Jump to content

Tuning Chaotic fauna


Joerg

Recommended Posts

While I am fairly confident that @soltakssdoesn't need any coaching for throwing Chaos at players, this sounded like a plea for help:
 

17 hours ago, soltakss said:

Holiday Dorastor has tentacled sharks, in case normal sharks aren't dangerous enough.

I couldn't work out a way to get sharks with laserguns on their heads, though

Give them spines like sea urchins have, and either make these material projectiles, allowing them to squirt nasty stuff, or use them as "wands" to fire off beam or pulse magics. Or both, or randomly (we're talking about Chaos, after all). Sometimes the use of these might cause damage to the beast, releasing an environmental hazard (poison, acid).

An illuminate's Third Eye can serve as such, too.

For laughs, you could give a shark an allied spirit taking the shape of a pilot fish, and give that one the laser, either as targeting aid  (leaving a soot about to be hit next MR, allowing the player to decide whether to use a shield passively, taking them out of the action for that MR) or causing actual damage immediately. Alternatingly...

Harmful pests on a bigger Chaos monster have a precedent with the ones inhabiting the Crimson Bat. Scale these down.

These things could inhabit mostly harmless Chaotics as well, such as slime deer or Gray Ones (effectively chaos herd men without any relation to Eiritha, madmen from the Sultanate). They could be foliage/vines/kelp/grass clinging to such creatures, or even non-chaotic ones. Or the stuff could cling to the player characters, possibly for quite a while, before having leached off enough ambient MP to attack measurable resources of the hosts. As if the Siegfried story isn't enough to make players paranoid about leaves sticking to them.

 

Introduce diseases affecting mainly the resident flora and fauna, creating chaotic-looking scars or tumors while remaining essentially harmless. Once the players get used to that, return with active chaos features.

Have terribly disfigured variations of regular flora or fauna adapted to feed on and actually destroy chaotic stuff (e.g. feeding on gorp). Discover chaotic side effects of this much later (e.g. when they start to bud beautiful humanoids with chaotic intentions), or they draw a specific kind of other chaotic to breed explosively).

  • Like 2

Telling how it is excessive verbis

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, Joerg said:

While I am fairly confident that @soltakssdoesn't need any coaching for throwing Chaos at players, this sounded like a plea for help:

Of course it was.

I am still taking notes ...

 

Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

www.soltakss.com/index.html

Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, soltakss said:

@Joerg I'd love to use these ideas in Holiday Dorastor: Foulvale, am I OK to use them, while crediting you and sending you a free copy?

Feel free to use them, and to send me a copy of the work in progress for error-hunting or similar assistance in order to earn the free copy.

  • Like 1

Telling how it is excessive verbis

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, Joerg said:

Have terribly disfigured variations of regular flora or fauna adapted to feed on and actually destroy chaotic stuff (e.g. feeding on gorp)

I love this idea, mostly because it overrides the assumption that all Chaos must team up and be on each other's side.  I don't see any reason for Chaos not to hate or attack other Chaos. (I haven't picked up the Dorastor series, because I can't even get a game to play, so there's not much point right now...I hope this changes soon!)

 

19 hours ago, Joerg said:

Holiday Dorastor has tentacled sharks, in case normal sharks aren't dangerous enough.

Well, actually, no they're not really.... not unless it's really curious, or in a feeding frenzy. Hippos kill and injure more people than sharks.. by an order of magnitude (or 2... or even 3! 6-8 shark killings, 500-3000 from hippos).

19 hours ago, Joerg said:

I couldn't work out a way to get sharks with laserguns on their heads, though

Seriously? It's Chaotic - just give it to them! Every round (or 2... or 3...) it fires off a beam of light that can damage things. You don't need to explain it any further than that! If a Player says "It's got a lasergun", then give them 1D6 to their Chaos Rune for knowing such things....

If you don't have a nice, cute little bunny that has Flight at 16MOV, and bite attack 250% that do 12D6 damage... something is wrong!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

I love this idea, mostly because it overrides the assumption that all Chaos must team up and be on each other's side.  I don't see any reason for Chaos not to hate or attack other Chaos. (I haven't picked up the Dorastor series, because I can't even get a game to play, so there's not much point right now...I hope this changes soon!)

