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MONSTERS, MINIONS, AND MARAUDERS -- What Would *You* Like To See?


Steve Long

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Why not give a writeup to the monster that already been pictured in the hero system books?

Let me give you a more detailed example:

From Fred:

 On page 4 there is this brick that are fighting this guy in cape; the brick is cool so why not make a race in fantasy hero who has been around for a long time. Or somebody messed around with some ancient DNA samples or something.

 The monster on page 68.

 I would defiantly like to see a good writeup of the golem on page70.

 The shadow demon on page 135

 Page 298 also has a great drawing which I would like to see some stats for.

 The creature on page 355 is probably meant for more of a science fiction campaign but I sure would not mind using them in a fantasy campaign.

 

From Fantasy hero:

 The critters on page 13 looks good are they a new original race or are they ork’s or something?

 I would also like to know more about the being on page 16.

 I don’t mind a Lovercrafitian creature or two in a new monster book like on page 20. Yes they are not strictly fantasy but remember that even Tolkien had one tentacle creature in his books.

 The insect warrior on page 189

 On page 222 there are two creatures which look similar to the creature on page 247 are they of the same race? I would really like to see a big write up on these guys. After all, flying demonsnakes with firebreath will liven up any campaign.

 The lightman(?) far to the right on page 235 looks interesting, could be some kind of otherworldly race of do-gooders, or not…

 What are we looking at on page 355? A light-knight an outworlder, a god or what?

 On page 408 there are some kind of slime creature, works for me…

 

The entire write up of the monster should have new art offcourse.

A new monster book should be a new monster book keep the villains for the campaign source book or give them their own. I am telling you, if I pick up the new monster book and see a write up of a bunch of bandits that live down in a cave I am going to feel cheated. I think that a monster book will also sell more than a villain book.

Speaking of things that sell: Good looking artwork! This is what you should do: you should give your artist staff lots of $$ and free reign to come up with some weird, wonderful and terrifying monsters. Then you should do the writeup and background for them. I am sure you will get a lot of good looking and original monsters this way!

Monster I personally would like to see: I like my monster grotesque and horrible, ofcourse stream lined super predators are also cool. Demons and devils are always popular. I would not mind seeing the other side of the coin in form of angel beings or something similar either. I have been playing a game called Diablo 2 lately and I think there are some monster there that are generic enough that you could make your own versions of. Like forinstance: those small desert leapers which jumps over you while they are attacking, they are very fun to watch. There is always one ugly, disfigured, creeper kind of creature who spawns others. There are also some huge suckers called gargantuan beasts which I like (to hack…). I second the suggestion of looking towards computer and video games for inspiration. I would also like to see a faceless race, some thorny creature which makes huge, fast bleeding wound and then retreats waiting for its prey to bleed to death, some sea monsters, more dragons, a race which could supplement ork’s as the token evil race. A huge lumbering race which are not evil. Beast/goatmen. Death knights and more undead. But most of all I would like to see you come up with your own unique monsters, creatures which makes it worthwhile to buy hero system so they can understand the monsterbook you are making now.

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"Faceless Race"

That reminds me...

A people that are hairless and have faces which are pretty featureless (mine were blue skinned). They have some sort of spacial awareness and communicate via telepathy. Not incredibly strong, they rely mostly on agility and skill to win fights. Vivisectionist attitudes towards other people.

 

I forgot to mention that I'd like to see a race thats primary missile weapon is the atlatl. Why? because they're cool yet rarely seen.

 

Large sized flightless birds that can be used as mounts/draft animals.

 

Large drifting jellyfish like creatures that float in the air. Lethality isn't important for these, it's just a nice image I had in my head.

 

A creature that can detect magic and consumes magic items/spells for food. As such it is virtually immune to magic. Should be physically imposing as well otherwise it would be too easy for fighters to take out.

 

Regarding plants. Forget about my shooting thorns idea. The plant shoots its seeds instead. If the seed is not removed, it sprouts within the host.

 

A grass that emits a fragrance that causes the victim to relax, sleep and not wake up - fertilizer!

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an evil demigod or lesser deity(generic), with "options" covering various spheres of influence.

 

packages for dragons to represent different types and personalities of dragons.

 

a race of extremely evil fair skinned folk, just for a change of pace.

 

a unique legendary creature to pose a challenge to a large group of high fantasy PCs.

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Maybe a few pages for Fantasy Normals and normal animals.

 

Lots of new templates to change those normal people and normal animals into something less than normal.

 

I'm interested in the more humanoid monsters since HSB has so many big things that will tear a whole party apart. Lots of generic humanoids with lots of options to modify them.

 

How about Generic wizards of different types and power levels.

 

More templates to change these generic creatures into something more interesting. Generic Sorcerer becomes Demon-Possessed, Theives Guild Leader Sorcerer.

 

Several original interesting races would be interesting.

 

I also would like guidelines for determining the combat effectiveness of the creatures and NPCs.

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A cross-index to HSB, so you can look up a monster in one place without having to worry what book its in.

