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Why A GM Can Never Have Too Many Bestiaries
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<blockquote data-quote="Bedrockgames" data-source="post: 7690718" data-attributes="member: 85555"><p>It may be that I am just more comfortable handwaving certain things or that I focus on different aspects of the setting when it comes to internal consistency, but here I see these as two very different classes of creatures. Large scale monsters, definitely demand more symbiosis to be believable. If you have a monster that is an actual mountain, then presumably other monsters living in the area nearby are insignificant enough to avoid attracting its attention or provide some positive benefit. Personally I tend to lean more toward having these sorts of things as slumbering. Some monsters I file unto "To be unleashed when appropriate". Still having a nice roster to select form can be helpful (and in more remote areas they can be more regular things). </p><p></p><p>For vampires and stuff, I haven't really worried too much about their ability to replicate, since that is within the control the creatures themselves (if they are actively trying to spread, that would be an issue, but I've never really had players bat an eye at monsters like hat (even ones that are not the standards) if its clear their goals are fairly limited and don't include domination of the world. Generally for Vampires and werewolves, not wanting to attract attention from hunters and religious orders (particularly in settings with divine magic) seems like enough of an explanation for most people. </p><p></p><p>Once in a while though I will use exactly this kind of threats to remind players that threats can get out of control sometimes. You don't want to drop a vampire plague every month, but once in a while that can be interesting. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I tend to think of stuff like Conan, Lovecraft, etc where science fiction feels like it can fit in pretty easily sometimes. I also read more science fiction than fantasy so when I make a campaign setting there is usually a sense of space being a thing. But this will of course vary from person to person and group to group. I do tend to enjoy Doctor Who like occurrences.</p><p></p><p>Like I said though, a lot of times I will reskin it for fantasy. This is an example of something in one of my campaigns, where I basically took something that felt more inspired by the Sci Fi I was reading but gave it a bit of a Howard skin: <a href="http://thebedrockblog.blogspot.com/2014/12/ive-been-wanting-to-post-this-for-while.html" target="_blank">http://thebedrockblog.blogspot.com/2014/12/ive-been-wanting-to-post-this-for-while.html</a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bedrockgames, post: 7690718, member: 85555"] It may be that I am just more comfortable handwaving certain things or that I focus on different aspects of the setting when it comes to internal consistency, but here I see these as two very different classes of creatures. Large scale monsters, definitely demand more symbiosis to be believable. If you have a monster that is an actual mountain, then presumably other monsters living in the area nearby are insignificant enough to avoid attracting its attention or provide some positive benefit. Personally I tend to lean more toward having these sorts of things as slumbering. Some monsters I file unto "To be unleashed when appropriate". Still having a nice roster to select form can be helpful (and in more remote areas they can be more regular things). For vampires and stuff, I haven't really worried too much about their ability to replicate, since that is within the control the creatures themselves (if they are actively trying to spread, that would be an issue, but I've never really had players bat an eye at monsters like hat (even ones that are not the standards) if its clear their goals are fairly limited and don't include domination of the world. Generally for Vampires and werewolves, not wanting to attract attention from hunters and religious orders (particularly in settings with divine magic) seems like enough of an explanation for most people. Once in a while though I will use exactly this kind of threats to remind players that threats can get out of control sometimes. You don't want to drop a vampire plague every month, but once in a while that can be interesting. I tend to think of stuff like Conan, Lovecraft, etc where science fiction feels like it can fit in pretty easily sometimes. I also read more science fiction than fantasy so when I make a campaign setting there is usually a sense of space being a thing. But this will of course vary from person to person and group to group. I do tend to enjoy Doctor Who like occurrences. Like I said though, a lot of times I will reskin it for fantasy. This is an example of something in one of my campaigns, where I basically took something that felt more inspired by the Sci Fi I was reading but gave it a bit of a Howard skin: [url]http://thebedrockblog.blogspot.com/2014/12/ive-been-wanting-to-post-this-for-while.html[/url] [/QUOTE]
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