“Accursed creator!
Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?”
– Frankenstein's Monster
Creature Feature!
For those who dont know yet,
my upcoming BTS sourcebook
Creature Feature, is coming soon, and is available to pre-order now!
Notice: Those those who pre-order the sourcebook and sends me a receipt or e-mail of the order, I will send you a few bonus items via PDF!
So save your invoices, take a picture of your pre-order sale, or obtain some kind of proof of pre-order purchase and send it to me via e-mail at hostofthehouseofbts*at*gmail.com.
I'll send my bonus items out once the book is released, which is expected to be soon!
In the meantime, Kevin's been kind enough to send the Host of the House an image of the cover and some of the illustrations for Creature Feature, and its all looking incredible!
First off, I'm posting info about the book as posted on Palladium's website. Following that is a gallery of illustrations and details about some of the monsters and other material you can find in the book
Sourcebook Details:
Creature Feature™,
a Beyond the Supernatural™ Sourcebook:
The manuscript has been turned in for rewrite, additions, and final editing. New artwork is also being produced. I think this monster and adventure book is much more than what people are expecting or imagining. More details to follow. I’m excited and hope you are too. See the new description elsewhere in this update. Just one of many BTS titles in development.
- -A gallery of supernatural creatures.
Some new. Some familiar, updated and expanded. All terrifying. - -Rules clarifications and errata.
- -Game Master source material and advice on rules, psychic abilities, proximity and threat levels, I.S.P. multipliers, and more.
- -Advice about running modern horror RPGs and using supernatural creatures in your games.
- -Lots of adventure ideas, including an updated and expanded full adventure, "The Squatter."
- -New background and setting information for the BTS setting and a few surprises.
- -Written by Steven Dawes, Kevin Siembieda, and others.
- -Art by Steven Cummings, Nick Bradshaw and others.
- -160-192 pages – $22.99 or $26.99 depending on final size – Cat. No. 704 – February release (tentative).
And now... onto the illustrations!
The Creature Feature Gallery:
The Nacarant
The Nacarant is a horrible creature that absorbs its victims. More precisely, it absorbs ALL of its victims. Skin, hair, organs, bones, clothing, whatever they were carrying, and all their Potential Psychic Energy (P.P.E.) With each victim it absorbs, the Nacarant grows larger, stronger, more horrific and more dangerous!
The Nacarant is one of my absolute favorite creatures from the first edition Beyond the Supernatural and I'm honored to have been given an opportunity to update it to 2nd edition rules as well as expand on it for Creature Feature!
Its been 30+ years now and while I cant be certain, I'm pretty certain that the Nacarant was the second BTS monster I ever used. It’s slain at least a few investigators at my game table over the decades, and it’s always a crowd pleaser when they want a good monster hunt. Its brute strength, limited vulnerabilities and being a non-stop killing machine makes up for its lack of finesse and varied style of attacks.
© Copyright 2020 Palladium Books. All rights reserved. Illustration by Steven Cummings.
The Grave Larva
The Lazlo Society insists on referring to them by the name Grave “Larva” to remind would-be users that these creatures are in a literal larva stage; it’s a juvenile in its initial worm-like form.
Their maturation from its larva form to adult form happens suddenly, drastically, and violently (always without warning) into a giant, worm-like creature that excels at ambushing, constricting, and swallowing unsuspecting human prey whole, and alive!
The scary part of this instant maturation is that it’s so simple, yet effective. The magic user or psychic using it is usually too distracted with casting a spell or psychic ability to notice the instantaneous growth of the adult until it’s too late and already ambushing them. Even more dangerous is the fact that the Grave Larva must be close to the user (within a few feet) to be beneficial, allowing the little devil to grow to full size instantaneously and immediately begin ambushing, entangling and swallowing its prey alive!
© Copyright 2020 Palladium Books. All rights reserved. Illustration by Steven Cummings.
The Hafoot
Germanic folklore is full of impish creatures that are more mischievous than evil. Their nature was said to be wild and carefree, seemingly to exist only to play pranks on humans for the sake of playing pranks. Most people have heard goblins, Brownies, Boggarts, Pucks and other famous impish creatures. However, not all of them are legendary. In fact, some of them are unheard of. And amongst those in obscurity, none of them are more frustrated about it than the Hafoot.
