#stirg

[oldschoolfrp]

"Sword of Dawn" (Charles Vess cover for Dragon 134, June 1988)

[voidarkana]

On the second day of Souptober the prompt was Needle so I decided to make one of these guys into a minecraft model!

Maybe one day I'll make a mod about my spec evo/fantasy project, who knows...

[catbatart]

Drawtober Day6 of my RPG Monsters Prompt List Pt 2!

Day 6 is Stirge! Stirges look SO weird and goofy so I wanted to lean more into the mosquito look!

[chronivore]

Toren Atkinson

[monstersoffilgaia]

[dm-tuz]

Maestro’s Monstrous Arms - Stirges

Rich folk sure are interesting… Must come with the territory. Enough money to just do the weirdest things. Either way, these magic items will come in handy.

Graphic design work by Kanehon and DM Tuz.

[dianeramic]

A series of fantasy-themed ink illustrations I did for my TTRPG stock art venture! There's a lot of these coming up, so stay tuned for more!

My DriveThruRPG store, where I upload these for game developers to buy and use, is here!

[dailymtgflavortext]

"I will never complain about mosquitoes again." —Imoen

-Stirge

[ratgraphic]

Ijotober Day 6: Stirge

Stirges are fey-tech constructs, spawned en masse in mysterious automated factories that litter the dark corners of Lucidia. Its unknown who originally designed them, or for what purpose, but to most they're seen as dangerous, self-replicating pests, large mechanical mosquitoes to avoid at all costs. Others, like the Butcher gang however, see them as tools, to be captured, rewired and used as weapons in the Material plane. Since the closing of the fairy portals, many of the rewired stirges still remain in Ijo without their operators to give them direction, so it isn't uncommon to now find stirge nests, strange, blood-clot-like structures hanging in dark corners of densely populated areas. Without the fey-tech ressources they would normally require to self-replicate, the stirges spawned in Ijo are often constructed of scrap parts and stolen organs.

[morganerpost]

Hazzad vs. Horrible Bugs, which will be unnamed. Ink, Markers, white gel pen on cardstock.

[firnen-the-teragram-teabag]

Things that nobody said until I played D&D part 2

"the pope says 'the most powerful weapon in the world, my son, is the bible gun' and he pulls out the bible gun"

"your racism upsets the stirge so much that it just drops dead"

"explain why we shouldn't kill you right now" "my funky fresh moves"

"wisdom saving throw to not be horny"

"we are distracted by his sweet, sweet nipples"

"you are the Minecraft Alpha to our Minecraft 1.18"

"he's always visually moist"

"can i flirt with the eyes"

"I just casually slip the cake into my hat"

"onwards, to the piss hut!"

[oldschoolfrp]

Attacked by blood-sucking owl-like creatures with elephant trunks and serpentine tails -- These feel like reskinned stirges, especially comparing the scene directly to David Sutherland's Strategic Review illustration. Reimagining the appearance of common encounters is a great way to maintain a sense of exploring the unknown. (Emmanuel Bautista, from Wizard’s Aide, 1977, a self-published third-party OD&D supplement by Matt Whalley)

[bogleech]

Hello! as a fictional bug expert, I was wondering if you had any thoughts on Bloodflies from Dishonored 2? (fun fact: i searched your blog to see if you’d mentioned them and the only post that came up was an ask from years ago, also from me, talking about the river krusts in dishonored 1 lmao. i swear i play other games!!)

Oh yeah I remember the krusts, and how the wiki thinks they're mollusks and they even make "pearls" but they are definitely goose barnacles! The bloodflies are funny because officially they're supposed to be insects, from what I've read, but anatomically they're as different from insects as insects are from shrimp.

Maybe that's just because it wasn't designed by anyone who really wanted to create a realistic speculative insect, but these only have four legs, each leg only has four segments, they have perfect ball joints that aren't quite like any current Arthropod, the mouth structure isn't anything like the proboscis of any modern fly or mosquito, the body seems fused into one large streamlined segment, they have no tarsal claws and their inner organs look totally alien. Then there's the fact that apparently these are a juvenile stage, and they become what the wiki calls a kind of wingless "beetle" when they mature. Do they call them beetles in-game? It doesn't look like that stage even has official artwork? In our world all flying insects are already adults. Except for one weird group of mayflies who go through two different winged stages, any insect you see with usable wings is finished growing for good, so for an arthropod to go backwards from that is completely alien!

