The Hag Moth

Click on the picture to get a PDF copy.

I've been working all weekend on my Zine Quest 2 project. Its been slow going. I've got bits and pieces spread out. Beginnings of an adventure here, notes over there, and somewhere in the mix is the hag moth. How the hell did this guy get into the mix?

I was writing an adventure and thinking of the dangers in the forest, or more exact the nuisances. Bugs! One of my least favorite things. I figured in the ever darkness of the Komor Forest what would happen when an adventuring party brings in light. Swarm!

I tweaked them a bit so they are only attracted to normal light, not magical. 

I guess hag moths are a real thing. I did not know that. And the pictures I found are creepy. Especially the cocoon. A bit HP Lovecraft looking if you ask me. And the poison, that is true, real life, no shit accurate. 

This little write-up was a nice break from the zine. You can click the picture to grab the PDF.

Enjoy!

The Lost Monster Manual

+Jim Magnusson who was featured on my latest Manor with creepy mirror maker, Miraboth the Mercurial.  He also provided a handful of fantastic illustrations for the interior.  The amazing thing about Jim, he is probably the fastest artist I've ever worked with.  I remember giving him a vague and generic description of what I wanted and within a couple of hours he'd given me my cover.  By the next day he had two or three of the interior pieces done.  You can see his work on his blog, Aenglum.

Why am I telling you all this?  Jim has a Patreon page, where he draws The Lost Monster Manuel pages.  These are postcard size pictures of creatures whose lore was lost in the fog of history.  Each picture has striking detail, each is bordered with a stylized frame and best of all, worked into the border is random table that is specifically made for the creature.  Last night I printed out the three he has available on 4" x 6" note cards and then I laminated the cards.  They look fantastic.

I printed, then laminated the cards.

If you are into monsters, or cards or art, Jim encompasses all of these with The Lost Monster Manual pages.  Please check out his Patreon page and join if you enjoy those kind of things.  It is well worth it.  I worked in his Braindead Dwarf in a micro-adventure I'm working on.  

Enjoy.

Monsterous Mondays: The ANGRY Stick Mob

Here is the final  entry into Tim Brannan's Monstrous Mondays.  I have received several secrets messages that these monsters I have revealed are too terrifying and must stop.  How could I be so cold and heartless to disturb the sleep of the sheep that go through life happy and ignorant?  Now they tremble in the dark listening for the plunging stubs vibrating the ground of the GIANT Stickman.  Or the arrangements of the SAVAGE 2-Headed Stick Monster.  Or the slight click and run of the HORRIBLE Mr. Sticks who comes to eat your feet as the sheep dream of vanilla ice cream, puppies and all the nice things they will say tomorrow.

Wake up sheep.  It's time to take control.  It's time to get ANGRY!

The ANRGY Stick Mob is one of the most powerful forces known.  Where the tyranny and fear become too much the Stickmen snap and those once expressionless faces take on a furrowed brow, those little empty hands now grasp torches and weapons and their bodies expand and become stronger as the stickman rage overtakes them.

The ANGRY Stick Mob has only been seen a few times throughout history making it impossible to stat.  When an ANGRY Stick Mob has appeared governments have crumbled, monsters of legend have fled and the terrain on which they walk is burned and cut down.  Forest have disappeared.  Seas have been drained and mountains fell before the tromping feet of the ANGRY mob.

So those sleeping sheep who are afraid of the things that I have revealed.  Fear not, for you are the most monstrous of them all.  You are the one to be feared.  All these things that have come before this Monday fear the day when you and the others like you become ANGRY.

Monstrous Mondays: The HORRIBLE Mr. Sticks

Last week I admitted to some of my gaming friends that I had in fact, not drawn the stickmen in my Monstrous Monday posts.  I had Google ganked them.  The one most recently from a six-year old whose name I never found.  This new admission made Rusty Battle Axe, and I quote,

"Made me throw up in my mouth a little."

