Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #274

6 Monstrous Tips

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SENT BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY With Compliments

From: Johnn Four, [Link]
johnn@[Link]
Edited By: Scot Newbury
editor@[Link]

CONTENTS:
--> A Brief Word From Johnn

--> This Week's Tips:

1. The One Minute Monster
2. Avoid Monster Cliches
3. Begin At The Beginning
4. Change One Big Thing Every Adventure
5. Grab Your Heroes And Turn Them Around
6. Critter Protection Racket

--> Readers' Tips Of The Week:

1. One Way To Handle Split Parties
From: Chris Schlosser
2. Settling The Players Before The Game
From: Derek McKay
3. An Example Mapping Process
From: The Chicken Reborn
4. Planning And Running SF Games
From: Garry Stahl

--> Subscribe/Unsubscribe/Submissions Information

Do you know a GM that doesn't subscribe? Please send them a

copy of the e-zine or suggest they drop by the site. Thanks!
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MYINFO - ASSISTANT FOR GAME MASTERS

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loose sheets of paper that get lost everytime you need them,
MyInfo will help you put an end to it!

MyInfo for Windows makes organizing campaigns, adventures,

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[Link]

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A BRIEF WORD FROM JOHNN

On Holidays - Next Issue Will Be Mid-August
-------------------------------------------
As of tomorrow, I'll be on holidays until mid August, so no
issues will be crafted and sent until my return. I also
expect my Inbox to be filled up with spam by Tuesday, which
means e-mails sent to me after that point will likely
bounce. :( If I were a monster, I think my special attack
would be Dumbfounding Puns, and my special weakness would be
Kryptonite Spam.

This year, we're vacating to British Columbia to do some

camping near 100 Mile House. If asked to define what camping
is, my wife would tell you that's when I bring my laptop
outside to write. It should be fun, though with no Internet
I might go through some withdrawal. :)

NERO Terms And Definitions

--------------------------
Last week, we posted a tip about the NERO organization.
Logan has also compiled a large list of terms used in
conjunction with NERO:

[Link]

Cheers,

Johnn Four
johnn@[Link]

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6 MONSTROUS TIPS

The following are contest entries from the recent

Expeditious Retreat Press Monster Tips Contest.
1. The One Minute Monster
From: Adam Marafioti
============================================================
One way to quickly give your players "new monsters" without
all the hassle of statting them up is to simply write up a
new monster description and then steal the stats off of an
existing monster. As long as your monster isn't doing
something illogical, like rending when in your description
to the players it doesn't have any arms, then chances are
your players will never even realise that they were fighting
the exact same monster (statswise) as last week, just in a
new body!

2. Avoid Monster Cliches

From: Adrian Pavone
============================================================
The standard idea most D&D DMs use once the party has gained
a few levels is to revive some of the old monsters and tack
a few class levels on them. For example, a bugbear with 4
levels of Fighter can be a difficult foe, as can an orc
Barbarian level 6, or a goblin Sorcerer level 14. But why go
with what is expected? My suggestion is, try avoiding the
cliches once in a while.

The way I implement this in my game is quite simple. I have

just given the player characters an adventure hook which
states that a goblin stole a nobleman's prized ruby idol of
Pelor. There is actually a lot more going on as well behind
this story, but the goblin himself is neither a standard
goblin, a warrior goblin, or a rogue goblin (which would be
expected to explain the "theft"). He is actually a goblin
monk. And to boot, he is lawful good!

And why not? Sure, most goblins are aggressive and only care
about themselves, but that doesn't mean all goblins are.
This goblin might have had a lawful good tendency his whole
life, and so was outcast at a relatively young age. He then
decided to pursue spiritual enlightenment, and, although
having extreme trouble finding a monastery that would
accommodate him (being a goblin and all, some monks even
attacked him while applying) he eventually found a small
monastery that saw the good inclinations within him and
decided to harness these.

Unexpectedly, the goblin might try to convince the players

that he did no wrong (which he didn't, he is just scared),
and wants to personally return the item to the noble. Should
they refuse his request, well, a goblin with flurry of blows
is a very interesting and memorable fight.

3. Begin At The Beginning

From: Aki Halme
============================================================
Start from needs and means, end with haves and feels.

It's good to start with the beginning when designing a

monster or monstrous race. If the creates are made by some
conscious force, what design specifications are there? If
they have evolved from something else, what were they
before? Either way, these give the first suggestions on what
the eventual creatures will be like.