Aesthetically I like how bird-like they look, like stirges from D&D

Maybe that was even a part of their inspiration?

If they did evolve or mutate from an insect though, I bet it was a lousefly

This is making me want to do more articles on my actual website that just break down a single creature or monster, without necessarily being part of a whole series like the Pokemon reviews. I did think for a while that I should do just "random" daily creature analyses or by request. I should probably go back to that.

[poisonquinzell]

Fig during the last stand with the stirges

[chronivore]

[therobotmonster]

Since Hasbro's decided they don't have to manage their own core lines anymore...

I have complex feelings about that largely summed up by 'time to break up the big IP houses like Ma Bell' and the following image:

But if we're going to be stuck in this universe, we might as well get something worthwhile out of it. So I propose that the Big H make nice-nice with their historical arch-foe Mattel, for one or more Masters of the Universe: Origins crossover lines.

For those that haven't been paying attention, Mattel's MOTU origins line is awesome, in large part because it has no pretenses about what He-Man is: Fun, and Dumb.

They've been making (not enough, mind you) new characters, resurrecting old ones, buying compatible concepts like Sun-Man and throwing them into the mix, and when they do crossover-stuff, it isn't just two figs from the two lines packed together...

They slam the very concepts together. I own a MOTU John Cena that is clear blue because he's 'invisible.' OF COURSE Ram-Man is going to turn into a mutant ram when they crossover with TMNT! It's the Demogorgon! And his weapon is a dice-mace.

It's a beautiful symbiosis. MOTU gets more crazy fun and reusable parts for their internal build-a-figure system and the other party involved gets a sip of what actually fun toyeticism tastes like.

So, since Hasbro's open to this kind of thing now, I propose the following:

Dungeons of Snake Mountain (D&D/MOTU Crossover)

Obvious crossover is obvious, but that doesn't mean 'bad'. In a battle with Skeletor, the planes intersect, sending the artifacts from both universes scattering into a sprawling multi-dimensional dungeon. Everyone's questing for it. Fun stuff.

Big Figure:

Granamyr - A little D&D'd up, but the classic MOTU dragon is the big boxed get for the set. To make this affordable, he's in a build-a-figure format, and his parts (minus head) are reused as build-a-figure incentives through the line to build a black dragon with a head evoking snake mountain's snake.

Every figure that does not have a build-a-figure bit comes with a bonus sidekick/familiar/little creature pulled from this list: Kowl, Madame Razz's Broom, pseudodragon-dragonblast dragon (free-standing), Zoar and Screech-colored birds that lock onto the forearm, Imp (She-Ra and D&D), Slime/ooze (one sculpt, many colors), flumph, demilich (doubles as bonus head), stirge, intellect devourer and gazer (mini-beholder).

MOTU Characters:

Bard of Power Adam - Slightly 'rockered up' and midevalized version of the classic Adam togs. Carries a 'poweraxe' anachronistic electric guitar-by-way-of-jack-kirby style lute. Short sword. Alternate "singing" head.

Paladin of GraySkull She-Ra - In strongheart-inspired armor. Sun sword, shield, adventurer's lantern.

Dragonborn Cleric Frosta - backpack piece replicates whiplash/rattlor style tail, white dragon (obs), breath-weapon plugin, Mace of Saint Cuthbert, multiple potions.

Elf Ranger Bow - Elf version of Bow (PoP if available, OG if not), uses a version of the Dragon Blast skeletor pack (animal companion). Hank's energy-bow from the D&D cartoon. Bear traps.

Dwarf Monk Fisto - shorter 'dwarf' legs and arm buck, Gauntlets of Ogre power. torch.

Aaracocra Wizard Stratos - Has full sorceress-style wings, Arcane Grimoire, wand of magic missiles. Scroll.

Rogue Buzz-Off - Buzz-Off in rogue's gear, boots of speed (wings on them), daggers, torch.

Warlock of Orcus Skeletor - Head is a ram's skull, using the heavyset wrestler torso buck. Havoc staff, rod of Orcus.

