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 > Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 07-29-2019, 05:05 PM   #1
b-dog
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Default Psychedelic Monster

Since the Dungeon Fantasy line does not really want real world religions and cultures I am now thinking of going the other direction and embracing the gonzo style that is DF. So I am thinking of psychedelic monsters that defy logic and three space. Where Elder Things are dark and creepy and Lovecraftian I am thinking about monsters that coruscate colors and light to cause confusion and insanity. They are extra dimensional and defy comprehension as they constantly morph and shapeshift into other forms. An example might be a naga with a beautiful human headed face but the snake part has shiny metallic scales with patterns which are constantly changing along with the colors of the scales. This causes the PCs viewing the snake body to be hypnotized. The snake body part has a stinger at the end and the snake tail moves completely wrong for the DF world and thus the snake stinger can attack the PCs from behind due to the extradimensional nature. Finally the eyes of the beautiful snake headed woman can drain Will points in it locks gazes with the PCs. The bite is also poisonous too.
b-dog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-30-2019, 07:33 AM   #2
Dalin
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
Default Re: Psychedelic Monster

Interesting. The hypnotic attack should be based on Will so that she can focus her gaze on the targets that she wants to hypnotize the most. With her tail, does it still have an effective reach? Like she could attack from any angle on PCs with one hex (or two or three...)

Last edited by Dalin; 07-30-2019 at 03:28 PM.
Dalin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-30-2019, 10:38 AM   #3
Black Leviathan
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Default Re: Psychedelic Monster

I like the idea of her extra-dimensional tail strike, perhaps there's a ready where the players can see the tail tip dissolve into the air so they have a chance to change facing to defend. Maybe rather than a maximum range it has a minimum and is treated like a ranged attack so that PCs have to remain close to the creatures centermass.

Perhaps the bite causes the Hallucinating condition and her cultists cut themselves with blades dipped in the venom to enter a transcendental state that brings them closer to the madness.
Black Leviathan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-31-2019, 11:14 AM   #4
Tinman
 
Tinman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: New York City
Default Re: Psychedelic Monster

Quote:
Originally Posted by b-dog View Post
An example might be a naga with a beautiful human headed face but the snake part has shiny metallic scales with patterns which are constantly changing along with the colors of the scales. This causes the PCs viewing the snake body to be hypnotized. The snake body part has a stinger at the end and the snake tail moves completely wrong for the DF world and thus the snake stinger can attack the PCs from behind due to the extradimensional nature. Finally the eyes of the beautiful snake headed woman can drain Will points in it locks gazes with the PCs. The bite is also poisonous too.
I like this. I might have to steal it for my DF campaign. My PC's are stuck in "the Dream Lands". This monster is an excellent fit.
Thank you.
Tinman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-31-2019, 12:54 PM   #5
b-dog
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Default Re: Psychedelic Monster

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalin View Post
Interesting. The hypnotic attack should be based on Will so that she can focus her gaze on the targets that she wants to hypnotize the most. With her tail, does it still have an effective reach? Like she could attack from any angle on PCs with one hex (or two or three...)
I am thinking that the psychedelic naga could warp the fabric of reality a few hexes away from her and so the stinger would appear to come out of nowhere but as it pulls back the PCs can see that the space time around them has changed and they can sort of understand how the stinger was able to get to them. Maybe there is a penalty as the attack from behind get further away from the target.
b-dog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-31-2019, 01:09 PM   #6
b-dog
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Default Re: Psychedelic Monster

Another demon can materialize and become visible to one PC in the group. To the rest of the group the demon is insubstantial and invisible. It would follow the group of PCs and try to terrorize the PC that can see it and try to make the rest of the party feel the PC is insane. The demon can be detected by the other PCs by Detect Invisible and Sense Spirit but it would be at a penalty of -10. Any attack that affects insubstantial would also be at -10. Once the demon kills the PC then the demon finds a new victim. The demon with this ability is usually a night hag that rides the victim at night until they die while the rest of the PCs only see their friend screaming in terror at night maybe thinking it is just a bad dream.
b-dog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-31-2019, 02:48 PM   #7
b-dog
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Default Re: Psychedelic Monster

Another psychedelic demon might be one with multifaceted eyes like an insect. If it gazes at a PC then the PC must make a dodge roll or have the PCs vision also become multifaceted. Unfortunately the PC just sees a bunch of images and must guess which one is the correct one when attacking. This is done by the Dungeon Master rolling three dice 6 secretly and recording each die roll. For example he rolls 6, 2, 3. Then the PC that is afflicted gets to pick three numbers from 1 to 6 and then the Dungeon Master subtracts them from his dice roll. For example the 6, 2, 3 die roll above is compared to the PCs selection of say 3, 4, 1. So 6 - 3=3, 2 - 4= 2, and 3 - 1=2 which is 3+2+2=7 so the PC would be at -7 for any visual task. The PC can select new numbers to try to use a different image to attack and over time he could figure out which image on his multifaceted vision is the correct one but once he figures it out then his eyes are permanently transformed into insectoid multifaceted eyes and gains the unnatural feature disadvantage.
b-dog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-31-2019, 03:54 PM   #8
Dalin
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
Default Re: Psychedelic Monster

Quote:
Originally Posted by b-dog View Post
Another demon can materialize and become visible to one PC in the group. To the rest of the group the demon is insubstantial and invisible. It would follow the group of PCs and try to terrorize the PC that can see it and try to make the rest of the party feel the PC is insane. The demon can be detected by the other PCs by Detect Invisible and Sense Spirit but it would be at a penalty of -10. Any attack that affects insubstantial would also be at -10. Once the demon kills the PC then the demon finds a new victim. The demon with this ability is usually a night hag that rides the victim at night until they die while the rest of the PCs only see their friend screaming in terror at night maybe thinking it is just a bad dream.

The challenge with this one is how to pull it off effectively at the gaming table. In my experience, things like this tend to work better in fiction than in RPGs. If I were a player and another player said that he had a demon jumping on him, I would presume that something was going on (rather than thinking he was having a bad dream). Then I would attempt to do something about it. Hmm. But I guess if it's played out as something of a curse, it might work. Assuming the party doesn't have magic to deal with it, they are in a race to get somewhere to handle the situation before the afflicted PC dies. That could be interesting.
Dalin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-31-2019, 06:22 PM   #9
b-dog
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Default Re: Psychedelic Monster

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalin View Post
The challenge with this one is how to pull it off effectively at the gaming table. In my experience, things like this tend to work better in fiction than in RPGs. If I were a player and another player said that he had a demon jumping on him, I would presume that something was going on (rather than thinking he was having a bad dream). Then I would attempt to do something about it. Hmm. But I guess if it's played out as something of a curse, it might work. Assuming the party doesn't have magic to deal with it, they are in a race to get somewhere to handle the situation before the afflicted PC dies. That could be interesting.
It might be horrific if one of the PCs is getting ripped part by a demon that the other PCs can not see or interact with. The other PCs might have to spend their time using healing spells and other holy spells to try to turn the demon. Maybe they might even have to take the PC that is being attacked to a holy temple or sanctuary so that the PC can recover. The PCs may have to use the Banish spell to rid the afflict PC of the demon.
b-dog 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 11:59 PM.


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