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Choosing Monsters


Ninja-Bear

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I tend to think in terms of environment, so I try to pick creatures that help flesh out the feel of the place. I'm actually working on ideas for a swamp, and what would really work well, not just from a monster perspective, but, for instance, what animals a ranger might befriend, etc.

 

Likewise, if it's an urban setting, I lean towards things that can exist without drawing attention to themselves. Ghosts, formless demons, shape changers.

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If you just go by regular "categories" of monsters then it's hard NOT to develop a "full buffet."

 

Now even if you just go by your "standard" fantasy monsters then yes, it can get overwhelming fast:

 

Orks

Goblins

Hobgoblins

Ogers

Trolls

Gnolls

Kobolds

Bugbears

Owlbears

 

And for each one you've got Warriors, Shamans, Chieftains.  That's a bunch.

 

So let's cut out most of those, and just pick one - Orks 

 

Assuming you're running a 150+25 campaign then Ork Warriors should be about 25 points less than the PCs.  Ork Shamans are the same points cost as the PCs (Basic Ork Warrior plus a 20 point spell multipower with a couple of slots), and the Chieftains are the same cost as the PCs (assuming 6th, Basic Ork Warrior plus +1 SPD, +1 each OCV/DCV, +3 each PD/ED).   All Orks get leather armor and simple swords.

 

Notice, you really only made one monster character sheet, and just made slight, very specific modifications to it twice.

 

Now we get really sneaky.  You can pick either Trolls or Ogres.  I prefer Ogres myself, but Trolls are more "Tolkien" if that's what you're going for.  Either way, thay are the "Big Cousins" of Orks.  These should be the same cost as the PCs.  Use the Ork Chieftain character sheet.  Give him chainmail & a two-handed weapon if you want him to hit hard, or Bastard Sword & Shield if you want him to not hit as hard but be harder to hit.

 

Then we're going to add "Lesser Orks," or Goblins if you prefer.  For a Goblin Warrior take a Basic Ork Warrior and subtract 1 SPD, 1 OCV & DCV, and 2 each PD & ED.  A Goblin Shaman is a Basic Goblin plus the same magic as an Ork Shaman.  A Goblin Chieftain is the same character sheet as a Basic Ork Warrior.  Goblins have simple swords and cloth armor.

 

And there you go.  You made one character sheet, modified it slightly & specifically a few times, and you've got a whole spectrum of "Monsters" to populate your dungeons.

 

Go and do the same thing for "Undead" and "Demons" and your world is nearly done.

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Hmmm....  Just realized that I didn't really answer your question.

 

The short answer is I like Orks.  I see then as a noble and tragic race.  Dwarves can live for hundreds of years, and Elves for thousands.  This allows then to build great and advanced civilizations.  Even humans, with their relatively shorter life spans, can build great civilizations.  Orks have very short life spans.  They basically live long enough to reproduce a few times.  That means they don't have the life span to build great things, and rarely "take the long view."  More importantly, they don't live long enough to become craftsmen at anything.  That means that anything they want, they have to take from someone else.  

 

I use my spectrum of Goblins - Orks - Ogres.  I also use Undead & Demons.  I find that for most purposes, that's enough.

 

Rather than Devils I use Fey, both Seelie and Unseelie (although neither are "good") but those are rare (and too much work to DM).  Sometimes I'll use specialty monsters like Giants and Elementals.  

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I prefer to use the Undead for generic enemies, because I find the idea of declaring an entire species "Kill on Sight" just because they have green skin and fangs distastefully racist. But for children, undead might not be appropriate to their level of maturity. Similarly, animals sometimes engender the sympathy of young players, making them equally bad encounter fodder.

Monstrous insects, plants, and spiders are fairly safe to use in a verity of environments. Likewise you can build an entire campaign where the central threats are other humans; they don't have to look monstrous to be monsters on the inside. Bandits, Cultists, Pirates, Raiders, Slavers all make fairly good enemies for adventurers of all levels of maturity. Constructs (such as golems) work fairly well, but you typically need a creator for them to act as the true threat). I recommend using Outsiders (angels, devils, etc) sparingly; if you do, adopt a D&Dish planar cosmology wherein these creatures are primal manifestations of the alignment they represent, as opposed to mortal creatures which are born and die.

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I'm curious when designing your fantasy world, do you have a method to your monster selection? What criteria do you use?

