Pteranodon & Stegosaurus

You cannot have a Lost World adventure that does not involve a pteranodon encounter.  Those are The Rules™.  (Said encounter will likely take place aboard ship, against a crumbly cliff face, or in the pteranodon’s nest.  Again: The Rules™.)  Obviously, a little tinkering with the stats will get you a good pterodactyl, quetzalcoatlus, etc. 

And the stegosaurus is probably most like any bull or other large dangerous ungulate—herbivorous, but you don’t want to piss it off.  Of course, given that stegosauruses make good animal companions for cantankerous druids, you might as well call them “spike beasts” and resign yourself to fighting them sooner or later.

The Impossible Canyon separates the continents of Alm and Berowar, and on Alm’s side time has stood still, creating a preserve where dinosaurs and troglodytes still roam.  The canyon cannot stop the flight of pteranodons, though, and the flying reptiles are a menace for up to 100 miles into Berowar.  Shepherds must learn to fend them off the way other farmers fend off wolves and drakes, and many a thatched roof has been ruined by a resting pteranodon.

Hobgoblins in wooded areas cannot rely on ankylosauruses like their hill and canyon-dwelling cousins—the squat beasts are too bulky and slow. Stegosauruses (“spike tails”) handle the underbrush better and do even more damage with their terrifying tail sweeps.

The nagaji of Nagarra regard pteranodons as honored spirits.  The tops of their temples feature hollows to allow pteranodons to roost, and watchful garudas sometimes send pteranodons to aid good nagaji in times of crisis.

—Pathfinder Bestiary 85

I love that even with only 50 words of room, Paizo knew it had to clarify that pteranodons are not technically dinosaurs.  Clearly they know their audience.

I’m currently reading Greg A. Vaughan’s River Into Darkness.  If you don’t have that or the Tome of Horrors, I bet a half-dragon pteranodon would make a good dragonnel.

Speaking of dinos, my last two Sundays in a row at the gym have found me watching Lost World-type movies—1975’s The Land That Time Forgot and the terrible Will Ferrell Land of the Lost.  Needless to say, I enjoyed myself immensely.

So…what on Earth do you play on the radio after the Worst Week Ever™?  A lot of Dar Williams, apparently.  Download it.

(Sometimes the feed skips, so for best results let the file load in Firefox or Chrome, Save As an mp3, and enjoy in iTunes. Link good till Friday, 4/26, at midnight.)

 

Also, hope you all had a good Record Store Day.  Mine was decent, and I had a great waiting-in-line partner…but I did not get the swirly Porno for Pyros vinyl I wanted.  Sad face.