monsters of myth

maybe its just me... but has anyone else ever been interested in the statistics for all of the crazy medieval picture of monsters. like the guys with their face in the belly, the strange birdlike monstrosities of heronimous bosch, all the different permutations of the sea serpent.. etc. ?

joe b.
 
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Re: maybe its just me...

jgbrowning said:
but has anyone else ever been interested in the statistics for all of the crazy medieval picture of monsters. like the guys with their face in the belly, the strange birdlike monstrosities of heronimous bosch, all the different permutations of the sea serpent.. etc. ?

joe b.

In one word: Yes.

I'd also like to see many of the more traditional creatures from legends and mythology written up. I'd like the basis for them to be the actually stories and not pre editions of an RPG.
 

I think those drawings are by Rabelais- and I think I *might* have a folio of them in a clip art collection. I'll try and dig it up or re-buy it. I think this would be a cool idea for a monster collection.
 


That would be great! Especially if they were unique monsters (like the tarrasque). Speaking of the tarrasque, it would be cool to see a more accurate depiction of that statted, too!.
 

The problem I have with that for the greater mythic monsters (dragons and anyone else really, really badass) is that most of them were able to take down many of the greatest heros, until the protagonist figured out how to attack their weak spot. And in many cases, the protagonist was more of a commoner than any great hero type. But the players, having heard the same stories you have, will make a beeline for the weak spots, ruining the mythic feel of the whole story.

And as for the more "generic" mythical monsters, well, the only reason that orcs and trolls are so banal now is because we're used to them. I'm sure that whatever monster you make, unless it's so super powered that they don't stand a chance against it. In which case you're just railroading; it's one thing to have the party encounter a monster that can eat them for lunch, it's another to have them see something new and have it wipe the floor with them. Making a monster far more powerful than the PC's just so it'll scare them is very poor form, and doesn't really inspire any player emotion.

So if one of those mythic creations sparks your imagination, more power to you, but at the same time, there's a lot to be said for taking a pre-existing creature and just changing the "skin", maybe making a tweak here or there, than totally reinventing the wheel just because you want your players to be in the dark.
 


RangerWickett...

RangerWickett, you sure that you want to be putting Ley Line Magic in there (you know that Palladium has that in Rifts & stuff don't you? Just don't wanna see you get your butt sued by them!
 

Re: RangerWickett...

Tharkun said:
RangerWickett, you sure that you want to be putting Ley Line Magic in there (you know that Palladium has that in Rifts & stuff don't you? Just don't wanna see you get your butt sued by them!

Ley lines are genuine occult lore (or as "genuine" as any occult lore can be ;)). Palladium could hardly sue anyone for using them in a game, any more than they could sue people for using vampires or werewolves.

Re the original topic: one thing that really gets up the nose of a lot of players is the "magic bullet" trick, where a monster can only be defeated if you know its exact weakness. This sort of thing is fine in literature, but often leads only to frustration in a game.
 
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