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Post by Zulgyan on Apr 18, 2008 8:40:19 GMT -6
For those DMs that have quited using the classic tolkien-like humanoids. What have you be using instead?? I have resorted to humanoid animal or insect derivatives, such as: Lizardmen Apemen Spidermen (not the jumping hero  ) Ratmen Flymen Batmen (not the rich superhero hobbyist ;D) Frogmen Fishmen Goatmen and other types in the same fashion. So what about you? |
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Post by makofan on Apr 18, 2008 9:54:20 GMT -6
I like orcs and goblins just fine. But I use troglodytes on occasion
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sham
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 385
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Post by sham on Apr 18, 2008 11:28:30 GMT -6
I may as well have changed their names and appearance since my Goblins and Orcs are very un-Tolkien and un-AD&D like. That goes for my Hobgoblins and Ogres, as well.
I like your post Zulgyan because it certainly gets the creative juices flowing, even though Goatmen make me think of Diablo 2.
Lizardmen are pretty standard fare for many D&D settings, but the rest is interesting. I've often been bored to tears when beginning a new campaign with the usual collection of orcs-goblins-skeletons-giant rats. That's why I love OD&D, I can do a full home brew type description for the basic monsters.
Fishmen is kinda funny. What about Boarmen or Turtlemen?
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Post by Zulgyan on Apr 18, 2008 11:38:03 GMT -6
Totally doable. I was just mentioning the ones I've used so far. Boarmen look good, but that's maybe too similar to an Orc in the end ;D . Turtlemen look quite a harmless and pacific race. Not really in my setting.  As regards Goatmen, I don't like Diablo 2, though I played Diablo 1 extensible. Great PC game. I find Goatmen excelent for dark, unholy and demonic dungeon levels. |
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jjarvis
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Posts: 278
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Post by jjarvis on Apr 18, 2008 12:15:33 GMT -6
I've had
Morlocks
Molemen
Worm men
Mants (ant men)
Cannibals
Coneheads (I discovered they were used in Arduin also)
Albinos ( obviously following a watching of "Omega MAN")
Pygmies
Amazons
Submen
Wretches (deformed mutant humans)
Hunchbacks (they became a subtype of wretches but they started out a seperate monster)
Skinnies
Arachnids ( I had read starship troopers as a kid)
came up with a few from the first list also.
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Post by Zulgyan on Apr 18, 2008 12:21:10 GMT -6
What are "Submen"?
Submarine?
Substandart?
Subterranean?
;D
How do Worm men look like?
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jjarvis
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Posts: 278
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Post by jjarvis on Apr 18, 2008 12:28:34 GMT -6
What are "Submen"? Submarine? Substandart? Subterranean? ;D How do Worm men look like? Submen were simply devolved or underevolved humans. Basically cavemen but ugly and sometimes with a monkey like feature. (tail, big ears, mokey feet). Worm men looked similar to the Sathar of Star Frontiers, thought them up a few years before that game was out. When I first saw pictures of those guys I was thrilled someone else had thought them up, and drawn them so well. |
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Post by foster1941 on Apr 18, 2008 13:16:38 GMT -6
Cave men
Gremlins
White apes
Devil children (see "Monsters of Myth")
Trolls (D&D ogres, renamed)
Gnoles (D&D bugbears, renamed)
Androids (white, blue, black, red)
Mutants
Men of Bronze (see "Monsters of Myth")
Men of Quicksilver (T-1000 from "Terminator 2," more or less)
Men of Stone (living statues)
Red Weavers (see Merritt's "Face in the Abyss," and "Monsters of Myth")
etc.
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sham
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 385
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Post by sham on Apr 18, 2008 13:32:02 GMT -6
Awesome lists, jjarvis and foster! btw Coneheads in Arduin? I don't remember that, but I do remember some sort of conehead monsters (drawn by Erol Otus) in Booty and the Beast. Are you implying that my Turtlemen aren't more ferocious than your Frogmen?  Speaking of Frogmen, maybe Radioactive Octopusmen would be even better: www.mcphee.com/items/11699.htmlJK Zulg! Good thread btw |
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jjarvis
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Posts: 278
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Post by jjarvis on Apr 18, 2008 13:43:26 GMT -6
I was going to list Octupus men but I couldn't recall if I borrowed them from The Fantasy Trip or not.
Mutant Drones, borrowed from the planet of the Apes comic magazine.
Skinless - inspired by the old models that showed you what the inside of a human body looked like.
Bloats- large simple minded men ridden by smaller races, from heavy metal magazine i think
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Post by Zulgyan on Apr 18, 2008 14:49:46 GMT -6
Sounds good!
Which are the stats for it? How do his abilities work? Have you written something up?
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Post by murquhart72 on Apr 18, 2008 15:10:07 GMT -6
I tend towards a variety of beastmen, lizardmen and fishmen.
