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I never guessed this common dungeon menace was a real thing and so fascinating!! Less dangerous, but no less icky.
"It is commonly known as the scrambled egg slime, or flowers of tan[2][/url] because of its peculiar yellowish, bile-colored appearance. Also known as the dog vomit slime mold... Their spores are produced on or in aerial sporangia and are spread by wind." F. septica produces a yellow pigment called fuligorubin A, which has been shown to chelate metals and convert them to inactive forms. In Estonian mythology it was thought to be leftovers from kratt. In Scandinavian folklore, Fuligo septica is identified as the vomit of troll cats. [url= ][18][/url]. In Finland, F. septica was believed to be used by witches to spoil their neighbors' milk. This gives it the name paranvoi, meaning "butter of the familiar spirit". [url= ][8][/url][url= ][19][/url] In Belgian Dutch, "heksenboter" refers to "witches' butter". This species is known to trigger episodes of asthma and allergic rhinitis in susceptible people. [url= ][20][/url][url= ][21]
Last edited by Jimm.Iblis (2/28/2018 11:32 pm)
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Great post! Thanks for sharing.
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Very cool. I always thought in addition to the usual monster books, game systems should have a book of environmental hazards and hook them up with traps and puzzles. That would make a pretty cool book imo.
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game systems should have a book of environmental hazards and hook them up with traps and puzzles
As a matter of fact there was something exactly like that for OSRIC, called Dungeon Hazards...
If I were to do a monster book I would love to see two things. The first is folklore. Every monster book I've seen in the past 30 years just gives you sciencese about these impossible creatures. Very few people in-world should know the "ecology of" so what's the point? Give me some superstitions and fables and peasant lore about wards and weaknesses. Stuff the locals will pass along that might be true but maybe not. I think one of the reasons why the classic monsters from the real world, like werewolves and vampires, are so popular in the fiction is precisely because we have such a vast corpus of folklore about them. It gives a DM who wants to use those creatures a lot of wiggle room to decide what is and isn't "true" about them in their campaign.
Drawing from a creature's folklore is the yield--not just facts about how dragon scales can make good armor. How much will the village hedge-witch pay for a manticore's gallbladder? What civilizations consider satyrs' nethers a delicacy? I try to think these up myself but I could always use a few germs of ideas.
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Jimm.Iblis wrote:
Every monster book I've seen in the past 30 years just gives you sciencese about these impossible creatures. Very few people in-world should know the "ecology of" so what's the point? Give me some superstitions and fables and peasant lore about wards and weaknesses. Stuff the locals will pass along that might be true but maybe not. I think one of the reasons why the classic monsters from the real world, like werewolves and vampires, are so popular in the fiction is precisely because we have such a vast corpus of folklore about them. It gives a DM who wants to use those creatures a lot of wiggle room to decide what is and isn't "true" about them in their campaign..
I agree.
I think a "monster" book that had the "legendary" info with some variations true and false. Then had the appearance and habits as relayed by surviving witnesses, true and false. Finally add the fabled powers of the creature, true and false. The creature book would have customization based on the desires of the gm and be a surprise for the players.
The Legendary Creatures of the Gal Hills would be a mixture of Keltic cultural references, monsters of other cultures, true experiences, pure fiction, and myth handed down. The book would be similar to a Legacy board game expansion for your role-playing campaign. The gm notes which details are accurate at the beginning and allows the characters to slowly find out what is true over time.
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Jimm.Iblis wrote:
game systems should have a book of environmental hazards and hook them up with traps and puzzles
As a matter of fact there was something exactly like that for OSRIC, called Dungeon Hazards...
If I were to do a monster book I would love to see two things. The first is folklore. Every monster book I've seen in the past 30 years just gives you sciencese about these impossible creatures. Very few people in-world should know the "ecology of" so what's the point? Give me some superstitions and fables and peasant lore about wards and weaknesses. Stuff the locals will pass along that might be true but maybe not. I think one of the reasons why the classic monsters from the real world, like werewolves and vampires, are so popular in the fiction is precisely because we have such a vast corpus of folklore about them. It gives a DM who wants to use those creatures a lot of wiggle room to decide what is and isn't "true" about them in their campaign.
Drawing from a creature's folklore is the yield--not just facts about how dragon scales can make good armor. How much will the village hedge-witch pay for a manticore's gallbladder? What civilizations consider satyrs' nethers a delicacy? I try to think these up myself but I could always use a few germs of ideas.
Awesome thank you, I guess I will be tracking down that book.
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A few more colorful names too... I am never calling it yellow mold again. It's "Witches' Butter" from now on.