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Making Monsters: Chupacabra
Thanks to everyone for your responses to my earlier posts on the Jersey Devil and the Water Leaper. I’m continually developing my system-agnostic monster description format, and I’m grateful to everyone who has helped so far. Soon I hope to make the official #secretprojects announcement and you’ll see what my plans are, and how you can help further. Meanwhile, as always, I would love to know how you think the format could be improved. Let me know in the comments section.
The chupacabra (Spanish: “goat sucker”) is a creature with a fairly short history. According to Wikipedia, it was first reported in Puerto Rico in 1995. Since then, sightings and attacks on livestock have been reported from Maine to Chile and as far afield as Russia and India.
In the real world, the mystery has been solved. The sightings were of coyotes or dogs suffering from severe mange, which altered their normal appearance. I blogged about that some time ago: here’s a link.
In a fantasy or horror setting, though, the Chupacabra could be a completely new kind of creature, just as the various reports suggest. Or one could take a middle-road approach. A Chupacabra was once a dog, a coyote, or some other kind of canid, but it was changed by exposure to toxic waste, or a virus (perhaps the dreaded zombie virus), or through exposure to particular magical energies, or some other force. The possibilities are endless, but I have tried to cover a broad range in this description.
The Chupacabra
Sometimes called goat-suckers, these predators are as big as a medium-sized dog. Their skin is grayish and slightly loose. Their backs are sharply ridged and some have spines erupting from their vertebrae.
They stalk the night, attacking livestock under cover of darkness. They retreat from bright light, and will not normally attack humans unless cornered. However, it has been known for a pack of the creatures to attack a lone child or a sick or wounded traveler.
The bite of a Chupacabra will infect any canid with a virus. Transformation will begin in 24-48 hours and last for 2-3 days. First, the unfortunate victim becomes savage and unpredictable, losing the ability to recognize its former friends and owners. Then it loses its fur and the skin of its face draws back, leaving it with a permanent snarl. Unless shut in somewhere, the new Chupacabra will abandon its former life to join its maker – or to live out the rest of its existence alone.
RANGE
Image by Alvin Padayachee. Wikimedia Commons
Real World: Puerto Rico, North and South America. Normally alone.
Fantasy World: Warm temperate and high desert. Lone or pack (2d6).
TYPE: Animal
SIZE: Small (3ft/1m long)
MOVEMENT
Run: 50 feet (15m) per round
ATTRIBUTES
Strength: Animal, small (e.g. medium dog, coyote, wolf)
Dexterity/Agility: Animal, small (e.g. medium dog, coyote, wolf)
Constitution: Animal, small (e.g. medium dog, coyote, wolf)
Intelligence: Animal, small (e.g. medium dog, coyote, wolf)
Willpower: Animal, small (e.g. medium dog, coyote, wolf)
Hit Points/Health: Animal, small (e.g. medium dog, coyote, wolf)
ATTACKS
Bite: Animal, small to medium (e.g. medium dog, wolf)
WEAKNESSES
Light Sensitivity (Optional): Repelled by daylight and strong light sources.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Spines (Optional): Sharp spines, up to 1 foot/30 cm long, erupt from the creature’s vertebrae. They confer a slight armor advantage against attacks from that direction. Any character trying to grapple the creature must make an appropriate skill or attribute test (wrestling, dexterity/agility, or similar) each round: failure means the character suffers damage as from a successful dagger or short sword attack.
Virus (Optional): Bite carries a virus, requiring the victim to make a constitution save or similar roll or suffer effects according to their species. Canids begin to transform into Chupacabras. Humans may transform into the humanoid form of the creature (see below). Other species suffer wound infection, fever, and/or other symptoms according to what the chosen game’s rules support.
Undead (Optional): The Chupacabra has all the normal traits and weaknesses associated with corporeal undead in the chosen rule system. If in doubt, use zombies as a model. Its bite carries a form of the zombie virus. If a saving throw vs. disease or other suitable test is failed, a canid will become a Chupacabra and a human or humanoid will become a zombie.
Humanoid Chupacabras
Image by user LeCire. Wikimedia Commons.
A human (or humanoid) bitten by a Chupacabra may be transformed by the virus that the creature carries. All hair falls out, and the skin becomes warty, dry, and scaly – not reptilian as in some artists’ impressions, although it may appear reptilian at a distance in bad light. Eyes become deeply sunk in the sockets, giving an appearance of large, black eyes in poor light. Spines may erupt from the back.
The character’s mental attribute scores drop to the same level as those of a canid Chupacabra, and most mental skills are lost. He or she loses all memories and ceases to recognize friends or family. Fear and hunger are the only drives. All saves against fear suffer a severe penalty (-30 in a percentile system). The victim gains night vision at the same level as a dog or cat, but daylight or equivalent illumination causes severe discomfort and fear.
The unfortunate victim keeps to the shadows, avoiding all kinds of threats and surviving by scavenging and killing small livestock such as chickens, sheep, and goats.
There is no known cure for the condition, either in humans or in animals. Researching the condition and developing a cure will be a very difficult task, requiring a high level of medical and/or traditional healing skills. At the GM’s option, powerful healing or curse-removing magic may be effective.
Links
Chupacabra: A Mystery Solved
This story broke several months ago, but today the BBC News web site carried the most thorough and cogent account of the chupacabra mystery – and its solution – that I have seen so far. Here is the link:
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20161109-the-truth-about-a-strange-blood-sucking-monster
Image by Alvin Padayachee, from Wikimedia Commons
While I have loved mythology, folklore, and monsters from an early age, there are few things I find more satisfying than when science and common sense provide an explanation for something that was previously regarded as supernatural. To my mind, a scientific explanation does not make the world a duller, less magical place, and a myth is no less interesting or beautiful for being debunked: it still provides an insight into humanity’s lifelong struggle to explain and understand the world around us.
And of course, the chupacabra will probably remain a potent image in fantasy and supernatural fiction and games. Rightly so: it has earned its place every bit as much as any ghost or ghoul.
Here are some links to game adaptations of the “fantastic” chupacabra:
Game stats for the Pathfinder fantasy RPG, from Paizo Publishing.
The Chupacabra dice game, from Steve Jackson Games.
Rogue Games’ Colonial Gothic Bestiary includes game stats for the chupacabra as well as other legendary American creatures.
If you know of any more great chupacabra resources for gamers and fantasy fans, feel free to add them in the comments below.
UPDATE: January 15, 2018
I just read a disturbing twist on this tale. In the early 20th century, sarcoptic mange was deliberately introduced into coyote populations in an attempt to wipe them out. This makes it quite possible that the chupacabra is a man-made monster.
For this story and many others about the War Against Coyotes, I highly recommend Dan Flores’ book Coyote America.
A quicker read, from the Casper Star-Tribune in Wyoming, is here.
To me, that is scarier than any cupacabra monster story.
Graeme Davis 