Tag: Mark Tygart

Vampire Watermelon Group, Small

Bite (d6-2 damage) 3 HP

Hand

Vampire pumpkins and watermelons are a folk legend from the Balkans, in southeastern Europe.The belief in vampire fruit is similar to the belief that any inanimate object left outside during the night of a full moon will become a vampire. One of the main indications that a pumpkin or melon is about to undergo a vampiric transformation (or has just completed one) is said to be the appearance of a drop of blood on its skin.

Instinct: Drain the living

Bite

Limited mobility

Tasty

Hanging Tree Solitary, Huge

Strangling Noose (d10+3 damage 1 piercing) 24 HP 1 armor

Reach, Far

Special Qualities: Undead, Vulnerable to fire, Moves Slowly

Undead tree formed by the hanging of the innocent from its limbs. It will attempt to strangle its victim with rope and noose from it limbs and drain them of all life. Bodies that eventually fall from the tree often become undead monsters as well. Instinct: Strangles

Haunts

Inuit Monsters of the Frozen North for Dungeon World

ADLET

Group, Intelligent

Talons (d8 damage) 6 HP 0 armor

Close

Adlet are a race of people in Inuit legends said to have the lower body of dogs and the upper body of humans. Typically, they’re believed to be the offspring of an Inuit woman and a dog, brought about through an unnatural mating. The Adlet are typically portrayed as aggressive savages who will attack men when they cross paths.

Instinct: Devours

• Hunts

INUIT

Group, Intelligent

Spear (d8 damage) 6 HP 0 armor

Close

Special Qualities: Tribal Hunter-Gathers

Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions. The Inuit have traditionally been fishers and hunters. For the Inuit there was a set way of doing things: Maligait refers to what has to be followed, Piqujait refers to what has to be done, and the Tirigusuusiit refers to what has to be avoided. If an individual’s actions went against the Tirigusuusiit, Maligait or Piqujait, the shaman might have to intervene, lest the consequences be dire to the individual or the community. Instinct: Hunt

• Survive

• Guard Community

• Welcome peaceful strangers

QALUPALIK

Group, Stealthy

Claws (d8 damage) 6 HP 0 armor

Close

Special Qualities: Aquatic, Immune to cold

Qalupalik is an Inuit mythological creature. It is a human-sized marine goblin-demon that lives at the bottom of the sea, with long hair, green skin, and long fingernails. The myth is that qalupaliks wear an amautiit (a form of pouch that Inuit parents wear to carry their children) so they can take babies and children away who disobey their parents to become qalupaliks. The story was used to prevent children from wandering off alone, lest the qalupalik take those children in her amautik underwater and keep them forever. Qalupaliks are said to make a distinctive humming sound; therefore, they can be heard before they appear. Instinct: Steal Children

• Lives in the Inuit marine Underworld

• Charms children

• Make a distinctive humming sound

MAHAHA

Solitary, Planar

Nails (d10 damage 1 piercing) 16 HP 0 armor

Close

Special Qualities: Immune to Cold, Immune to non-magical weapons

Mahaha is a maniacal Inuit demon that terrorized parts of the arctic. This creature is described as a thin sinewy being, ice blue in colour and cold to the touch. Mahaha’s eyes are white and they peer through the long stringy hair that hangs in its face. This demon is always smiling and giggling. It is strong, very strong and it is always barefoot. Mahaha is usually seen with almost no clothing on yet it never seems to be bothered by the cold. This cold demon takes pleasure in tickling its victims to death with sharp vicious nails attached to its long bony fingers. Many elders have remarked on the expression of the dead victims Mahaha leaves behind. It seems all of the victim have a similar expression on their dead faces – a twisted frozen smile. Although this demon is twisted and evil, Mahaha is easily fooled. Most of the stories told about Mahaha end with it being fooled. Usually Mahaha is tricked into leaning over a water hole to take a drink and is pushed into the open water and swept away by the currents. Instinct: Tortures

• Haunts

• Inuit Demon

SAUMEN KARS (TORNITS)

Solitary, Large

Claws (d10 damage) 16 HP 0 armor

Special Qualities: Immune to cold

The Inuit Yeti or Bigfoot; these solitary creatures are nomadic, roaming the wastes to settle temporarily where they are lucky enough to find food, shelter, or both. They are omnivorous, but the climate dictates that the lion’s share of their diet is meat, and Saumen Kars consumes the flesh of any creature but their own kind.

Instinct: Preys on humans

• Hunts

SEDNA AVATAR

Solitary, Divine, Magical, Planar

Skeleton talons (d10+2 damage 1 piercing) 25 HP 0 armor

Close

Special Qualities: Divine, Primary Inuit goddess, Does not suffer fools, Aquatic, Immune to magic, Immune to non-magical weapons, Commands dead spirits

Sedna is the Inuit Goddess of the Underworld and the Ocean. The Inuit believe the afterlife to be located at the bottom of the sea; which Sedna rules. Sedna started existence as a simple Inuit girl. Sedna was killed by her father. Varying legends each give different rationales for Sedna’s murder. Yet, in each version, her father takes her to sea in his kayak, chopping off her fingers and throwing her into the sea. In each version she sinks to the bottom of the sea; to be worshiped by hunters who depend on her goodwill to supply marine sea creatures to hunt. She is generally considered a vengeful goddess, and hunters must placate and pray to her to release the sea animals from the ocean depths for their hunt. She is often depicted with a fish tail, like a mermaid. Inuit souls are sent to her for a year after death before they are reincarnated back into their tribe.

