I Was a Teenage Shrimp
over 5 years ago – Mon, Dec 24, 2018 at 04:36:52 AM

I Was a Teenage Shrimp

Nyllon Tines’ short stature did not seem to be helped by his motorcycle jacket, slick ducktail, or punk demeanor. He was still called “Shrimp.” He smoked, skipped class, stole hubcaps, yet managed to be both insider and outsider at the same time: an unpopular rebel.  

Except where Rosty Newlar was concerned. As an art major she was automatically fringe. Besides that, she was unable to express anything. But she dug Nyllon’s scene. The most.  

The troubled teen pondered life as he sat brooding youthfully on Holeport’s moonlit pier. Something at water’s edge disrupted his thoughts of hotrods and he snatched it up. A shrimp. Man, what a trip.  

Naturally he did what any unpopular rebel would do. He took it home, cooked it and ate it. Stupid shrimp.  

—

At school the next day Nyllon felt weird. Man.  

“What’s a’ matter, Shrimp? Eat a bad cupcake?” sneered football hero Clack Foalgood whose entourage laughed in unison. Nyllon just skulked away.  

—

That night, Nyllon and Rosty parked at the pier.  

“Did you hear, Nyllon? Cargo of radioactive shrimp washed overboard, returning from atomic testing,” droned Rosty.  

“Don’t bug me, Rosty.”  

“Hey look, high tide,” Rosty observed blandly.  

Suddenly, Nyllon felt weird. “I gotta split, baby.”  

Before Rosty could express disinterest, Nyllon disappeared into the night. Rosty stared for a full minute before asking, “What I do with your wheels, baby?”  

—  

Nyllon closed the door to his darkened room just the way his parents liked it. In the mirror, moonlight etched the barest hint of a sickening transformation beginning.  

—

Clack Foalgood chuckled goodnight to his pals at the malt shop and started home.

“Gee, I like fun,” offered the high school brain trust.  

He always took the alley shortcut because he was large and footballish. That wouldn’t help him.  

The leather-jacketed thing hissed as creepy feelers emerged from the darkness, rapidly feeling Clack’s meaty face, which made him cry like a little girl. It was the last little-girl crying he would ever do.  

—  

Headlines trumpeted the butchery: TEEN KILLED BY TEENAGE SHRIMP they screamed.  

Rosty mentioned it to Nyllon who grunted, “Don’t bug me, Rosty.” He didn’t remember a thing. Only that something strange happened to him…  

—  

Like popsicles taped to a summer fence, Clack’s jock friends went in succession — Braugh Morkis, Heth Punner, Jimmy Waiver — one with every high tide. In fact, papers started calling it the “High Tide Murders,” though many stuck with the whole “Teenage Shrimp” thing.  

—  

But one night, as Nyllon and Rosty parked in their usual spot…  

“Hey, know what I just thought of? There’s a Teenage Shrimp on the loose. And, like, your nickname’s Shrimp. Crazy, huh?”  

“Don’t bug me, Rosty,” sulked the rebel.  

“Hey, Nyllon, how’s come you all a’ time sneak off at high tide, why is that, I ask?”

“Knock it off, Rosty, ya’ crowdin’ me.”  

But it was happening quicker. Nyllon didn’t have a chance to sneak off. Before Rosty’s jaded teenaged eyes, her troubled boyfriend began to change. His eyes became beady and black and grotesquely extended outward on stalks, while disgusting twitchy-feely things — too numerous to make sense of — started springing out all over, until there was hardly any teenage face there.  

“Hey. You’re Teenage Shrimp,” Rosty observed through a chewing gum snap.  

“Yeah.”  

Just when it seemed everything was still cool, even Rosty showed emotion as loathsome feelers began stroking her face. It was too much, even for an art major. For the first time in her young life, Rosty screamed, though not a very good one.  

—  

Science teacher Jantine Nuthers, working late in the school lab, listened patiently to her student’s traumatic tale. “Rosty, I’m just a high school science teacher, but it sounds like Nyllon might have eaten one of those missing radioactive shrimp and became a kind of wereshrimp, but at this point it’s only a guess… However, if we can find him, I might be able to give him an antidote.”  

Rosty suddenly remembered it was the night of the big dance at the gym, an event not cool enough for her and Nyllon to attend, but something that would be lousy with jocks.

—  

Sure enough, at that very moment, at the height of a particularly frenetic and dangerous version of the Twist, the dancers became aware of a new presence in the gym. A girl screamed. Then another. Soon, many girls were screaming, like it was a thing.  

