Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > The Fantasy Trip > The Fantasy Trip: House Rules

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 08-17-2018, 12:17 PM   #1
Shadekeep
 
Shadekeep's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Aerlith
Default Titan Slimes

Been working on these ideas for a while, and now that Steve has posted a huge slime of his own today, I figure I should share these as well. One of them, the Dune Scourge, I have further plans for in the near future.

Slimes, like many other creatures, are prone to extremes of size given their habitat. Indeed, many can grow quite huge, as they don't have the internal support structures that can constrain the size of other lifeforms. Here are five of the Titan Slimes that may be found on Cidri.

Corpse Butter - This pallid yellow slime favours crevices in cavern walls, and may also dwell within the walls of disused wells and mine shafts. It generally subsides on the life that swarms those stony surfaces, but if larger prey passes within its sensory range then it will strike. It sends out a spray of its own flesh in thick ropy tendrils, attempting to snare its prey. Then it will inexorably pull itself back into its crevice, attempting to take the prey along with it. Usually compression kills the prey in short order, but the cracking of bones can be heard long afterwards as the slow inward pull continues. It reproduces via sexual spores and grows at whatever rate its food supply will allow. Small examples may subsist off of cave insects and bats, but there are ones so large that they have no trouble with a person or even a bear. Again, apart from the availability of food and the size of habitable crevices, there is not much else which constrains their final size.

Pwdre Ser - There are no reliable witness accounts of the whole creatures, but they are believed to be large slimes that dwell high up in the atmosphere and which are drawn to storm clouds. They are a colonial organism, with hundreds of slimes aggregating as a single vast mass, forming an air-filled bladder that keeps the colony aloft. Sometimes a violent storm will tear segments of the colony apart, raining down in chunks of what is called "pwdre ser" (Welsh for "rot of the stars"). Some falls of this matter report it as inoffensive, while others describe it as having a sickening acrid odor or caustic properties. The chunks may be clear, or transparently coloured, or contain strands of coloured fibres. Regardless of any other attributes, it is notoriously difficult to collect, as it will evaporate within hours and leave only a thin film behind. (Thanks to William Corliss, who documented such falls of "star-rot" on our own planet.)

Living Lake - This is one of the few slime which can endure daylight, as it has the same refractory index as water and thus light largely passes through it. Further, it dwells in large bodies of water, where it can be difficult to distinguish. What generally gives it away is the debris and fish/animal skeletons suspended inside it, which appear to be stubbornly hovering in place within water until you discern the slime itself. Very large specimens of this slime may occupy much of a lake bed, and the oceanic version is often studded with the rotting timbers and scattered treasure of ships lost at sea. (I realise this shares some attributes with the new Water Slime, but I devised this one before that was posted and figured it differed enough to possibly be useful still.)

Dune Scourge - This spherical desert-dwelling slime protects itself from sunlight with a constantly-renewed coating of sand, which it picks up as it rolls through the desert seeking organic matter. The slime beneath the shell is a pearlescent nacreous green, with adhesive white fibres on the surface that help collect and hold the sand. They reproduce by mitosis, budding off hundreds of small new scourges, only a few of which typically survive to reach full size (20 feet in diameter is considered mature, though ones much greater than that have been reported at times). They are solitary creatures, in part because the opportunistic scourges are also cannibals. (Inspired in part by the Julian May short story "Dune Roller".)

Pastepot - This tropical slime is white, perpetually streaked with dark smears of dirt and organic effluvia. It resembles in colour and texture the paste used by bookbinding scribes. This hideous and rapacious omnivorous horror is fully immune to sunlight. It will steadily devour a swathe through the jungle, consuming anything that cannot evade or resist it. Stone-based life, such as gargoyles and stone beetles, are immune to its digestive enzymes, and a few creatures like basilisks will actually eat the flesh of a Pastepot. Otherwise it is best destroyed or avoided. (Inspired by the "doughpot" from the Stanley G. Weinbaum stories "Parasite Planet" and "The Lotus Eaters".)

EDIT: I can provide game stats for these if there is interest, though in most cases the ST stats are going to be astronomical. These titans would take a large-scale effort to eradicate in most cases, except for small specimens of Corpse Butter or Dune Scourge. In general they act more as an environmental hazard than an enemy encounter.

