"What's Nuked, Scooby-Doomsday?" — New Mutation: Fear Generation

The creeps and freaks lurking in the Scooby-Doom-iverse are some of the most terrifying in existence.  Their mere presence turns bustling villages into ghost towns veritably overnight!

Detailed below is the mutatious method used to accomplish such hair-raising feats of spookification!

New Mutation

Fear Generation (Mental):  The mutant projects powerful waves of psychic energy that send all victims within a 30' radius into blind panic.  The mutant makes a Mental Attack against each target within range; those affected run away in a random direction for 2d6 rounds.  And upon recovering, victims suffer a -3 To Hit penalty to all attacks (including Mental!) directed at the mutant for another 1d8 rounds.  This ability is usable 4 times per hour.

This mutation weakens when used against those who have already suffered its effects; the mutant suffers a cumulative -1 to its Mental Attack roll each time Fear Generation is used on a prior victim.  (Yes, victims gradually lose their fear response.)

Even when not actively using Fear Generation, the mutant's psionic emanations disturb the local denizens.   Anywhere the mutant travels, all sentients and animals within a 2-mile radius feel a sense of unease and foreboding, with corresponding nervousness, jumpiness, and disrupted sleep patterns.  Those with Willpower scores of 11- generally uproot and move their entire families from the area within days of the mutant's arrival.

Let's Go To Gamma World. Meet... The Vath.

Vath

No. Enc.:  1d8 (1d8)
Alignment:  Neutral
Movement:  30' (10')
        —Fly:  150' (50')
Armor Class:  5
Hit Dice:  5
Attacks:  2 (2 bites)
Damage:  2d8 / 2d6 + poison
Save:  L3
Morale:  9
Hoard Class:  None
XP:  1,250

The twisted vath (both singular and plural) are 3' long beasts with 10' wingspans and 2 hideous heads.  The  left head sports wicked, hollow fangs for sucking blood, while the right head possesses bulging red eyes and slavering, venomous jaws (with Poison Class determined at random).  In combat, vath always begin by Beguiling their prey [see below].

A vath's hard, rubbery skin is particularly susceptible to the cold, meaning it takes +1 extra damage per die from cryonic attacks, and slows to airspeeds of 60' (20') when the temperature drops below 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

Vath congregate in caves, abandoned sewers, and ruins, and are fully active by day and by night.

Mutations:  Beguiling, Dual-Headed, Enhanced Vision (Night Vision), Epidermal Susceptibility (Cold) [D], Increased Sense (Hearing), Toxic Weapon (Venom), Vampiric Field

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New Mutation

Beguiling (Mental):  Makes all characters within a 90' radius use the least powerful of their weapons and/or mutations when attacking the mutant possessing it.  Every 6 combat rounds, each affected individual makes an Ability Check Versus INT; success means the influence is broken, and the target cannot be affected by this mutation again for a full 24 hours.

Not-The-Designer's Notes:  The Vath first appeared in 1983's The Cleansing War Of Garik Blackhand, by Michael Price and Garry Spiegle.  Illustration provided by Jim Holloway.

Not-The-Designer's Notes Addendum:  The Beguiling mutation first appeared in 1983 in the 2nd edition of Gamma World by James M. Ward, Gary Jaquet, and David James Ritchie.

Not-The-Designer's Notes Addendum-To-The-Addendum:  Like most original Gamma World beasties, the vath's damage output is ridiculously high in Mutant Future / Labyrinth Lord terms.  But I'm fine with it, because the critters are supposed to be terrifying.

"The Pig?" "The Cow?" "You're Waaaaay Off. Think Smaller. Think More Legs."

Here's the cover of the Mutant Future 2e core book.

And here's some pictures from the interior of said book:

Now, some images from assorted vintage (1st through 4th editions) Gamma World products:

Finally, here's artwork from William McAusland's awesome new game, The Mutant Epoch Hub Rules:

The unifying theme is obvious:  in post-apocalyptic games, multiple parts—eyesballs, limbs, and even heads—are commonplace.  Mutants are CRAZY with additional anatomy.

But the official Mutant Future rules make extra body-bits almost impossible for Player Characters to acquire. 

Let me drop some SCIENCE! on this travesty, and attempt to right this egregious wrong.

—

Here's the Mutant Future Random Mutation Chart from the core book:

From the list, any given mutant has a 2% chance (10-11 on d100) of being Dual-Headed.  That's pretty much in line with every other mutation...but not really all that much fun.

Sure, you also theoretically have another 2% (01-02 on d100) chance of having an Aberrant Form, which includes the non-noggin multiples...

...but that really boils down to just a .5% chance, given that roll of 5-6 on d8. 

All said, any given PC has a fraction of a tiny percent to get Extra Parts that aren't face-based.  Madness!

—

Figgerin' that out made me realize that I have other problems with the whole Mutant Future Random Mutation process.

Look at the Drawbacks.  Any given mutant has a 43% (roll of 58-100 on d100) of having a physical disability.  I get that the Mutant Future is a cruel and horrible place, but that seems somewhat excessive, particularly when compared to the granddaddy of all post-apoc games, Gamma World.

