Vampire Bestiary

Upper_Krust · Nov 7, 2009

Hiya mate!

Khisanth the Ancient said:
Yeah, I suppose there is only so many ways it can be done - in some sense Godzilla is a fairly 'simple' monster (compared to a superintelligent god or sorta-god like Orcus, Galactus, Surtur). Also there've been enough movies that his abilities are pretty well defined.

Indeed.

One difference, though, is without the Mega size rules my Godzilla is stuck being "only" tarrasque sized. Big and scary enough for most purposes, but he should be about 160 feet tall (Showa) or 330 (Heisei).

I wonder if the Gargantuan size is meant to be open-ended?

Its also interesting to note that the Huge size is only 50% bigger than Large, while the Gargantuan size is only 33% bigger than Huge.

Also, the 3.5 version you have is the Heisei Godzilla, while I just grabbed the powers I liked from all different versions (Supercharged Atomic Breath is from Godzilla: Final Wars, though sadly 4e doesn't allow for ranges of "into orbit", but otherwise he's more or less Showa Godzilla, minus the flying-on-his-own-atomic-breath power.)

One thing I have been pondering is giving the atomic breath weapon an ability to drop a target to bloodied (or deal damage equal to its bloodied value)...possibly if Godzilla scores a critical hit with it.

Khisanth the Ancient · Nov 8, 2009

So what would you expect as an actual release date for the Vampire Bestiary?

Also, is the content finalized, and can you tell us the names of any of the creatures within?

Upper_Krust said:
It was indeed an epic level virus...I'll have to incorporate such things into the Bi-Sect race, perhaps they are the physical manifestation of a computer virus given (demonic) life/possession.

What does a Bi-sect act like/do (cut people in two?) What power level are they?

So this way you could actually use even Level 60 Monsters (indirectly) at the Heroic Tier.

I can see a continent spanning campaign centered on a single monster. At the beginning the PCs, who are all from some utterly remote village on the back end of nowhere, see their home town destroyed by some unstoppable nightmare. As they pursue it, seeking to test themselves against various foes and train until they can defeat it, they meet villages suffering from a strange corruption of the land caused by the creature's passing. In its footsteps the very earth becomes fouled, and monstrous creatures spawn from its grotesque leavings of slime. These would be the monster's equivalent of germs and mites, but a challenge suited for a lower Heroic Tier party. Later the creature begins to spawn, budding off its offspring, and the PCs must fight those (paragon tier opponents). All the time the creature moves slowly toward civilization. Various cults form around the creature, worshiping it as an agent of the gods sent to destroy decadent civilizations, or as a god in itself, or as an incarnation of raw power. These provide more foes for the PCs obviously. Druids try to protect it and its spawn as a new natural species, including fighting the PCs over it, as well as *other* druids who see it as a threat to the natural order. The god of destruction's angels appear nearby. As it nears a major city the PCs, now high epic tier, must kill the thing in the final battle that will win them death or immortality. Presuming they succeed, the gods offer them a reward (they can now become gods, however that is handled) -- and a new quest. The creature was just the harbinger of a great invasion, and oaths with magical force bind the current gods from fighting against them due to the source of the invasion...

Upper_Krust · Nov 8, 2009

Howdy!

Khisanth the Ancient said:
So what would you expect as an actual release date for the Vampire Bestiary?

Ask me again at this time next week and I'll be able to better tell you.

Also, is the content finalized,

The content is finalized although some of the details are not, for instance I recently came up with a new method for determining the typical power of a deities priesthood, so I need to make a few level tweaks to the Thuggee Priests of Kali.

and can you tell us the names of any of the creatures within?

Nosferatu...you already know.
Varcolac - a bit like a half vampire/half werewolf crossbreed.
Strigoi - abyssal vampires
Chaos Dragon - aka the (cosmic) Planetary Dragon

What does a Bi-sect act like/do (cut people in two?) What power level are they?

Bi-Sects are a time-travelling demonic machine intelligence. They are sort of like big puzzles in that they can join together to create more powerful forms. They are also virtually unkillable, because they split into weaker forms rather than be destroyed.

I can see a continent spanning campaign centered on a single monster. At the beginning the PCs, who are all from some utterly remote village on the back end of nowhere, see their home town destroyed by some unstoppable nightmare. As they pursue it, seeking to test themselves against various foes and train until they can defeat it, they meet villages suffering from a strange corruption of the land caused by the creature's passing. In its footsteps the very earth becomes fouled, and monstrous creatures spawn from its grotesque leavings of slime. These would be the monster's equivalent of germs and mites, but a challenge suited for a lower Heroic Tier party. Later the creature begins to spawn, budding off its offspring, and the PCs must fight those (paragon tier opponents). All the time the creature moves slowly toward civilization. Various cults form around the creature, worshiping it as an agent of the gods sent to destroy decadent civilizations, or as a god in itself, or as an incarnation of raw power. These provide more foes for the PCs obviously. Druids try to protect it and its spawn as a new natural species, including fighting the PCs over it, as well as *other* druids who see it as a threat to the natural order. The god of destruction's angels appear nearby. As it nears a major city the PCs, now high epic tier, must kill the thing in the final battle that will win them death or immortality. Presuming they succeed, the gods offer them a reward (they can now become gods, however that is handled) -- and a new quest. The creature was just the harbinger of a great invasion, and oaths with magical force bind the current gods from fighting against them due to the source of the invasion...

