• Frontier in Space – While the Draconians are undeniably interesting, this is primarily due to their culture. In terms of basic attributes, they don’t seem that different from humans and can probably be described in the same way. Therefore, I will pass on them.
• I will also pass on the unnamed Ogron-eating blob monster from the same story, on the grounds we know almost nothing about it.
• Planet of the Daleks – It’s still not quite time for the Daleks on this blog yet…
Which brings us to The Green Death… and giant maggots!
Description and Biology
The creatures in the story are stated to be regular Earth maggots mutated by exposure to toxic waste – essentially the same plot device as was used more recently in the story Arachnids in the UK. The toxin in question seems to kill everything else it comes into contact with but fly eggs become greatly bloated in size and eventually give birth to giant maggots. (It does appear that they hatch from giant eggs, which must logically have been laid by normal-sized flies, so the initial size-growing mutation must affect the eggs themselves before they hatch). The resulting maggots also grow constantly, presumably by the usual ecdysis method that regular maggots employ, until they become larger than a human and pupate.
Judging from what we can see, however, the toxin does more than merely make the maggots grow. Apart from their size, their bodies resemble those of regular maggots, but they have sharp vertebrate-style teeth rather than the mandibles possessed by non-mutated forms. There may be other mutations that we can’t see, although the default assumption is that they are otherwise much like the real creature.
While “maggot” is not a scientific term, it generally applies to the limbless larvae of certain kinds of fly. These typically have no visible “head”, no eyes, and no antennae - unlike many other insect larvae, such as caterpillars. All of this fits with what we see in the TV story, but, not least because of the physical mutations, it’s not possible to narrow down what real-world species the maggots might belong to. Indeed, it’s quite likely that whatever effect gives flies partial immunity to the toxin applies to several species, and not all the maggots belong to the same one. For all we know, it might work on other insect larvae too, and it’s merely the maggots, with their habit of feeding on decaying matter, that we see being affected.
It is in the nature of maggots to eventually pupate and emerge as adult flies. Non-mutated flies are typically short-lived, existing primarily to mate and lay eggs, although many do live long enough that they need to feed; often, like their larvae, on decaying matter. In the TV story, only one gets as far as to make this transformation, and the result looks something like a robber fly, but with large cutting mandibles rather than the short sucking ones a real robber fly would possess – again, we know they are mutated, so this may not mean much, beyond the mutant flies being carnivorous. A key difference between it and real flies is that it has four wings, rather than two, again suggesting some pretty major mutation, although it’s unlikely that this has much effect from the perspective of someone whose primary interest is simply in killing the thing... or avoiding it killing them.
Game Attributes
The giant maggots are, taken individually, not very threatening. In the TV story, they are a danger partly because of their great numbers and partly because they are often covered in a slime that’s toxic to all other life forms. Leaving that last element aside, we can say that, as limbless invertebrates, they are physically weak and lack any significant agility, pulling their way slowly across the ground. Similarly, they are unintelligent, in most systems probably around the minimum value that’s game mechanically possible. Those jaws must be capable of delivering a nasty bite, but, aside from the poison, it’s hard to imagine it’s any worse than a typical dog bite – they don’t even have jaws to provide much in the way of bite force.
They are, on the other hand, apparently very resilient, since bullets don’t seem to have much effect on them. Since they’re hardly dodging out of the way, and it seems difficult to believe that they don’t have a normal set of internal organs, this must be largely down to a thick, rubbery hide, and perhaps rapidly closing wounds or a brain too small to register much in the way of pain.
The adult form, of the giant fly, is a different matter. Due to its spindly appearance, it probably isn’t very strong, but it seems to have a more powerful bite than the maggots. Given that it was killed in the story by little more than crashing into the ground, it must also be far less resilient than the maggots, but bullets don’t seem to do much to it either. In its case, however, that can be justified as it being a mobile, probably very agile, aerial target that’s just plain difficult to hit in the first place.
Special Abilities
While the maggots themselves don’t seem to be anything special, they are associated with the toxic green slime from which the story gets its name. How long this takes to kill its victims depends more on the needs of the plot than any particular consistency – although we can perhaps justify that by arguing that the dose varies. At any rate, the toxin is inevitably lethal to humans and presumably just about any other vertebrate life form, while the maggots are immune. While it seems reasonable to argue that they’re immune to most other poisons as well, they can be killed by what’s basically Quorn – an edible fungus that’s healthy and supposedly ‘natural’. (One could argue the last part, since it’s clearly highly processed, but that’s not really relevant here).
