October Horror Movie Challenge - Tremors 5: Bloodlines (2015)

Synopsis: Survivalist and all around crazy but lovable right wing nut job Burt Gummer (played by the fantastic Michael Gross) and his new camera man Travis (played by Jamie Kennedy) are recruited to go to South Africa and take care of a assblaster problem. There they find new frightening versions of familiar monsters.

The Good: Burt Gummer is my favourite monster hunter. I've loved the original 4 Tremor movies (yes I know he wasn't in the 4th, it was his ancestor Hiram, but it was Burt in spirit) and the criminally underrated tv series. I thought Travis was going to be annoying but I liked him and his connection to the story was something I was cool with. Ian Roberts was great as the South African version of Burt. The assblaster and grabboid variants were pretty cool. I like the new designs for both. The grabboids new abilities were sweet too. Being able to detach the mouth tentacles and make leaps, that's pretty tight. There were some nice nods to fans, such as Burt's chief enemy in the series (see the picture below). Also his ex-wife Heather is mentioned.

The Bad: The first part of the movie is really slow. I love Michael Gross, I really do, but I started to have my doubts during the film. However, the second half of the movie kicked it into gear and snatched my interest back.

Final Thoughts: Burt Gummer is my hero. This movie takes a bit to get going, but if you're are a fan of the series stick with it, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

In Your Game: I give you Burt as a fully playable cast member for Cinematic Unisystem (Army of Darkness specifically, but he could be added to the others with minimal modification).

Albert "Bert" Hiram Gummer
(Very Experienced) Primitive Screwhead
Life Points: 57
Drama Points: 20

Attributes:
Strength: 3
Dexterity:3

Constitution: 5

Intelligence: 4
Perception: 5
Willpower: 5

Qualities: +21
Really Big Chin 3 (+3)
Contacts 3 (+2)
Fast Reaction Time (+2)
Hard to Kill 5 (+5)
Natural Toughness (+2)
Nerves of Steel (+3)
Resources: Middle Class (+2)
Situational Awareness (+2)

Drawbacks: -5
Honorable (-1)
Mental Problems: Obsession 2 (-2)
Mental Problems: Paranoia 2 (-2)

Skills:  
Crime 3
Computers 3
Driving/Riding 5
Doctor 2
Getting Medieval 4
Gun Fu 5
Influence 1
Knowledge 3
Kung Fu 4
Mr. Fix It 5
Notice 4
Sports 2
Science 2
Sports 3
Wild Card: Demolitions 5

Maneuvers:          Bonus     Damage           Notes
Dodge                        7            None        Avoid getting hit; -2 against ranged,; p. 89
Hunting Rifle            8             20            Bullet, uses rifle ranges; 5-10 round; p. 101

There is a Cinematic Unisystem Tremors Netbook on the web. I've got a copy on my Google Drive. Here is a link. I really like the netbook, but I decided not to use it for this particular version of Burt.

New To Me Movies Watched: 9
Total Movies Watched: 10

Graboids - 02 - Shriekers

I've already statted out graboids for Cubical 7's Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space and Primeval RPGs. Today I present to you the second step in the Graboid life cycle, the shrieker. For more information about that, check out the movie (which is an Instant View on Netflix).

Shriekers

Attributes

Awareness 5* Coordination 3

Ingenuity 1

Presence 3  Resolve 5

Strength 4

Speed: Average                Small: Small

Maximum Threat: 8

Threshold: 4

Traits:

Aggressive: When threatened, the shrieker’s Threat Threshold is reduced by 2.

Bite: Shriekers have strong mandibles. They can make a bite attack that does Strength + 2 damage.

* Infrared Vision: Shrieker vision is based on heat. Areas of effectively blind them (giving them an affective Awareness of 1).

Threat Powers

Chew Through Armor (1 Threat): The shrieker can spend 1 threat to ignore up to three points of armor from a single bite attack.

Snap (2 Threat): The Shrieker can make another bite attack. This doesn’t cost an action, the shrieker can keep snapping as long as it has Threat to spend.

Warning (2 Threat): The Shrieker can release waves of heat to alert others. Increase the Threat of all shriekers and assblasters in the area.

Tremors - 01 - Graboids

In the past I have expressed my love for the Tremors movies. They are cheesy as hell, but a lot of fun. Also, as I mentioned in my post yesterday I'm looking for new aliens and creatures to through into an upcoming Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space campaign that I'd like to run. Why not Graboids?

Since I have both Doctor Who:AITAS and Primeval (which use the same system) I statted out Graboids using Primeval (which has more creature rules). If you don't have Primeval there is still enough here to use in a Who game. 

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Graboid

Attributes

Awareness 5 Coordination 2 Ingenuity 1

Presence 4 Resolve 4 Strength 15

Speed: Average  Size: Huge

Maximum Threat: 12

Threshold: 6

Traits

Aggressive; Graboids are quick to attack. When attacked their threshold is reduced by two.

Armour: 4

Burrow: Graboids can burrow through the earth with relative ease. Normally thick stone and harder substances will stop them (though see below).

Bite: Graboids have massive jaws and that can literally bite a man in two. Their bite attack can do Strength + 2 damage.

Tremorsense: Graboids detect things by sensing vibrations in the earth. They are considered to have an Awareness 5 for that purpose. If vibrations aren't felt, they are considered to have an Awareness of 1. 

Threat Powers

Break Through (2 Threat): The graboid can attempt to break through a harder substance. They gain a +4 bonus to their Str+Athletics task.

Extend Mouth Tentacles (2 Threat): The Graboid shoots out three serpent-like tentacles, attacking for 6 damage (4/8/12) with a +2 bonus to the attack.

Skills: Athletics 4, Fighting 2, Marksman 1, Survival 2

For Doctor Who: This one is simple enough. Have a malfunctioning TARDIS land in an isolated area with an active Graboid population (such as Perfection, NV). The Doctor and Companions have to stay alive, while trying to repair the TARDIS.

For Primeval: The first use of Graboids in a Primeval game is obvious. Have an anomaly send the characters back to the time of the Graboids. The movies intentionally kept this vague. Another interesting idea would be to send the party to an isolated area in which Graboids have resurfaced (much like Perfection, NV). What do the characters do when they realize that the problem can't be solved by sending the creatures back through an anomaly? 

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Over the next few days I will post the stats for Shriekers, Assblasters (which I will rename Bumblasters), and  probably El Blanco. 

The Good, the Bad, and the Cinematic Unisystem

At some point last year I got it in my head that I was going to run a Weird West Buffy game using the setting from the Slayer's Handbook. Well like most of my games it didn't happen. However, I did make a few quicksheets for some of the npc's I wanted to guest star before I gave it up. They were John Marston (zombified and not) and Mr. Nigel West Dickens from Red Dead Redemption. I also made one for Hiram Gummer (Burt Gummer's ancestor that appeared in Tremors 4. I think I did a good job casting Nigel and John (though I think Eastwood is nuts now).

I was looking through my computer today and found them so I decided to post them here.

Tremors Netbook and an Update

I always have delusions of grandeur about blogging and such and it never seems to pan out. I just don't have the will or something to blog and keep up on my projects. Not a big deal, I'll still use this site to post my occasional idea and find, but I'm not going to lie to myself and anyone that actually reads the blog. I was looking through my files and I found a Tremors Netbook for cinematic unisystem. It's from 2003 and I'm not the author, but I thought I'd share it with anyone that stumbles across this blog. It's based on the first three movies and the short lived (but entertaining) tv series. If you want to expand your Buffyverse and add a free cryptid type monsters, this netbook is a nice edition. Plus, Burt Gummer is the man!