Monsters: Breaking Down a Stat Block (Polar Bears)

In today's post I'm going to do a blow by blow rundown of a monsters stat block.  For this exercise we are going to use a Polar Bear.

Turkey Tarrasque

In honor of Thanksgiving I present to you the Turkey Tarrasque, Turkeysque for short.  He'll be utilizing the basic framework I discussed earlier for universal modifiers on your monster.

Monster Framework (Gargoyles)

To continue with the posting spirit I'd like to spend today talking a bit about how I've been designing monsters recently.  I'm going to use these dastardly Gargoyles as an example today.  In the below photo the Ork Party is playing cautiously moving their melee characters forward as they aren't sure which Gargoyles (represented by Eldar Swooping Hawks) are statues and which ones are ready to pounce.

Zombie!

Following up with yesterdays Halloween post I'm going to talk about a bit about the Zombie monster design.  Zombies are meant to be dangerous cannon fodder, relatively helpless on their own but get surrounded and you'll torn to pieces.  In the below photo we have one PC wisely on the roof, two PCs on the ground ready to protect some townsfolk, and to the south our brave fighter who already succumbed to six of the brain eaters represented by the grey unpainted minis.

Halloween One-Shot 2018

This year's Halloween one-shot I decided to continuation of last year's game, where the players after successfully stopping an apocalyptic event, retired to their villa and newly betrothed Weretiger brides.  (Background at the bottom of the post). 

An ongoing rivalry with a nearby Vampire Lord has finally proven too much for the party.  The Vampire lord has been misdirecting undead hunters to the Weretigers doorsteps, unannounced.  Enough is enough!  The party ventures north, stakes in hand.  It has been two months an no sign of them.  Their apprentices now travel North in hopes to rescue them.

Scenario 1 - Zombie Outbreak

A&A Design: Monsters!

Since editing and re-editing a book will sometimes drive you mad it's always good to get a fresh burst of creativity and throughout the development of this game I've always found that by coming up with fresh new monsters hot off the presses.

So here I'm going to talk about how I handle basic monster design.  Like characters I want these to be very quick and fluid to come up with, sometimes on the fly, which means a basic starting chassis shared across the board.  To keep things on an even playing field I match them to the same mechanics as player characters.

0.  Imagery
Don't forget to describe your monster to your players.  Frequently it's the image of the monster that inspires the GM to stat one up so don't forget to share the visuals with your players.  All the cool abilities in the world don't mean a thing if the players can't visualize it in their head.

1.  Archetype
Monster archetypes match up with player archetypes.
Dire = Fighter (Smash twice the amount of things!)
Loathesome = Adventurer (Higher HP & Harder to kill)
Dreadful = Seeker (Specialist in Monster version of Intrepid Dice)


2.  Level
This determines their HP, more levels means more dice to roll, typically I'll assign a bonus Wound to a higher level monster as well.  It's also vaguely defines power level in that I won't put absurdly powerful abilities on lower level monsters.  Except for the Vorpal Rabbite, all bets are off with those bodyless head-hopping chompers are around.

Secret of Mana - A boy and his rusty sword inches away from certain death

Examples:  Vorpal Rabbite Lvl 1.  Giant Psychic Eel Lvl 4.  Ogre Magi Lvl 8. 
Prehistoric Atlas Godbeetle Lvl 18.

Note: To keep things easier on the GM we removed "Reserves" from Monsters and kept them only for Heroes.  This means that each monster don't have a fat stack of Hit Dice & Monster-Intrepid Dice to rely on (and for the GM to keep track of).  Instead they have a single Monster-Intrepid dice to use  at the right moment.

The GM already has enough on their mind balancing rules and a whole suite of creatures so all design decisions typically revolve around the keep it simple stupid principle.

3.  Armor
Decide if the creature is easy to hit but harder to damage (Heavy AC3) or more nimble and made of paper (Lightly AC7 or Unarmored ACN7) or somewhere in-between (Medium armor AC5).  Heavier armor means slower movement as well.

