If you’re bringing the Titanian (the creature from the 1985 cult classic Creature, also known as The Titan Find) into your Barrows & Borderlands campaign, you’re looking at a perfect high-lethality "stalker" encounter.
The creature isn't just a physical threat; it’s a parasitic puppeteer. Here is a breakdown of its biology and how to stat it for your game.
The Creature: Titanian Parasite
In the film, the creature is an ancient, tall, insectoid-amphibian hybrid discovered in a dormant lab on Saturn’s moon, Titan. It is remarkably agile, surprisingly strong, and has a terrifying way of "recycling" its victims.
Physical Attributes
Appearance: A towering, slender humanoid with slick, dark skin. It has a distinctive elongated cranium, glowing eyes, and a mouth full of needle-like teeth.
Movement: It moves with a jerky, unnatural speed. It can cling to walls and ceilings, making it a nightmare in tight dungeon corridors or abandoned space hulks.
Durability: It is highly resistant to standard physical trauma. In the film, it shrugs off small-arms fire and only yields to massive structural damage or high explosives.
Unique Mechanics: The Mind-Control Parasite
The most iconic trait of the Titanian is its ability to produce synaptic parasites.
The "Face-Hug" variant: The creature can attach small, fleshy organisms to the heads of deceased or unconscious victims.
Puppet Mastery: These parasites tap into the nervous system, allowing the Creature to control the victim's body. These "zombies" retain their basic motor skills and can even use weapons or speak simple phrases to lure their former allies into a trap.
B&B Stat Block Concepts
Since Barrows & Borderlands thrives on dangerous encounters, treat the Titanian as a Mini-Boss or a Roaming Terror.
| Attribute | Suggested Focus |
| Type | Aberration / Alien |
| Primary Save | Agility / Reflex (to dodge its lightning-fast leaps) |
| Weakness | Extreme Heat or Electrical Overload |
| Signature Move | Neural Hijack: If a player is reduced to 0 HP, the creature can attempt to attach a parasite instantly. |
Special Abilities
Stealth Camouflage: The creature gains a massive bonus to stealth checks in dim light or metallic environments.
Ventriloquism: It can mimic the screams or voices of its previous victims to cause Fear or Confusion saves in the party.
Carapace Armor: Heavy plating that reduces incoming non-magical (or non-energy) damage by a fixed amount.
Campaign Hook: "The Titan Protocol"
The party discovers a derelict research outpost. They find logs of a crew that went mad, only to realize the "crew" is still walking around—but their movements are stiff, and there’s something pulsing on the back of their necks.
Pro-Tip: Don’t show the monster right away. Let the players fight the "puppets" first. When they realize the corpses are being remote-controlled, the true horror sets in.
If your players actually manage to take down a Titanian, they’ve earned more than just experience points. Because this creature is an ancient, space-faring biological anomaly, the "loot" ranges from valuable organic components to remnants of the high-tech civilizations it has consumed over the eons.
Here is a d100 Loot Table for harvesting or searching the Titanian’s lair.
The Titanian Harvest & Salvage Table
| d100 | Rarity | Result |
| 01–40 | Common | Hardened Chitin Shards: 1d6 plates of obsidian-like armor. Can be forged into +1 Shields or light armor that grants resistance to vacuum/cold. |
| 41–60 | Common | Preserved Neural Parasite: A dormant "slug" in a biological sac. An Alchemist or Artificer could study this to create Potions of Telepathy or Mind Control antidotes. |
| 61–75 | Uncommon | Corrosive Gland: A fragile organ. If thrown, it acts as a high-potency Acid Flask ($3d6$ damage). If harvested carefully, it can coat 1d4 blades with permanent corrosive properties. |
| 76–85 | Rare | Vocal Mimicry Box: A strange, fleshy organ near the throat that still vibrates. Can be fashioned into a Cloak of Deception or a device that grants +5 to Charisma (Deception) checks. |
| 86–93 | Rare | Ancient Saturnian Data-Core: A crystalline shard embedded in the creature's flesh from a previous victim. Contains maps of "The Borderlands" or codes to an ancient vault. |
| 94–98 | Very Rare | Hyper-Reflex Nerve Bundle: If consumed (risky!) or integrated into gear, the user gains an extra Reaction per round or a permanent +2 to Initiative. |
| 99 | Legendary | The Alpha Parasite: A golden-hued slug. If bonded to a willing host, it provides "Hive Sight" (360-degree vision) but requires the host to consume raw meat daily to prevent it from eating them. |
| 100 | Mythic | Titanian Egg: It’s unhatched. It’s heavy. It’s worth a fortune to the wrong people... or it’s a ticking time bomb for the party’s home base. |
Critical Failure on Harvesting
In Barrows & Borderlands, harvesting an alien should be dangerous. If a player rolls a Natural 1 on their skill check to harvest the creature:
Contamination: The player is sprayed with pressurized acidic blood ($2d6$ damage).
Latent Infection: A microscopic parasite enters the player's bloodstream. They don't feel it now, but in 1d4 days, they start hearing the "Mother" calling to them from the stars.
How to use the "Ancient Data-Core" (Result 86–93)
If they find the Data-Core, it’s a perfect bridge to your next quest. It could contain:
Coordinates to a Crashed Research Vessel.
The "Off" switch for a Security Grid in a nearby dungeon.
A recorded message from the last survivor of the Titan mission, warning of something even bigger than the creature they just killed.
During tonight's B&B game the player's ran across a delerict crashed space craft. Two of the player's PC's became hosts for the zombie worms of the Titan Find. And we were able to escape after dropping some radium grenades that we picked up from last game Barrows & Borderlands Rpg Play Session - Night of the Manta Session Report One
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