The Hafoot have existed for as long as their fellow “Imp-Kind” (as they call themselves) and possess the same penchant for mischief, trickery and pranks. However, history and folklore have somehow always overlooked the Hafoot, who are collectively unhappy about being overlooked and ignored while others of their kind became famous, or infamous, or even creatures of legend. They intend to do something about this.
They failed to become famous in the 19th century (the Gremlins got all the credit), but now they've discovered the internet, and are really to make themselves not only famous, but infamous!
© Copyright 2020 Palladium Books. All rights reserved. Illustration by Steven Cummings.
The Laughing Man
There are many kinds of creatures in a world that go beyond the supernatural. Some of them... well, some of them they were human, once. But now they've become something more than human, and far less than human.
Take for example, the Laughing Man...
“The Laughing Man (or woman) is a psychic aberration and minor supernatural creature. Once a psychic healer, the Laughing Man is now a physically distorted and mentally broken psychotic killer, out to cleanse the world of evil. Their once benign human nature is now a broken, despicable supernatural predator and killer!
Parapsychologists theorize that all Laughing Men (and Women for that matter) were psychic healers (and likely of a good alignment) who attempted to heal a thoroughly evil, usually supernaturally evil being. While probing for the affliction or disease, the healer witnesses the hideous swirling chaos while being intimately exposed to the radiating supernatural evil that resided within that victim. Some say, the healer is literally driven mad as his body is infected by, or consumed by, or even invaded by supernatural energies, altering his body in the process, becoming this vile supernatural creature. Others say that the healer, once a champion of medicine and healing, becomes (in their own insane vision) a cleanser of the evil that they now perceive is in everyone.”
A creature of madness, obscene giggles, unnaturally good (to the point of terrifying) skills with knives & bladed weapons and various psychic healing abilities used in twisted ways (such as inducing laughter in their fully awake and captive patient as they attempt to painfully cut, flay and amputate the evil out of them).
And yet, people still seek them out as they're known for performing miraculous healing and surgeries for the even the most hopeless of patients. But seeking the help of a Laughing Man is no laughing matter at all.
© Copyright 2020 Palladium Books. All rights reserved. Illustration by Steven Cummings.
The Malignous
I want to take you for a stroll down memory lane into the dark woods behind the House of BTS. Don't worry, you'll probably survive it. Probably.
Its been 30 years since my first Beyond the Supernatural adventure, and I can still recall a lot of the details of that first adventure.
I was an overeager fifteen year old with less than a year's experience of playing RPG's. My only experiences before that night was playing D&D, (which I cut my RPG teeth on) and TMNT (my introduction to Palladium Books). Realizing how much I enjoyed playing TMNT with my best bud Arnie, I wanted to get my own copy, and went to “The Dragon's Lair”, the local comic and hobby store.
As fate would have it, a copy of TMNT was available and I quickly snatched it up.
But sitting right behind it was a book with an eye catching cover. Growing up a horror fan, I recognized the style of artwork as Richard Corben's, who's artwork was frequently found on various horror comics and magazines (many of which my mom owned and I'd read).
Investigating further I realized two things:
#1. Its from Palladium Books, and used familiar rules from TMNT.
#2. Its “A role-playing game of contemporary Horror” (stating as much on the front cover).
These two facts were all I needed to know and I bought BTS along with TMNT that day.
My very first adventure revolved around a small group of "professional monster hunters" wearing blue coveralls/ jump suits like those on the front cover of the book. Their first job began with a phone call from a representative at the mayor's office of the city they lived in (don't recall the city).
The Job: Find and exterminate the "giant bug" that's been crawling all over the buildings downtown. Discretion is a must.
Well, a group of teenagers playing well armed and gung ho monster hunters turned out to be anything but discrete. A heavily armored van in high speed pursuits (with poor driving roles resulting in running into things), lots of machine gun fire, grenades, and psychic attacks made for lots of noise and collateral damage as they hunted down and chased this "giant bug" all over downtown!
There were several injuries (one of the P.C.'s even lost an arm) but in the end the group chased that giant bug to a rooftop and filled it with enough lead to start a pencil factory. And we had a blast doing it!