Fighter Orchead - Pighead geared up like the stock D&D cartoon orc / orc of the broken bone figure. Mace of Terror. Torch. Shield.

Barbarian Beast-Gnoll - Bright orange gnoll, carrying beserker axe, torch, whip.

Assassin Catra - Tabaxized Catra with cloak of displacement (irridescent shiny cloth), displacer-beast themed tentacle-whips, and poisons (potion bottles).

Sorceress Yaun-Teela - Oh no, she's been snaked again. Give her a proper snakey head this time, snake-fang whip, shield, Jake the Snake's snake.

Shadow Weaver - It's just Shadow Weaver, she has the hand of Vecna (alternate), two wands (recolors of Stratos and RingleRune's) and an alternate, un-hooded lich-face.

D&D Characters:

Evil-Aligned

Having found Skeletor's half of the power sword, Warduke empowers himself and a host of captive monsters, awakening them as per the awaken spell, and changing their type to monstrous humanoid.

Battle Armor War-Lord - Warduke using the battle-damage armor torso and carrying Skeletor's half of the Power Sword. Has that MOTU laser gun. Brighter, toonier colors than original.

Klaws-All the Hook-Horror - Mix of Mutant Ram Man, Andre the Giant/Krang parts, with clawful hand on one arm and a true hook on the other, new head (obviously). Chain/shackle harness and accessories in glowing or at least translucent plastic (magic bonds). Guards shaping staff.

Flarefang the Dragonborn Fighter - Classic Red Dragon. Whiplash with a new head, energy-blast plug for mouth. Very eternian looking sword/shield combo. Torch.

Hoot-zor the Owlbear - Grizzlor with bird-like face, bestial feet, and new claw-hands. Has terror-claws skeletor accessories to boot. Guards book of living spells.

Pu-Tryd the Troglodyte Queen - reuse of tailed female buck (Frosta), with troglodyte head. Carries the sword of the serpent (MOTU). has special shoulder-ports that plug in 'stink cloud' accessories (compatible with breath weapon ports).

Grotek the Duergar Artificer - Uses mostly the Extendar parts in a black knight scheme, new head. Comes with a grab-bag of techy MOTU gear and Mekaek's telescope-club. Golden disk of knowledge.

Greencleave the Troll - Uses a standard body buck with extra-long forearm and shin parts to produce a taller, gangly build. semi-translucent green, has two extra hands and 'stump parts' that those plug into, to make free-crawling troll hands out of whichever fists aren't in use. Guards masks of power.

Good-Aligned:

Battle Armor Strong-Heart - Same deal as Warduke, just with the roles reversed. Has that other MOTU laser gun and He-Man's half of the power sword.

Clank-or the Warforged Scout - Roboto torso with armored knight-like arms and legs, new head. Uses roboto forearm for the weapon parts and includes mekanek's neck. Staff of Avion.

RingleRune - Reuses a lot of Eldor parts. Eldritch book of spells, wizard's staff, wand of acid arrow.

Now for the challenging part, stuff that is essential but would need major tooling excuses. This is accomplished via the introduction of a 'kid' or 'sidekick' tooling.

Wild Mage Orko and Mimic - A new sculpt for a 2005 style Orko, in green robes (allowing for later reuse as canon 2005 Orko) with an eternian-style chest that springs open to reveal fangs and eyes. inner bits can be swapped out for normal treasure (allowing for tooling reuse)

Rust Monster and Rogue Loo-Kee - Loo-Kee in adventuring gear with a little rainbow colored dagger against a rust monster.

Cursed Adam and Cu-Boid the Modron - 2005 "kid" Adam (compatible buck with Loo-Kee) and a modron quadrone with dice numbers incorporated into his body designs. Cu-Boid is a rogue modron, with a spinning Man-e-faces like feature.

Zarak the Goblin and Meteorb Dinosorb - Yes, OG Zarak was an "orc" but he was also small in stature and not a pig-man like AD&D orcs at the time, and so I'm categorizing him as a goblin. Meteorb should be designed for maximum head/tail swappage for future reuse, has energy-flare trail that plugs in via standard FX plug.

Of course, each figure would come with all the stats for themselves and their stuff.