With the prototype version of the monster in place, consider

the effects of the environment. How has it affected its
surroundings, and vice versa? Has it formed social patterns
or alliances to survive and prosper? Has it adjusted,
developed skills, changed physically, adopted habits,
crafted or obtained tools, or found habitats in which to
thrive?

Has it survived by subjugating others, co-operating, hiding,

out-fighting or out-running others? Does it have enemies?
Does it have a religion or access to magic?

Considering the origin of the monster and building it layer

by layer usually provides a more plausible creature than a
direct jump to the final specs. This work helps the GM
understand his monsters better.

4. Change One Big Thing Every Adventure

From: Kurt Schneider
============================================================
The most important aspect of my campaign is that I keep the
players guessing. To that end, I try to change One Big Thing
about at least one monster they face every adventure. This
could be something reasonable, like a troll with fire
resistance who lives in a volcanic area but is vulnerable to
some other energy type, such as acid, cold, or force (the
last one's very nasty).

It could also be a nest of stirges that drain spell levels

instead of constitution. Another example might be a critter
that normally swallows whole, but instead chews (i.e. max
bite damage each round until the victim inflicts X hit
points of piercing damage with a light weapon).

5. Grab Your Heroes And Turn Them Around

From: Jim B.
============================================================
This is a hint about combat with monsters grabbing,
especially with systems where armor reduces damage instead
of making the PCs harder to strike. In this example, I will
use the common canine. A dog may not be very threatening to
most PCs. Sure, their armor can easily stop its bite, but
what happens when the dog's bite is also a grab, and the dog
then hangs onto the PC? If it grabs a leg, the PC is now
slowed down and not dodging well. If the dog grabs an arm,
the PC now has a squirming, living weight hanging off a
weapon or shield arm. If several dogs grab a PC, they will
bring even the strongest man down. Once on the ground, that
is when one of them goes for the throat grab--an attack that
can be considered a choke by the nicest GM and a killing
attack by others.
A trained attack dog will hang-on when struck, or at least,
have a good chance to hold. Untrained dogs tend to let go
when hit. Also, plan on trained guard dogs to work as a team
to bring down their target, while wild dogs will be more
chaotic, though probably greater in number.

I also like employing the grab and drag with lowly undead.
Suddenly, unarmed zombies aren't such a cakewalk when the
PCs have their arms immobilized and are being dragged to the
ground for easy munching.

6. Critter Protection Racket

From: Tim
============================================================
Imagine a wilderness full of monsters with a few scattered
villages. The villagers' lives are always threatened, the
royal army is far away, and the odd party of adventurers
every couple of months may be capable of some quite heroic
deeds, but they're not out there to stay, either.

Who do the villagers turn to for protection?

The most powerful creature in the area--as long as it is

intelligent enough to be dealt with reasonably, and as long
as the village has something for it to offer (from baubles
up to human sacrifice). Treating humans as part of the local
critter ecology makes for a nice blurring of lines.

Example: A village (or several villages) in a wilderness

plagued by orc raiders is protected by a giant living in the
nearby hills. The orcs know about the badass giant and leave
the village alone most of the time. The villagers pay the
giant in smoked beef and schnapps, two things the giant
likes but doesn't have the skill/patience to make for
himself. The giant's price may be exorbitant or not, or
perhaps the villagers fool the giant into thinking they're
poorer than they are. Anyway, it beats getting run over and
burnt down by orcs.

Along comes a party of adventurers. Maybe they're questing

for an item the giant is supposed to have, maybe they're
just passing through. Either way, interaction with the
villagers can become pretty interesting. The villagers will
want to conceal their relationship with the giant for fear
of reprisals (the King's judiciary will have them all strung
up if they hear about it!). If the villagers find out (or
even just think) that the adventurers want to slay their
protector, they might warn the giant. Maybe they disagree
about what should be done about the disturbance in the local
balance of power (the party), and the adventurers overhear a
whispered debate.

- We must warn Master Grum!

- No! He will come and kill them, and then others will come
looking for them!

- But they will go and kill Master Grum, and then what about
 the orcs?

- Everybody knows Master Grum can't be killed. He's too big!

- But they've got an elf and a wizard! What if they witch

him when he's drunk and poke his eyes out?

- Don't talk like that about Master Grum!

- ...Perhaps we should do something about that wizard.

Whatever the case may be, the party will soon get the
impression that the locals are acting pretty strange.

