Cantrips for Original and Basic-Era Games

One of the things that bugged me the most about playing FRPGs of the 70s and 80s was that wizards, supposedly after having all this training in magic and magical philosophy and thought could only do one spell. Per day. While I understand why it was set up like that, it never really made much sense that they wouldn't know more. After all, look at the Harry Potter kids in the first book/movie, they knew all sorts of spells at age 11. We can hand wave it and say it takes years just to master the basics, but it still seems a bit light to me.

So following in the footsteps of the game's Advanced cousin and introduce the idea of cantrips, or 0-level spells.

These spells by their nature need to be simple things, plus they should also be useful to the magic-user in question. Little spells they learn to see the effects of spells in a teaching environment and something they can safely use while practicing. So given that cantrips must satisfy these requirements for me.

1. They need to be simple effects.
   
2. They should not cause damage.
   
3. All the cantrips a magic-user knows will be learned in school before 1^st level.

The effects should never be anything near the effects of a 1^st level spell. They would be "utility" type spells that would work just like all other spells. They would have to be memorized, though the time to do so is minimal and once cast they are forgotten for that day's use. Note: Some Game Masters may allow wizards to use cantrips at will.

Also, given their nature, cantrips cannot be reversed. Unless otherwise stated a cantrip has no effect on a living creature. So a wizard cannot place an Arcane Mark on a person or animal nor can Warm be used to warm up a person. It can be used on a bed or blanket and then the person can use the now warmed bed or blanket.


Magic users know three (3) cantrips before 1^st level + a bonus number equal to their Intelligence modifier. So a magic-user with Intelligence of 18 knows 3 + 3 cantrips, 6. This gives this 1^st level magic use a total of 7 spells (6 cantrips and 1^st level), a magically potent number.

Alarm Ward
Level: 0
Range: 50' radius
Duration: 1 hour
Effect: sets up an area of warning
With this spell the magic-user can set up a area of alarm 50' around his/her person. Any creature larger than a cat entering the radius will set off a mental alarm within the caster. They will not know what sort of creature had entered their area but they will know one has and the general direction.

Arcane Mark
Level: 0
Range: 1 object touched
Duration: Permanent
Effect: Leaves a permanent mark on an object
By means of this spell the magic-user can place a personal mark on any non-living item. This mark is usually a personal glyph or sigil that is recognizable to all other magic users. They may not know who the owner is, but they will know it is owned by another wizard. The mark itself is not magical.

Black Flame
Level: 0
Range: 1 normal fire
Duration: Instant
Effect: Colors one normal flame
This spell changes a normal fire into one with dark flames so it casts no light, but still provides heat. The fire loses some of it's heat. While the flames do provide heat they do not burn, though they are uncomfortable to the touch.

Chill
Level: 0
Range: 1 object touched
Duration: 1 hour
Effect: Lowers the temperature of one object to a few degrees
The magic-user can use this spell to lower the temperature of any non-living material up to 1 cubic foot. Typical uses are to cool food or drinks or even to cool the air in a room that is too warm. The temperature cannot be lowered to a degree where it would cause anything damage. The temperature can lowered to just above freezing.

Clean
Level: 0
Range: 1 object touched
Duration: 1 hour
Effect: cleans one object
This spell can be used to clean a single object. The object can be anything, clothing, armor, weapons or even a area of a home. Unlike other cantrips this one can be cast on a willing living participant. A magic-user casting clean on themselves will appear as they would if they had recently bathed and donned fresh clothing. This spell can clean 1 cubic foot of space or an area 10' x 10'.

Close
Level: 0
Range: Within 10' of caster
Duration: Instant
Effect: Closes an open, un-barred door or window.
This spell creates allows the caster to close one door or window that is not locked or otherwise barred. This cantrip will not lock the door or window unless by the action of closing it naturally becomes locked.

False Glamour
Level: 0
Range: One item
Duration: Instant
Effect: Makes one object appear to be an illusion
This simple illusion will cause a solid object or creature to flicker and blur faintly, as if it were a flawed image. Failed attempts to disbelieve the illusion will appear to succeed, giving the object or creature the false appearance of a translucent outline.

Flavor
Level: 0
Range: One item
Duration: Instant
Effect: Flavors one serving
This minor spell flavors one serving of food. The flavor can be changed but it does not change the nature of the food item nor does make poisoned food or spoiled food edible, similar to Freshen. The flavor can be chosen by the magic-user.

