Why we need new monsters

[Walking Paradox]

It just occurred to me that the most familiar monsters aren't scary anymore. Take zombies for example. How can any player who has been alive for the last 30 years since Night Of The Living Dead came out be truly shocked at the sight of a walking dead person who wants to eat him? The same thing goes for that other horror staple, vampires; they have "officially" been a part of our popular culture for over 100 years and they've been a facet of folklore for more than a dozen cultures for at least 1000 years. So, who is going to see a bloodsucker and actually get scared? For that matter, most people I know giggle when I mention Cthulhu!

We need more monsters, scarier ones.

 

[wingsandsword]

I would like to make the counterpoint: Why we don't need new monsters.

1. All the wondrous stories of the history and myths of our world were done with only humans and animals, and the creatures of myth and legend making only occasional appearances. You can attach personalities, backgrounds, cultures, legends to any creature in the book (even plain old humans) without having to create new creatures all the time. In fact, some of the best adventures I ran had nothing besides vermin, animals, and humans & a few demihumans.

2. Constantly added new monsters breaks verisimilitude, at least to me. Every time you add a new creature, especially a carnivorous one, you immediately ask your players to believe that this creature can support a reasonable breeding population, that they can find enough food, that somehow they are kept in check by environmental factors or other predators such that they don't dominate the world. I like my dungeons to have ecologies that make sense, and my campaign worlds to be much the same.

3. There are around 220 creatures in the Monster Manual (v3.5), and that's not including age variants of dragons. When you combine class levels and templates onto creatures, not to mention adding additional hit dice, you end up with tens of thousands of possible creatures. These creatures can act in many different ways depending on motivation and personality, and creatures with spell lists and spell-like abilities can take different styles in combat. You can take an Ogre with Cleric levels and Destruction and Death as domains and make them a melee juggernaut that opens up with a death touch and a smite and uses buffs to make them a big powerful melee tank. . .or they can be part of a squad of ogres and be the party healer, and bring in reenforcements with Animate Dead as his teammates fall, or they could be the shaman of a tribe that has a tenuous truce with the local human village, and that truce is endangered by mysterious raiders that he wants the PC's to track down and eventually the PCs have to stop an assassination attempt against him and fight alongside him.

 

[Jimlock]

IMO, its always quality over quantity.

Give a good DM a zombie and a skeleton and he can make miracles with just those two.

Vampires?

There were hundreds of vampire movies before Coppola's masterpiece came out, still everybody bowed before the 1992 Dracula.

I think that being scared has less to do with the monster itself and much more with how it is presented... timing... a good plot... creative details.

I also believe, that the scariest monster/being/entity of them all is the one you know nothing about. It has always been, and will always be the spookiest of them all.

 

[The Shaman]

We need more monsters, scarier ones.

One need only look at our own history to know that humans are the scariest monsters of all.

 

[RangerWickett]

To quote Morrus, "Met a lot of beholders, have you?"

 

[ExploderWizard]

New monsters certainly are fun to create but aside from the need a lot of DMs have to just make stuff up that seems cool there really isn't a definite "need".

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

Made me laugh to read about needing more monsters. How many MM's/bestiaries are there from how many different editions and systems? I would venture to guess that there are literally thousands if not tens of thousands of monsters already made. I also know that [MENTION=21556]Jester[/MENTION] had/has his own project of making monsters on these forums located here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-fan-creations-house-rules/230805-monster-project.html if you want more ideas or monsters than what have already been released.

Now we have (with 4E) the monster builder. If you want more monsters.... MAKE them yourself if they aren't "scary" enough. It's pretty easy to do with the rules in place for the various systems.

Now if you really want to scare your players as a DM you need to be more imaginative when it comes to describing your monsters, don't just tell them "you see two zombies walking towards you trying to eat your brains..." Go with something more cinematic: "Out of the darkness you see two forms shuffling towards you, their features hideously distorted, the smell of rotting flesh assails your senses, their eyes glow with an unholy light, and they open their mouths emitting a horrendous scream as they see you. The shuffling monstrosities have globs of blood and spittle fall from their mouths as they start to drool at the smell of your flesh and they attack..."

Scary is what YOU make of it, not what kind of monster it is. I can make a rat scary, can you?

 

[gamerprinter]

Been working diligently creating various monsters for the Kaidan, Japan-inspired horror setting. Since the setting is both horror and an attempt at authenticity, in how monsters are depicted in Japanese folklore, an effort has been made to get it right. So while there are many monsters from past editions of Oriental Adventures that might definitely be updated for Kaidan, an emphasis has been placed on getting the details right and more closely aligned with folklore facts, rather than past edition features.

From the turtle-like kappa water imp, the enigmatic tengu, and the mysterious henge animal shapechangers to a dozen varieties of Japanese ghost, and even more of the various demonic oni races match the abilities depicted of these monsters in various Japanese collections over the last 500 years or so.

Those familiar with past editions of Oriental Adventures will recognize many, but players are likely to experience them as brand new creatures, as it may not follow what past editions granted as monster abilities. This will make the adventuring experience unique and memorable. That is the goal.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

If you're looking up scary new monsters, check out the Book of Unremitting Horror. They're meant for the modern day, but most are easily adaptable, and are quite disturbing.

 

[Umbran]

We need more monsters, scarier ones.

Fear is not in the monster, but in the presentation of the monster. If you reduce your zombies or vampires to mere tactical wargame stats, then no, they won't be scary.

But you can scare the crap out of a player with a few giant ants, if you just frame it properly - a tight tunnel, the skittering and clicking sounds of chitin on rock, the slightly sweet, slightly pungent smell of pheromones and mold, and the glistening of a torch off the oil-like sheen of the multifaceted eye... coming from all directions...