Monster Thread

Maybe it's a referente to a writer instead of the region?

Could be.
Any suggestions to a relevant author with a name that begins witrh Corn- ?

I found this, although it's just an offhand mention:
wilde.thefreelibrary.com/The-Happy-Prince-and-Other-Tales/4-1#Cornish

Allegedly it's a reference to the selfish giant

The one that Oscar Wilde wrote about?

Thanks.

But the Cornwall Ogre is not described in any significant degree.
I wonder where Wilde got the idea of an ogre living in Cornwall from.

Also, I imagine Grendel was some sort of ogre, or troll.

I tend to use my minotaurs as a rather rare race of highly skilled warriors that seem to just be anywhere. Plane hopping adventure? Minotaur may show up. Adventure deep in intrigue focused on one locale? Minotaur bodyguard. Adventure that involves warring factions? One is led by a minotaur.
No idea why I started doing that but it has since become a recurring theme in my games.

The mythical and cursed labyrinth monster has a certain charm that the beastfolk 'minotaur race' lacks.

Speaking of minotaurs and ogres, any tips for miniatures?

The GW ones don't really do it for me.

I don't use miniatures, but I do like to play play around with Hero Forge
heroforge.com/

Muchas gracias, as they say in Denmark.

I agree, and for me it has to do with the 'race' part turning it into something mundane and approachable.

Personally I don't like races of monsters, just individuals who happen to share similarities. So there could be a "class" of monster that we call minotaurs, but in truth they would each be individual occurrences, like the Minotaur or the Sarangay. There could be groups that share an origin, but not to the point of establishing a race, and generally speaking you would only know the generalizations of 'minotaur,' but wouldn't know what to expect from this individual you have come up against.

So I like to fluff it so that monsters' origins derive from things like curses or natural aberrations. If there is a progenitor, the monsters should be treated more like a small 'clan' than an established race with their own civilization.

This approach, at least to me, makes monsters feel more significant and valuable to the setting - and if you were to come across an actual 'race' of monsters, the implications would be both very significant and very dangerous.

The more bestial the monster, the less this applies, until the point where they might as well just be common wildlife.

So it's not so much "A minotaur" as "The Minotaur", for example?

A fucking love Goblins. Goblin as a word carries a certain magic to it. They have goblin magic and work goblin metal. They even have their own Goblin Market. A goblin is the type of abduct children and sleep in a river of spider webs. There is a certain enchanted quality to them unlike other humanoids like orcs.

I think you could consolidate the mythical origin with having a race of their own, but that can get pretty magical realmy.

Following the discussion on the Ogre Gods from last thread, has anyone read Gargantua and Pantagruel? The french seems to have a thing for voracious and crude noble ogres from the Renaissance.

what makes buddhist demons different from "regular" demons?

Kinda like polytheist or animist myths, where the child of immortals tend to be very different from each other, then?
I think it works, but only in a setting with not too many people, or with an elite gifted by destiny and a bunch of "background characters".

I love the old nothern european trolls and giants.

pastebin.com/6t71NVb8

reposting eurocomics about ogres.
There's also Gorgor Bey from Blackmoon chronicles, and Lanfeust's Trolls in another genre.

Similar to that, yes. They aren't 'natural' beings, or if they are they're a unique expression of something natural (like a local forest god) or something aberrant. Otherwise they might result from curses, as creatures made to punish mortals (eg the Bull of Heaven), even like the Minotaur as the result of a god or demigod's philandering. The difference is that I don't imagine the Minotaur successfully raising its own race and civilization, either because its monstrous nature physically prevents that, because the chaotic divine blood it came from would become diluted and fade in generations, because it and its progeny would not survive that long due to murderhobos or being asocial monsters, or because it would never be a possibility due to the situation it was born into.

The way I like it, the 'true' monsters usually aren't the low-level mooks getting trashed by wandering bards. Dangerous critters, bandits and the like, even basically-human races like elves or even orcs can feature, but whenever something worthy of the title "monster" shows up it's going to be a day worth remembering. Even if it is not inherently very powerful, it has a unique nature and has lived long enough to survive as a monster.

