perfect creature or plot hook for the Swamp '70 setting.

"Do not play near the swamps, Hannah!" "No, Collin Smith Jr., you definitely cannot go fishing at the old pond!" "Don't go into the woods!" "Be careful, Jeffrey!" -- but the warnings and cautionary tales of parents are lost on the children... Kids keep disappearing under mysterious circumstances. Is it possible that a malevolent being is preying upon the children of the town? A serial killer, a twisted pedophile? Or maybe...

The Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water?!

The Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water is a disembodied entity that can form an empathic link with a sentient being and amplify in its victim such characteristics as unwariness, show-offishness, foolishness & carelessness. It inhabits perilous abandoned places. Typical examples include quarry lakes, junkyards, desolate buildings or even a poorly maintained playground. Dangers are plenty, yet subtle: slippery mud, crumbling concrete, loose stones, corroded iron. The Spirit is like the Imp of the Perverse: its influence leads the victim (most commonly, a child) to death. This is the only thing that can satisfy the Spirit's cravings.

"When the quarry operations stopped, the original quarry pit filled with water.
This was used for a "swimming hole" by local folks but it was dangerous.
Several people were drowned in the old quarry..."

The exact origin of the Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water is unknown. One possible explanation that it is the hungry ghost of the first victim of the place, damned to haunt it for eternity, replaying the events of its own death over and over again. Another explanation is that once people retreat from a place, it slips into abandon, and otherworldly forces claim it as their own...