Dungeon Mastering

How to Generate New Monsters in Minutes

potatocubed — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:00:10 +0000

This post by Dungeonmastering.com contributor Chris Longhurst.

How to Generate New Monsters in Minutes

How to generate a unique 4e monster in less time than it takes to get served at McDonalds

Well, maybe not that fast, unless your local McDonalds is staffed entirely by people who are locked in a cupboard or dead. But you get the idea.

Say what you like about 4^th edition – I know people will, and that’s A Good Thing, since edition-based flame wars are a cheaper way of heating my flat than paying the electricity bill – but you cannot deny that it makes the DM’s job much easier. Going into the precise ways in which it manages this is a post for another time; today I’m just going to demonstrate some of that flexibility by showing you how to stat up a new monster in double-quick time.

1. Levels: The Great Leveller

The DMG has plenty to say about adding or removing levels to existing monsters, so I won’t repeat that here. It’s not a bad way to bring one kind of monster slightly more in line with the appropriate level, if you want to keep re-using old monsters as the characters level up, or if you want to bring a higher-level creature down to the characters’ level – an ogre boss for your goblin tribe, for example. But by and large this is kinda boring. A halfling slinger is a halfling slinger whether it’s level 1 or level 30, although things get really screwy if you just level it up to 30.

On the plus side, this is super-quick and very easy. On the down side, it’s not really making a new monster. It’s just a useful thing to know.

2. A New Coat of Paint

One of the first things you do when you’ve stolen a car is get it resprayed, since very few people will look past the colour to see the other details. Stealing cars will not help your D&D game, but stealing the ingenuity of the criminal element will! Also, it appeals to my sense of irony.

The simplest way to create a ‘new’ monster is to use the stat block from something else and describe it so that the players have no idea what it is. Need some halflings for a low-level encounter? Just a few pages backwards in the MM you’ll find the goblins, small humanoid stat blocks just waiting to be resprayed in ‘halfling pink’ (and shortly afterward resprayed again in ‘blood red’, if the typical encounter is anything to go by). If you’re feeling a bit clever you can also switch out the goblin’s racial ability of Goblin Tactics for the halfling racial abilities of Second Chance and Nimble Reaction. Voila! New monsters.

This technique also works in older versions of D&D and, frankly, any other game in existence. It’s also a bit cheap and players who have the MM memorised (you know who you are) will spot it sooner or later.

3. Night Classes in Asskicking

If you’ve got a strong theme for your campaign, you may find yourself running out of halfling-equivalent enemies. There are only so many small humanoids in the MM, and you’ll be stretching disbelief a bit when you introduce the Large halfling who punches for 3d6 + 7 damage, explodes in a hail of stone when slain, and otherwise bears a suspicious resemblance to a stone golem. But things need never go that far, because you’ve got this article to hand! Read on you lucky, lucky people.

If you need new variants of an established enemy type, the easiest way to do it is to take an existing enemy of that type and teach them something new – in other words, give them some new powers. You can make up these new powers yourself, or you can steal them from other stat blocks.

For example, let’s say you want a halfling sorcerer-assassin for those inevitable moments when the player characters have stolen the royal jewels, urinated in the royal soup tureen and passed out in the royal bed. Start with a halfling prowler (MM p153) for the assassin elements. Then we can go scouring the MM for equivalent-level enemies with magic powers to add the sorcerer part.

The tiefling heretic’s Serpent’s Curse power makes a good start, and then you can add the human mage’s Dancing Lightning or Thunder Burst depending on whether you want multi-target firepower or an AoE dazing attack. (Remember to bump the attack rolls by +2 to reflect the increase in level.) If you’re feeling generous, you can ditch the prowler’s Crowd Shield power in the name of fairness, or you can just assume that this sorcerer-assassin is just a prowler who has taken the titular night classes in asskicking and add the new powers to their basic lineup.

And there you have it! One halfling sorcerer-assassin. Combine this with the new coat of paint, and the players will never know your unique enemy was built from spare parts.

