Purple people eaters eat purple people. That's what they call a truism, daddy-o.
But where do they find purple people? The ones not in their bellies, I mean?
They used to find them in outer space. But now, they're finding 'em right here on Earth. Or rather, the purple people are finding them. Hunting them down, actually. For revenge.
Which might be helpful to Earthmen, if purple people were actually friendly. But they ain't. They sort of hate us for creating a culture where purple people eaters can indulge their musical talents.
To put it bluntly, purple people hate teenagers and their music, and consider us fodder or bait.
Keep that in mind if you happen to meet one.
Randoorshian, Purple People
Callous hunters from another world, perhaps the only redeeming thing about the Randoorshian race is their hatred of Purple People Eaters, for whom they are the preferred prey. It is unclear whether the two races originate on the same home planet, but some human scholars of the esoteric have learned that the Randoorshian civilization once spanned several star systems, and was laid waste by the one-eyed, one-horned monsters who fed upon them in swarms.
Today, they are an endangered species, and the surviving purple people have dedicated their entire society to ridding the universe of Purple People Eaters. This makes them hostile to Earthmen, most of whom seem enamored of the carnivorous aliens, and who are as primitive as cavemen, anyway, from the Randoorshian perspective.
Purple people usually visit Earth in flying saucers, touching down in isolated or rural areas to take scientific samples of the local flora and fauna (including humans) for experimentation. They are engaged in an extensive study of Earth culture and defenses, in preparation for their master strike against the planet. In this way, they will deprive their hated foes of yet another foothold among the stars. That it will likely kill billions of Earth people is of no consequence to the Randoorshians; does one weep for the ants infesting his cupboard when he lays out poison for the roaches?
LotFP Game Stats
Randoorshians are masters of both arcane arts, combat, and super-science. A typical member of their race exploring on Earth as the stats of an elf of a given level, with the following exceptions and additions.
-- Randoorshian females, the rulers of the race, replace the Search skill with Mad Science.
-- Randoorshian males can use magic without needing to rely on potions, scrolls, wands, and so forth like witches do. Thus, they have use the default magic system.
All purple people are typically armed with ray guns, sonic sabers, and other exotic Mad Science weapons. They typically have high Armor Classes due to their reliance on technology, as well. But if deprived of these things, they are just as fragile as lowly Earthmen... and even tastier.
Teenage monsters are a fixture of 1950s B-movies. In Transylvania, USA, they're more common than their adult counterparts, a bit more high-strung, and definitely more talented.
Any classic horror creature can be "teenaged" by applying the following modifications to their game stats:
Because they are not yet fully developed, teenage monsters should have fewer hit dice or other damage indicators than adult monsters. Pre-teen to young adult monster should be given 2/3 (rounded up) standard Hit Dice, while those on the verge of adulthood should be given 3/4 of the typical Hit Dice. Thus, teenage monsters can be used as threats for lower-level parties/bands.
Still governed far more by their hormones than adult monsters, teenage monsters are more likely to uncontrollably fly off the handle and throw a tantrum. Whenever a teenage monster is under stress or in danger of not getting its way, it must make a Wisdom-based save (LotFP: save vs. paralysis), or enter a frenzy state that increases its attack capabilities by +3, but reduces its defenses (AC in LotFP) by -2. During this frenzy, the teenage monster attacks any target within reach, friend or foe. The frenzy ends when there are no more targets to engage, the monster is defeated, or the monster successfully makes another Wisdom-based save at -4 penalty.
Teenage monsters are better at dancing, driving, and playing music than their adult counterparts. The teenage monster adds one skill point to its default (choose one) Dancing, Driving, Musical Instrument, or Singing skill.
For inspiration, enjoy this taste of classic teenage monstrous mayhem:
Blobs, jellies, oozes, puddings, slimes... whatever you call them, these lifeforms are uniformly disgusting, relentless, and seemingly unstoppable once they begin to grow. Blobs have many origins: outer space, mad science, the ocean's deepest depths, magical curses, or whatever else you can dream up. They display a wide range of abilities, colors, toughness, and other special qualities, and about the only thing they all have in common is a mysterious and insatiable appetite for flesh.