Last edited by Shadekeep; 08-17-2018 at 12:59 PM. Reason: clarifications
Shadekeep is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-17-2018, 06:37 PM   #2
larsdangly
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Default Re: Titan Slimes

Fantastic! Do you have stats and/or special guidance for attacks, etc. with these?
larsdangly is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-17-2018, 10:29 PM   #3
Anomylous
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Default Re: Titan Slimes

These are great!

Thoughts:

Water Slimes are clearly just juvenile Living Lakes - no conflict here!

Forest fires must kill off Pastepots pretty effectively. Something has to, otherwise they'd take over.
Anomylous is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-18-2018, 09:02 AM   #4
Shadekeep
 
Shadekeep's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Aerlith
Default Re: Titan Slimes

Quote:
Originally Posted by larsdangly View Post
Fantastic! Do you have stats and/or special guidance for attacks, etc. with these?
I am working those up now. I very much appreciate any feedback on these, as it's been a while since I played TFT and these values may need to be tweaked to make the creatures more playable.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anomylous View Post
Forest fires must kill off Pastepots pretty effectively. Something has to, otherwise they'd take over.
Excellent point, and yes, they are very vulnerable to fires. They also have an extremely high metabolism and will auto-cannibalise when food is scarce. I will add further threats to them in their stat breakout, as they need to be part of a larger ecosystem so that they don't destroy the world. ^_^

Thank you both for the comments! Stats to follow.
Shadekeep is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-18-2018, 09:03 AM   #5
Shadekeep
 
Shadekeep's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Aerlith
Default Re: Titan Slimes

Corpse Butter

This pallid yellow slime favours crevices in cavern walls, and may also dwell within the walls of disused wells and mine shafts. It generally subsides on the life that swarms those stony surfaces, but if larger prey passes within its sensory range then it will strike. It sends out a spray of its own flesh in thick ropy tendrils, attempting to snare its prey. Then it will inexorably pull itself back into its crevice, attempting to take the prey along with it. Usually compression kills the prey in short order, but the cracking of bones can be heard long afterwards as the slow inward pull continues. It reproduces via sexual spores and grows at whatever rate its food supply will allow. Small examples may subsist off of cave insects and bats, but there are ones so large that they have no trouble with a person or even a bear. Again, apart from the availability of food and the size of habitable crevices, there is not much else which constrains their final size.

TFT Stats:

Minor - The smallest form generally encountered, mostly feeds off cave beetles, bats, and other nuisance-level prey. The slime can throw tendrils up to two hexes from the crevice it inhabits. Players caught in the tendrils of one suffer a -4 DX penalty while snared, plus a single point of constriction damage to to snared body point on the first round. They can free themselves by killing the slime or making a 3D6 save against ST. It can simultaneously attack up to two targets in range.
ST: 10+1D6
DX: 11 (for tendril hits)
IQ: 1
MA: 0

Standard - The most commonly encountered form, capable of snaring players and 1-hex animals with ease. The tendrils of this slime act essentially as a ROPE spell, with the added danger that when the prey's DX is effectively 0, they are then pulled into the crevice, suffering 1D6+1 points of damage per turn. This is compression damage and armor protection is only counted on the first turn of damage (after that, the armor is crushing the victim as much as the stone walls). The tendrils have a reach of five hexes from the crevice, and it can simultaneously attack up to three targets in range (counted by hex-size, so 1 three-hex beast, or 3 1-hex players, or whatever other combination).
ST: 20+3D6
DX: 11 (for tendril hits)
IQ: 1
MA: 0

Major - The largest form most often reported (even larger ones exist, but few people survive the encounter to describe them). It can snare 4-hex animals, and impede even larger ones. Dragons are known to scour their lairs for these huge examples and exterminate them when possible, as they are a threat even to their young. Their tendrils can reach eight hexes from the crevice and should be treated as a GIANT ROPE spell. As with the Standard version, any prey falling to 0 DX is pulled into the crevice, where they will suffer 2D6+1 damage per turn (again, armor only protects on the first turn here). This monster can snare up to five targets per turn (also counted by hex-size, as with the Standard version).
ST: 50+5D6
DX: 11 (for tendril hits)
IQ: 1
MA: 0

Strengths/Weaknesses:
None of note, though it does share the typical slime aversion to light. If one is using a weapon enchanted with light or fire, the illumination will do an extra +2 damage to the slime per hit.