I have learned my lesson.  The following HORRIBLE creature is not something I wanted to expose because calling him out gives him more power. This...this thing that haunts my thoughts and escapes my look when I see something moving at the corner of my eye.  Go no further if you wish to keep your feet and nose.  I have warned you and can do nothing more to sway your damn curiosity.  I present to you The HORRIBLE Mr. Sticks....

drawn by your own host's hands...well, the right hand

The HORRIBLE Mr. Sticks is a unique creature made up of scrap lumber, tools for hands and he wears a pumpkin for his head.  A pumpkin carved with jagged teeth for gnashing and tearing.  Some have argued the Mr. Sticks is a golem aberration, some say it may be a demon sprung from an evil child's dream and others believe it is a malevolent spirit manifested.  No one is certain. 

Mr. Sticks stalks its prey, waiting til it falls asleep.  When the target is deep in slumber Mr. Sticks does one of two things, it eats the person's feet off (75%) or or snips off the nose (25%).  Once this is done Mr. Sticks disappears into the darkness.

There have been a few occasions when Mr. Sticks has been captured.  In these cases once the morning comes Mr. Sticks falls into a pile of wood with a pumpkin on top.  In other cases where Mr. Sticks has been defeated in battle with his sticks broken and his gourd smashed, but within a week's time Mr. Sticks begins his reign of terror at night.

Mr. Sticks inhabits the outlaying rural areas where there are few people and lots of woods.  Only once has he ever been encountered in a city and that is another story in itself.  He will prey on a village, terrorize it for a cycle then move on.  Sometimes his attacks restart a few miles away or it could be a hundred miles away.

The HORRIBLE Mr. Sticks is worshiped by other stickmen.  They call upon him when they are in need of help.  This help always comes at a price.  Mr Sticks holy symbol is two boards nailed together in the center.

I would give you stats, but that would only encourage you to call up The HORRIBLE Mr. Sticks and do battle.  I will not be that irresponsible.  I will tell you check beneath your bed at night because that is where he likes to lurk.  Tuck your feet in tight in your blankets.  And don't snore.  A snore is a dinner chime to The HORRIBLE Mr. Sticks .

Monsteorus Monday: The Savage Two-Headed Stickman Monster

It's Monday again and that means the work week is reset.  That sucks.  But it also means its Monstrous Monday and that does not suck.  So here is another entry into the Monday that has turned into four Mondays, sponsored by Tim Brannan from The Other Side blog.

My newest entry in  Monstrous Mondays is the rare and lethal SAVAGE Two-Headed Stickman Monster.  The picture drawn was found in the bloody hand of an artist who encountered one.  He had fed it three consecutive days and thought he was forming a bond with the creature.  When I say they found the picture in the artist's bloody hand I mean that was all they found.  Like the rest of his body was gone.  Probably eaten.  By the SAVAGE Two-Headed Stickman Monster.  Although I am unsure which head ate him or if they shared.

The first startling feature about the SAVAGE Two-Headed Stickman Monster is its girth.  It is thick with corded muscle.  Arms that end in SAVAGE bladed like hands.  Another feature the the foolish artist captured was its three dark bellybuttons.  There is much debate whether it is one bellybutton and two vertical nipples or two bellybuttons and one nipple or small gateways into the third circle of hell.  No one is sure.  Another feature that makes this a SAVAGE Two-Headed Stickman Monster is the jagged mouth.  While it does no have teeth, it jawbone forms a jagged edge to tear meat from bone.  And of course it has two-heads.  There is usually one dominate head that does most of the talking and decision making.

The other feature that has been captured, to much of the scholars amazement is the head wear.  It is rumored that the SAVAGE Two-Headed Stickman Monster are always bald and their heads get cold very easily.  Most pictures captured have shown the monster wearing a hat of some sort.  They are often decorated with souvenirs such as body parts and weapons.  This is where an adventure will find the loot.