4. Templates and Themes

I’m actually not so fond of templates and themes for changing up 4e monsters – in general, I find that after spending the requisite amount of time poking around the DMG and modifying the stat block of the original I could have just built my own monster with the theme I was looking for. Plus I find the powers the DMG templates provide to be somewhat underwhelming. That said, they are right there in the DMG (or DMG 2, for themes). You’ve got nothing to lose by giving them a look.

5. All New!

The real deal! When nothing else will do, you can generate a monster from scratch. 4e makes this very simple – the process is explained step by step on p184 of the DMG – so rather than reproduce what’s there I’m just going to cover the bits where the DMG is a little vague.

Setting Ability Scores. By and large, you know what sort of ability scores your creature is going to need. Is it as strong as an ogre? A dragon? Could it outdraw a drow? Is it as tough as a stone golem? In a lot of ways the ability scores are the least important part of a 4e monster, so just write some arbitrary numbers down and move on.
Choosing Powers. Picking the right powers for your new creature is probably the most important part of creating it, and consequently the part that the DMG covers in the least detail. Designing powers is a complex enough exercise that it would make another post in its own right, so I’m going to assume you’re stealing them from the MM as described above. All creatures need a basic melee attack. Most will also want a basic ranged attack. Then a creature will want between two and five other powers that it can use in other circumstances – powers with a recharge roll, auras, powers that only work in a close burst 1, encounter powers, reaction or interrupt powers, and so on and so forth. Feel free to give the powers a fresh coat of paint (see above) if you want them to fit the creature concept better; changing the type of damage, for example, is the easiest way to convert a fire-slinging warlock power into a Thunderstrike for your genasi monk. Just remember to tie all attacking powers to the creature’s best ability score. There’s no reason not to, really.
Equipment. Equipment only matters in three cases. The first is magical gear – does the monster have any magic items it can use? If so, take a note. The second is armour – if the monster wears armour, make a note and boost the AC by the requisite amount. The third is weapons – note down a proficiency bonus on weapon-based attack rolls of +3 if it’s using a sword-like weapon or +2 for anything else. You can look it up in the PHB if you like, but it’s generally not worth opening another book. The damage a creature dishes out is dependent on its powers, not the weapon it’s wielding, so that’s really all you need. All other equipment is icing on the cake (literally in the case of a cake golem; figuratively the rest of the time).
Details, Details. If your monster needs resistances, immunities and/or vulnerabilities, here is the place to think about them. Give it a couple of appropriate skills, make a note of its passive Perception and Insight (on the off chance the characters want to talk to it rather than slice it into bite-size chunks), give it darkvision, low-light vision, tremorsense or any other special senses it needs, and give it a speed score. To be honest, anything you miss here can be made up in play without your players ever noticing.
Check Your Monster. Crack open the MM and compare your creature to one or two equal-level creatures with the same role to make sure its stats and powers are in the right sort of ballpark. Are their attacks and defences more or less equivalent? If these monsters had a fight, would one effortlessly trounce the other? You may need to tone down (or up) your new creation to bring it into line with existing monsters. The enemies in the original 4e MM are a little weak in most cases, but the enemies in MM3 and the Dark Sun Creature Catalogue are suitably likely to savage the PCs and leave them broken and weeping challenging.

6. Minions

Something to bear in mind when using minions: these guys have a lifespan roughly equal to that of a snowball at a flamethrower convention. They need a basic melee attack, a basic ranged attack if you’re feeling generous or if they’re supposed to be ranged attackers, and a single power to make them interesting. Minions with high defences benefit from powers which encourage characters to target them, drawing fire away from the stronger monsters. Minions with weak defences benefit most from powers that encourage characters not to target them, or only to target them under specific circumstances, which mostly take the form of “when this minion dies, everything goes terribly wrong”.

If you’ve got a spare few minutes, you can get away with giving minions one fancy power per tier.