Blobs are arguably the quintessential Fifties monster, or at least an iconic menace of the decade. Vampires, werewolves, zombies, gill men, mummies, witches, and other traditional horror monsters have much older origins; blobs, however, appear to be a thoroughly modern nightmare.
Use the following tips and tables to make every blob unique.
Common Blob Features
Blobs are amorphous, and can squeeze through spaces as small as 1 cm at their normal movement rate without hindrance.
Blobs are immune to surprise and stealth-based attacks from within 60 ft. of their peripheral mass, and can sense all potential targets and prey within this range as well.
Blobs increase their size, HD, and combat capabilities by absorbing prey. For every 1d4 HD or levels of prey absorbed, a blob shifts from a smaller size rating to the next largest one, and increases its base Hit Dice by 1 (re-roll all hit points and change only if the total increases). There is no maximum size for a blob; such a creature could, in principle, grow to engulf an entire town or city, given sufficient food sources (though most blobs only consume flesh, omnivorous varieties that also absorb plants and fungi are conceivable).
Blobs are impervious to most kinds of damage other than their unique weaknesses. This makes them exceptionally tough opponents, despite their mindlessness.
Standard Attack Forms Area Attack: Unless they possess special qualities like pseudo-pods or ambulatory buds, blobs attack prey en masse, by spreading over a given area and absorbing all flesh they engulf. Thus, they rarely make standard attack rolls. Instead, they extend their malleable mass over a given area, and all within the area of effect must make Dex-based saving throws (LotFP: vs. breath) to avoid being struck.
Engulf: Blobs can use sheer bulk to smother prey, and thus absorb them. Any creature composed of flesh and blood that gets caught in a blob's area of effect must check against a standard grapple attack (base the blob's Str or other appropriate score on its size relative to its target). If the check fails, the prey is covered by the blob's amorphous, gooey mass, and must make a Str-based saving throw (LotFP: vs. paralyze) to even attempt to free themselves. This save is made at -2 penalty for every point of Str the blob possesses higher than its prey.
Every round the prey is engulfed, it must make a Con-based save (LotFP: vs. poison) or suffocate, facing instant death. Succeeding on this saving throw is not necessarily a good thing, though, for an engulfed creature also suffers an agonizing 1d6 acid damage per blob HD per round from the blob's digestive secretions.
In addition to the above, more-or-less standard powers, blobs can be individualized with the following tables.
Blob Activators/Attractors
Every blob
has a unique “trigger” that attracts it to prey and spurs it into action.
1d6
Catalyst
1
Body heat
2
Contact with flesh
3
Teenager music
4
Teenager sexual pheromones
5
Radiation (choose type)
6
Sound
Blob
Repellants/Weaknesses
Each blob
has a unique susceptibility to a certain kind of damage. Unless otherwise
noted, it will be immune to any other kind of attack. There is a 10% chance that
attacks based on its weakness cause double damage to a blob.
1d6
Weakness
1
Cold
2
Dehydration
3
Electricity
4
Fire
5
Light, Concentrated (choose a wavelength)
6
Magic/Psi Powers (choose specific type)
Blob Salient
Abilities
Some blobs
can do more than simply spread, grow, and smother prey. For a more dynamic
blob monster, roll twice on the following table, ignoring duplicate results.
1d8
Feature
1
Adhesive secretions (as spider climb
spell, but no limit on duration)
2
Ambulant budding (releases swarm of smaller
blobs from its main mass, minimum 1 HD ea.)
3
Contact acid (1d6 per blob HD)
4
Contact poison (causes paralysis or death;
Con-based save required)
5
Electrical shock (1d6 per blob HD; save for
½ damage)
Pseudopods (capable of melee attacks; 1 per
2 blob HD; 1d8 dam per 2 blob HD)
8
Spores (Con-based save or become infected,
transform into new blob in 1d6 days)
Blob
Color
Blobs come
in a variety of colors. Sometimes, these are thematically tied to their powers
or native environment, but feel free to determine the blob’s color randomly.
1d10
Coloration
1
Black
2
Blue
3
Gray
4
Green
5
Purple
6
Shifting/Camouflaging (-4 to prey’s Search
or Spot checks)
7
Translucent
8
Yellow
9
White
10
Multi-hued (roll 1d4 more times)
Blob “Armor”
Blobs are
tough; even hurting them with their unique weakness is sometimes a tall order.
