tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post8027101361044494186..comments2024-03-28T22:00:35.840-07:00Comments on Playing D&D With Porn Stars: Babbler Thru Bunyip RedoneZak Sabbathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08812410680077034917noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-410578867421079082011-04-26T19:29:43.695-07:002011-04-26T19:29:43.695-07:004e actually has a cooler take on bullywugs than I ...4e actually has a cooler take on bullywugs than I would have imagined: nature itself *hates* bullywugs...and the bullywugs know this, which is why they are such horrible, miserable bastards.<br /><br />In 4e there is a mechanical effect that takes place when you kill a bullywug: you feel really, really good about having put one of these unnatural cretins to the sword. (You actually get some hit points back and feel invigorated.) For a more weird-school feel, I'd make killing bullywugs *addicting*. Each one you kill makes you want to kill more and more of them--perhaps they release some sort of psychedelic poison as they expire that inspires bloodshed, frenzy, euphoria, and hallucinations.Jack Guignolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05226738666709754348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-41768168987471133142011-04-26T15:46:28.247-07:002011-04-26T15:46:28.247-07:00Bullywug
I like these guys because of the way th...<i> Bullywug </i><br /><br />I like these guys because of the way their two halves interact, servile human and the folk-sense attributes of frogs, their clamminess, their quizzical stare, their transitional nature as an amphibian that goes from water to air, egg to tadpole to frog. Bullywugs make ideal witches' minions because their subservience to the witch and their in-betweenness form instinctually demonstrate a parallel. It is a disturbing prodigy, but familiar and precedented one if a frog speaks, much as if a frog falls from the rain. Similarly so if the frog walks like a man, wears clothes, menaces you with a pitchfork.<br /><br /><i> Blindheim </i><br /><br />The important part of the blindheim is that it blinds you. Its being a frog is incidental, supplying a suitably ugly and goggle-eyed form. it could as easily be a wretched tarsier or a hopping flightless owl.<br /><br /><i> Slaad </i><br /><br />Slaad, also, are frogs only obliquely. As manifestations of unreason, they are counterintutively consistend in their form - it doesn't make sense that they would all be frogs, therefore it is only apropos that they are all frogs. Another form could substitute, as long as it is slimy and ask the question "wait, why?" Slaad could be eels, seahorses, starfish.Welcome to Dungeon!https://www.blogger.com/profile/14346914156633328775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-87816959631074921302011-04-26T13:10:26.693-07:002011-04-26T13:10:26.693-07:00@evan
why not just make wimpy slaad minions?@evan<br /><br />why not just make wimpy slaad minions?Zak Sabbathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08812410680077034917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-17263499815622874312011-04-26T13:08:46.877-07:002011-04-26T13:08:46.877-07:00Bullywugs are a much more low level threat, while ...Bullywugs are a much more low level threat, while Slaads are high level. Blindheims are more regular frogs than frog-men.<br /><br />Still ultimately it is a matter of taste, and I'm sorry if I came off as too abrasive.Mirandahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10745062840676790649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-21057693898149652042011-04-26T11:30:07.163-07:002011-04-26T11:30:07.163-07:00@Evan
not convinced, you are merely asserting. Ag...@Evan<br /><br />not convinced, you are merely asserting. Again: we have slaads and blindheims. make a case for bullywugs in that environment.Zak Sabbathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08812410680077034917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-83520646408653933752011-04-26T11:28:38.634-07:002011-04-26T11:28:38.634-07:00Bullywugs don't suck. Whats the point of havin...Bullywugs don't suck. Whats the point of having more lizardmen when you could have frog people.<br /><br />Craven frog people are awesome.Mirandahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10745062840676790649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-46510805347048173222011-04-26T11:22:47.338-07:002011-04-26T11:22:47.338-07:00@richard
