tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post1858894066467793317..comments2024-03-29T06:16:21.012+08:00Comments on Monsters and Manuals: The Semi-Unique MonsterUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-61847812900788432902018-05-12T09:29:16.302+08:002018-05-12T09:29:16.302+08:00Your solution is better and evokes the danger bett...Your solution is better and evokes the danger better then humans getting gradually replaced with weirder creatures that are still people.Gorinichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17232977766320497127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-69714022057711921662018-05-11T22:34:55.195+08:002018-05-11T22:34:55.195+08:00Ok, the PCs must be human, The PCs are from the on...Ok, the PCs must be human, The PCs are from the only tribe left of 50 or so humans. That way the loss of even a single human is still a very bad thing, but there is a small pool of potential replacements.<br /><br />Bonus: You probably already know and have personalities established for the replacement.Jeremiahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11245925772331967567noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-45700277879147060392018-05-10T13:49:18.421+08:002018-05-10T13:49:18.421+08:00As a kid, certain versions of this creeped me out ...As a kid, certain versions of this creeped me out - notably Gree-Grumps and Hakken-Krakks - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVmtpJ8LdX4 - and Heffalumps and Woozles - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLnADKgurvcBearded-Devilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16415023478845579936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-46847606120599710862018-05-09T07:24:09.397+08:002018-05-09T07:24:09.397+08:00Obviously you have a friendly non-human join the p...Obviously you have a friendly non-human join the party.Gorinichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17232977766320497127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-25218824436210011282018-05-09T03:26:26.654+08:002018-05-09T03:26:26.654+08:00That's a cool idea. There's also something...That's a cool idea. There's also something, well, monstrous about deliberately manipulating your own children into weird and wondrous new forms.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-10009659562324443082018-05-09T03:24:57.895+08:002018-05-09T03:24:57.895+08:00But what if the snarks and grumpkins are magic and...But what if the snarks and grumpkins are magic and self-spawn? noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-65700125408272896042018-05-09T03:24:23.094+08:002018-05-09T03:24:23.094+08:00That's a cool concept for a campaign. The prob...That's a cool concept for a campaign. The problem is if somebody dies how they get replaced.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-50293587499201848692018-05-09T03:23:48.303+08:002018-05-09T03:23:48.303+08:00Definitely. Although I think all Xvarts are probab...Definitely. Although I think all Xvarts are probably a little bit grouchy... ;)noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-56912228695326825382018-05-09T03:23:18.626+08:002018-05-09T03:23:18.626+08:00Yes, more folkloric for sure - I think also Tolkie...Yes, more folkloric for sure - I think also Tolkien somewhere wrote that an "orc" is just a word for a demon or evil spirit and there could presumably be many forms of them.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-52912647115400925752018-05-05T11:37:20.510+08:002018-05-05T11:37:20.510+08:00I've long toyed with the idea of superspecies ...I've long toyed with the idea of superspecies of monsters that share little besides the genetic sequence that allows them to rework their offspring's genetics Lamarck-style.<br />That way all your Echidnas and cerberi and Typhons can be wildly unique but plausibly related. Typhon could be unique, Echidna decided there only had to be 3 of herself at any one time and cerberus propagated a whole species off the one template.TPmanWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08415910295872695542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-43763293242531316312018-05-05T11:20:30.167+08:002018-05-05T11:20:30.167+08:00[OT:] I found a store in Dublin that sells these G...[OT:] I found a store in Dublin that sells these Glencairn whiskey glasses for €7 a pop, so I'm picking up a pair next week. I hope my nose is not too big to fit inside for the full experience. Do you have a special glass for that special scotch?<br /><br />https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glencairn_whisky_glassKenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11165997449776226774noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-32429105923111517162018-05-04T01:59:03.593+08:002018-05-04T01:59:03.593+08:00Such a concept sounds a lot like post-apocalyptic ...Such a concept sounds a lot like post-apocalyptic fiction (at least of the Gamma World flavor) where small pockets of "tribes" have grown up that feature like-mutated individuals (green men, orlens, bird people, etc.). See also cartoons like Thundarr (ape-people, lizard people, shark people, etc.), comics like Komandi, and Vance's Cudgel (Dying Earth) stories for the cultural equivalent of this idea.