Nether Mutations: Body Horror for Fun and Profit

Game Talk The Drawing Board
1

TIME FOR ANOTHER AWKWARDLY WORDED SUGGESTION FROM ME!

ahem So Nether creatures. They’re creepy, they’re spooky, they want to murder you horribly. What if you could gain some of their “2spooky4u” traits and get fun mutations like “Now you don’t have a face!” and “Your limbs are all noodly!” or “You now thrive on blood!” among other things. They’d generally do stuff to make you less human and more… Alien, for lack of a better term. This could be as simple as adding a Nether mutagen made from special nether bits, but who wants to have skin growing over their mouth and eyes (I mean, there’d be good ones too I suppose)? It doesn’t make sense to have you get them from base mutagen (I think?). Possibly Nether mutations are only gained from artifacts and being near portals? Some Nether creatures and induce it? I dunno.
Also, maybe some of them can scare NPCs off so you dont have random guys trying to steal yo’ stuff.

And here are some actual specific mutation ideas:
Blank - Your skin has grown over your eyes and your mouth, taking away your ability to speak… But not to see. Nobody knows how that works. Plus NPCs find it disturbing as hell.
Bone Spikes - Your bones extend out of your back and arms in spikes that sometimes harm attackers and add a bonus to unarmed combat… Though it probably hurts like hell.
Noodly - Your body becomes taller… And thinner… And taller… And thinner… Soon you’re nearly 15 ft tall and look like an Amigara horror! Plus it’s hard as hell to shoot you!
Twitching - Become the Gracken! Your hand twitch at VERY high speeds, adding boosts to most melee attack speeds.

And yeah. Random idea that’s probably really stupid.

2

I understand that there’s a nether critter who runs around with a dart gun. Mayhap they can load Nether mutagen rather than standard?

Thoughts:
Noodly…not just yet. You’d need to go through Mt. Amigara for that.
(Now, if there was an input faultline somewhere…that would be nasty. Lose all gear, take some harsh stat mutations, and end up Noodly.)

Bone spikes: Yeah, interesting.

Quick glance through my Call/Cthulhu corebook:
Extra Arms (coordination optional)
Loss Of Tone (you too can look like Hastur)
Necrotic Existence: no need to eat/sleep, but good luck healing–you’re an independent Z. Since the ooze isn’t in control, the rest will particularly seek and destroy you.

3

Oh, a dart gun? I’ll have to check that out. You remember the name?
Input fault sounds like it could lead to some fun times… I’m assuming you can go back and get all your stuff if you find the fault again. Not that any of it would fit you.
Everybody likes a case of too many limbs! Extra legs could be fun too… But have fun tripping over yourself.
And I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean by tone though…

4

Yuggs, I think. They don’t drop it.

Hastur in the CoC book I’ve got is depicted as a vaguely human-looking blob. Like the skeleton and muscle tone just vanished, leaving a rubbery lump of flesh having to ooze its way around as best it can.

Here’s a link. Thanks, google image search.

5

Lose all gear is a bit too much of a punishment. The kind of punishment found in things like the tomb of horrors. Beware the portal of genderbending, my so-- daughter. Futa? how does that even /facepalm.
Now, De-equip and drop all gear-- or de-equip, drop and scatter gear throughout the level is just plain hilarious.

Inquisitor Dust, I love your ideas btw-- blank and bone spines are particularly nice, although I suggest that you allow bone spikes to complement your unarmed skill just like normal fangs/claws etc.
Twitching, boost to crafting speeds/melee speeds sound good. Maybe a boost to dexterity as well (looks like a good opposite to jittery, although I think this should be a nether-specific mutation as well.)

– Out of phase. The real doesn’t exactly feel real anymore. Waking life is as but a dream and you struggle to interact with the normal-- but as a bonus, normal attacks can’t seem to hit you as much as they once did. (Thinking minor base speed boost, major dodge boost, HARDTOSHOOT to anything non-nether and a small hidden netherworld attraction, so while normal zeds and stuff would struggle to harm you, the nether stuff that can would be more common.)
I’m thinking maybe a mutation gained from said nether mutagen or perhaps from teleglow, because y’know, teleglow.

