So, every adventure in the AoW AP featured at least one brand new monster (or conversion of an old favorite). I was wondering if STAP was going to continue this trend, especially the converion of old favorites part, and if so, can you give some hints as to what will be featured?
Creative Director
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So, every adventure in the AoW AP featured at least one brand new monster (or conversion of an old favorite). I was wondering if STAP was going to continue this trend, especially the converion of old favorites part, and if so, can you give some hints as to what will be featured?
Yes.
Every installment of Savage Tide will feature at least one new monster. Some will be brand new, while others will be updates.
The first adventure, "There Is No Honor," has an updated vermin from the early days of D&D. The second adventure, "Bullywug Gambit," has a brand new template. The third is going to have two new monsters: a new critter that spawns an existing critter, and an update of an old monster that, as far as I know, has never even been illustrated in D&D. That one's so TOP SECRET that the adventure's author (Richard Pett) doesn't even know about it yet (I should probably talk to ya about that, Rich... Don't Worry! It's cool!)
hmmm...
Yes.Every installment of Savage Tide will feature at least one new monster. Some will be brand new, while others will be updates.
The first adventure, "There Is No Honor," has an updated vermin from the early days of D&D. The second adventure, "Bullywug Gambit," has a brand new template. The third is going to have two new monsters: a new critter that spawns an existing critter, and an update of an old monster that, as far as I know, has never even been illustrated in D&D. That one's so TOP SECRET that the adventure's author (Richard Pett) doesn't even know about it yet (I should probably talk to ya about that, Rich... Don't Worry! It's cool!)
Let the speculation begin! Vermin....Rot Grubs?
Giant oysters... with giant pearls :)
the legendary black beast of aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh?
Okay, let's see if I've got this right:
- Update to an old monster
- Never been illustrated in D&D
- TOP SECRET
It seems to me that the key words here are "in D&D" and "TOP SECRET" - but I never played Top Secret, so I'm not sure what critters were statted up in that game. I'm gonna guess...
Ruskies!
So what is the new monster featured in #139?
a weird spider thing
I had not thought about a rhagodessa in years! It was cool to see one for 3.5. I love the Improved Grab ability and Spring Attack bonus feat. I think it's a cool spooky monster.
I dimly remember the rhagodessa from my days of playing D&D. Just wondering, did you choose to resurrect the rhagodessa because it was a D&D monster and this AP is inspired by The Isle of Dread? That said, will the new, converted monsters also be Known World/Mystara creatures? I know phanatons will be appearing...
I saw the illustration before I had read the adventure, and when I saw the Rhagodessa, I thought, that is some old monster that I remember, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Awesome illustration by the way. Very cool.
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Creative Director
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I chose the rhagodessa for several reasons:
1) It was a Known World monster that has been with D&D from very early, but hadn't been updated to 3.5.
2) I wanted to get an illo done for the poor thing; for a monster that's been around forever, I don't think they've ever been illustrateed.
3) They do appear in the original Isle of Dread adventure in an encounter, so it makes sense that they'd have an appearance in the campaign somewhere.
4) It's a cool new vermin, which is a somewhat under-populated monster niche. It does what it does without resorting to the Lazy Vermin Trick of poison, which makes it a great low-level menace.
As for other monsters coming soon, a few of them will indeed be updates of older Known World monsters. The phanatons have already been updated in Dragon, so we'll be using the stats there (reprinted in the encounter as necessary, but not presented as a "new monster" in an appendix).
Of the "new monsters" waiting to appear as part of the Savage Tide, there'll probably be a few more conversions from the Known World/Mystara. There'll also be a couple from 1st Edition D&D (including yet another poor monster that's never been illustrated before... he gets to be part of the opening illustration of one of the adventures!). The majority of the new monsters, though, will be brand new monsters.
For those who have read through Age of Worms, you can expect the mix to be fairly similar. We introduced 23 new monsters over the course of that Adventure Path, of which 5 were updated from earlier editions.
In the original draft of "There Is No Honor" there was actually a second new monster... that is, updated monster. A slithering tracker once played an important role in the adventure, but I ended up cutting him to make everything fit.
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Creative Director
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So can you give us the stats for the slithering tracker?
In the original draft of "There Is No Honor" there was actually a second new monster... that is, updated monster. A slithering tracker once played an important role in the adventure, but I ended up cutting him to make everything fit.
I can. In fact... he'll probably show up sooner or later in Dungeon...
With issue #140, we're adding a page to the Campaign Workbook. This one's going to be called "Wandering Monsters," and it'll work similar to the Critical Threat except that instead of presenting an NPC, it'll present a single new or updated monster.
(And yes, that does mean that we're now officially looking for new monsters as stand-alone submissions—keep them to 1,200 words or so!)
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With issue #140, we're adding a page to the Campaign Workbook. This one's going to be called "Wandering Monsters," and it'll work similar to the Critical Threat except that instead of presenting an NPC, it'll present a single new or updated monster.
Thats an awesome idea!
Dungeon just keeps getting better and better.
*rubs the stubble on his chin* Hmmm... Anyone know of a list of monsters that have not recieved 3.x updates? I think I want to be published...
