Drop Bears in SR4 Options

[Pepsi Jedi]

Heh. Just found out that a writer managed to sneak in Drop Bears into official books, (Running Wild) was curious as to if anyone knew who wrote that part and how hard they laughed when it saw print?

Bravo. Bravo!

[Emy]

Oh, it's no laughing matter. The drop bear menace is serious.

Deadly serious.

[fistandantilus4....]

Bless you my disciple.

[Lady Door]

For this... and ONLY this... should the Drop Bear thread be resurrected.

[Patrick Goodman]

Sneak? Sneak?

No sneaking was involved, I assure you; it was practically a mandate from John Dunn, the book's developer, and from Peter Taylor, the previous SR Line Developer. And I was worried about how I was gonna fit the little buggers in there and not sacrifice too much else to word count issues.

Did I laugh? Well, more or less. There was some chortling in my joy at being able to fit them in, but I regret not being able to expand on them and their mythology very much. Oh, to have had a thousand or so more words...the things I could have kept that I had to cut out so ruthlessly....

Incidentally, they've always been official, as far back as Target: Australia...er, Target: Awakened Lands. Or was it Year of the Comet? It's been a while since I did the research, and it's late, so I'm not sure which book actually introduced them. I know it was one of those two.

[Pepsi Jedi]

Ahhh cool. I just ran across them in Running Wild and laughed. Good work there!

[Lady Door]

Did I laugh? Well, more or less. There was some chortling in my joy at being able to fit them in, but I regret not being able to expand on them and their mythology very much. Oh, to have had a thousand or so more words...the things I could have kept that I had to cut out so ruthlessly....

Oh, to see the full gospel of The Drop Bear in its entirety. Alas, such things were never meant for mortal eyes... (Unless you still have it somewhere, eh? Eh?)

[nemafow]

They are really vicious irl you know... Bastards drop out of trees all the time around here...

[Patrick Goodman]

I'll see if I can find anything, but I make no promises. Unless something just so affects me that I keep it out of sheer awe and reverence at my own deathless prose...and this is seldom...when I cut something, I cut it. It's gone. Going to suck for the future Patrick Goodman enthusiasts a couple of generations down the road because, unlike Shakespeare, they're not likely to find my early drafts so they won't see the evolution of a concept.

However, in the 11,500 words I had prior to having to cut things down, I had HMHVV-I Infected sasquatches called jabberwocks...they were mean bastiches, but they had to go because with such a low sasquatch population around the world (and I'm pretty sure Bobby Derie lowballed that estimate in Runner's Companion, but we're stuck with it now), Dunner didn't think they could support very many of that particular critter. There was great logic there, and an overabundance of words, so they had to go.

Also gone was a longish bit about how Paterson (and Martin de Vries) was wrong about HMHVV-II victims all being sterile (except for the bandersnatch). Gone was the bit about Paterson working for the government, and the government wanting to suppress that little gem of knowledge. Gone were the breeding bands of loup garou under the streeets of Dallas. Dunner didn't like that too much, so he made me cut it out, and I think rightly so. I needed the words that freed up anyway.

Something that I sketched out in the rough draft but which got cut before it ever saw John's screen was a bit in the "Infected Culture" section (which lost its subtitle to the layout process; there should be a subtitle in between the paragraph describing the drop bears and the next paragraph, which marvels that solitary hunters have a culture at all). In that, I started expanding on several things, among them a strange cult springing up around drop bears. That didn't stay very long because I could tell I needed to cut back on words before my deadline shot past me again (I got an extension because of some family issues at the time).

Little things here and there, but that's the biz for you.

[Pepsi Jedi]

I'd LOVE to get a peek at that information. I just finished the infected chapter and that stuff would have been great. More stuff on Drop bears. Infected culture and an alternate Infected Sasquatch, the Jabberwok?

How did they differ from the Bandersnatch?

[Pepsi Jedi]

(( post got infected and reproduced))

[fistandantilus4....]

Sneak? Sneak?

No sneaking was involved, I assure you; it was practically a mandate from John Dunn, the book's developer, and from Peter Taylor, the previous SR Line Developer.

Good men. True patriots both.

It was Target: Awakened Lands btw.

Keep up the good fight Patrick. Hardy has (or at least had promised) more veiled references to Drop Bears ever since Drops of Corruptions. "The Man" is on our side.

[ Spoiler ]

Which is the only reason he still lives.
Mwa ha ha. Mwa ha. Mwa ha ha ha.

[Patrick Goodman]

I'd LOVE to get a peek at that information. I just finished the infected chapter and that stuff would have been great. More stuff on Drop bears. Infected culture and an alternate Infected Sasquatch, the Jabberwok?

How did they differ from the Bandersnatch?

Jabberwocks I can help you with; they were in my submitted first draft.

Here's Hanibelle's original shadow comment from the first part of the piece, pre-edit.

> Leave it to you to restrict sentience to homo sapiens. Sasquatches are also susceptible to the ghilani retroviruses, specifically the moneriviridae subgenus. A few medical journals have recently published reports of a vrykolakiviridae expression among sasquatches as well. Jabberwocks, they’re calling them. I don’t know why there’s such a connection between sasquatches, HMHVV, and Lewis Carroll, but they don’t tend to ask me about these things.

There’s new evidence emerging which shows that other potentially sentient species, such as chimpanzees and troglodytes, might also be susceptible, but there’s nothing concrete on that front at the moment.
> Hannibelle

This part appeared before the harvester in "New Expressions".

JABBERWOCK
The existence of an HMHVV I expression among sasquatches has been conjectured for more than twenty years. It's only been within the past eighteen months or so that we've discovered evidence of such a creature. Unfortunately, we can now confirm its existence.

