Witness Me Blood Bag
Top of the mornin’ to ya, laddies! On the off-chance you didn’t notice the coloration of that headland in the background, we’re taking a tour through world mythology this month. And not just any world mythology. Oh no no my friends, we’re talking specific world mythology. That’s why today’s comic depicts not a kelpie (a notably Scottish beastie), but an aughisky. When we asked our Quest Giver patrons which IRL country should supply the bestiary for this month, the results came back with a decisive win for Ireland. That means you’re in for a romp through the Emerald Isle’s weirdest critters. (Better luck next time to runners up Philippine and Mayan mythology.)
Let’s get back to the aughisky though, because it absolutely deserves a closer look. While it’s just one variant on the classic “water horse that drowns you” trope, the thing is positively dripping with cool detail. In the first place, its back is freaking adhesive. It prefers raw meat, but will also accept roast mutton. Get it a bit inland and throw a bridle on it and you’ve got yourself the finest steed in all the land. But if it catches a glimpse of saltwater it will gallop into the sea, at which point it will presumably eat you. Methinks Snowflake’s reaction is one your players will share.
If you introduce this thing properly, you’ll have much more than than a standard “grabs you and drowns you” monster. You’ll have a villainous horse-trader who sells you damaged goods. You’ll have an entryway into Faerie, along with a possible encounter with merrow slavers. You might even befriend a legit monstrous cohort, which can then dish out monstrous bite damage to your enemies. I know I’d love to see a noble knight running up the butcher’s bill to keep his new buddy fed. And I’d certainly love to see my players’ faces when they hear me imitating the munching sounds.
So how about it, Handbook-World? As we begin our journey down the rocky road to Dublin, what do you say we compare notes? When have you gone back to mythology rather than official bestiaries to flesh out your critters? Have you ever changed game monsters so that they more closely resembled their origins? Or have you found some obscure monster and statted it up yourself? Whatever your story, pour us a Guiness or five and tell it to us down in the comments!
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There is only one thing I want to know: who’s still fool enough to put a feedbag on Snowflake… and did the aughisky eat them?
Well I mean… She is Paladin’s summoned mount.
I guess maybe I ought to do another comic with them one day.
Yeah, but Paladin is begging to make ends meet and often despondently drunk these days. No way he can afford to feed a horse. Or cast the spell to summon one. :-/
Slavic monsters are a fun bunch and rarely used! As are Slavic myths. The favorite of which is Kuma Lisa, or ‘Godmother Fox’, who is… Well, a Kitsune in a traditional slavic dress.
https://www.deviantart.com/thiscrispykat/art/Kuma-Lisa-533280354
I would watch her cartoon movie.
Wish granted!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI_FSLn8RdQ
I see Snowflake is starting to scrape the bottom of the equine dating barrel. Can’t tell if her mane state is as normal / recovering, or ‘extra-unhinged’ though. At least she has some standards though with this stallion specimen.
Wait, isn’t she breaking Nature Court law with this interaction? Or is she trying to cross-species loophole? Will her next horse-date be a Nucklavee or a Nightmare/Nightstallion?
I had origially imagined Snowflake at a hitching post getting freaked out by the not-a-horse ties up beside her. I love that this reads as a date though. Cracks me right up.
“He invited me out on a dinner date, then disrespected my vegetarianism by eating the waiter right in front of me! 1/10, would not date again!!!”
An equine freaked out by a bunk-mate? Sounds familiar…
https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/major-class-feature
We haven’t seen Ally for a while… not a big talker, but one of my favourites among the companions…
Because I’m an extraordinarily consistent world builder, I assume that Ally talks like Pokemon. Other animals can understand her.
I’ve got an on-again-off-again campaign where the big not-quite-bad-but-definitely-antagonistic force at the end is going to be the Fomor, also from Ireland, who were its masters before the Tuatha de Danann arrived. While accounts are mixed as to what they looked like, I’m going for giants by way of Dark Souls 2 cause I really dig their non-human vibe.
We talking about these guys?
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/darksouls/images/7/78/Elite_Giant.png/revision/latest?cb=20140707003919
I’d be suitably intimidated.
Those are the ones! Their weird hole-face really sells the ‘not of mortal ken’ thing to me.