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Post by philotomy on Apr 18, 2008 15:12:12 GMT -6
I've used a lot of the things already listed. I often change the appearance and name of a "standard monster" while keeping the same stats, or do something to make them seem like more than "just some skeletons." For example, on the first level of one dungeon, I had an otherwise empty room carpeted with human bones. A skull was nailed to the door of the room, and some kobolds had carved "Bone Room -- DANGER" into the wood. When the PCs open the door, the bones start wiggling and swirling around, and assemble into a handful of standard human skeletons. The first time any PCs came across this room, they freaked out, slammed the door, and didn't go back for a long time. There are some examples of the kinds of substitutions I do in my Lost City campaign log (especially in the "background" spoilers): "subhumans" for more run-of-the-mill humanoids, et cetera. Just renaming a creature can cause a stir, too. My veteran players are sanguine about "ghouls," but they were very concerned about being attacked by a group of "Eaters." I think the key, especially with experienced players who know all the monsters, is to shake them out of their comfort zone by introducing something they uncertain about. Lovecraft had it right: the strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. Another example. Instead of orcs, describe some underground-dwelling beast-men or subhumans with huge white eyes and heavy brows. They can wield crude melee weapons, but instead of missile weapons, give some of them a psionic or sonic blast that works just like a shortbow (i.e. roll to hit, d6 damage, requires line of sight, range, et cetera). ("Real" psionics would be unaffected by armor, but who cares -- you can describe a barely visible warping through the air, like a ray coming from their eyes or forehead, and the players will accept that the attack has some sort of physical manifestation.) It's an orc...but it's not, and your players will wonder what the hell this thing is, and they'll fear it more because of that. One monster I don't think anyone has listed yet: Sleestaks.  |
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jjarvis
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Posts: 278
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Post by jjarvis on Apr 18, 2008 15:44:08 GMT -6
Sleestakks, AC 5; Move 3; HD 1+1
Sleestaks are nocturnal reptillian humanoids that dwell in the remains of their once advanced technological/mystical civilization. They are a bit dim and are ussually armed with innefective light crossbows with ranges as follows 1"/2"/3". they will always miss on the first shot and seldom surpsie anyoen because of the noisy hissing they make when excited. They do not like to opperate in bright light and will flee areas of all but the mildest of illumination.
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Post by foster1941 on Apr 18, 2008 15:50:37 GMT -6
Sounds good! Which are the stats for it? How do his abilities work? Have you written something up? They're a high-level monster so I've never used them in actual-play yet, so I haven't had the need yet to get specific on the stats. They've got around 7 HD, are fast (15 or 18"), have a low AC (and are immune or resistant to most attack forms), they can change their appearance, slide through narrow cracks, etc. Highly intelligent, strongly chaotic (my campaign-specific background is that they're actually invaders from either another dimension or another planet, but that wouldn't be necessary for anyone else). Small number appearing (no more than, say, 1-6). Low chance of being found in lair; small but rich treasure (Type I, IIRC -- the one that has gems, jewels, and magic but not tons of coins). |
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Stonegiant
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
100% in Liar
Posts: 240
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Post by Stonegiant on Apr 18, 2008 16:17:36 GMT -6
Totally doable. I was just mentioning the ones I've used so far. Boarmen look good, but that's maybe too similar to an Orc in the end ;D . Turtlemen look quite a harmless and pacific race. Not really in my setting. As regards Goatmen, I don't like Diablo 2, though I played Diablo 1 extensible. Great PC game. I find Goatmen excelent for dark, unholy and demonic dungeon levels. Check out the Broo in Runequest goat/animal headed men who are infested with chaos and disease! Good times! Oh yeah they can mate with anything (at the cost of the mother). |
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jjarvis
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Posts: 278
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Post by jjarvis on Apr 18, 2008 20:23:46 GMT -6
...and the mother doesn't have to be female. Any orifice will do, even freshly inflicted wounds.
not pleasant critters.
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Post by philotomy on Apr 18, 2008 20:29:52 GMT -6
I haven't played RQ in years, and I don't remember the Broo, but they sound exactly right for my campaign! |
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korgoth
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Posts: 323
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Post by korgoth on Apr 18, 2008 21:06:16 GMT -6
The cover of Dwellers of the Forbidden City has me totally convinced that frogmen rawk. I'm using them instead of orcs in Xulrua (which I haven't been working on lately, but the mood will return I'm sure).
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Post by thorswulf on Apr 18, 2008 22:00:22 GMT -6
I like Leiber's Nehwon Ghouls- the people with transparent skin and organs, and all you can see are the bones! Plus they are cannibals, what more could you ask for? I like EPT's Shen as lizardmen too. Good call on the broo/goatmen, yes they are a nasty surprise!
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Stonegiant
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
100% in Liar
Posts: 240
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Post by Stonegiant on Apr 25, 2008 9:25:43 GMT -6
I recently got a hold of some Hackmaster pdf's, in the Hacklapedia of Monsters volume 1 I noticed some interesting creatures that could be used in place of the standard non-humans (Hackmaster stuff is easy enough to reverse engineer). The ones I have noticed so far are-
Ape Shaman
Baboon Men
Bison 'Vyders
Boar Men
Bovians
I only have volume one of the monster books but these have sparked my interest as to what else they may have.