5E - Giant Maggot
Small to medium animal, unaligned
Armour Class: 18 (natural)
Hit Points: 23 (3d6+12) to 34 (4d8+16)
Speed: 10 ft.
STR 6 (-2) | DEX 6 (-2) | CON 18 (+4) |
INT 1 (-5) | WIS 7 (-2) | CHA 3 (-3) |
Damage Immunities: Poison (except to certain edible fungi)
Condition Immunities: Blinded, Prone
Senses: Passive Perception 8
Bite: Melee weapon attack: -2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target, Hit: 2 (1d6-2) piercing damage plus 5 (1d8) poison damage and the target must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be affected by the Green Death. An affected victim loses 3 points from their hit point maximum every hour. When their hit point maximum reaches 0, they die.
Challenge: ½ (100 XP)
5E - Giant fly
Large animal, unaligned
Armour Class: 15 (natural)
Hit Points: 38 (5d10+10)
Speed: 20 ft., fly 40 ft.
STR 8 (-1) | DEX 16 (+3) | CON 15 (+2) |
INT 2 (-4) | WIS 9 (-1) | CHA 7 (-2) |
Senses: Passive Perception 9
Bite: Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d8+3) piercing damage
Challenge: 1 (200 XP)
BRP - Giant maggot
STR 2D6 (7) | CON 2D6+9 (16) | SIZ 3D6 (10-11) |
DEX 2D6 (7) | POW 2D6 (7) | |
Hit Points: 14 | Move: 4 | |
Base SR: 6 | Damage Bonus: 0 |
Armour: 10-point tough hide
Combat Skills: Bite 60% (1D4 damage)
Green Death: Anyone bitten by a giant maggot infected with the Green Death must make a CONx3 roll or contract a severe illness, losing one point of CON each hour until they die.
BRP - Giant fly
STR 1D6+3 (3-4) | CON 2D6+6 (13) | SIZ 2D6+15 (22) |
DEX 2D6+9 (16) | POW 3D6 (10-11) | |
Hit Points: 18 | Move: 6 (fly 12) | |
Base SR: 1 | Damage Bonus: +1D4 |
Armour: 1-point exoskeleton
Skills: Spot 50%
Combat Skills: Bite 60% (1D8+1D4 damage)
GURPS - Giant maggot
ST 6 | DX 6 | IQ 1 | HT 18 |
Damage: 1 | Move: 2 | ||
DR: 10 | Size: -3 to 0 |
Traits: Blind, Discriminatory Smell, Immunity to Poison, Innate Attack-1 (toxic, melee weapon, contact agent, cyclic [1 hour]), Invertebrate, No Legs (slithers), Weakness (certain fungi)
GURPS - Giant fly
ST 8 | DX 16 | IQ 2 | HT 15 |
Damage: 1d | Move: 7 | ||
DR: 1 | Size: 1 |
Hit Points: 15
Traits: Peripheral Vision, Quadruped, Winged Flight
Savage Worlds - Giant maggot
Agility: d4 | Smarts: d4 (A) | Spirit: d8 |
Strength: d4 | Vigour: d12 |
Skills: Fighting d6
Special Abilities: Bite (Str+d4), Immunity (most
poisons), Green Death (a bite that causes a Wound or Shaken result can inflict
a Lethal disease, requiring a Vigour roll each hour)
Pace: 1 Parry: 5 Toughness: 8 Size: -3 to -1
Savage Worlds - Giant fly
Agility: d12 | Smarts: d4 (A) | Spirit: d8 |
Strength: d6 | Vigour: d12 |
Skills: Athletics d6, Fighting d8, Notice d6
Hindrances: Slow (on ground only)
Special Abilities: Bite (Str+d6), Flight
Pace: 5/6 Parry: 6 Toughness: 9 (1) Size: 2
STA - Giant maggot
Control: 6 | Fitness: 6 | Presence: 4 |
Daring: 6 | Insight: 2 | Reason: 2 |
Command: 0 | Security: 1 | Science: 0 |
Conn: 0 | Engineering: 0 | Medicine: 0 |
Stress: 7 | Resistance: 2 |
Green Death: The Green Death acts as a contact poison, causing a slow death to those most living things that touch it with bare skin.
STA - Giant fly
Control: 8 | Fitness: 8 | Presence: 8 |
Daring: 10 | Insight: 5 | Reason: 2 |
Command: 1 | Security: 3 | Science: 0 |
Conn: 0 | Engineering: 0 | Medicine: 0 |
Stress: 11 | Resistance: 1 |
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