30 Days 30 Monsters - wherein Timothy gets through his backlog.

Games Discussion Post a Day
1

People of Bronze

I wrote these ages ago, reused them in another book, and then had to reconstruct them, so they seem a fair way to ease into this project.

People of Bronze active in Mythic Europe attach themselves to either side in a major conflict, and attempt to exterminate the other side as efficiently as possible. They feel no compassion, so they consider utter elimination of enemy settlements a particularly valuable tactic. This includes the slaughter of children, as a way of preventing a community seeking intergenerational revenge. People of Bronze conquer for the vitality that human death brings them, and the respect they earn from others of their kind: they care nothing for power or riches, except insofar as they allow a Person of Bronze to increase the scale of his or her campaigns.

Some People of Bronze train People of Iron in the arts of war. They do this in the hope that the People of Iron will develop into suitably challenging opponents. People of Bronze have been known to declare war on individual magi. This war may take many years to come to fruition, as the Person of Bronze uses its infinite lifespan to lay up materiel for the campaign before engaging its foe. People of Bronze always select magi who are renowned as warriors as their victims.

People of Bronze are not suited as player characters.

Faerie Might: 25 (Corpus)

Characteristics: Int +2, Per +1, Pre +3, Com +1, Str +6, Sta +3, Dex +2, Qik 0

Size: +2

Virtues and Flaws: Huge, 4 x Increased Faerie Might; Cognizant within Role, Faerie Sight, Faerie Speech, 2 x Great Characteristic, Humanoid Faerie, Observant*, 4 x Improved Characteristics, Improved Damage (sword), 4 x Personal Faerie Powers, Puissant Militant Pretense; Sovereign Ward (blinding light), Sovereign Ward (The Dominion)

Personality Traits: Proud +6.

Combat:

Brawl (2 x spiked gauntlets)**: Init 0, Attack +5, Defense +7, Damage +18

Great spear and huge circular shield:** Init +3, Attack +17, Defense +16, Damage +20

** Also includes +5 for Improved Damage Virtue and +5 for Damaging Effect Power.

Soak: +12 (while wearing armor)

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–7), –3 (8–14), –5 (15–21), Incapacitated (22–28), Dead (29+)

Pretenses: Area Lore 9 (kingdom being invaded), Awareness 9 (enemies), Brawl 9 (mortals), Charm 9 (other bronze men), Etiquette 9 (faerie court), Faerie Speech 6 (taunts), Leadership 9 (battle), Ride 9 (war charriot), Single Weapon 9+2 (battlefield).

Powers:

Damaging Effect: 2 points: Init –6, Terram (supernaturally sharp weapons), 2 intricacy points spent on cost.

Costs 15 spell levels (Base 5, +1 Part, +1 Diameter. This Base is lower than might appear usual in Hermetic magic.)

Sight Beyond Sight: 3 points, Init –3, Corpus. All five senses of the creature operate at a distance, as far as the

creature can see. This makes the creature supernaturally aware of everything that occurs; so it is xceptionally

difficult to catch it by surprise.

Costs 30 spell levels (InIm Base 5, +1 Conc, +4 Vision),

Shift Human Shapes: 0 points, Init –1, Corpus. Allows the knight to don or remove armor simply by willing it.

(1 intricacy point to reduce cost). R: Per, D: Mom, T: Ind. (Costs 5 spell levels (Base 3, +2 Sun))

Equipment: Armor made of magical scales of faerie iron. Lance with pennant and other weapons. Attendant

as squire. The champion’s glamor produces a faerie horse for him, which shares his vis, Might, and Magic Resistance. As it is an extension of his glamor.

Vis: 5 pawns Corpus, a rusty piece of bronze.

Appearance: An immense human figure clad in shining bronze

Source: Left over from Realms of Power : Faerie , then Realms of Power : Magic, then used with variation as The Distinguished Knight in Hooks.

Blog post: None

Podcast: None

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2

Trollish whipper-in

Later in the story Lurulu becomes the whipper-in of the pack of hounds that serve Orion, the half-faerie king of Erl. This changes his statistics slightly.