Instinct: Punishes

• Rules Inuit underworld and oceans

• Commands sea creatures and the dead

• Inuit Goddess; appears as an arctic mermaid with skeleton talons

SIXAM IEUA

Solitary, Divine

Arctic curse (w[2d10+2] damage) 12 HP 0 armor

Close, Far

Special Qualities: Heal travellers, Bless weapons to hit demons, Mute

A rare type of Inunit guardian shaman found in Dan Simmons’ novel “The Terror”. The shaman of a community of Inuit was not the leader, but rather a sort of healer and psychotherapist, who tended wounds and offered advice, as well as invoking the spirits to assist people in their lives. His or her role was to see, interpret and exhort the subtle and unseen. The Tuunbaq can be pacified by the throat singing of an otherwise mute Sixam ieua (special Inuit shaman), rendering it as close to docile as it can be made. This entire shaman group has had their tongues removed to gain their special powers and usually refrain from all forms of physical violence against human beings. Instinct: Protect

• Guide

• Heal

• Bless

• Inspired by Dan Simmons’ novel “The Terror”‘

TIZHERUK

Horde, Large

Bite (d6 damage 1 piercing) 7 HP 0 armor

Near

Special Qualities: Aquatic

In Inuit mythology, the Tizheruk are large, snake-like sea creatures that are believed to roam Alaska’s waters. They are described as having a head 7 feet long with a tail ending in a flipper, for a total of 12 to 15 feet long. Tizheruk were said to snatch people from docks and piers.

Instinct: Snatches

• Consumes

TUUNBAQ

Solitary, Large, Planar

Bite (b[2d12] damage) 20 HP 1 armor

Near

Special Qualities: Impervious to non-magical weapons, Demon, Immune to cold

The Tuunbaq is an Inuit Demon, a devourer of souls and eater of flesh. The Tuunbaq is encountered as a large polar bear with an extended if not elongated neck, and is impervious to non-magical weapons. The Tuunbaq can be pacified by the throat singing of a Sixam Ieua (special Inuit shamans), rendering it as close to docile as it can be made. The Tuunbaq was created by the Inuit Goddess Sedna to murder the other Inuit pagan gods, when it failed she exiled it to the far north and taught special shamans how to confine it there. Instinct: Consumes souls

• Haunts

• Ancient Demon of Frozen Wastes

• Players killed by Tuunbaq may not be restored unless it is destroyed

• Inspired by Dan Simmons novel

Crypt Seer (Solitary, Stealthy, Construct)

Teleports 16 HP 0 armor

Close, Far

Special Qualities: Undead Construct

A rare variant version of the Crypt Thing, the Crypt Seer inhabits a distant and dangerous location; usually a crypt deep in a dungeon. It will answer almost any question or teleport a party home in exchange for a rare (often magical) item the party has which it covets. Talkative and entertaining it will never answer a question truthfully that it has not been paid for with a offering by the party. It appears as a skeleton in tattered robes with glowing blue eyes. Items given to a Crypt Seer in payment will vanish mysteriously; sometimes reappearing later in a distant hoard.It normally waits in an alcove or on a chair provided for it.

Instinct: Demand offering

Answers questions for offerings

Teleports hostiles to nasty locations

Guards

Lies unless paid

From the pages of Dan Simmons’ The Terror…

Tuunbaq (Solitary, Large, Planar)

Bite (b[2d12] damage) 20 HP, 1 armor

Near

The Tuunbaq is a Inuit Demon, a devourer of souls and eater of flesh. The Tuunbaq is encountered as a large polar bear with an extended if not elongated neck, and is impervious to non-magical weapons.The Tuunbaq can be pacified by the throat singing of a sixam ieua (Inuit shaman), rendering it as close to docile as it can be made.

Instinct: Consumes souls

Haunts

Ancient Demon of Frozen Wastes

Players killed by Tuunbaq may not be restored

Newhon Snow Serpent (Solitary, Large)

Bite (d10 damage) 16 HP (2 armor)

A furred snow serpent is an immense snake covered in thick white fur. They range in length from 60 to 80 feet long, with a head sad to be “as big as an elk” or a horse. At one snow serpent skin was said to be as long as a ship’s mast was tall. They are hot blooded, mammals not reptiles. Snow serpents dwell in the frozen wastes of Nehwon. They also can be found on the higher altitudes of snow and ice-covered mountains peaks. There they feed on various specious of mountain goat and antelope (as well as any luckless travelers who happen to fall into their clutches).Snow serpents are ambush predators, counting on their coloration to render them effectively invisible amid the snow and ice of their home. They will often coil up into depressions or under overhangs, and then strike at any unwary prey that wanders into their range.Afterwards, the snow serpent will find some place secluded to sleep off and digest its meal. As prey is scarce in the mountains and icy wastes, snow snakes will try and take any likely prey item they encounter.

Instinct: Consume prey

Paramental (Solitary, Planar, Terrifying, Amorphous)

Bash (d10+2 damage) 19 HP (4 armor)

Close, Forceful

Special Qualities: Formed out of local city structures

Paramentals are the elemental spirits of inanimate forces. It is unclear whether they are drawn to cities because of the large quantities of “city-stuff” or created by them. When manifesting, they draw their physical substance from the materials nearby. Paramental entities are quite hostile to those unlucky enough to draw their attention, “about midway in nature between the atomic bomb and the archetypes of the collective unconscious.” The one example featured in the novel “Our Lady of Darkness” was a brown humanoid, with an eyeless triangular face and long chin that tapered to a snout.

Instinct: Destroys

Manifests

Arcane construct

“From his window there thrust itself a pale brown thing that wildly waved its long, uplifted arms at him. While low between them, he could see a face stretched toward him, a mask as narrow as a ferret’s, a pale brown, utterly blank triangle, two points above that might mean eyes or ears, and one ending below in a tapered chin … a questing mouth that looked as if it were sucking for marrow.”

–from Fritz Leiber’s Our Lady of Darkness (1977)