Additionally extra arms reminded me of some RPG… what was it… Paranoia! that’s the one. Nothing quite like having an agent with regeneration have an extra arm (or leg) burst from his chest, or sabotaging a parachute and summary executions.

– and by the way, hastur’s been killed.

6

I swear I remember Nether Portals being radioactive. Which can mutate you if you have the option on (Thanks by the way, whoever coded that!) But no specifically nether mutations.

What if you became a Hungry Ghost or Ghoul somehow and could only eat filth and rot? Like the saprovore mutation only more so.

What about 4-dimensional tentacles?

What about having eyes all over the body, including internally?

While i’m on the subject, why not have your internal organs become external, and can be easily replaced? (Heal yourself by transplanting other parts/chunks of meat)

7

Mutations that turn a person inside out? :smiley:
I like the way you think.

8

How about:

Telegaze. Equip this like a Martial Art, and once equipped it lets you do a “fast” version of Teleglow as a ranged attack. The target will immediately be subjected to one of the following effects, at random: teleport, or turn fungaloid, or hallucinate and begin attacking non-existent targets, or disappear to another plane, or summon a nether-plane being, which will attack it.

Triffidation. You transform to resemble an unearthly animated plant. Triffids and vine beasts will ignore you, but you require sunlight to remain healthy, becoming infection-prone if you avoid it, and you can only sleep while ‘planted’ in an earth mound.

Blob-blooded. You have harnessed the Blob. It flows through you but does not transform or consume you. Whenever you take a wound or suffer blood loss, the spilled bodily fluids manifest as a friendly Blob or Small Blob which will attack your opponents.

9

Consuming darkness - you start to fade away then in complete darkness. Player constantly takes damage then in dark.

Visions - you are plagued by sensory input far away from your location. Penality to perception and focus in addition to fake noises/visuals (halliucinations), but with time may reveal information, like highlighting random building in map, pointing to location of random item or npc (then they work).

Jinx - electronics in your pressence dont work as they supposed to. They turn themselves on/off on their own, or refuse to work then needed. Electronics, store alarms, some guns and explosives, CBM’s, computers and robots. Bonus points if after some time on your pressence they break down and refuse to work.

??? - Some of your finger fall off, penalizing dex. And they then start to attack you.

10

[quote=“MarkB, post:8, topic:2912”]How about:

Telegaze. Equip this like a Martial Art, and once equipped it lets you do a “fast” version of Teleglow as a ranged attack. The target will immediately be subjected to one of the following effects, at random: teleport, or turn fungaloid, or hallucinate and begin attacking non-existent targets, or disappear to another plane, or summon a nether-plane being, which will attack it.

Triffidation. You transform to resemble an unearthly animated plant. Triffids and vine beasts will ignore you, but you require sunlight to remain healthy, becoming infection-prone if you avoid it, and you can only sleep while ‘planted’ in an earth mound.

Blob-blooded. You have harnessed the Blob. It flows through you but does not transform or consume you. Whenever you take a wound or suffer blood loss, the spilled bodily fluids manifest as a friendly Blob or Small Blob which will attack your opponents.[/quote]

Triffidation could be a nifty final-form effect once someone mutates far enough into Plant. Blob-blooded…dunno. That seems like it’d be a cure, so you’d have had to do something impressive to get it.

Telegaze…unfortunately flaming eyes don’t leave corpses, or that’d be one way to get it.

Interesting ideas.

11

Wow, you guys all have awesome ideas :smiley:

I’m liking this idea of having special ways to get some of the mutation rather than all of it it just being completely random. Become Noodly by going through a fault (though it should have an Amigara Attraction like effect so if you don’t want to become Noodly YOU GOTTA FIGHT FOR IT! Die or go noodly? DIE OR GO NOODLY? Or, y’know. Kill all the Amigara Horrors and run free.
Telegaze by dining/experimenting on a flaming eye… Somehow.

I think this could factor into the research system quite nicely, if we ever get that.

