Crafting fantastic dungeon creatures in GURPS

Rasputin · 03-19-2012, 07:38 PM

A couple of years ago, Word Mill Games came out with the Creature Crafter. Having tried one session of a game under the same publisher's (and author's) Mythic Game Master Emulator and been happy with the game that happened (I ran a game for over two-and-a-half hours with no idea what to run at all with two players who were up to the test), I snagged a copy. (From RPGNow. It was there first.) I wanted to make monsters for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy. I rolled up a few monsters right away, which I lost in a hard drive crash, and let things fall by the wayside, but I hadn't forgotten the idea.

Now I am dusting off my notes, tweaking them, and putting them on the forum.

How does all this work? Well, there are a bunch of tables, on which you roll two d10 (either as 2d10 or d100), and set stats from this. Since this is a work for any roleplaying game system, the Creature Crafter sets stats to the norm for the group of characters, whatever that is, and the stats vary from there. Other than the raw game stats, which the Creature Crafter leaves vague, there are tables for the description of the creature ("Spider-like, "Purple" and "Fire-based" are all listed results) and its possible special abilities (things like "Burst of Speed," "Natural Weaponry" or "Fast Healing"). This is likely confusing to anyone who doesn't have the Creature Crafter, so I shall roll up a monster as I write this, giving my GURPSified take on the generator. Note that I didn't bother to stat up the special abilities, instead doing them ad hoc.

First, the Creature Crafter needs a baseline. I did the work for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, putting all the templates into a spreadsheet and coming up with the averages. After some trial-and-error, I only went with the eleven templates in Adventurers, since the ones that are in other supplements tended to be ones that would take the roles of the wizard and bard, and thus were a bit more cerebral: higher IQ, lower ST. The easy Excel-fu gave me a number.

Twelve.

The average stat of a Dungeon Fantasy character is 12, almost regardless of the stat. The biggest exception to this is DX, which is about a point higher, but we'll skip over this to make things easier, and to keep some monsters from having outrageously high DX scores, and to keep Nigel from being too envious.

Now, what are the creature's stats? What do we do with the magic number 12?

The Creature Crafter has a Potency Table, and I'm putting the magic number 12 into the table to make it map out to GURPS numbers. I have other stats that don't map out to 12, like Move (which is relative to Basic Speed, which is on average 6.00) and DR, and I'll put these in the table too. Also, ST doesn't behave like the other attributes, since there are only a few rolls against ST in GURPS, so there are two columns for the standard stats: ST and "Attribute" for DX, IQ, HT, Per and Will.

Code:

Potency Table
2d10	Relative Potency	ST	Attr. 	An. IQ	Move	DR	Damage
-4	Minimum			6	8	1	-5	0	1d-2
5-6	Weak			9	10	2	-3	1	1d
7-9	Less			11	11	3	-1	2	2d-1
10-12	Baseline		12	12	4	0	3	2d
13-15	More			13	13	5	+1	4	2d+1
16-17	Strong			15	14	6	+3	6	3d
18+	Maximum			18	16	8	+6	8	4d

Alright, there's another column: Animal IQ for those creatures that have animal intelligence. And I added Damage, for things like Innate Attacks that don't rely on ST. More on all this in a bit. You can also use the Move column for moving Will and Per off IQ, which you shouldn't do for Animal Intelligence; let them start at 12 for those creatures. I am going to start rolling now.

The Creature Crafter doesn't have a clear starting table, so I am going to start by asking how big it is. This is another table I have adapted to GURPS and thrown out the original values in the Creature Crafter, instead making it with GULLIVER.

Code:

Creature Size
1d100	Size		SM	ST	DX	HT	Speed	Move	DR
1-5	Tiny		-6	-9	+3	0	+0.75	-5	-4
6-20	Small		-2	-5	+1	0	+0.25	-2	-2
21-70	Human-sized	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
71-85	Large		+2	+12	-1	0	-0.25	+4	+3
86-95	Very large	+4	+50	-2	-1	-0.50	+8	+8
96-100	Gigantic	+6	+120	-3	-2	-0.75	+12	+18

Now that we have that out of the way let's roll. I really am starting now. I roll 1d100 for size, and I get … 67. This is a man-sized whatsit.