It took a while for the jocks to get that something might be wrong, but eventually one of them, Voy Danover, swaggered into the crowd to see what all the ruckus was. Like hamsters when an octopus is dropped in their midst, the crowd began parting, and Voy looked to the center of it.  

There was the coolest Teenage Shrimp ever — black leather jacket, jeans — strutting forward while trying unsuccessfully to comb his feelers. Voy stood staring like a bear in a flashlight as Teenage Shrimp swaggered right up to him and let those disgusting little feelers have their way with his face. Voy screamed as he was stung numerous times. Then he dropped.  

Suddenly, Jantine was there. “Nyllon, I just whipped up this antidote so if you could drink this that would be great. I know you can’t help it, and none of this is your fault.”  

For the first time, they heard Teenage Shrimp speak, with difficulty: a tortured shrimp-like rasp.  

“You don’t dig me, Miss Nuthers… I like… like this whole shrimp scene.”  

Before he could attack her, Rosty sprang between them. “Hey, cool it, Nyllon. Okay?”

Teenage Shrimp wrestled with his fading humanity, though that’s kind of hard to see when something looks like that. But police were filing in, and, with a brief glance at Rosty, Nyllon rushed them, only to be cut down in a hail of bullets.  

Jantine comforted Rosty, as all watched Teenage Shrimp change back to Nyllon.  

“Hey, look. It’s Shrimp,” said someone in the crowd. For the first time, Rosty shed a tear.  

 
'Twas the night before Christmas, so the campaign is likely to be a bit quiet for the next few days - I'll likely be running silent (running deep) for a bit - but remember to share your excitement about this kickstarter in your social circles and on your social media! We're less than $1,000 to our next Stretch Goal - more monsters! more antagonists! - and holiday gatherings are the perfect time to recruit more backers! What a great oppor-tuna-ty!

I've seen more than a few suggestions of using this game as part of a movie and game night or weekend, and I think that's an awesome idea! Especially if you pick the perfect companion movie to set the mood and get a chance to show the trailer for the game before you play!

 
#TheyCameFromBeneathTheSea

#Gee,ILikeFun

#LargeAndFootballish

Backers Only Manuscript Preview #2
over 5 years ago – Sun, Dec 23, 2018 at 04:13:20 AM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

A Preview from Beneath the Sea! - Science & Technology Skills!
over 5 years ago – Sat, Dec 22, 2018 at 04:31:58 AM

Greetings, Surface-Dwellers,

It is I, James Gill, the Amphibian Agent here to oversee your overthrow! Also, I'm running this Kickstarter campaign and sharing previews for our encounter simulator, which you will experience as the tabletop roleplaying game, THEY CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA!

 
Today, I'm going to share another preview from the manuscript, from the soon-to-be shared Attributes and Skills chapter. Keeping with the theme from our last preview, we're going to follow The Scientist with the sections on the Science and Technology skills. 

But before we get to that, I wanted to quickly touch on the idea of using this game with a few different tones. It's mostly been presented as a tongue-in-cheek casual tribute to low-budget American B-Movies of the 1950s, but that's not the only way to play this game! It was actually born out of very serious and deadly mission-based game that grew in this direction over years of playtesting and development. But just because it's been presented a little lighter, doesn't mean you can bring back some of the shadows in your game, if you'd like. It's quite easy to switch up the tone within this game and setting, and the silliness (or seriousness) is on an adjustable dial.

Here's Matthew Dawkins, the Gentleman Gamer himself, to discuss a bit more about the origins of They Came from Beneath the Sea!...

 and now, on to our Attributes and Skills preview...

Science

This covers natural sciences and also all theoretical empirical hard sciences. Physics, chemistry, biology, life sciences, and earth sciences, but not medicine (which has its own Skill) or social sciences and archaeology (which come under Humanities). If someone is wearing a white coat and glasses and is not a medic, they are probably doing science.

With the Science Skill a character attempts to come up with biological or chemical controls for the encroaching coral or to explain an obtuse point about the neuroplankton swarm to an audience. Science also represents a special knowledge of geology to deduce where a hole in the rock leads, the know-how to conduct experiments to test theories, and the jargon to convince fellow scientists of the validity of a project.

• Lab Assistant: You were really good at science in school and still take an interest, reading magazines and books and watching documentaries about science. Okay, it’s not much more than general knowledge, but it impresses less-knowledgeable friends and is occasionally useful in the field.  