Freshen
Level: 0
Range: One Item
Duration: Instant
Effect: Removes wrinkles, flavors or brightens one object
This minor spell allows the magic user to "freshen" one object up to 1 cubic foot. Typical uses are to remove the wrinkles in a garment, brighten the color or some non-living object, or even make bland food more favorable, or polishing metal or glass. All these effects are considered to be a minor illusion. This spell cannot make poisoned or spoiled food edible.

Lift
Level: 0
Range:
Duration: 1 hour
Effect: Slowly lifts 1 pound or less of non-living material
The magic user may use this spell to lift an object via magic alone. The object needs to be non-living and weigh less than 1 pound. The object will remain floating in mid-air for up to one-hour as long as the magic-user is paying at least some attention to it. If the magic-user is distracted at all, say in combat or casting another spell (including a cantrip) then the object drops.

Mend
Level: 0
Range: 1 object touched
Duration: Instant
Effect: Fixes minor wear and tear in non-living and non-metal apparel
By means of this spell the magic-user can mend or repair non-living and non-metal material. Typically this spell is used on clothing to reattach a button, fix a tear or rip or other minor repairs. The amount of material mended cannot exceed 1 cubic foot. This spell can also be used on minor household wear and tear as well. It cannot fix a dented piece of armor or sharpen a sword, but it can reattach a leather strap to armor or fix a pane of glass if all the pieces are present.

Message
Level: 0
Range: 1 known person
Duration: Instant
Effect: Sends a quick message to a single person
By means of this spell the magic-user can end a brief message, no more than a dozen words, to a person they know. This person can be any distance away and be able to understand the magic-users language or at least the language of the message.

Mote of Light
Level: 0
Range: Within 10' of caster
Duration: 1 hour
Effect: Creates a small mote of light equal to candle light
This spell creates a small mote of light roughly equal to candle light that hovers near the magic-user's head. The spell is typically used for reading or lighting a small area (1 cubic foot). It is not a replacement for the Light or Continual Light spells. This spell cannot be cast into someone's eyes. The spell is not useful for lighting dark passages unless that passage is very well known (such as the magic-users' own home).

Open
Level: 0
Range: Within 10' of caster
Duration: Instant
Effect: Opens an unlocked, un-barred door or window.
This spell creates allows the caster to open one door, window, chest or other item that is not locked or otherwise barred.

Palm
Level: 0
Range: 1 small object
Duration: Instant / 1 hour
Effect: the caster can hide one small object
This spell allows the caster to take an object that would normally fit into a closed fist and make it disappear. The item is not invisible, it is simply gone. The item can be recalled up to one hour later. After one hour the item returns to the caster's hand.

Puff of Air
Level: 0
Range: Within 10' of caster
Duration: Instant
Effect: Creates a small puff of air. Enough to remove dust or put out one candle
This spell creates a small puff of air; enough to blow away dust from objects or to put out a candle, but not enough to put out a torch or lantern. The puff can move very light items as would a puff of air blown from natural means. This spell can be used to blow dirt from an item or area 10' by 10'.

Quick Sleeping
Level: 0
Range: 1 willing subject
Duration: 8 hours till woken up
Effect: Puts a willing target falls asleep
This spell allows the caster to make a willing creature fall asleep. The spell will not work if used against an unwilling subject. The caster can cast this spell on herself, but obviously, this will be the last spell that she casts in that day.

Sound
Level: 0
Range: Within 100' of caster
Duration: One Sound
Effect: Creates a ghostly moan 100' from the caster
By means of this spell the magic-user can create a ghostly moaning sound that appears to come from 100' from the caster. The moan is not loud nor can it quite cause fear, but any that hear it will know of it's "unnatural" nature.

Spark
Level: 0
Range: Within 100' of caster
Duration: Instant
Effect: Creates a small spark, enough to light a candle
The caster can light a single candle up to 100' feet away. This spell is not enough to start a torch, ignite oil or start a campfire unless there is something that burns very easy used; such as paper or old leaves. The effect is the same of a spark from a set of flint and steel. Some magic-users will use this spell to light a pipe.

Warm
Level: 0
Range: 1 object touched
Duration: 1 hour
Effect: Raises the temperature of an object a few degrees.
This spell will warm 1 cubic feet of material a few degrees. Typical uses are to warm food or drinks or even to warm the air in a room that is too cool. The temperature cannot be raised to a degree where it would cause anything damage.   