This whatsit is something. Now, I am going to roll 1d100 on the Creature Classification table, which lacks game stats other than some relative values for four general stats: Health (HT), Speed (Move), Defense (DR) and Offense (ST). Since this isn't game specific, I'm not going to give it, but I roll and I get … 7. It's an Alien! I'd call that out of genre but in the Savage Worlds Fantasy game in which I play on alternate Sundays, we just saw Zardoz who really isn't an alien but is like one and we might have to fight it so I'm up to making an alien. It gets +2 on the Potency Table to all four stats, has a 60% chance to be able to see in the dark, and 50% likely to be of Animal intelligence, 50% likely to be of normal intelligence. Rolling, it can see in the dark, so it would have some Night Vision or Infravision or Dark Vision -- we'll leave it until later to choose which -- and has normal intelligence.

I shall skip the Number of Creatures table, leaving us with one alien (or Elder Thing?) equal to one adventurer, and generate its stats. I am going to add +2 to the rolls for ST, HT, Move and DR, not to the raw stats themselves. Here is what I get:

Code:

ST: 13		HP: 13		Speed: 6.50
DX: 14		Will: 8		Move: 6
IQ: 11		Per: 10
HT: 12		FP: 12		SM: 0
Dodge: 9	Parry: ?	DR: 8

This alien is tough. Right now, that's the only remarkable thing about him. I left HP and FP at their bases off ST and HT, since I don't see any reason to move them for E.T.

How does this alien look? For that, I need to roll twice on the Alien Descriptions table and figure out for myself what those results mean. My two rolls are 36 and 73, "Multi-eyed" and "Humanoid looking," so we know it resembles us other than its many eyes. I like the idea of something walking around with lots of eye stalks where its hair should be, so I go with 360° Vision (Easy to Hit) to represent that. I also think its weird eyes should have something more than normal Night Vision, so it also has Infravision to represent its skill of seeing in darkness.

Now, I want some special abilities. There is a huge table for this, with so many entries that I shan't even try to give GURPS stats for every special ability I can roll. I roll 1d100 for this and get … 75, Summon. This is definitely an Elder Thing. There is a sub table here, and I roll on it to get 7: "The creature can summon other creatures that are greatly inferior to it." I'll have those be a swarm of spectral bugs, equivalent to the swarm of bees on p. B461 since I don't want to spend all night rolling up another creature. This means it has Ally (Spectral Bug Swarm, 12 or less; Minion; Summonable).

I want to see if this Elder Thing with Too Many Eyes has more special abilities, and this time I get 10, which is No Special Ability. That's usually the point to stop, so I shall.

Finally, what can this sucka do? I went into other Dungeon Fantasy supplements to figure out what other Traits Elder Things typically have. I think its skin is pure metal, to reflect its high DR. I give it a shortsword because I think it needs to fight with something, and I do have the githyanki of D&D on the mind. I give it a name in a personally constructed language because I am a dork and I like languages: Ōkanrôyos. And here it is below:

Ōkanrôyos

Code:

ST: 13		HP: 13		Speed: 6.50
DX: 14		Will: 8		Move: 6
IQ: 11		Per: 10
HT: 12		FP: 12		SM: 0
Dodge: 9	Parry: 11	DR: 8

Shortsword (16): 2d-1 cutting or 1d impaling; Reach 1.

Traits: 360° Vision (Easy to Hit); Ally (Spectral Bug Swarm, 12 or less; Minion; Summonable); Doesn't Breathe; Doesn't Sleep; High Pain Threshold; Immunity to Metabolic Hazards; Indomitable; Infravision; Injury Tolerance (No Blood, No Vitals); Magic Resistance 6; Unfazeable.
Skills: Shortsword-16; Stealth-15.
Class: Elder Thing.
Notes: Far too alien to negotiate. Their shortswords are unremarkable.