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READERS' TIPS OF THE WEEK

1. One Way To Handle Split Parties

From: Chris Schlosser
============================================================
Hi Johnn,

Thanks for putting out a great newsletter! I've found the

following method to work very well with a split party.

First of all, this will only work with co-operative players.

If you have discipline issues in your group, this will not
work at all. You need to control your gaming group with an
iron fist for this, otherwise you will have a big mess on
your hands. If done properly, everyone will have fun.

The big trick is taking over everything that's going on at

once and keeping it organized while suspending the disbelief
of your players. It works pretty well once the players get
used to it.

Next, watch a few Friday the 13th movies, or any sort of

horror movie involving drunken teens that split up. Pay
particular attention to how the film switches between the
different scenes. Take the same approach to running your
split party. Make each party splinter have their own
"scene."

Mind the following:

* Make sure the party has a common goal, otherwise you won't
get them back together again.
* While the scene is going on, make sure that players not in
the scene remain quiet. They are playing the role of the
movie audience.
* If the other players start to blurt out hints, be firm
that they cannot speak to the active players.
* If they start telling you what they are doing in the
other party splinter, silence them and let them know you'll
get to them shortly. Relax and enjoy!
* Keep the time that you pay attention to one splinter of
the party very short. This way, your players won't get
bored.
* Leave the players hanging without an outcome often. This
will keep them on their toes.
* Stay aware of how long certain things take. Picking a lock
takes more than one round of combat.
* Glaze over tedious bits of roleplaying. If the blademaster
wants to kill the sickly goblin, it's a safe bet that he'll
be successful. No dice rolling is needed here.
* Try to stick with a steady timeline to avoid having to
"rewind" time and change events.

Going back to the horror movie example, this is what an

evening at Camp Crystal Lake might look like as a
roleplaying session:

Billy: Player 1
Boomer: Player 2
Jenny: NPC
Jason: Monster / serial killer

Billy, Boomer and Jenny are sitting in the living room of a

cabin watching a football game on TV. Boomer makes fun of
Jenny, who gets mad and goes out to the porch.

GM: All right Billy, what are you doing?

Billy: I'm going to share a beer with Jenny on the porch,

smooth things over, and try to convince her to go skinny
dipping.

GM: Jenny is standing on the porch, leaning against a pole,

staring out into the moonlight. Her giant 80s hair looks
gorgeous! She smiles when she sees you approach with 2 cans
of beer.

Boomer: You should have brought more beer!

GM: Please be quiet Bommer, you're not there.

Billy: All right, I give her a can of beer and ask her if
she's all right and ask her if she wants to go for a swim.
GM: Roll a diplomacy check.

Billy: Uh, 17. (GM notes that this is a success, but doesn't
tell Billy.)

GM: Ok, you start talking to Jenny, telling her that Boomer
is just a dumb jerk.

(Switch to Boomer)

GM: Meanwhile, Boomer, the TV you were watching goes dead.

Billy just walked away with your last 2 cans of beer.

Boomer: Just great! I think there's more beer in the fridge.

I'll go get some.

GM: You go to the kitchen in the back of the cabin. Make a

spot check.

Boomer: Oh no! 4! (This was to notice the murderer with the

hockey mask peering into the kitchen window, but poor Boomer
failed.)

GM: All right, you spot the fridge and start looking for
more beer. Roll a search check.

Boomer: 15. (Doesn't matter, but we'll let Boomer roll a

dice to make him think something's up.)

(Switch to Billy - Jason is hiding in the bushes at the back

of the cabin and starts moving towards the door. Billy and
Jenny are on the porch and might hear something.)

GM: All right Billy, Jenny likes where this is going. You
finish your beers and get up. Make a listen check.

Billy: 22!

GM: You hear some rustling in the bushes at the back of the
cabin.

Boomer: Do I hear this?

GM: I'll get to you in a second.

Billy: What was that? I shout, "Boomer, is that you?"

GM: You wait a few seconds and get no response. Jenny says,
"It was probably just a squirrel. Let's go to the lake."

Billy: Uh, sure.

(Switch - Jason has opened the back door and is sneaking up

behind Boomer, who is digging in the fridge.)

GM: Boomer, you found some beer way in the back of the
fridge. Make a listen check.

Boomer: 18.
GM: You hear the back door open and some footsteps behind
you.

Boomer: I look behind me.

GM: A big man in a hockey mask just walked into the kitchen.
He has a bloody machete! Roll initiative.

And so on.

