Krebs watched the figures through his field glasses. A small “herd” of bison-like humanoids moved slowly through the wastes, packs and gear stowed for a long haul and weapons slung. Krebs and his group of raiders had been hitting caravans along this route for a few weeks now and the pickings had been excellent and easy. They usually only needed to terrify the caravans and not destroy them outright, just kill a guard or two and take some of the more choice goods. He scratched at a sunburned scab on his cheek and checked his Ingram MAC-10, then grinned at his lieutenant and nodded, giving the attack signal. From out of the cliffs roared the raiders, spraying gunfire and yelling to frighten the beast men.

Leading the charge, Krebs fired accurate bursts from his submachine gun, riddling the lead beast man with bullets. As the herd began to form up defensively, the raiders reached the outer edge of their circle. Jerking his combat knife from its sheath, Krebs moved to the lead beast man, eager to cut himself a trophy. He jerked back in surprise as the bison-like head rose and turned to look at him, a chunk of its muzzle and face shorn away by the bullets to reveal a wire and metal casing. A cold red optical sensor stared back at him.

Only then did Krebs notice the screams of his men as the other “beast men” produced beam weapons from their limbs, sending coherent light rays scorching through their armor. Krebs turned back to the ersatz creature before him, gasping for air as it wrapped a steely hand around his throat and began to squeeze. This time it was Krebs who felt terror… As the last of the raiders stopped twitching, the leader of the beast men issued a tight band communication to its master, “Unit BZN-04 reporting in. This unit’s beast man camouflage test successful. Eastern road raiders eliminated. Returning to base for repairs and reprogramming.”

New Metal introduces new rules and features for android characters and villains for the Darwin's World role-playing game. In it you will also find a new epic class and a new NPC, readily-made examples using this new material that can be easily plugged-in as contacts or villains in your game.