•• Bachelor: Having majored in at least one natural science in college, you kept up since graduating. You have a good, basic understanding of science and the scientific method. You are resistant to being persuaded by pseudoscience, though your grasp of statistics does let you down at times.  

••• Master: An expert in your chosen field with a good general education in natural science and scientific method, you assess unknown items from your specialist field (a master’s degree in chemistry does not help much when trying to identify a strange fish and a master’s in biology will not help much in analyzing a strange and possibly explosive compound).  

•••• Egghead: You earned a doctorate in at least one natural science and a smattering of high level knowledge in the others, mostly gained through discussions in the student lounge. You analyze and identify anything described in a scientific journal in your own field (and come up with the means to combat it — at least in theory) and, given time in the lab, have a chance of doing the same for something previously undescribed. You can teach and explain difficult concepts related to your own field.  

••••• Mastermind: There is little in the field of natural science you don’t understand. You have an international reputation and sway your fellow scientists to your cause. Your analyses and inventions are not confined to your own field. You can apply science to any problem.  

Example Trademarks:  

Blinded by Science: Jules delivers a long and involved scientific presentation to the military committee. Utterly confused by the jargon and fine detail, the chairman (who is not a scientist) agrees to lend Jules a platoon to help defeat the trencher rather than admit that he understood no more than one word in five from Jules’ presentation. The 

Appliance of Science: Anne secludes herself in the lab and comes out a few hours later with a poisoned bait the leviathan will be unable to resist.  

For Science!: Gavin uses science to tackle the problem without regard to the consequences. His spray does, indeed, get rid of the creeping coral on the mayor’s lawn, but it also kills every invertebrate in a 10-mile radius including the oysters that are of vital importance to the local economy.

Technology  

Technology describes a character’s familiarity and aptitude with a wide range of tools and devices. This Skill covers using, making, analyzing and repairing any tool, device, or piece of machinery. It also includes detecting weaknesses in such items in order to reinforce or break them.  

Technology comes into play when repairing a machine of any kind, detecting the weak girder in a structure, working out what an unfamiliar machine was designed to do (and maybe repairing it) or using a computer the size of a house.  

• Journeyman: You’re pretty good at tinkering with anything mechanical or electrical. You fix items around the home. You’ve delighted in taking things apart since you were four.  

•• Craftsman: You understand how common machines work. Not only did you take things apart as a child but you were usually able to put them back together. Friends bring you items to fix.  

••• Mechanic: You work at a professional level on any piece of machinery in which you have a specialty and cope pretty well with other machines of a similar nature. You perform running repairs in the field and routine repairs with the right facilities and equipment.  

•••• Engineer: You understand machines, devices, and tools and you are usually able to work out what a previously unknown item was designed to do. You fix most things even if they are very broken, though clearly having the right equipment, spare parts, and assistance help. You invented a couple of handy gadgets to make your life easier.  

••••• Inventor: Working out what a strange device does is not a problem for you. Given the tools and the time you may also make an attempt to repair an unfamiliar item with reasonable hope of success as long as you can obtain or improvise the spare parts.

Example Trademarks:  

Gadgeteer: Milly pulls a strange device out of her purse and points it at the suspended. Its carapace just seems to melt away, leaving a gasping, fishlike being thrashing around on the ground. “I always like to keep my patented distance dehydrator handy,” Milly says, whilst emptying out the storage tank on her gadget, taking care, of course, to keep a sample of the slime for later analysis in the lab.  

Do You Have a Nylon Stocking?: Improvisation is the key to performing a dramatic repair using only everyday objects that are bound to be at hand. Karl never leaves home without his trusty WD40 and gaffer tape.  

Talent for Destruction: Sophie surveys the giant brainbox robot bearing down upon the crowded boardwalk. She points towards it. “See the point where the spinal structure curves? If it takes a hit there, the whole thing will fall.” Simon takes a baseball out of his pocket and flings it towards the robot, hitting it precisely where Sophie indicated. The robot crashes into the sea, microseconds before it reaches the innocent bystanders.

 
We're closing in on our first Stretch Goal, commissioning new WIDESCREEN art for our Alien Recording Device... I mean, Director's Screen! Let's get some more awesome Larry Blamire artwork for this game!

At $24,000 in funding - NEW DIRECTOR'S SCREEN ARTWORK - We'll commission new widescreen full-span Larry Blamire artwork for the Director's Screen!

 
At $26,000 in funding - ADDITIONAL AQUATIC ALIEN ADVERSARIES! - A handful of new threats and antagonists will be created and released to you as a Threat File! PDF.

We'll also look at adding a new reward tier that will allow some backers to contribute ideas and help the Design and Development teams build some more monsters!

So, spread the word! Share with your social circles and on your social media! At least let them know an invasion is planned, though you will be powerless to stop my water-breathing brethren!

#TheyCameFromBeneathTheSea!

#FourDotEgghead

Thing from Below the Bottom of the Lower Depths
over 5 years ago – Fri, Dec 21, 2018 at 05:17:03 AM

Thing from Below the Bottom of the Lower Depths

The diver neared the mysterious black maw, swimming into its inky mystery. Two lights blinked on: two terrifying, bulbous eyes. The diver screamed, which turned out really really bubbly.

—  

The boat was anchored off the coast of Powy Zowan, an idyllic tropical isle untouched by tourists. Two scientists had hired the Tipilta to investigate a recent underwater earthquake’s effects on local aquatic flora, fauna and other “f” names. The first mate and two deckhands were helping the team of three into scuba gear.  

“Looks like a good day for water-swimming,” joked scientist Dr. Dabe Banibar.  

Dr. Lonna Durene, the other scientist, chuckled in that good-natured way she had of chuckling.  

Boat skipper, troubleshooting adventurer and sometime canner, Clain Hoake, was less jovial as he straightened his mask. “Sorry, I’ve seen too many dangerous fish incidents to take this lightly.”  

No one knew they were watched from shore by Dewlana, High Priestess of the island. Specifically it was Clain who held her gaze. His image stuck on her like greasepaint on a clown.  

Underwater, Clain first spotted the newly unearthed cave and pointed. He was an old hand at pointing. The cave had not been seen for tens of millennia. Its untold mysteries could make for some really neat science.  

Even with the miracle of flashlights, the cave was still lousy with shadows. When it began to widen, the divers spread out. Lonna came to a break in the wall. As she peered closer, the gap was suddenly filled by a monstrous scaly face with bulging eyes. Before she could manage an underwater scream, the horrible Thing was gone.

—  

“I’m a scientist, I know horrible faces,” declared Lonna, back on the boat. “And that was unlike any horrible face I’ve seen.”  

“Lonna, people see horrible things in the water all the time,” chuckled Clain. “I know someone who saw a sofa.”  

“Leave her alone, Clain,” snapped Dabe, who really didn’t care for the man. “Lonna’s a scientist. She doesn’t really believe in horrible faces.”  

“Well—” began Lonna.  

It wasn’t the first time the two men had almost come to blows over the female scientist.

—  

That night, they were guests of the islanders at a wild and frenetic bonfire dance.

“Doesn’t that hurt?” asked Clain, biting into something that might have once belonged to a pig.  

Dewlana listened intently to Lonna’s account of the horrible face and replied, “Our legends tell of a dweller, a deep dark demon dweller who dwells down in deep darkness. It lurks there, biding its time, waiting to emerge and do bad-bad. We tell it to the children to get them to brush.”  

“We’re scientists, Dewlana,” said Dabe, “trained to deal in facts, not fairy stories, except around holidays.”  

The dance and drums grew wilder and Dewlana could not take her eyes off Clain. She also saw that Clain could not take his eyes off Lonna. In fact, Dabe could not take his eyes off Lonna. And at the shore, peering above the water, the Thing from the depths also could not take its eyes off Lonna. Nothing, however, was looking at the Thing.  

A short time later, the deckhand guarding the Tipilta heard a noise and rose from a stupor of his own making. Something stalked the darkened deck. The man went to investigate and walked right into the Thing from the depths. Half man, half fish was only half the story. Rough scales, jagged fins, and sharp powerful claws contrasted with long slick tentacles sprouting from various places. Glaring fish eyes goggled above its wide mouth of tiny sharp teeth. The deckhand froze as the big claw came crashing down.

—  

Despite the missing crewman, the dive continued the next day while, elsewhere, Dewlana arrived at a hidden shrine: a small but bottomless pool and a large carving of… the Thing itself.  

“Oh hear me, horrible Thing we worship. I will prepare for you a sacrifice of the science-woman. In turn, the rugged man-person shall be Dewlana’s!”  

At the boat, Lonna took time out from work to enjoy a swim. She did not know that the entranced Thing was attempting to match her moves from below, eventually giving up when he proved too uncoordinated.

