Wednesday 8 February 2017

Slugging it out


There is an esteemed history to blobs, though I would like to say that they were most prevalent in the atomic age of domestic appliances, they have continued to make an appearance over the decades. I did raise a slightly inebriated eyebrow when GM Jon mentioned that the crew of the USS Lexington had just encountered one, though Dave also remarked on a punishing battle with the bell curve last week as I believe most of their evening was spent making appalling rolls. Personally I can find it a struggle when an entire party repeatedly rolls badly as other than NPCs either doing a tap dance to pass the time whilst the party slap themselves out of their collective hypnosis or allowing my monsters to merrily chomp away at protagonists, I'm never quite sure what to do.


Interestingly the early 'blobs'  typified unfathomable and frightening entities, their physical form directly representing the barrier between the world we know and something completely alien. They also have the advantage of being relatively easy projects as far as special effects are concerned.


In more latter day scenarios there is a nod to the heritage I believe where things like gelatinous cubes are concerned but as Science Fiction matured the genre it has given way to more descriptive creatures and plot devices and to even  more sophisticated, albeit malevolent, entities.


As for best practice, well this is still an open debate. They give nothing away. It difficult to imagine a Player character actually being a blob of some sort but not impossible. In fact Starfleet would be compelled to entertain incorporating a blob species that has made it to the interstellar age and provided they didn't vaporise anything at first contact, I would love a blobby Ensign on the bridge of the USS Discovery in the upcoming series, packed together with all its backstory of awkward struggles through Starfleet Academy. Eventually gaining the respect of his fellow cadets and a confident relationship with a young human aboard its first crew assignment. It would be an inspirational role model to young blobs all over the world who feel marginalised and underrepresented.

Problem is of course, where do you put the badge on a blob ?

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