HD: 12
AC: 4 (15) or 2 (17) head
DAM: 2d6/2d6 (slicer hands) or 1d10 bite
MV: 120
Save: 10
Special: Unlike most stickman creatures because of its girth it gains no AC bonus.  However it does get a bonus for AC when it wears headgear.  If an adventure does gaze into the navel of a SAVAGE Two-Headed Stickman Monster he will indeed be transported into the gluttonous third circle of hell.  Get in my belly.

Monstrous Mondays Continue

Here is my second entry for Tim Brannon's Monstrous Mondays for October, GIANT Stickmen.

GIANT Stickmen are GIANT.  That means big.  Actually it means bigger than big and a little bigger than huge.  The picture above shows an actually size comparison.  A GIANT stickman is nearly three times the height of a normal stickman and weights ten times as much, most of the weight comes from their GIANT head.

The GIANT stickman attacks with its two poundy fists.  It likes its meat tender and will continue to pound its dead prey for some times a few days to get the right squishiness.  It will also attack with its GIANT mouth.  The jaw goes back so far in its head it nearly splits in two.  When a GIANT stickman attacks with a bite on 19-20 it automatically eats off a limb. 

There are some serious flaws in the GIANT stickman's genetics.  One being their GIANT size is often accompanied by normal legs.  As you can see in the actually photo taken of a GIANT stickamn attack it has worn off its feet.  This is not uncommon.  Those GIANT stickmen who live long enough wear off their entire legs and have to roll to get where they want to.

HD: 8+2 if they have no legs 8-2
AC:  5 (14)
DAM: 2d6/2d6 (poundy fists) or 3d30 (bite)
MV: 60 with legs, 20 no legs, 0 if caught in a GIANT ditch with no legs
Save: 13
Special: Bite attack automatically eats a limb or head on a roll of a 19 or 20.  Unlike normal stickman it gains no AC bonus for standing sideways because it is GIANT. 

Monster Monday : Vicious Stickmen

In honor of Tim Brannan's Monstrous Monday I bring you the VICIOUS Stickman!

While this stickman does not look dangerous he in fact is VICIOUS!  He'll stab you in the eye.  Stab you in the genitals.  Stab you in your neck.  Then walk away whistling. He is indistinguishable from any other stickman except just before he is about to do a VICIOUS thing he begins to whistle.

HD: 1+2
AC: Body 5 (14), Head 8 (11), Stands Sideways 0 (19)
Dam:  1d2 (any pokey things)
MV: 60 
Save: 13 
Special: Like all stickmen when they stand sideways there are nearly invisible. 

Corpse Flies: A Repost for OSR Monster Month

Corpse Flies
HD: 1/2  AC: 14  Dam: 1-2* 

The smell of corpses was thick.  Same smell came from the flies.  Those goddamn flies.  I'd never seen such large flies before.  Black as night and as large as a man's clenched fist.  Their bite is like someone driving a nail through your flesh.  Don't let too many of those latch onto you or they'll drink you dry before you can collapse to the ground. 

Bury the dead.  Burn the dead.  If one fly finds a body within a few days you'll have hundreds of them.  For some reason they don't bother with animals.  Just people. 

I've heard of some getting bit by a single corpse fly and getting sick.  Very sick.  The corpse cough.  An old priest told me to wash out the wounds with rancid beer.  I told that old priest beer never lasted that long enough around my house to go rancid.  He nodded like I was being a amusing child and told me to flush out the wound as soon as I could.  He then pulled back a blood splattered sheet and showed me two people suffering from corpse cough.  Gaunt and mindless.  They just laid there and moaned until the cough was on them.  The cough jerked their bodies and blood sprayed from their mouths.  The priest told me to stay clear of the blood.  Then he thanked the gods that this would be their last day.  Said the corpse cough took a couple of weeks to eat a man from the inside.  Nothing but suffering.  Goddamn flies.