2. Settling The Players Before The Game

From: Derek McKay
============================================================
Whenever the gaming group meets, there is always that time
of catching up on news, serving drinks, setting-up, and
generally socialising. The problem is getting the group to
calm down and start the actual gaming. My solution to this
is to have a well defined format that serves to introduce
the session, provide a background for the players, remind
them what they were up to, and to say: "okay, quiet
everyone, we're gaming now!"

My introductions always start, "As we sit here and

contemplate the next adventure for our party, let us cast
our minds to another time and place, in another world, which
exists only in our imaginations...." What then follows is a
vignette of some other part of the campaign world, some
snap-shot of a simultaneously occurring event or some common
event that the characters would have heard about. At the end
of this, I then say, "When we last left our heroes..." and
follow it with a statement or two about where we got up to
last time.

These opening words are the same every single time, and have
come to define the beginning. The otherwise rowdy group
settles immediately, knowing that the set phrase is the
marker for a snippet of information about the campaign, and
a tale of the glory of what the heroes had last done. And
then, quite focussed, the game begins.

3. An Example Mapping Process

From: The Chicken Reborn, via the GMMastery List
============================================================
I would start by visiting this site:
[Link]

This helps you flesh out the details of a medieval-ish

setting. It helps you with numbers like population, amount
of cities, towns, fortifications, etc. If you don't want to
use this, then just disavow the parts of the following steps
that include them.

Step 1: The Materials

---------------------
Get together your materials. For basic mapping, I like to
use a large easel pad with 1" squares (really helpful) and
Sharpie Markers. For a more finished look, you can use
anything from commercial art programs for your computer to
paint.

Step 2: The Basics

------------------
Make some basic decisions. Are you going to map the whole
world first and then zoom in, or just start from your
region? Mapping your world can be as simple as making an
ellipse and putting continental shapes in it, to determining
winds, water currents, vegetation and so on.

Decide how large your region is--have a general area in

mind. Use the tools given in the above website to determine
population, etc. This will help you decide how many cities,
towns, and other settlements you have.

Step 3: Roughing It Out

-----------------------
Start with a sheet of paper and rough out the basic
landforms. Coasts, mountain regions, major rivers, islands,
whatever is applicable. You don't have to draw the
mountains, just mark general areas where the mountains are.

Step 4: Determining Regions

---------------------------
Decide the general regions, kingdoms, territories, or
whatever. I see two paths to this: The Historical path or
the Simplistic path. With the Historical path, you decide
where people came from, migrated from, exodused from, or
whatever. You determine where the first settlements were,
why they were put there (defense, good hunting, arable
land?) and later you can make these into your major cities
or ancient ruins.

Then you decide where the kingdoms are by determining from

the history how the spread of population pooled into
individual kingdoms. You might want to add in some basic
borders for the kingdoms. Mountains and rivers are usually
pretty good candidates, but aren't necessarily the only
places for borders to creep up.

The Simplistic path is, well, simple. You put cities and
towns where you want, and put borders where you think the
shape of the kingdoms are cool, with little thought as to
why they are there.

Step 5: The Symbols

-------------------
If you're anal, like me, you'll want to decide what you'll
use for symbols. If you want to detail every single village,
creek and hill, okay, it's your funeral...I mean map, but
generally you'll want to draw the line at towns and cities.

Will you draw out the mountains or just use brown dots to
show "mountainous regions?" Is a city a dot, a circle, or a
dot in a circle? What about a town? Is a castle a black
square, or a little drawn tower with crenels and a flag? How
do you show forests? Is a navigable river a dark blue and a
non-navigable river light blue? Will you show a difference
between roads, trails, and paths, or just show roads, or
show no roads at all?

If you're _really_ anal, like me, you might make a few sample
maps first, using different symbols to see what style you
like. You will usually flow to a middle ground between an
almost artistic, authentic-looking map with everything drawn
out and a more sterile map with very abstract symbols for
things. It's up to you. What you should have at the end of
this step is a small key for your symbols. You'll want to
add this to your finished map.

Step 6: Finish It Up
--------------------
You can either finish the map you're working on and call it
good, or remake a "finished" map if you want to be really
slick. What I did for my first setting in my current
campaign world was, I made a large map of the region as the
basis for the finished map. Then I scanned it in and made a
full-color map in Adobe Photoshop. You can also use mapping
software, like NBOS's Fractal Mapper, which is pretty good.

