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D&D Ideas — Monsters are Cool

Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is monsters are cool, which we discussed in our weekly live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST on Nerdarchy Live to talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of how monsters are cool there are many mysterious rumors about the dangers of the Wyrd Wood from the Moaning Bat to One Eyed Hagatha to The Hunchback on the Hill perfect to set the mood for a Halloween encounter with the Hag’s Apprentice. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy plus snag a FREE GIFT by signing up here.

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Open a third eye for a peek at the week that was! Discover new psionic spells and whimsical character options plus a new live chats and live game play rounds out this week’s Nerdy News. Check it out here.

Delving Dave’s Dungeon

Monsters are cool, it’s true. It couldn’t be any cooler than it is in tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons. At this point I have run the live chat on Nerdarchy the YouTube channel and Nerdarchy Live over 500 hundred times. That is a lot of guests in and around D&D. So many of them talked about getting into D&D because they discovered the Monster Manual for whatever edition of the game was out at the time. That book and the creatures within captured the imagination of so many budding RPG gamers.

What D&D player hasn’t pored over monster books for hours on end? Those monsters are the seeds for our stories we’ll tell together at the gaming table. The monsters in them inspire villains, allies and NPCs that fall somewhere in-between. You might find inspiration from the existing lore from your favorite monster book or create new lore unique to your very own D&D campaign setting.

We did a series of videos where we re-envision certain monsters and races in D&D. We tackled dwarves, goblins, kobolds, lizardfolk and orcs. You can check out the playlist here.

One of my favorite things to do is turn one of the standard D&D monsters into an NPC in my games so the characters can interact with them. The more monstrous or bizarre the monster the better. I’ve used a nothic, beholder, grell and troglodyte to name a few. Players seem to love these unusual NPCs. Not only that but it also gives those cool monsters more depth and meaning in your worlds.

From Ted’s Head

Like many RPG players out there I started my career in these games as a player, and back then I always preferred to be a player. Before I played in the group that eventually became the foundation of Nerdarchy I played with other friends. Those groups typically allowed me to be a player but I occasionally ran and back then it was not very exciting. I would have preferred to be on the other side of the screen.

Now after years and years behind the screen, being able to play with a wide variety of players and player types, I would truly miss being a DM if you told me I could never run another game of D&D again. There is an aspect of being able to guide the stories and help manage the characters’ wants against their fears. One of the major aspects I love about being a DM is making up my own creatures. Sometimes I care about the lore of the thing I am creating and other times I love the stat block or altering one to make an encounter memorable for the players.

It is without a doubt that monsters are cool. When I look back at the foundation of this game and some of the ridiculous monsters designed for it I question: what were they thinking? Other monster illustrations draw my stare time and time again in amazement.

Over the editions of D&D some of the lore changes and we get more than just the crazy wizard did creating a bizarre monster. But every now and again I make up a new creature and I still use that silly reason. After playing this game for three decades not only do I feel it is necessary to have a crazy wizard in a campaign, but I love the trope. It is old school. I do not have a problem when Wizards of the Coast wants to make new lore because they usually do an excellent job.

If you are either a DM or considering becoming a DM for the first time it is ok to make up your own stuff. After all making your own monsters makes them cool to you. Deploying or describing a monster no one at the table knows anything about either visually or mechanically is an experience I just love. I will share one of my best memories of monsters to showcase this facet of being a DM.

A couple of years back the Nerdarchy crew ran our week of D&D In A Castle. All of our stories had the same beginning and ending point but allowed the adventurers to move about the castle doing as they would. Buried deep beneath the castle was a green dragon. It’s Dungeons and Dragons! You have to fight a dragon in a dungeon at a castle once in your life right?

Anyway, the character gets the kill shot on the dragon and they describe what happens. Cool! As soon as the body hits the pile of coins and blood begins to leak out of the dragon’s corpse the party begins to hear the sound of air being pulled by a whooshing or sucking sound. Out nowhere, like it teleported, is this beholder-esque creature but instead of having eye stalks and a giant eye, it has a giant mouth in the center of its orb and 10 stalks each with a hand at the end.