Player Monster Knowledge

Peter over at his Dungeon Fantastic blog asked an interesting question in his post, Player Reading Monster Manuals.  Go give it a read, I'll wait.  And if you have a second answer his poll on the side.  I'll wait.

There is no way you can enforce the players not to read the monster manuals.  If you play, most people I know get the core books.  And in a game where monsters are a regular occurrence I believe players would have some knowledge of them through stories, trainers or whatever.  Most people who live in my campaign world know trolls regenerate.  I'm not going to deny my players that knowledge.  Some may argue the more unique monsters the players would have no knowledge.  Fair enough.

But this is when a GM needs to take advantage of the player's knowledge and turn it on them.  So for shits and giggles let's use a medusa as an example.  Stone gaze, and because of Clash of the Titans she may be kick ass with a bow, poison snake head, all of us can recite the list of fine qualities this lovely lady possesses.  So players are armed with what they think they will happen.  Ah oh, lookie here, this medusa doesn't turn anyone to stone.  This one turns them into water, trickle into the river next her layer and wash into the sea.  Those stone to flesh potions might as well be orc turds for as useful as they will be. Maybe her gaze is not the catalyst, maybe she breathes out a gas and those who are in the area of effect become nothing more than a puddle. 

GMs cannot be lazy.  They must put the effort into creating new monsters or at least variations of  a critter to build tension when a monster is encountered.  Tweaking old monsters, playing on expectations is a great way to startle the players out of their comfort zone. 

The other thing is just to make new monsters.  Blogs are dedicated to making monsters.  You can't swing a dead displacer beast without hitting a new one.  But the best monsters are the ones you make yourself.  In this case the players will only know them by their description and not their stats.  Like I said before, GMs cannot be lazy, they need to put that effort in.  Players know as much as the GMs and sometimes more. 

This ain't 1979 when only a couple of kids had the books.  This is 2012 and everyone has the books in print, PDF, on their phones and ipads and crap I probably haven't heard of. 

But I say go ahead and read your little monster manuals, I got stuff in my head that's gonna make you lose sleep. 

Monster Strength

I want my strength bonus!

I've been running my AD&D campaign now for a few months and something finally penetrated my thick brain the other day.  Let's take the Ogre for example, in the Monster Manual is does 1-10 damage or by weapon type.  No strength bonus is figured in.  The only reason this penetrated my thick skull was one of the characters has an 18/00 and is a fricking slaughtering machine.  The ogre is 9' tall and one mass of muscle and no bonus and if I remember correctly and I know do, the magic item Gauntlets of Ogre Power provide the wearer with an 18/00 strength.  The only creatures I can think of off the top of my shaved head that strength is figured are the giants, but again not into the damage itself. 

Here is a table I got out of the Monster Manual II.  It gives 19 to 25 strengths and a comparable monster.
Str   Monster
19    Hill Giant
20    Stone Giant
21    Frost Giant
22    Fire Giant
23   Cloud Giant
24    Storm Giant
25    Titan

Again, none of these strength bonuses are included into the damage.  Now I can hear some readers out there saying they don't include any attribute bonuses into the stats. True and not true.  Some of the armor classes are lower because of creature being quick, some critters can cast spells because they have a higher intelligence and so on.  Is it quantified?  No.  Would I want it to be?  No.  I'm just saying this because I've been thinking about it.  Although I wouldn't go around figuring out dexterities for creatures, I have done a lose configuration of strengths.  Why?  Because I'm on vacation this week.  If you want to make any more sense of it beyond that then you are wasting your time.  I'm doing this before I go out and by Skyrim.

Since my campaign is mainly populated by gobliniods, humanoids and the occasion horrific abomination here is my half ass list.  Is this set in stone?  No.  Why am I asking myself all these questions and answering them?  I don't know.

