The Random Esoteric (ahem) "MUTANT" Generator

After seeing an entry at the Green Skeleton Gaming Guild blog expounding the mutagenic goodness of The Random Esoteric Creature Generator by James Raggi IV and published by Goodman Games, I knew I had to get my hands on it. I've been sitting on my copy for a while now, but I never really took it for a test-run. So, right here, right now, I'm going to create a new Mutant Future creature using the rolls as they happen. Once I've worked my way through the tables, I shall post the end result as a new entry. Let's get to work:

BASIC BODY SHAPE - Rolled 13 - Quadruped. My creature walks on four legs. Good start.

BASIC CHARACTERISTICS - Rolled 20 - Crustacean. So I've got a hard-shelled creature with a set of claw-like pincers. Rolling on the CRUSTACEAN subtable, I come up with Horseshoe Crab. So now we know what kind of creature this thing was before it got dipped in the mutagen. I'll up the legs to six, like to keep it more "crabby." I've also turned to the Giant Crab entry in the MF rulebook for my basic stats.

SIZE - Rolled 17 - Enormous. Gets double HD, add an extra die to damage, and gets an additional 20 feet movement. Giant Crab has 3 HD, so this is a 6HD creature. That seems way too low for something so massive, so let's TRIPLE it to 9HD. Giant crab claws normally do 2d6, so we up it to 3d6. And movement is now 120' (40). Whew, if a Giant Crab is the size of a small car, this creature is the size of a bus. Keen.

MOVEMENT - Rolled 16 again - Swimming. So this thing moves as fast in and under the water as it does on land.

ATTACK METHODS - Since the claws have been established, the table says to use any attacks already suggested and flesh them out instead of rolling. Good idea. The entry for Claw says to add +1 damage per attack die. So my creature just got a +3 damage bonus. Yipe.

DISTINCTIVE FEATURES - Rolled a 47 - Prehensile Tongue. A monstrous crab with a tongue strikes me as odd. But how about some cthulhoid tendrils instead? And just big enough to merit a "hold" special attack, so they'll certainly be useful for grabbing a victim.

SPECIAL ABILITIES - Has a 50% chance of something special...and rolled a 75. No Special Abilities.

COMBAT STRATEGY / MOTIVATION - Rolling on those tables gives me a monster that will always attack whomever inflicted the most damage on it in the prior round (it's a survival instinct) as well as territorial, so it will only attack those who wander into its home area. It will break off the attack once they leave the area.

And that's about it for the generator. But it wouldn't be Mutant Future without a few mutations, eh? So the dice reveals that there are 2 Physical Mutations and 1 Mental Mutation. Let's see here:

PHYSICAL MUTATIONS - Since we've used the Giant Crab as our template, we'll just allot gigantism as one of the mutations. Rolling a 9 gives me dermal poison slime. This is one big, poisonous, hard-shelled crab.

MENTAL MUTATIONS - Wow. Just rolled force screen. So not only is this thing armored, it's got a force field around it too. You'll need a tac nuke to scratch this creature.

And there you have it. The Random Esoteric Creature Generator is that easy to use and, as you've seen, some interesting monsters can result with just a few random rolls. Granted, this isn't as bizarre as it could have been, but with the addition of some Mutant Future mutations, we have a creature that will be more than a handful for your PCs.

Stay tuned. This creature will lumber out of the ocean's depths in a few moments...

Savage Menagerie: Jaguirrel

No. Enc.: 1d10 (3d10)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120' (40')

Armor Class: 8
Hit Dice: 1
Attacks: 1 (bite)
Damage: 1d8 (potential 2d10 additional)
Save: L1
Morale: 8
Hoard Class: None

A Jaguirrel (pronounced jag-whirl) is a small, vicious, tree-dwelling, feline carnivore. Jaguirrels have the head, markings, and temperament of larger felines such as tigers and leopards, but they have the size, speed, and agility of smaller rodents such as squirrels and chipmunks.

