Saturday, October 27, 2012

Spawn Of Devastation Drive-In — 'The Deadly Spawn' (1983)





Mawspawn — Adult

No. Enc.:  1 (1d4)
Alignment:  Neutral
Movement:  90' (30')
Armor Class:  5
Hit Dice:  10
Attacks:  5 (2 claws, 3 bites)
Damage:  1d4 / 1d4 / 1d8 / 2d8 / 3d8
Save:  L5
Morale:  12
Hoard Class:  VII
XP:  5,200

The Ancients dealt with all manner of cosmic menaces, from conquering fiends to deadly diseases...

...yet nothing prepared them for the insatiable, slithering, slavering slugs that infested hearth, home... 

...AND THE LIVING FLESH OF THEIR OWN BODIES!!!

The extraterrestrial mawspawn are strong, slippery, slimy, scarlet masses of mouths, tentacles, and teeth...so very many teeth!  They wriggle from meteorites and space debris, and seek out dark, wet dens so as to begin procreating and feeding, feeding and procreating. Their lairs are awash in gore, and anything entering such proverbial charnel houses suffers a +3 penalty to all Morale checks.

A typical adult mawspawn reaches 5'-6' tall, and sports 3 heads of increasing size, plus two lashing tentacles. [Smaller sub-adults may have fewer heads and/or tentacles, so adjust their attacks accordingly.]  The massive central mouth's bite is so powerful that it automatically decapitates a victim (no Saving Throw allowed) on a natural To Hit roll of 17-20.  

Adults produce 10d30 larvae per day [see below].

Mawspawn are mindless eating machines, and therefore immune to all Mental Mutations that affect the consciousness:  Empathy, Mental Phantasm, Mind Thrust, Neural Telepathy, etc. And while completely blind, they possess uncanny hearing, and unerringly track prey by sound.  Mawspawn can be tricked into attacking radios, CBs, etc, and perhaps suffer electrical and/or fire damage in the process.

Given enough food and moisture, mawspawn can theoretically grow to mindboggling sizes. Hushed rumors tell of mawspawn so big, they shatter mountains from within....

Mutations:  Increased Sense (Hearing), Sensory Deficiency (Blindness) [D]


















Mawspawn — Larva

No. Enc.:  5d12  (10d12)
Alignment:  Neutral
Movement:  30' (10')
Armor Class:  9
Hit Dice:  2 hp
Attacks:  1 (bite)
Damage:  1d4
Save:  L1
Morale:  12
Hoard Class:  VII
XP:  8

Newly-hatched, 6-inch larval mawspawn resemble eels with oversized, tooth-lined jaws.  They thrive in moisture, and spread far and wide in search of flesh and blood.  Mawpawn larvae often gnaw their way into structures and infest every part—furniture, walls, ceilings, even plumbing—to reach the occupants (and frequently kill themselves in the process, succumbing to electrical wiring, vermin traps, etc.)

Larvae can chew their way into sleeping victims (requires a Saving Throw Versus Stun to awaken when first bitten), and hollow them out from within.  Such corpses are quickly reduced to mere bone.

As larval mawspawn feast, they grow...and soon sprout buds that develop into additional mouths and/or tentacles.  [It's up to the Mutant Lord to determine HP/HD, XP, damage, etc. of such "intermediary" mawspawn.]

Like the adults, mawspawn larvae are immune to all Mental Mutations that affect the conscious mind.

Mutations:  Increased Sense (Hearing), Sensory Deficiency (Blindness) [D]



















6 comments:

  1. You have officially MADE this season for me with this entry.

    In fact, without leaving my chair as I hammer out this reply, I picked up something on the endtable next to me and snapped this pic. Guess what I have planned for today?

    ReplyDelete
  2. EVEN SINCE YOU TOLD ME ABOUT THIS MOVIE AND I FOUND A COPY ON YOUTUBE. I'VE BEEN HIGHLY ANTICIPATING THIS ENTRY! AWESOME WORK JUSTIN! YOU ARE DA' MAN!

    I will now return to normal typing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Mr. Tim: Thank you very, very much. Because I'm a tease, I was saving this one for the home stretch. I really had no idea you were such a fan!

    @Mr. Steven: I may just make you my official hype-man. How do you feel about wearing a clock around your neck, 24-7...?

    ReplyDelete
  4. And just because I'm an arrogant SOB, here's what The Distinguished Mr. Tim Snider said on G+:

    "The best blog post ever made in the history of mankind.

    Verily, I have been awesomed.

    ReplyDelete
  5. @Mr. GJ: Yes, yes you do! It's truly a marvel of 1980s do-it-yourself cinema. (And click here for the iconic VHS artwork that freaked me out as a wee one!)

    ReplyDelete