The jabberwock was first documented near Devil's Tower, Wyoming around Halloween 2069, when a UCAS Airlines passenger plane en route from Seattle to Chicago fell out of the sky with no explanation several kilometers southwest of the Tower, deep in Sioux territory. There were very few survivors to begin with, and fewer still by the time the night was through. One of the survivors had a cybercamera and was able to provide some of the images you see here. While they lack the adaptive coloration of their HMHVV II-infected cousin the bandersnatch, jabberwocks possess a number of other abilities that make them formidable hunters. They are also alarmingly intelligent; unlike HMHVV II, it appears that vrykolakiviridae has done nothing to damage the sasquatch’s basic intellect.

Fortunately, jabberwocks are extremely rare, and they tend to stay away from heavily urbanized areas.

> What the hell were they doing out by Devil’s Tower? That’s not a normal territory for sasquatches, is it?
> NAME

> While typically encountered in the Pacific Northwest, some bands of sasquatches have been migrating eastward since the founding of the Native American Nations, many of which are working on reforestation projects which serve as homes-away-from-home for the sasquatch. There’s a pretty healthy population around Denver, for instance.
> NAME

And, of course, the stat block.

JABBERWOCK
Long thought not to exist at all, the jabberwock is the expression of the basic HMHVV virus in the sasquatch. The jabberwock is difficult to distinguish from its non-vampiric cousin. The creature’s thick fur darkens to black, and the teeth are somewhat elongated and considerably sharper than is normal.

Jabberwock are hemovores, subsisting solely on the blood of their victims. Like vampires, they cannot hold down normal food, and alcohol induces nausea (see Vampires, p. 294, SR4).

Natural Habitat: Mountainous and evergreen regions in the northern reaches of both North America and Asia.

CODE

B   A   R   S   C   I   L   W   EDG     ESS     M   Init   IP
9   3   4   9   2   5   3   4   2       2D6-1   4   8      2

Movement: 15/35

Skills: Animal Calls (Trade Knowledge) 5, Assensing 3, Athletics group 2, Infiltration 4, Perception 4 Shadowing 4, Unarmed Combat 3

Powers: Concealment (Personal), Dual Natured, Enhanced Senses (Hearing, Smell), Essence Drain, Fear, Infection, Mimicry, Regeneration, Sapience.

Weaknesses: Allergy (Sunlight, Moderate), Dietary Requirement (Sasquatch Blood), Vulnerability (Plastics).

Notes: Some jabberwocks may have the Adept, Magician, or Mystic Adept qualities. Jabberwocks have +1 Reach.

And there you have it.

[Pepsi Jedi]

That's pretty cool. *Wonders if the Jabberwok took the plane out with magic, or if it just went 'Mmmm crispy metahuman with blood all burned and heated up. SNACKS!" After the plane crashed and feasted on survivors in the woods*

But thank you very much!

[fistandantilus4....]

And there you have it.

You're a good man, Patrick Brown.

[Patrick Goodman]

The plane fell out of the sky at my Halloween game many, many years ago. Jabberwocks didn't have anything to do with it, but they did capitalize on it. Of course, at the time, they were even scarier because they could live off metahuman blood as well as sasquatch blood. Bobby kind of jacked around with my visions of sasquatches, but that was his call and done well before I started writing for SR again for Running Wild. They were also called manitous, but the use of that name for a spirit type led me to change it and throw in a Carroll reference, too, so it was all good.

[Pepsi Jedi]

I like it. Less "Predator" more " Monster in the woods"

Wish that'd seen print. I'm envisioning a sort of "Dog Soldiers" vibe from that lil snippet.

[MJBurrage]

Jabberwocks I can help you with; they were in my submitted first draft.

Here's Hanibelle's original shadow comment from the first part of the piece, pre-edit...

This part appeared before the harvester in "New Expressions"...

And, of course, the stat block...

And there you have it.

Would you mind if I added the material to the Sixth World Wiki ?

[Angelone]

Heh. Just found out that a writer managed to sneak in Drop Bears into official books, (Running Wild) was curious as to if anyone knew who wrote that part and how hard they laughed when it saw print?

Bravo. Bravo!

I didn't laugh, I squee'd with joy. Then as atonement I took the Holy Drop killing two construction workers in the process.

A blurb about the conspiracy would have been nice, maybe abit premature but nice anyway.

[Patrick Goodman]

Would you mind if I added the material to the Sixth World Wiki ?

Not at all; just make sure it's marked with a caveat that it is definitively not canonical, and make sure my name's mentioned as the author. I don't want any mistakes made as to how official these things are (that is to say, not at all).

[kjones]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/notworthy.gif)

Patrick Goodman, your name does you no justice. From here on, you shall be known as Patrick Greatman!

Or perhaps Patrick Kickassman.

[nezumi]

I too was not aware Mr. Greatman was a disciple. Truly, our reach is great!

Also gone was a longish bit about how Paterson (and Martin de Vries) was wrong about HMHVV-II victims all being sterile (except for the bandersnatch).

Perhaps for the better. On a whim I picked up the book The Throne of Bones and ... let me say, the 'bones' referenced do not refer solely to what you are thinking of. Gack!

[MJBurrage]

Not at all; just make sure it's marked with a caveat that it is definitively not canonical, and make sure my name's mentioned as the author. I don't want any mistakes made as to how official these things are (that is to say, not at all).

Here's the link, thanks again (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
• Jabberwock

[Patrick Goodman]

Sweet! That was quick; thanks!

[crash2029]

I now have the strange impulse to make a weapon focus that gives bonus dice to called shots and bypasses regeneration powers with the geas that the special abilities only work when a strike is accompanied by very loudly shouting snicker-snack...