 

Actually, this might make a good web supplement...could be updated as new books with monsters come out. Ideally it could be indexed in a couple different orders (alphabetical, point total, etc.).

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More Undead.

More Faerie races.

Just about everything Shadowpup suggested :D .

Small fast things that rip you apart before you can react.

Examples of unexperienced, regular, veteran, and commander knights, mercs, guards, etc.

 

 

As a side note, Beholders and Gnolls are copyright WotC, and are not in the D20 guide. They might not like you using them.

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My request is more of a design philosophy, than a specific example. I want creatures that are daring from the perspective of the rules. I want to see creatures that would require someone to come up with a new power construct or rules exposition to encompass it. The reason for this is that when I buy a book like this, it serves two purposes. The first purpose is to give me something that I can use immediately and easily in my game. That's all well and good for animals and other highly common creatures that people would often include with practically no changes. Easily insertable creatures are creatures that people have a common vision of, either a mythology or physical specimens. The further one goes from creatures that people would share a common vision for, the more I want those creatures to be used as examples for me to use as a tool, instead of a whole example.

 

So I would rather the focus be on defining abilities that you imagine would be more difficult for an overworked GM to create on his own in a balanced and thorough way. I don't want creatures that are just clever from the standpoint of story. I would rather have a creature that reads bland in the description, but gives me a new power advantage example I had never been able to create to my satisfaction.

 

Either that, or think up of more creatures that you imagine people would share a common vision for, like various animals and mythological creatures.

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Originally posted by D-Man

Voluptuary red-headed barbarian-babes in chain-mail swimwear.

 

Unknown to the people of the kingdom, the armor worn by the voluptuous mercenary band was not in fact chain-mail. Each piece is a community of armored beetles living in symbiosis with the warrior. Only the females of the race have the beetles as the males lack the proper scent glands to attract them.

 

Then you throw in some freckles and slightly pointed ears....

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Originally posted by Citizen Keen

A babe covered in bugs... Yeah. I get to roleplay once every other week, and I'm going to fantasize about women covered in beatles. Right.

 

Armor: OIF John...Paul...Ringo...George

 

Helping Steve a lot, I suspect.

 

I agree with a prior poster - try and set up some of the "classic fantasy" items that seem tough to duplicate in the Hero system. Need some items? Well, troll the boards for a while and you'll see plenty! Let's start with Trog Stench, and Berserker Rage (haven't read FH yet - sorry if one or both is already in there)

 

A thought for discussion: Should Steve publish the full details of the characters' spells (assuming some are mages) or just a name and a Grimoire reference to save space? The latter seems preferable if you buy both to get more info in MM&M, but means the characters aren't complete in one spot, and are less useful if you didn't buy the Grimopire.

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Berserker Rage is in FH, but nothing like trog stench. I don't know whether I'll have any stinky monsters or not, but we'll see. Or maybe create a "Stench" template. ;)

 

I can answer the latter question: I'm not going to reprint spells, just refer to the FHG if necessary. I have little enough page space to work with without re-printing existing material that was printed specifically so I and others could refer to it as needed. ;) Similarly, when a monster is published for D&D and it has spells, they don't reprint the spells -- they list them by name and expect you to look in the Player's Handbook for 'em. People who don't have the FHG should have an easy enough time doping out what a spell does based on its name, or they can substitute a spell of their own.

 

But then again, most monsters don't have specific spells. I'm more likely to say "X points' worth of Magic skills, spells, and abilities" so the GM can tailor the beastie to suit. ;)

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Originally posted by Steve Long

But then again, most monsters don't have specific spells. I'm more likely to say "X points' worth of Magic skills, spells, and abilities" so the GM can tailor the beastie to suit. ;)

 

I guess monsters are a special case, but in general I'd far prefer to see specific spells listed -- it makes the monster (or NPC, or whatever) easier to run off the cuff. "X points' worth of stuff" basically says "extra work for the GM".

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You know, I haven't read much of this thread (other than the first page, man it's long), but here's some things I'd like to see...

 

* Mastermind and minion creatures you can expect to encounter on a local or kingdom setting. What I mean by this is: Say an Ogre Mage set up camp in the area, what kind of forces could he be expected to have, and what other monsters could he control to cause havoc in the local shire, barony, or kingdom.

 

* Monster teamwork notes - tribe, pack and family issues, tactics or just notes.

 

* Don't forget to give us some ideas about what motivates these minions and villains... if the Ogre Mage loves gems, then he should be bothering the player characters by getting his hands on as many of the local gems as possible.

 

That's all for now... :)

Jak

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I actually would rather have "X points of stuff" than specifics for some creatures. It allows me to more easily customize the creatures but keep them generally in the same power level.

 

Of course, if it is a unique creature (e.g. Tiamat), then I would prefer the specific spells and powers. It is already unique, I should not have to customize it too much from the actual write-up.

 

The difficult part, of course, is that not every world will have the same (or even similar) magic systems. It will make it difficult for anyone if MMM uses a magic system that is completely different than what the world uses for magic. That is, IMO, more annoying than giving points to put into spells, etc.