Examples:  Long-neck Stone Serpent  AC 3.  Lizardman Conquistador AC5.    Vine Hydra AC7

4.  Armaments
Monsters that don't wield weapons typically get multiple attacks to account for their numerous natural weapons and the fact they're not getting any To-Hit bonuses (and most have Reach 0 which means they aren't counter-attacking Vs your typical sword, ax & spear).  A one-handed weapon (claws) does a d6 and a two-handed or slow heavy weapon (i.e. Rhino horn, Croc bite) does 2d6 damage.

So a two-headed panther with life sucking tentacles on its shoulder-blades is making 4 attacks a round.  It makes fighting monsters a very different experience than fighting bandits and raiding parties of Terror Knights who are wielding the same weaponry as the PCs and makes it easier for a single (powerful) monster to face off Vs. multiple PCs. 

5.  Special Abilities
Much like how all you're weapons are differentiated by their special quality Monsters are the same level and archetype are differentiated by their special abilities.  That two-headed tentacle panther is a lot more dangerous when you upgrade him into a full displacer beast or have his tentacles drain life force and is radically different from your 4x attack/round vine hydra who specializes in strangling the life out of your foes after he lands multiple hits.

Note: It's rare for a monster to have more than two abilities.  Remember, the GM has a lot to remember, don't overload them.  You want the game (and combat) to continue cruising along without frequent or any rules look-ups.

Note:  When coming up with your own abilities there's a quick litmus test before you implement.  #1  Does it make sense for the monster?  #2  Make sure it's not unfair or absurd.

Example Monster:

Bears (Dire)  Lvl 5  HP  5d6+5 Wnd: 4 AC 7  Mv: L  BearClaw R: 1  Dmg 2d6

• Maul - +2d6 damage in Close Quarters Combat
• Rage - +2d6 HP when Wounded

Next post I'll start talking about layout design and how that has influenced the evolution of our design.
   

A&A Quickstart Guide Example Characters

Alright!  Posting daily has reminded how fun blogging can be.  Now to round off the Book of Earth I'm going to use the excerpts we've posted the last few days and walk through the character creation process.  For an experienced guy like me I can do this in about 3 minutes, for one of my regular players it can be done in about 15m or less which I'm happy to report meets my original design goal.

A&A Quickstart Guide: Fury of the Elements

So far we've talked about weaponry, a bit about armor and plenty about spells but in order to round out proficiencies we need to look into Elementalism, the focus of the game.  You may recall that like Magic the Elements respond to the lyrical tones of your voice whether it be a monk's chant, poet's verse or a bard's song.  Earlier we talked about the Elemental Crescendo, an all-purpose elemental attack option.  It is the gout of flame extending from your flying kick, the razor wind from your spinning staff, the jagged rocks sent skyward by your falling heel strike and the water mirroring your swaying and whipping arms.  It is unrefined, but it is effective.  Now we talk about the Fury of the Elements, that requires the training of a Channeler to call upon.

A&A Quickstart Guide Cantrips (Back)

Alright, off-duty so it's time to finish off Cantrips.  This time we have PSI, Transmutation, Warding, Witchcraft and of course the rest of Lifa.

A&A Quickstart Cantrips (Front)

I'm CDO so my quickstart updates will be infrequent and interrupted much like my sleep schedule for the next 48 hours shift.  Today we're going to talk about MAGICAL POWERS.

A&A Quickstart Guide Weapons

Alright!  This should be for a short post which is great for the work week.  Today we'll have a quick run through for choosing a weapon for your character.  Behold!

A&A Quickstart Guide Character Creation (Back)

Following up from yesterdays post I'm going to walk through the back page of Character creation which for the most part deals with outfitting your character.  Part of my design is for rapid character creation, which means that rather than dealing with starting money you simply pick what you are outfitted with and then jump right into the game.  A character has four slots relating to his primary and sidearm weaponry and a backup for each.  A two-handed weapon occupies two slots which means you'll start with anywhere from 2 - 4 armaments.

