Gibbelin Horde Solitary, Hoarder
A flurry of blows (d8x2 damage) 20 HP
Close, Reach, Far
Special Qualities: 3x normal health. Every health lost kills a gibbelin. -1 dmg for every gibbelin lost.
“The Gibbelins eat, as is well known, nothing less good than man. Their evil tower is joined to Terra Cognita, to the lands we know, by a bridge. Their hoard is beyond reason; avarice has no use for it; they have a separate cellar for emeralds and a separate cellar for sapphires; they have filled a hole with gold and dig it up when they need it. And the only use that is known for their ridiculous wealth is to attract to their larder a continual supply of food. In times of famine they have even been known to scatter rubies abroad, a little trail of them to some city of Man, and sure enough their larders would soon be full again.”
“Their tower stands on the other side of that river known to Homer—ho rhoos okeanoio, as he called it—which surrounds the world. And where the river is narrow and fordable the tower was built by the Gibbelins’ gluttonous sires, for they liked to see burglars rowing easily to their steps. Some nourishment that common soil has not the huge trees drained there with their colossal roots from both banks of the river.”
“There the Gibbelins live and are discreditably fed.”
–Lord Dunsany
• Ambush with abandon and much gusto
• Lures with gems, jewels and semiprecious stones
• Inhabits the “Gibbelin Tower”
Special Rules: Fighting a Gibbelin Horde
When you fight the Horde, roll 2d6+STR:
10+ choose 2
7-9 choose 1
You avoid being caught by the horde
You land a meaningful hit, roll damage against the horde
You maintain your position in the face of the horde
You help another person escape the gibbelins
When you’re caught by Gibbelins, roll 2d6+STR:
10+ You escape their grasp
7-9 You aren’t mauled or eviscerated, but they worsen your position – pin you down, take a weapon away, etc.
6- The horde tears you to shreds and feasts upon your bits (roll Last Breath).
I like the concept so much, and I really, really like the spirit of the moves: Inahbits the “Gibbeling Tower” is very nice: they can make a move and just be there, going on with their lives.
Kudos for that.
I have some issue with the first one, though.
A monster move is something the monster do and has effects on the fiction. So a Gibbeling Horde is going to use its move and love to ambush: they retreat in a dark spot and think about how really, really nice would be to ambush. Or they ambush someone through some other move and meditate how much they enjoyed it through this.
It’s not active.
What about “Ambush with abaddon and much gusto”?
There is an action (the ambush) and the color is mantained.
Ezio Melega I agree that’s an improvement, good point. Changed it.
“Ambush with abandon,” is what I think you mean–enthusiastically, that is. “With abaddon” might mean destructively or something, but it’s not yet an English word. Otherwise delightful.
Bill White yes, abandon