03-06-2017, 11:42 PM
First off, Gygax was a damn, dirty liar. One, Basilisks and and Cockatrice don't turn flesh to stone with their gaze; they just simply kill. Two, Gorgons aren't "bull-like creatures covered with thick metal scales." They are three sisters -- Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale, daughters of Phorcys and Ceto. Three, Medusa is an individual (see previous sentence), not a species, and had boar's tusks and wings.
But this is a fantasy game, not a treatise on comparative mythology, and while I try to stay relatively close to the source material, the Gorgons, and Medusa in particular, pose a bit of a problem for me because I also try to avoid anything even remotely theological. So what do I do about the daughter of two primordial sea gods who was raped by Poseidon on the altar in the temple of Athena because of her beauty, particularly her golden tresses, and was, in one of the earliest accounts of blaming the victim, cursed by Athena with her horrible visage and venomous snakes for hair. And, you know, just for good measure, let's curse her sisters, too. That'll teach that promiscuous slut.
I'll be getting back to that later. For now:
A "Gaze Attack" isn't an attack in that there is no active agency in it. The Game Master doesn't declare, "The monster Gazes at you." Just like a Stench Beast doesn't "Stench at you." (Of course, now I'll have to write up a Stench Beach. And a Fetor Fiend. And Miasma Critter. And Funk Varmint.) A Gaze Attack is eye contact with a monster for which a Bad Thing™ happens. An Adventure Resist is required to indicate that no such eye contact was actually made for every (Combat) Turn that the character continues to look at, around, near, or even face in the general direction of, the monster. If the Resist fails, the Bad Thing™ occurs. Reversible Bad Things™ require a Cure spell beating the original Resist plus the Degree of Failure to undo said Bad Thing™.
But this is a fantasy game, not a treatise on comparative mythology, and while I try to stay relatively close to the source material, the Gorgons, and Medusa in particular, pose a bit of a problem for me because I also try to avoid anything even remotely theological. So what do I do about the daughter of two primordial sea gods who was raped by Poseidon on the altar in the temple of Athena because of her beauty, particularly her golden tresses, and was, in one of the earliest accounts of blaming the victim, cursed by Athena with her horrible visage and venomous snakes for hair. And, you know, just for good measure, let's curse her sisters, too. That'll teach that promiscuous slut.
I'll be getting back to that later. For now:
A "Gaze Attack" isn't an attack in that there is no active agency in it. The Game Master doesn't declare, "The monster Gazes at you." Just like a Stench Beast doesn't "Stench at you." (Of course, now I'll have to write up a Stench Beach. And a Fetor Fiend. And Miasma Critter. And Funk Varmint.) A Gaze Attack is eye contact with a monster for which a Bad Thing™ happens. An Adventure Resist is required to indicate that no such eye contact was actually made for every (Combat) Turn that the character continues to look at, around, near, or even face in the general direction of, the monster. If the Resist fails, the Bad Thing™ occurs. Reversible Bad Things™ require a Cure spell beating the original Resist plus the Degree of Failure to undo said Bad Thing™.
Getting me free admission into gaming conventions for a decade