A&A Quickstart Guide Character Creation (Front)

Since I've changed careers one thing I've missed is regular blog posting, both reading what the community puts out each week and what I can contribute to the circle.  Although my hours may be excessive nowadays I want to try and kick things off with a post per day this week and I figure the best way to do that is to talk about simple topics without delving too deeply into nitty gritty design like I have in the past.  Without further adieu I'm going to talk about a Quick Start guide I put together for the Avatar's & Annihilation rule set I put together.




Avatars & Annihilation (A&A) is a book saturated with the elements, player characters (Avatars) can breath fire, whip a lake into a frenzied whirlpool or restrain a muggers hand with nearby vines, likewise the monsters you will encounter are equally blessed with elemental essence often with more power than control.  That said A&A is divided into four parts and each one is named after an element.  The Book of Earth deals with Character creation.

A&A Playtest 2.1: In Search of the Golden Bones

Long ago lived a pirate who amassed a huge amount of gold booty; so much that anyone would turn mutinous for just a sliver of that treasure trove; old golden beard Fry did the only logical thing.  He had a bunch of rogue alchemists replace his entire bone structure with pure gold.  Well, at least he lived a long and fulfilling life up till that point.  That's what Action Hank told the party and that's what they set off to find.

Avatar's & Annihilation: Monstrous Codex Design

Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

Today I have a long overdue request for how I handle creatures in Avatar's & Annihilation.  Bottom line up front:  As simple and clean as possible.  I designed this system with an eye towards putting together fights fast enough that you can do it during the course of play when your players go off the map or decide to anger the peaceful Space Terrapin tribe.

A&A Playtest 2.0: A Storm at Sea

Storm in the Sea by Pieter Mulier the II

As my layout editor and I are reviewing and revising the Book of Wind I figure it would be a good time to put it through it's paces.  A large number of mechanics in the Book of Wind were not incorporated into the last major playtest as they create a very different setting and exploration cycle.  It also gave us a chance to try out the Grinder method where each player makes three characters sharing the same archetype and attribute off the bat, splitting their equipment, gear and relics between them; this way the GM doesn't have to feel too bad when slaughters a few PC's early on and reminds the players of the lethality of the system.  For last nights game we had:

Return to Civilized Life and Progress Report

The last few months have flown by.  It started with a relocation cross country trip from East to West Coast, catching a flight overseas then eventually making it back to California for additional schooling.  Now that I've just gotten back from a field exercise in the Southern Californian brushland I am ecstatic to once again have running water, three square meals a day and a nice rack to sleep in.  It also means I have more time for my personal life and projects, not to mention a semi-reliable internet connection while I continue my hotel living on temporary duty assignment.

Where I last left off I mentioned I had been working on a book.  Well I have been for quite some time now; this rules system has taken one shape or another for many years now, each new revision building off the last.  I'd say my initial encounter with the Old School Renaissance (OSR), years back is what influenced me the most.  From that day forward my goal was to drop the exceptional mechanical complexity and to keep it sweet and simple, letting the theater of the mind fill in the form work laid by basic but elegant rules.  Don't get me wrong, this still has plenty more fiddly bits than Holmes basic but each mechanic has been hit by Occam's razor on numerous occasions.

Currently, playtesting is focusing on finding glitches in the system and unanswered questions.  For instance, Ranged weapons fire at the start of initiative so a recent question was whether or not thrown weapons or an elemental blast falls under that clause.  We'll experiment a few more times before we come up with a hard answer.  After a few more cycles of this I'll start working out how I will handle open playtesting.  Initial batches of art have been commissioned and procured but I'd like to have a hell of a lot more so we'll see where the budget falls soon enough.

Below you'll find the basic outline of the book, its contents, and an approximate percentage of how complete it is.

Hiatus till 2015

Uncle Sam has my number so I will be out of state and without outside communication for a few months.  I'll be returning in 2015 ready to throw a book on the shelves.

Take care all.

