D&D 5E MCDMs Flee Mortals now on DnDBeyond

[Melfast]

Flee! Mortals! Is a gorgeous book with interesting monster design.

My own experiences using them has been mixed. A lot of the monsters are made “interesting” by overloading them with mechanics. As a DM who likes to keep up story beats during combat, this has been quite taxing on me. The minions are a mixed bag, sometimes hard to use right. The Fire Giant minions were a huge letdown in my game, as these weak giants jammed up the dungeon and had a hard time doing anything worthwhile. In the same dungeon I used the other fire giants, where a support fire giant made the combat last longer by healing away a lot of the damage dealt by the party. It wasn’t exciting or interesting.

Solo monsters are great. You can feel they are tested well against level appropriate characters. You can trust them to challenge the players right.

I also used the Abominations villain party at the Abbey in Curse of Strahd, they fit there quite well. I hated that one of the monsters had a teleporting grenade. That took me and the players out of the fantasy. MCDM seems to prefer mechanics over ease of use and verisimilitude.

The monsters feel a lot more video game-y as they have tons of complex mechanics just to be “units” in a war game.

If you want more powerful monsters because of more mechanics and great art, it is a good buy.

If you prefer elegant design and more fitting monster abilities, you can skip this one.

My personal preference is to use a mix of simple and FM monsters.

That's been my impression as they 4e monsters. They have a lot of good ideas, but seem overdone in some cases. I'm also getting a bit tired of Matt Colville's attitude about his game and everyone else. I get you have to market your game, especially given the success of his Kickstarter, but it stills feels a bit much. I'd prefer he concentrate on his game and not worry about other games/

 

[Sulicius]

Flee Mortals is now in Roll 20 too

It’s been there for months.

 

[Distracted DM]

I don't know. This one of those books I would buy on beyond, just to see how the implemented it on beyond, not for the content. The monsters themselves didn't "wow" me. I backed the KS and have the PDF. But I think I am unlikely to find a use for this on Beyond.

That being said, I'm glad it is out there for those who do like it

Same, I've backed all the MCDM stuff- I adore their art direction (especially Arcadia, wow) and I really enjoyed a lot of S&F and K&W. The FM! monsters are a little over-designed IMO. "Best Monster Book" so far goes to Monstrous Menagerie for me- that's how I got brought into A5e
That isn't to say that FM! isn't usable, I have used bits and pieces of it- but when I need an ogre or [insert monster here] on the fly, I go to A5E's MM.

 

[BigZebra]

They're not just getting a cut, though. They're positioning to gatekeep the entire third party industry. As demonstrated by @FitzTheRuke just a moment ago. People won't buy stuff if it's not on DDB, and WotC decides what's on DDB. So far that appears to be Critical Role, Ghostfire, Hit Point Press, Kobold Press, Dungeon Dudes, and MCDM.

@Morrus are you in any secret negotiations which will result in your stuff on DDB in a year's time?

Since they'll also support Roll20, FG, and Foundry I can't see how this is the case.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I wonder if we could see some time the MCDM classes: the talent, the beastheart and the illriger.

 

[Weiley31]

I wonder if we could see some time the MCDM classes: the talent, the beastheart and the illriger.

I would LOVE that. Hope it happens.

 

[Reynard]

As someone who does not use Beyond, I have a question: what does t mean to be "implemented" in Beyond? Is that just cutting and pasting a feat or spell or ability description, or is it more involved than that? Does Beyond automate anything? What is the benefit of a book on Beyond over a pdf?

 

[Parmandur]

As someone who does not use Beyond, I have a question: what does t mean to be "implemented" in Beyond? Is that just cutting and pasting a feat or spell or ability description, or is it more involved than that? Does Beyond automate anything? What is the benefit of a book on Beyond over a pdf?

Folks who regularly use Beyond in play can speak more to it, I have mostly just toyed with the tools since I like pen and paper play at the table. But, yes, there is a ton of automation involved, and Beyond will make different connections and do the math for players and DMs. It isn't just a reader, it's a full system for automating character sheets and Monsters in play.

 

[Reynard]

Folks who regularly use Beyond in play can speak more to it, I have mostly just toyed with the tools since I like pen and paper play at the table. But, yes, there is a ton of automation involved, and Beyond will make different connections and do the math for players and DMs. It isn't just a reader, it's a full system for automating character sheets and Monsters in play

I wonder if this means it has built in limitations that could have negative impacts on design innovation. what I mean is, if 3PPs rightfully understand that getting on Beyond is a major boon to their sales, but Beyond can't implement some innovation (point based psionics, just as an example) then will that mean that the designers will avoid those innovations?

 

[Parmandur]

I wonder if this means it has built in limitations that could have negative impacts on design innovation. what I mean is, if 3PPs rightfully understand that getting on Beyond is a major boon to their sales, but Beyond can't implement some innovation (point based psionics, just as an example) then will that mean that the designers will avoid those innovations?

Well, it's a math calculation system, and no innovation in game design cannot be described in mathematical terms. The system was designed to be pretty robust on that front.