Str    Monster
7       Kolbolds
8       Goblins
12     Orcs
16     Hobgoblins & Gnolls & Troglodytes
17     Bugbears
18/00  Minotaurs & Ogres & Owlbears
19     Trolls & Umber Hulks
20     Ettin

A Monster of Monsters

The other day I asked a question on Google+ if anyone had used the Tarrasque in their game.  Most had, one even said it was a playable class which boggles the mind and sounds fun as hell.  Recently in my campaign the players were exploring one thing and ended up seeing the Tarrasque free itself from hibernation.  They're not sure what to think of it other than not to get in its way at this point.  I know what I am doing with it and how to use it, but I was thinking of different ways such a creature could be used in a campaign.

First, it is a force of nature, destroying everything in its path.  It eats and sleeps.  It's only purpose is to eat and sleep.  There is no grand scheme to its actions other than that.

Second, it is a force of nature that does have a purpose.  When things get unbalanced, because we all know nature is neutral and loves balance, this big boy comes out to play to set the scales equal.

Third, a god pet.  Release the Kracken kind of thing.

Fourth, a prehistoric god itself who has outlived all its followers and now seen only as a abomination.

And I am sure there are a billion other back stories you could give this big boy.  I'm still working on the mythology for mine.  I've got most of it figured out, but still looking for some tasty bits.  So if you have any Tarasque stores and feel like sharing please do.  I want to peek at your ideas and maybe steal some ideas.

At least I am an honest thief.

My Stack of Monsters

Not sure why just thought I would take a picture of all the 'Monster Manuals' I have.  I didn't include the rule books with monsters in them, slayer guides or other specialty books. And this doesn't include the several PDFs of critters I have.  Just plain old, big ass, books filled with monsters!  

From the top to the bottom we have the Castles & Crusades Monster & Treasure, the Monster Vault for 4th edition D&D (this is on top because its a box and I didn't want it crushed.  The best thing about this box set is the tokens you get for all of you out there who can't dedicate a room to miniatures.)  GURPS Fantasy Bestiary is next.  I know it says GURPS Fantasy and that's because I pulled out the wrong book and I didn't feel like re shooting.  I admit it, I am a lazy photog.  Next layer is the   the eight volumes of Hacklopedia of Beasts, Malevolent and the Benign which I think is a under appreciated book, Monsters of Myth, the classic Fiend Folio, then the gigantic volume of The Tome of Horrors, Pathfinder's Bestiary 1 &2, Monster Manual 2, then the one that started it all for me the Monster Manual, Monster Manual 4th edition D&D, Monster Manual 3rd edition, and way down there on the bottom is the beautiful new Hacklopedia of Beasts for Basic HackMaster.  One book that isn't included and definately one of my favorite because of its simplicity is the S&W Monster Book.  Love those stat blocks.

The Verm - New Monster

As I was writing the dungeon for Starter Adventures I wanted to use a favorite critter of mine from the Fiend Folio, the Volt.  I really like the picture in the FF.  Although when I was hunting around I didn't see if it was under the OGL.   I'm lousy at figuring that stuff out.  So instead of trying to find out if it was covered under the OGL I decided to create my own critter based off the Volt.  This is how the Verm came about.  And Jason drew a kick ass picture for the Verm.  Because I have a handful of new monster I am adding a new section to Starter Adventures.  They will be a collection of low level guys you can throw into the fray.  Here is the Verm given in Swords & Wizardry Core stats.




Verm
HD:       1+1
AC:        5 [14]
Dam:     1d3 (bite), 1d4 (shock)
Move:   12
Save:     16
CL/XP:   3/60
Special: A successful bite causes 1d4 shock damage (save halves).

The verm are giant rats with a natural ability to channel electricity.  They travel within packs of normal giants rats.  They are territorial so only one is usually present in the pack, but sometimes there is a mating couple.  Verm are slightly more intelligent than normal rats and can use some minor tactics in a fight.  One of the more unusual things about verm is when not mating they often bond with an individual.  The individual can train the verm and the verm will serve them as the same as a dog.  But the territorial nature of the verm makes it difficult for the person to have friends.  The verm considers them competition and will look remove it. 

