Creature

PLEASE NOTE: This game is a WIP and not yet ready to release for public playtesting. Follow along this Creature itch page and you'll likely get some sort of notification when there's a playtest pdf uploaded. Chat soon!

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Creatures in screenshots by Loot Studios, painted by me.

Hunters in screenshots by Titan Forge, donated by my friend, painted by me.

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The wind carried the smell of ash across the ruined village. Lanterns flickered in broken windows, throwing jagged shadows that danced like restless ghosts. Somewhere in the dark, a boot crunched on broken stone. The sound echoed too loud in the frigid night air.

Four hunting bands moved in tight formation, spears and axes ready, eyes scanning the silent black. A nervous whisper passed between them, low and tense. “Clear.” The reply came as little more than breath. “Stay sharp.”

A sudden gust stirred the dead leaves. One hunter glanced over a shoulder. Heavy silence.

Then it began.

A low growl rolled across the square, felt more than heard. A shape shifted between the crumbling buildings. Too quick to see, too large to name. The hunters froze. Heartbeats pounded.

A scream split the night. One man was gone, dragged into the black. His spear clattered clumsily to the stones. A streak of blood marked the ground where he had stood.  A new smell washed over the street, something 'other'.

Panic set in. Torches whipped wildly, their flames cutting through fog and ruin. The shadows of ghosts leapt and twisted. Another shout, cut short by the sharp crack of splintering wood, and then a second figure vanished with a sickening crunch of bone.

The hunters slashed at the dark with blades and loosed arrows into empty air. The echoes came back at them. Mocking. Hollow. Something moved above - on the rooftops, or perhaps in the trees. The scent of blood grew thick.

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Creature is a tense survival horror tabletop game for 1–4 players. Players inhabit the monsters, working together to survive and terrorise squads of Hunters, whose actions are semi-random. As a Creature, you are outnumbered but powerful. Cooperation is key as Creature-players combine strange abilities to stay hidden, strike fast and escape before the Hunters overwhelm them.

The current tests of the game involve some key mechanics - be aware these could and likely will change:

• Action Points: Each turn, the Creature spends a small pool of points to move, attack, hide or use special abilities.
• Stealth and Detection: Trace tokens track Creature presence. Hunters react and spread alarm as the number of tokens builds. Quasi-random Hunter actions are controlled by a deck of cards.
• Mutation: Creatures are there to perform a narrative action but can also feed on or terrify Hunters to heal and mutate. Stronger mutations mean general actions and reach are easier to perform but make surviving as a Creature harder and harder as you trigger harsher Hunter responses.
• Threat Tracker: A rising Threat level determines the number of Hunter reinforcements that get called in each turn, soon leading to quite unmanageable numbers of Hunter squads chasing down careless Creatures.

Rule ideas will be adapted to find and fit the flavour better before a pdf is released.

Cheers,

Stew