tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post2903165705239074904..comments2024-03-19T16:24:23.777-07:00Comments on Playing D&D With Porn Stars: Monsters That Begin With E Are Much Easier To Talk About Than Monsters That Begin With DZak Sabbathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08812410680077034917noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-32259523198022694302015-09-30T14:57:12.660-07:002015-09-30T14:57:12.660-07:00i think elementals can be good in their element:
e...i think elementals can be good in their element:<br />earth elementals in the earth the players are walking on, rock elementals in the tunnel walls, water elementals in the water trying to drown them, air elementals in the air as the players try to cross a wobbly bridge over a chasm etc<br /><br />.<br /><br />I think some of the duplicate cultural monsters can work if you group them regionally like medieval euro version of flying snake in one continent and latin american version in another and then if your campaign starts on an island in the narrow sea in between them like say Sicily in the Med.Greyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13398462488549380796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-46889525681141509012015-08-07T20:33:39.854-07:002015-08-07T20:33:39.854-07:00"Giant eagles are in the Monster Manual...bec..."Giant eagles are in the Monster Manual...because they appear at key points in J.R.R Tolkien stories and conveniently solve logistical problems that everybody else has been trying to solve for the entire length of the story up until that point."<br /><br />They also operate <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Eagle" rel="nofollow">a very successful grocery store chain</a> here in the northeast.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-61259784801261617282015-08-07T14:30:28.947-07:002015-08-07T14:30:28.947-07:00"It occurs to me, contemplating the disturbin..."It occurs to me, contemplating the disturbingness of the disembodied eye, that the Death Star was maybe an eye and the thing in the middle of a TIE fighter, too..."<br /><br />Per the Star Wars novels (especially the Rogue Squadron series by Michael A. Stackpole), Rebel pilots do indeed refer to TIE fighters informally as "eyeballs". TIE interceptors (with the angled-in wings) are "squints."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-87289275874093566482010-03-23T13:37:40.746-07:002010-03-23T13:37:40.746-07:00The meshed ear trumpet became a standard bit of ge...The meshed ear trumpet became a standard bit of gear included with thieves' tools around Dragon issue 100 or so. In late 2e, skills and powers era, thieves could opt to purchase the ability to perform an attack of opportunity with times four backstab damage on the brain eggs as they hatched. Those countermeasures and regular brain-nit screenings at the Thieves' Guild Young Footpads Academy practically eliminated Ear Seekers outbreaks by 3e. Ear Seekers are to become a playable race with the upcoming release of the 4e PHB IV, featuring the new power source, Wax.The Hex Masterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08687756788484550789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-56961284880614441712010-03-21T22:48:07.791-07:002010-03-21T22:48:07.791-07:00This, also, is a fine way to involve elephants in ...This, also, is a fine way to involve elephants in D&D: http://www.poster.net/dali-salvador/dali-salvador-les-elephants-7700196.jpgAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02392597801807719431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-72803707731288466282010-03-21T22:12:04.824-07:002010-03-21T22:12:04.824-07:00"EDIT... Anyway, the question now is which ca..."EDIT... Anyway, the question now is which came first--floating eye or beholder?"<br /><br />You've got the pieces in prior comments above, but to be explicit about the publishing history: Beholders first appear in OD&D Sup-I Greyhawk. Floating eyes first appear in OD&D Sup-II Blackmoor (along with the rest of the classic D&D aquatic monster list).Deltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00705402326320853684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-28553457616250142232010-03-21T13:58:10.531-07:002010-03-21T13:58:10.531-07:00If you wanna make your PCs fear The Elephant, thre...If you wanna make your PCs fear The Elephant, threaten them with this:<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crushing_by_elephantJezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09648892955926127864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-12264494001324768922010-03-21T09:45:30.122-07:002010-03-21T09:45:30.122-07:00Its funny that D&D doesn't seem to create ...Its funny that D&D doesn't seem to create scary Air Elementals, when the old classic Nethack - the Air Elementals are probably one of the most damaging enemies of the game. You usually encounter them only in the Plane of Air (3 levels before the final level in ascending). They swallow you whole and pummel you with debris, which causes a large amount of damage for being that late in the game.<br /><br />Anyway, there are plenty of ways to make air elementals a deadly and scary enemy. Imagine them wrapped around a character, creating a vacuum where no air exists. A PC could die in just a few minutes with no way of escaping himself.Dillon Fonthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10224956669445619713noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-52274829782183051242010-03-21T08:44:48.442-07:002010-03-21T08:44:48.442-07:00Do a Google image search for "A Wind In the D...Do a Google image search for "A Wind In the Door". That'd make a pretty cool replacement for an air elemental.letsdamagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02145102722055581254noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-3186591998255887682010-03-21T02:14:35.768-07:002010-03-21T02:14:35.768-07:00I get the sense that the Ear Seeker was probably o...I get the sense that the Ear Seeker was probably one of a host of monsters, traps and general dangers Gygax invented to fuck with his players, designed by looking for any repeated behaviors.