 

It depends.  I try to keep creatures to an area reasonable to it; so a dragon doesn't show up in a 10x10 room in a monastery, and undead aren't sitting around the king's palace dinner table.  I like to use different creatures when possible rather than the same thing over and over so if I used goblins for the last encounter, maybe sentient apes or something else.  I have my creatures broken down into tables by power level so I can pick something from a rough range of power to match the encounter I have in mind.

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Like Cantriped I try to avoid the "this race is evil" thing. It is kinda racist.

 

That being said I like to set up other races as opposition that is somewhat nuanced. Nothing wrong with having the orks be enemies, just make sure they are realistic people with their own goals and justified grievances. This prevents the "kill on sight" problem. The heroes should always have the option of talking to the opposition. And do we not say to kids that they should use their words?

 

I think undead make great enemies at all levels. I wouldn't worry about the ickiness unless you know your kids will be scared by it. Zombies abound in pop culture of late, they are probably already aware of them.

 

Also like the fey, both Seelie and Unseelie. Again an enemy with the opportunity to be nuanced. More options than simply kill on sight.

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I like to create a semi-coherent ecology for "monsters." I never cared for the grab-bag approach of just throwing in whatever would make a challenging PC encounter. I want some idea in my mind of what lives where, why they live there, how they got there, what they do when they're not fighting PCs. I find adding a veneer of verisimilitude helps me make monsters more of an interesting role-playing encounter, beyond the hack-and-slash.

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I sort of take the position that, orcs and such, are a bit Tolkeinish in my world, but taken to another level, as in, they aren't a race, they are twisted humans, elves, what have you, when it happened in their lifetime doesn't matter. Ugly weird creature hanging around, no normal motivations because they are something else now. Only the flesh is sort of original.

 

Undead fit the same category.

 

Small dragons can be interesting, depending on the world.

 

You can never have enough evil dwarfs(again, not a race, a group of dwarves who have a reputation for evil and are evil). I find having some evil dwarfs really makes the regular dwarfs that much better. I mean, they're stronghold is going to be really tough, they are armored and armed to the gills, tireless, and probably encountered in the mountains unless a group is moving out to find some desired treasure. Even groups of dwarfs who are merely difficult to get along with make things more interesting when you have to deal with them.

 

The nice thing about eschewing evil races is it gives the opportunity to have a member of the bad group who is good, and may even desire to help the characters. That said, YMMV.

 

Huge snakes, huge wolves. I think one thing that many games get wrong is they end up making animals like huge wolves easy fights, giant snakes a walk in the part. One area may be quite wild and known for fearsome wolves. This could be a time for a ranger to shine, as they might be able to form a bond with the pack.

 

Werewolves. Don't go out on the moors at night!

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One thing I found appealing about Hero Games's Turakian Age setting, is that while most of it follows the familiar D&D-esque racial stereotypes, there are places where those stereotypes get turned on their heads -- mostly on the smaller continent of Mitharia. Surface-dwelling Dwarves. Demon-worshiping Elves. Civilized Orcs. Rugged outdoorsy Halflings. It's fun to throw players who think they have the world figured out a curve ball once in a while. Keeps them on their toes. :sneaky:

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I usually don't select monsters for Hero games I run. I think of what I want the characters to face and see if there is something that I can use. For example, I ran a game where the characters were stranded on an island with few resources. Most of their opposition were the pirates that brought them to the island. I also had this idea for an intelligent pack of dogs. I took inspiration from the raptors in Jurassic Park and had the dogs test defenses and such. Overall, I thought it worked out pretty well.

 

For the same adventure, I had "giant" crabs on the beach, though giant meant about the same size as the dogs. I did have a truly giant crab at one spot, but the characters never encountered it. 

 

Another adventure I ran had what amounts to a D&D hag as the opponent. Aside from her, the characters were opposed by some cultists and the environment. Altogether one of my favorite adventures.

 

Still another was populated by traditional D&D goblinoids. Another by a necromancer and his animated dragon skeleton (not a dracolich, just a big skellie). Each adventure I run is something that I sort of plan ahead for, in terms of opposition. I also keep a gallery of monsters and bad guys for those "improv" moments. I suppose my pattern is to have an environmental hazard (snow storm, wild animals), some sort of intelligent hominid adversary (necromancer, cultists, slavers, etc.) and something supernatural (ghost, hag, enchanted construct, etc.). Sometimes I cross-over and have one being fill two niches (The Butcher of Boddel was a possessed human that was basically a cross between the Gray Hulk and Jack the Ripper).

 

So I choose monsters based on the story idea in my head. 