Last edited by Shadekeep; 08-18-2018 at 03:51 PM. Reason: typos
Shadekeep is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-18-2018, 09:19 AM   #6
Shadekeep
 
Shadekeep's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Aerlith
Default Re: Titan Slimes

Pwdre Ser

There are no reliable witness accounts of the whole creatures, but they are believed to be large slimes that dwell high up in the atmosphere and which are drawn to storm clouds. They are a colonial organism, with hundreds of slimes aggregating as a single vast mass, forming an air-filled bladder that keeps the colony aloft. Sometimes a violent storm will tear segments of the colony apart, raining down in chunks of what is called "pwdre ser" (Welsh for "rot of the stars"). Some falls of this matter report it as inoffensive, while others describe it as having a sickening acrid odor or caustic properties. The chunks may be clear, or transparently coloured, or contain strands of coloured fibres. Regardless of any other attributes, it is notoriously difficult to collect, as it will evaporate within hours and leave only a thin film behind. (Thanks to William Corliss, who documented such falls of "star-rot" on our own planet.)

TFT Stats:

There are no meaningful stats for the fallen chunks of Pwdre Ser, since they do not provide any kind of opposition. Certain fragments may cause acid damage if touched, or have a chance of inducing nausea from the smell. The living colonial form of the creatures would be rarely encountered, unless the players are somehow flying high above the cloud layer. Should that be the case, here are some general stats:

ST: 100 x 2D6
DX: 1
IQ: 1
MA: variable

The MA is variable because the colony floats and thus moves in general where the wind bears it, though it does exert some small influence on direction to the effect of MA 3 in the direction it desires to travel. Most times it desires to travel towards storm clouds and away from anything that causes it pain.

The size of the colony is 1 hex per 5 ST points, so they can be quite large indeed. Every 5 points of damage reduces the colony size by one hex, and any damage done beyond half the colony's ST has a 50% chance of destroying the integrity of the colony's air sac, sending the damaged portion crashing to the ground and the intact slimes breaking away from the colony and scattering into the wind.

Strengths/Weaknesses: Pwdre Ser is completely immune to electrical damage, and indeed is believed to feed in part off of static electricity. The aspect of storms that usually damage the colony are hailstones and other airborne abrasives. The slime is not especially vulnerable to light, either. Projectile weapons that do piercing damage do double damage to the colony, however.

Last edited by Shadekeep; 08-18-2018 at 03:53 PM. Reason: modified excessive damage result
Shadekeep is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-18-2018, 10:02 AM   #7
Shadekeep
 
Shadekeep's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Aerlith
Default Re: Titan Slimes

Living Lake

This is one of the few slimes which can endure daylight, as it has the same refractory index as water and thus light largely passes through it. Further, it dwells in large bodies of water, where it can be difficult to distinguish. What generally gives it away is the debris and fish/animal skeletons suspended inside it, which appear to be stubbornly hovering in place within water until you discern the slime itself. Very large specimens of this slime may occupy much of a lake bed, and the oceanic version is often studded with the rotting timbers and scattered treasure of ships lost at sea. (I realise this shares some attributes with the new Water Slime, but I devised this one before that was posted and figured it differed enough to possibly be useful still.)

TFT Stats:

The stats are highly dependant on the size of the slime. Three sizes are presented here, though only the first is really a viable "target" for players. The other two are so large that it would take a much more concerted effort from a very large group to deal with. These slimes are slow and have a low metabolism, and thus do not overgraze the bodies of water they live in. At the GM's discretion the one encountered by players may have recently fed, and if so it will not attack the players, though it will still act as an encumberance to movement. They are attracted to vibrations, so their prey is dispropotionately land creatures that enter the water and make a lot of bother, as opposed to comparatively silent water creatures like fish, who are usually only caught when they blunder into the slime. All sizes of this slime require a 4D6 saving throw versus IQ to discern prior to being attacked, with a +5 bonus being given to players with Naturalist or Seamanship talents.

