DM Advice - How to Introduce Legendary Monsters into a Setting

[Gabuman]

Hey guys,

So I'm getting ready to start a longer campaign (running from 1st level to roughly 10th across a few different campaign arcs) and I wanted to plant some lore of legendary monsters in hopes that way down the road the PCs could encounter.

How can I 1.) Make the PCs aware of these creatures well in advance without red flagging them as "end game bosses" 2.) Expand on said creatures stories throughout the campaign without having it be a looming threat.

Example: In Pirates of the Caribbean, the Kraken would have been some legendary beast that, at some point, the main PCs (in this case the crew of the Black Pearl) would have learned about in their early travels. That is why they are so scared when they finally do encounter it.

Any advice is appreciated ^__^

[Flamephoenix182]

Some ideas:

They stumble upon lore throughout the campaign. Cryptic information that hints at their existence. Even just single sentences.

Show evidence of the creatures indirectly, but dont let them see the creatures right away. That way it's a mystery what caused it and there is an AHA! moment when they find it.

For example if one of you legendary creatures is Colossal, You could have them see a series of small ponds that when viewed from above are actually foot prints (or claw prints).

Later on once they are more defined could have a drunk guy in the bar telling a story of a creature they saw (maybe make the guy only get some of the details right) and his friends not believing him.

[Anonymous Warrior]

As phoenix suggested, have it brought up in the bars, but mix it in with more common news (inane happenings in the town, shady deals under the table, business deals, odd happenings, news of goblin raiding parties and the like, as well as complaints and praise for different significant NPCs in town, and even wild fantasy about imaginary creatures and preposterous rumors and conspiracy theories. In short, the PCs should hear of these fantastic beasts along with wild stories and easily believed stories, so they don't actually know if what they're hearing is true 'for your campaign.'

[Gabuman]

Thanks for the ideas :) will definitely work these into my campaign.

[Sissyl]

Use different names for it in different areas. Make these names part of the vocabulary in other ways. Say, you want to introduce a... Remorhaz. Have a village where it's called a death burn, another where it's called the Destroyer, another where the creature is Alyar's bane. So you will get people saying "Destroyer take you, you're wrong! You need oak to support that roof!"

This way, people can ask the people talking about the legends they refer to, meaning they will get differing (and often unreliable) accounts of things that could have happened a long time ago. Add in just enough of a common thread to let them guess it's the same monster.

[Gabuman]

Man, I've never thought of that either.

I was thinking of having like some painted pictures of a creature somewhere. Or possibly them stumbling upon a tome outlining a legend that they can choose to read if they want.

[Cuup]

You could have the starting town be in the shadow of some past cataclysmic destruction, which a legendary monster is said to have caused.

You wrote:

"Chimerashire sits at the bottom of a fertile valley. It's said that the valley used to be a colossal river, which was vaporized by a powerful Chimera eons ago."

You can insert multiple examples of how this history effects the town's culture, such as having a festival to keep the ancient beast slumbering, or by naming the town guard after it. This gives the PC's tons of info about the Chimera and keeps it front row, center, but it will never give the PC's reason to think they'll have to fight it - it's long gone, all legends say it's either in eternal slumber, or dead - while at the same time, showing them the destructive power of it. And the whole time, the players will just think you've simply created a very flavorful setting.

All of a sudden, at level 8 or so, the PC's discover a plot to wake up the slumbering Chimera. The next couple levels lead them through the wake of the mastermind, until they find themselves at the site of the ritual, and the Chimera is about to be awoken. Everything they've grown up learning about the Chimera comes to a heading. It's not only important to the characters to stop the ritual, but to the players - from level 1, they've been fed lore about the boss they had no idea they would be facing.

[Tacticslion]

Dot.

[Tyrant Lizard King]

Stumbling upon a wall carving/painting depicting the legendary beast destroying a city or battling ancient heroes that defeated it in long past. You could even add more lore to the legendary heroes, giving clues to their burial grounds or uncovering one of their famous weapons/armor (artifact)... like a wizard who was famous for wielding a Staff of Power or an extremely powerful holy sword that belonged to the paladin, assuming there was a party of these great heroes. Upon describing the image you can allow characters to make a knowledge history check to know the story or the heroes. I would make it so old and unconfirmed it's considered a children's tale... until they find something that was said to belong to one of the heroes or evidence that the terrible creature actually existed lol