Goonhub
10-30-2025, 10:45 AM
So I've been working on fleshing out mimics and it's made me want to see antag critters playable on RP. The problem with that is most antag critters suffer from one of two problems, either they're too combat heavy with little roleplay opportunity (fire elementals, gunbots) or they're seen as cute and babied by the crew (space phoenixes. 'the werewolf problem'). Working on mimics and seeing them tested on RP has made me realize what I believe makes antag critters work in an RP environment. These factors are:
- A menacing appearance. Critters should look particularly dangerous and/or creepy to avoid crew fighting for the antag critter frequently.
- Annoyance, not combat. Your goal as an antag critter on RP should be to scare, annoy and prank. The more thematic spooks and non-lethal annoying tactics an RP antag critter can get up to, the more likely people will want to kill them but not feel as though they're an overwhelming force to fight unless you support a full player antagonist.
- Glass cannon status. Unless summon-able by an proper antagonist, I don't believe an antag critter that can take punishment and kill with straightforward combative power could ever work on RP. You should have escape and stealth options rather than weaponry.
For example, new mimics can escape through disposal chutes, gnaw a random limb off of someone and become very fast by disguising as a pen etc. If they're caught though it is very easy to put a mimic down, though there are cases where they could tank blows by disguising as something large, just to get them to a disposal chute. There would need to be a large skill disparity, a clever plan or an alliance with a full antagonist for them to get kills.
I think if another two antag critters were made with these factors in mind we'd have a fun little pool of creatures to rarely play as, along with changeling critters which I think could just fit in as is. I think the only case I'd personally want critter events disabled in would be if a wraith is in play. This leads me to my questions, I'd like to hear any concerns over this idea in general AND some ideas for RP friendly antag critters. I may end up coding one if I like it. Who knows, if general antag critters aren't wanted there could be other ways to implement funny creatures.
- A menacing appearance. Critters should look particularly dangerous and/or creepy to avoid crew fighting for the antag critter frequently.
- Annoyance, not combat. Your goal as an antag critter on RP should be to scare, annoy and prank. The more thematic spooks and non-lethal annoying tactics an RP antag critter can get up to, the more likely people will want to kill them but not feel as though they're an overwhelming force to fight unless you support a full player antagonist.
- Glass cannon status. Unless summon-able by an proper antagonist, I don't believe an antag critter that can take punishment and kill with straightforward combative power could ever work on RP. You should have escape and stealth options rather than weaponry.
For example, new mimics can escape through disposal chutes, gnaw a random limb off of someone and become very fast by disguising as a pen etc. If they're caught though it is very easy to put a mimic down, though there are cases where they could tank blows by disguising as something large, just to get them to a disposal chute. There would need to be a large skill disparity, a clever plan or an alliance with a full antagonist for them to get kills.
I think if another two antag critters were made with these factors in mind we'd have a fun little pool of creatures to rarely play as, along with changeling critters which I think could just fit in as is. I think the only case I'd personally want critter events disabled in would be if a wraith is in play. This leads me to my questions, I'd like to hear any concerns over this idea in general AND some ideas for RP friendly antag critters. I may end up coding one if I like it. Who knows, if general antag critters aren't wanted there could be other ways to implement funny creatures.