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!

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

Deadly serious.

Bless you my disciple.

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

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.

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

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?)

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

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.

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?

(( post got infected and reproduced))

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.

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.

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!

You're a good man, Patrick Brown.

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.

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.

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

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.

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).

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

Or perhaps Patrick Kickassman.

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




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!

Here's the link, thanks again
• Jabberwock

Sweet! That was quick; thanks!

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...

I'm fairly certain that the original Drop Bear was in Target: Awakened Lands, in the Aussie section. It may have even been written up by an Aussie and one of DUmpshock's founders, Eleanor Holmes (aka Lady Jestyr).

Bull

From an old PM conversation I had with Martin Gotthard a while back:


He also credited Kenson with work on the book, along with Rob Boyle. The previous two were responsible for the noble Drop Bear entering SR however (as well as the Bunyip, the awakened Platypus).

Awakened platypus? Ok, I've got to get that book now...

Because really, if any animal on this planet deserves to be magical, it's that poor bastard, the platypus.

Target: Awakened Lands is the one with the koala on the cover (check out nezumi's icon). It's also a give away 'cause it says "Target:Awakened Lands" on it.

Real good book, a lot of information on Australia, as well as things like alchera (think of a super magical mirage that actually temporarily creates a place) and mana storms.

The bunyip is heavily veiled, with many people saying they're not even sure it exists, or where it came from. It does. It's a giant awakened platypus. Awesome. I haven't checked to see if it's in Running Wild yet.

Edit: A quick review says No. Sad face.

I didn't know about it, or I'd already have it.

My first RPG book ever was "Mutants down Under" for TMNT and After the bomb. I still have that copy. Framed as the "First" of my RPG Collction which has gone 20 years to the tune of about $10,000+

I'll be getting Target: Awakened lands ASAP. Love Australia, love RPGs that involve it (( Except for Rifts Australia. god that sucked so hard))

Thanks for the heads up! I missed alot of the 3rd edition stuff while off in WoD and Palladium and D&D land.

Target: Awakened Lands is my favorite sourcebook ever. EVER. I would love to take everyone involved with out to dinner/drinks. (Mostly so I can pump them for more information, but you know, also to show my gratitude.)

Still nothing beats the giant carnivorous squirrels of the Blood Wood sourcebook in terms of weirdness. And cheesyness.

Giant Carnivorous squirrels?

Yes. Check pg. 140 of the book. Giant Carnivorous squirrels are five times bigger than the nice normal squirrels and attack in packs of 8-20 members. Awesome, just awesome.

So it's basically a nuttier version of "Night of the Lepus?"
Personally I've always had a soft spot for "Giant Space Hamster."


I've always wondered about the real things, how exactly are they poisonous?

The males have a 'spur' on their hind legs/feet that has the poison. They don't 'bite' if that's what you're thinking.

Giant MINIATURE space hamster Go for the eyes Boo!

To be more specific on the poison of the platypii (well, the males anyway) the venom contained within said spur does nothing but cause wracking physical pain if I remember correctly.

I am given to believe that the actual intended effect is an aphrodisiac for female platypii. It just has a an unfortunate affect on us.

Carnivorous squirrels have a long lineage in RPGs date back into early Rolemaster, I think they a due to liberal interpretation of the squirrels of Mirkwood from the Hobbit. Of course Tolkien originally intended to use Drop Bears in Mirkwood, but Bilbo pissing on the dwarves to ward the noble beasts off was deemed unsuitable for children.

Trust me I'm British, we know about Tolkien.

There is that, but giant space hamsters were a "real" thing, from the Spelljammer campaign setting of The Other Game.

This is also the setting that had sentient, civilized hippos (Giff) so take of that what you will.

A wracking physical pain that does not respond to most pain remedies, including morphine which usually fixes everything. There was a Discovery Channel special on poisonous animals of Australia and the Platypus were covered on it.

The Goddess in her infinite wisdom and apparent sense of humor created the platiupus and went "Hrum... people are gonna pick on you.. So I'll give you a spur to frak um up something fierce. Use it at will"

*nods sagely*

I swear, Gygax's groups just grabbed whatever was near them and tossed it into the game. Mordenkainen's planar traveling cube with all its many possible combination and shifting faces = Rubik's Cube. The magical symbol for the Circle of Eight -- an ebony sphere inlaid with an ivory 8 = 8 ball from the pool table. A hamster gets dropped on the table and it knocks some miniatures over = giant space hamsters.

I wish more of my groups were like that, that they were open to the possibility of grabbing whatever's around and building an adventure around it instead of being so "serious".

Recreational substances can substantially enhance your recreation.

More seriously, though, did Hoop Snakes make it into the game yet?

Running Wild, page 144. Hopefully returning to sale at an establishment near you Real Soon Now.

Yes hoop snakes have been in ever since the first Paranormal Animals of NA. The shadow talk about them was great. Talking about them rolling down a mountain road and almost taking out one guys car.

"Snake games"

This talk of platapi led me to do a little wiki reading and, low and behold, they are cooler than just having bills and venomous spurs. Turns out they have electrolocation as well. They sort of seem like the mish-mash of a min-maxed character.

Awesome. Thanks!

Okay, I am halfway afraid to ask...


What, pray tell, is a Drop Bear?