Print 
PDF
I have drawn pictures. I might come back to this post and elaborate more on , like, "design" decisions, but for now, pictures. NOW WITH NOTES
 |
Aerial Servant
|
I wrote a lyric from "road to nowhere" from talking heads. It's resentful cloud dude. I like elementals , like they are boring kinda, but because visually "elements" have a real obvious iconic short-hand to them, and it's not that exciting. Like if you picture a picture of waves or flames, it's not that exciting , but if you imagine or are looking at actually flames or a wave , there is a huge amount going on and it's real exciting. Same with storm clouds or earth (if it's moving around, although visible strata and evident geological mayhem makes even still earth interesting).
That brings up a bigger thing with the balancing act between taking the time and energy to describe something versus getting understanding across quickly. With the contested ground between the two ends of the spectrum being the players "what can I do with this?" perspective.
I imagine there are some players that are happy to sit there and immerse themselves passively as listeners, but I notice most seem to be wanting to immerse themselves by interacting with stuff ASAFP.
So if you say "it's a giant worm" it risks being boring because whatever a giant worm, BUT the player instantly has a grasp on what is in front of them and can respond to it.
While "thrusting out of the side of the packed dank earth comes a blind head , insinuating* toward you with vile peristaltic motions , the end of it waving roundly, an idiot motion , but with purpose and most of all hunger" is long to say, slower to grasp that it's a big worm, in some cases might detract from the player understanding what they have to work with, BUT in some cases, giving inspiration for interaction.
For example , in the above example, it might make it more obvious that the worm is slave to base instinct , and can be lured / aimed someone advantageous to the players if they can figure out how it senses them.
 |
| Cloud Giant |
A giant on a cloud is a grand fairy tale, but not particular shaped for gritty/and or plausiblesque settings. But weird awkward lost "ancient alien original star trek throw you all in crystal labyrinth because of ancient alien stuff" ? Shit I don't know, maybe?
This was the sketch I was basing the cloud giant off that I made recently, but it wound up being a weird moth owl head thing. I can imagine these guys have glowing organs, translucent skin and glowing eyes and stalk the earth on cloudy nights. Maybe in bestial sleep walking fugue.
 |
| Dinosaur |
I like Combichrist songs when he's not bitching about his exes. So that's like 6 songs. The biggest prob about using dinosaurs is trying to say their latin names. Or thinking up alternate names that are not "thunder tail" or "Jump Spiker". Yui Gi Oh might be a good source of possible names.
Well names anyway, good names is debatable.
Evidence for the For team .
Evidence for the Against team
 |
| Axebeak |
I like birds. Birds monsters can be a great mix of absurd and horrible. There is a bird at the end of Bugz life,
Link here , that shows how horrible something the size of a house moving that fast would be. Especially the bird "stop/start" almost stop motion movement. Axebeaks I can never decide to make them highly strung hyper active style skinny birds or bruiser muscular
Titanis
birds , horribly belligerent and aggressive. Chokobos do not get a look in.
 |
| Giant Toad |
I remember as a kid watching a frog eat a smaller frog with air of complete indifference, the smaller frogs legs sticking out from its mouth, and it just holding it there for the longest time, not even bothering to take another bite. And that toads/frogs just seem to be a hatch straight to their stomach and the burning smothering death there. Fuck those guys.
Also what this guy said
 |
| Doppelganger |
Are Doppelgangers better as cunning Hannibal Lecter types or pitiful semi-mindless except when they think they are some else types?
I don't know. I also don't know if they are cooler as horrible silly putty blank faces or blurry overlayed "can't quite look at it always seems to be something else" faces/
 |
| Glabrezu |
I think I have mentioned before the contrast fun of the Glaberzus
big pincer arms and delicate dog human hands. (shit is it Glaberzu or Glaberzu?) Seems to exemplify the cunning Iagoness of the Glaberzu with barely contained constant violent impulse of a Tanar'ir.
 |
| Goblin |
"When this is over, when this is over I'M GONNA SLEEP!" "Your Boot in MY face , is what keeps my alive" Goblins as a big black song about the works of Raymond Chandler; discuss.