That creature... was a Malignous. That creature was my first BTS monster, and to this day, its still one of my personal favorites. So its with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that I announce that the Malignous is making its triumphant return to Beyond the Supernatural in the Creature Feature sourcebook!
I've expanded and updated all the creature's information from BTS-1, as well as included some adventure ideas and anecdotes to help GM's get the most out of using it.
Side note: One day, I'd love to revisit and write up an introductory adventure based on that first adventure I'd “written” thirty years ago. And you can bet that if and when I do, the team will be hunting down a Malignous.
© Copyright 2020 Palladium Books. All rights reserved. Illustration by Steven Cummings.
The Brawling Joe
THE BRAWLING JOE is one of the most popular creatures I've ever designed over the years. I've gotten a lot of feedback from players and GM's alike since Joe's first appearance back in the Rifter #57, so I felt that ol' Joe here deserved to be updated and expanded on for the Creature Feature.
You see those enormous fists? You see those muscles? You see all that attitude? This ghoulish brute can easily go toe-to-toe with the most hard-boiled investigators and hunters the Lazlo Society has to offer! They also make great minions and menial laborers, as long as they don't get bored... a bored Joe is a destructive Joe!
© Copyright 2020 Palladium Books. All rights reserved. Illustration by Steven Cummings.
The Gleaner
Gleaners are supernatural predators that have evolved a very specific ritual as part of their hunting patterns. On Earth they appear on Devil’s Night (the night before Halloween), harnessing increased levels of magical energy as the planet begins to enter All Hallow’s Eve (Halloween). After Halloween, on All Saints’ Day, the Gleaner has completed the prey-gathering portion of the ritual, and slowly builds up energy until it has enough power to send itself out of our dimension and back to its own.
Once a Gleaner manifests itself on our world, it will seek out a lair and a first victim, often at the same time. Drunks, junkies and homeless people often fall prey to a Gleaner’s first attack. The initial victim’s residence usually makes a good lair, but sometimes victims do not live alone or must travel frequently as part of their work routine. While not particularly intelligent, Gleaners have powers that allow them to read and sense the beings around them, giving them a surprisingly sophisticated understanding of human behavior and interaction.
For Gleaners, Halloween is the perfect time to manifest themselves and gather prey. Ley lines and magic energy levels run high during the three-day period covering Devil’s Night, Halloween and All Saints’ Day. This boost of energy allows Gleaners to travel to our dimension and find a lair in time to begin drawing in victims. At this stage, Halloween itself provides prey in the form of children trick-or-treating and costumed revelers heading out to parties. The large numbers of people and concealed identities works to a Gleaner’s advantage, making it difficult for others to tell when victims go missing.
Once someone has been lured into the lair of the Gleaner they are enveloped by the beast in a horrifying embrace that results in mental domination. Children are the monster’s favorite prey. They are also easy prey, simpler and more open-minded than adults. Their curiosity and naivete make them susceptible to the wiles of a Gleaner and its puppet-like Mind Slaves, who are used to performing simple errands and tricking others into entering the Gleaner’s lair. Mind Slaves’ faces are transformed into monstrous versions of themselves, but on Halloween most people assume the frightening visage is just a mask...
© Copyright 2020 Palladium Books. All rights reserved. Illustration by Steven Cummings.
The Scaring Crow
It almost always starts the same:
A lone bird lands nearby their victim and acts like any other crow/raven; picking at its plumage, eating the garbage and scraps it finds, or simple resting while staring at its target. Typically, people who notice it staring at them might look back musingly or uninterested for a moment before going back to their matters at hand. Then, another crow lands near the first, then another lands, and so on. In a matter of minutes, a small flock has suddenly formed while more continue to land. Even then most people don’t do more than watch this development with curiosity.
Once the flock grows to more than twenty strong, or if the victim seems to be leaving their area of ambush, their real intentions are revealed. In unison they will all drop their act and suddenly begin staring into their target’s eyes. If this doesn't trigger a sudden twinge of fear in their prey, they will turn up it up a notch and start cawing rather menacingly while walking or flying closer to the target, suddenly surrounding him or her. From this point they will really turn up the volume as their eyes begin flaring with a burning green glow, giving them an eerie and evil presence. When the target begins fearing them, their typical instinct is to run away, but by then it’s already too late.
The target becomes a victim of the Scaring Crows.
