"Monsters" as Forces of Nature
Setting the Stage, in which I ramble a bit.
The other night I fell down the rabbit hole of blogs, starting with Zedeck Siew’s DECOLONISING D&D which led me to Throne of Salt’s D&D Doesn’t Understand What Monsters Are which led me to Goblin Punch’s Ghosts.
Recently I ran the introductory dungeon for His Majesty the Worm HMtW, Tomb of the Golden Ghosts, the titular ghosts can’t speak and can only communicate via hand gestures. The GM is encouraged to play charades to communicate and to treat the ghosts not as “enemies to be fought” but as a “natural disaster”.
As a follow-up I ran, the excellent, Earth and Wine by Toadmilk there is a Limb Dog, it’s a blind dog with hundreds of spidery legs. Didn’t really fit the setting of my game.
So I replaced it with a Vinegar Drake, here are the stats as I initially conceived them for HMtW.
Vinegar Drake
Elite Beast
- Attributes: Swords 4 | Pentacles 4 | Cups 4 | Wands 4
- HD 10/2
- Likes: Stillness, Stories, Riddles, Wine
- Hates: Fire, Movement, thieves
Notes
- Fleet. On its turn, the beast can move 1 zone without spending a card.
- Claw. On a successful attack, if the beast’s total Attack value is double the Initiative of the target, deal 2 Wounds.
Notes
- Thick Hide. The elite does not take any damage until they are dealt 2 wounds in a single turn.
- Vinegar Breath. Greater doom: all adventurers in the elite’s zone are stunned (discard a challenge card)
Between a combo of players doing well, a few clever strategies, and honestly me being gentle on them. The players survived relitivly unscathed, and while the Drake survived and caused the players to fear it retreat from any sign of it. There wasn’t a sense of pressure or being hunted that I had initially envisioned.
What Is a “Force of Nature”?
Skillfully dodging a long philosophical debate
A force of nature can’t be “defeated”, it can be anticipated, redirected, endured, avoided, or perhaps if you are VERY lucky, placated or even turned to your side.
With some knowledge, gained from experimentation, books, sages, divination, or other means:
- Anticipated, understand the patterns, and make accurate predictions.
- Redirected, shift the focus from themselves to something else.
- Endured, with proper precautions, an encounter can be survived.
- Avoided, similar to anticipated, the players can make a plan to avoid any encounter.
Distilling Monsters into “Forces of Nature”
There are two key questions to ask: “What is the core identity of this monster?” and “What needs to be changed?”
What Is the Vinegar Drake’s Core Identity?
The Vinegar Drake takes the place of the Limb Dog, described as a “A blind and deaf guard dog.” belonging to the owner of the wine cellar. It shows up on the Meatgrinder Table blocking the players path.
So it’s:
- Loyal to its former master.
- Wanders around.
- Is blind.
- An obstacle.
What Needs to Be Changed?
Nothing in the stats reflects that it is Loyal to its former master, this is an easy fix just adding Former master to the stats.
The wandering around is similarly easily fixed, any draw on the Meatgrinder Table that has already happened, is now something related to the Drake. Curiosities are hints at the Drake’s nature, clues that can help the players. Travel event are the Drake blocking a path, it’s sniffing around a room ahead, or it enters the room as you leave it. Random encounters are now random encounters with the drake.
This also helps reinforce the drake as an obstacle.
Lastly it can be killed in normal combat. This circumvents the whole idea of a “monster” being a force of nature. This is not to say that it can’t be killed! A clever solution should work, luring the Drake into a small room and dumping a barrels of lye on it would defiantly work.
Vinegar Drake (Force of Nature)
Elite Beast
- Attributes: Swords 4 | Pentacles 4 | Cups 4 | Wands 4
- Likes: Former Master, Stillness, Wine, Stories, Riddles
- Hates: Fire, Movement, Thieves
Notes
- Thick Hide. The drake does not take any damage until they are dealt 2 Wounds in a single turn.
- Pain Threshold, the drake flees after taking 6 wounds.
- Fleet. On its turn, Move 1 zone without spending a card.
- Claw. On a successful Attack, if the beast’s total Attack value is double the Initiative of the target, deal 3 Wounds.
- Blood of Vinegar, the drake can consume a barrel of wine, its breath turning it to vinegar as it drinks, to heal it’s wounds.
- Vinegar Breath. Greater doom, all adventurers in the elite’s zone are stunned (discard a challenge card).
A lot of this comes down to how the drake is roleplayed, and a few simple tweaks to the notes and Meatgrinder Table.