Creatures

Vek

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© Daniel S. Wall, April 7, 2026

“A two legged manticore without wings? That’s what you think of me? Fair enough. Just so you realize, I can engage your shield man and still throw tail spikes at you. So, try not to get too creative with the creature comparisons.”

-Kessen Mir, Vek Scout.

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Vek by Earl Geier

It is a widely held view that these creatures are actually demons who know the way from hell to the hottest parts of the surface world. To some degree this is due to their appearance. Vek are essentially humanoids possessing a very rough textured skin, usually ranging from black to reddish brown in hue. All Vek sport at least one pair of horns atop their skulls, and some bear quite a few more than that. In place of fingernails these creatures have claws. Most importantly, Vek possess a tail, and from that tail, Vek typically grow a range of hard spikes made of dense bone. With the flick of its tail a Vek may launch a spike at short range. One could well excuse those on the receiving end of such an attack for thinking they have encountered a beast straight out of the depths of hell itself.

In fact, the Vek are merely a variety of wilding whose love of the desert rivals the elven love of trees and meadows. Vek often serve as scouts and long distance traders, and more often still, they provide mercenaries to those who can afford the service. Vek generally prefer to trade with civilized peoples, but in a pinch they may well resort to raiding.

Vek may use manufactured weapons or stick with their natural weapon abilities as they see fit. For purposes of game rules, their tail spikes are considered hand thrown missiles.

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Rules for playing Vek in Tunnels and Trolls (Delux Edition) can be found here. Rules for playing Vek in first edition, D&D can be found here.

Waggamaeph

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© Daniel S. Wall, April 6, 2026.

Waggamaeph Dinner Party (Sculpted by Cindy Dukino, painted by Noel Meyer)

“The gods have yet to properly apologize for the creation of this troublesome creature.”

– Magut, the Cynic.

***

Waggamaephs are small furry humanoids with tremendous agility and speed. Their height and weight are comparable to those of a Halfling, but these critters are covered with long thick hair which tends to obscure their features. Waggamaeph fingers and toenails are slightly harder and sharper than usual for humanoids, just sufficient to give them effective claw attacks. They are further blessed with very sharp teeth and an effective bite attack. The speed with which a Waggamaeph delivers all of their attacks can be genuinely disconcerting. Survivors of a random Maephing will often find a variety of different injuries all over their body, often leaving them confused as to how a single opponent could have done so much harm in so little time.

Hill Maeph Warrior (painted by Andy Sneed)

Waggamaephs typically spend the bulk of their lives wandering about the wilderness with no apparent purpose or direction. They are particularly fond of meadows, most of which are a little worse for the wear after a day or two of frolicsome Maeph antics. Waggamaephs have also been known to join small parties of other humanoids. This choice too seems to occur for no clear reason other than a whim. The decision to leave is likely to be just as random. Indeed, if there are reasons for any aspects of Waggamaeph behavior, those reasons are most likely as mysterious to them as they are to anyone else.

The personality of a Waggamaeph is usually a source of both amusement and frustration to those unfortunate enough to travel with them. Relentlessly playful, Waggamaephs can be quite clever when engaged in pointless gags and reckless hijinks. In most other respects, they are rather dense, lacking the attention span necessary to grasp anything of great significance.

Hill Maeph Scholar (painted by Andy Sneed)

Few would be foolish enough to rely on a Waggamaeph to do anything important. When treated well, however, these creatures can be loyal and entertaining companions. They can be quite good in a fight, moving freely about a crowded battlefield as if free attacks weren’t even a thing and unleashing considerable wrath on any enemy unfortunate enough to gain there attention. While it is useless to tell a Waggamaeph to do anything which requires planning, concentration, or a dependable memory, the shear unpredictability of these little fur-balls has been known to foil the plans of many an enemy. One simply never knows where they will turn up. At their best Waggamaephs are kind of cute; at their worst these critters are a source of lost sleep and frustration to both friend and foe alike.

There are actually 2 different types of Waggamaephs, “Hill Maephs” and “Valley Maephs,” each favoring the environmental features from which they get their respective names. Hill Maephs are significantly stronger and tougher than their valley kindred, though they are not quite as fast and nowhere near as cute. Valley Maephs are significantly more attractive than their upland cousins, but they are unfortunately more fragile as well. It would take some familiarity with Maeph-kind to notice the difference.

There is a playful rivalry between the different types of Maephs, but it seldom leads to more than a prank or a small tussle. They have been known to socialize with one another and even to reside together for small periods of time. A gathering of both Hill and Valley Maephs can be something of a travesty, however, as a large number of Maephs in one location is always a bad idea. Such gatherings are generally hard on the local environment, the neighbors, and even the Maephs themselves. For this reason such events are rarely prolonged for more than a day or two.

Game-Specific Rules for running Waggamaephs in Tunnels and Trolls (the Delux Edition) can be found here.

Dragon Modifications for First Edition D&D

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Dragons in first edition D&D suck. The narrative blows them up big time, but they are easy as Hell to take down. I recall an episode of Dragon Magazine tried boosting their power by adding minor attacks such as wing beat and tail swipe, but the damage for these was miniscule. Even with these additions, Dragons in first edition never lived up to the hype. They were supposed to be bad-ass, but they always ended up being meh.

So, here is what we did…

Take the standard stat block for a Dragon from the Monster Manual as your starting point.

  • Start by doubling the hit dice of the dragon.
  • Double the dice rolled for damage on physical attacks (bite and claw).
  • Add a tail swipe against any opponent in the back of the dragon (anyone within a full 180 degree arc to its rear). The attack is rolled at any penalties normally applied for attacking enemies to the rear. Damage for the tail swipe is equal to that of a claw after the modification mentioned directly above.
  • Now treat the age of the dragon as a bonus to hit and damage on all physical attacks (bite, claw, and tail attack) as well as a bonus to armor class.
  • Double the penalties for called shots to a dragon for man-sized opponents and smaller. Dragons are simply too big to focus on specific body parts on a regular target.
  • Breath weapons work normally (but of course the damage is now set by the higher hit dice).
  • Now watch the PCs fall.
  • More importantly, watch the players treat dragons with the respect they deserve.