MUP 079 - They Did the Monster Mash

[Keeper Dan]

As mentioned in the show, I have now added the History Lecture Groupie mug and a plain MUP logo shirt to the storefront.

[Bootlegger]

I loved this episode, guys! Please explore this again in future episodes. Using the creatures' traits to generate story seeds is a really useful and fun way to approach scenario creation, and it was fun to hear you guys jam ideas.

Thanks and keep up the great work!

[Dr. Gerard]

Again, so good to hear it. We don't know exactly what works best for listeners until we hear feedback. Bestiary segments always seem to get responses, so we know monsters work. We plan to do more like this, but maybe not one after another. What other kinds of topics do you guys like most?

[Blightedmarsh]

Crawling ones;

Worms or maggots? because maggots pupate into flies....bloodsucking flies that lay eggs in people.
Whilst talking about stuff that's in there you are not necessarily limited to human skeletons or just bones. Weapons, technology or just bits of rusty metal to give themselves more bite.

And do crawling ones get spells? It says that they where sorcerers in life. I can just imagine one using human puppets to recapture their human existence, using them up and devouring their withered husks when they are finished with them. Maybe they turn into bees and the honey mummy is a human hive of these things, leaving a trail of honey slick carrion worms behind him.

Could non humans such as ghouls or mummies become servants of glakkie?

[Bootlegger]

Again, so good to hear it. We don't know exactly what works best for listeners until we hear feedback. Bestiary segments always seem to get responses, so we know monsters work. We plan to do more like this, but maybe not one after another. What other kinds of topics do you guys like most?

I always enjoy topics related to story creation and scenario seeds.

[DaveST]

Loved the mash-up, guys! Well done, as always. I'm considering doing something similar with my Monstrorum as an exercise, maybe flip to three random pages and see what I get. Might be a fun thing we could do on the forums, too...

[Keeper Jon]

Loved the mash-up, guys! Well done, as always. I'm considering doing something similar with my Monstrorum as an exercise, maybe flip to three random pages and see what I get. Might be a fun thing we could do on the forums, too...

I like it! Please, kick us off. I'd love to partake in a topic like that.

[Dr. Gerard]

Crawling ones;

Worms or maggots? because maggots pupate into flies....bloodsucking flies that lay eggs in people.
Whilst talking about stuff that's in there you are not necessarily limited to human skeletons or just bones. Weapons, technology or just bits of rusty metal to give themselves more bite.

And do crawling ones get spells? It says that they where sorcerers in life. I can just imagine one using human puppets to recapture their human existence, using them up and devouring their withered husks when they are finished with them. Maybe they turn into bees and the honey mummy is a human hive of these things, leaving a trail of honey slick carrion worms behind him.

Could non humans such as ghouls or mummies become servants of glakkie?

Fun questions.

Game material calls them worms and maggots (and sometimes grubs), but the short line in The Festival mentions only worms. So that gives lots of room for interpretation. Maybe it could be any kind of larvae that suits your purposes. Imagine a whole Crawling One composed of mosquito larvae, maybe a monster in Alaska that uses adults to go and collect blood to make a psychic connection with a new host or an enthralled victim? Bee larvae would be fantastic. Or maybe monarch butterflies -- always fun to turn something that's usually not scary into a terrifying hoard of vermin.

Some spoilers ahead about Crawling Ones in published scenarios -- ones I did not want to delve into too specifically on the show:

While the guy in The Festival with the wax mask was made entirely of worms and had to hide his skin to avoid detection, crawling ones like Solomon Oakes in the Kingsport book is a corpse that the Crawling Ones inhabit and can pass for human aside from pale skin and other tells. Oakes needs to feed on new flesh to stay alive, and orders lots of meat from the butcher shop to maintain himself -- between hobos. I like this slightly vampiric take, as I alluded to on the show. In Shadows of Yog Sothoth, there is a monster that looks more like a corpse than a mass of worms, called The Worm That Walks. Incidentally, SoYS contains a team-up of two kinds of undead, because Christopher Edwin is a dead man whose body was taken over by a "fungus from Yuggoth." He has control over The Worm That Walks, the more animal-like take on a Crawling One. An then in the next chapter, on Easter Island, there is a creature that is specifically named a Crawling One -- it's not clear to me if these are meant to be separate monster types. The latter version is completely composed of worms and resembles the thing we see statted in 6th and 7th Edition. In Brian Sammons' Restoration of Evil, Father Washington is a silent and hideous thing made of worms/maggots/grubs, so as a high priest of the Green Flame he has to administer his flock through other human cult leaders. He does have spells, as do all of the other Crawling ones listed here, other than The Worm That Walks. I'm spoiling just to demonstrate the range of possible approaches to Crawling Ones already in game material. I feel you have license to do whatever you want with them, but it's nice to check out what others have done before. BTW, am I missing any? One of my sources for looking at where monsters pop up in scenarios is the Keeper's Companion II, but that is out of date and doesn't include all of the material written since 2002.

I would not personally have thought Glaaki's spines would work on undead or non-humans, but since Jon mentioned the idea it has intrigued me. If Glaaki had some reason to go to the Dreamlands, perhaps rather than spearing Ghouls he could command his servants to begin eating flesh (in addition to maybe some arcane spells) so they become Ghouls and tunnel into the underworld until they emerge in the Peaks of Thoth. Why would Glaaki need something from the Underworld? Hard to say. Maybe rival non-servant Ghouls took something he needs? Like the remnants of his meteor / spaceship? Maybe it's nothing powerful at all. Maybe it's just a family photo album.

[fox01313]

Great show guys.

Thanks Fox! I have added the RPPR links in Dan's show notes posting above.

Oh that one, great recommendation & I forgot about that one & highly recommended for ASG/RPPR goodness (esp. the film for Old Yeller for Deep Ones spot). Love the spot where the npc guard almost deals with the mutiny. Sure it's a bunch of NPCs talking but the conversation is so damn good on just how bad things are going. I'd love to listen to any Cthulhu games from Glancy & often grab ones off RPPR or Unspeakable Oath to listen to for all kinds of historical calamities. Everyone is horrible monsters all around on this one for the most part which makes for entertaining podcasts to listen to (esp. when using podcasts instead of game audio).

[trevlix]

Saw this image and thought of this episode. Servants of Gla'aki perhaps?

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