Use this table to determine a blob’s base armor rating.
1d4
Blob Base Armor Rating
1
As unarmored
2
As leather
3
As chain
4
As plate
Blob Base
Movement
Not all blobs
are ponderous masses of unrelenting jelly. Some are terrifyingly quick when
they need to be. A blob never has to move at full speed, of course, and some
are just cunning enough to try and trick their prey by moving slower than they
are actually capable of.
1d6
Max Speed
1
Snail’s pace
2
¼ Human
3
½ Human
4
Full Human
5
2x Human
6
4x Human
Blob FX
Many blobs
leave traces of themselves in areas through which they have passed. This makes
it easier to track them or detect their presence, should someone be foolhardy enough
to try.
1d6
Blob trace
1
Distinct odor
2
“Eggs”: unhatched vessels contain 1 HD
offspring; can be automatically hit
3
Gory leavings: bones, clothing, metal
items, etc., from absorbed prey
4
Live Spawn: (1/2 blob’s HD)d6 ambulatory
buds from the mother mass
5
Local mutations: ecology is twisted by blob’s
presence; double chances of random monsters
Widely believed to be extraterrestrial in origin, these carnivorous creatures are deceptively innocent upon first glance. The monsters' simple love of playing music ingratiates them to humans quite easily. And a purple people eater, after all, is famous for only eating purple people, which would seem to put most denizens of Earth in the safe zone. But do not let their whimsical facade fool you: purple people eaters are among the most dangerous monsters you are ever to encounter... especially if they are hungry.
The beings try to keep their hunting of Earth people a secret, but there is at least one documented incident of a purple people eater kidnapping (and presumably eating) a human: the wife of R&B and rock & roll star Bo Diddley, who has since dedicated his life to hunting the creatures and other monsters [1].
Powers (System Neutral):
Purple people eaters have several attack forms linked to the horn on their head. First, they can play a tune that will cause targets to dance uncontrollably until reaching total exhaustion. Second, they can play another tune that mesmerizes audiences, rendering them more susceptible to surprise attacks or suggestion.
The great big eye of a purple people eater has a ray attack that immobilizes prey... and alters
the biochemistry of their prey's flesh, making it easier to digest
(and, not incidentally, turning it purple in color).
Purple people eaters are known to fly under their own power, and given some eyewitness accounts of their speed (again, see the testimony of Bo Diddley), may actually possess minor teleportation powers.
The have natural weaponry in the form of sharp teeth and claws, and are capable of swallowing prey whole.
Being intelligent extraterrestrials, purple people eaters can be equipped with energy weapons or other alien technology that aids them.
Finally, they have also been known to consort with some of Earth's less scrupulous witches and warlocks [2], and so may be in possession of potions, scrolls, staffs, or wands that augment their abilities or effect those of their enemies.
LotFP/OSR Stats: Armor: as chain (LotFP -- AC 16) HD: 10 HP: 63 Speed: As human, or 3x human flying Intelligence: 18 Musical Challenge: 5 in 6 skill on Horn
ATTACK:
-- 2 attacks per round, or 1 use of power per round
-- Bite: +10 to hit, 1d8 damage
-- Claws (2): +10 to hit, 1d4 damage
-- Charm Personor Mass Charm Person: each is a separate tune played through the horn in its head, cast as 12th level Magic-User
-- Eye Ray: power word stun as 12th level Magic-User; the ray also alters the target's biochemistry unless a successful save vs. magic is rolled. Failure means the victim has been transformed into a creature adapted to the purple people eater's home ecology, and is now bio-available for digestion. Success means the victim is still stunned, but cannot be digested by the monster.
-- Grapple: +11 to hit with 14 Str
-- Irresistible Dance: music from the monster's long horn causes one victim within 20 ft. of the creature to dance uncontrollably for 1d4+1 rounds (save vs. magic negates). The victim cannot do anything else during this time, and suffers -4 to AC as well as loss of ability to make further saving throws.
-- Swallow Whole: on a successful Grapple, victim must save vs. paralyze or be swallowed. A subsequent save vs. paralyze is required to escape instant death.
DEFENSE:
-- Dimension door 3x/day
[1] Bo Diddley's Testimony about his encounter with a purple people eater.
[2]The Big Bopper witnesses a purple people eater consorting with witches.
