BONUS MONSTER 29:

Stalwart Grenadier
FRAGG

CLASS: BOO MAN

Free, additional supplementary monsters for the Mortasheen Tabletop RPG Core Rulebook, created by Jonathan Wojcik, additional writing and all gameplay stats by Bonnie Saucier. For use with the gameplay system by Morgan Mullins!

Description:
This monster is a gangly-limbed humanoid with strange proportions. Its head sticks forward on a thin neck and has glassy eyes like the lenses of a gas mask, its mouthless face tapering into a droopy point. Two floppy ear-like straps dangle from the sides under an organic "army helmet." It has stick-thin legs but very large, tapering boot-like feet. Its back is weighed down by a large, segmented, boxy hump with a flaplike opening in the front. A fleshy tube connects this "backpack" to a bony gun-shaped left arm. The entire creature is wrapped in the same leathery green-brown skin.

BIOLOGY:
This Boo Man's head is mostly empty, containing only a ganglial cluster that broadcasts visual information across the monster's entire psigital network to be analyzed by all units at once. Its large dorsal pouch is the true location of its brain, mouth and the majority of its complex digestive system, which manufactures a sticky, flammable explosive compound from its calcium-rich diet and processes ingested metals into spherical grenades, which it can expel with considerable force from its modified forearm.

  When an instance of Fragg is terminated, a chemical reaction in its pack builds pressure and detonates its armored internal braincase, scattering shards of biometallic bone and dying neural tissue. Any sentient organisms penetrated by these fragments are temporarily connected to the Boo Man's mental network, reflexively acting on its final orders until the foreign brain tissue expires.

BEHAVIOR:
Fragg is among the only Boo Men to keep all active instances in constant contact at once, utilizing the experience of many simultaneous battles to strategize in real time. It regards itself as a "one-monster army" engaged at all times in a "live global war game" as it prepares for - and dreads - some purely hypothetical catastrophe yet to come. Solemn and paternalistic, it conducts itself as a seasoned veteran with a responsibility to prepare other beings for the harsh realities of battle, apparently offering its services as a mercenary fighter more for "educational and training purposes" than for its own gain. It will always address its employer as its "captain" and play a role as "second in command" with grave devotion, offering suggestions and advice but refusing to take its own initiative without formal "orders," which it steadfastly follows to the absolute letter. Any fatal oversight in the "captain's" decision is just another learning opportunity the Boo Man is all too eager to demonstrate, though in dire enough situations it may suddenly defy orders and dramatically sacrifice its instance for the protection of its allies - another of its favorite "hard lessons" to pass down.

  The Boo Men are believed to be relatively young among the monstrous classes, but Fragg designates nearly all sentient life as part of the same "younger generation," while its own "generation" is occupied almost exclusively by itself and a select few other monsters such as Toxodont and Bombadire. It seems loathe to interact with most other Boo Men, dismissing Stingg as something it calls a "hophead," Hwail as a "pantywaist" and Weap as "just a sick freak, that one" and so forth. It only seems to feel more warmly towards Bang, even if "the kid doesn't quite get it yet."

  Fragg's somber, no-nonsense attitude towards warfare seems to falter at any opportunity to discuss ancient combat technology, especially the devastating ingenuity of pre-biotech retrohumanity. The older and more brutal the weaponry, the more child-like wonderment shows through Fragg's extensive explanations of its engineering and personal thoughts on its efficacy.

Concept Notes:

This is the first new Boo Man I came up with myself since I first created the class so many years ago, though the book contains a new one (name dropped on this page) designed by Sabedile that I really love. There's a background implication that all Boo Men may have once been normal monsters of various classes, even if the designs are wildly different, which is just another nod to their Digimon inspirational roots. Whail, for instance, whose spelled has been changed to Hwail in the book, *may* hypothetically connect to Eledirge, which was also renamed (to "Maladirge") after Pokemon came out with Skeledirge. Fragg's theoretical ancestor, or at least a ballpark estimate, is much easier to guess from its design and personality if you've at least seen the previous entry this month :)

Its design, which is still subject to modification and refinement from here, borrows a little bit from Bosch demons and a little more from Ralph Bakshi's Wizards.