Living Pond - These smaller Living Lakes dwell in correspondingly smaller bodies of water. Otherwise, contact with one works very much like a STICKY FLOOR spell. The slime will pull on its prey, exerting 1D6 in fatigue per turn. If the victim reaches 0 ST from the fatigue costs, it is pulled under and drowned, to be subsumed and digested at leisure. Those caught in this slime may attempt a 3D6 throw to pull free, if there is adjacent clear hex to move into. A Living Pond occupies 1 hex per 5 ST points (rounding up).
ST: 30+5D6
DX: 1
IQ: 1
MA: 1

Living Lake - These large slimes dwell in lakes, often those surrounded by woodlands, which are a rich source of prey such as deer seeking to swim across the lake. Like the smaller form, they behave as a STICKY FLOOR spell once they ooze onto their prey, and they do 2D6 per turn in fatigue damage. The pull-free throw for this slime is 4D6 versus ST, and also requires an adjacent clear hex. A Living Lake occupies 1 hex per 10 ST points (rounding up), as it is much thicker vertically than a Living Pond.
ST: 80 x 1D6
DX: 1
IQ: 1
MA: 1

Living Sea - This is the marine version of the slime, found in large salt-water bodies. It grows very large and presents a hazard to shipping in some channels. Vessels encountering it suffer the same kind of STICKY FLOOR effects as living creatures. It does an appalling 3D6 fatigue damage per turn. Some sailors in regions known to harbour these slime have taken to bringing a live sheep or goat along, which they throw overboard during the journey in the hopes of sating any Living Sea beneath them. A Living Sea occupies 1 hex per 20 ST points (rounding up).
ST: 200 x 2D6
DX: 1
IQ: 1
MA: 1

Strengths/Weaknesses: Thanks to the aqueous nature of both the slime and its environment, missile weapons only do half damage to the creature, due to momentum dampening effects. Likewise fire is only half as effective. These slimes are however especially weak to phosphorus and chemical compounds strong in this element, taking triple damage from such things. This weakness is why you find skeletons encased in these slimes - the slimes form a clear cyst around the bones, so that the phosphorus in them doesn't leach into the slime's flesh.

Rumour: Some naturalist speculate that the Water Slime is a very small form of the Living Lake. It in essence regards a living creature as a body of water and attempts to inhabit it. Once it has fed enough times this way around its home body of water, it eventually grows large enough to take up its benthic form of existence.

Last edited by Shadekeep; 08-18-2018 at 03:55 PM. Reason: clarifications
Shadekeep is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-18-2018, 10:45 AM   #8
Shadekeep
 
Shadekeep's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Aerlith
Default Re: Titan Slimes

Dune Scourge

This spherical desert-dwelling slime protects itself from sunlight with a constantly-renewed coating of sand, which it picks up as it rolls through the desert seeking organic matter. The slime beneath the shell is a pearlescent nacreous green, with adhesive white fibres on the surface that help collect and hold the sand. They reproduce by mitosis, budding off hundreds of small new scourges, only a few of which typically survive to reach full size (20 feet in diameter is considered mature, though ones much greater than that have been reported at times). They are solitary creatures, in part because the opportunistic scourges are also cannibals. (Inspired in part by the Julian May short story "Dune Roller".)

TFT Stats:

As with most Titan Slimes, the full-sized version requires a very large effort to destroy, and is not usually suitable for parties to engage. However, the immature versions of this slime can pose a surmountable challenge for the group, be it coping with a spawnling or squaring off against an instar. The sandy outer layer of the slime acts as armor on the larger versions of the slime. Unusually, this slime also appears to have a degree of intelligence, though it is a different kind than what we commonly understand intelligence to be.

Dune Scourge Spawnling - These "infant" scourges are freshly budded off of a parent, usually a week old or less. They are quite small, ranging in size from about 3 to 8 inches (7 - 20 cm). They can be a nuisance, seeking out any kind of organic matter to devour. They don't generally go after large, able-bodied prey, but can be a problem to any incapacitated player or their food provisions. They are mostly active at night, to avoid the daytime predations of their own larger relatives. They do one point of damage per turn to already-incapacitated enemies, so be sure to keep the sick and unconscious clear of them.
ST: 6
DX: 8
IQ: 4
MA: 8

Dune Scourge Instar - The few spawnlings that survive their early days are poised to begin their growth to adulthood. Instar stage scourges can be anywhere from about 1 to 14 feet (one half to 5 meters) in size. Beyond that they are approaching adulthood and should use adult stats. They will attempt to engulf part of their prey and then slowly absorb the whole. Prey successfully struck will suffer a -4 DX penalty and cannot use the engulfed extremity. The scourge uses digestive enzymes and sandy grit to quickly break down prey, doing 1D6 damage per turn. If the head is engulfed, the victim will begin to suffocate as well, taking a further 2 points of damage per turn.
ST: 8 per foot/24 per meter of diameter
DX: 9
IQ: 5
MA: 10
Armor: 2 points

