New "Things" sighted!

[Keps]

The Harvester is freakin creepy! That makes me want my character to be able to take freaks like that down, someone with some stopping power as opposed to an "academic" or an investigator.

[BigJackBrass]

Yes, that's a nasty, nasty creature. I'm tempted to tie it in with something bigger, more alien, giving the Harvester a discoverable reason for its actions. The police are baffled by a series of murders where only the intestines of the victims are missing... The PCs eventually track the killer to a disused factory and find the place festooned with a web of guts, then one of them realises that the intricate web is a 3D version of a summoning circle and is only missing a few feet of material...

A bit more gore than my usual style, but horror does depend on shaking things up a bit

[sniderman]

MONGOLIAN DEATH WORM
STR: 8 (120) WPR: 2 (30)
DEX: 3 (45) PER: 1 (15)
AGL: 3 (45) PCN: 5 (75)
STA: 6 (90) PWR: NA
ATT: 2/83% WND: 15
MV: L 150

Experience: 1,000

Mongolian Death Worms are huge, subterranean, carnivorous worms found in arid and desert locations. These massive creatures measure 30 feet in length, 6 feet wide, weighing several tons. Its large beaked mouth is large enough to swallow a man whole, though it prefers to bite, tear, and rend its prey. When its mouth opens, several 10-foot-long, barbed tendrils snake out after its victim, grabbing them and pulling them back to its hungry, gnashing jaws. They are voracious, eating any prey they can catch.

The Mongolian Death Worm moves incredibly fast underground, as it has a highly-evolved burrowing ability that enables it to move through earth quickly and efficiently. In fact, it can move through the ground as fast as a shark can swim through water. However, Mongolian Death Worms cannot tunnel through solid rock, nor can they move through water, avoiding lakes, streams, ponds, and rivers. A Mongolian Death Worm is blind and deaf, using an acute"vibration sense" to feel if there is anything moving on the surface above it. A Mongolian Death Worm is able to sense a creature's movement move than 100 feet away, homing in on him with unerring accuracy. They prefer to explode out of the ground under their victim, attacking from underneath. They have also been known to bring down entire buildings to get to their victims, as well as digging huge holes under cars and vehicles trying to flee an area.

[sniderman]

MELTING MAN
STR: 4 (60) WPR: 4 (60)
DEX: 3 (45) PER: 1 (15)
AGL: 3 (45) PCN: 3 (45)
STA: 3 (45) PWR: NA
ATT: 1/53% WND: 12
MV: L 75†

Experience: 500

A Melting Man is a normal human being whose flesh has begun to liquefy and drip off, usually as the result of an overdose of cosmic radiation or genetic error. Once the flesh-rending mutation surfaces, the Melting Man will first see his skin slough off, followed by his muscular tissue and tendons becoming putrid and gelatinous. At the end, the Melting Man's skeletal system will rubberize and eventually dissolve. The melting process takes approximately 2 weeks from the time the symptoms first surface until the last remnants have dissolved away. Horrifically, the Melting Man does not die of shock or of systematic failure during this, as the same conditions which started the melting also keeps the victim alive and completely aware of his condition, remaining cognizant of what's happening until the end. This horror drives the victim into murderous insanity.

A Melting Man can halt the liquification process on a temporary basis by consuming human flesh. For every victim the Melting Man eats, the melting process will be suspended for 72 hours. It is assumed that the melting process is "fed" by the intake of fresh tissue. Once digested, the process targets the victim again. A Melting Man, driven by desperation and insanity, will go on a murderous rampage to stop the disease -- even if this is only a temporary reprieve from his inevitable end.

[Agrippa]

Hey sniderman, care to try some angels on for size? Maybe even leviathan, demons and nephilim too.

[sniderman]

OK, here's something nifty! I discovered the Swedish SHOCK RPG supplement “Nattens fasor”(Night Horrors) and it describes a "Killer Car." I was just getting ready to stat one up myself, so -- inspired by what they had, I came up with one of my own!


KILLER CAR (AKA "MURDERMOBILE")
STR: 9 (135) --- WPR: 9 (135)
DEX: N/A ------- PER: 3 (45)
AGL: 3 (45) --- PCN: 3 (45)
STA: N/A ------ PWR: NA
ATT: 1/90% --- WND: Use Vehicle Structural Points
MV: L As vehicle type

Experience: 900

A KIller Car is a vehicle that has been possessed and overtaken by a Demon (page 57). The inhabited, driverless car can start its engine and run entirely by itself. It does not need gasoline to run, as it's powered by the demonic forces that gives its Demon inhabitant its powers. The Killer Car cannot exceed the vehicle's "natural" limits, i.e., it cannot drive faster than the car's construction permits or drive through unsuitable terrain. The CM should decide what vehicle is possessed, then use the stats on page 45 to determine the vehicle's basic top speed, structural points, and armor rating. Killer Cars have taken the form of a Plymouth Fury, a hearse, a semi-truck, a Lincoln Continental, and even a bulldozer.