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Post by murquhart72 on Apr 25, 2008 19:32:40 GMT -6
Everybody: good, oldshcool, swords & sorcery stuff. I like this thread! Forgot about the Broo, kind of like the stuff of Chaos from Warhammer.
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Post by Zulgyan on Apr 27, 2008 14:41:15 GMT -6
Gnoles (D&D bugbears, renamed) Foster, how do this look like? Like the hyena guys of regular D&D? |
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Post by foster1941 on Apr 27, 2008 16:27:11 GMT -6
Gnoles (D&D bugbears, renamed) Foster, how do this look like? Like the hyena guys of regular D&D? They're from the Lord Dunsany story How Nuth Would have Practised His Art Upon the Gnoles, which doesn't actually describe their physical appearance but establishes that they live in dark, forsaken woods, are very quiet and stealthy and attack suddenly from ambush, are merciless, and are greatly feared by normal folk (and also that they hoard treasure). This fantastic period illustration depicts the gnoles as fur-covered apelike creatures, armed with swords. The description of bugbears in Supplement I ("These monsters are of the 'giant class,' being great hairy goblin-giants. Despite their size and shambling gait, they move very quietly, thus increasing their chances to surprise a party by 16 2/3%") seems ideally suited to both the story and the illustration (as long as you disregard the pumpkin-headed illustration from later in the book). Credit where credit's due: I didn't come up with this on my own; Gene Weigel was actually the first one (that I know of) who suggested using D&D bugbears as Dunsany's gnoles. |
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Post by Zulgyan on Apr 27, 2008 18:50:37 GMT -6
You always give extensive, complete and awesome answers, have an EXALT!
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Post by raithe on Apr 27, 2008 23:05:45 GMT -6
You guys use "living" monsters?!
Ok I use a lot of undead, but for humanoids I tend to prefer Lovecraft style Snakemen. I just use Lizardmen and make them poisonous, a lot more intelligent and let them cast spells. My worlds tend more toward a Ravenloft-ish type theme. Meaning I like to use just a few monsters "types" but vary the individuals greatly. So each critter is a whole new menace to be approached in a different way. You'll never hear one of my players say "Oh I've fought these before this is their weakness". Well, never more than once anyway.
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Post by driver on Apr 28, 2008 4:36:14 GMT -6
The campaign I'm currently working on is inspired by a variety of S&S, sword-and-planet, and weird fantasy (ancient Mesopotamia, Clark Ashton Smith, E. R. Eddison, Barsoom, Dreamlands, Dying Earth, Flat Earth, Gamma World, Shaver Mysteries). I might end up using some variety of BRP/RuneQuest rather than OD&D if it starts ranging too far afield of OD&D.
The "mastermind" humanoid antagonists are Dero, who live in great cavern cities to which they kidnap humans to serve in their torture farms and breeding pits. They have access to ancient technology like thought projection devices and flying fungus-lozenges. Physically, they're a lot like Burroughs's "Skeleton Men of Jupiter" -- parchment skin stretched over bones, with black pits for eyes, slits for noses and ears, and exposed teeth and gums. They're ruled by Scientist-Kings. There's not many of them, and they're immortal if not slain.
The Dero have a variety of servant races. These currently include Vat-Men (artificial subhumans with mutations/Chaos features) and Androids (clockwork infiltrators).
One of the "gods" of the setting is a city-sized psionic fungus, served by Mushroom-men that resemble D&D myconids or RuneQuest voralans. They herd flabby creatures that resemble terrestrial fungoid starfish.
Other than these, I think I'll mostly be using humans. This is very much a work in progress, though, so things may change.
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Post by scottenkainen on Sept 16, 2008 10:21:20 GMT -6
In my last, short-lived campaign, I used kobolds and goblins but changed their appearances and gave them limited special abilities. Kobolds looked indistinguishable from deep gnomes and could cast magic stone (2nd ed. AD&D spell) 1/day. Goblins looked like yellow-skinned, hornless gargoyles (they could not fly, but they could leap) and could cast audible glamer (1st ed. AD&D spell) 1/day.
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Post by apeloverage on Sept 17, 2008 16:27:18 GMT -6
In my online Basic game, so far I've used flying sharks and jackals.
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Post by jcstephens on Sept 17, 2008 21:18:00 GMT -6
The bane of adventurers in the first level under Castle Drachenstein is the Knockers. They're kobolds - the original medieval German variety, not the dog faced lizards of AD&D. They can wriggle through even the smallest holes and cracks in rocks, in order to get where you don't expect them to be. They're called Knockers because they carry little rock hammers, and use them to 'talk' to each other via tap code. That tapping sound tells the party they've been spotted, and bad things are about to happen.
They have the same stats as kobolds, but stats are the least important aspect. Knockers fight DIRTY. Anyone familiar with the legend of Tucker's Kobolds knows exactly what I'm talking about. They snipe with crossbows (two per crossbow), ambush, and set up complicated mechanical boobytraps (here's the chance to dust off those old Grimtooth books). They're also fond of the feigned retreat, in order to lure the foolish into another trap or ambush. Usually they invade mines to extort bribes from the miners, but they'll happily infest dungeons and shake down adventurers as well.
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