Kewl!

Although think of it more as a backdrop/Elder Evil. So for instance the monster is encountered early in the campaign where the Heroic Tier PCs only face the parasites that fall from it. But the 'Elder Evil' leaves (or is temporarily imprisoned, banished or whatever) however, it prophesises that it will return (Maybe its the Avatar of a Comet?) at some point in the future.

I like the Cult idea - seems appropriate.

Khisanth the Ancient · Nov 17, 2009

Upper_Krust said:
Ask me again at this time next week and I'll be able to better tell you.

OK, I am doing so

..the Thuggee Priests of Kali.

How similar are these to the real-world Thuggee?

Varcolac sound really cool... in a lot of the old vampire legends they were closely linked to werewolves (which is probably where Stoker got the idea of Dracula's affinity to wolves), but nowadays this is largely ignored (and you even get the 'werewolves vs. vampires war' stuff, which always struck me as bizarre and pointless ... but then, so does a lot of the modern vampires-as-angst stuff...)

Upper_Krust · Nov 18, 2009

Hiya mate!

Khisanth the Ancient said:
OK, I am doing so

I really got a lot of work done on the Bestiary, but it all seemed to fall into the 'bottomless pit' of what needs done, partially because the book is now going to be 96 pages.

I don't see it being 100% art ready before Christmas at this rate (I'll try my best but its unlikely if I am honest).

On a more positive note I am off for a month and a half from the end of December to about mid-February. So if I don't get it ready for Xmas it will definately be ready by January.

How similar are these to the real-world Thuggee?

Well they are directly based on them, but in saying that I've had to create all the stats out of thin air, the main inspiration has probably been Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom...although I have done quite a bit of research into the Thuggee.

Varcolac sound really cool... in a lot of the old vampire legends they were closely linked to werewolves (which is probably where Stoker got the idea of Dracula's affinity to wolves), but nowadays this is largely ignored (and you even get the 'werewolves vs. vampires war' stuff, which always struck me as bizarre and pointless ... but then, so does a lot of the modern vampires-as-angst stuff...)

I had two initial starting points for the Varcolac, one was the moon swallower in Hellboy* (directly taken from the old legnds), and the other was the hybrid vampire-werewolf in Underworld. In 3.5e that might have posed a quandary, but in 4e its easy to have multiple versions of the same 'race'. So I have just been pulling all sorts of references and mixing it into a big stew. So there was some anime monster I remembered, its in there, I had an old monster used in the Creature Collection 2 (except they totally changed the concept) so its in there now in its original glory, a new version Garm (Exarch of Hel) is in there, Avagdu, etc.

*Comics that is.

Khisanth the Ancient · Nov 18, 2009

Yay, Garm!

The Norse did seem to have an obsession with giant wolves, didn't they ... Fenrir, Garm, Hati, Skoll ...

Upper_Krust · Nov 20, 2009

Khisanth the Ancient said:
Yay, Garm!

The Norse did seem to have an obsession with giant wolves, didn't they ... Fenrir, Garm, Hati, Skoll ...

Well I think they villified the aspects of the natural world which were a threat to them. So volcanoes became fire giants, glaciers became frost giants and so forth.

Khisanth the Ancient · Nov 20, 2009

Upper_Krust said:
I don't see it being 100% art ready before Christmas at this rate (I'll try my best but its unlikely if I am honest).

On a more positive note I am off for a month and a half from the end of December to about mid-February. So if I don't get it ready for Xmas it will definately be ready by January.

From the point that it is done, roughly how long will it take to become available as PDF?

Upper_Krust · Nov 20, 2009

Howdy Khisanth amigo!

Khisanth the Ancient said:
From the point that it is done, roughly how long will it take to become available as PDF?

As soon as it is done I'll upload it to RPGNow and both the PDF and PRINT versions will be available immediately thereafter.

If I can get the last of the text completed by the end of December then it can be edited while I finish up the remainder of the interior art.

I can then prep the initial two collaboration projects* and get them underway.

*Immortals Index: Canaanite Mythos and The Serpent Riders (Epic Delves for Levels 25-28)...the third collaboration project being the Immortals Handbook: Legendary Tier.

With some luck the forthcoming release dates should be*:

Vampire Bestiary - January 2010
Immortals Index: Canaanite Mythos - April 2010
The Serpent Riders - June 2010
Immortals Handbook: Legendary Tier - August 2010

*...and this is me we are talking about, so lets remember to take these with a pinch of salt.

Khisanth the Ancient · Nov 22, 2009

Upper_Krust said:
As soon as it is done I'll upload it to RPGNow and both the PDF and PRINT versions will be available immediately thereafter.

If I can get the last of the text completed by the end of December then it can be edited while I finish up the remainder of the interior art.

Cool!

*Immortals Index: Canaanite Mythos

Out of curiosity, how was Canaanite chosen? It's not as well known as Greek or Norse, so might not sell as well. On the other hand, it has a lot more monstrous and villainous gods than, say, Greek mythology.

I'm looking forward to see what interpretation you go with -- there are a lot of scholarly debates about whether Moloch was the name of a god or not, what sort of god Dagon was meant to be, etc.