Straight up, I never liked the generic "Dinosaur, land herbivore, small" treatment in the Masters set (and repeated in the RC). I rather prefer to treat individual species differently, and I've added and changed a whole range of dinosaurs to my game over the years. This one you can use as a mount for primitive tribes, as a harmless herbivore, you can have them turn up on the Isle of Dread, Hollow World, the Ulimwengu tribelands, wandering the wastes of the Widerlands because why not, etc. And yes, the real world version is one of the smaller sauropods - and yes, I have statted Magyarosaurus, the smallest known sauropod and a lovely example of insular dwarfism. And yes, I might type that out too. Although I have ideas for other insular dwarfism examples to do first.
Saltosaurus
by Cab Davidson
| Stat | Saltasaurus |
| AC: | 2 |
| HD: | 9 |
| Movement: | 90’(30’) |
| Attacks: | 1 bite/1 tail/1 trample |
| Damage: | 2d6/1d10/1d10 |
| Number Appearing: | 0 (3d10) |
| Save As: | F5 |
| Morale: | 6 (11) |
| Treasure Type: | Nil |
| Intelligence: | 1 |
| Alignment: | Neutral |
| XP Value: | 900 |
Saltosaurus is one of the smaller species of sauropod dinosaur, a titanosaur species typically only found in ‘lost world’ regions. From nose to tail, they are typically around 30’ to 40’ long. And around 10’ to 12’ tall at the shoulder. Despite being small sauropods, they are mighty and powerful beasts, able to reach high vegetation or graze at ground level. What they lack in size they gain in protection, being coated in hardened osteoderms (armour like scales) to repel predators.
They are not aggressive, and will as often as not shy away from confrontation. They are interested in grazing and reproducing, and little else, and gain nothing from a fight, but if cornered they may be fearsome. They can bite a creature in a wide arc in front of them, or swipe with their tail, and any creature in front of them is likely to be trampled.
They are however trainable. Their social pack structure means they do accept a leader, and humanoid species sharing habitat with saltosaurus have tamed them as mounts and war beasts. For such purposes they are reliable, a saltosaurus with its master has a morale of 11 rather than 6.