Animal Cults... (the good and the bad...)

[Herobizkit]

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Behold, the Rat King!​

 

[Rechan]

Rat? Maybe.

Cabal of the Chipmunk? No.

Spider? Yes!

Cult of the Cricket? No.

Sect of the Sheep? Baaahd.

 

[Stormonu]

It's a pretty simple rule:

predatory animal = cool
herbivore = drool

You want to get laughed at? Join the Royal Order of Water Buffalo.
You want to scare or impress PCs? Let them face the Bloodhounds.

 

[Aeolius]

You want to get laughed at? Join the Royal Order of Water Buffalo.

"Everybody's got a water buffalo. Yours is fast but mine is slow. Oh, where we get them, I don't know, but everybody's got a water buffalo!"

 

[Rechan]

You want to scare or impress PCs? Let them face the Bloodhounds.

Basset hounds? Beagles?

Dogs are scavengers and omnivores.

Also, typically your huge herbivores aren't bad. Rhinos for instance. Mammoths.

 

[LostSoul]

The Hippopotamus is a deadly animal, capable of breaking bone in one bite and carrying off a full grown man.

However, being a cultist of the Hippo God is likely to get you wedgied on the little cultists' playground. [/I]

For some reason this reminds me of Conan. Hmm... probably Tower of the Elephant. Hmm, also Cugel's Saga.

A giant man-hippo in a nasty setting... worshipped by insane power-hungry cultists... cares little for the ways of man, only wants his desires sated. Those who rile him are eaten in one bite.

I picture the god-hippo living in a pool under a black ziggurat. Cultists throw down food and nubile young women taxed from the people.

That could be a cool adventure. I picture a scene where a PC is thrown into the pool, scrambling to tread water, heavy grunts coming from a pair of nostrils just above the surface of the foetid waters...

 

[LostSoul]

Playing D&D With Pornstars has some interesting things to say about how creepy different monsters and animals are. I liked his snake cult analysis.

 

[David Howery]

well, there are the infamous Leopard Men from Africa, which you could change to Tiger Men or Lion Men, I suppose, if leopards aren't your thing...

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Well, speaking as an Australian, I reckon that a marsupial cult would be brilliant.

Duckbilled Platypus Cultists, anyone? Imagine the costumes. They'd have poisoned spikes on their shoes. And when the PCs finally get into the temple and see the giant platypus statue they'll immediatley think it's some sort of twisted creature from the Far Realms. Awesome, I tells ya.

And the Cult of the Drop Bears. Who's not scared of drop bears?

 

[Rechan]

Well, speaking as an Australian, I reckon...

Honestly, I'd be more fearful of the Cult of The Vegemite.