 

Nightshade

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Originally posted by Nightshade

I actually would rather have "X points of stuff" than specifics for some creatures. It allows me to more easily customize the creatures but keep them generally in the same power level.

 

Of course, if it is a unique creature (e.g. Tiamat), then I would prefer the specific spells and powers. It is already unique, I should not have to customize it too much from the actual write-up.

 

The difficult part, of course, is that not every world will have the same (or even similar) magic systems. It will make it difficult for anyone if MMM uses a magic system that is completely different than what the world uses for magic. That is, IMO, more annoying than giving points to put into spells, etc.

 

Nightshade

 

Ah, but if it is already created specific spells, one has both versions, i.e., you have the pre-made spell setup if that's what you want, but you also can readily see a "X" points allocated to those premade spells and do something else with that amount.

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I see your point.

 

How about this one, though. Let's say we are talking about something that is generally thought of as a spellcaster, say a lich.

 

Now, the book could have a lich write-up with spells, say necromancy spells. Say I want a lich with darkness based magic (from my world). Then I just substitute, right? That works pretty well. I agree.

 

Let's then look at dragons. Dragons could literally have any type of magic. They really don't have a type of magic that would necessarily be associated with them, so what do you put there? The same really could be said for demons/devils, and many other caster-style creatures. I know that I could substitute, but really, I'll very likely be looking for them in the spellbook anyway.

 

In addition, if we want to look at page count, I would rather have more creatures with "X points of magic" than fewer with spell write-ups that can be found elsewhere.

 

Nightshade

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For me, the main goal is ease of use: ideally, I should be able to just write "dragon" in my prep, then open MMM and run from there with no more work required. I agree that including full spell writeups would be a waste of space, but listing 5 FHG spells is a lot more usable than saying "30 points of spells".

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Originally posted by Geoff Speare

For me, the main goal is ease of use: ideally, I should be able to just write "dragon" in my prep, then open MMM and run from there with no more work required. I agree that including full spell writeups would be a waste of space, but listing 5 FHG spells is a lot more usable than saying "30 points of spells".

 

Exactly. Give me a cookie-cutter creature to run with little thought, but no one says I can't mod it.

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(I don't have HSB handy so sorry if I duplicate anything)

 

Lots of "generic template humans" -- the most useful Hero monster writeup I ever had was the Ruffian/Bandit/Enforcer/Leader from old 1st edition FH, even after I upgraded to 4th edition.

 

Also, "generic template demi-humans". Dwarven blacksmiths, elven scouts, halfling innkeepers.

 

Speaking of which, some normal (non adventuring) folk: innkeepers, sly-tongued merchants, crusty sea-dogs, aloof princesses.

 

Knights! Why does every bestiary include everything EXCEPT a classic knight-in-shining armor, complete with steed and lance? He'll also need a squire. Make him generic of course.

 

A couple of NPC adventuring parties, like in the old Rogues Gallery from TSR. Also a couple of merchant caravans, complete with guards. Also a detachment of city guards. These are commonly encountered, but time consuming to set up because of all the characters required. I want something I can open the page to and just use without needing any customization work.

 

A few high level wizards, kings, patriarchs, etc -- not bad guys, but not allies either. Powerful or influential people that can spawn adventures and can easily be dropped into a campaign. These work best if they follow some common generic archetype, like Gandalf.

 

An evil mastermind or three. The generic sort -- a wizard, a dark priest, an ambitious warlord. These don't need to be Turakian. Make them generic, the sort that could pop up in any city or kingdom. Stuff like this makes it easy to get a campaign going NOW, without spending three months worldbuilding and creating villains, and if they're generic they can be reused. Also they make great lieutenants for...

 

at least one COSMICALLY POWERFUL dark lord. Like Iuz in the old greyhawk setting, or Sauron. The sort of guy that can serve as the focus for an entire campaign. Or, he can be a drop-in complication for an existing campaign, providing a diversion or counterpoint or rival or ally to a GM-created nemesis. If nothing else he makes a great example for creating your own ultra-villain. Again this makes it easy to get a campaign running quickly, and also makes it easier for those GMs who prefer not to create everything themselves.

 

Classic fantasy monsters... that is, clones of things like owl bears, carrion crawlers, purple worms, mind flayers, rust monsters. File off the serial numbers and throw in an odd twist or two to surprise the grognards.

 

Lots of undead, in every variety. Include some unusual/giant ones. I really like the Nightshades from D&D.

 

Plants. Man-eating trees, shrubs, seaweed, moss, grass, slime, fungus. Fungus-people. Sentient trees.

 

Familiars. Animal companions.

 

Monsters and critters that have an interesting 'yield' -- that is, body parts that may be useful to the players. For example, in old D&D, fire beetle glands could be used as light sources. Dragon's blood may have magical properties, etc.

 

Also I like the idea of some sort of encounter balancing system, or at least a discussion of it.

 

Mike

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