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I like to create a semi-coherent ecology for "monsters." I never cared for the grab-bag approach of just throwing in whatever would make a challenging PC encounter. I want some idea in my mind of what lives where, why they live there, how they got there, what they do when they're not fighting PCs. I find adding a veneer of verisimilitude helps me make monsters more of an interesting role-playing encounter, beyond the hack-and-slash.

This is more to my.original question. Why do you choose or not a monster? If so how do you tie them together?

 

Im going with my Elves/Atlantis analogy. In days past the elves got to arrogant with magic and had an explosion which caused alot of monsters. Magic is like comic book mutation.

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My current campaign is low/historical fantasy, so monsters are rare and limited to those that actually appeared in 11th Century European mythology. Still lots to choose from, of course, but eliminates a lot of the Tolkein/D&D standards. So far most of their opposition has been NPCs rather than monsters per se, but I'm going to start introducing more beasties, both as part of the overall plot and as the occasional (semi) random encounter.

 

It's been a long time since I ran a straight-up D&D-esque fantasy game, but I always tried to start from story first and figure out what type of beastie would fit in best. But I didn't have anything like a coherent ecology of what exists and what doesn't.

 

I'm also not a fan of All Evil races; racism aside, I just think it's lazy storytelling. Tho there's nothing wrong with having some clear-cut B&W enemies now and then, undead, demons and the like.

 

A few years back, a friend & I wrote & ran a D&D module for a tournament at a local convention, which revolved around the PCs finding an isolated tribe of "good" orcs and how they reacted to that. It made for a fun game and raised some interesting nature-vs-nurture discussion.

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I'm also not a fan of All Evil races; racism aside, I just think it's lazy storytelling. Tho there's nothing wrong with having some clear-cut B&W enemies now and then, undead, demons and the like.

 

 

So you're actually perfectly fine with all evil species, you just want them to be supernatural.  There's nothing more moral to having all-evil undead than it is to have all-evil orcs.

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This is more to my.original question. Why do you choose or not a monster? If so how do you tie them together?

 

Im going with my Elves/Atlantis analogy. In days past the elves got to arrogant with magic and had an explosion which caused alot of monsters. Magic is like comic book mutation.

 

I usually work from the basis of a published setting, so my starting point is whatever monster populations are the setting's default. But then I tweak and juggle what's given in whatever way I find makes for more coherence.

 

I'll use Turakian Age as an example. One of the intelligent races in that setting are Trolls, who aren't D&D trolls, but more inspired by traditional Norse legend: giant humanoids, skilled smiths and wizards. The Turakian world of Ambrethel has several concentrations of Trolls in mountains (they like living on or under mountains) on the western parts of both continents, widely separated; but none on the east or south, and no explanation as to how they got there. They do have some history of a past period of aggressive conquest of one region of the lands of Men. I ended up creating a Troll kingdom on the west coast of the far North of the setting, a region without a lot of official detail. The area has a large mountain range, but also many fjords. I declared this to be the original Troll homeland, and that they're great sailors who long ago explored and colonized other parts of the world. This, and the Trolls' conqueror phase, gave me a justification to add something I wanted that's not part of the original setting: giant Vikings. :eg:

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So you're actually perfectly fine with all evil species, you just want them to be supernatural.  There's nothing more moral to having all-evil undead than it is to have all-evil orcs.

Fair point. But I think the important question is why are they all evil? Undead are evil because they are created by necromancy which is inherently corrupt and because they feed on the energy of the living. (And many of them are essentially automatons anyway.) Demons were created to be the embodiment of evil in a way "mortal" creatures can't be. Dragons may not be evil per se, but if they are inherently hostile to human(oid)s, it may not make a practical difference when they're burning your city.

 

You can of course change any of those assumptions and get different results; I'm just throwing out examples.

 

But intelligent, sentient humanoids by definition have a choice whether to do good or do evil, therefore it makes little sense to me that they would all make the exact same choice.

 

Part of this is based on my personal distaste of the common fantasy view of good-evil as something you are, rather than something you do. People don't do bad things because they are born evil: we call them evil because they do bad things.

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I think its a mix, some are born bad, some choose to do bad things, but that's a philosophical topic for another forum, perhaps.

 

In any rate, how you view the innate ethics of a creature defines how it acts and why its a "monster" as opposed to "some guy living somewhere else."  And it defines how the monster responds to circumstances or why it gets involved in the adventure.  Which is another part of how to pick one: why is it there?  What is its motivation?  What does it want and why?

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