It’s Alive!

With these hints and tips, and a little practice, you should be well on your way to generating new monsters in under 10 minutes a shot. I suggest you make best use of this time by also practising your maniacal laughter; timing it to match a convenient background thunderstorm is a tricky skill. Useful phrases include “They called me mad! MAD!”, “Fools! I’ll show them all!” and “Behold the terrible power of my magic!”

This post by Dungeonmastering.com contributor Chris Longhurst. Chris eats like an animal, slacks like a professional, and dresses like a homeless lumberjack. He has been gaming in one form or another since he was nine years old, and is now old enough that that is a hell of a long time. If you look carefully you can find his name on several RPG products, most of which he got paid for. He is always the GM.

“Common” Uses of Language in Your Gameplay

Krystal — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:38:38 +0000

"Common" Uses of Language in Gameplay

You’ve been sent on a task. The kobold army is sent to attack a small farm house. A single mother lives there with her three children. It would be hard to take them on your own, but if you could find out their plans you could set up traps and perhaps ambush them! Sneaking up close to the camp you hear voices chattering. They sound gruff and small with strange growls and barks. They are obviously speaking of a secret plan…

Do you speak the right language to understand? If only you had taken the time to learn the language you’d be able to wreck their plans without putting yourself in peril!

A demon approached you within a dream, a fog seems to whisk about you as you groggily try to sit up. You’re so exhausted you forget to move. Fear is a foreign emotion as the towering beast comes closer and speaks to you. “Sesthrik Nuthral? Dethira’k Mvres John hasterik.” John? Your name. It’s speaking to you..but before you can respond you awaken with a jolt. A stone lays on your bed engraved with foreign symbols.

Can you read the stone? It’s in Draconic and the demon spoke in infernal. He obviously wants you to do something, but what? The problem is, if you don’t find a way to translate it there could be consequences. What if he comes back? Either you speak the language or you must find a translation. Let’s hope you remembered everything in the dream!

Languages can be a dynamic after-taste to an amazing campaign or they can be the dead center of it. Languages can be adventure hooks and can lead into many opportunities and advantages. Do you speak Dwarven? That would be useful when you enter the Dwarven mines and read the words “Caution” “Warning” and “Danger”.

However, languages aren’t always easy to integrate. This is especially true if the DM or players argue about language decisions. Often times the DM makes the mistake of saying “You don’t understand the language” or not predetermining the languages creatures speak.

A “Common” Mistake

Have you noticed there are two Commons? “Undercommon” and “Common”. The common language for under the surface world is different than that above. Races don’t automatically integrate. I find that Common is an extreme roleplay advantage.

Even if Common is a language almost everyone speaks, consider when players speak to others of their race. It is uncommon for them to speak Common. A modern example is a Japanese person and an American person meeting. Each of them might try to speak the other’s language or the language common to the region they are in. However, if a Japanese man walks up to a Japanese store, it’s not likely he will try and speak English in order to be understood. Some DM’s decide Common is a very sparse language used for the most basics of understanding.

Language Ideas for DM’s During Gameplay

Creativity really is key when it comes to languages. For example, I have one character from the Wilds and she was released into the world. Her entire life was spent speaking Elven and Common was a secondary language. When she speaks, it’s very choppy and can be hard to understand. She also doesn’t understand things like humans having short ears because he’s a child. The idea of rogues and thieves is uncommon to her since she was in a tight knit tribe.

When introducing a new language to the game, try having the language assist the player in spell casting. For instance, add a plus one to the DC of all spells uttered in this language. When first introducing a creature that speaks a different language, try actually speaking it. In one game I played, the DM created a Drow Variant and a Thieves Cant variant. In the game there is Thieves Cant and Hand Cant which are both spoken by rogues, but one is verbal and the other silent. If you have to make the language up on the spot that’s okay too. When you do, your players will turn their character sheets over and say “What language is that?”