12

[quote=“Inquisitor Dust, post:11, topic:2912”]Wow, you guys all have awesome ideas :smiley:

I’m liking this idea of having special ways to get some of the mutation rather than all of it it just being completely random. Become Noodly by going through a fault (though it should have an Amigara Attraction like effect so if you don’t want to become Noodly YOU GOTTA FIGHT FOR IT! Die or go noodly? DIE OR GO NOODLY? Or, y’know. Kill all the Amigara Horrors and run free.
Telegaze by dining/experimenting on a flaming eye… Somehow.

I think this could factor into the research system quite nicely, if we ever get that.[/quote]
Yes, a research system would be nice… and I’ve always thought that flaming eyes should give you more than a few chunks of meat. nethermeat

13

Great stuff dudes, excellent expo on the current game features. Especially loved the Triffid-mind oversight, where vine & bone share a common host. So, if I can just add, if you’ve contracted a mutation that changes you to a different entity, maybe you can adapt to a point where you attract followers, maybe in a way the Summon spell works. Even further, joint forces with nature yield an ability to entangle, constrict, crush and devour helpless but otherwise dangerous predators. You should also develop immunities to several key illnesses that trouble your “previous” kin.

A shared insight on Necrotic, too >> if one is subtly changing into an undead creature, he may have flicks that distend outta reaches of the mind and into the void the human thought never goes - moments where the newfound nature takes over. For example, an abomination would eventually seek gore and limbs to embed onto itself, which remains a time-consuming process, and is not controllable. The human sanity might want to find a way to annihilate the slowly changing host, but then it needs a substance, or any other misc. craving to do so, and endure along with primal urges that a living creature has. It would serve the purpose also that if the necrotic character is under heavy shock, damage and/or pain, the “episodes” may take longer to end.

14

I like this suggestion.

Sing: You hear the ethereal singing, and you sing back. In reality, you’re hearing the howls of infinite awful abominations in infinite insane universes that has broken through thanks to the dimensional instability, so mind-breakingly horrible that your mind has shifted in order to cope with it. This has the side-effect of causing the lesser minded nether creatures to become attracted to your singing, and be friendly to your cause. However, if they were spawned near smarter nether creatures, they won’t be so friendly.
Burning: The flames consume you like the madness does, unrelenting and unforgiving. You are now eternally covered in ethereal fire, permanently looking horribly burnt. This causes you to have the ability to spread fire at will and have immunity to all fire except infernos, but objects you possess will slowly become burnt and useless as time goes on and you are in constant searing pain from the fire.
Star Eyes: You have seen beyond the reaches of space and time, and your eyes reflect this. You can stare at NPCs in dialog and inflect equal chances of them instantly becoming companions, their heads exploding and some of their items being damaged, or them being hostile and attempting to kill you.

15

Hmm. How would Sing compare to Howler, etc? (Zeds qualify as lesser-minded?)

Burning: I dunno. Ignus wasn’t such a fun guy to be around back in Planescape Torment.

Star Eyes: Instead of damaging their items, have a kill-gaze apply typical “killed friendly” morale effects, plus affect any NPC witnesses accordingly. Those that joined thanks to the Star Stare probably wouldn’t notice, but friends, etc could well freak, either leaving or going immediately hostile.

(Maybe status “Dominated” for Stare-induced companions?)

16

[quote=“KA101, post:15, topic:2912”]Hmm. How would Sing compare to Howler, etc? (Zeds qualify as lesser-minded?)

Burning: I dunno. Ignus wasn’t such a fun guy to be around back in Planescape Torment.

Star Eyes: Instead of damaging their items, have a kill-gaze apply typical “killed friendly” morale effects, plus affect any NPC witnesses accordingly. Those that joined thanks to the Star Stare probably wouldn’t notice, but friends, etc could well freak, either leaving or going immediately hostile.

(Maybe status “Dominated” for Stare-induced companions?)[/quote]
again, singing sounds like it would attract netherworld attention doesn’t it? Whether that’s good or bad is up to the user.
Don’t put the whole -has been mindraped- thing in as the full description though, it’s just a bit too much information. The first part sounds good enough-- e.g you hear ethereal singings and have a persistent urge to sing back. Normal creatures don’t seem to notice your wonderful singing voice on a conscious level.

