Monster Book: A is for Aboleth + 12 more

Here's a list of the letter A monsters that I've been working on for my monster book. I've included the main research sources I'm using to assist with the stats and descriptions.

Aboleth - Monster Manual II, Monstrous Manual

Adherer - Fiend Folio, Tome of Horrors

Aerial Servant - Labyrinth Lord AEC, Tome of Horrors, Monster Manual

Ankheg - Labyrinth Lord AEC, Monster Manual, Monstrous Manual

Ant, Giant - Labyrinth Lord

Ant Lion - Monster Manual II, Tome of Horrors

Ape, Albino - Labyrinth Lord

Ape, Chimpanzee - Labyrinth Lord AEC

Ape, Gorilla - Labyrinth Lord AEC, Monster Manual

Ape, Man-Eating - Labyrynth Lord AEC, Monster Manual

Apparition - Fiend Folio, Tome of Horrors

Archer Bush - Creature Catalogue, Tome of Horrors

Axe Beak - Labyrinth Lord AEC, Monster Manual

New Monster Book Project

In addition to Oubliette, I've been toying with tackling a couple of other OSR projects.  The first of these is a Monster Book for Labyrinth Lord.  I'm planning to produce a 200 page, QC sized book (7.4" wide by 9.7" tall), containing 500 or so monsters.  I want the book to be a low-cost publication, suitable for use as a workhorse reference at the gaming table.

As a base, it will include all the monsters from the Labyrinth Lord and Advanced Edition Companion volumes.  I intend to add other popular monsters, provided that they are open content.  I will also consider other monsters which are not open content, converting/renaming them to avoid any IP issues.  Every monster will have an illustration and, where possible, I will expand descriptions to include more detail.

As part of the development process, I will post stat blocks and descriptions for each entry as I produce them.  Your feedback, corrections or suggestions on the monsters selected/ommitted will be most welcome.

The Black Dwarf

Like many other gamers who grew up in the 80's, I have a soft spot for the art of the Monster Manual, and lots of other publications of the same vintage.  However, to really hit my nostalgia buttons, I need to pull out some of the old Asgard Miniatures that, along with my friends, I would buy from the Asgard shop in Nottingham, every month or so. 

Citadel Miniatures were also based in Nottingham, but they were almost regarded as the enemy - such was our devotion to Asgard's precious castings.

My favourite Asgard figures were sculpted by Jes Goodwin and Nick Bibby.  Before Goodwin defected to the enemy, he sculpted a superb range of Dwarves.

Pictured here is The Black Dwarf (photo borrowed from the net), which I asked Marg to look at for inspiration for the cover of the next issue.  I'm so chuffed with the outcome, I wanted to show it off straight away. 


Here's the sketch, and the almost finished, photoshopped image.  I think someone's made him angry.

Beware the Judderman, my dear, when the moon is fat...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...Sharp of tongue and spindle-limed he is, and cunning...

 

Last weekend in our Dragon Warriors game, the party found a hollowed-out tree with a tiny stage set inside it.  On the stage were a set of puppets. They were moving, but no puppeteer was visible.  Upon closer inspection, we realized that the puppets were actually carved wooden representations of our characters.  After watching for a few minutes, it bacame obvious that the story the puppets were portraying was in fact a retelling of real events from the past day.  This was driven home when we saw the puppets climbing a cliff, and, esactly as had happened to us,  a rock was thrown at them from above.  The GM asked us to roll to dodge the boulder again - it was clear that anything bad that happened to the puppets was going to get us all over again.  We rushed up to the stage in an attempt to stop the show and a goblin - who had been controlling the puppets - appeared and begged us not to hurt him.  He offered us a goblin boon if we would spare him and his puppets so we let him be and went on our way.

