I’m back for a surprise ninth installment of Monsters in the Machine. To re-read our previous entry click here, or you can go back to the start and see how it all began.
To quickly re-cap what’s going on, this is a series where I feed the GPT-3 AI entries from the Vaults of Vaarn bestiary and let it come up with its own monsters based on the prompts. I will later write a follow-up post where I edit and refine the stat blocks given to us by the machine learning algorithm, and talk a bit about why I changed stuff.
My free usage of GPT-3 ended some time ago, but I still have a few creature entries it created for us that I thought were worth looking at.
Cyclops Drone Synthetic Level: 5 Armour: 18 Morale: 7 Appearing: d4 Attacks: Heat Beam (d10) Notes: These drones are equipped with a single large eye as a weapon, capable of emitting a beam of intense heat. They are usually deployed in groups and can be used to scorch and incinerate entire regions.
This is a pretty standard science-fiction creature: the little one-eyed robot that shoots a laser at you. At Level 5, 18 Armour, and d10 damage they’re actually reasonably tough opponents. I’m unsure whether I would power them down a bit in the edit.
I also want a gimmick or special power for them. I’m at a point with the Vaarn bestiary where I don’t really need more creatures that only deal damage, I sort of want a gameplay hook or interesting lore implication as well. As it stands, ‘single-eyed drone that shoots a heat beam’ doesn’t have the juice we’re looking for. These need something extra.
Death Rays Synthetic Level: 6 Armour: 16 Morale: 10 Appearing: 1 Attacks: Heat Beam (d12) Notes: Colossal machines built to incinerate entire armies from afar. They are equipped with an array of powerful heat beams, and can fire in rapid succession.
The AI sometimes likes to iterate on ideas it already had; this is one of those times. I’m only mildly more interested in this version of the idea. We have a big robot that uses a heat beam. Great. I think making them gigantic gives us echoes of the tripods in War of the Worlds. I see this as a big spindly laser-giraffe stumbling around on long chrome legs.
I can’t decide whether we should merge this concept with the Cyclops Drones, or treat them as separate but related creatures. The little Hunter synths that escort the Striders in Half-Life 2: Episode 2 come to mind. Maybe the big one travels with an entourage of little drones? They help it power up the laser somehow? You have to kill the little ones to make the big tripod vulnerable? The group encounter idea makes me a bit more excited about these two entries. I might reskin the Drones as ‘Prismbearers’ – little flying crystal arrays that allow the big Cyclops Strider to charge up its beam. You can weaken the Strider by taking out the Prismbearers first.
Scylla Biological Level: 12 Armour: 18 Morale: 10 Appearing: 1 (solitary) or 2d4 (group) Attack: Claws and teeth (2d6+2), tentacles (2d8) Notes: A monstrous hybrid of woman and octopus, with six writhing tentacles. She dwells in a cave overlooking the sea, preying on sailors who venture too close.
This has potential. We’re clearly reading about an inhabitant of Urth’s oceans. The ‘hybrid of woman and octopus’ has me picturing Ursula of course, as well as the gigantic Undines in Book of the New Sun. A group of 2d4 Level 12 creatures feels quite cruel. I like the idea of this being a large solo predator.
Again, I think I’d be looking at adding some special abilities to round this creature out. Cephalopods’ iconic ink sprays and their ability to camouflage themselves come to mind.
Skeletal Guardian Biological Level: 6 Armour: 14 Morale: 8 Attack: d6 claw + d6 claw + d8 bite Notes: Resurrected humanoids animated by dark magic. Skeletal guardians are often used as guards or sentries, as they are difficult to kill and will automatically resurrect if destroyed. They are immune to non-magical weapons and can only be harmed by fire or acid.
A classic undead creature, veering into standard D&D fantasy. A key thing here seems to be their resurrection ability, as well as the detail that they’re used as guards. I could see this as a corpse injected with necrotech nanomachinery, unable to die no matter how much the residual personality in its brainstem might wish to.
