Gristlemane
Sergeant
623 Posts
    
 | | 02/18/2006 4:37 AM |
| I'm thinking of making a monster for a one shot I might be running in the future, and I've been wondering about a body-snatching aberration with a pain inducing tentacle attack. (The tentacle stuns people for a minute or two so it can climb inside them.) And I just get a ho-hum feeling from it. It seems very cliched and a bit of a tired theme.
Do you think most players mind cliched monsters? Would you prefer fighting something strange and unfamiliar or would you prefer something that's tried and true but a little stale? | |
It's deja vu all over again. | |
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minatoman38
Underboss
1362 Posts
Minaniuonuma-shi, Japan
| | 02/18/2006 4:42 AM |
| | cliches, especially in a new setting can be a lot of fun. Most players love figuring things out in advance. The thrill of getting the one up on the gamemaster is as much as being suprised by some things. | |
Robert Rosehart
Champion of the pixie
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Luisjoey
Underboss
1704 Posts
Caracas Venezuela
| | 02/18/2006 8:18 AM |
| | Well with the lots of Monster manuals and other books is hard to figure out new thinks in D&D world, there is always something new, but usually they are in a manual, because the writters job is to make new and new monsters so they have to make all the effort! is like a contests. [:D] | |
Knight of the Quori
Champion of King Kaius III of Karrnath
 Purple Knight of Venezuela
Venezuelan Site For D&D minis Calabozo Criollo Venezuela
Venezuelan Site for SW minis VeneMinis.com | |
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wildmage
Sneak
123 Posts
| | 02/18/2006 10:13 AM |
| I think it really depends on your presentation, description, and execution of how you play the monster in combat. An orc warrior can be the most ho-hum encounter in the game, or it can be exciting, fresh, and challenging, depending on the terrain, the DM's descriptions, non-combat actions the monster might make (speaking with the PCs, etc.), and the monster's tactics (as played by the DM).
What are some of the other characteristics of your creature- overall body shape, size? Is it cunning and evil, or simple-minded and just predatory?
Picture the following: A tiny tentacled beast bursts forth out of the stomach of the orc warrior the PC's just slew. The tiny creature is grotesque and covered in the orc's blood and its own icor. It leaps upon one of the PC's and wraps a tentacle around his/her neck, paralyzing the victim with its touch. Then the creature uses its mouth or tentacle spike to rip a hole in the PC's flesh where the neck joins the torso. The paralyzed hero can only move his/her face, which is contorted in a look of absolute horror, as the tiny creature begins to force its own body into the blood-spurting hole it has created.
What happens next? Can the other PCs pull the creature off before it manages to fully enter the poor PC, then heal their comrade's horrible wound? Do the stricken PC's eyes glaze over once the creature has fully entered, and then the PC's face contorts into a look of evil pleasure as a new entity has taken control of his/her body? | |
Champion of the Bone Naga
(There's just so much roleplaying to be done with a large skeletal snake!) | |
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K Rich
Sneak
69 Posts
| | 02/18/2006 1:06 PM |
| | As a player and DM, I find chilche monsters and plots to be very fun to play with. Not just that, but the kind of monster you are using can open up a storyline. If it can crawl inside of somebody, especially a PC, it can create a whole new journey to get it out before it kills them from the inside out. | |
For every animal you don't eat, I'm going to eat three. | |
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Most Edumacated
zenthrus
Warlord
5100 Posts
SLC, UT
| | 02/18/2006 1:45 PM |
| | Cliches reinforce a sensation of familiarity. Part of why there are so many complaints about the WTF and Achaierai are how far from conventional stereotype they stray into otherness. Often these conventions change. Body-snatching aliens (aberrations) were at one point the cause of panic. Now Mind Flayers and Dopplegangers are cliche. Cliched monsters have the advantage of reinforcing expectations. By introducing a slight twist to the standard pantheon of cliched body-snatchers you could actually be reinfusing the stereotype with new meaning and life. That could translate to a lot of fun for your players (as opposed to running into yet another Mind Flayer). | |
Knight Warlord a.k.a. Commander (#32) in only 6 months. Where's my pie?
Champion of Dwarven Thunderlashers
Knight of the Large Dire Chicken
Have/Want List
Trade References | |
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Testament
Underboss
1397 Posts
| | 02/18/2006 10:30 PM |
| | Filing off the serial numbers can always be useful. Nowhere is it law that just because you use a creature's stats, that you're using the creature itself. | |
Support awesome games: Play Hecatomb!
8-Bit Chibi Goths forever!
Champion of Mephistopheles
"Sorry! I was tryin' to open these beans!"
My Have/Want List, (Updated July 6 2004, will be updated soon)
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dagonet
Sergeant
442 Posts
| | 02/18/2006 10:57 PM |
| | Do you have Lords of Madness? I think you just described a Tsochari. [:D] | |
"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."
Champion of Kyuss and his Servants of Squishy Doom | |
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notserious
Sneak
117 Posts
| | 02/20/2006 10:51 AM |
| | As other posters have stated . . .the use of cliche depends in part on how you use it. Even once the players tune in to "there's a cliche at play here", there can be a lot of fun, role-playing and detective work in discovering which cliche. The inhabitants of the keep, town, village, ship, or whatever else seem a little odd - not quite . . .human. Are they charmed? Dopplegangers? Shapeshifters? bodysnatchers? - PC's are then faced with how to overcome this threat - can the process be reversed? Is it consistent with alignment to slay these 'possessed' people? Now if they just ran through that dilema last week, it could get a little tired, but it sure is a switch from 'kill the dragon in the dungeon'. If you want to throw another curve at them, what if the body snatcher in question is a good guy, inhabiting an innocent (or a villain) to achieve some noble end? | |
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