If you are speaking a specific language ask your players to list off which languages they speak. If one of the players speak it, let the player know. You can then “Translate”. By translating, simply speak it normally and assume the character tells everyone. Repeating everything would be a bit annoying. You may also want to give your players the option to not translate and not share what was said. They could also choose to translate in their own way. A good example might be an NPC telling the party they must go north to retrieve something even though the actual translation had more specifics (i.e. to retrieve an artifact). He simply says “We are to go North.”

Making up your own language can be fun too, but is time consuming. I often incorporate “Common” as a regional thing. For instance, “Common: Eastern”. When you go into the western part of the world the Common is different.

I give my players the chance to learn different languages in game with other players (e.g. A player says “I spend an hour teaching Joe Schmoe Dwarven.”) and then I respond with two methods. One, you can roll a die to see how well you get it and add notches accordingly. Two, you have to get the DC (e.g. 16 to be able to understand the lesson). You can put a notch in your notes that the player is learning and when you reach a certain amount of notches, they learn the language. You can also get a book that teaches the language and do something similar.

I give my players the ability to learn almost anything they choose. For example, you’ll not find a book on “Thieves cant” in the local library, if ever. I always give my players a fighting chance to grow their character the way they want, and I throw them challenges according to what they’ve learned or what they choose to walk into.

Final Thoughts

Languages can be in labyrinths, riddles, quests, maps, magical items, instructions for something, or even certain animals are trained in different languages. Players, choose your skill set wisely. DM’s stretch your player’s skills to the brink. Throw languages around in your game and see what happens. It leads to frustration, the feeling of accomplishment, and it can allow for some interesting opportunities.

So once again, Happy Gaming everyone! Also, remember if you have any questions, comments, or you want us to address a certain issue let us know. :)

This post was provided by Dungeonmastering.com expert Krystal. Dungeons and Dragons has always been a passion of hers. She got her start in her wee little years by crawling on the table eating miniatures and dice. She’s been a menace to DnD games around the world ever since!

Examples of House Rules for Unfair Stats

cyberkyd — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:41:59 +0000

This post was contributed by Cyberkyd, a member of the DungeonMastering.com community

House Rules for Unfair Stats

House Rules Rule! My Stats Are Killing Me…

The other day, as I was going though character creation with some of my players, one of them rolled extremely good stats and the rest, unfortunately for them, rolled fairly bad ones. Especially since the High Roller was the only one who had ever played an RPG before, I knew that he would have a largely unfair advantage. At the moment, I had decided that the best course of action was to force the High Roller to apply -1 to all his stats except for HP. Looking back, I realize that it probably was not the best course of action.

Starting stats are important. They can greatly affect a player’s chances of surviving a first encounter, (Perhaps later I’ll examine the First Encounter Survival House Rule) and can influence the other players in a variety of ways.

Although every RPG, including D&D, includes a rule as to how to roll stats, many players completely disregard these rules and just follow the GM’s custom stat instructions. There are several widely used rules that seem to work well.

The Large HP Rule: Everyone gets an extra dice roll to their HP. Usually used in a dungeon crawl type of adventure.
Equality For All: The GM rolls a set of stats before hand and all players use it, applying any needed penalties and bonuses. Usually used in large groups of newbies.
Same but Different: A variation of Rule Two. After HP is rolled, the GM rolls and calls out the number. Everyone chooses the stat to apply it to. So, everyone technically has the same choices but can still customize their characters. Usually used in the same setting as Rule Two.
Beefed Up: All stats get a standard extra bonus, such as +4. This is usually used when there is a small group of characters and the GM is not planning on introducing any party NPC’s.

Of course, there are many more variations and rules, and certainly a large amount of players do follow standard stat rolling rules. Any way is okay, as long as all players use it. The trickiest moments are when most of the players receive miserable stats, and one or two roll lots of high numbers. One of the most important things to remember about character creation is this: People like bonuses a LOT more than penalties. What I should have done about the High Roller Situation is simple. I should have allowed everyone else +1 or +2 to all stats except for HP, and given the High Roller +1 to one stat.

