Monsters and Animals

[Jkeown]

For years, I didn’t have monsters in Caleon. I had Demons, Trolls and Ogres, but no monsters. Bandits, Brigands, evil Mercenaries and awful people of all races and temperaments. No Monsters. They don’t make sense. Maybe it’s that they don’t make sense in Caleon. Perhaps they make sense in your world. If they do, cool. This article is for you.

 

I wrote this a long time ago, using various resources and games.. Traveller.. a lot of HERO Products, and my own research into how life changes over time.

 

I updated it yesterday and thought I'd share. It's not really a bestiary, but it could be used to create one.

Monsters and Animals.pdf

Animal Traits 6E.hdp

[Christopher R Taylor]

I view "monsters" as simply being animals with magic that has affected them; or smart creatures of different types than people.  So that giant spider that casts spells is a monster, but its still a spider.

[Lord Liaden]

Thank you for your well thought-out contribution.

 

By broad definition of the word, a "monster" can by anyone or anything which is abnormal, unnatural, or hideous in form or appearance. It doesn't necessarily have an ethical component, and may be intelligent or not. OTOH "monster" is also used to signify one which inspires hatred or horror due to cruelty, wickedness, depravity, etc.

 

Fantasy, both folkloric and modern fictional, tends to conflate those concepts. Not always, however; and it can be fun in a gaming setting to mix up players' expectations of what they encounter, making the hideous benevolent or the beautiful malevolent.

[Christougher]

Downloaded a copy.  I've got a fantasy world that needs some monster work.  Looks interesting so far and should help.

 

Chris.

[Jkeown]

I guess my initial post is a bit misleading. Yes, for years (since 1986) I didn't have many monsters, there were NPCs, some were Dead NPCs. Some animals, but it wasn't DnD-level of monstrosity. That article, originally written in 2005, was a turning point toward more wild game, magic increased, the stakes got higher. The game is much weirder. I'm on page 283 of my player's guide for the game. (158000 words)

 

Thanks for the kind words and opinion!

[NuSoardGraphite]

I view "monsters" as simply being animals with magic that has affected them; or smart creatures of different types than people. So that giant spider that casts spells is a monster, but its still a spider.

This.

 

Most monsters in fantasy rpgs are just funky animals of some kind. some of them are animals whos evolution has been affected by the presence of magic energies. some of them were experiments of gods or wizards for warfare or other nefarious reasons that managed to get out into the wild and began to breed and multiply. some of them are strange beings from other dimensions.

 

All of those things make perfect sense to me.

[Michael Hopcroft]

The main sort of "monster" I have problems with in fantasy  games is the kind that just randomly wanders onto the scene and attacks the party for no reason. If you rely too much on random encounters, maybe you should consider working on your storytelling skills.

 

Liaden's second definition of monster is more interesting. Er, of course, have monsters in our midst all the time. But they can be tricky to manage in a fantasy game too. Evil for its own sake gets boring in a hurry.

[zslane]

Random encounter tables were invented in an age that predates the notion that RPGs are supposed to be some form of deliberate "storytelling". Back then, RPGs were a form of extended wargaming for the most part. So of course they don't fit so well in a game where literary concerns like plot and narrative take precedence over verisimillitude.

 

It is also worth noting that good encounter tables are supposed to be populated with creatures one would reasonably expect to encounter in a given region, at a particular time of year, and with a probability that strikes an acceptable balance between realism and drama. Encounter tables that don't do a good job of this are either poorly constructed or improperly utilized (maybe even both).

 

Sometimes it just comes down to knowing when a mechanic isn't appropriate for the campaign style. You'll notice a distinct lack of random encounter tables in the Storyteller System, for instance.

[Lucius]

Random encounter tables are fine; it's a question of how they're used. And, I suppose, constructed. If you encounter a shark in a forest, the table probably needs work.

 

If you encounter a shark at sea, the table is fine. If the shark does something out of character for a shark, such as leaping aboard the ship just to get a bite of a player character, then the person running the game needs to get past the assumption that "it's a 'wandering monster' so it automatically attacks the characters."

 

Better would be "one of the crew is fishing and you notice she's caught something big enough she needs  help from a couple of others to haul it up. Just as someone's about to spear it with the gaff, a much larger fish bursts up from the surface and snatches the catch away in powerful jaws. Even if you have no relevant knowledge skills you recognize the infamous great white shark. No one was planning on swimming today, were they?"

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary does not appear on the random encounter table

[L. Marcus]

With the Palindromedary, the randomness is inherent to the encounter.