The Web of Great Spiders

[Luke]

Hello!

Great Spiders, Chapter 2 of the Burning Wheel Monster Burning, has been released. The chapter is available for free for download here

The chapter describes how to play a Great Spider character. It includes over two dozen new lifepaths, over 65 new traits, 36 new skills and a dozen new spells. Also included are rules and mechanics for web spinning, trap setting, prey wrapping, and, of course, poison.

Stop by and check it out. If you thought Wolves were cool and Trolls were fun, I think you will very much like Spiders.

-L

[Claymore]

I just downloaded the rules. They look very good! I personally won't use them as a playable race in my campaign as it would not fit within the scope of my game. I run a fairly low magic/realistic world, the only non human playable race currently are dwarves, as the party just met up with them for the first time in the last campaign I ran (before then it ws a human only campaign). There are no true elves (as represented in BW), they have left for the land beyond the sea long ago. There is a degenerate stunted offshoot race of Elf like creatures who are isolationists that will attack any who tread too close to their lands (these creatures once took out an entire village who had felled trees from their forest, they are shoot on site in my campaign ;-)

What I do intend to use them as are adversaries for tonight's game. So excuse me, I need to go burn up some spiders!

Claymore

[Luke]

we have been using them in our games for about three months now. They have come a long long way from just being "generic bug. squish it", to being singular and dangerous creatures.

Most folks are going to use these guys as baddies, and that's fine. What I am trying do is just provide the option for them to be player characters. And when I do that, it forces me to take a nice long detailed look at the creatures I am creating. In the end this results in something more than just a bag of hit points and stats.

If you can use them right,(and I have no doubt you will), Great Spiders are sooo formidable. Can you say: Avoid, Get Inside, Wrap/Lock, Bite, Avoid. Bye, bye...

Um. Even if you don't script, I think you get the idea. Use that webbing to your advantage!

-L

[taepoong]

Welcome to Spider Island!

I first tried a solo Orb Weaver to terrify my party. it worked out quite well!

So now I've shipwrecked them on an island which is infested with Sea Lords! Yikes! I even threw in a couple with the ability to make burrows. I pulled one of my hapless PCs into the earth and the party freaked! It was especially disturbing to the wizard with the Sense up... he didn't detect anything until it was far too late!

I even tried triplines, nooses, and pit traps! Muahahah!

And the whole time, the party can hear the buzzing and chirping of the spiders as they talk to each other and coordinate their attacks.

I love these things!

[Lxndr]

I will play in any Burning Wheel game out there where I'm actually allowed to play a spider.  Yum.

[Luke]

I will play in any Burning Wheel game out there where I'm actually allowed to play a spider.  Yum.

so what is it about spiders?

[Lxndr]

I just like them.  They're sort of a "totem animal" for me.  I'm often saddened they're so often used as villains...

[taepoong]

I'm often saddened they're so often used as villains...

I blame this on Tolkien and tons of horror movies!

[Lxndr]

It probably has something to do with genetics, too.  Racial memory - THOSE ARE BAD.  The people who avoided them probably lived longer...