Rifter #29 - New Mutant Animals

Rali · Unread post by **Rali** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 11:48 am

My favorite was the earthworm. They may talk about them being the 'Farmers Friend', but I can see several of them terrorizing a rural community being a whole lot of fun for adventurers.

Plus, can you imagine the size of the fish you could catch with them???

The size of the fishing pole may pose a problem though...

glitterboy2098 · Mon Feb 07, 2005 12:10 pm

i thought some of those chimera's were a bit....off, but with some tweaks it'll work. the idea that there were underground animal fight rings is actually a neat idea, just some of the details went against the book (allosauroids existing long before the crash, intellegent mutants being common before the crash, ect.)

i'd say it was his personal take, so no problem. neat stuff though. made me sit down and make a list for my own submission (creatures of myth and legends chimera's, and a list of post K-T prehistoric animals.)

Swift-13 · Unread post by **Swift-13** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 7:00 am

There are those who keep complaining about Mutant Animals' inability to naturally crossbreed, but that's what the Chimeras are for!

Now, to do something about the relative lack of Throwbacks...So far, the Allosauroid and that gigantic pig are the best!

glitterboy2098 · Mon Feb 14, 2005 3:11 pm

IIRC, its a species of owl that makes its home in old Prairie dog burrows.

small, ground dwelling, ect.

Thlaylie · Unread post by **Thlaylie** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 3:49 am

Spiders and scorpions have 10 legs like the crab does! Don't believe me? visit a pet shop. Does that mean that the web spinneret and web shooter powers should include 10 spinnerets instead of 8?

Spider: 8 legs, 2 pedipalps.

Scorpion: 8 legs, 2 pincers

Thlaylie · Unread post by **Thlaylie** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 7:12 pm

The pedipalps on a Tarantula are indistinguishable from it's legs. (except internally, the tips contain sex organs) Some orb weavers have tiny pedipalps. The scorpion's pincers are pedipalps.

A jumping spider, being a Hunting spider, has targeting sight with it's two big eyes. Should not be a sight penalty on it's 360 vision.

Thlaylie · Unread post by **Thlaylie** » Sun Feb 20, 2005 7:34 pm

That was my first thought, that the human DNA had "tainted" the spider and scorpion DNA, until I saw the crab entry, that's when I began to look closer at the templates.

Thlaylie · Unread post by **Thlaylie** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 7:31 am

I agree that the crab is limited on powers. The only really neat one that I can think of at the moment is that crabs actually have little round lobster tails that they keep tucked up tight underneath them. You will only see this is you have the sad duty of fishing a dead one from an aquarium.

A crab could use this tail to conceal things under, as most people don't know it's there.

DevastationBob · Sun Feb 27, 2005 5:53 pm

Shrimp and porcupine cross-engineering?

I would think combining the poison glands from a monotreme like the platypus or echidna with the quills for natural poison darts might be more feasible. They have blowguns and use their own ammunition. Still, glad to see someone is trying to keep the game alive.

DB

DevastationBob · Tue Mar 01, 2005 8:06 pm

Ok, admittedly I just flipped through that Rifter in the FLGS. Didn't know they were all Teenage Mutant Gladitorial Pit Chimera Fighters....was thinking more along the lines of regular chimerae. Still, glad to see someone is submitting stuff for ATB.

CyCo · Unread post by **CyCo** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 8:26 am

Whiz Kid wrote:I've been told the correct term for that tucked-away tail is 'carcinification.' Some also fefer to it as 'crabification.'

Not sure it can be used for that purpose, but I'm not really aware of it serving any other purpose. As far as I know, it's a natural vestigial trait, although unlike the vestigial tail trait in ATB... maybe someone could do a bit of research and draw up a 'vestigial crab tail' trait?

In females, this is where some species carry the eggs until they are fertilized by the mail. From memory, the reproductive organs of both sexes are located in under this 'tail'. This is how you can determin the sex of some types of crabs (maybe all, I'm not sure). The tail of the female has a broader, almost curved 'tail', while the male has one that is more pointed.

It wouldn't be unusual to catch a female during the mating season, and find that she was egg laden. She went back into the water straight away.

Whenever I went crab fishing when I was much younger, I would always throw back the small ones, and the females. I'ld also throw back every second male too. Gotta leave some for next year!!

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Rifter #29 - New Mutant Animals

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