Category Archives: Events

O is for Orcs, Orc-Speak, and Orc Home

When I was putting together the campaign setting I’m using now, I wanted to give each race a country. I didn’t want the country of elves to have elves, only elves, and all elves, because that’s not just creatively bankrupt, … Continue reading

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N is for Nerras, Shiny and Chrome

I have a reason for liking the minotaur: it’s basic and it’s functional. I have a reason for liking kruthiks: they gave me one of the most epic player stories I have. Almost everything I talk about this month had … Continue reading

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M is for Minotaur, Rarely Barbaric

I took an atypical path to tabletop gaming, and I’ll probably talk about that in more detail one day. The first D&D book I ever picked up was the 3.0E Monster Manual, and when I opened it the first monster … Continue reading

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L is for Lolth-Touched (It’s Super-Generic)

I really like monster templates. I love taking a creature the players know and putting a twist on it so they understand part of what’s going on but not all of it, like making a regular gorilla into a savage, … Continue reading

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K is for Kruthiks, Who Ate All the Words

Monsters work their way into our hearts in tons of ways. Some have art that grabs you immediately, some fill a niche you need in a campaign, some fight players in epic battles, and some have a tiny throwaway line … Continue reading

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J is for Jyoti, Light-Spitting Birds

J is hard. Fewer monsters begin with J than with B, and I wrote about how rough that was. The issue again is in which monsters I’ve used; I’ve dealt with juggernauts a few times, and I love the jahi … Continue reading

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I is for Ice Archon, Dim, as a Lark

Everybody has their favorite creatures, and I find the longer you play D&D the more favorite creatures you have. Some combination of the mechanics, the backstory, the art, and all the bits of a monsters tickle you in some way, … Continue reading

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H is for Hezrou, Prince of the Dark

I went back and forth several times on what to do for H because I had two good candidates, both evil outsiders and both campaign villains in different ways. I settled on this one because while I did something interesting … Continue reading

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G is for Grodair, Backstory’s Mouthpiece

Let’s compliment a story about a creature I made from scratch with a story about a creature I used exactly from the book. Exactly. The grodair has a few similarities to the death slaad. They’re both owned by their respective … Continue reading

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F is for Fire Bats (Well, Fire Keese)

F is also a surprisingly hard letter. Few creatures begin with F except those who do it by virtue of having some modifying word: flesh golems, frost worms, forest drakes, etc. I’ve really only used one F creature, and even … Continue reading

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