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View Full Version : The Next Source of Monster Ideas...I Give You: MORTASHEEN!



Leliel
2008-09-12, 02:40 PM
Well, I was browsing the Nightmare Fuel entries on TV Tropes, and one of their entries included a link to a site called Mortasheen.

Opon seeing the creatures there, I thought "Cool! New 4E monsters!". And "YIPE!", but that's beside the point.

Here's the link (http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen.htm).

Leliel
2008-09-13, 07:22 PM
What, no responses?

Ascension
2008-09-13, 07:32 PM
Patience, Leliel. Give it time.

Agrippa
2008-09-13, 07:36 PM
Um wow. Leliel are you trying to give me nightmares? It's not working but those pictures are still rather creepy. I'd think about making some stats for these guys. Not for all of them, just a few.

lordofthe_wog
2008-09-13, 07:38 PM
I call dibs on the mutant fetus.

Prometheus
2008-09-13, 07:51 PM
I call dibs on the mutant fetus.
You can't do that! That's half the selection! :smallfurious::smallbiggrin:

I think a world where everything is twisted and ugly with random appendages would quickly lose it's fright factor but these monstrosities would be great additions to a particularly dark campaign.

I want to make a Gangrena (http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/gangrena.htm)

AstralFire
2008-09-14, 07:25 AM
...

is my only refuge.

Tengu_temp
2008-09-14, 09:21 AM
What, no responses?

Most people are probably too squicked to comment. Well, can't blame them, really.

I agree with Prometheus. Such creatures appearing constantly would quickly lose their shock factor and would be usable only in a campaign focused on very dark humour. However, throw them at your players from time to time, and they will be disturbed.

Randalor
2008-09-14, 11:47 AM
I hate to say it, but the way their drawn, a few/couple of them are kinda cute... in a sick twisted kinda way. Granted, most are pretty damn ugly. Ironically I saw that yesterday on TVTropes as well.

Devin
2008-09-14, 11:59 AM
Actually, I think the point is that in their world, they are normal. Some of the bioconstructs are very common as servants, workers, or children's toys, so most people wouldn't even blink at them. It's a whole world themed like that.

Also, I don't see what's so squicky about most of them. Occasionally, I would find part of a description mildly disturbing, but that's about it.

Leliel
2008-09-14, 02:18 PM
Actually, I think the point is that in their world, they are normal. Some of the bioconstructs are very common as servants, workers, or children's toys, so most people wouldn't even blink at them. It's a whole world themed like that.

Which makes it all the more weird. :smallamused:

Also, I don't see what's so squicky about most of them. Occasionally, I would find part of a description mildly disturbing, but that's about it.

Lucky.

Actually, I didn't find most of them that scary, except for some of the zombie spawn.

Tengu_temp
2008-09-14, 02:34 PM
The two first creatures on the list are among the most disturbing, so people who only read about a few of them as examples are under the impression that the list is more nightmare fuelish than it really is, I think.

Prometheus
2008-09-14, 02:56 PM
These things are just too soft to survive against much, but than again, most of them are also covered or filled with spores. Proper disposal would be stomping their faces in while wearing a bio-containment suit or throwing an explosive and running out of the spore cloud range. These seem to be the OCD's nightmare more than anything else.

Jayngfet
2008-09-14, 03:05 PM
Is, ...is that a zombie chicken fetus?

That's worse than 2illithids1ooze.

AstralFire
2008-09-14, 03:12 PM
The two first creatures on the list are among the most disturbing, so people who only read about a few of them as examples are under the impression that the list is more nightmare fuelish than it really is, I think.

I clicked two at random further down the list because I specifically assumed that was the case.

WAUGH.

Jayngfet
2008-09-14, 03:16 PM
Nevermind the chicken, is that a living seal fetus?

scythemantis
2008-10-01, 08:26 AM
Sorry to bump this so much later but as the artist who drew all these I feel obligated! Duh!

I was really surprised someone saw fit to add it to TVtropes when I haven't made it into anything yet. "No such thing as notability" I guess. And here it is getting talked about (a little bit) by Order of the Stick fans. AMAZING!

I have flash toons elsewhere on my site that have positively nothing to do with Mortasheen (which I've worked on as a world for nigh on a decade now, boo) and one day hope to rectify that, but I don't think my flash skills are up to the level I'd need them to be to be anywhere near satisfied.


Nevermind the chicken, is that a living seal fetus?

Well, there's a point in embryonic development where we're all just a seal fetus, so I thought, "what if it stopped developing there and just got bigger and more horrible?" Actually, that is the train of thought where all of my art comes from.

:(

Prometheus
2008-10-01, 03:42 PM
Well had we'd know that we'd meet the artist we might have focused a little more on the positive (or in this case, negative?)! There is something differently haunting and intriguing about the world you painted, and I just have to say good luck on whatever you put your mind to next.

scythemantis
2008-10-01, 06:21 PM
Actually, everything that's been said about it here is exactly what I was going for anyway, especially the underlying cuteness.

Ponce
2008-10-01, 07:01 PM
The set seems to have a dominantly "far realms" feel. I think the whole "fetus" thing was used too much. Its not shocking the fortieth or so time.

scythemantis
2008-10-01, 09:04 PM
It's not supposed to be shocking at all really, I've just always loved their alien appearance and I enjoy taking a base monster concept (in this case, the mutant offspring of two zombies) and doing up a whole line of variants. There is actually one "rare" zombie-spawn and one "common" zombie spawn for each of the basic stat types in my game concept, along with one all-around powerful and one all-around crap option, so there is a rhyme and reason to their number. I just don't go into my game ideas on the site, as they're subject to change or may never even get off the ground :)

There are a couple of embryo-looking things outside the zombie spawn series, but not many. Still, I should probably recategorize them to make more sense.

There are several things I definitely need more of to balance things out. I have, for instance, 242 monsters right now and less than twelve of them have wings. Even fewer are furred in any way, and I've only recently added some plant-type creatures.