It came to watch. Its ethos obliges it to feed whatever body it wears, and today that body is ten thousand starlings over a clearcut.
For Monster of the Week by Michael Sands, released by Evil Hat Productions.
Monster: executioner (motivation: to punish the guilty)
An alien life form more like a swarm than a single creature, so when it visits Earth it usually possesses schools of fish, flocks of birds, or other large animal groups. Its goal is simply to observe our planet, but its ethos requires it to fulfil the needs of the creatures it is possessing to the best of its ability. So it uses its powerful telepathic abilities to fight for food and space for animals, sometimes leading to drastic showdowns against people, especially in areas where nature is overexploited or abused.
Powers
- Hive mind: can maintain control over, and coordination between, huge groups of small animals, as long as all of them are within half a mile of each other.
- Telepathy: can communicate with any living being by showing them mental images and sending emotions. Can understand human speech, but cannot speak.
Attacks
- Swarm attack, 6-harm intimate area
Armour: 1-armour (telekinetic field)
Harm capacity: 24
Weakness
- Area attacks: only if the swarm it is possessing is destroyed with area attacks is it killed for good and the alien banished. Otherwise it reforms, and quickly.
- Banishment: appropriate Big Magic rituals or telepathic powers can end the alien’s possession of the creatures.
For use with Monster of the Week by Michael Sands. Monster of the Week is copyrighted by Evil Hat Productions, LLC and Generic Games. Published under the Generic Games Third Party Policy.
Marek Golonka is a game designer, a game design teacher and the coordinator of Zgrozy, a series of Call of Cthulhu supplements that reimagines Lovecraftian horror one small release at a time.