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TTRPG
The ABC's of DND: K is for...
Because I can never get enough of the ‘weird little guy’ category of monsters, this time we are heading back to the feywilds, or rather, underneath it…
TTRPG
The ABC's of DND: J is for...
Some of the best monsters in Dungeons & Dragons draw inspiration from real life and today we are venturing into the myths and legends of China. Traditional folklore surrounding jiangshi is wonderfully eccentric, and nearly all of it can become fun gameplay. Jiangshi offer something many undead don't: personality. A skeleton attacks because it's ordered to. A zombie attacks because it's hungry. A jiangshi attacks because something has gone terribly wrong with death itself.
TTRPG
The ABC's of DND: I is for...
Today we delve into the wonderful world of I, and I must admit that for this one I was a little adrift. At first I thought perhaps I can spin it and make it a post about I the DM being the greatest monster of all, but then I remembered. I have a million tags inside my monster manual of cool monsters and surely there is one there which satisfies today’s letter?
TTRPG
The ABC's of DND: H is for...
One of the greatest DM’s ever to put pen to paper once wrote; “Cry Havoc! and let slip the dogs of war.” And who am I to ignore the OG bard? This week we are going to talk about dogs, sort of.
TTRPG
The ABC's of DND: G is for...
This week we are talking about the big lads. No really. Massive. Mountain-sized. "I cast Fly because I refuse to deal with stairs anymore" levels of big.
TTRPG
The ABC's of DND: F is for...
There are a few monsters which have become truly synonymous with D&D, Dragons, beholders, mindflayers and today's offering, fiends. No infernal bargain, cultists ceremony, or a wizard who makes one tiny mistake with a summoning circle is complete without a Fiend.
TTRPG
The ABC's of DND: E is for...
Previously I spoke about ancient horrors lurking beneath the waves, but not every memorable monster has to be a world-ending aberration with enough psychic power to make even your squishy wizard cry. Sometimes the best monsters are the ones that catch your players completely off guard. They look harmless. They sound harmless. And then, before anyone has realised what is happening, the party has somehow found itself in a situation that has spiralled gloriously out of control.
TTRPG
The ABC's of DND: D is for...
Note to author: Don’t write dragon. Don’t write dragon. Don’t write dragon. This week we are going to talk about dragons… Psych bitches! (Hmmm I wonder if Lee will let me post this article with a swear right at the beginning? Only one way to find out.)
TTRPG
The ABC's of DND: C is for...
Today we are taking a deep dive. At first I thought it would be cool to do a Couatl, bit after deciding that a Couatl was too much like a dragon to count (what with this whole series being about taking the dragons out of D&D), I decided to delve into the D&D vault.
TTRPG
The ABC's of DnD: B is for...
Like B-movies, and B-sides, there are a lot of B-monsters out there to choose from. Basilisks, and Behir, Bone-whelks and Bulete’s all made it to a shortlist… which then became a long list. But today we will be stepping out of the core rules and into one of the supplemental books; Volo’s Guide to Monsters.
TTRPG
The ABC’s of DND: A is for...
Previously I talked about reasons why dragons can be a bit of a pitfall for D&D campaigns. But where does that leave us? Well luckily we have a huge manual of monsters to draw upon, and with a challenge rating of 10 and some interesting lore, I would like to start with one of my favourite monsters of all time. But first let us set the scene: