‘For every one we chased away, twelve more returned...’

Although the 1980 film The Monster’s Club had several campy moments amid the three stories, one of the three…The Ghoul stayed with me for several years, like the Zuni Fetish Doll story from Triology of Terror. Essentially a movie producer goes to a small village in England scouting new locations, when he discovers that the entire village has been overrun with flesh-eating ghouls. The rest is history…and an enjoyable little story with a twist ending.

The Ghouls?

Well, it scared the hell out of me at age nine (which said a lot depending at that age and the other films I had seen). Maybe it was the fact that it seemed funny at first with Vincent Price and John Carradine…but I think that it was the ending sequence that caused me to really not want to watch the movie for a decade.
That being said, I think that it was also one of those vignettes that deserved a better look, and conceptually was one of those things that I had intended to write-up at some point in the past.

So, how about some Ghouls…



Typical Ghoul



Typical Ghoul

F: Ex (20)
A: Gd (10)
S: Ex (20)
E: Rm (30)
R: Pr (04)
I: Rm (30)
P: Typ (06)

Health: 80
Karma: 40
Popularity: 0
Resources: Pr (04)

Talents:
Hunting
Scavenging
Small unit tactics

Powers:
Inhuman Nature: The Ghouls are inhuman in nature, capable of great feats of dexterity, strength, endurance, and resilience. The nature of the ghoul grants it the following abilities:

• Increased FASE: The typical ghoul has higher FASE abilities as shown above.
• Increased durability: Ghouls seem to have greater resistance to damage, granting them pr (4) Body Resistance.
• Resist: Elements: Ghouls have greater resistance to natural environments, able to survive with little to no clothing and suffer no ill-effects. They are considered to have Gd (10) protection against natural elemental areas, but not powered or other environmental effects.
• Stench: Mentioned several times, the ghouls have a real stench which acts as a Fe (2) nauseate ability, forcing an Endurance FEAT or suffer -1cs to actions. In addition, the ghouls use the stench to 'mark' an area, which is used to determine where a colony establishes itself. The ghouls are not affected by the stench, and can ignore it for the purposes of their enhanced senses.
• Enhanced Senses: Although not stated expressly, the ghouls seem to have the ability to see in near-total darkness and have greater senses of smell. It is assumed that they have such senses at Gd(10) ability.
• Longevity: Ghouls seem to have a greater than normal lifespan, allowing them to live for 100 + years.
• Digestive Adaptation: The ghoul version of digestion adaptation allows the ghoul to process deceased flesh, marrow, and material as well as raw human flesh. The ghouls seem to derive all of their nourishment from such.
• Natural Weaponry: Ghouls (and half-ghouls) possess claws and fangs that can do Gd (10) edged damage. The claws halve body armor effects. Half-ghouls can 'hide' their fangs and claws.
• Interbreed: Ghouls can interbreed with humans, creating half-ghoul offsprings which are usually smarter and more capable of interacting with society. These half-ghouls for the most part serve their ghoul parents and are not immediately discernible from normal humans. These offspring usually have higher reason scores.

Contacts:
Ghouls maintain no real contacts outside of their own communities, allowing their half-ghoul offspring to achieve connections/contacts with human society.

Limitations:
Ghouls have the following limitations:

• Hideous: Ghouls are hideous to behold, and suffer a permanent -1cs circumstance bonus for any social interaction.
• Flesh-Eaters: Ghouls are able to only eat humans, either alive or corpses. The digestion of the ghoul was suggested only to be able to draw nourishment from humans.
• Unearthly: Humans will automatically find themselves uneasy around ghouls and if a human has an Ex (20) intuition or greater, they will be able to spot where ghouls are as well as the 1/2 ghoul offspring.

The 1/2 Ghouls do not suffer from the hideous limitation, but have the following limitation:

• Dark Secret: 1/2 Ghoul: The 1/2 ghouls are technically cannibals, preferring human flesh to all other forms of food.
• Servant to the colony: Most 1/2 ghouls are servants to the colony, and place the colony above all else.

Notes:
Nothing really....great (and terrifying) story....

Included is the 'origin' part of the ghoul outbreak, drawn by John Bolton for the movie:

Fangs for the memories.


You can find the whole film on YouTube.