Though more like the Giant Lord, as they’re going to have equipment, and in terms of size.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/darksouls/images/2/2b/SotFS_GiantKing.jpg/
The loot of the first dungeon the party fought through were scraps of a super rare material only found in ancient ruins. Unfortunately/fortunately none of my players investigated the objects, so no one put together they there were pieces of a giant gauntlet.
I always have trouble with moments like that giant gauntlet. When they finally do see the gauntlet, I’d be tempted to say something like, “As you stare up at this huge thing in front of you — hands easily large enough to wrap around your body — your mind flashes back upon the metal your found in the ruins. How much like the broken fingers of some immense gauntlet they seemed….” It’s always a tricky prospect making someone else “suddenly get it” though. You want the player to have the realization for themselves rather than force feeding it to them, but as a GM I’m just SO DAMN EXCITED for someone to notice my foreshadowing that it’s hard to wait.
HARD SAME
I’m going to try my best not to point back to it directly, and just hope that the special material (Forged Ash: super rare, not available for purchase anywhere in the setting, any armour made from Forged Ash gives the wearer advantage on CON saving throws and Resistance to Slashing, Piercing, and Bludgeoning damage) will be enough to tip them off.
I’m one of the few people who heard about the legendary tarasque before the Gygaxian tarrasque, so when I was a middle schooler imagining all the D&D campaigns I could run, I invented a series of magical artifacts created by stealing features from the tarasque—its six ursine legs, its lion mane (and head), its fiery breath, etc. I had a vague idea for a quest that would revolve around destroying those artifacts, each one making the tarrasque a little stronger.
Obviously, I never actually got around to designing the campaign, or I’d tell you things like why the characters were destroying those artifacts and how the full-power tarasque came into things.
I do hereby endorse and encourage this campaign. I hope you get to run it one day.
Honestly most of the mythological creatures I want are officially stat’d in 5E. Ricky’s Guide to Spoopytown even gave us a really good Jiangshi. (Chinese hopping vampires)
When I think ‘official 5e,’ I think Ricky’s Guide to Spoopy Town.
Now that’s an interesting creature to use in a Deadlands campaign…
Oh?hit me with them deets. What are you thinking?
A shady dealer selling aughisky as El Cheapo horses. And the posse won’t realise it until they need to get to the coast…
A waystation, offering change of horses for free, for the caravan the posse is escorting to the coastal regions…
(It’s totally “believeable” that an el cheapo horse have a difficult diet… or a strange colour…)
El Cheapo is an excellent name for a used horse retailer.
(For those who are unfamiliar with the setting, El Cheapo equipment are “cheaper than the normal, but will break down when you critically fail a skill check using them”; and in case of horses, they are “cheaper than the normal, but have two Hindrances you have to deal with”)
My party’s currently on a romp through the Amber Wastes, which I’ve adapted to include not just Egyptian but Arabian and Sumerian mythologies. Of particular note are the eleven children of primordial Tiamat, only a few of whom are actual dragons. They take on a variety of forms, including a minotaur, a scorpion-man, a mermaid, and a particularly hairy but otherwise normal dude.
Are they all somehow draconic? Or generically “monstrous” in a vaguely pseudo draconic way?
Nope! Just a whole smorgasbord of heads and torsos slapped onto non-matching bodies! This is probably due to the original Sumerian Tiamat not being a dragon herself originally, but more of a primordial force of nature. It’s only after her husband, Abzu, was killed that she took on a more monstrous form and tried to destroy everything.
“When have you gone back to mythology rather than official bestiaries to flesh out your critters?”
All the freakin time, but then I run GURPS, so we don;t have a “monster manual” per se, or rather there are several, but they tend to be genre and wolrd specific, so a few of ye olde mythical beasties are statted up mythically already, but my preference is to take from Earth myths and legends and twist into my world to fit the needs of the world/story.
“Have you ever changed game monsters so that they more closely resembled their origins?”
As above, don’t have to as I’m either making them whole cloth to fit the origins from jump, or they’re already pretty well inline with some respective original myth already.
‘Or have you found some obscure monster and statted it up yourself?”
Now we need to discuss what ye mean by “statted up”? I’m more of a “Guidelines Than Rules” type when it comes to prep and NPC stats, so I rarely put too much down that any ‘self-respecting’ GURPS Gearhead would consider ‘stats’. It’s more of a “Shrodinger’s Stats” situation, if I don’t need it firmly writ in stone (no PC has interacted with it yet) then I don’t need to chisel it in. If a PC does interact, then I can ink in those vague pencil outlines and keep the notes for ‘next time’ (if there is a next time).