Avatar's & Annihilation Playtest: Last time on Team Murder Hobo

 The Last Dozen or so Sessions Log

After discovering the location of the initial crash site, a comet landing 100 years ago the team headed back; sold all their fancy space junk for a tidy profit and were bankrolled by Lord Theodore Rodrick the Third.  Unfortunately, a friend of Youjiro the Silent learned the Murder Hobos was behind Yoh's death, and a firebombing commenced.  Witness pooled out of the woodwork burning the Murder Hobos and Rodrick had them spirited away, where they sought tutelage under some local folk heroes in the mega inn to the south.

There they contended with an invisible stalker murdering their mentors, a pack of vampires that came in and started dining on the common room.  The party followed the trail of local legend Frog God, found the innkeepers store room; a treasure trove from his adventuring days and set off with the new player Neres the Pirate.  Their destination: The Great Glacier, an icy anomaly in the middle of the tropics; if the notes are correct the first crash site is here.  The alien inhabiting Jingle's the Outlaw Dancer's head is dead set on discovering if the one who landed a hundred years ago is still alive.

The party made their way across the icy wastes encountering a white Rakshasa they traded stories with for ancient magic, an ice eidolon corrupted and undead that nearly killed Pemba the Talented Juggler with his Coldfire reaver and a Wooly Tyrannosaurus hunting down a dapper and opulent land walrus who they vowed to rob later.  Along the way they stopped at the sulfurous springs, picked up  new players: mini-Gojira, daughter of the rimescale dragon and Bronan the Brobarian and set off for the crystalline forest the original crash site.

Inside they dealt with crystal soldiers, bear riders, polar wurms and their volcanic cores, phantom wolves from the Wolf Kings pack, and Nodens the Elder god.  Nodens refused to let them down to the depths of the forest and rather than murder him in typical fashion they decided to curry his favor.  They were sent to hunt down Ithaqua and his Shantaks.

The GM forgot the level of the party and they laid waste to the poor, poor Shantaks as the reclaimed Coldfire Reaver left them as giant frozen blocks of ice, peppered with arrows.  Tiamult, Doc Brown impersonator and Ghost of the Frozen Flame used Clef's Proven Dreamwalker Dweomer to bring himself and Neres the water wizard into the dreamscape of Ithaqua.

There they witnessed the creation of the Glacier, the falling purple star and Ithaqua witnessing it all.  The perversion of the star warped Ithaqua, instead of a god he now feasted on his people and thus the curse of the Wendigo was born.  Neres and Tiamult used their iron wills and control over earth and water to contend with Ithaqua but he proved too powerful.  Neres went underwater and tunneled to the crash site to find the fallen star, inside he found a glowing tree.  Touching it his vision went white hot and he disappeared.

Ithaqua by Quest007

Tiamult played a game of cat and mouse with Ithaqua, using the last of his Intrepid to rip off Ithaquas arms and taken them as his own.  While his power grew, so did Ithaqua's control over him, until finally looking in the water's reflection he saw Ithaqua's visage and not his own. 

"Ithaqua you are no more!"

And neither was Tiamult.  The old man that traveled through time and dimensions was undone, his existence wiped clean from history.  In the real world Ithaqua burned into a star, in it's place was a tiny crystal.  Fred the Warper of Madness who acquired a Shantak mount touched it with the Coldfire Reaver which was transformed into Shatterstar.  The crystal transformed into a glowing tree and from that emerged Neres glowing gold, thoughtless he was merely the corporeal form of the alien that fell a 100 years ago.  The alien inside Jingle informed them they must reunite the echo with the original.  Off the party goes to complete their mission.

Final Session report up next.

Avatar's & Annihilation Playtest: The Gears are in Motion. (Team Good Samaritans)

Conclusion of tonight's game
Kara the Jade Revenant fused with the "Beast" an embodiment of chaos as a promise of power.
Marshall Orvar was mangled by the now berserk Kara.
Shepherd Ashaw tried to separate the two using Stormbringer
The sudden crack of wind severed the arms of both Kara and Orvar
Kara fused with Orvar's arm and the return of humanity also returned her sanity.
Kara applied her old stony arm to Orvar who is now being slowly eaten alive by alien crystal.
The party is now traveling to the center of the world to kill Lavos.