Section 15 Copyright Notice
      
Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
      
System Reference Document Copyright 2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Bruce R. Cordell, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
      
Liber Mysterium: The Netbook of Witches and Warlocks is Copyright© 2003, Timothy S. Brannan and the Netbook of Witches Team.
      
Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game Copyright © 2006-2008. Chris Gonnerman.
      
Labyrinth LordTM. Copyright © 2007, Daniel Proctor. Author Daniel Proctor.
      
"Cantrips for Original and Basic era FRPGs" Copyright ©2010, Timothy S. Brannan

Mapping Software or Mappers

I have talked about my world in the past.  Basically it is a combination of Mystara/Urt(Urth) (from Basic D&D) and Greyhawk/Oerth (from AD&D 1st ed) that I have called Mystoerth.  This lets me have all sorts of fun and is basically the world I have been using since the late 80s.

Along the way I have added more to it.  Blackmoor, which was the common element of both worlds is here as sort of a Shangri-la sort of land beyond the North pole in a valley heated by geo-thermal vents.  I have a Hyborea as well to support my old-school street cred a bit.  I pulled down my 1st Ed Oriental Adventures to build up my Kara-Tur a bit and I have a spot for it.

Now I want to expand.  I want to add Ansalon as a southern continent and I want to add the Nentir Vale from the new D&D4 material.  Both are pretty small and will fit almost anywhere.

What I don't have are skills.

Does anyone know of or can suggest a map making tool?  Part of me thinks I can just trace everything.  After all that was good enough for the old days!  Another part of me wants to make high quality maps.

Any and all advice and tips are appreciated.

Tara 4-Trevor

So today is Tara's birthday in the Dragon and the Phoenix series.
And as it turns out Tara (and her real-world alter-ego Amber Benson) have something to say.

Here are the links to her posts,

http://amberbensonwrotethis.blogspot.com/2010/11/tara-4-trevor.html
http://www.loversliarsandlunatics.com/tarafortrevor.htm

So for this week you can purchase a limited edition "Triangle" Tara (how limited? I don't even have one) and 100% of the money spent will go to the Trevor Project.

How much will Triangle Tara set you back?  $100.00.
But it is all for a great cause and you can get your Tara figure signed and personalized by Amber herself.

After that then the price goes up to $125.00 with a 50% going to the Trevor Project.

The Trevor Project aids GLBTQ youth by running a suicide prevention hot-line, advocacy and educational materials. 

Years back I helped the Kitten Board Trevor project donations and it was a great feeling knowing we could be helping out some of the most at risk kids out there.

DIY Minis

One thing I never quite understood was when people slam 4e (or even 3e for that matter) one of the things they point to is the use of miniatures.  Haven't we always used miniatures?   I know I have seen that somewhere before...

Plus minis are so cool to have.  I can imagine with the best of them and I have a pretty good visual memory.  But having a mini on the table is great fun.  I also happen to LIKE the collectible aspect of it all and the surprise of not know what you might get.  I got a Tiamat once out of regular old box of minis for 20 bucks.  You can't really beat that feeling.

But sometimes I want something special or sometimes I something laying around that I can use.  So here are some DIY mini ideas.  Yes you can use them with any version of the game.

This one you have seen before.

Orcus and Aspect of Orcus set me back quite a bit.  Destroyah and Aspect of Destroyah set me back about 10 bucks. Total.

Here are some others.

Some undead dinosaurs threaten the Dragon Slayers.  The one in the back even glows in the dark.  Some of these came from a teacher's supply store, one or two of them where attached to a dinosaur shirt I had bought for the kids at the mall.  The size looks about right to me.

Here the Dragon Slayers see if they can live up to their name.  A couple of HeroClix (or maybe some other similar game) dragons bought cheap at GenCon, a couple of fire breathing dragons bought at the Ren Faire a few years ago, a McFarlane dragon and Sea Dragon and a viper fish from Safari Ltd. a company that makes scientific models for schools of real (and fantastic) animals.  The McFarlane dragon has a sigil on it's wing so we decided that even though he is an evil red dragon, he cares more about finding more magic than hording treasure, or rather he hoards magical items and books.  Need to stat him up one day for you all.

And of course this one.

The Dragon and the Phoenix.

So basically there are tons of great mini ideas out there.  Go read Zak's blog to see all the cool things they do with props and do-it-yourself stuff.  All I did here was raid the kids toys for a bit.  Sometimes we find a toy here or in the stores for cheap and say "we need that for D&D!".  And given my oldest loves to collect dragons, they usually serve double duty.

