Qwillion
First Post
Create a Monster with Traction
Traction: DMs all over the world start using the monster in their ongoing games
1. Masterpiece of a 1,000 words.
2. Provoke an emotional response.
3. Cool for GM’s and Players.
A while back wizards posted the design and devolpment Monsters with Traction.
There conclusions fo what to do I agree with but I disagreed with why you want to do it, petty perhaps but it helped me to reduce three it down to three rules.
• Put 'em on the cover.
See rule #1. The reason this works is visual human beings are visual creatures a cool description is worthless if the artwork does not equal it. A picture is worth A 1,000 words, this is why Alien, Predator, and event eh Relic was good, it had a wonderful visual. If you have a monster that looks ridiculous, you will only get a humorous response, not one of horror, fear or hate.
• Get the monster into a D&D Miniatures set.
See rule #1, you have a visual representation it is even 3-dimensional representation. Yet if it is a bad representation, you won’t use the monster.
• Somehow connect the monster to an existing and beloved D&D monster.
See rule # 2, This has nothing to do with creating a context. Your taking advantage of an established emotional response, Best example of this I have is The Juggernaught from marvel comics, as strong as the Hulk and more unstoppable, you had to rip off his helmet and let a telepath brain fry him, then along come Onslaught who threw him across the united states to land in Hoboken, New Jersey.
• Make it PC friendly.
See rule # 3, people want to play it because it is cool, not the other way around. Complex characters, interesting cultures, and abilities that lend themselves to character concepts are what make you want to try something new, instead of the same old saltine crackers.
• Tie the monster to a specific part of the rules set or campaign setting. DMs and players that want to use the relevant rules or setting will gravitate to the monster. Githyanki are obviously right at home in a psionics game, and everyone who goes underground in Eberron is going to face the daelkyr eventually.
See Rule # 2, the Mind flayer is cool in Forgotten Realms, planescape, or when not your even using the psionics handbook. This works because you are tying it to the emotional response people already have about a particular setting or rules set. If you don’t’ care about Eberron you not going to care about daelkyr, if you love Eberron then you are probably going to love Daelkyr.
• Make it scalable. If players fight the monster once and never see it again, then we've created a memorable encounter but probably haven't achieved traction. It's better if the monster can be an ongoing nemesis, and thus needs a way of keeping pace with rapidly advancing PCs.
See Rule #3, Here is where you making it cool for the GM, he gets to use it in some form no matter if he plays low, mid, or high level play. Yet is still have to be cool, a nemesis is cool for the players where it is CHALLENGING at each level of play. Dragons are the best example of this as they have age categories rather that normal leveling other creatures have similar life stages.
Traction: DMs all over the world start using the monster in their ongoing games
1. Masterpiece of a 1,000 words.
2. Provoke an emotional response.
3. Cool for GM’s and Players.
A while back wizards posted the design and devolpment Monsters with Traction.
There conclusions fo what to do I agree with but I disagreed with why you want to do it, petty perhaps but it helped me to reduce three it down to three rules.
• Put 'em on the cover.
See rule #1. The reason this works is visual human beings are visual creatures a cool description is worthless if the artwork does not equal it. A picture is worth A 1,000 words, this is why Alien, Predator, and event eh Relic was good, it had a wonderful visual. If you have a monster that looks ridiculous, you will only get a humorous response, not one of horror, fear or hate.
• Get the monster into a D&D Miniatures set.
See rule #1, you have a visual representation it is even 3-dimensional representation. Yet if it is a bad representation, you won’t use the monster.
• Somehow connect the monster to an existing and beloved D&D monster.
See rule # 2, This has nothing to do with creating a context. Your taking advantage of an established emotional response, Best example of this I have is The Juggernaught from marvel comics, as strong as the Hulk and more unstoppable, you had to rip off his helmet and let a telepath brain fry him, then along come Onslaught who threw him across the united states to land in Hoboken, New Jersey.
• Make it PC friendly.
See rule # 3, people want to play it because it is cool, not the other way around. Complex characters, interesting cultures, and abilities that lend themselves to character concepts are what make you want to try something new, instead of the same old saltine crackers.
• Tie the monster to a specific part of the rules set or campaign setting. DMs and players that want to use the relevant rules or setting will gravitate to the monster. Githyanki are obviously right at home in a psionics game, and everyone who goes underground in Eberron is going to face the daelkyr eventually.
See Rule # 2, the Mind flayer is cool in Forgotten Realms, planescape, or when not your even using the psionics handbook. This works because you are tying it to the emotional response people already have about a particular setting or rules set. If you don’t’ care about Eberron you not going to care about daelkyr, if you love Eberron then you are probably going to love Daelkyr.
• Make it scalable. If players fight the monster once and never see it again, then we've created a memorable encounter but probably haven't achieved traction. It's better if the monster can be an ongoing nemesis, and thus needs a way of keeping pace with rapidly advancing PCs.
See Rule #3, Here is where you making it cool for the GM, he gets to use it in some form no matter if he plays low, mid, or high level play. Yet is still have to be cool, a nemesis is cool for the players where it is CHALLENGING at each level of play. Dragons are the best example of this as they have age categories rather that normal leveling other creatures have similar life stages.
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