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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Skinwalker" data-source="post: 1199629" data-attributes="member: 11510">I like the train of thought that inspired this thread.  A good story needs villains with motivations.  I like to take real-world motivations and apply them to my creatures.Sometimes I like to use Maslow's heirarchy of needs (familiar to most who took Psych 101) as a starting point...<a href="http://www.jayjay.info/maslow.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.jayjay.info/maslow.pdf</a>Look at a monster then look at the heirarchy.  Think to yourself, what does this monster need?  If its needs are met, then what does it want?A few examples...At the bottom level, you have physical survival.  OK, food.  How many creatures feed on humans?  C'mon, this one should be easy.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  Maybe the dumber ones just go out and try to take what they want.  They rarely live long, because of the heavy artillery mentioned in a previous post.  But the smart ones learn to hunt, and usually manage to cover their tracks well enough to throw off those who don't want to believe in monsters or simply want to accept an easier answer (e.g., those missing people didn't just disappear; they were runaways/transients).The second and third tier are Safety and Social Needs.  And example of monster motivations based on this...An Aboleth is about to lay eggs (Social need:  procreation) so it goes about kidnapping nearby sailors and turning them into Skum to protect its young (Safety need).On the fourth tier you have Ego needs, which focus on recognition from others and status.  I could translate this into a game motivation by intoducing a struggle for territory.  Say there is a gnoll gang (maybe a couple of them are pimps, but as said above not all of them strive to be pimps - chuckle).  The leader wants to improve his status, and does this by attempting to increase his territory.  Gang war ensues.At the top tier, you have more challenging motivations.  A ghost wants Revenge on its killer.  A mad mage wants to gather all the power he can, oblivious of the forces that are manipulating him along the way.Hope this little spiel helps.  Remember:  the monsters have needs and wants, just like humans.  What does the monster need?  What does the monster want?</blockquote>

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