I have been pondering the Drop Bear's existence for some time now, and I was wondering, do any of you have amusing or interesting stories featuring these silly koalas of death? Has anyone actually been killed by one?

No, but I've killed some PCs with devil rats.

Well, devil rats swarm and carry VITAS, so yeah. Drop bears are just a little trick I like to throw at runners if they get too cocky...

WTF is a Drop Bear? Never heard of it.

You do realize this thread is ruining my surprise in the Arcology, right?

Stupid escaped drop bears...

Its a vampiric Koala. Not contageous, really.

As ugly as a normal coala?

With menacing eyes, but yes.

My recent mage actually died to these things. I was watching a wombrick do it's thing, then *BAM* dropbear to the back of the head. Apparently one of the gunbunnies had smeared my hat with eucalyptus leaves in hopes I'd get bugged by koalas (we had a prank war going). Guess *edit*he*edit* got his wish.

Edit 2- The GM kept telling me something smelled like eucalyptus, and I told her duh we're surrounded by them. Or something to that effect.

*wince* ouch...death by vampiric koala. That's gotta suck.

No kidding? I would not have thought that possible. Where were your teammates? Rolling around on the ground laughing?

It's like been run out by a turtle.

I did have a street sammie tripped by a kid on a bike once.

Was it an ork kid?

Getting beaten up by a gnome professor who had no melee skill is also a moment to remember. The "vicitim" was rigger, ok, but he had some decent unarmed combat skill.

Nah, the runner was distracted at the time and just ran right up into him.

I was taking up the rear. All my teammates heard was *thump* a highpitched scream and them me hittng the ground. Thing hit me for 9D or 10D on the head and the only head protection I had was a pith helmet.

Wow, that was cruel and unusual. Did your team at least tease you about getting killed by a teddy bear?

Damn, what'd you do? Date the GM and misbehave?

You have a cruel GM. Hopefully you had any chance to detect the thing before it hits you?

Realistically, even if he/she didn't, the GM can say, "I rolled for that."

Besides, it is a done deal.

Do drop bears eat eucalyptus?

No, but they do feast on the despair of the human soul when it realizes it was just killed by Winny the Pooh on crack.

The Horros, they're coming!

I need to come up with a 'run in the next few hours, and I have little doubt that it will contain Drop Bears.
If you want to see a game with the elusive Drop Bear featured in it, look up Ambrosia Software's (ambrosiasw.com) Escape Velocity: Nova. (Mac & PC, no Linux, though.)

Here's an idea to make drop bears more deadly:
Have them travel in swarms.

There are stats for these little bastards somewhere, I presume?

Target: Awakened Lands.

Did ya'll know that drop bears actually exist in Austrailian mythology today? Granted, they're not infected with HMHVV or anything but still pretty crazy. Scary Drop Bears, I'm afraid!

I saw the thing but thought it was a koala (Seattle runner, first time out of the sprawl). I was unarmored at the time so no reduction in damage. Don't know how it staged the damage up so high but I had 4 bod and rule of one'd the soak roll. My group now calls me hamburger.

Edit- Yeah, they eat eucalyptus.

Being an Australian myself, I have to say that I gained new respect for SR3 when I saw actual stats for the things.

Usually, drop bear stories are used by older scouts to scare the s**t out of younger more gullible scouts on camping trips, or to put in Bundy Rum ads, or to scare gullible tourists (ie americans). I think the stories start with the koala bear being a cute sounding idea right up to the point where you meet one - sure they're fuzzy and practically always appear either stoned or half asleep, but they've got an evil glint in their beady black little eyes, they have a vicious set of claws (I think the Australian Parks and Wildlife Service are now required to warn tourists about the claws before they get to hold a Koala) and they're solid as a wombat (ie built like a lead tank with extra gravity kicked in). I think the claws and the sheer weight of the bloody thinks well justifies a 5S damage code.

Kudos to whoever wrote T:AL!!

Thanks CD2

You don't need to hit your players with drop bears. Bovine bombardment is all you need.

Just so you all know Foreign Newbie Mages Against Dropbears (FNMAD) is taking donations. So please, help a mage out send what you can to help educate and eliminate this threat.

We should buy you an armored parasol, just in case...

LOL

People Eating Tasty Animals? Why would you call my shark shaman's magical group?

@Jrayjoker

If only my shark shaman had that kind of sense of humor! That is hilarious!

I guess it needs to be asked: what's the stats on the drop bear as a totem?

mmm, menthol spirits...

I dunno if you could summon spirits with the drop bear totem...they would be able to move faster than the drop bear!

(also laughs at Jrayjoker's drop bear put downs )

would the spirits attack by falling from the sky? or would the ilusion spell involve being lost in a haunted eucalyptus forest?