(also Goblin is a great word , and makes a decent prefix, "goblins spiders etc)
 |
| Fire Giant |
Lets ignore the mess of perspective happening in the crotch area and focus instead on coal skinned hairless giants with gold body paint.
 |
| Hill Giant |
Why are their not more giants drawn with Mr Twit beards and beer guts? Beard has a high chance of having treasure and oversized vermin.
 |
| Ooze mount |
The missing drawing from
here
 |
| Thought Eater |
I gave it filter feeder style teeth. Also continues the idea of "you can tell its magic because it look complete shit from a engineering perspective" mentioned in that wands post.
 |
| Stone Giant |
Stone Giants are actually inflicted with horrible ossified wart structures that make great protective camouflage if they live in a quarry. Here is a far more horrible
human variety
 |
| Peryton |
hey I wonder what this looks like with the colour
inverted?
 |
| Titianothere |
Variations on the Rhinoceros. This one is bigger and makes a better battering ram.
 |
| Titan |
True Ogre was awesome in Tekken 3. Also
this
 |
| Trapper |
Hey these are suddenly improved to me if I give them a face and decide that they pretend to be a floor before killing and eating
because its fun.
Rather than "there has been so much dungeons evolution and wizards happened"
 |
| Treent |
Never trust a tree.
 |
| Triton |
I think I did a good job on suggesting the tritons a face that looks like a face by accident, like the under side of a sting ray.
 |
| Troglodyte |
If you look at how horrible living underground makes things look and apply it to lizardmen, it's a good direction for troglodyte. I think I coulda gone further though, but I just liked this one.
 |
| Troll |
I like how a d&d troll is hella iconic but is far from the first image other people have of trolls. (although now it's prob one of those dumb meme faces) Thank Trampier and Three Hearts and Three Lions for that.
 |
| Giant Turtle |
Giant turtles are such a wealth of bio-architectural opportunity. I have ignore this in this drawing. But yeah, just saying.
 |
| Unicorn |
Hey
Ian, when are you gonna do that Unicorn post? Unicorns are so iconic loaded it's a thing. I have no idea what kind of thing , but a thing none the less. One could talk about unicorns and porns and their constant subversion and semi-ironic reclaimations in the media and how it reflects a crisis and reshifting of understanding of gender. Not me though because I don't care.
 |
| Umberhulk |
Umberhulks! I love things with aspects of beetles and aspects of gorillas , especially if they look nothing like either. Those things in the dark crystal did a great job of the terrifying visual noise an insect is with its legs and mouthparts and antenna and how little it fits into a human easy visual reference tag box thing.
Umberhulk is a word that sounds great and makes little sense when you examine it's components. So in other words perfect.
 |
| Giant Wasp |
Wasps used to give me the shits as a kid. Now it's just centipedes. Fuck centipedes. "HEY I'M TAPING INTO BOTH THE INSTINCTIVE FEAR OF SNAKES AND MANY LEGGED THINGS ALSO MY LEGS LOOK LIKE FANGS" Although snakes don't hit that fear button for me though. Baby chimpanzees have an instinctive fear response to shadows of hawks (and not other birds) even if raised in captivity. It's likely that humans have similar hard wired responses, and possible mis-wired in the case of phobias.
There is a centipede that penetrates you skin with all its legs, leaving a trail of red dots. If it get bored/freaked out it drops poison and walks it into you skin. I can't find a reference for that right now. I did find this though
A 19th century Tibetan poet warned his fellow Buddhists that "if you
enjoy frightening others, you will be reborn as a centipede."
 |
| Will O Wisp |
People always like to link Will o Wisps to other creatures life cycles. How about the entire swamp is alive and generates will o wisps for fun?
 |
| Water Weird |
Imma water that wants to be inside you
 |
| Whale |
Splish imma whale
 |
| Wind Walker |
How much cool would these things be if they were radioactive as well as invisible?
 |
| Wolf |
That effect is caused either by the paper warping because there is too much ink on it, or biro ink reflecting the light. I like it but really should make more of an effort to control it though
 |
| Wolverine |
 |
| Xorn |
Xorn xorn xorn xorn xorn! Xorn , xorn xorn? Xorn.
 |
| Wraith |
Wraith is cool word. So is a ghost made of hate.
 |
Wyvern
Making wyvern's discount dragons, is missed chance to make another horrible flying steed for your horrible barbarian cult tribes |
 |
| Yeti |
"but human enough that the word cannibalistic still seems to apply"
fuck yeah.
Also furry creatures that are filthy with gore is a visual gold mine. Double also the Shammblers from Quake (the first game)
*fuck yeah gormenghast