And not to let my Unisystem games go unloved,

Willow and Tara in the Charmed Ones' Attic during the events of "Semi-Charmed Life" where they also got to meet the Paradox versions of Willow and Phoebe.  Ok, these are a bit bigger than mini, but they are still pretty cool.  All of these I got from CineQuest, my favorite place to shop for little plastic people.

The Dragon and the Phoenix: Episode 11

Episode 11: Shadows in the Rain

Dark Willow/Nox: Are you going to kill me lover?
Tara: Not if I don’t have to.
Dark Willow/Nox: That’s why you are going to fail.
- Willow and Tara: The Dragon and the Phoenix, Episode 11 “Shadows in the Rain”

Episode 11: Shadows in the Rain by ~WebWarlock on deviantART

May 7, 2003. Wednesday

Willow becomes physically ill on the anniversary of Tara’s murder. Her magic has an effect on the weather. The Cast finds the weapon they need, but it is in the hands of the last person they expected. Tara, Willow and Dawn combine their power for the first time to retrieve it, but their attempt pulls the cast into a magically-dead (no magic for Willow or Tara) world where Dark Magic Willow (now called "Nox") was not defeated. Willow discovers the wages of her sins. Dawn gets a nasty surprise when she sees herself as a vampire.
Story Arc Elements: Show why the stupid “crayon speech” never could have worked. The cast finds the Spear of Destiny, the weapon they need to kill Yoln.
Game Mechanics: Push the “magic boost” rules to an illogical point and never use them again.
Note: This episode had an unintentional side effect in creating the prototype for my new Mutants & Masterminds villain, Nox.
Soundtrack: The Police “Shadows in the Rain”

Notes and Comments:
The basic idea of this episode, Dark Willow having to face Tara, is actually one from my WitchCraft based Willow & Tara game from the Summer of 2001. Yeah, I had Dark Willow two years before anyone else. But no magic-as-drugs metaphor here, this was pure desire to control the things around her. In Shadows in the Rain, I get my cake and eat it too by pulling the Cast into an alternate world were DMW went on unchecked, or as AU-Faith tells us, that after getting talked down by Xander, Willow just bides her time till she can power up again and this time control the world rather than destroy it. In the original it was Tara and Faith as the only survivors in a bleak future where Dark Willow (then called “The Queen of Darkness”) rules. Here in this adventure, Tara is replaced by Xander, who is nothing more than a puppet of “Nox” aka Dark Willow.

I sat this on the anniversary of Tara’s (though now Kara’s) murder for symbolic reasons and to make a point. You don’t get over something like your lover being killed and then hop into bed with the next person that looks at you. I worry about anyone that can honestly think that is true. Ok, sure, random sex I understand, but not “love” by any means. So on this day Willow is violently ill. Her grief, even though Tara is alive again, is causing her to be physically sick. In the AU the same thing is happening to Nox, only there Nox has enough power to make the whole world feel her pain. The other issue with this one is Willow needed to come to terms with what she had done. It’s like that old saying, “you can’t shake the devil’s hand and say you are only kidding.” Tara forgave Warren, now it was time for Willow to forgive herself.
The battle is complicated by the fact that no one can approach Nox’s fortress and AU Xander is actually working for Nox and not the cast. AU Faith is happy to see Buffy, whose death at the hands of Nox she took particularly hard (yeah AU Faith is bisexual). Matters are made worse when the Cast learns that the Government is going to nuke Sunnydale as a way to deal with Nox.

We also wanted to showcase Dawn’s power one more time. This episode takes us to Nox’s world which is magically dead. So Willow and Tara have no powers here. Their magic is gone (more symbolism since it was magic that brought them together). But Dawn’s powers do work. Speaking of Dawn, the cast gets a nasty surprise in the form of “Dusk”, the AU Dawn turned into a vampire by Nox. Dusk is still stuck in “whiny little kid” mode, the same place she was when she was killed. Dawn on the other hand gets to show her maturity and growth here. She is not the helpless kid sister anymore, she has a part to play.

The vampire Dawn pic was made by a guy named Zahir that used to hang out over at the Kitten Board and was into Willow and Tara based role-playing games of all sorts.