03-19-2012, 07:38 PM	#1
Rasputin Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Minneapolis, MN, USA	Crafting fantastic dungeon creatures in GURPS A couple of years ago, Word Mill Games came out with the *Creature Crafter. Having tried one session of a game under the same publisher's (and author's) Mythic Game Master Emulator* and been happy with the game that happened (I ran a game for over two-and-a-half hours with no idea what to run at all with two players who were up to the test), I snagged a copy. (From RPGNow. It was there first.) I wanted to make monsters for *GURPS Dungeon Fantasy. I rolled up a few monsters right away, which I lost in a hard drive crash, and let things fall by the wayside, but I hadn't forgotten the idea. Now I am dusting off my notes, tweaking them, and putting them on the forum. How does all this work? Well, there are a bunch of tables, on which you roll two d10 (either as 2d10 or d100), and set stats from this. Since this is a work for any roleplaying game system, the Creature Crafter* sets stats to the norm for the group of characters, whatever that is, and the stats vary from there. Other than the raw game stats, which the *Creature Crafter* leaves vague, there are tables for the description of the creature ("Spider-like, "Purple" and "Fire-based" are all listed results) and its possible special abilities (things like "Burst of Speed," "Natural Weaponry" or "Fast Healing"). This is likely confusing to anyone who doesn't have the *Creature Crafter, so I shall roll up a monster as I write this, giving my GURPSified take on the generator. Note that I didn't bother to stat up the special abilities, instead doing them ad hoc. First, the Creature Crafter* needs a baseline. I did the work for *GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, putting all the templates into a spreadsheet and coming up with the averages. After some trial-and-error, I only went with the eleven templates in Adventurers, since the ones that are in other supplements tended to be ones that would take the roles of the wizard and bard, and thus were a bit more cerebral: higher IQ, lower ST. The easy Excel-fu gave me a number. Twelve. The average stat of a Dungeon Fantasy* character is 12, almost regardless of the stat. The biggest exception to this is DX, which is about a point higher, but we'll skip over this to make things easier, and to keep some monsters from having outrageously high DX scores, and to keep Nigel from being too envious. Now, what are the creature's stats? What do we do with the magic number 12? The *Creature Crafter* has a Potency Table, and I'm putting the magic number 12 into the table to make it map out to *GURPS* numbers. I have other stats that don't map out to 12, like Move (which is relative to Basic Speed, which is on average 6.00) and DR, and I'll put these in the table too. Also, ST doesn't behave like the other attributes, since there are only a few rolls against ST in *GURPS, so there are two columns for the standard stats: ST and "Attribute" for DX, IQ, HT, Per and Will. Code: Potency Table* 2d10 Relative Potency ST Attr. An. IQ Move DR Damage -4 Minimum 6 8 1 -5 0 1d-2 5-6 Weak 9 10 2 -3 1 1d 7-9 Less 11 11 3 -1 2 2d-1 10-12 Baseline 12 12 4 0 3 2d 13-15 More 13 13 5 +1 4 2d+1 16-17 Strong 15 14 6 +3 6 3d 18+ Maximum 18 16 8 +6 8 4d Alright, there's another column: Animal IQ for those creatures that have animal intelligence. And I added Damage, for things like Innate Attacks that don't rely on ST. More on all this in a bit. You can also use the Move column for moving Will and Per off IQ, which you shouldn't do for Animal Intelligence; let them start at 12 for those creatures. I am going to start rolling now. The *Creature Crafter* doesn't have a clear starting table, so I am going to start by asking how big it is. This is another table I have adapted to *GURPS* and thrown out the original values in the *Creature Crafter, instead making it with GULLIVER. Code: Creature Size* 1d100 Size SM ST DX HT Speed Move DR 1-5 Tiny -6 -9 +3 0 +0.75 -5 -4 6-20 Small -2 -5 +1 0 +0.25 -2 -2 21-70 Human-sized 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 71-85 Large +2 +12 -1 0 -0.25 +4 +3 86-95 Very large +4 +50 -2 -1 -0.50 +8 +8 96-100 Gigantic +6 +120 -3 -2 -0.75 +12 +18 Now that we have that out of the way let's roll. I really am starting now. I roll 1d100 for size, and I get … 67. This is a man-sized whatsit. This whatsit is something. Now, I am going to roll 1d100 on the Creature Classification table, which lacks game stats other than some relative values for four general stats: Health (HT), Speed (Move), Defense (DR) and Offense (ST). Since this isn't game specific, I'm not going to give it, but I roll and I get … 7. It's an Alien! I'd call that out of genre but in the *Savage Worlds* Fantasy game in which I play on alternate Sundays, we just saw Zardoz who really isn't an alien but is like one and we might have to fight it so I'm up to making an alien. It gets +2 on the Potency Table to all four stats, has a 60% chance to be able to see in the dark, and 50% likely to be of Animal intelligence, 50% likely to be of normal intelligence. Rolling, it can see in the dark, so it would have some Night Vision or Infravision or Dark Vision -- we'll leave it until later to choose which -- and has normal intelligence. I shall skip the Number of Creatures table, leaving us with one alien (or Elder Thing?) equal to one adventurer, and generate its stats. I am going to add +2 to the rolls for ST, HT, Move and DR, not to the raw stats themselves. Here is what I get: Code: ST: 13 HP: 13 Speed: 6.50 DX: 14 Will: 8 Move: 6 IQ: 11 Per: 10 HT: 12 FP: 12 SM: 0 Dodge: 9 Parry: ? DR: 8 This alien is tough. Right now, that's the only remarkable thing about him. I left HP and FP at their bases off ST and HT, since I don't see any reason to move them for E.T. How does this alien look? For that, I need to roll twice on the Alien Descriptions table and figure out for myself what those results mean. My two rolls are 36 and 73, "Multi-eyed" and "Humanoid looking," so we know it resembles us other than its many eyes. I like the idea of something walking around with lots of eye stalks where its hair should be, so I go with 360° Vision (Easy to Hit) to represent that. I also think its weird eyes should have something more than normal Night Vision, so it also has Infravision to represent its skill of seeing in darkness. Now, I want some special abilities. There is a huge table for this, with so many entries that I shan't even try to give *GURPS* stats for every special ability I can roll. I roll 1d100 for this and get … 75, Summon. This is definitely an Elder Thing. There is a sub table here, and I roll on it to get 7: "The creature can summon other creatures that are greatly inferior to it." I'll have those be a swarm of spectral bugs, equivalent to the swarm of bees on p. B461 since I don't want to spend all night rolling up another creature. This means it has Ally (Spectral Bug Swarm, 12 or less; Minion; Summonable). I want to see if this Elder Thing with Too Many Eyes has more special abilities, and this time I get 10, which is No Special Ability. That's usually the point to stop, so I shall. Finally, what can this sucka do? I went into other *Dungeon Fantasy* supplements to figure out what other Traits Elder Things typically have. I think its skin is pure metal, to reflect its high DR. I give it a shortsword because I think it needs to fight with something, and I do have the githyanki of *D&D* on the mind. I give it a name in a personally constructed language because I am a dork and I like languages: Ōkanrôyos. And here it is below: Ōkanrôyos Code: ST: 13 HP: 13 Speed: 6.50 DX: 14 Will: 8 Move: 6 IQ: 11 Per: 10 HT: 12 FP: 12 SM: 0 Dodge: 9 Parry: 11 DR: 8 Shortsword (16): 2d-1 cutting or 1d impaling; Reach 1. Traits: 360° Vision (Easy to Hit); Ally (Spectral Bug Swarm, 12 or less; Minion; Summonable); Doesn't Breathe; Doesn't Sleep; High Pain Threshold; Immunity to Metabolic Hazards; Indomitable; Infravision; Injury Tolerance (No Blood, No Vitals); Magic Resistance 6; Unfazeable. Skills: Shortsword-16; Stealth-15. Class: Elder Thing. Notes: Far too alien to negotiate. Their shortswords are unremarkable. __________________ Cura isto securi, Eugene. My GURPS blog. Last edited by Rasputin; 03-21-2012 at 07:06 PM. Reason: Lowered the top STs from 18/24 to 15/18; added raw damage.