The damage immunities GPT-3 suggested are interesting. I try not to go overboard with these, as I think it can be frustrating for players to work out which type of damage they’re ‘supposed’ to use against a monster, but sometimes the fiction dictates that a certain creature will be resistant or immune to a type of damage. In this particular case I would be inclined to drop the resistance and focus on the resurrection as the guardian’s main trick it can play. One wonders what the key to preventing the resurrection is. GPT-3 has suggested fire and acid, which are traditionally how you prevent trolls from regenerating at a cellular level, but I don’t necessarily see how they would prevent an immortal creature resurrecting. I wonder if they could have a cyborg heart or other internal gadgetry that keeps the corpse alive forever.
Slime Mold Biological Level: 4 Armour: 12 Morale: 5 Attack: Engulf (d4) Notes: Immobile amorphous blob of protoplasm. Slime molds are often found in damp places, and will gradually spread over an area, devouring organic matter. If a living creature is engulfed by a slime mold, it will slowly dissolve and be digested.
Unsure about this one. As written it feels more like a trap than an actual monster. A giant slime mold is obviously a good Vaarn creature but I would need to think harder about how this fight should actually function. If it’s totally immobile what makes it dangerous? Why go near it at all? Is it invisible? Can it move but really slowly? Perhaps the Slime Mold always guards something players will want, like water?
Sporebeast Biological Level: 8 Armour: 16 Morale: 9 Attack: d8 claw + d8 claw + d10 bite Notes: Enormous mutated fungus, often found in dark caves or underground. The sporebeast is a ravenous predator, and will devour anything that it can catch. It is immune to poison and can spit a stream of poisonous spores at its enemies.
There aren’t many inherently hostile mycomorph species in the bestiary at present, so this seems like it would fill that niche. I see this as something like the Rat King in The Last of Us 2: a large relentless mycomorphic predator, perhaps formed from multiple dead bodies. We can imagine danger arising from its poison spore attacks and crushing physical bulk. The detail that the sporebeast resides underground makes me think it hates and fears the red light of Urth’s sun.
Thornbeast Biological Level: 4 Armour: 12 Morale: 6 Attack: d4 claw + d4 claw + d6 bite Notes: Ferocious predatory plant. Thornbeasts are fast and agile, and will attack anything that they perceive as being weaker than themselves. They are immune to poison and can spit a stream of poisonous thorns at their enemies.
This feels like a repeat of the Sporebeast, with only minor changes, but I don’t mind the idea of a thorny predatory plant-creature. Caves of Qud is full of sentient plants as both allies and adversaries. Some kind of carnivorous cactus perhaps? I like the idea of it firing out thorns when threatened. The detail that it is ‘fast and agile’ amuses me, as these aren’t normally attributes we’d expect from a plant monster.
Traveller Biological Level: 3 Armour: 11 Morale: 7 Attack: d6 claw + d6 claw + d8 bite Notes: Humanoid creature with long limbs and a hunched back. Travellers are often seen as being cursed, as they are often afflicted with various diseases and deformities. They are aggressive and will attack anything that they perceive as being weaker than themselves.
The actual stats aren’t very interesting, nor is the name, but I like the description of these creatures quite a bit. Why are they ‘seen as cursed’? What is going on with their diseases? For what reason are they travelling? This feels to me like a pilgrim monster of some type, which you encounter on the road to shrines or holy sites. Perhaps they’re going somewhere to cure their sickness? I would have to think more about what these Travellers are afflicted with, as that will be key to their lore and gameplay function.
That wraps things up for today. I’ll revisit these creatures soon, and work my editing magic to make them fit to join their fellow abominations in the Vaarn bestiary. In the meantime, feel free to shoot off a comment if you have an idea of what direction you would take these creatures.
VAULTS OF VAARN 
[…] and forth with GPT-3 and create monsters for Vaarn based on the stat blocks the AI spits out. Our previous episode saw the AI plant the seeds for several new additions to the bestiary. Now I’ve picked up my […]
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