Monster Vault

Another 4th Edition box set has hit the shelves at my not so local Borders.  It's tagged a $29.99, but armed with a 33% coupon and about $8 dollars in the gift card managed to get this for $12 out of pocket.  The price of the AD&D PHB and MM back, back, way back in the day.  If I played 4th Edition I think the $30 price tag would be fair, but since I don't play 4th edition I was only willing to get it for the reduced price.  And it is worth it.  What irked the shit out of me is as soon as I got out of my car I dropped it and scrunched in two corners. 

The main reason why I bought it were the monster tokens.  There are 10 sheets of excellent artwork on sturdy tokens.  I gave my miniatures to Rob years ago because 1) I don't have the space to keep them 2) I don't have the room to store all the paints and dodads you need 3) I don't like painting miniatures.  These tokens are a nice replacement not requiring much space and no painting.  They suit my needs just fine.  There is a wide variety and I like that the three different size tokens, plus they have a handful of 'rings' that makes smaller creatures larger. 

Also included in the box is the adventure, Cairn of the Winter King.  A predictable, but not bad adventure for 4th level characters.  It looks easy enough to convert to S&W or OSRIC.  It's definitely an adventure by the numbers, but most of 4th edition modules I have or read are set up this way.  There is a flip map to assist the adventure.  It provides the location when the undead ship arrives and attacks the town and a portion of the dungeon on the other side.  I wish the map was more generic or been large enough to include the entire dungeon doesn't make much sense to just have it include just a few of the rooms.

Lastly, the Monster Vault book itself.  It has an owlbear as the featured monster on the cover.  That's 4th edition tugging on my old school heart strings.  It's a large digest size book fashioned in the same manner as the Rules Compendium.  A thick and sturdy book with tons of monster stats I have absolutely no use for.  But it has bits and pieces of descriptions of the critters and I always like the small twists of monster ecologys. 

Everything in the Monster Vault, including the box (which I dropped and it still irks me) is top quality stuff.  My main reason for getting this was for the tokens and I am not disappointed.  The adventure is good and it will be easy for me to convert and the monster book has a lot of great artwork and I'm sure will be a good read.  Getting this for only $12 was a good deal.  The $30 price tag would have been too high since I don't play 4th edition, but if I did play 4th edition then I would have had no problem paying it for this product.

Top Monsters

What monsters do you favor when developing an adventure?  Maybe there is a monster that you like the idea of, but never come up against or used as much as you have liked.  I know there is a list for me that is a mixture of both, ones I like and ones I like the idea.

Cyclops - One of my favorite creatures since I was kid watching Ray Harryhausen do his magic.  I always thought the cyclops was an underutilized monster.  Recently, in the Kingmaker Adventure Path by Pazio the boss for the 3rd in the path, The Varnhold Vanishing had a cyclopean lich.  Yeah, it is cool.

Doppelgangers - Another underutilized mid level ranged creature that I think can add a ton to an adventure and the overall campaign.  My god the havoc they can spread.  Taking the form of this or that person.  They are walking virus of paranoia.

Devourer - This one would be more in the line of a monster I like the idea of, but I have never put it in an adventure and never came across one.  But the concept of this undead definitely has it making the list.

Owlbear - This one is the first monster I remember from playing in the very early days.  I dunno there is something about the simplicity of the odd mixture of the two creatures that I like.  Plus it was my first.  You never forget your first, unless you drink too much.

And Goblins - The simplicity and flexibility of goblins makes them a favorite over the orcs.  They can be fierce little obstacles that can throw hundreds of bodies at a problem or in my world there are large groups who adapt to living next to other races and the ultimate scavengers of culture.  They make good companions and comic relief. 

What are you top five monsters?  Hell, I might try to figure out that poll thing-a-ma-bob and add it on the side for people to vote.  But what monsters do you like the fight or put in your adventures?