 

This vignette made us reflect on an advert from the 90's, for the now discontinued schnapps alcopop, Metz.  The lead advert for the brand is a 1m13second masterpiece (the version below is the slightly shorter TV edit)featuring the fictional Judderman.  I think I first saw it at the cinema, and whilst I can't remember the film I saw, the advert certainly stuck with me.  It created a bit of media fuss when shown on TV, with complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority from parents of frightened children.  My wife still recalls the advert with a shudder.  Inspired,  I'm already scribbling notes for a Judderman article, so keep an eye out for it in the next issue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tolkien's Orc Wars

I was browsing through a bookshelf of old film books, looking for inspiration last night, when I happened upon The Horrifc World of Monsters by Dulan Barber, fist published in 1974 by Marshall Cavendish.  It's an old monster A-Z book full of creatures from films and mythology.  I gleaned a few ideas from some of the entries I thought might be useful for future articles.  Then I read the entry for Tolkien's orcs and I realized that anything I took from the book would need to be checked very carefully.  Here's the entry in full:

The late J.R.R. Tolkien's celebrated book, The Lord of the Rings has provided a whole new series of monsters, many of which have found a permanent place in popular contemporary mythology.  One of the most important of these is a dwarfish elf-race known as ORCS who act as the main fighting force of the Dark Lord, Sauron.

There are two different kinds of Orcs.  The most numerous are small, dirty creatures with disproportionately long arms.  For the most part they are bow-legged and squint-eyed, while their teeth are like fangs.  They wear leather clothing and iron shod shoes which are said to bespoil and blacken everything over which they pass.  They communicate in a strange, hissing language and are very argumentative and quarrelsome, sometimes even eating each other when holed up in the black caves of Mordor which is their home.

Although these Orcs serve the Lord Sauron and fight his battles in great hordes, they are essentially cowardly and, when not doing battle, are very badly treated.  They are often fed to the monster Shelob and the air-steeds of the Ringwraiths and they are frequently beaten.  These Orcs have an abiding hatred of the sunlight which they will avoid at all costs.

The second species of Orcs are not afraid of the sunlight and were fashoined by the Wizard Saruman.  They are larger, better fed and braver than the other Orcs.  They are employed in Saruman's battle against Sauron but, despite their man-size and appearance and their bravery they are doomed to be outnumbered by the dwarfish Orcs.

The book may have got this entry dreadfully wrong, but after I'd stopped laughing, I began to think that it might make quite a good setting for a campaign.  Two warring orc tribes who dominate the land, with remnants of humanity scattered to remote locations.  Adventurers could venture out to loot orc dungeons, or retrieve lost artefacts.  I am already playing in a Stonehell campaign (see Inheritance in Oubliette Issues 1 and 2) set in a post-plague world, so I know this sort of set up works a treat.

Lego War of the Worlds

Actually, Lego are calling it Alien Conquest, but it instantly made me think of Martians in Fighting Machines.  Following on from the Heroica sets that I mentioned yesterday, this is another new theme from the brick makers which I think could be popular with gamers.  The first sets are ready for launch in July according to Brickipedia, and include the following:

• 7049 Alien Encounter
• 7050 Alien Defender
• 7051 Tripod Invader
• 7052 UFO Abduction
• 7065 Alien Mothership
• 7066 Earth Defence HQ
• 7067 Jet-Copter Defender

With 9 new mini-figures in the range covering: aliens, astronauts and civilian characters,  there's plenty of scope for a War of the Worlds or Independence Day style game with these sets.  One good point about them is that the prices should be reasonable compared to the various movie franchised Lego sets.

Dungeon Salvage Project

Over the last few months, I've had a good sort through my old gaming collection, and also taken the opportunity to snag a few bits and pieces from eBay. Some of these items are games that hold no interest for me as games, but are crammed full of good things that may be harvested, and bent to the will of the OSR gamer.

First up is Parker's 2003 Dungeons & Dragons: The Fantasy Adventure Board Game.  If released today, this could easily retail at $60.  On eBay they appear for next to nothing. In fact, I picked up my copy from a local seller for 99 pennies, as no one else bid for it.

Ignoring the rules, the character sheets, and most of the cards, the rest of the contents have real potential for using in a regular game of D&D.

Here's what you get:

• 5 double-sided, full-colour card gameboard tiles
• 3 slot together trees
• 6 slot together columns
• 100 small red counters
• A selection of counters to represent: slimes, chests, doors, and runes
• A selection of cards with magic items and traps that reworked for other games

Plus a good selection of plastic minis (all about 25/28mm scale). My box came with an additional set of painted versions of the adventurers, which was a nice bonus.

• 4 adventurers
• 6 goblins
• 1 lich
• 2 wights
• 3 ghosts
• 6 skeletons
• 2 carrion crawlers
• 3 trolls
• 5 gnolls
• 4 bugbears
• 4 ogres

The game itself might be okay, but I think I'd rather stick to Carcasonne.