The World Of Kong: A Natural History Of Skull Island is an art book filled with design and concept work from the people at Weta Workshop for Peter Jackson's film King Kong. Presented as if Skull Island really existed, the book shows dozens of animals created for the Skull Island sequences, few of which actually appeared in the final film. Each creature has a name (usually given in Latin), a translation of its name, a general size listing, and a few paragraphs of descriptive text. Material perfect for adaptation into the game system of your choice!
The character sheets presented here are my efforts to offer the denizens of Skull Island in the HERO System format. I have attempted to write-up all the major animals listed in the book, as well as some of the lesser variants and the like. As some creatures (like the giant centipedes) are all very similar in size and nature, some character sheets will cover several animals at once. Others will offer options to allow you to simulate a related animal or animals.
When building the creatures from The World Of Kong I have used the largest size listed to create the animal's character sheet, thus making it easy for Game Masters to scale a creature back to a desired size and power level (if needed). I will also try and note what I used as a base to create the creature, referencing published material if needed. Also, I'll try and mention if the creature in question ever made it one screen (as far as I can tell).
I feel the creatures listed here would be perfect for Fantasy HERO campaigns, since just about every fantasy game could always use more giant lizards and the like. They also fit right in with Pulp HERO lost world adventures, which should come as no surprise, since King Kong is the perfect lost world adventure. Finally, I think many of the creatures could be pressed into service as Star HERO alien beasts, inhabiting strange interstellar environments.
Last but not least... I highly recommend The World Of Kong: A Natural History Of Skull Island and readily suggest anyone running a Pulp-era or fantasy campaign to purchase it.