Well, that's it. If you want some of my samples, you can

check my poor, neglected campaign website for some finished
examples:
[Link]/~chickenreborn

Note, the "finished" maps are not very pretty, but they're
much more utilitarian than fully stylized mountains and
colorfully drawn cities, etc. I hope this helps.

4. Planning And Running SF Games

From: Garry Stahl
============================================================
When creating a world, don't create too much. It is
unnecessary to build an entire planet if the PCs never get
out of the main spaceport. I don't worry about the details
unless it will affect the game. Concentrate on the overall
picture. Take a lesson from Hollywood: build very well what
the character sees, the rest can be unfinished lumber and
fake walls. If they are about to enter a false front, dance.
Make it up on the fly. You don't need the entire world--as
long as you are 1% more knowledgeable than the players about
your new world, you look pretty smart. This goes for any
genre of gaming. If your detective isn't headed to the
Northside on this adventure, don't place valuable time in
detailing the Northside. In your fantasy game, if the Mystic
Mountains are to remain mystic this time around, don't
detail them.

Once you create an item of detail, don't forget it. I have

GMed in the same fantasy setting for the last 27 years. I
accumulate detail over time, and continue to use it.

Remember what SF role-playing is. You're doing Sinbad

written large. In the beginning, man told tales about the
strange lands over the seas. One famous such set of tales
was the Voyages of Sinbad. (I recommend dumping all the
films and reading the original stories. I spent many an hour
over that book, and regret not a minute. Medieval SF.) As
our knowledge of the world increased, we ran out of places
to put strange new lands, so we looked to the worlds around
our own sun. Golden Age SF will point the direction here.
Mars, Venus, and the moons of the gas giants all held
strange life and weird places.

Once again knowledge caught up with fiction, and we knew the

other planets to be barren. We moved our strange lands to
the stars, and there they have stayed. Whatever the genre of
your SF universe, be it classic Space Opera (Star Wars,
Lensman), Science Fantasy (Star Trek), or hard science, you
are telling the tales of Sinbad once again. Remember your
roots, and you will build a firm foundation to your worlds.

Here is one of my SF inventions to help describe worlds: the

Terran Standard Climate System. I don't worry about weather
in the short term, but I do consider climate.

Terran Standard Climate System: A means of classifying the

climate of class M planets. Due to the curved nature of
planets, they never possess a single climate unless some
unusual factors are at work. Planets are expressed as a
range of climates from extreme to extreme. Worlds with
extremes beyond those given in the TSCS are considered
marginal class M.

sA -- Super Arctic: Average yearly temperature of -10

degrees Fahrenheit
A -- Arctic: Average yearly temperature of 10 degrees
Fahrenheit
Sa -- Sub arctic: Average yearly temperature of 30 degrees
Fahrenheit
Tm -- Temperate: Average yearly temperature of 50 degrees
Fahrenheit
St -- Subtropical: Average yearly temperature of 70 degrees
Fahrenheit
T -- Tropical: Average yearly temperature of 90 degrees
Fahrenheit
sT -- Super Tropical: Average yearly temperature of 110
degrees Fahrenheit

World climate ranges are expressed as max climate/mini

climate. Earth would have a Terran Standard Climate of: T/A.

The Terran Standard Climate System is useful only in

indicating the range of a world's climate and does not
indicate aridity, surface features, land/water ratio, or
lifeforms.

I list planets, when I go to this level of detail, like

this:

Association -- Alpha Hydrosis Three

Class: M
Gravity: 0.997 G
 Diameter 7800 miles
Period: 297 days
Rotation: 30.3 hours
TSCS: Tm/sT
Satellites:
Hare -- class: D
gravity: 0.01 G
diameter 990 miles
period: 7 days
rotation: 168 hours
Tortoise -- class: F
gravity: 0.11 G
diameter 2990 miles
period: 45 days
rotation: 55 hours
Life: Vertebrate, complex nervous system, aquatic and
terran forms, sentient transplanted
Ane 80%
Human 10%
Other 10%

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Dungeon Crawl Classics #18: Citadel Of The Demon Prince

A d20 Dungeon Crawl for character levels 12-13. An

apocalyptic cult of demon worshippers has been kidnapping
farmers from the local hamlets and offering them up as
sacrifices to their blasphemous idols. The heroes are called
in for what appears to be a simple mission, but exploration
of the dark abbey soon leads them into a portal to another
plane where they discover the demon prince's hellish
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That's it for this week's issue.

Have more fun at every game!

Johnn Four

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