thanks for the monuments! they're am...@richard<br /><br />thanks for the monuments! they're amazingZak Sabbathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08812410680077034917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-3209259618827389202011-04-26T10:01:17.094-07:002011-04-26T10:01:17.094-07:00apropos of nothing, I saw these Yugoslav monuments...apropos of nothing, I saw <a href="http://www.cracktwo.com/2011/04/25-abandoned-soviet-monuments-that-look.html" rel="nofollow">these Yugoslav monuments</a> and thought "I bet Zak would like some of these, if he doesn't know them already."<br /><br />I think I already have my best gross frogman and threatening crabman in Pokemon's Croagunk and Kabutops, but the Giant Bloodworm! Now I know what the Dholes' footsoldiers are.<br />...and the hemogoblin from Tim Powers' Dinner at Deviant's Palace is actually quite a nice nasty little parasitic thing generated by the trauma of unnatural rituals and deaths. It's entirely useless but floats quietly after you until it can latch on and suck your blood, then it slowly grows stronger as you grow weaker until it replaces you. The bit I find effective is that it's sneaky first of all. And patient. It'll wait until you're tired or careless or vulnerable, and it'll run if threatened, but always come back. Great paranoia-inducer.richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13517340075234811323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-52023744939542781212011-04-26T08:28:57.356-07:002011-04-26T08:28:57.356-07:00I played in a game of 4e last year where one of th...I played in a game of 4e last year where one of the guys in our party was a Bullywug assassin named Heskan Toadgully. He was basically the most vile being imaginable, would stick to walls and ceilings and hang people with his sticky tongue, vomit in the eyes of guards before slitting their throats, and use his miasma of toxic fumes and flies to obscure his form and make it difficult for archers to hit him. Pretty sure he came up with some innovative ways to weaponize his excrement too - basically, if it was gross, it was an essential part of his M.O.Tom Landohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16661570188796434661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-82524423305820164142011-04-26T06:30:37.820-07:002011-04-26T06:30:37.820-07:00Both the description and the Nicholson art of the ...Both the description and the Nicholson art of the Babbler put me in mind of the <a href="http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/02-18-2007%2002%3B04%3B13PM.JPG" rel="nofollow">awakened lizard narrator gradually having a nervous breakdown</a> in the <i>Enigma</i> comic. <br />(little lizard guy was the best thing in it ...apart from the Interior League)<br /><br />Looking forward to the Zak take on the Crabmen, the Princes of Elemental Evil and the terror and might that is the Gorbel.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04072272223837426211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-90232833002009255522011-04-26T06:27:10.683-07:002011-04-26T06:27:10.683-07:00Your versions of the Blood Worm, Chameleon Men, an...Your versions of the Blood Worm, Chameleon Men, and Bunyip are all quite inspiring. Thanks for these posts--I never quite realized how ridiculous the critters in Fiend Folio were until now!Marcushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06415810337505064345noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-54687160537586241032011-04-26T05:13:22.225-07:002011-04-26T05:13:22.225-07:00I'm loving your new take on these old monsters...I'm loving your new take on these old monsters. Not having a copy of ye olde fiend folio myself it's interesting for me to see monsters I know who seem to have found their genesis there. I've recently become hooked on Pathfinder, and this reminds me of their new treatments for old monsters. Most of the time the artwork is nice, but the descriptions are pretty much the same, the bunyip is still a mean seal and the blindheim is still an ugly midget frog. Bullywugs are merely renamed as boggards. <br /><br />Being one for whom a little lovecraft slides its way into nearly everyday I like to draw connections between boggards and skum and Dagon. I like the idea of a cult of Dagon where you go there, fight the cultists, and sack their town only to find a squalid nursery where the cults hideous spawn (blindheims and other freakish baby-esque monsters) prey on each other until they have grown large enough to get out on their own.<br /><br />I also have a berbalang D&D mini and always wondered where it came from, it must be in a 3.5 book somewhere, but i haven't the darndest clue where.DukeofOrangehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02260658048434275236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-54618760195107627972011-04-26T05:13:20.721-07:002011-04-26T05:13:20.721-07:00Oh, and always a pleasure to meet the blllindheeim...Oh, and always a pleasure to meet the blllindheeim!Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06011974487836242987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-15901209279845602882011-04-26T04:44:06.240-07:002011-04-26T04:44:06.240-07:00In 4e, I think Berblangs have that thing where if ...In 4e, I think Berblangs have that thing where if you hit 'em, they split into two? I don't know how you are supposed to fight them-- since it is 4e, I assume it is just "more hitting"-- but I have heard from friends that they are a pain in the ass.mordicaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05713766652793265867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-12221148860769864292011-04-26T04:36:31.403-07:002011-04-26T04:36:31.403-07:00It is like possessed of a supreme but inhuman inte...<i>It is like possessed of a supreme but inhuman intelligence like the martians in Stranger in a Strange Land. It drinks the blood of gods. The polar worm, purple worm (though not the purple wyrm), remorhaz, etc., these are the mutant slave races descended from the wise old worms.