Dune Scourge Adult - Having reached maturity and ready to reproduce, a scourge adult is often 20 feet (6 meters) or more in size. It is suprisingly swift and can seem very shrewd. Usually sitting at rest during the extreme temperatures of day or night, it is most active in the twilight hours around dawn and dusk. It will attempt to engulf prey, as does the instar phase of the slime, but is large and fast enough to attempt a full engulfment of one-hex and two-hex creatures. It does so by trying to move into the prey's hex(es), and the prey must make a 3D6 saving throw against DX to evade. Partially engulfed creatures suffer a -4 DX penalty, and fully engulfed ones suffer -6 DX and have an effective MA of 0. They suffer 2D6+1 damage per turn from the digestive process. An adult scourge may fully engulf up to 4 hexes worth of prey in one encounter.
ST: 10 per foot/30 per meter of diameter
DX: 10
IQ: 7
MA: 12
Armor: 3 points

Strengths/Weaknesses: Adapted to extreme climates, very little seems to hurt a dune scourge. The actual slime beneath the shell is adverse to light, but it is very difficult to expose it to light beyond cutting enough flesh off to basically kill it outright. There is a desert beetle, the thornchafer, which produces an odor that scourges seem to dislike. Some desert folk uses the secretions of the thornchafer to produce an unguent that may repel scourges from food stores and such.

Last edited by Shadekeep; 08-18-2018 at 11:25 AM. Reason: typos
Shadekeep is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-18-2018, 11:06 AM   #9
Shadekeep
 
Shadekeep's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Aerlith
Default Re: Titan Slimes

Pastepot

This tropical slime is white, perpetually streaked with dark smears of dirt and organic effluvia. It resembles in colour and texture the paste used by bookbinding scribes. This hideous and rapacious omnivorous horror is fully immune to sunlight. It will steadily devour a swathe through the jungle, consuming anything that cannot evade or resist it. Stone-based life, such as gargoyles and stone beetles, are immune to its digestive enzymes, and a few creatures like basilisks will actually eat the flesh of a Pastepot. Otherwise it is best destroyed or avoided. (Inspired by the "doughpot" from the Stanley G. Weinbaum stories "Parasite Planet" and "The Lotus Eaters".)

TFT Stats:

Players are likely to only encounter one size of pastepot, and that size is "huge". Pastepots spend a large portion of their life in an kind of fungal form, living as a vast mat under the soil and slowly feeding off decaying matter. It is only when the mass is ready to reproduce that it takes on this giant moving-and-eating form. The mat surges out of the soil and begins a frenzy of devouring, moving like a wave through the jungle and consuming what it can in preparation of reproduction. Most living things caught within the Pastepot will take 2D6 damage per turn, except for those creatures which have immunities to the slime. When it has consumed sufficient mass, it becomes quiescent and stalked fruiting bodies erupt from the surface of the slime. These release spores that will form the next generation of pastepots, and the remaining mass dies and liquifies. A Pastepot covers 1 hex per 10 ST and will engulf by attempting to overrun hexes occupied by prey.
ST: 100 x 1D6
DX: 1
IQ: 1
MA: 4

Strengths/Weaknesses: Pastepots are immune to sunlight but very susceptible to fire, taking double damage from it. Edged and piercing weapons however are largely ineffectual and only do half damage, rounding down. Stone-based creatures are immune to damage from Pastepots. There is also a tropical species of ants called volcants which radiate heat and who prey on the moving form of the pastepot. These ants also cultivate and protect the resting form of the slime, defending and encouraging it, so as to have the reproductive form to feed on. Another symbiotic partner of the pastepot is the pariah tree, a specie of palm with curved thorns that exude a toxin which repels the pastepot. The pastepot is thereby encouraged to devour everything but the tree, leaving clearings for the pariah tree to scatter its seed fruits.
Shadekeep is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-19-2018, 04:56 AM   #10
larsdangly
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Default Re: Titan Slimes

These are really good! I encourage you to put together a little pdf of them for distribution!
larsdangly is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:44 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.