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Post by tyrion on Jun 9, 2024 10:54:23 GMT
Boar - a wild pig. Nothing really to say on this, but could be more interesting if it had a charge attack.
Boulder beast - this seems rather interesting. Are there limited numbers of them? It's noted they feed cannibalistically on other rocks. Are other rocks also sentient then?
Brain slayer - ah, the not a mind flayer. Not at all. Not even a little bit.
Bristle beast - I've only ever seen this in Khare. Again it seems an interesting concept, although it lacks special rules and could just be replaced with a large guard dog. I'd maybe put in a penalty to Attack Strength to reflect the fact you don't want to get too close to the spines. Maybe it could even fire off the spines? And of course, if you are unarmed, you would suffer two damage each round as you tried to grapple with it.
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Post by CharlesX on Jun 9, 2024 11:43:33 GMT
Boar - a wild pig. Nothing really to say on this, but could be more interesting if it had a charge attack. Boulder beast - this seems rather interesting. Are there limited numbers of them? It's noted they feed cannibalistically on other rocks. Are other rocks also sentient then? Brain slayer - ah, the not a mind flayer. Not at all. Not even a little bit. Bristle beast - I've only ever seen this in Khare. Again it seems an interesting concept, although it lacks special rules and could just be replaced with a large guard dog. I'd maybe put in a penalty to Attack Strength to reflect the fact you don't want to get too close to the spines. Maybe it could even fire off the spines? And of course, if you are unarmed, you would suffer two damage each round as you tried to grapple with it. The Bristle Beast is one of my favourite FF beasts, along with the Jib-Jib. As you say there are an entire variety of ways it could have special rules - if it rolls a double the spikes could get you for 1-2 damage, unless you're fighting with a weapon with a long blade you could have an Attack Strength penalty. Yes, the spines could fire off etc. |
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Post by Gabe Fandango on Jun 10, 2024 3:29:00 GMT
I used to love reading about the animal-type creatures that can potentially be trained or domesticated. As a kid, I used to think about one day writing a gamebook where the PC can eventually end up with a variety of tamed creatures at his disposal, and would head into the final quest accompanied by Bristle Beast, Jaguar, Giant Lizard, Krell, Goldctrest Eagle, etc (not dogs though, way too boring.  ). And I loved reading existing FFs that feature animal companions but almost always wish more can be done with them as I read them. |
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Post by Gabe Fandango on Jun 13, 2024 6:53:03 GMT
One thing I've been wondering: can a Gonchong abandon its host to pick another before the old one dies? If so, what happens to the original host? Does it die, become its old self again, become its old self but with memory loss of the period during the possession, go mad, become a vegetable due to its mind being consumed, or something else?
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Post by CharlesX on Jun 13, 2024 10:56:56 GMT
One thing I've been wondering: can a Gonchong abandon its host to pick another before the old one dies? If so, what happens to the original host? Does it die, become its old self again, become its old self but with memory loss of the period during the possession, go mad, become a vegetable due to its mind being consumed, or something else? That would be down to the GM\author. The Gongchong must be intelligent, and threatening, because if you leave it for dead on top of the Lizard King - just for a moment, to salute your soldiers - it tries to land on you. The orginal host could be any of those things as I've implied though I think it wouldn't permanently become a vegetable (rather than being in a state of shock for 5 minutes) and I think it even less reasonable for it to make a host lose its memory.
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Post by Gabe Fandango on Jun 14, 2024 2:55:32 GMT
and I think it even less reasonable for it to make a host lose its memory. I don't know, I feel there's some similarity to demonic/spirit possession here, and memory losses have occurred in plenty of stories for those. The host is controlled because its own mind is essentially rendered unconscious and therefore not aware of what its body is doing under the other entity's control. Of course, there are also possessions where the host is perfectly aware of what's happening (and the fact that the Gonchong's host still retains the original host's instincts - such as fear of monkeys - indicates that it may be closer to this), but in such cases, unless the host is already more or less a psycho before the possession, being exposed to the malicious stuff that it's forced to do and helpless to stop for an extended period of time will probably lead to a good chance of insanity or at least PTSD after the Gonchong finally abandons it. |
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Post by tyrion on Jun 14, 2024 8:13:18 GMT
Caarth - an interesting bit of information here is that Allansian orcs are descended from swine and humans, rather than elves as in Lord of the Rings. There is a lot of information here and as a truly original Allansian monster (rather than say orcs or dark elves), it is a shame that they have not made more of an appearance in gamebooks.
Calcacorm - noted for an appearance in citadel of chaos for a bit of comic relief, there is again a hidden bit of lore concerning lizard and mouse gods.
Caveman - later on we have an entry for neanderthals, and the entry here deviates quite a bit from historical cavemen in that they are said to dwell in networks of caves.
Centaur - from greek mythology and here are (possibly) horses cursed with a sluggish human body. Although I would have though being able to use tools and have a bigger brain would have been an advantage.
Giant centipede - a big arthropod.
Champaque - never seen one. The illustration looks like John Blanche's work.
Changeling - this one is found in dungeons, rather than being a baby substitute, which I suppose reflects the idea that most adventures of the time would take place in dungeons.
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Post by CharlesX on Jun 14, 2024 9:50:32 GMT
Changeling - this one is found in dungeons, rather than being a baby substitute, which I suppose reflects the idea that most adventures of the time would take place in dungeons. Does Out Of The Pit's entry say Changelings are purely to be found in dungeons? Because they are in several FF as a villager's sweet baby that only you know to be evil. Such a scenario makes more sense\seems more likely to me. They slightly remind me of Doctor Who's The Meep in that regard, although that's a slightly forced\wishful reference as Changeling's defininitely don't have their megalomaniac tendencies or their immense intellectual abilities. It's actually more similar to Space Babies, only evil - evil Space Babies would be a cool idea for an RPG  . |
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Post by tyrion on Jun 14, 2024 13:25:44 GMT
Changeling - this one is found in dungeons, rather than being a baby substitute, which I suppose reflects the idea that most adventures of the time would take place in dungeons. Does Titannica's entry say Changelings are purely to be found in dungeons? Because they are in several FF as a villager's sweet baby that only you know to be evil. Such a scenario makes more sense\seems more likely to me. They slightly remind me of Doctor Who's The Meep in that regard, although that's a slightly forced\wishful reference as Changeling's defininitely don't have their megalomaniac tendencies or their immense intellectual abilities. It's actually more similar to Space Babies, only evil - evil Space Babies would be a cool idea for an RPG . I'm going off the description in Out of the pit, which says they are found in the underworld. Up until then, I think they only made an appearance in the FFRPG. |
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Post by CharlesX on Jun 14, 2024 17:17:32 GMT
Does Titannica's entry say Changelings are purely to be found in dungeons? Because they are in several FF as a villager's sweet baby that only you know to be evil. Such a scenario makes more sense\seems more likely to me. They slightly remind me of Doctor Who's The Meep in that regard, although that's a slightly forced\wishful reference as Changeling's defininitely don't have their megalomaniac tendencies or their immense intellectual abilities. It's actually more similar to Space Babies, only evil - evil Space Babies would be a cool idea for an RPG . I'm going off the description in Out of the pit, which says they are found in the underworld. Up until then, I think they only made an appearance in the FFRPG. Yes, sorry meant to write Out Of The Pit not Titannica. |
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,720 
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Jun 14, 2024 20:35:58 GMT
Champaque is from Warlock magazine 5.
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). And I loved reading existing FFs that feature animal companions but almost always wish more can be done with them as I read them.
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