From the moment it appeared it immediately began to shovel the gold and treasure into its large maw which disappeared as it was swallowed. The look of horror on the players’ faces at this Withholder stealing their hard won treasure was priceless. The Withholder was made by our friends over at Hit Point Press and I had one made by a friend of a friend: Miguel of MZ4250 digitally sculpted it for me and I had it 3D printed and painted and carried it overseas for just this moment. I still remember it fondly.

As a DM if you think monsters are cool you probably have a story similar to this one that can make you smile even years later. If you are on the fence or not even there yet think about taking up the mantle and give your forever GM a break and you too might begin to think these monsters are cool.

From the Nerditor’s Desk

The impetus for suggesting how monsters are cool in 5E D&D as the topic this week came after putting together our latest Character Build Guide for The Wolverine. In the same way Nerdarchist Ted loves everything about magic items I’ve developed quite a fondness for monsters over the years. This is especially due to our CBGs, which all include a creature or NPC inspired by the character build.

Above all else it’s the emergent stories happening during play that excites us the most. When we play 5E D&D or any other RPG on either side of the screen any and every moment holds potential for memorable experiences. This includes the heat of combat and I believe even the mechanical stat blocks provide awesome opportunities for creating those moments. It’s why monsters are cool whether you’re fighting them, researching them or interacting with them in any capacity.

Here’s a couple of examples to illustrate the point. I’ll use two monsters — one from the Basic Rules available to anyone for free and one of our own creations.

Fire Giant

I chose a giant because giants as a whole are generally considered boring in 5E D&D. I also picked a monster with the same challenge rating as the one I’ll use from our own collection. Here’s why these monsters are cool!

• Huge size. This opens the door to Combat Options like Climb onto a Bigger Creature. A big factor in encounters with giants is selling the sizzle too. Describing the fearsome size of their greatswords, the impenetrable thickness of their black iron armor and their overall massive size compared to even the largest goliaths puts players in the frame of mind to be wary of such a threat.
• Fire immunity. Adventurers don’t need to encounter fire giants in a volcano to make this relevant. In our own Fire for Effect encounter a warband of hobgoblins rain flaming arrows down from a howdah to create deadly terrain for their assault. Fire giant don’t care. Now you can literally sell the sizzle.
• Rock. Once these projectiles hit the ground they don’t disappear. Want to use the rules for cover in your game? Voila. A rock big enough to deal 4d10 bludgeoning damage absolutely provides half cover at the very least. All of a sudden you’ve got much more dynamic battlefield conditions for everyone involved.

Mage’s Echo

For our own selection I went with this undead creature for a couple of reasons. For one thing we’ve got a post at Nerdarchy the Website about getting more from this monster. In this series we take one of our monsters and create some new optional traits and actions for them along with a magic item and adventure hooks. The other reason is these monsters come from Wizard’s Wake, which is one of my favorite modules of ours so I tend to promote it a lot. Go check it out!

• Undead type. Seems obvious but worth noting even a basic component of a creature like their type suggests a lot. Undead creatures once lived and now exist in a horrifying state. How this came to be makes for a compelling hook upon which to hang engagement. In Wizard’s Wake the mage’s echoes are the lingering spirits of the crew of a magical ship. They may represent simply a dangerous encounter but keep an open mind as a DM or player. Let your curiosity guide you and who knows? Your campaign may lead to extraordinary stories you’ll remember for a lifetime through something as simple as players wondering who this restless spirit was in life.
• Ethereal Sight. A lot of ghostly creatures have this trait, which grants sight into the ethereal plant when one the material plane and vice versa. To me this begs for a means to incorporate planar stuff for the adventurers. It might take some subtlety but if you can steer the party towards their own ethereal jaunt where a creature on the material plane turns its terrifying gaze their way you’ve got the makings of a scary scenario.
• Abrasive Soul. The torment of these lingering souls causes anguish for nearby mortals. Give them a reason to haunt the living and you’ll create quite a mystery for a group of adventurers. Why are NPCs experiencing terrible psychic pain? What’s the source, and what’s the connection between them? With their incorporeal nature a mage’s echo can affect those they haunt from beyond.

*Featured images — Immerse yourself in monster lore for the world’s greatest roleplaying game. Tyler Jacobson illustrates a fateful meeting between a suspicious frost giant and a lone adventurer armed with Volo’s Guide to Monsters. Will the giant cleave our learned hero in two, or will diplomacy win the day? [Image courtesy Wizards of the Coast]

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