D&D General Players: Do You Care From Whence Your DM Gets His Monsters/Challenges?

[cbwjm]

Official, 3rd party, homebrew; it doesn't make a difference to me. I expect monsters and challenges to be expanded beyond official content.

 

[Black Dougal]

Seriously, the traditional core creatures (too numerous to list) all qualify to one degree or another. But creatures like Star Spawn or the Lonely and such ilk do not seem D&Dish to me. They seem more Cthulhu, not so much medieval fantasy adventure. Horror certainly has its place in D&D (mostly via the undead IMO), but many creatures do fall into a category of "beyond" D&Dish.

I think as you and others touched on this varies person to person but also if you go back to ODD or ADD many of the monsters were pulled from science fantasy, Lovecraft, pulpy cinema, etc.

Just my two cents.

 

[ezo]

So I don't understand where you are coming from with rejecting the idea that the magic and monsters are on the periphery and in the shadows.

I don't know. I don't understand where you got the idea that my preferences equate to high fantasy?

High fantasy = magic and monsters EVERYWHERE...in your garden, at the mall, part of your book club.
Low fantasy = BURN THE WITCH!!!!

LOL more or less, but maybe not that extreme.

I think as you and others touched on this varies person to person

Certainly!

but also if you go back to ODD or ADD many of the monsters were pulled from science fantasy, Lovecraft, pulpy cinema, etc.

And many of them I never used because of that nor did I think of them as very "D&Dish" (medieval fantasy).

Just my two cents.

I'll take them! I am getting killed in the stock market...

 

[Reynard]

I don't know. I don't understand where you got the idea that my preferences equate to high fantasy?

I simply misunderstood you.

What I am wondering now is if you want magic to be rare and wonderous in your world, why did you suggest that my similar approach was "not D&D" to you?

 

[ezo]

What I am wondering now is if you want magic to be rare and wonderous in your world, why did you suggest that my similar approach was "not D&D" to you?

You said the world was mundane, which to me means without magic, not that magic is simply rare. If magic is out of sight, magical creatures are out of sight, right? This is "mundane"?

a setting that for all intents and purposes seems mundane on the surface but holds secrets and magic just out of site. it is a very common trope in more modern settings, but there is no reason you could not do it in a more traditional late medieval D&D setting.

Creatures such as trolls, giants, and manticore are known to exist (since the focus of the thread is about creatures), seen from time to time, there is lore about them. But even though they are far from commonplace in a low fantasy setting; they are not hidden, secreted in part of the world, and unknown to the people of the world.

I don't know if that makes it any clearer for you or not?

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Just an idle curiosity.

If you are playing D&D (any edition, but 3e on have more options in this regard), do you care about where your DM is getting their monsters and stuff? in other words, do you expect or desire your DM to use official monsters? Do you have concerns if they are using 3rd party monster books? Homebrewing monsters? Does it matter if they are using Grimtooth's traps or similar?

If so, why?

If not, is that universal or are there sources that would worry you?

Thanks.

I couldn't care less where they come from as long as they work reasonably well. Perfection is impossible, but "pretty dang good" is quite achievable.

The only two things I don't want to see are:
1. the DM modifying stats on the fly once the monster is already engaged
2. BS "gotcha" monsters like ear seekers or the like, because I don't find that kind of gameplay enjoyable in the least

There's really only one even possible exception to the "I couldn't care less where the monsters come from" thing, and that's the dandwiki. That place is such a horrible cesspit of awful, awful, awful design, I'd be immediately suspicious of anything that came from it. It's just so consistently bad that even my "eh, who cares? DM can use what they like" impulse is not quite strong enough to make it full carte blanche.

 

[cbwjm]

I couldn't care less where they come from as long as they work reasonably well. Perfection is impossible, but "pretty dang good" is quite achievable.

The only two things I don't want to see are:
1. the DM modifying stats on the fly once the monster is already engaged
2. BS "gotcha" monsters like ear seekers or the like, because I don't find that kind of gameplay enjoyable in the least

There's really only one even possible exception to the "I couldn't care less where the monsters come from" thing, and that's the dandwiki. That place is such a horrible cesspit of awful, awful, awful design, I'd be immediately suspicious of anything that came from it. It's just so consistently bad that even my "eh, who cares? DM can use what they like" impulse is not quite strong enough to make it full carte blanche.

I think so long as the DM is good at evaluating monsters, dndwiki can be a good resource. While I agree that much of the design there is bad or overpowered, as a resource for ideas though, I think it's great due to all the content there. I've used it for design ideas on subclasses in the past and found that some of the classes/subclasses were actually fairly well designed that they might only need minimal updates. Others are complete power trips though, I saw a saiyan class where you're effectively an unstoppable powerhouse that gets ridiculously powerful even within a few levels.

 

[mamba]

If you are playing D&D (any edition, but 3e on have more options in this regard), do you care about where your DM is getting their monsters and stuff? in other words, do you expect or desire your DM to use official monsters? Do you have concerns if they are using 3rd party monster books? Homebrewing monsters? Does it matter if they are using Grimtooth's traps or similar?

no, not worried at all, not exactly sure what source would get me to worry or why. I do find Grimtooth's traps to be over the top, but I would assume those traps to be used sparingly

 

[gnarlygninja]

Mostly I don't care, but I have played with a few people I'd prefer stick to official sources. Only because they weren't very good at telling if something was balanced and the group frequently almost died because they would throw something broken at us without realizing we had no way to deal with it.

 

[Argyle King]

I don't care about the source as long as the monsters are fun, engaging, and relatively well balanced.

+1