Think polytheist/animist myths, where each tribe has a couple monsters of their own in their past - but there's a larger world out there, and plenty of tribes with their own monsters and many more which haven't caused a stir yet.

More, I suppose, like the stereotypical D&D scenario - there's this monster giving us trouble, venture to its lair and slay it. On the way you'll fight wolves and bandits in the forest, an orc encampment at the cave mouth, etc... but the townspeople don't care about the bandits or the wolves or the orcs, that's mundane stuff a militia can handle. The monster is in the cave, and they need a hero for that. It's not that the PCs are necessarily gifted by destiny, just that there aren't many people willing to face such a thing.

>It's not that the PCs are necessarily gifted by destiny
I'd say that they can be regular people in an animist setting, however if they begin to mess with divine toys like monsters in a polytheist setting, they're pretty much fucked.

Not this user but yes. If minotaurs are dime a dozen and live in tribes then they are just barbarians with animal heads and not mythical opponents.

They're the shit. I wish more settings went that route instead of "dumb animals that live in caves" or "dude Jamaica lmao"

I particularly like the carved tusks.

Well, gods in these tales are often fickle, and killing their toy might please them as much as it killing you would have - or even if displeasing, your victory was within the rules of their game. Or you can enter into a Gilgamesh or Hercules situation (granted, they were more than gifted by destiny) where the modus operandi of the gods is to throw monsters at those who offend them, and if you can overcome that then there's not much that particular god can do that's worthwhile.

I would expect the usual situation to be, with divine monsters at least, that they've already served their purpose and have just stuck around, or came about through the influence of an offended local god that put quite a bit of effort into it already and really doesn't have the sort of power to harass you forever anyway.

Yes, although for every capital M Minotaur sort of individual there would likely be many "wild" monsters, living in the wilderness or the edge of civilization without ever earning a name - your ogres, oni, trolls, etc.

I'm not sure what you mean by that. Do you mean a scenario where a Zeus-like god sires many of the same kind of monster?

I try to take a halfway point between these options. I have The Minotaur, as an almost eldritch abomination with vaguely cow-like features. I also have his offspring, which are more "normal", but limited in number and varying in appearances (one might be a centaurid, one might be more cow-like, one might be more demonic, etc). Then those Minoffspring have their own children, which spawns an entire race in the image of each of them.

So you have the deity-level version, the mythical-monster version, and the race-like version, without taking away from the uniqueness of each.

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>I'm not sure what you mean by that. Do you mean a scenario where a Zeus-like god sires many of the same kind of monster?

Some sort of curse or cult that compels women to mate with beasts, like bulls, to make Minotaurs.

I wanna fuck a gnoll/medusa/minotaur/kobold/dragon

What else can I add to the list?

Consider the following:

>Minotaur-Labyrinth
>Troll-Bridge
>Ogre-Mound
>Goblin-Town
>Orc-Fortress

While it might seem silly, I like the idea that certain monstrous peoples or what have you have a certain compulsion to naturally build certain structures whenever they get the chance to settle down and become comfortable and entrenched in an area. Whether it's a Troll finding a nice river to build a bridge over and just hide underneath, to Ogres erecting standing stones and digging out a cave to make a 'mound'.

bump

I had a dumb idea for a Billy Goats Gruff gag in a Warhammer Fantasy game.

Ungor, Gor, and Bestigor fighting a Troll.

Bridge trolls never made sense to me. If they are a regular occurrence why not incorporate some sort of grate into every bridge built or have the locals regularly check bridges for trolls.

>Bridge trolls never made sense to me. If they are a regular occurrence why not incorporate some sort of grate into every bridge built or have the locals regularly check bridges for trolls.

They don't just find and commandeer bridges, user- Trolls MAKE those bridges and they're good bridges.

I enjoy mimics when ever I encounter them.

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I remember that in the INvisible highschool comic series, trolls were cursed to stay there if they passed under a bridge, unless they managed to trick some poor guy into taking their place.
Hence why so many hobos sleep under bridges, a troll tricked them.

