The bulette never convinced me--the hulking, silver kaijulike creature in the late miniatures have their appeal but (as I've said before) I can't really picture them eating a knight. So fuck 'em for this game.
The silt shark from Dark Sun on the other hand, does the same thing with more charm. I imagine it parting the sand with the prow of its frictionless, pointed face. I love the subtle claws they did on the fins.
And god do players freak the fuck out when they see a silt shark come up. Something about the single fin in the sand seen on the successful perception check--or the toothy suddenness of the attack in the wake of the failed one.
Sharks aren't terribly complex creatures--and I have no desire to make them any moreso. The one twist I added was based on the whole drop of blood thing--like rhythmic footsteps calling sandworms, killing anything in the desert risks bringing more. And, of course, killing a silt shark spills silt shark blood--and risks bringing more. Plus the kinds of predators hungrier for metal than meat.
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My players are currently travelling through a desert and I also took the silt shark over the bulette. Two other monsters from Dark Sun that appear on my random encounter table are the Dune Trapper and the Sand Cactus.
ReplyDeleteI like the twist on blood sense and will steal it from you.
This is rad. And timely, given your recent postapocalyptic posts. I always thought the siltshark was just perfect for After the Bomb/Mutant Future/Atomic Highway. It's a little bit of a gonzo monster in those settings, but then postapoc always seems to naturally drift gonzo anyway.
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