Monday, September 26, 2011

Animal Mash-ups

Okay, if you're my player stop reading.  That goes for you G, and Tyler!

It looks like my long dormant campaign will resume this Friday.  We last left the party stranded on an island populated by weird animal hybrids.  In fact the last thing that happened was the party discovered one of the machines that could do this (I never wrote this session up, and yes, there is more than one animal combiner).

I had great fun having the party be sprayed by skunk-bats.  They had a dangerous encounter with a golden puma of sorts-- with tail feathers and the ability to charm.  They also encountered some screaming cobras with little peacock tails around their heads instead hoods and a scream that makes you dumb if you fail your save.  And the tragic parrot pig, pushed so cruelly into quicksand.

So, I thought I would generate some more possibilities for them to encounter.  Which means I keep rolling on this table until something strikes me as a cool possibility.  Here are a few:
  • rattle heron - "Look at those graceful birds feeding on the fish in that pond.  Wait, they lifted their heads. Aggh, flying snakes."
  • striped monitors - Zebra + monitor lizards.  These seem terrifying to me, imagine a galloping herd of creatures with the heads of those things that race up and tear prey to shreds.
  • sloth hawk - this seemed hilarious.  How slow can a bird fly and still be flying, haha.  Maybe it can hang about and be a mascot.
  • humming panther - A puma with humming bird wings, think blink panther + displacer panther, terrifying.
  • chameleobear - grizzly + chameleon, run muthafutha's
  • turtle vultures - I think these could be like shriekers-- they make a lot of noise and draw other encounters, except they come to your recent kill, and their are hard as hell to kill, pull back into their shells.
  • buffalo swans - think water buffalo with huge black wings.  Man, this island is getting less and less hospitable.
  • pachylion - Elephant lion hybrid. If I can pull off the description, this would be terrifying.  Basically a giant thick-hided lion.
  • beaked rats - toucan beaks on rats.  might just be local color, maybe they snap too.
  • moosepecker - haha, another goofy one.  Although, if it's territorial and stil has the antlers maybe not.
  • fisheater - anteater + hippo.  It just wallows around vacuuming up fish in its long snout. Probably not dangerous if you leave it alone.
  • yellow beaver - canary + beaver. Hah!  These little yellow things swarm and cut down trees.  That might block a trail.  Also their dams are said to be filled with golden pebbles they've picked up.
  • Kroalas - crow-headed bear-things climb trees very slowly.  Make a lot of noise, like shriekers.
  • Furred Frogs - frog-sized but with enough black bear in them to have teeth, claws, and fur.
  • Owlamanders - I guess just local color, slimy brightly colored things that fly silently past.
  • Golden Cobras - canary-yellow feathers.  No wings, but a sweet bird song as their warning, then bite!
Okay, that's enough for now.  The online roller I'm using doesn't seem very random amd I'm tired of getting the same results again and again.   I need to make a swimmer/insect chart to give me more unique results.  But that gives me some to think about.  I may just use a few of these that stick in mind most.  Keep in mind that one of the players has a beautiful cap and when he puts it on stuff tends to follow him, even non-predatory animals come out of the jungle in wondrous awe.

7 comments:

  1. I am a big fan of crazy chimeric creatures! Have fun on your island of mixed-up beasts.

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  2. chameleon-bear: can it stick its paws to you by incredibly powerful surface tension, and then prize you apart? Could have fun platemail-breaking potential. Also, hard to sneak up on.

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  3. Can't believe I missed the animal chart first time around. All kindsa useful

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  4. @seaofstarsrpg: Thanks, I'm looking forward to the little yellow beavers, causing havok eating a wall, or part of a boat.

    @richard: Sure. I think the hiding until he pops out to eat your head is the worst part ;)

    @zak: I'm glad you think so, I tried keeping it archetypal for just that reason.

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  5. Glad to see the journey continue. (I figured it'd be ok to read this).

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  6. Here's how I imagine a Sloth-Hawk: Like some depictions of dragons, it has a foreclaw along the leading edge of its wings, allowing it to hang from branches on its unusually muscled wings and its talons. It (obviously) cannot fly: Almost like a carrion-picking, tree-crawling rooster. The vultures of the rain forest.

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  7. a carrion-picking, tree-crawling rooster

    Hah, that's great, Thanks.

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