That's the version I prefer. Diluted blood with some rare resurgence, like a village of relatively strong but otherwise normal human where one child just has bones like steel and can move boulders, and nobody questions it.

If I remember my Asanassief correctly, slavic mythos is animist, with a lot of monsters coming from relationships between humans and animals.
You also have entire kingdoms of magical humans.
Also very important is magical sentences to bind people and monsters (quite normal for fairy tales, but still I like the ideas of words and oaths having stong power)

FUCK!

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I love trolls man, river trolls, cave trolls all different kinds of the things. They've gotta be monsters though, I lose interest the second you see some kind of troll civilisation. I want them just like a dumb but stupidly powerful and cunning animal, maybe they have some stupid pitfall trap set up near their cave to catch prey or use clubs or primitive tools but that's where I'd draw the line.

Trolls are charged with the building and upkeep of all bridges in the Kingdom. For their service and vigilance, they are allowed to tithe any and all traffic across the bridge.

Pathfinder has this shit in one of the bestiaries, artist made look a bit dump

Do you have Yeti(s) on your setting? How are they like?

No love for the cold boyz?

Are golems classified as monsters?

OP here and yeah

I wouldn't say so. A monster is typically malevolent in its ways, some sort of evil entity causing trouble for some reason. Whereas a golem or any other construct is not on its own an antagonistic or often even a sapient being and instead just following what it was told to do. You wouldn't consider a machine a monster because of its programming.

They live in cold places and are smart enough to hold grudges. Around 60% of all avalanches are caused by Yeti getting back at the guy who attacked them or entered their territory. They can be appeased by offering them a meal, such as a sheep or basket of fish or vegetables.

I like to have yetis as a reclusive near-human race that has adapted to "hive" living in the resource-poor mountains and high plateaus. Fluffed somewhat after the stereotype of Tibetan Buddhism, they live in small monastic temple-colonies, tending to terraced fields and herding yaks under the direction of a priest caste.

Depending on their upbringing, they will develop into one of several castes: warriors, laborers, and priests. Warriors are tall, broad, with bodies covered largely in thick hair, and possess a pair of large swept-back horns. As the "standard" undifferentiated caste, laborers are most similar to other humans, though somewhat broader and more hirsute. Priests/priestesses are frailer, with four short straight horns, and more distinct body hair pattern - concentrated on their shoulders, forearms, and crus. Warriors are uncommon and fulfill both military and heavy labor roles, laborers are essentially the common population, and the rarer priests fulfill the administrative and ceremonial needs of the temple-colony. In truth the caste system is more of a gradient, and it is not uncommon to see such sights as a warrior-like "laborer" tending to a herd.

Most Yeti (or "Himamanav" in this setting) have stark white hair and olive skin, though black hair and paler or darker skin is not uncommon. Irises are uniformly amber, with the rare exception of muddy-red in priests or green in individuals with Human ancestry. All have two sets of upper canine teeth, a predilection for dairy and meat, and an intolerance of alcohol.

Culture varies between temple-colonies, but there is usually a strong value placed on spiritual correctness and communal sufficiency.

Despite superficial similarities, they do not appear to be more related to the primitive Woses and Sasquatch of the temperate forests than Humans are.

>pic related could represent a particularly robust warrior, sans horns - most would look more clearly human, but this is within the range of variation

I'm basically trying to think up the things that could be in a Goblin Empire. I have a list from going through all official monster material of D&D 5e, with things that make sense to be there.

The Goblin Empire is a weird and wrong place built upon bad ideas. While goblins are the main people of the Empire, there are a multitude of other denizens that could all belong in a Bosch painting.

Any further ideas?

Himamanav burials are usually quite consistent. The body will be defleshed, either after an open "sky burial," incineration, or ritual preparation, then entombed within (or as a component of) a communal ossuary or necropolis. Priests and community members of distinction are mummified and placed among the bones as spiritual foci and guardians for the dead. Heinous criminals and sorcerers have their heads removed and thrown down canyons, with their bones collectively stored in a stone receptacle (often either a carved head with a "coffer" mouth in mountain communities, or great urns in plateau communities) outside the settled area. This is done to contain the harmful spiritual energies they have accumulated, and to deprive them of a mind for direction.