With issue #140, we're adding a page to the Campaign Workbook. This one's going to be called "Wandering Monsters," and it'll work similar to the Critical Threat except that instead of presenting an NPC, it'll present a single new or updated monster.
(And yes, that does mean that we're now officially looking for new monsters as stand-alone submissions—keep them to 1,200 words or so!)
This brings up an interesting point. A month or so ago, I included a bunch of stand-alone monsters to a query as possible Creature Catalog entries. If any of those are deemed of interest, would they be shuffled off to Dungeon? Or should I send a seperate query for those creatures? I suspect the former, but would like to be certain.
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Creative Director
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Nope; Dragon's still going to publish monsters as well (and in greater quantities in their Creature Catalog articles than we'll be doing in Wandering Monsters). Those entries stay in Dragon.
Basically... you have two places to submit monsters to now. Dragon's the better choice, though, since they print a LOT more new monsters than we do as a general rule. And I sit right next to the Dragon editors, so people who try to be tricky and submit monsters to both magazines, we'll find out and get cranky. So don't do that!
Basically, if you have one cool monster idea, send it to Dungeon. If you've got a lot of cool monster ideas, send them to Dragon.
For those who have read through Age of Worms, you can expect the mix to be fairly similar. We introduced 23 new monsters over the course of that Adventure Path, of which 5 were updated from earlier editions.
Five updated Monsters? OK, there is the froghemoth, the thessalhydra, and the Greater Doppleganger. What were the other two?
Spawns other cretures huh?
Something that could be managed, and harvested for slave manpower? :D
Nope; Dragon's still going to publish monsters as well (and in greater quantities in their Creature Catalog articles than we'll be doing in Wandering Monsters). Those entries stay in Dragon.
Basically... you have two places to submit monsters to now. Dragon's the better choice, though, since they print a LOT more new monsters than we do as a general rule. And I sit right next to the Dragon editors, so people who try to be tricky and submit monsters to both magazines, we'll find out and get cranky. So don't do that!
Basically, if you have one cool monster idea, send it to Dungeon. If you've got a lot of cool monster ideas, send them to Dragon.
James,
If a monster has been rejected by Dragon, is it acceptable to submit it to Dungeon? For example, let's say as part of a huge query someone proposed the stench kow, and it was not selected. Would it have a shot at this feature, or is it dead in the water, nevermore to be mentioned in this edition of the game? ;)
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Creative Director
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If a monster has been rejected by Dragon, is it acceptable to submit it to Dungeon? For example, let's say as part of a huge query someone proposed the stench kow, and it was not selected. Would it have a shot at this feature, or is it dead in the water, nevermore to be mentioned in this edition of the game? ;)
There's nothing to prevent you from trying again like this, but as a general rule, we've all got fairly similar tastes and standards. So if something's rejected from Dragon, chances are Really Good it'll get rejected by Dungeon, or vice versa.
There's nothing to prevent you from trying again like this, but as a general rule, we've all got fairly similar tastes and standards. So if something's rejected from Dragon, chances are Really Good it'll get rejected by Dungeon, or vice versa.
OK, cool. Thanks! :)
[Five updated Monsters? OK, there is the froghemoth, the thessalhydra, and the Greater Doppleganger. What were the other two?The other two were the Raam (from Al-Qadim) and the true ghoul (from Dungeon #70).
Ah, I totally spaced on the true ghoul and never played Al-Qadim, so I was not familiar with the Raam.
If we're talking monsters from Mystara or the basic - immortal D&D sets then I'm all for it. These are the ones I would like to see in the STAP or elsewhere...
1. Agarat (the screaming ghoul)
2. Bhut (has been done for an old Dungeon magazine and has always been a great monster despite its name)
3. The piranha bird (how funky would that be. I can almost picture the PCs... "Hey why are those parrtots looking at us so strangely. Wait a minute, there not parrots!")
4. Decapus (that wierd tree climbing octopus monster)
5. The elementals of chaos, law, etc. (Especially since now the elemental lords are getting done)
6. Fundamentals (elemental bat things without heads. At least do the fire bat from MMII)
7. The herex (giant centipede/wasp monsters)
8. The hsiao (the cool philosopher owls with clerical powers. Very cool)
9. The varieties of giant jellyfish (such as the death's head and galley)
10. The wereswine (a massive pig monster that turns into a man or vice versa. I can't remember)
11. Mujina (the faceless bad-tempered relatives of doppelgangers that wield two tow-handed weapons at once)
12. The sacrol (an evil nasty undead that I have used very effectively)
13. The surtaki (pig/lizard monsters with green spiky fur. They sound pretty dumb, but the picture was good)
14. Tabi (very cool monster with thief abilities. And it is a monkey type creature, which works well with STAP)
15. Thoul (classic, classic monster)
16. Topi (the shrunken dead zombie creatures that were created way before the Mummy Returns. and would work perfectly in the STAP)
17. The velya (underwater, ocean-going vampire)
18. Lightning zombie (just because I had to put a crap monster in there)
19. Spiracle (the only monster I could remember from any of the D&D sets, but I remember the appendix with monsters like hypnosnake)