An amusing number

I haven't forgotten the Lost World RMAs. I am nearly through. I just thought I'd share something I observed.

As I have been posting these writeups, I've shared them on various Google+ RPG communities where I felt they were relevant. Like most bloggers (even infrequent ones like me), I crave feedback, so comments and "+1s" are always welcome. I see the alerts on my gmail page that someone has done so to my posts and the little red circle is a pleasant reminder that someone, somewhere derived a bit of pleasure from my ramblings.

Last week I published an RMA for Sabre Tooth tigers. It was –by any measure– a pretty typical post of this type for me. I like to provide pictures when possible, if for no other reason than to break up the blocks of text. For the tigers, I found a classic bit of Frazetta art with a buxom lass flanked by two of the beasts in question. It amused me and that was about all the thought that went into it.

When sharing to G+, the posts will grab a thumbnail of (usually) the first image on the linked page. As this was the creature picture I chose, that was fine. I linked it to three or four different communities and went on with my day.

A week later, I was on the BX community page and noticed that this particular post had nine +1s. I don't usually keep count, but this seemed a little high, so I glanced back to see some older posts. They averaged about three each. this trend continued on other communities as well. Always with the most +1s of my posts, sometimes double or more of the next highest.

Conclusion? Sex sells. (cue the sounds of shock and surprise!)

Not really surprising, but it made me chuckle a bit. I'll try to post the last of the lost world critters within the next day or so.

See? Dinosaurs! Totally on-topic!

RMA: Sabre tooth Tigers

Smilodon for the camera!

I could have picked an image with just the cat, but when in doubt, use Frazetta!

Continuing in the lost world theme, we have the sabre tooth tiger. Our main predatory mammal for such areas. Of course, such a creature would have had a hard time competing against the likes of T-Rex, but during the ice age, when dinos were long gone, ol' Smiley did all right for himself. 

I've already done a Random Monster Assessment on tigers, and really smilodon is more of the same. It's a great big cat with teeth and claws. Granted, in BX, it's the biggest and toothiest of the bunch. 

Sabre-tooth Tiger (from Moldvay)

AC: 6

HD: 8

Move: 150' (50')

Att: 3 (2 claws/1 bite)

Dmg: 1d8/1d8/2d8

No. App: 1d4 (1d4)

Save: F4

Morale: 10

Treasure: V

AL: N

The main thing I would note about this fella is that he is (was) an apex predator and not easily scared off (high morale). While -in real life- primitive man and the great cat would probably have done their best to avoid each other (top predators like their space), and the beast would have likely found easier pickings than the hairless apes with pointy sticks, competition over food might cause clashes. Maybe a clan of cavemen manage to down a mastodon. It would take more than a day to butcher such a kill and prep it for taking back to the cave. A pack of sabre-tooths might find the carcass in the night and decide to try staking a claim. 

A party of PCs  from "normal" times that find themselves in a lost world would probably be a smaller group than the smilodon typically would have to deal with (neanderthal mammoth hunting parties were typically a dozen or more men) . Snagglepuss might decide a handful of people are easy enough prey (or their horses). Especially if it's a pack of 3 or 4 cats.