Hyborian Bestiary

[The King]

Yes, that is good news. I hope that will be the case. How about consistency in book dimensions, the paperbacks have different heights... :?

I fear I don't understand. This printing facility should be able to produce any formats.

 

[Netherek]

What I mean is Hyboria's Fallen and Pirate Isles are 1/4 taller than the rest of the paperbacks in the Conan series. It's just odd, and inconsistent, and really is just wierd. Almost paranoia wierd, though I don't have that one yet...

 

[LokiOne]

Ahhhhhhhhh : Wot a Good Idea this is ....

Well, the Tome should be organized into a number of broad sub-catagories if Beasties:

i) 'Normal' animals and creatures, with a guide as to their regional frequencies, as well as fully comprehensive Statistics. In the base (Old) Conan RPG book there was a listing for the 'Scent' ability,and so on. Maybe Natural Creatures should have a rating for tracking ability, pack hunting bonuses (for carnivores and suchlike), modifiers for herd/ pack tactics. / IE: Wolves have an Alpha pack male, and contibute towards a combined hunting 'strategy'. I think in other D20 systems, they try to bite/nip at the prey's legs/ankles to elicitate a Trip result to put the hunted down into the prone position.

Maybe Normal Creatures could have a form of collective Morale based upon Will ? Some Omnivores may eaven give up the original prey and pause to eat thier former pack members if they have been killed, etc.

I could see and think of plenty of Standard Creatures that were left out of the regular game. My particular favorites are critters that "Swarm" ... Unlike the listed Swarms from the various publications to date. Q. Does Everyone remember the horrible scene with the super-large 'bugs' in the latest King Kong movie ??? Eliminating them caused quite a few situational problems.

The Catagories that I suggest would be something like:

i) Natural Creatures
ii) Sub Human Races
iii) Unnatural Creatures - Corporeal, Non-Corporeal
iv) Demons
v) Avatars, and Unique Creations

Anyone have a better Catagorization idea???

PS: Thanks Mongoose for my long-lusted for Atlantean Edition. I'm happy now ...(!)

 

[Netherek]

The catagories seem fine, though I'd add a bestiary development section for advance beasts, and creating new beasts like in the D&D Monster Manual.

 

[Scorpion13]

The catagories seem fine, though I'd add a bestiary development section for advance beasts, and creating new beasts like in the D&D Monster Manual.

I second this.

I likes my giant spiders big and mean. :arrow:

 

[Faraer]

My categories would be something like:

demons -- this is just one human word used to refer to monsters from Outside, and includes things that might be thought of as 'gods' or 'unnatural creatures' (except the small category of spliced-together animals)

beasts, including giant beasts

undead

changed humans

man-like monsters

ancient races

plants

aliens

And I'd draw heavily on the Robert E. Howard stories that don't happen to have Conan.

 

[The King]

And I'd draw heavily on the Robert E. Howard stories that don't happen to have Conan.

excellent idea.

 

[Padre]

What about presentation of the creatures? D&D-style (picture + stats) or Warhammer-style (player section with superstitions and legendsabout a creature and GM section with stats, descriptions and so on)?

PS. I still think the Bestiary is just a gadget, less useful than Tito's Trading Post (you usually see more weapons and gear in an adventure than different monsters).

 

[Netherek]

While it may be that it's not as "necessary" as in D&D, it really doesn't take that many adventures before you have run through the existing entities. Once they make more than an appearance they tend to become more cliche than rare and frightening. I don't want players going well we fought this thing five adventures ago, we know what to do...

 

[slaughterj]

While it may be that it's not as "necessary" as in D&D, it really doesn't take that many adventures before you have run through the existing entities. Once they make more than an appearance they tend to become more cliche than rare and frightening. I don't want players going well we fought this thing five adventures ago, we know what to do...

Which is why it's good to have a bestiary with a broad selection of foes, to avoid repetition. My PCs have only had repeat encounters with zombies (some in a tomb, then some raised by a sorceror), but otherwise fantastic foes have been unique.

 

[Faraer]

Although having a breadth of monsters is helpful, something's going wrong with GMing or players' attitudes if a monster's scariness relies on novelty.

 

[The King]

I still think the Bestiary is just a gadget, less useful than Tito's Trading Post (you usually see more weapons and gear in an adventure than different monsters).

Not if the 2nd edition comes out without a bestiary chapter (giving more place to other things, like magic probably).

 

[slaughterj]

Although having a breadth of monsters is helpful, something's going wrong with GMing or players' attitudes if a monster's scariness relies on novelty.

Perhaps, but that's not what I said. Having a big selection makes it easier to have the specifically tailored creature that you want for a particular adventure. Plus, if someone occurs more commonly (as in more than 1-2x), then it does seem to lose some luster, as the PCs know they fought it before and killed it, that it isn't just some one-off freak of nature or of the supernatural that generally doesn't exist, etc.

 

[Netherek]

That's exactly what I was thinking, which is why I'd like a creature feature in the end for design our own abominations....

 

[patsully98]

2. includes the following:
a. all prior monsters, creatures, animals, etc. from all the materials published thus far, and addresses the varying stats in different sources (e.g., lions from 3 different sources, etc.),

I too would like to see this. I bought the pocket edition, and there's no monsters in there However, I totally feel for the people that shelled out their dough on the supplements, and I'd be a little disappointed if page and word counts were 'wasted' on things I've already bought.

So I'd like to suggest a PDF, to keep the cost down, of previously (and future-ly) published monsters, and all new stuff in the Bestiary. Is that feasible?

 

[Bjorn the Barbarian]

I would also like to see a section on outer world creatures and lurking horrors (Fiends!). You know, stuff that evil scholars are likely to be summoning up from the nether regions. :twisted:

 

[The King]

In Scrolls of Skelos, there is already a chapter to create weird creatures.

 

[Bjorn the Barbarian]

King,

I know. But a few more pre-done monsterous outsiders and lurking horros couldn't hurt. Plus, IMO having all the monsters from all the books in one place would be a good idea.

 

[slaughterj]

2. includes the following:
a. all prior monsters, creatures, animals, etc. from all the materials published thus far, and addresses the varying stats in different sources (e.g., lions from 3 different sources, etc.),

I too would like to see this. I bought the pocket edition, and there's no monsters in there However, I totally feel for the people that shelled out their dough on the supplements, and I'd be a little disappointed if page and word counts were 'wasted' on things I've already bought.

Having it all in one easy to carry and easy to reference book is not "wasted" to me.

 

[argo]

2. includes the following:
a. all prior monsters, creatures, animals, etc. from all the materials published thus far, and addresses the varying stats in different sources (e.g., lions from 3 different sources, etc.),

I too would like to see this. I bought the pocket edition, and there's no monsters in there However, I totally feel for the people that shelled out their dough on the supplements, and I'd be a little disappointed if page and word counts were 'wasted' on things I've already bought.

Having it all in one easy to carry and easy to reference book is not "wasted" to me.

Agreed, my game group doesn't meet at my house and as a GM that means I have to lug a lot of books around. I have to make decisions about what I'm going to leave behind. A bestiary is something I would always bring.