<br /><br />Not sure it works as well for D&D when part of the design concept is PCs integrating themselves into a functional society as they develop over time (i.e. establishing baronies in the existing feudal hierarchy). That doesn't really fly when society is a patchwork hodge-podge. <br /><br />[and IF humans (or other civilized folk) are the only consistent functioning society, one would assume they'd stamp out these smaller groups of snarks and grumpkins in short order]JBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03263662621289630246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-8049751606787584872018-05-03T21:11:54.613+08:002018-05-03T21:11:54.613+08:00Here's a stray thought:
All the PCs must be hu...Here's a stray thought:<br />All the PCs must be human. The PCs are the only humans.<br /><br />You could really evoke the lonely/ horror/ danger feelings that way.Jeremiahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11245925772331967567noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-79155503341730135472018-05-03T13:06:40.026+08:002018-05-03T13:06:40.026+08:00Making a monster semi-unique would be a good way t...Making a monster semi-unique would be a good way to make a boring monster interesting. Maybe there are only thirteen xvarts, they all like in a big hollow stump in the Duskydingle forest and their naming conventions are based on social status or a defining characteristic, like the Moomins or Smurfs. Grandpa Xvart, Baby Xvart, Grouchy Xvart, etc.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-48592859899639443322018-05-03T06:25:48.706+08:002018-05-03T06:25:48.706+08:00Reminds me of the type vi demons.Reminds me of the type vi demons.Darnizhaanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12067874224412746414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-57613978988928743942018-05-03T05:06:52.050+08:002018-05-03T05:06:52.050+08:00It's perhaps also worth noting that the semi-u...It's perhaps also worth noting that the semi-unique monster is an absolute staple of mythology: the gorgons, the cyclopes and the Eddic dwarfs (originally, at least, it seems). And then you have a semi-unique group of unique monsters in the children of Typhon and Echidna: Cerberus, Chimera, Othrus and a few others, depending on the telling.<br /><br />In fact, the "species-ising" of monsters is mostly a recent phenomenon. I don't think there's much conception of a species of goblins before George Macdonald and JRR Tolkien, for example: goblins were local and heterogenous creatures. Trolls certainly are in many of the sagas: Hrolf Kraki's Saga has one that looks like a boar and another that's more like a dragon. <br /><br />So perhaps tending towards the unique and the semi-unique gives you a game that's more mythically or folklorically resonant than one which echoes Tolkien and his imitators. <br /><br />Against all that, the Far East does seem to go in for monstrous species: while yokai are highly varied, oni, tengu and kappa can slot into an RPG bestiary in a way that traditional Western goblins can't. And the same goes for fox-spirits in China and Japan.JChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17964744140140515737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-14168730731807097042018-05-03T04:54:12.751+08:002018-05-03T04:54:12.751+08:00As you are doubtless all too aware, things like th...As you are doubtless all too aware, things like the tonbliboos and pontipines become ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING when you have to turn to them, night after fruitless night, to try to lull a recalcitrant infant to sleep ...<br /><br />I think this is a great concept. And it's one that works very well in D&D, with its vast reserves of humanoid monsters. My preference is to assume that "goblins" (used to encompass the traditional humanoid spectrum, from kobold to bugbear) are vastly different from one place to another, and are differently named. You get a much more folkloric effect that way: the ogres of Stone Valley are the Three Weepers and are scaled like fish; Black Annis is the ogress of the Dane Hills (and there's only one of her); and the Seven Grey Brothers are the ogres of Flint Mountain. None, of course, would be described as ogres during a game - except in the loosest sense.<br /><br />Oddly enough, I just wrote a blog post on some "local" goblins here:<br /><br />https://hobgoblinry.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/have-you-seen-jack-in-green.html<br /><br />I've had another underway for a while about how one benefit of gaming with miniatures is that you can start to think of a group of monsters as a "party" - there are only seven Black Orcs of Khuzdul, so going up against them is more like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre than the Mines of Moria. <br />JChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17964744140140515737noreply@blogger.com