So. Why are they even here? Well the back in episode 5 we saw the spear fall into the same astral portal as Yoln, his sword and a bunch of other items. The spear ended up here. The cast tries to retrieve it with magic, but instead of pulling it to them, it pulls them to it. Why are they going for this weapon? Well the cast is convinced they need a weapon that can kill a god, the spear is one of four weapons in my myths that qualify.
In my other games this is also the Spear of Cú Ċulainn. He obtained it in the 1st Century and it was later lost after his death but before Fionn Macumhail was born.

The deal was at this point I less and less interested in what Buffy, Spike and Xander and all had to do or were doing, becoming primarily focused on the “stars” of the story, Willow and Tara.

The Cast fights the bad guys, and girls. My Spike player gets to kill Dusk because he really hated Dawn. And Willow and Tara have to face off against Nox. Willow finally gives Nox her Ankh charm from Isis. Since it’s job is to drain off dark magic it kills Nox, but she finds peace. She asks Tara if she could forgive her and then asks Willow if she can forgive herself.   All the magic in the world is gone though too and Willow and Tara are still powerless. Dawn opens a portal using the Spear and AU Faith comes with them since there is nothing left for her to do in this world.

The Cast walks out of the portal and not into Sunnydale, but a desolate landscape. In front of them in a valley below an outcropping of rock are thousands (40,000 in fact) demons. They notice the cast’s arrival and begin to shout “Slayer! Slayer!”

There are other issues too.
Willow and Tara both independently discover passages referring to the death of “Returned One”, which they both interpret as Tara. Anya (an NPC) keeps throwing out that after this is all done Tara may have to go back to Heaven still. (side note, at one point we even considered this to be true and tried to figure out how we could do it).

Then there are the two important questions.

1. Why kill Faith only to bring her back?
Honestly I felt the character of Faith was broken beyond repair, nothing the writers had her doing made any sense. It’s part of the “bad girl fetish” as my writing partner Garner put it. They were so in love with Evil!Faith and could only keep upping the ante on her behavior. Now I happen to like bad girls and I liked Faith (once upon a time), but the only way to fix the character was to start over. Yes there was the added benefit of having a new Slayer that Yoln could kill, but that was an afterthought in the “Faith Dies” plot. This Faith is based on the WitchCraft version of her I did long ago. While the stats are the same as the Buffy book, this Faith is different. She has done some bad things sure, but she has atoned and feels guilt and remorse.

2. Why kill Dawn, I thought you liked her?
I do, but the rest of my writing team did not. Plus, and let’s face it, the show writers had no clue what to do with her. I gave her psychic powers to represent her new maturity while vampire Dawn (“Dusk”) was still stuck in the mentality of a whiny high-schooler. Now personally I would have rather had Dawn kill Dusk with a snappy quip of “will you shut the hell up!”, but my Spike player got to kill her instead. Sometimes that’s just the way it goes I guess.

In my original WitchCraft AU (and remember Buffy was still dead at this point) Faith had taken on the role of raising Dawn. It was hard for both of them, but it seemed to work well in the game.  In the original WitchCraft version of this game it was Faith and Tara alone fighing against Nox and Xander was the vampire. In the end Faith and Dawn lived and were still "sisters" 

The cover here is a fantastic bit of art by Div, the same artist that gave us Episode 5’s cover. I felt it was symbolic to feature only Willow instead of Willow and Tara. In the original series Episode 19 was always a Willow centric one, here we felt the second to the last one of our series would be the Willow centric one.  We did that again in "Season of the Witch".

Next time. Nothing left to burn…

Dragon and the Phoenix preview

Ok. So this totally self-indulgent but this may very well be the only time this will ever see the light of day.

Back when we were working on the game I wanted to do a "comming soon" video for the "Sweeps Week" episodes. So there was one for Episodes 4 and 5 and then another for 11 and 12.
I never got the one for 4 and 5 started in time, but for 11 and 12 I did write the outline and even gathered up a couple people who's voices sounded like the casts enough for voice overs. I had the whole Macromedia suite at the time so I figured I'd do a video. Trouble was, never could find the scenes I wanted from external media and I discovered I also had no desire to watch Buffy anymore to even mine it for scenes. Plus life was getting REALLY busy again since we had a new baby in the house again (that was Connor).

So. Like role-playing you are just going to have to use your imagination on this one. ;)

--


Everything you know is about to end...