Implications can be worse than the real thing. Make them sweat a bit. I think it was stephen king that said something like people are afraid of the unknown, like something banging behind the door-- but then you open the door and – shock!! it’s a 10ft monster, but that’s okay-- because it might have been a 100ft monster.

Star eyes is awesome, as is hourglass eyes or anything to do with force charm/domination, Mystic eyes of depth perception, Mystic eyes of petrification etc… although at this moment NPCs are dominated with a few words anyway. When factions are introduced it might be fun as hell to convert an entire faction to your personal army because no-one has ever seen something star eyes before.

As one of the side-effects, how about accidentally mindraping your npc companions and causing them to become nether-beacons? :smiley:
Even better, how about making this a hidden effect >=D

Just so you could orchestrate a mass cult suicide coffee morning to bring about the advent of the dark powers.

17

I like the ideas, you know!

18

Snuffing the flame - fire goes out on its own in your pressence. Larger ones may take more time.
Alien metabolism - you don’t need to [eat or drink or sleep] anymore, but all other needs are increased.
Fire eater - you slowly detiorate and can’t heal normaly, but then you are in (or on) fire you regenerate quickly. Remember to take off items before your bath.
Human torch - you are made of fire. Literally. You set a light everything you touch. Instead of food and water, you need to “eat” flamable things to stay “alive”.
Silence - sound stops working near you. You don’t make any anymore, and you don’t hear them anymore too.
Metal allergy - wearing and touching something made of metal, causes you discomfort or even damage.
Leak - you leak liquid from your skin. Be it water, orange juice or gasoline.
Rot touch - food rots and water turns stagnant in your hands. Enjoy your meal.
Scion of nether - something… grows inside you. Maybe you should not have slept near that portal, as of now, you are future “mother” to… something. If you will survive long enough to find out, anyway. Basically, after timer ends you spawn something, a random nether horror maybe. It may be neutral, friendly or aggressive. This probably is a one time thing.
Mother of thousand young - like above, but you do that constantly.

19

Let me also give you some ideas.

  1. The Curse - Something is wrong. Horribly wrong. Maybe it’s because of that weird wool-like blue metal you found at the portal? (Effects: Seriously increased spawn rate, Z’s now can randomly drop artifacts and red pigtail sock(yes, one sock), mapgen will spawn portals-temples-caves much more often. Remember - losing is fun)
    (Also it could be fun add the infamous adamantium in game to use as a top-tier crafting material found at the portals)
  2. Eye of the Great Hunt - You can see faint glow coming from the living(and not-so-living) beings now. (Effects: Every creature now emits light in the dark as if they were holding glowsticks)
  3. Soulblighter - Your soul are filled with the blight, and thus you should spread it. (Effects: Every NPC you contact will get sick and turn undead in 1 hour)
  4. Dark Sign - Second chance. (Effects: You can die once, but only once. After death the game will fast-forward 1 day and then you’ll get up. When you’re back to life - mutation is gone and you will need to heal the damage)
  5. Sweet Tooth - If you are afraid of clowns… stay afraid. (Effects: You become much tougher, your head is on fire now, you can eat only raw meat and you also crave to kill something almost all the time. This means no hats and constant 10 pain - and it will increase slowly if you don’t kill something. But, at least, you don’t need to bother anymore about cooking since you can eat even tainted meat with no risks. NPC’s will flee on sight, however. And killing gives you slight morale boost, no regrets, no remorse, no focus penalties because of that shitty undead kids under the wheels of your truck.)
20

I can see other potential knock-on effects from having a flaming head.

On the good side, maybe a small chance to set an opponent on fire with a melee attack (flaming headbutt ftw).

On the bad side, the same chance of setting an object on fire when you smash it, and good luck finding a suitable place to rest your head - go to sleep on a bed or anything else flammable, and when you wake up it won’t just be your head that’s on fire. Unless you can find a way to craft an asbestos mattress, get used to sleeping on stone floors.