Author Archives: MssngrDeath

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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E is for Earth Elemental, Disguised

So far this month has been all about monsters I created and ran as a DM, and most of the rest of the month will be too. But every once in a while I get the opportunity to develop a … Continue reading

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D is for Death Slaad, with Sternness Despised

I’m always impressed by how serendipitously these posts come together, like how last year we happened to have two characters from the same campaign, but polar opposites, at adjacent letters. You’d think I planned it that way. Today is one … Continue reading

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C is for Chimera (Three out of Five)

I think we take certain D&D creatures for granted. We know there are several monsters borrowed from Greek mythology, like minotaurs and sphinxes, and it’s somewhat common knowledge that golems come from Jewish folklore, and so on. But we’re often … Continue reading

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B is for Brains, Who Walk, Still Alive

When I started on the list of monsters for this month, I expected to hit snags on certain letters. I had ideas for Q and X, but J? Y? I anticipating having trouble with the smaller sets of monsters. I … Continue reading

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A is for Angels, Virtuous Jerks

Remember last year, when I said I had more characters who began with A than any other letter? It turns out A is also a competitive letter for “highest number of interesting monsters”. I’m starting to think we’re all just … Continue reading

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A to Z Challenge: Monsters with Quirks

It’s nearly April again, and that means it’s almost time for the A-to-Z Blogging Challenge. Last year I talked about the characters my players have brought to the table and what made them memorable, for better or worse. This year … Continue reading

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Death by Cliché

I used to be a voracious reader. In the days before I got into tabletop gaming, when I was much shorter, I read pretty much everything I could get my hands on. I preferred science fiction, but I spent a … Continue reading

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Serious Stories and Emotional Taxes

It takes a lot for me to drop a story early. I’ve struggled enough with pacing and storytelling to know how important a good beginning, middle, and end are to any narrative, and I feel like I can’t effectively judge … Continue reading

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An Attempt at Truly Improvisational DMing

Over the course of my DMing career, I’ve slowly moved from a rigid style to something looser. When I started off, I was one of those DMs who had to have every beat of the story planned, every NPC statted … Continue reading

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