rpg

3647 readers

18 users here now

This community is for meaningful discussions of tabletop/pen & paper RPGs

Rules (wip):

Do not distribute pirate content
Do not incite arguments/flamewars/gatekeeping.
Do not submit video game content unless the game is based on a tabletop RPG property and is newsworthy.
Image and video links MUST be TTRPG related and should be shared as self posts/text with context or discussion unless they fall under our specific case rules.
Do not submit posts looking for players, groups or games.
Do not advertise for livestreams
Limit Self-promotions. Active members may promote their own content once per week. Crowdfunding posts are limited to one announcement and one reminder across all users.
Comment respectfully. Refrain from personal attacks and discriminatory (racist, homophobic, transphobic, etc.) comments. Comments deemed abusive may be removed by moderators.
No Zak S content.
Off-Topic: Book trade, Boardgames, wargames, video games are generally off-topic.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Why Monsters, and Why So Many? (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

24 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I was watching some RPG YouTube, and of course there was talk about Monsters. And with the recent OMG CONTROVERSY with the newest Monster Manual, I got to thinking about something that is more inherent in D&D and in fantasy games in general, why so many monsters? I've played various other games, and read many books, watched many movies, but it seems that fantasy games, with D&D leading the charge, seem to have more monsters than any other medium in the genre, or other genre's in particular. So yeah, why are there so many monsters?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago

So I have been DMing a DnD campaign from level 3 to level 15 at this point. At this point my players have killed ~900 "monsters" at in around 40 different adventures. This doesn't even count the numbers that were in an adventure they didn't kill because they ran away, avoided or were NPCs with monster stats. They have killed at least 10 in all categories except plants, fey and celestials so having lots of categories helps as well.

So we need a lot of different options to keep everything fresh and interesting for the players and myself. Some of these are nuanced adventures with complex interactions and moral dilemmas while some are basic hack and slash. So I need a lot of different monsters to use that fit different flavors, use different mechanics and cover different difficulties. I have created some from scratch but it helps to have templates to start with. I won't use everything in the monster manual but I have used a lot of it so far.

I think it helps to think of each adventure as its own little novel. So in one we are exploring the culture and cruelty of the Yuan-ti in a vaguely Mesoamerican inspired setting while the next they are exploring Bridgerton inspired high culture and dance that was infiltrated by both a rowdy fey and cosmic horror beyond the stars. It helps to have lots of inspirations to draw on since every adventure can be different.