The Stuff from 'The Stuff' (1985)

 “Are you eatin' it...or is it eatin’ you?

The Stuff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

F: N/A
A: N/A
S: N/A
E: N/A
R: Gd (10)**
I: Gd (10)**
P: Rm (30)**

Health: Various (See Below)
Karma: 50*/Various(See Below)
Resources: N/A
Popularity: 0/50/-20)

Talents:
The Stuff has no talents. Those infected lose their talents the more that The Stuff consumes them.

Powers:
The Stuff Organism:
Made up of a simple (and tasty) organism, the Stuff has no real sentience apparently and exists as a bubbling source that emerges somewhere from deep within the Earth. The Stuff is a zero -calorie food source that actually is a more developed organism that devours its consumers from within and turns them into zombie-like creatures who lack intelligence. It is theorized that The Stuff is actually a single organism that is controlling its prey through their consumption and even a throw-away like suggests that The Stuff may be partially responsible for the death of the dinosaurs. For game and mechanic purposes, the Stuff possesses the following abilities:

• Material Invulnerability: Although The Stuff has the same consistency of whipped marshmallow fluff, The Stuff is resistant to many forms of destruction and has only shown to be truly vulnerable to fire. As such, the Stuff is considered to have Invulnerability at Rm (30), except to fire which does +2cs damage to it. The Stuff has no real presence (See below) and as such has no mind and/or emotional state and cannot be affected by Mental/Emotional attacks. The Stuff is capable of surviving temperature extremes (as being frozen to absolute zero) and shows no sign of being vulnerable to such things as other toxins or disease. Closer examination could suggest it is as close to a mass once-celled organism as anything else.
• Addictive Nature: The Stuff is rather insidious as it devours its victims while they consume more of it. The mere taste of The Stuff causes an opposed Psyche FEAT against a more progressive rank as The Stuff is made more available. Due to the nature of The Stuff, Karma cannot be used to make the FEAT. A Red result is necessary to resist addictive qualities of The Stuff, ultimately forcing the victim to consume more of The Stuff to be sated. Victims will need to begin a process of making opposed Endurance FEATs and Psyche FEATs to prevent the addiction from growing vs. Yellow Intensity. As the Victim devours The Stuff, Judges will need to track Endurance ranks – while the Victim sees no danger in devouring The Stuff, The Stuff will begin replacing their Endurance ranks point for point with each pint devoured. Once the victim reaches 50% replacement, they begin the transformation into a Stuff controlled zombie-like state. After 50% consumption, the victim begins losing Reason and Intuition ranks, 1 per day per attribute until they are fully transformed. The transformation can be hastened by consuming greater quantities of The Stuff. As of 1985, there only cure for the Stuff was abstinence of it or through perhaps weaning off of The Stuff to the lesser quality product dubbed ‘The Taste’
• Stuffed: After the victim reaches 50% consumption, all they will wish to do is consume more of The Stuff. This will convert their body faster creating additional reserves of The Stuff and turning them into zombie-like beings who retain their Fighting, Agility, and Strength, have their Endurance converted into a Stuff driven Endurance rank, and ultimately have Poor (4) Reason, Intuition, and Psyche. The Stuffed cannot be reasoned with and cannot be returned to normal as of 1985. When damaged/destroyed by reaching 0 Health, The Stuffed will explode producing near areas of The Stuff which can then be consumed.
• The Stuff as a Hive Mind: If the theories are true and through the movie it is suggested they are, then The Stuff does indeed possess some level of intelligence and/or direction. As such, the goal of the Stuff is to spread and consuming – which it does by augmenting itself through victims and The Stuffed. The Stuff gains Intuition and Psyche through this process determined by how many individuals are within the group: 1 point per stat per 1000 people is the basis of the growth through the movie numbers of Stuff sold. It is unknown if The Stuff has any purposes or direction – a Reason stat was provided purely for activity of those addicted. It is also assumed that The Stuff is connected together, all of it is part of one organism.
• Mass growth and Health: The Stuff continued to bubble up and grow based on the consumed mass of itself, and is assumed to be an immense lake under the Earth. As such to determine the actual size and volume would be difficult but as it does consume those who would consume it, it can be suggested that The Stuff could be the size of a small ocean.

Contacts:
The Stuff has no contacts -but those who seek to profit from it include major desert and food corporates who have upwards of Am (50) to Mn (75) resources.

Limitations:
The Stuff is pretty simple, but has the following limitations

• Unnatural Addiction: The Stuff is highly addictive – a fact that was made very clear in 1985 which led to it being banned and sold on the black market (As seen with the multiple popularity score.) Although everyone knows how dangerous it is, The Stuff is considered still a black-market item and highly sought after.
• Fire: As said earlier, the fastest most complete means to destroy the Stuff is Fire. Fire negates all invulnerability and completely can destroy The Stuff quickly.
• Non-Mobile: The Stuff can bubble and act through locomotion of natural effects but cannot move by itself or act.

Notes:
This was a write-up planned for years ago – I like the movie, it’s a satire as much as a horror movie (if not more) and it was difficult to properly capture elements of The Stuff – that being said, It is zero calories and has a good taste….


Originally published on Classicmarvelforever.com on 2nd October 2020