Faerie Might : 10 (Animal)
Characteristics : Int 0, Per +3, Pre –3, Com 0, Str –5, Sta: Tirless, Dex +2, Qik +6
Size : -4
Virtues and Flaws : Immunity from Terram, 2 x Great Characteristic; Faerie Sight, Faerie Speech, Humanoid Faerie, 2 x Improved Characteristic, Observant; Little (twice), Sovereign Ward (cannot disobey Orion)
Personality Traits : Obedient +3
Combat :
Brawl (fist) : Init +6, Attack +9, Defense +13, Damage -1*
Improvised weapon (two handed): Init +9, Attack +8, Defense +13, Damage +7*
Whip (two handed): Init. +15, Attack +8, Defense =10, Damage: always nil.**
*Includes +1 for pretense specialization
** Use only for attacks on PCS or other special characters: See the Impossible skill with the whip Power below.
Soak : +6, Immunity from Terram
Wound Penalties: –1 (1), –3 (2), –5 (3), Incapacitated (4), Dead (5+)
Pretenses : Athletics 2 (digging), Awareness 2 (hazards underground), Bargain 5 (with mortals), Brawl 6 (fist), Craft (smith) 5 (weapons), Great Weapon 5 (pick, as pole arm)
Powers :
Tumbles almost like flight: 2 points, constant, Corpus The character is capable of almost flying. He may use the
Athletics skill to simulate difficult maneuvers, but may not engage in combat while bouncing about swiftly. The
faerie may not tumble when heavily encumbered, Costs 15 spell levels: (ReFo Base 4, +2 Sun, +1 constant. This
base is deliberately lower than Hermetic magic might suggest and is based on the RoP:F power Flight.)
Impossible skill with the whip: 0 points, constant, Animal: The tip of Lurulu’s whip always goes exactly where he
wants it to go, and with superhuman speed. THis is of little use in combat: it is for communicating with his pack
of dogs. One odd little point for magi, though, is that it means he can force Concentration rolls every round by
hitting them repeatedly. He prefers the nose as a target. Although the tip of the whip cannot do Wound damage
it is painful and distracting.
Spirit Away [special] – Note that the troll does not spirit away those who do not volunteer to be taken.
Equipment : The master of a pack of two dozen almost-magical dogs trained to fight as a group.
Vis : 2 pawns, Orion’s whip
Appearance : As per story.
Source: The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany.
Base creature : Dwarf (RoP:F)
Episode : King of Elfland’s Daughter 2 – Games From Folktales

3

Shrike Queen

Revisting this creature for the release of a collated volume of monsters, I thought we might add a Shrike Queen like the one described in the flavour text. The shrike queen is a lot less intelligent and her reactions are slower than those of the Magpie Queen. She needs to lull her victims into a receptive state. She can do this with wine, or with enthralling songs.

Faerie Might: 40+10 (Corpus)

Characteristics: Int +1, Per +4, Pre+2, Com +3, Str +2, Sta +2, Dex +3, Qik 0

Size: -1

Virtues and Flaws: 2 x Focus Power, 3 x Greater Faerie Powers, Highly Cognizant, Faerie Sight, Faerie Speech, 2 x Great Characteristic, Human Form, 6 x Improved Characteristics, 7 x Increased Faerie Might, 2 x Personal Faerie Powers, Place of Power (kingdom); Traditional Ward (Salutations and rhymes)

Personality Traits: Easily distracted by flashy things +3, Aware that she is easily distracted by flashy things +2. Really annoyed when distracted by people who know she likes flashy things +3.

Combat - Surgical Knife : Init +1, Attack +4, Defense +2, Damage +2

She prefers to use magical effects rather than weapons.

Soak: +1

Wound Penalties: –1 (1-4), –3 (5-8), –5 (9- 12), Incapacitated (13-17), Dead (18+)

Pretenses: (Area) Lore 6 (her domain), Artes Liberales 3 (songs), Animal Handling 6 (shrkes), Athletics 9 (flight), Awareness 2 (humans), Bargain 7 (men), Carouse 6 (singing), Charm 6 (singing), Concentration 3 (while removing organs), Craft (found object assembly) 6 (meat), Etiquette 4 (slightly disturbing feasts), Faerie Speech 6, Finesse 6 (Rego), Folk Ken 6 (politics), Guile 4 (gossip), Intrigue 7 (humans politics), Leadership 4 (birds), Medicine 5 (surgery), Penetration 6 (using Arcane Connections).

Powers:

Craw of feathers, 3 points, Init –2, Animal: Transforms a character’s words into feathers. This fills their mouth, so that they cannot speak, and will suffocate them unless action is immediately taken. This is a reskinning of Rushing Torrent From the Lungs, but is slightly weaker in that qa character who knows its effect, and stays perfectly silent, can avoid suffering its effect.

Enthrallment: 8 points, Init -2, Mentem

Extended Glamor, 0 points, constant.

Focus Power (Speech within her realm), up to 10 points, Init –9, Imaginem/Auram.