<br /><br />Like the monster that looks like a cloak until you put it on? Or the one that looks like a section of ceiling? Or the fucking piercer.<br /><br />Gygax's game seems like it was a constant war between ever-increasing caution on the part of his players, and ever-increasing clever sadism on the part of Gary. The MM is just littered with the detritus of that war.Kevinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13185778323826500331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-59297167484028716612010-03-20T21:31:13.903-07:002010-03-20T21:31:13.903-07:00Here's another contribution to the Beholder vs...Here's another contribution to the Beholder vs. Floating Eye thing -- <br /><br />In his Preface to the AD&D 1st edition <i>Monster Manual</i> (p. 4), Gary credits Terry Kuntz with the beholder (at least, with the original idea, as I understand it). <br /><br />Here's a quote of part of the section: <br /><br />"It is necessary to acknowledge the contributions of the following persons: Steve Marsh for devising the creatures for undersea encounters which originally appeared in <i>BLACKMOOR</i>, as I have radically altered them herein; Erol Otus for doing the preliminary work and illustrations of the <i>anhkheg</i> and <i>remorhaz</i> which appeared in <i>The Dragon</i>; Ernie Gygax for the <i>water weird</i> and for his help in solidifying many of the characteristics of the creatures herein; Terry Kuntz, who was never thanked for his prototypical beholder, a revised version of which was included in <i>GREYHAWK</i>...Superhero Necromancerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00829551945470884096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-2887509298756458072010-03-20T20:39:45.264-07:002010-03-20T20:39:45.264-07:00No undead is, in my mind, as cool as The Eye of Fe...No undead is, in my mind, as cool as The Eye of Fear and Flame. Not the vampire (too many weaknesses, too overused), the zombie (wow, its already dead. What else can it do?), the ghoul (very tough zombies with paralysis? eh, take it or leave it)...none.<br /><br />Why? Cool name. Very cool name. It has powers over fear and flame...if it can't scare you away it will simply burn you where you stand. This is not a dungeon monster. This my friends is a freakin' supervillain.Adam Dicksteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04840144928096089178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-36169032176933349172010-03-20T20:12:41.123-07:002010-03-20T20:12:41.123-07:00Correction to my earlier comment: evidently Steve ...Correction to my earlier comment: evidently Steve Marsh designed all the aquatic monsters in supplement 2, Blackmoor, which would include the floating eye.Rick Marshallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01707062453047354335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-72661945630839392162010-03-20T16:56:36.754-07:002010-03-20T16:56:36.754-07:00Tolkien wasn't interested in D&D.
*shrugs...Tolkien wasn't interested in D&D. <br />*shrugs* <br />As to the elementals - it's no big news that ordinary objects can be really scary in unusual circumstances. A water elemental, able to control the water in living things, like Avatar's waterbenders or the water elemental in Quest for Glory... or just water suddenly becoming alive just as you walk across the shallow pool, grabbing your legs and trying to drown you. Small flames on top of the candles that *always* seem to turn slightly as you move, as if they were watching, little spies that serve something unfriendly. It's pretty easy to fight an elemental if it's just another type of extradimensional creature. Fighting water, though, is more tricky. Or hiding from the fire elementals which are able to - and obviously will - watch you through every candle, every fireplace, waiting for a good moment to attack.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-45205981851448439392010-03-20T15:36:15.634-07:002010-03-20T15:36:15.634-07:00ear seekers - doesn't everyone have a meshed e...ear seekers - doesn't everyone have a meshed ear trumpet for listening at doors? shakes head and tutsFran Terminiellohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02506269178716477521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-6200497740237057482010-03-20T15:32:37.698-07:002010-03-20T15:32:37.698-07:00Great post!
Honestly I've never heard of the ...Great post!<br /><br />Honestly I've never heard of the Ear Seeker before. And I have the old school binder based Monster Manual from the 80s. Seriously? To stop eavesdropping? Isn't that what traps are for?<br /><br />Maybe to make Water and Air Elementals much scarier without needing to whip up a whirlpool or tornado, they should focus on it's psychological horror aspect. You're trekking somewhere breezy with your party and one of your PCs gets singled out to hear a creepy whisper in it's ear. It teases by flinging bugs in eyes and dancing in carefully arranged stationary. It never outright kills without having sadistic fun. It does things like sit inside your throat or lungs and makes you gasp for breath like an asthmatic. Water Elementals could be the same. Totally invisible in it's environment and doing nasty things like forcing it's way into your body through your orifices including past your eyeball or up your urethra. <br /><br />Elves are an interesting bunch. Especially the Tolkien ones. Imagine his elves wearing smart dark uniforms, toting standards with Rome's double-headed eagle and a certain red flag with a certain symbol of the sun on it.<br />Elves used to be cool, until I got a little older and a little more cynical and realised I was looking at the RPG incarnation of the Perfect Aryan Race. Pretty, magical, Sailor Moon Nazis.Vastadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06065276531794551915noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-17287542650104307372010-03-20T15:18:42.853-07:002010-03-20T15:18:42.853-07:00I love your linking of the Beholder and Eye of the...I love your linking of the Beholder and Eye of the Deep into a pair of eyes. Nicely done.<br /><br />The Floating Eye, though, I think is Dave, not Gary. It makes its appearance in Blackmoor along with all Dave's other aquatic nasties.Rick Marshallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01707062453047354335noreply@blogger.com