</i><br /><br />Okay, now THAT is pretty awesome.John Evanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17813593224618572349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-73967266312893895282011-04-26T04:32:41.366-07:002011-04-26T04:32:41.366-07:00Booka in folklore is just the Welsh word for a Bro...Booka in folklore is just the Welsh word for a Brownie. Properly spelled and pronounced it is 'Bwca'. Yay for Welsh!<br /><br />They were apparently grumpier than other brownies and more likely to turn into boggarts (a relationship that of course was lost to TSR). But yeah, besides plot hooks there's not much for it to do. Maybe it's the bwca's job to polish all the PCs armour and weapons and maintain their equipment, because they never ever do any of that stuff themselves.<br /><br />I love what you've done with the bul- I mean chameleon men. And the bloodworm. I want to actually use the chameleon men now. In fact I see them as just giant, intelligent chameleons - no need to be men at all. Chameleons already look like they have hands (and feet) that could use tools. And they have that weird slow way of moving. They just need some kind of tongue attack (!)<br /><br />I feel like the bunyip could do with more love but I'm not sure what.<br /><br />OK how about: in the same way spectres are a 'gestalt' ghost of some mass tragedy, the Bunyip is a gestalt ghost of mass slaughtered wildlife. Whenever entire species and ecosystems are decimated, a Bunyip may arise. They're too confused to be intelligent, being so many species in one, but they are pretty miffed.<br /><br />I think this draws nicely on the many wildlife problems in Australia. I might also have stolen it from an episode of the Real Ghostbusters cartoon.Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06011974487836242987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-24328920509762184182011-04-26T00:13:50.751-07:002011-04-26T00:13:50.751-07:00Secret origins of the Babbler: In Moorcock's H...Secret origins of the Babbler: In Moorcock's Hawkmoon novels the marshes of the Kamarg are inhabited by the Baragoon, a race of mutant babbling lizard-men created from humans by a mad scientist.<br /><br />They're described in <a href="http://www.tor.com/stories/2010/02/the-jewel-in-the-skull" rel="nofollow"><b>this excerpt</b></a>.<br /><br />The Blood Hawk is an exception, but 90% of the sucky normal animals in the MM2 can be improved with the addition of "blood" as an adjective. Blood Goat! Blood Swan! Blood Squirrels!Roger G-Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08594440701279968693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-44950230215735797142011-04-26T00:00:50.580-07:002011-04-26T00:00:50.580-07:00I'm detecting a recurring theme of 'monste...I'm detecting a recurring theme of 'monsters that wait in a wilderness location like a swamp or forest or high, lofty down, waiting to dispense arcane knowledge'. This is good.<br /><br /><br />captcha = burialqu. Trying to get over the 'burial' in the name and not make it some sort of undead; instead, I'm going with some sort of Incan-looking totem-beast, an almost stylised snake whose odd, blocky dimensions are merely how the mortal brain processes something that slides in and out of the space we know. It is witnessed, in the distance, as much as encountered - phasing through solid objects and moving slowly but inexorably closer. The wise know to offer it sacrifice. The unwise find themselves becoming less and less substantial, less and less <i>noticed</i> by their peers, until one day they wake up and realise they aren't in Kansas any more. They are in the spaces between, and the burialqu is hungry.Vonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12583821960347555993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-23919501712034615502011-04-25T22:09:45.403-07:002011-04-25T22:09:45.403-07:00The funny thing is that there already are Bullywug...The funny thing is that there already are Bullywug-analogues in Empire of the Petal Throne ;)Blairhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10884401206802336531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-13338433766594137862011-04-25T21:46:47.093-07:002011-04-25T21:46:47.093-07:00And the Babbler gives me the idea that each of the...And the Babbler gives me the idea that each of them carries one secret told to them by the Gods in the ancientest of ancient times, which they repeat incessantly, but a) it's in a language so old that even the gods don't remember it that well and b) it's been passed from generation to generation such that it's completely garbled like the result of a game of Telephone.Jonothanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06305455959377150878noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-58049142388586422732011-04-25T21:42:06.070-07:002011-04-25T21:42:06.070-07:00all I get from "Clubneck" is a nickname ...all I get from "Clubneck" is a nickname some guy got in high school based on having an oddly-shaped wang.Jonothanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06305455959377150878noreply@blogger.com