—

Let's break Gamma World and its Defects down by edition.

Here are the First Edition Random Mutation Charts:

If you exempt the "Roll Again" freebies from the list, you have a 31.1% chance (28 out of 90) of getting a Defect.  Harsh.

But Second Edition is even more cruel...

...because you have a 36.1% chance (35 out of 97) of a Defect.

Mutatin' ain't easy, yo.

Third Edition takes a kid-gloves approach:

Only 5.6% odds (5 out of 90) of being defective?  That's some shamefully candy-ass, weak sauce.

Fourth Edition cranks it back up again...

...to something a bit more brutal, with a flat 20% (18 out of 90).

—

Clearly, Gamma World 2e was the most unforgiving with dishing out the pain at 36.1%...

...but that pales when compared to Mutant Future 's 43% of being flawed. 

Combine that with MF's complete removal of any chance of picking your own mutations with a 90+ percentile roll, one thing is clear:  Dan Proctor and Ryan Denison are monsters!

—

[Brief digression.  Looking at same four charts, multiple body parts were also relatively rare in the Gamma World days.

1e:  2.2% (2 out of 90).

2e:  3.1% (3 out of 97).

3e:  2.2% (2 out of 90).

4e:  5.56% (5 out of 90, but actually slightly higher if you factor in how New Body Parts allows a 1 in 10 chance of a second head).

Huh.  Who'da thunk it.]

—

Another issue I have with the Mutant Future Random Mutation Chart is its whole "Roll High, Get Hosed" design scheme. 

With the (much debated) exception of Armor Class, OSR game systems—including Mutant Future itself—adhere to the "The Higher, The Better" ethos.

Our current chart just violates the whole concept.

—

So, after all that bellyaching, what do I propose?

Simple.  I made my own custom Random Mutation Chart that fixes all my issues, with just minor tweaking.

I reorganized the list, with Drawbacks listed at the low end.

I got rid of Dual Headed, and just lumped it in under Extra Parts.  (Aberrant Form can still work as written, I reckon.)

I retooled the numbering scheme a bit.  Not only does this better  allow for a bevy body parts (at a flat  5%), but it also dropped the percentage of getting a Drawback to a more comfortable 36% (which is in line with Gamma World 2e).  [An added bonus:  I reduced the chance of rolling Density Alteration (Self) to only 1%.  That mutation is just too complicated with too little bang for the buck, when compared to the relative simplicity of its fellows.]

I also added in Seizures to the Mental Mutations list as a shout-out to early-edition Gamma World disadvantages (Epilepsy [D] and, obviously, Seizures [D]); plus, it let me have each Mental Drawback come in at a flat 2%.

New Mutation

Seizures [D]:  When faced with a stressful situation (especially a Surprise attack), character has a 15% chance of having a fit that acts as Paralysis for 1d4 Turns.

Oh, yeah.  When Shriek is rolled, there is a 1-3 chance on d6 that it is the standard version of the mutation, and a 4-6 chance that it is my own custom Greater Shriek.

—

I apologize that Blogger won't let me do up a prettier version of the chart.  But if anyone wants the Excel file, I'll happily email it out.  (Contact info is in the "About Me" box on the sidebar.)

When it comes to RPGs, the very last thing I am is a Rules Guy, so this post was really outside my usual comfort zone.  Go hog wild with any and all comments and criticisms.

Sir Mix-A-Lot Has Never Steered Me Wrong

"Now the ground be shakin', when my bass drum's breakin'...."  —  Sir Mix-A-Lot, "Swass" (1988)

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When building my beasties for this blog, I've tried to stick exclusively to the official mutations listed in the Mutant Future Core Rules.  Not only did I want to make the monsters painless to drop into any campaign, but I wanted to keep things simple and uniform.  (And it hasn't always been easy, as I'm a 28-year Champions player, and wired to be all about the Special Effects.)

That said, I'm not fond of the Shriek mutation [p. 25].  It lacks flair, pizazz, and all-around oomph; the damage (which can be avoided outright) is paltry, the deafness isn't that big a hassle, and the "once per day" restriction grates.

So here's my fix:  a brand new mutation cleverly called...Greater Shriek.

Shriek, Greater
The mutant's vocal cords are substantially altered, allowing him to produce sounds both above and below the normal human auditory range.  The culmination of this ability seems to be a focused shout, using the sonic vibrations on everyone in the immediate vicinity of the mutant.

1d6 times per day (as determined randomly during Character Creation), the mutant can let out a horrible shriek that affects everyone within a 20' radius of him.  Targets in the area of effect take 2d6 points of sonic damage, and must Save Versus Stun Attacks or be both deafened for 1d6+4 rounds and Paralyzed for 1d4+1 rounds.

Both total damage and effect durations are doubled if the mutation is used under water.

Those who successfully Save are unaffected by the deafness and paralysis.  Mutants with Echolocation suffer a -3 penalty to Save.

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I've gone back and updated a handful of relevant critters, like Brainwhales, oscreeches, and zephrogs.  And expect to see it in future entries.