Think about it. Giving one player a penalty is only going to make the game harder, and so more frustrating, for him. Giving everyone a bonus makes the game a bit easier, and so more fun, for everyone. Now you’ve (somewhat at least) leveled out the stat differences between the High Roller and the others, and it achieved the same result as just giving a penalty.

In tournaments or game conventions, the judges are usually not going to allow you to apply bonuses to your stats if you don’t like them, but might occasionally allow a complete stat re-roll. In cases like this, it is important to learn the #1 most important skill a gamer needs: How to be a good loser, or in this case, how to be a good low-roller. If someone starts sulking about their stats, they don’t have to play. But with House Rules, they shouldn’t have a need to.

Cyberkyd is the creator of the BlakLite RPG system. He enjoys writing articles about all things RPG and GMing his own game.

Essential Elements of a DND Campaign

Krystal — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 17:02:37 +0000

Dungeons & Dragons Campaigns

Building a campaign can be tough and sometimes we forget and leave some of the important things out, so I’m going to take you into my world as we start from the bottom, and build up. As some of us know, a campaign is NOT an adventure but does not have to be a full world. Faeruen, for example, is a campaign setting; A vast area with varying rules to allow for adventures and games to take place. It’s basically a series of adventures that lead up to one (or two?) plot lines.

Now, I was scanning through the Fourth Edition DMG 2 and the very first thing it talks about is “Group Storytelling”. It gave me so many ideas to talk about today! I’ve decided to list a few of these things off and put in my two cents as well.

Story Structure, Fantasy stories are often based on or inspired by myth, cultures, or other traditional structures. You don’t have to come up with it out of thin air for it to be good! In fact, DnD Creatures were built on various myths and stories all brought into one RPG, drawing inspiration is not a lack of creativity — it’s only when you choose to copy a story one hundred percent that you have issues.

But back on track, a typical story structure is built on four basic parts. Now don’t be fooled, the fact that there are only four parts does not mean that the story has to be simple or lack any complexity, it just simplifies the story telling process for you.

The Introduction, the dawn of time. Where people get to know each other, heroes are molded, the seed of villainy is planted, and your basic story is laid out in full. Think of this as a Military tactical debriefing; These are the good guys, these are the bad guys, this is the plan of action, and this is what we need from you. As we know, plans change, people make decisions, and some people even lie! Perhaps even the person who debriefed you. Once you’ve established the introduction, that it is not set in stone. It’s your world — AND it’s your players who inhabit it. Anything can happen!

“Rising Action” The way they describe it is perfect. It’s a series of events that make the characters situation more complex and adds that extra urgency. Consequences get worse, stakes are doubled, and tensions builds or is released to build again to a higher point…and that point brings us to the Climax.

The Climax “…a pivotal moment of maximum tension…” the Climax is your grand finally as you plunge your characters into a resounding resolution; be that for better or for worse! When creating the climax it is absolutely essential to keep your characters at a heightened emotion. Keep them guessing or at least keep them interested. Using emotional attachment to character ideals or other things is a great way to do this.

Denouement is the wrap up, where your players get a glimpse into the end result of their actions and the consequences of their decisions. This can be good or bad and is a look into the progression of their adventure.

Next, you should decide the setting for your campaign or create your own, there are many supplements that can be used to eliminate your responsibility of creating one, or perhaps, one is predetermined in your mind. Setting is important as it sets the mood, imagine if Lord of the Rings was filmed on a beach in California. It’s not quite the right feel, is it? Settings often change through travel and other circumstances, so again, this is not set in stone. Remember to change accordingly and not be too sporadic without explanation It makes it feel more real if there is a cause to the effect.

Also, take into account your players as they are the most important part of the game. Take time to learn what their character’s ideals, morals, alignment, and motivations are. Find a way to get your players emotional attached to both the story and their characters. If a character wishes only for battle, then asking them to tend horses during war is not exactly ideal. When players feel their characters progressing, they have more a reason to get avidly into the game and connected with their character and surroundings.

