Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Non-D&D ‘March Mania’ Blogcornocopia - Day 6




Other blogs can be found HERE.

The questions can be found HERE.

6 What non-D&D monster do you think is as iconic as D&D ones like hook horrors or flumphs, and why do you think so?

Jeez, what was I thinking when I made this question up? I think D&D is iconic largely because of its monsters, so that gives it a huge edge over other games in terms of memorability. As for Cthulhu, a lot of people would go there, but since its bestiary is ripped from Lovecraft, I’ll try and stick with a non-IP game.

And that game would be RIFTS! Palladium’s Rifts is bubbling over with gonzo ideas, some great and some terrible, and so it is with its monsters. There is a cybernetic-stealing demon in one of the smaller supplement books (I forget the name) that had us quaking in our boots back when I played the game. Since non-magic characters invest heavily in body modifications to even survive in Rifts’ crazy Megadamage world, having some dimensional being rip them off your body (OUCH), attach them to its own, then use them against you is both terrifying and iconic for the game.

Sadly, PCs are usually so overpowered in Rifts that even this creature didn’t have as big an impact as it should have. When I GMed Rifts, only the times that I gave monsters every power and trick and let them use equipment and subterfuge would they pose much of a challenge to the player characters, who often cried foul that monsters and NPCs could act as intelligent and duplicitous as them. Sad that the lack of menace due to player entitlement undercut so much promise in the game and its bestiary.

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