I’m less Interested In the mechanics than the creature. What mythogical monster have you recreated in GURPS?
Sadly, I still haven’t had a chance to run my take on “Mommy Fortuna’s Midnight Carnival” for my group. (Maybe someday)
I did, however, come up with winner with “Hobson’s Choice,” an adventure set around an unfortunate stable owner who is being gas-lit by a pookah. The community is pretty sure old Tom Hobson is losing his mind, and Tom is about to agree with them.
The nature of the pranks and the identity of the prankster (who would suspect one of the horses?) stayed secret (almost) until my intended reveal at the end. …and did you know that there are, like, eight different sets of stats for pookahs, and (IMHO) none of them get it quite right?
Home-brewed the heck outta that sucker. 🙂
What pranks did the pookah pull off?
Escalating fun:
First, everyday tools and equipment were misplaced. (Grooms blamed.)
Next, said everyday tools and gear simply gone missing. (Grooms blamed.)
Next, horses were often in the wrong stalls– the first stall, the one that should always have the freshest horse, had (instead) a tired horse that was just returned. (Again, blamed on the blameless employees)
Next, Tom woke to find his stables were now on the wrong side of his house, but he was the only one who noticed the change. (Suggestion)
Next, the stables were back where they should be, but upon putting a horse away, Tom found only eight stalls where there should be ten. He put the horse in the guest stable. (Minor illusion of the back wall being 15′ closer.)
The next day, Tom found that his main stable had 10 stalls again. (One is used for farrier work.) He attempts to put the horse back, but finds that he now owns TEN horses, where he knows he only owned NINE. Everyone remembers all ten horses, however. The tenth horse has to go back into the guest stable again. (Suggestion)
Tom has taken up day-drinking when the PCs arrive.
The PCs:
a) Find some of their own gear is missing/in a teammate’s backpack (probably Rogue).
b) Get lured into a bar-fight with “Big Liam O’Grady” via the pookah’s ventriloquism and cantrips. If the party’s chosen brawler is tough, Liam is magically buffed (without his knowledge) into a raging barbarian with enhanced strength. Regardless of who wins, the villagers are now turning against the PCs.
c) Get a giant cauldron of sausage gravy dumped on them. (Telekinesis) The inn won’t draw them baths until they’ve first cleaned up a bit down at the lake. On their way to the lake, the pookah Summons a pack of starving wild dogs to attack them.
d) Anyone foolish or unlucky enough to ride the pookah will get carted through the town at breakneck speed, then hurled into the lake (falling damage applies).
The least hazardous win condition involves figuring out which horse has
-) no one assigned to feed or groom it. (Each person believes a different person has the job.)
-) no written record of being purchased by Tom. (Each person remembers all of the horses’ personalities and traits, but they can’t spontaneously imagine a detailed history.)
-) no written record of ever being rented out to a customer. (This is sometimes where some fool tries to ride the pookah.)
I have a player who just wrote a prankster pseudodragon deity into her backstory. Some of this biz will come in useful for me. Cheers!
Trying to work with mythology / stray from ‘official’ bestiaries is half the fun of using mythological creatures, imo. I’ve been working on a concept for a Chimera for pathfinder 2e where each head is actually its own individual creature, with their own health bar, actions on turn order, etc- I’ve always loved trying to make more ‘mechanics challenges’ rather than statblocks-on-legs out of bosses, and I’m loving how much 2e lets me actually do that.
So hit me with that breakdown. How does your chimera accomplish this?
Each head is its own individual Creature 6, rather than the chimera as a whole being Creature 8. The Mount rules are that when a creature is mounted or is riding a mount, both halves of the pair get 2 actions- so, rather than one creature with 3 actions per turn, the Chimera is 3 creatures with 2 actions per turn each. Defeating a given head removes all of the abilities that head had, but the remaining heads switch to the standard 3 actions per turn.
Is that all that’s left of Fighter the 43rd?
Say what you want about Fighter the 43rd. Dude had guts.
A lot of my characters and homebrew settings touch on real-world mythology. It’s a treasure trove to plunder, from my kumiho-inspired sorcerer to my player’s nightmarish encounters with skinwalkers.
