[URBIS] A new way of looking at ghouls

[Christian Walker]

This is pretty sweet, Jurgen. The idea of people getting stronger as they devour man flesh was portrayed fairly well in a film called Ravenous. So, the idea is not without merit.

Well done.

 

[Zappo]

my girlfriend's character, she's basically playing that guy that everybody knows @ least one example of, the 'kid who never grew up'

GAAH, I know a horrible example of that! In a Vampire game, where the DM demanded a full and consistant character background and such, a player wanted to play a kid (and being a Vampire game, the term 'never grew up' has a fairly literal sense). During character creation, he whines that he hasn't got enough points to make the concept he had in mind. Turns out he wanted to have half of the stats maxed and a few skills as well (where in Vampire you normally can't have more than 3/5 on any single skill at creation). Including max persuasion and max subterfuge, because "You know there are times when you just can't say no to a kid". I think it was the most repulsive attempt at powergaming I've ever witnessed. During the actual game it was even worse; he would annoy everyone like the kid from Home Alone at his worst and then, when someone wanted to beat the crap out of him, whine that the characters wouldn't do that to a child and demand to roll his Persuade+Subterfuge to stop us.

Ok, end tangent. What about lacedons or whatever them sea ghouls are called, Jurgen?

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Ok, end tangent. What about lacedons or whatever them sea ghouls are called, Jurgen?

Good question. Hmmm...

I'd say that the base mechanics are the same with lacedons. However, they are unlikely to become as organized and numerous as their fellow ghouls in the cities.

Poor and homeless people vanish every day in the urban wilderness, and few people care (except, presumably, the victims). However, if the crew of some merchant ships or fishing boats mysteriously vanish, someone powerful is bound to notice when his trade goods or fresh fishes fail to arrive - they will quickly send some specialists (read: adventurers) to deal with the situation. So groups of lacedons have to stay on the move to find fresh prey without fear of reprisals, which cuts down on the size of a group. It is possible, however, that a lone lacedon will lurk near an isolated fishing village. You know the deal: "Sacrifice a stranger or two to me now and then, and I won't eat you all." This usually lasts until the next party of adventurers arrives in town for some reason, who seem to object to getting sacrificed for some strange reason...

Of course, that's only the case for ghouls who originated from primarily land-dwelling species. If you have vast underwater civilisations, you probably have a vast number of lacedons lurking in their shadows. These could be fearsome critters indeed, especially as many creatures in the Deep sense their surroundings by searching for electrical impulses - which the lacedons, being undead, just don't have. So they'd basically the underwater equivalent of invisible stalkers...

However, few surface dwellers are likely to come into contact with these deep lacedons - the lacedons have little reason to come to the surface, and the surface dwellers have few reasons to visit the Deep. Of course, any DM worth his salt will find an appropriate reason...