Emotional connection is hard to create sometimes, but is a big thing that will help make even the simplest campaign or adventure seem epic no matter the gravity of the events. Not every campaign has to save the world, especially at first level. Campaigns can be character progression, discovery, and can also help create and expand your world. Rather than give them a long history you created, let them have a hand in creating your world with you. This gives them more of a connection with your world, and when they see things later on with their characters or with new characters they can get excited because, as players, they have seen or heard certain things before. There is nothing more exciting than discovering history or legends built off of old characters or even current ones.

To build a campaign, you need to have a well thought out story line, or at least be good off the cuff. A basic idea is always something good to have otherwise you might end up straying from it. Everything gets bunched together or scrambled and the story seems incomplete or all over the place.

I had a character I adored at one point. The DM had made a connection between my character and I. I had an emotionally attachment, but then he couldn’t stick to one story line. He jumped around and in turn, it screwed the character up. I played it in character, and she ended up being torn from her objectives so much she went crazy and ended up, essentially, putting herself in harms way and eliminated herself. The things that happened led her to believe she’d be fine, but wasn’t. So you need to take in mind what you are putting the characters through. Imagine if they were real people. How would they react to those situations? Good players will be able to play their characters similarly to if they were actual beings, or part of themselves. Keep in mind the style of play of your players, and it will help for a much better game.

Keep in mind it’s your game and your world. Also, for those of you with the DMing tools I’m thinking about adding some excerpts of my campaigns, creatures, and more. If you are interested, considering either getting the DMing tools or checking it out if you already have them.

Happy gaming folks!

2010 ENnie Award Winners Announced

Expy — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 22:40:39 +0000

Congratulations to the 2010 ENnie award winners!

Based on these awards, Pathfinder is here to stay. What do you think?

Best Cover Art
Silver: Eclipse Phase
Gold: Pathfinder Bestiary

Best Interior Art
Silver: Shadowrun 20th
Gold: Pathfinder Core Rulebook

Best Cartography
Silver: Aces & Eights: Judas Crossing
Gold: Pathfinder City Map Folio

Best Writing
Silver: Victoriana 2nd Ed
Gold: Eclipse Phase

Best Production Values
Silver: Shadowrun 20th
Gold: Pathfinder Core Rulebook

Best Rules
Silver: Hero 6th Edition
Gold: Diaspora

Best Adventure
Silver: Trail of Cthulhu: Armitage Files
Gold: Pathfinder #31: Stolen Land

Best Monster or Adversary
Silver: Pathfinder: Classic Horrors Revisited
Gold: Pathfinder Bestiary

Best Setting
Silver: Rome: Life and Death of the Republic
Gold: Day After Ragnarok

Best Supplement
Silver: Players Handbook 3
Gold: Mysteries of the Hollow Earth

Best Aid or Accessory
Silver: Gaming Paper
Gold: Pathfinder GM Screen

Best Miniatures Product
Silver: Gaming Paper
Gold: D&D Minis

Best RPG Related Product
Silver: Battletech: 25 Years of Art and Fiction
Gold: Cthulhu 101

Best Electronic Book
Silver: The Devil We Know
Gold: The Great City Player’s Guide

Best Free Product
Silver: Lady Blackbird
Gold: Advanced Players Guide Playtest

Best Website
Silver: d20PFSRD.com
Gold: Obsidian Portal

Best Podcast
Silver: All Games Considered
Gold: Atomic Array

Best Blog
Silver: Gnome Stew
Gold: Kobold Quarterly

Best Game
Silver: Shadowrun 20th
Gold: Pathfinder

Product of the Year
Silver: Eclipse Phase
Gold: Pathfinder

Fan Award for Best Publisher
Silver: Fantasy Flight Games
Gold: Paizo Publishing