The game is a Savage Worlds conversion of the Rules Cyclopedia. We are playing high-expert level (name level+) PCs. I'm a crotchety mystic (monk). An NPC ally is clearing a wilderness hex for his keep and we're helping out. The MU plans to build her tower nearby and the Elf is eyeing an ancient wood as his realm. At a nearby lake, the cleric has discovered some magic-infused clay under the water that can make clay golems. The trouble? A mysterious swirl (small whirlpool) in the water appears at different spots at different times. We observed a shepherd from a local population suddenly break off from his friends and flounder out into the water only to disappear beneath the surface. The party has decided that whatever it is must be destroyed. I'm personally convinced it's Nixies and the elf might not want to go murdering fellow fae, especially if he wants to be their local lord. Also, if I'm right, the shepherd is not dead. Currently, I'm outvoted.
OK, end of story.
I've talked a lot here not only about various D&D monsters, but also about the kind of world they might live in. This got me wondering about the general perception of monsters and magical beasts in a D&D setting. Not by the players, but in-game for the characters.
Obviously there can be a wide spectrum on this. There can be worlds where it's perfectly normal to have ogres drinking in a tavern. Other settings might not even have demihuman PCs. All of this is perfectly valid.
(art by dangercook on DeviantArt)
The question is; how weird is it to run into true "monsters" in your world? At what point does that creature stop being just some critter or fella going about his business and become, well, monstrous? To be sure, there are all sorts of dangerous things in your typical fantasy setting, including people. Combat is almost certainly going to happen at some point, but not necessarily.
The party in my earlier story might well be justified in going straight to combat-mode in some settings, whereas in another world such actions could even be criminal. It's up to the DM and the players to work out which kind of a world they're playing in, so everyone is on the same page.
I hadn't actually thought about this until I got to DM a group of friends who moved away via Roll20. They used diplomacy at every turn and opted for scare tactics or only enough force to try to get the monsters to run off and only entered combat as a last resort.
ReplyDeleteIt made me realize that too often I set the tone as the DM by not having monsters run away or back down.
TL;DR I think sometimes the DM sets the groups expectations more often than they realize.
I like my fantasy folky so typically in my campaigns monsters inhabit dungeons or lonely places (eg: mountains or dark woods) and outside of these areas might only be seen fleetingly. I've never been that convinced by the high frequency of monsters in the wilderness encounter table in Cook's Expert book.
ReplyDeleteEverything not mundane should be considered monstrous and have a whole series of highly contradictory and mostly inaccurate folk tales about their abilities and characteristics.
For the record, I was wrong and it was a morkoth, not Nixies. =)
ReplyDelete