Not all Himamanav live within a temple-colony, and small villages lay scattered throughout their territories. These communities do not usually have the resources to raise non-laborer castes, and often appear as little more than somewhat peculiar highlanders to Human visitors, who themselves seem to be simply foreign laborer-castes of another race. In fact, it is not uncommon for such a villager to ever realize that they or the residents of their mother temple-colony are distinct from the lowlanders.

Yeti live slightly longer than their neighbors, an average of 100 years, provided a life of good health. Despite their spiritually-focused social structure, warfare is not uncommon, and the abuses inherent to any caste system are only somewhat mitigated by the non-hereditary nature of their castes. There is a broad proscription on "sorcery," including any form of alleged magic not derived from their religious systems.

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Their religions tend to be quite similar, with a focus on spiritual cleanliness, communication with ancestral spirits, and metaphysical enlightenment. They often describe the main theologies as "Stone, Brass, Cloth." Stone theology claims that reality is an expression of eternal sound, and teaches secret words and tones that can be used to move the bones of the world. Brass theology claims that reality is an expression of eternal light, and teaches methods of subsisting on and embodying sunlight. Cloth theology claims that reality is an expression of eternal connections, and teaches how to uncouple oneself from the perceived world. The symbols of these faiths are the suspended boulder, the brass bell, and the labyrinth tapestry.

The largest of the temple-colonies hide robust populations. Due to the harsh terrain and climate of their homelands, these cities subsist on courtyard and subterranean farms fed by the hotsprings they are so often founded upon, and nourished with redirected sunlight and the focused spiritual energy of the inhabitants. Deep within the colonies dwell the priest-monarchs and their retinues, and it is not uncommon for generations to pass before one ventures outside the confines of the royal temple.

While even weak magic is only uncommonly practiced by the Himamanav (with the exception of standard religious rituals and agricultural blessings), the priest-monarch of a large city is capable of exercising powerful divine magic, even removed from the directed spiritual support of their charges.

Look at those numbers

Well, I like my goblins as insane trash scavangers with an enormous curiosity. The dwarfs in the setting have big junkyards where they dump all their scrap and old machines and some goblin communities turned all that garbage into actual towns where they learned a little about machinering. So, what do you think about some trash in the goblin kingdom?

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More likely the ancient Greeks making fun of them

>those assholes on Crete are always decorating their shit with bulls, must be a bunch of bull fuckers

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I had a premise for a series of games built on an old joke I made in passing... a yeti with a Helm of Intelligence that smelled strangely of feces "because he sure didn't think to put it on his head first."

they're basically bigass apes, which is why the main premise of the game is the locals realizing to their horror that the lesser, shittier races of monsters are getting their shit together via magic items stolen from a dead adventurer. the bunch of burly apes weren't such a big deal before, until they all joined together, figured out what catapaults are and how to build them

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Rakshasa should be ogres/onis with illusion powers to confuse and intimidate their victims and foes by projecting multiple limbs and heads, size altering and other forms of shapeshifting. Not tiges with fucked up hands

Reminds me of pic related.

but frankenstein's creature is clearly a monster, despite being an obedient construct.
Also, monster comes from the latin monstrare (via the french montrer, I believe), "to show somebody something". So a monster isn't always malevolent, it's just a creature that is out of the ordinary, that doesn't belong to the natural order of things. In that regard constructs are the typical monster.
As long as you go "oh shit, look at that thing", it can qualify as a monster.

I think anderson's pic predates the hentai by a few years.

deleted link was showing a hentai called man eater by fan no hitori. Story about centaur lower body that attacks people and merges with them in a manner similar to I'm surprised that we don't see a lot of centaur parasites in rpgs (or parasites at all, for that matter. There are terryfying books and movies like the puppet masters or the Thing, yet no game about it) It makes for an opponent you can easily tweak depending on the kind of humanoid they merge with, yet they have a strong identity.