—  

That night, as Lonna compared science notes with Dabe, the Thing crept over the side and watched her through a porthole. A deckhand spotted it and raised the alarm.  

“Dear cod!” hollered Dabe as he and Clain grabbed up spear guns and torches. “That Thing’s unknown to science!”  

“Lonna, it seems to be after you! Stay down the other end of the boat,” shouted Clain.

Unable to grab Lonna, and forced back by weapons, the Thing jumped back into the sea. But at the other end of the boat, two islanders crept over the side and absconded with the female scientist. Clain and Dabe searched everywhere for her but could find no trace, realizing she must be Dewlana’s prisoner.

—  

The next day, the tribe gathered at the Shrine of the Thing with Lonna tied to the carving of the monster, right before the bottomless pool. Dewlana raised her hands and called on the Thing to come and accept their sacrifice. The islanders grew excited as bubbles appeared in the water. Lonna struggled with her ropes, yet still admired the carving. “Traces of East Lempootian, I’d say.”  

Slowly, the Thing rose from the pool, water pouring off scales and claws and tentacles.

Suddenly, Clain and Dabe burst in. They immediately attacked the surprised islanders who attempted to seize them. The flurry of action made the Thing go berserk and people began fleeing while Dewlana pleaded, “We had a deal! Look, do not let me down, Thing!”  

Finally, with something like lust in its monster heart, the Thing turned to Lonna who observed coolly, “Some form of throwback perhaps or evolutionary fluke. Interesting dorsal…”  

Before it could grab her, Clain was between them, grappling with the scaly beast.  

“No!” screamed Dewlana. Clain getting killed was not in her plan. She clutched at the monster, who swiped her with a mighty arm, killing her abruptly. The lethal blow provided enough time for Lonna to free herself, pull Dabe out of harm’s way, and take off with he and Clain. The Thing, with nobody left there, shrugged and jumped into the pool, planning never to return from its dark depths to such a fickle world.

 
HEAR MORE FROM MATTHEW DAWKINS

Not only did THEY COME FROM BENEATH THE SEA!, they also came from the dark depths of Matthew Dawkins' creative mind! 

Matthew spoke with C.T. Phipps in a recent interview published on Booknest.EU, covering some of the details about this game and the inspirations behind it.

INTERVIEW WITH MATTHEW DAWKINS <- click to read!

And remember to spread the word during this busy season - we've got 400 Backers to join in our mission (hooray!), but we'll need to recruit even more surface-dwellers to start unlocking some cool Stretch Goals! So, share on your social media and in your social circles! Let's see how many Stretch Goals we can bring to the surface! More fish puns!

#TheyCameFromBeneathTheSea

 #TooManyDangerousFishIncidents

FUNDED! And first Stretch Goal!
over 5 years ago – Thu, Dec 20, 2018 at 09:02:15 AM

SURFACE-DWELLERS,

Celebrate, for you have funded this project and given it the green light to become a reality!

Celebrate, for you have spelled your DOOM!

 
AT LAST! I can reveal myself. Right under your noses, completely undetected and perfectly blending in with your dry society! I am an amphibious agent, fools!

With each dollar you have pledged to this project, our undersea armies have moved one league closer to our invasion point. And now, by hitting the funding target, we have traveled TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES... BENEATH... THE WAVES! 

I may have missed a possible reference there. 

This "game" is our method of simulating the outcome of encounters with you Surface-Dwellers. We'll analyze your actions, collected through our ingenious kelp-based cardstock* Director's Screen, and know all of your strengths and weaknesses!

 
But how to ensure that many of your select the Pledge Reward Tiers that already include a Director's Screen? (That's Director, Stunt Double, and Acting Class) How to inspire others to ADD ON this reward to their backer pledge? 

Dare we attempt to make the screen even more attractive?

STRETCH GOAL

 
At $24,000 in funding - DIRECTOR'S SCREEN ART - We will endeavor to commission new full-span WIDESCREEN artwork for the Director's Screen!

 Yes! Continue to fund your doom, and to make this game (invasion data collection point) even more attractive and inspiring!

SO - RALLY YOUR FRIENDS! You have made this book possible, and we're just starting out! Let's add more backers and start achieving some Stretch Goals! And move ever closer to breaking through the waves!!

#TheyCameFromBeneathTheSea

#OneLeaguePerDollarPledged

#CrabHoldItsGoingToGetRough