IMG headcanon, there is coming -- not yet born -- a Chaos entity born Illuminated & cognizant, who completely loves Glorantha & hates all the destruction Chaos does, and is a premier Chaos-fighter.  They are attractive, clever, charismatic, hypercompetent, etc etc etc.  Rivaling Jar-Eel & the like, in many ways; essentially a Demigod.

They also, quite obviously, are extremely Chaotic (I am still working on the ways in which they are "obviously Chaotic" (*) ).  They ping -- violently -- on Storm Bull senses.  It is *incredibly* hard for them to gain the trust of other Chaos-fighters, who (not unreasonably) presume this anti-Chaos stance is some long-game plan to somehow advance the "cause" of Chaos.
 


(*) "Obvious Chaos" features I'm looking at:

  • Sex & Gender shifts randomly, including both physical sex & gender-behavior "norms," including physical androgyny & ungendered behavior (they always feel "normal" to themselves, however they present), without cyclicity or predictabilty.
  • Any jewelry they wear becomes a living thing & begins growing; metal sprouts tendrils/vines, gems begin budding, etc.
  • Eye, skin, & hair color change gradually over time, and include explicitly-inhuman options like metal floss hair, gemstone eyes, etc.

n.b. everything is "attractive" in some sense, although the Uncanny Valley is often deep indeed!

Edited by g33k

C'es ne pas un .sig

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

!)

 

Well, actually, no they're not really.... not unless it's really curious, or in a feeding frenzy. Hippos kill and injure more people than sharks.. by an order of magnitude (or 2... or even 3! 6-8 shark killings, 500-3000 from hippos).

 

Chaos Hippo's ?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, g33k said:

IMG headcanon, there is coming -- not yet born -- a Chaos entity born Illuminated & cognizant, who completely loves Glorantha & hates all the destruction Chaos does, and is a premier Chaos-fighter.  They are attractive, clever, charismatic, hypercompetent, etc etc etc.  Rivaling Jar-Eel & the like, in many ways; essentially a Demigod.

They also, quite obviously, are extremely Chaotic (I am still working on the ways in which they are "obviously Chaotic" (*) ).  They ping -- violently -- on Storm Bull senses.  It is *incredibly* hard for them to gain the trust of other Chaos-fighters, who (not unreasonably) presume this anti-Chaos stance is some long-game plan to somehow advance the "cause" of Chaos.
 


(*) "Obvious Chaos" features I'm looking at:

  • Sex & Gender shifts randomly, including both physical sex & gender-behavior "norms," including physical androgyny & ungendered behavior (they always feel "normal" to themselves, however they present), without cyclicity or predictabilty.
  • Any jewelry they wear becomes a living thing & begins growing; metal sprouts tendrils/vines, gems begin budding, etc.
  • Eye, skin, & hair color change gradually over time, and include explicitly-inhuman options like metal floss hair, gemstone eyes, etc.

n.b. everything is "attractive" in some sense, although the Uncanny Valley is often deep indeed!

Sounds a bit like a teaser for Androgeus with tentacles untrimmed.

Telling how it is excessive verbis

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Joerg said:

Sounds a bit like a teaser for Androgeus with tentacles untrimmed.

There is primarily one similaritiy -- the genderfluidity -- but IMHO more differences.  In particular, "Androgeus" isn't AFAIK clearly/overtly Chaotic (albeit some seem to suspect it), whereas that's the overriding "issue" I envision for this being; they are a Chaotic who -- while accepting themselves and their own Chaos -- is an implacable foe of "Chaos."

I could see dropping the sex/gender element, to eliminate any confusion with Androgeus -- the "random alterations" is the thing I was going for!  The list above was intended to be incomplete, a work-in-progress.

Upon reflection, I think it makes more sense to make it even-more-random, including transformations into Elder Races, etc; downplaying but not eliminating the gender issue.

  • Like 1

C'es ne pas un .sig

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/8/2023 at 5:34 AM, Shiningbrow said:

Well, actually, no they're not really.... not unless it's really curious, or in a feeding frenzy. Hippos kill and injure more people than sharks.. by an order of magnitude (or 2... or even 3! 6-8 shark killings, 500-3000 from hippos).

That's what the Priests of Gloomshark say. 

 

  • Haha 2

Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

www.soltakss.com/index.html

Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...