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Thursday, November 21, 2024

The Monstrome

 So I've been writing like I used to--just sitting down and writing for 5 hours straight.

This shit is exhausting.  I don't know how I used to do this back in 2015.

Anyway, I decided to start putting some of my monsters into a proper bestiary.  It's ~35 pages.

THE MONSTROME (Pageless)

THE MONSTROME (Paged)

I have a lot of opinions about the best way to write an entry in a monster manual, but I figured I would try to lead by example instead of writing a silly proscriptive post.  It's unformatted, so it looks like shit, but I like the content and don't hate the structure.

There's currently only a few monsters in there.  Crazy how long it takes to write up a good monster entry.

  • Ankheg
  • Giant Worm
  • Bone Needle Man
  • Corpse Balloon
  • Ghouls, Geists, Ghasts, and Drowners
  • Terophidians
Corpse Balloons are the only entry that are 100% new.  (Although, I'm not sure I've posted my take on Giant Worms, before.)

Bone Needle Man and Terophidian are what I would consider core IP of my blog (along with maybe gretchlings, popkins, and the false hydra).

I left comments unlocked.  Feel free to tag any typo that annoys you.

It's kind of a mess, but I wanted to publish something tonight.  (If I don't keep momentum, I never finish anything.)

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5 comments:

  1. SkerplesNovember 21, 2024 at 5:13 AM

    Worms (and worm steaks) strike me as a problem similar to whale hunting in pre-industrial cultures. It's an infrastructure problem. It encourages community interaction.

    Love the corpse balloons. Grab+drop monsters are always fun. They interact well with complex environments (bridges, rigging, gearwheels, etc.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Arnold KNovember 22, 2024 at 1:19 AM

      I think the biggest difference between whalers and WORM HUNTERS is that you aren't limited by the boat. You're free to disperse, recruit (the PCs), and there's a lot more space for different environments.

      Harpooning a giant worm sounds like fun times, though.

      Delete
  2. UnknownNovember 21, 2024 at 7:36 AM

    This is great and quite useful. I'm running the Dolmenwood setting right now, and have been using your death and dismemberment table to great effect.

    I'm looking forward to yoinking some of these. Thanks!

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  3. VulnaviaNovember 21, 2024 at 12:56 PM

    Oh the corpse balloons are so much fun. I'll be using them for sure. I like the refined Bone Needle Man as well, more mysterious and evocative.

    ReplyDelete
  4. cowboybunnyNovember 22, 2024 at 12:43 AM

    love these monsters, i gotta use them somewhere. heads up, the pageless version has a duplicate of the ankheg environment/ecology section in the giant worm entry.

    ReplyDelete