Player-characters will fight orcish warlords without fear, challenge devils to competitions for wealth, talk sweet nothings into the ears of dragons… but you put them on a road into the Uncanny Valley and introduce them to things that are ‘almost-but-not-quite-real’, and its shivers followed by NOPE NOPE NOPE every time. I love horror tropes, so I have to control my urges and use it sparingly or it’ll lose its impact.
You better believe it was a weird experience being a fantasist visiting a high school on the wind river Indian reservation. Those skinwalker student films were freaky!
I love grabbing monsters from mythology. The most notable creation, though, was when I statted up a Pesta, or plague Hag, to be a minor antagonist. Unfortunately, the player whose backstory she tied into had to leave the game, though she still stuck around as an adversary.
Sounds Spanish. That’s my best guess. Now googling…
…
Well OK then. Norway is practically Spain. Both European countries with… Um… Notable coastlines. >_>
Ben Franklin, too, couldn’t tell the difference; Spaniards and Swedes were equally swarthy to him. (He didn’t specifically mention the Norwegians, though; but during his lifetime Norway was not an independent country anyway, as it was a subordinate part of the Oldenburg Monarchy.)
My Deadlands: Classic posse recently picked up a sidekick (journalist, to cover their complete lack of positive social skills), and she has her own sidekick, a dog named Bosco.
To my surprise, none of them have voiced any suspicions about his unusual coloration (white fur, red eyes, red ears), enormous size (he’s as big as mule, and still doesn’t look quite full grown), the fact that the only thing he has listed in the Background section of his character sheet is “Cu de Annwn”, or how he was acquired from a vampire trying to create (more powerful) werewolves. Which makes me think that either they’ve already figured something’s up and don’t want to hurt my feelings with how obvious they found the twist, or they don’t want to explain to me that I’ve completely misunderstood how albinism works.
Bosco is cobbled together from a couple of myths, and also Mouse from the Dresden Files. The Scion RPG assures me that white hair and red ears are a common sign of the supernatural in Gaelic mythology, though the only myth I’ve heard of that featured that combination was one of the variations of the Wild Hunt, where after a party in the dwarven kingdom, the guests are given puppies with that coloration and warned not to get off their horses until the pups do. Cu Sidhe are dog fey. And Annwn is the/one of the Otherworlds in the mythology. So basically, Bosco is a Cu de Annwn, a hound of the otherworld, with mysterious powers and a heck of a protective instinct.
Mechanically, he’s built using the animal Sidekick rules. I stacked every single size increasing Edge and Hindrance to get a final size bigger than a Great Dane but smaller than an adult grizzly bear. And I drew a Joker in character creation, so I gave him a slightly tweaked Knack to represent his supernatural side, letting him detect and more easily resist magic.
What a mishmash of inspiration! Mouse is a solid baseline, but the IRL justification is a lovely touch. Good show!
As I always say, never trust a horse. Especially not an Aughisky. They’re the kind who break the gates sealing the fae and mortal worlds off from each other and engage in evil after the two collide, and only the power of pink hair can stop them at that point.
The power of…? Come again?
Okay, pink hair, witch magic, and a cool bike. I gotta give Peony’s bike more credit.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT7ZXxg9f3y8ylxl6Ooefi0DIjqkE0wKw3CUDqOt3PhAvSWEa2XHJoe5soAtKLzPazXkJU&usqp=CAU
Fae Tactics, for the record :p
Closest to that I think I’ve done is making a variety of different giant ants (and ant swarms) for two competing hives (one more mundane, the other more magical).
Iirc I used the giant spiders and insect swarms as my baselines and modified from there.
We’re these based off of am IRL mythology of some kind? Or more of the IRL notion of warring ant colonies?
Just the IRL notion of warring colonies. Basically the players were thrust into a position of “giant ants are taking people/making damage, go fix it” and eventually discovered they were in fact stuck in the middle of a war in which they presumably would (and in the case of that game did) pick sides.
The benefit to picking a side was that the giant ants would, after winning and replenishing their numbers, eventually be of some help locally and also be available as free replaceable mounts (which I think was a pretty good perk, given the higher CR ones would be more durable than horses and have spider climb).
What exactly does a giant ant riding saddle look like? Are they comfy?
Sadly the world will never know because the game didn’t get far enough along to see if my players would care to for that kind of detail. (Though also they probably wouldn’t have asked.)