Grant Virtue (Divisible): 3 points, Init –5, Corpus. 2 (intricacy points spent to reduce cost). Allows her vict6ims to survive with their organs spread about, like magicians from the Divisible Men tradition in the Transylvanian Tribunal. The organs continue to provide their usual functions so an eye moved to a distance can see, a hand can walk on its fingertips and feel, and so on. Severed body parts reattach with simple pressure. While this power is in effect it lowers the Queen’s effective maximum Might, so she has no more than five captive hearts at a time.

Transform into a flock of shrikes, 2 points, Init –4, Animal: (Until Duration) (3 intricacy points to reduce cost). The queen becomes dozens of ravens. So long as they remain in her domain, all of them are, effectively, her. She can see through all of their eyes, and can unwind the glamour of all of the other birds, restoring herself to unity from any single bird.

Equipment: A small kingdom of faerie servants, including a forest of impaled victims.

Vis: 8 pawns Corpus, a wickedly sharp thorn, +2 if in kingdom

Appearance: A skilled intriguer that wants you to relax and enjoy her feast. Yes, just relax. Fall asleep if you like. No-one will disturb you.

Source: Original - too many copies of The Thorn Birds as a young librarian.

Blog post: Why are magpies following me around? – Games From Folktales

Podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/gamesfromfolktales/020_-_Why_do_magpies_keep_following_me.mp3

4

The King of the Fleas

Faerie Might: 5 (Animal)

Characteristics: Int -3, Per +2, Pre -4, Com 0, Str +3, Sta +2, Dex +3, Qik +3

Size: -1

Virtues and Flaws: Faerie Beast, Faerie Sight, Improved Characteristics, Observant, Sharp Ears; Sovereign Ward (Herbs that repel insects).

Confidence Score: 0

Personality Traits: Tame +3, Cowardly +2

Combat:

Bite: Init +5, Attack +10, Defense +10, Damage +3*

  • Each round after a successful bite the creature drains one Fatigue level in blood. Once all fatigue levels are exhausted it begins draining Wound levels. A conscious character can tear the flea off with an opposed Strength check.

Soak: +6 (Chitinous, leathery hide)

Wound Penalties: –1 (1-4), -3 (5-8), -5 (9-12), Incapacitated (13-16), Dead (17+)

Pretenses: Athletics 3 (leaping), Awareness 3 (where the king is), Brawl 3 (bite), Hunt 4 (track by scent).

Powers:

Leap 0 points, Animal: Init +2: The King of Fleas can spend one fatigue level to safely leap up to 500 feet.

Vis: 1 pawn Animal, hide

Appearance: A flee the size of a dog that has been treated as a pet by a king.

5

Wondersmith manikins

Order: Infernal ghosts

Infernal Might: 5 (Mentem)

Characteristics*: Int 0, Per 0, Pre 0, Com 0, Str -8, Sta 0, Dex 0, Qik +4

  • Take any Size 0 human character and adjust for size by -8 Str +4 Qik.

Size: -4

Confidence: 2 (6 points)

Virtues and Flaws:

Personality Traits: Vary, but most have a sin at +5

Reputations: Nil.

Combat

Knife*: Init +5, Attack +7, Defense +9, Damage -6.

  • Assumes Brawl 6 (knife). Remember characters fighting one-on-one with a manikin receive a +3 bonus because they are effectively giants.

Soak: +5 (made of solid wood but have delicate joints)

Wound Penalties : –1 (1), –3 (2), –5 (3), Incapacitated (4), Dead (5+)

Abilities: As in life. The combat scores above assume Brawl 6 (knife).

Powers:

Poisonous weapon, 0 points, Init +3, usually Herbam or Animal: The diminutive weapons of the manikins do little damage, but are coated in poison. If a manikin’s Attack roll succeeds, even if the Damage is completely Soaked, a character must make a Sta roll against an Ease factor of 9, or suffer a Medium wound. Note that the magician controlling the manikins gave them this poison and could choose another with a different effect. In a place like Venice, which is full of female alchemists, it might have a wide range of effects from the deadly to the humiliating.

Possess statue, 0 points, Init +3, Herbam: Allows the ghost to take a statue as a body.

ReHe 25. Personal Power (25 levels, –3 Might cost, +2 Init from Improved Powers)

Equipment: Makeshift equipment constructed of human objects that suit the manikin’s scale.

Weaknesses: Starve to death if not regularly able to drink blood.

Vis: 1 pawn, Vim (head)

Appearance: Wooden toys with cruel expressions.

Source: The Wondersmith by Fitz-James O’Brien

Podcast: Games From Folktales: 354 - Wondersmith Mannikins