Jaguirrels make their homes in trees and in small underground burrows. They are very territorial and will attack anyone unfortunate to wander near their nest. Since they hunt in packs, a PC will encounter 1d10 Jaguirrels in the wild. A Jaguirrel nest will hold 3d10 of the creatures, making for a very violent encounter if one pokes his hand into one.

Jaguirrels normally attack with a bite attack for 1d8 hit points of damage if successful. If a Jaguirrel wishes, it can then commit to a carry-over attack with its disintegration mutation. After biting, if a Jaguirrel makes a second successful attack roll, it will unleash a beam of molecular disruption from the back of its throat, disintegrating whatever body part it had clenched in its teeth. This beam will do 2d10 points of damage (half damage if a successful save vs. energy attacks is made). A successful disintegration attack, however, will drain the animal to 1 hit point and it will be unable to use the ability again for 24 hours. If you encounter a mutant missing a hand, leg, ear, and a few other parts, odds are he may have stumbled onto a Jaguirrel lair.

Mutations: disintegration (special)

[Thundarr Thursday] Savage Menagerie: Desert People

No. Enc.: 1d10 (2d20)
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 120' (40')

Armor Class: 5
Hit Dice: 4
Attacks: 1
Damage: per weapon

Save: L4
Morale: 7
Hoard Class: XXII

Desert People are 2-foot-tall humanoids who hate and mistrust all outsiders - to the point of being violently xenophobic. Desert People are often found in the sandy wastes of the post-apocalyptic Earth, preferring to make their homes in sand-covered, long-forgotten ruins. If a city has been slowly consumed by a desert, you'll find Desert People lurking within the buried dwellings.

Desert People prefer to keep themselves wrapped from head to toe in loose-fitting clothes, keeping their faces hidden behind scarfs and hoods. The only facial feature seen will be a pair of hateful scowling eyes. Since Desert People hate strangers, they will either keep hidden away if outsiders enter their area, or they may try to subdue and capture a prisoner if the Desert People are being employed by a Wizard or other powerful ally. Once captured, the victim is either turned over to the one who hired them, or the victim is left to perish in a deathtrap or fed to a large beast they keep for such events. You will never befriend a Desert Person, so it's best to not even try.

Desert People speak in a high-pitched chatter of their own that will be incomprehensible to listeners. (Although Ookla was able to speak to and understand a Desert Person, so it is apparently possible to learn their language.) Desert People have a unique device called a Spring Lariat that they use to capture a victim. A long coil of spring is compressed between their hands. When released, the coil shoots out toward a victim, trailing a length of rope or wire behind it. On a successful roll to hit, the spring will spin around the victim, entangling them within the trailing cord. If a group of Desert People use their lariats on a victim, they are as good as captured.

Mutations: none

NOTE: This creature was inspired by the Episode "Wizard War" from the classic post-apocalyptic cartoon "Thundarr the Barbarian." Stay tuned each week for Thundarr Thursday! (And I almost didn't make this week's TT! Whew, just under the wire!)

Slowing Down At The Savage AfterWorld

Hey gang,

When I started The Savage AfterWorld, my initial goal was to throw out as much Mutant Future supportive material as I possible could. I think I've pretty well met that goal with a lot of material I'm pretty proud of. However, in recent weeks due to Real Life Obligations, my blog posts have decreased from "nearly every day" to "twice a week if I'm lucky." It's becoming apparent that this slowdown in posting frequency is now the norm rather than the exception.

What does this mean? Well, I still plan on the weekly Thundarr Thursday posts as those are not only incredibly well-received by the readers, they also give me a weekly reason to break out my 'toons and watch the series for the bazillionth time. But the other features - Dangerous Encounter, Savage Menagerie, Ancient Armory, and Furtive Factions (to come!) - need to be spaced out a bit more to ensure a regular flow of new material. So this post is basically an admission that "I gotta slow down a bit before I burn out!" Thanks!

(And the image off to the side that illustrates this message? That's what you get when you search for images of a "mutant snail." Y'know, because of the slow down in posts. And the whole mutant-focused blog....thing. When I searched for "mutant turtle" for the same reason, guess who popped up? Cowabunga!)