Old school lore masters, what is the name of this monster mount from the original boxed set (Rules Book, p. 47)? Is there a name for it, and what are its stats?
If it is out there already, I would love to know, but something tells me that it’s not. And if that is the case, I am making it up!
I would love to know if it has already been done. It was always a great Baxa sketch.
Respectfully,
PG
Welcome back, phaaf_glien.
That looks like a kank to me.
I too always assumed it was a kank.
It has too many legs and segments to be a kank, maybe its a mini megapede
I’d agree - a cilops-sized one.
A racing centipede- velocipede!
Good to see you still out there redking. Amazing to see your name on podcasts and all that out there. Hope all is well.
Indeed. Some sort of megapede variant. I believe I will have to make it up. Hmmm.
My best bet would be
https://mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/m/megapede.html
Though this is then a quite powerful mount and the lady as such, shouldn’t be underestimated.
An interesting proposal, MindCosmos. I still mull over it. Some variant perhaps.
And, my memory has clipped, and here is a second depiction of the same beast.
Whatever could it be? Whatever shall it be…
The second one is a Kank imo,you see only six legs. The other one had far, far more in a higher density.
Whhhhaaa? That “kank” clearly has hands. Grabby hands with thumbs.
Still I count six, four to run and two for more 
Given the context of the 2nd picture, and where it is placed in the Wanderer’s Journal, I believe that 2nd picture is Brom’s early variant of a kank. But the first sketch, by the hand of Baxa, seems a specific and different creature, and if in this early stage he thought it to be a proto-kank as it was conceived on paper, then I choose to give it its own unique life.
It is a pretty impressive looking mount, you must admit. But you know, I am considering that I might make it some sort of variant of the ankheg. Scandalous, I know. But I believe our image of the ankheg is dominated by one or two overly famous drawings, whereas the original one from ancient Dragon Magazine #5 seems to indicate to me a possibility. Perhaps a specially bred or evolved version, that burrows less and crawls more. Take a look. Not too far off, is it?
Let me see. An “anatheg”. That doesn’t sound so bad… I am closer to my write-up…
All the kanks in my games have hands, instead of just being big six-legged spiders.
Well, that feels weird to me, considering they’re basically described as ants, IMO.
But, its also super cool.
Edit: that image from the MM is pretty clearly of a spider for some reason, though.
The art never seems to be accurate. They changed the way mekillots look as well.
Yeah, but spider vs. “ant” means somebody didn’t do their homework. Most of the art is still applicable to the descriptions, just being different interpretations (as if the artists never saw each other’s stuff).
It’s a, “Queen-Kank”.
I generally rule that the various art is showing different subspecies of inix, kank, mekillot etc. “Draakus, you fool! That is clearly a Greater Kreegill Horned Mekillot! Just wait until the Board at the Psionic Academy hears of your gaffe!”
An alternative is that the difference between the mekillots is that one is the male of the species and the other the female. The reason you never see them together in the art is that mekillots are always in heat and would attempt to mate, causing widespread damage to buildings, livestock, and inhabitants. I do prefer this take but have never implemented it in-game because my players would immediately attempt to weaponise it.