Once possessed, a Killer Car will choose a victim at random. The creature finds a sickening pleasure in tormenting the innocent victim by lurking in the shadows, stalking them, knowing no one would ever believe their tales of a driverless vehicle threatening them. When the Killer Car tires of its games, it will decide to kill its prey by running over the victim. When a Killer Car runs over someone, treat it as a car accident (see page 45 of the Cryptworld rule book).

A Killer Car can certainly be dented and damaged, but it is resistant to most forms of physical violence. Only catastrophic damage can slow it down or stop it (i.e., blowing out its tires, damaging its axle, etc.) It requires a called shot with a result of C or better to do such damage to a Killer Car. If a Killer Car is not utterly destroyed, it can repair any damage to itself with 24 hours of rest. The only way to destroy a Killer Car is to blow the car to pieces so it cannot reassemble itself. If the creature takes massive catastrophic damage from an explosion, the Killer Car is destroyed and the Demon is banished for 1d10 years.

[Turgenev]

Great stuff, sniderman! Keep up the great work.

Cheers,
Tim

[seneschal]

A less lethal variation on the "Killer Car"might be the "Haunted Car." It is similarly possessed, perhaps by the ghost of a former owner, and tends to have a mind of its own. It can start and drive itself; and lock or unlock and open/shut its hood, truck, doors or windows. It, too, is capable of recovering from catastrophic damage. Like the Killer Car, it tends to select one person to be the object of its attentions, behaving perfectly normally around everyone else. The "lucky" occupant may smell the former owner's favorite perfume or brand of cigars, glimpse nonexistent "passengers" in the rear view and side mirrors, hear snatches of conversation with no one else in the vehicle. The radio may insist on playing only one station, or a select group of stations -- of course, favorites of the late former owner. The car may tend to take itself to places frequented by the former owner: a beloved park, a residence, a place of business or favorite restaurant, the lonely rural corner where the former owner died in a late night accident. On the anniversary of the former owner's death, it may feel compelled to repeat that accident, with the current owner trapped inside. (The player-character should have a last-minute opportunity to wrestle control away from the car.)

Unlike the Killer Car, the Haunted Car isn't out to get its "buddy." At least not at first. However, the Haunted Car is a very emotional, sensitive being. It may insist on loyally returning (repeatedly) to its "master" if sold or returned to the dealership, especially if the player-character "buddy" had taken pains to clean, polish, and restore it. It may be insulted by negative comments made about it and hold a grudge, pulling painful but non-lethal pranks on the person who hurt its feelings. This could lead to the car fawning on its beloved owner while persecuting the owner's friend or relative who made the comments. On the other hand, it may react adversely to the current owner's attempts to damage, destroy, or get rid of it. If the "buddy" truly offends the Haunted Car (for example, by making an attempt to run it off a cliff into the ocean), it then becomes the Killer Car.

It is possible for a the same vehicle to be a Haunted Car and a Killer Car. It might remain steadfastly loyal to its owner, so loyal that it seeks to punish those who have harmed him or his interests. It might stalk an ex-lover, try to eliminate a romantic or business rival, destroy a hated boss or a rich relative threatening to cut the owner out of his or her will, chase down the banker attempting to foreclose on the owner's home. The owner will probably be unaware of all this, at least at first. And the car only attempts to hurt people it could reasonably know about -- through a nearby argument or phone conversation, for example.

How far the GM wants to carry this depends on the tone of the campaign. Depending on how it is handled, the Haunted Car could be genuinely creepy or as silly as Herbie the Love Bug. Or maybe a bit of both.

[sniderman]

Great follow-up, seneschal! So, Christine was a Haunted Car before she became a Killer Car. And a great Twilight Zone episode with a Haunted Car is You Drive. (Though the car is trying to get its "victim" to do the right thing.)

Though, if you encounter this Haunted Car, it's best to "steer clear" (ha!):

[seneschal]

Thank you, sniderman.

In Ian Flemming's original story, Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang was a sort of Haunted Car, too. It had a mind of its own, gave orders to its driver via pop up dashboard signals, and made mysterious internal changes that weren't in its inventor restorer's blueprints.

At the climax of one of the Love Bug movies, Herbie rounded up all the other Volkswagen Beetles in its San Francisco neighborhood to rout the villains, confronting them with an army of angry animated cars. That was in a Disney family comedy. Imagine a Christine or Killdozer capable of doing something similar in a horror campaign!

Another killer vehicle worth looking at is the Jagdpanther from Tom Townsend's 1988 novel Panzer Spirit. An indestructible German tank killer left over from World War II decides to continue the war. I don't want to give away too much, but it is a fun read.

http://www.amazon.com/Panzer-Spirit-Tom ... 051700819X