Tara (Voice over, Sinéad O’Connor’s “Drink Before the War” plays in the background throughout): I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became as blood… (fade out)

Buffy (talking to her friends): This ends. We sit here and wait for these maniacs to come to our homes to end the world (Flashbacks of the Master, Angeleus, the Mayor, and Glory). They threaten me, they threaten to kill my family (Buffy holding Dawn at the end of “The Gift”) my friends (Tara/Kara getting shot, Spike getting burned in “Will We Burn in Heaven?”). No more.
I am taking this fight to their ground, I am going to stop this before it starts. I am going to get that Spear (scene of Faith wielding the Spear of Destiny to kill a pack of vampires) and I am going to Leviathan’s plane (the Cast standing in a desolate gray plane, emptiness as far as the eye can see).

Dawn: What do you plan to do?

Buffy (after a beat): I’m going to kill a God.

Scene: An army of demons led by Buffy attacks Yoln’s army. Yoln swings his Hellforged blade but it is stopped by Buffy’s spear.

Yoln: So Slayer. You brought an army to defeat me? (another swing)
Buffy: No. (a parry. Then wielding the spear with both hands she swings and knocks Yoln back.) I brought two.
The army of demons continues running while a legion of angels flies up an over them to join in the attack.

An armored angel swoops down with a flaming sword, she removes her helmet to reveal Tara’s face.

A younger Willow looks up with the black magic eyes.

Yoln’s voice over while the following scenes playout in rapid succession.
Yoln: This has all been planned. You are not heroes. You are sacrifices.

Tara standing in a cemetery waiting while vampires attack her.

Yoln lifting off his helm with two hands.

Dawn’s eye’s glowing with green fire as she holds a portal open.

Spike (carrying an injured Anya): It’s a trap!

Willow and Tara holding hands jump into a gapping maw.

Silence. Then a titanic seven headed dragon approaches the cast and roars.

Darkness, then back to Buffy’s home.

Xander: So I guess the revolution won’t be televised? (laughs to himself)
Spike laughs with him and they fall silent realizing they just “shared a moment”. They uncomfortably move apart.

Coming soon…
Episode 11: Shadows in the Rain and double sized series finale Episode 12: No Other Troy

Soon. There will be nothing left to burn.

--

Excited yet? I am!

Pygmy Tarrasque

The Pygmy Tarrasque

The Tarrasque in D&D is colossal monster that pretty much no character has any right to stand against. It is the primal force of destruction made physical. It is the Godzilla of the D&D game. It is also based on a monster of myth and legend known as the Tarasque. While they look similar and act similar, the Tarasque was once defeated.

I can recall one time while watching some TV, likely a nature show but it could have been Star Trek the Next Generation too. I was reading my Monstrous Compendium and someone had mentioned the Pygmy Tarsier. I thought that at the time a Pygmy Tarrasque would make for a great monster.

The idea here is a Tarrasque that the characters can actually and defeat.  Build up the rumors in either direction; the tarrasque is an unstoppable killing machine created to kill gods OR it's just an armored dragon like beast that a group of French villagers can kill.  Which is true?  Don't know and neither will your players till you spring this on them.

Fluff:  Let's say the regenerative powers of the Tarrasque is such that sometimes big hunks of it's flesh are torn out.  Typically this would only happen if it was in a fight with a titan or demon lord. These hunks either regenerate into smaller versions of the creature or maybe this is what happens to other monsters when they consume this flesh.  Or one could even say that these smaller ones are the result of the breeding of the Tarrasque with dragons.  Or it along with the Great Tarrasque are the offspring of Leviathan (as in the myths) or even Tiamat.   One should not discount this angle on the story.  Given the Leviathan connection it sorta behooves me to stat it up for Cinematic Unisystem.

In the village of Tarascon they still celebrate the defeat of this great monster. I am happy that we have never seen such a beast in England.
- From the Journal of Tamara Swift.

Name: Tarrasque,  Pygmy
Motivation: Eat
Creature Type: Monster
Attributes: Str 18, Dex 7, Con 10, Int 2, Per 6, Will 3
Ability Scores: Muscle 40, Combat 20, Brains 10
Life Points:  750
Drama Points: 2

Special Abilities: Additional Actions +2 (3 total), Armour Value 9, Attractiveness –5, Cause Fear, Increased Life Points, Regeneration (Con per Hour), Resists Magic 3 (can deflect automatically any spell PL 3 or lower)

Manoeuvres

Name	Score	Damage	Notes
Bite	+22	48	Slash/stab
Claw x2	+20	34	Slash/stab
Tail	+18	34	Bash
- stinger	+16	Special	Poison