© Copyright 2020 Palladium Books. All rights reserved. Illustration by Steven Cummings.
Colton Cole
I have a surprise announcement to make. While there’s plenty of creatures lurking inside this book, that’s not all you'll find lurking within it!
Some of you might recall that back when I was writing and putting this book together, I asked what people would like to see in it. While I got lots of responses (and thank you all for sending them), one of the more popular and unexpected requests was to add some pregenerated characters to the book. Well, I listened and added a couple, and then Kevin & I commissioned illustrations for them!
This week, I’d like to introduce you to Colton Cole. Colton is a 31-year-old Physical Psychic P.C.C. and Entertainer. You know his type; overconfident, takes needless risks, doesn't always think before he acts, loves to show off… you know, a really physical kind of guy. His passions include sports, music, singing, dancing, entertaining and taking on supernatural creatures! He’s just as adept with his physical psychic abilities as he is with his pair of revolvers and baseball bat. Oh yeah, he’s also the guy depicted on the cover of the book.
© Copyright 2020 Palladium Books. All rights reserved. Illustration by Steven Cummings.
Janice Freeman
I introduced you to Mr. Colton Cole and now I’d like to introduce you to Ms. Janice Freeman.
Janice Freeman is a 30-year-old Sensitive Psychic and Yoga & Dance Instructor. Janice was seemingly born to be a Sensitive Psychic, having been an empathetic peacemaker, fence mender and sensitive child with a love for dancing, singing, poetry, and philosophy.
Her psychic abilities began to manifest in high school but she was embarrassed by them and avoided using them. It wasn't until the untimely death of a friend in college (at the slimy hands of Dimma’s no less) that she became a reluctant paranormal investigator. Her compassionate nature however makes her a natural at investigating the paranormal and confronting the supernatural as she genuinely wants to help people.
Janice is as capable with a pistol or her pair of tonfa’s as she with her psychic abilities.
As a Psychic Sensitive, Janice represents the other end of the psychic spectrum compared to Colton (a Physical Psychic). Together they've investigated the supernatural as a duo or as part of a team several times and work surprisingly well together. That being said, their personalities are as different as their psychic abilities and their methods don’t always see things eye-to-eye.
Note: I designed a new Yoga physical skill and added it to Creature feature in response to Janice being a Yoga instructor.
Bonus Illustration: To the left was her first illustration from artist Steve Cummings. While I love this illustration and feel that it has a good feel of her look and attitude, I also wanted an illustration that would have a similar feel to Colton's illustration above.
So I got in touch with Steve and commissioned the above illustration myself. Her look, her pose, her attire, even the tentacles were specific to the vision I was looking for. I envision this illustration as Janice about to blast the oncoming creature with a maximum powered Mind Bolt.
Observant fans of BTS-1 might recognize her pose in the commissioned piece.
Lastly, I wanted to show what the penciled version of Janice's illustration looks like, if only for the fun of seeing how things look “behind the scenes”.
© Copyright 2020 Palladium Books. All rights reserved. Illustration by Steven Cummings.
Dybbuk Fight!
This is a depiction of a group of investigators confronting a Dybbuk in a cemetery.
I believe this illustration will be part of the FAQ section of the book as it uses a Dybbuk in one of the rule examples.
© Copyright 2020 Palladium Books. All rights reserved. Illustration by Steven Cummings.
Dar'ota Transformation
This is a depiction of a Dar'ota Transformation. This illustration will be included in the new “Damping the presence of the Supernatural” section of the book which goes into creatures that are able to hide in plain sight, can turn invisible, or can hide their supernatural nature and aura in some way. These rules go into the challenges psychics will face while trying to find those creature who don't want to be found.
Bonus illustration: This is Steve Cummings illustration of the Dar'ota in its natural form; a hulking, hunchbacked, reptilian monster that resembles a cross between human and monstrous lizard or dinosaur covered in slime. Its bewildering to think that this creature can shape-change into such a seductive and attractive looking human being, which makes them great deceivers, tempters, masterminds, spies and assassins. While cunning and resourceful in their own right, they prefer to work for powerful supernatural beings and wicked practitioners of magic.
© Copyright 2020 Palladium Books. All rights reserved. Illustration by Steven Cummings.
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