[Index]

KILLER TOYS3 (9)

Cypher Bestiary

Inhabited by a malevolent spirit, animate dolls, puppets, and similar playthings may seem only unsettling at first, until they strike.

Health: 9

Damage Inflicted: Minor wound

Movement: Short

Modifications: Dodge as level 5 due to size; stealth and disguise (when not moving) as level 6

Combat: Preferring to attack with surprise, the killer toy trips—as if by accidental placement—a target down a flight of stairs or sets up some other apparent accident for the target that outsiders might mistake as terrible misadventure.

A killer toy may have one or more of the following abilities or traits.

• Regenerate: A killer toy regains 1 point of health each minute, even if apparently destroyed.
  
• Play Dead: A killer toy falls limp, appearing as nothing more than a large toy or puppet. In this state, treat the toy as an object equal to its level, until it moves again.
  
• Strangle: If the toy attacks with surprise, it wraps the target's throat in its arms (or pull string, if a wind-up toy) and squeezes. If the target is successfully attacked or touched, on each subsequent round they take a major wound until they can escape with a Might task as their action.
  
• Use Weapon: A toy brandishes a previously discovered knife, firearm, or some other weapon and attacks, inflicting a moderate wound.
  
• Electrocute: Immune to electricity, the toy having previously tampered with electrical wiring attempts to lure a victim onto a live wire that deals 6 Speed damage (ignores armor) each round the target fails a Might defense roll on their turn to disengage.
  
• Poison: The toy slips poison into the target's food or drink. If the target fails a perception roll to notice something odd about the refreshment before consuming, they take 6 Speed damage (ignores armor) each round for three rounds.
  
• Blind: Some killer toys can light up thanks to interior electronics; the toy sends a focused blast of light into the target's eyes, blinding the target on their next turn with a failed Might defense roll. This attack usually sets up a more insidious action by the toy next round.

GM Intrusion: Another toy animates and attacks the character.

GM Intrusion: The toy shoots a foam projectile into the target's open mouth, which lodges in their throat. The target takes 2 Speed damage (ignores armor) each round until they can cough the projectile loose with a successful Might roll as their action.

THE ESSENCE OF KILLER TOYS

Approaching the uncanny valley, killer toys, merely by staring back with their flat button or painted eyes, evoke a sense of wrongness. When they actually animate, their movement breaks people's sense of reality. And of course, when they begin to stab or strangle (or use other Killer Toy Abilities and Tactics), the fear they may be dangerous becomes all too real.

Some killer toys pursue innocent children (perhaps to possess them and live as humans), others protect children with misguided attacks against abusive parents, but many just bring fear and death wherever they appear, possessed by a malevolent spirt, demon, or glitched programming.

KILLER TOY NAMES

Killer toys often have, in other circumstances, perfectly ordinary names. It's only when the toy begins killing people that its name conjures dread, violence, and a sinister agenda. Options include: Morty, Sally Says a Lot, Rex, Whispering Willy, Annabella, Jinx the Clown, Buddy the Helpful Robot, Barry, Eddie, Isabella, Mr. Bonkers, G. I. Gary, Baxter the Battling Bot, Gracie Mae, Sunita, Larry the Landscaper, Briar Bear, Wilma the Wind-Me-Up Witch

Adventure Seed: A doll was part of an inheritance that followed the death of a centenarian. Now the centenarian's heirs are dying, one by one, through a series of strange accidents.

KILLER TOY CATCHPHRASES

Wind-up and electronic toys might have a signature exclamation, such as:

• Fantabulous!
• Epic-tastic!
• Wonder-blast!
• Marvelicious!
• Amaze-balls!
• (fart sound)

KILLER TOY APPEARANCE

Just what kind of toy is trying to harm the characters? Options include the following.

d10	Appearance
1	Stuffed cloth body with green hair, button eyes, and a stitched yarn mouth
2	Vintage porcelain doll with glassy eyes wearing a frilly dress
3	Yellow puppet with googly eyes, feathers, and felt teeth in wide mouth
4	Plastic robotic body with clear plastic dome in which lights twinkle
5	Large rag doll, loosely stitched seams, painted face featuring jagged teeth
6	Ventriloquist's mannequin wearing white-and-black religious garb
7	Stuffed monkey-like doll with red button eyes that plays cymbals
8	Companion robot the size of a 10-year-old child with oversized head and eyes
9	Stuffed clown with no eyes but weirdly life-like mouth
10	Big rat-like doll (printed by 3D printer) with disturbingly human face