ragingswanpress
patreon
Monstrous Lairs Poll & Announcement
🕑 Added 2019-07-02 11:42:14 +0000 UTCIt’s been two years since we started the Monstrous Lair (or sometimes the Monstrous Liars) line, and it that time it’s been a great success. That said, all good things must come to an end, and the Monstrous Lair line is shortly to come to an end.
Monstrous Lairs is a System Neutral line and while that makes the stats easy (because there aren’t any) it also makes finding common, “popular” monsters that work well across systems and editions increasingly difficult. While I love the line and its focus I fear we’ve essentially run out of monsters (or at least we will have by December when the line is scheduled to end).
But what’s to replace it, I hear you ask? Well we’ve been brainstorm that at Global HQ for some time and we’ve got some options for you. I’d love to know what you think, so please vote in the poll below.
All the options below would be System Neutral so they can be as useful and time saving for as many GMs as possible.
Also, please note the names of the lines below are subject to change—these are just placeholders to give you an idea of the feel of each line.
Book of Faces
These supplements would feature a range of NPCs in the same way as the Daily NPCs books we released earlier this year. Essentially, instalments would feature richly detailed NPCs (but lacking stats) ready for you to introduce to your players. Instalments could focus on types of NPCs (for example, villagers, merchants etc.), certain races (goblins, orcs etc.) or character classes (fighters, assassins, wizards etc.)
Urban Locations
These books would feature four locales in every release ready for you to drop into your own towns and cities. Featured locales would have an Ashlarian flavour and appear in a style similar to that we used in the Languard Locations line. Alternatively, this line could focus on a single location and provide much more detail including—perhaps—an original map by Tommi Salama!
Random Encounters
These books would focus on a particular monster—for example, monstrous spiders or gelatinous cubes—and present random tables to make encounters featuring that monster more exciting and flavoursome. For example, what treasure is the creature carrying (or is in its lair), what is it doing when it encounters the characters, what happens during the fight and so on? Of all the options here, this is the closest to what Monstrous Lair offers now, but instead of focusing on the monsters’ lair it focuses on encountered featuring the monster.
On the Streets
Each of these books would focus on a different district of Languard during the day or night—for example: On the Streets: The Fishshambles (Daytime) or (Nighttime) and would feature NPCs, minor encounters, things to see and the like designed to help you flesh out your characters’ visit to the Fishshambles
Something Else
Got a great idea I haven’t thought of? Let me know your thoughts, in the comments below.
Please Vote!
Please vote in the poll; I’d really like to know what you think should replace Monstrous Lairs. I’ll report back next week with the results.
As always, thank you so much for your support! Good luck with your game.
Comments
Raging Swan Press
This poll is now closed! Thank you everyone for voting.
Dennis Appell
what can I say - it's all good! Too bad there isn't five of you!
Paul Keyes
I think a scifi line would be cool. I might be biased since I am about to start a scifi campaign for a break from fantasy. :)
Garth Hill
it's far easier to say what i don't need -- Random Encounters. the other 3 are much harder to choose between. i'm not sure i really understand what the difference will be at my table between the two different urban choices? i get that you're making one more "Straight Out of Languard", to borrow a phrase. but at my table i'd be using either or both urban details books to pick apart and slot into my own cities, not using anything whole-cloth, and very likely making up new location names but keeping the rest. is there a clear distinction in your mind between what the tables would offer? i guess i'm not sure about how different the "locales" are from the "districts." in one we get four locales (or one detailed locale), in the other we get the difference between the night-life and day-life of a single district? they all sound great. i guess i pick both.
JJ
I wouldn't find NPCs without stats terribly useful. Ditto for random encounters. What I hunger for is more stats not less tbh.
Frank Dellario
On second thought, I want all 4.
Frank Dellario
Urban Locations for the win!
Jose Perez (Bromos Sunstar)
The Face Book is fantastic as well! Busy DMs need endless amounts of this stuff
Jose Perez (Bromos Sunstar)
Loving the Generic Urban Locations to drop in games and to read over for Inspiration
I also like the idea of plots. Two pages could be enough if those pages are tightly focused on plot, complications, hidden agendas, contingency plans and surprising reversals. We users can add NPC details, creatures and dressing from the materials we already have.
I would love generic town districts to plop into generic town or city. Could list the movers and shakers of that district, common shops or stores, factions ( gangs, temples, mercenary companies, guilds, queen's men, kings men, warring noble families, noble families with more of a frenemy vibe). Then you could just set the scene just like your village backdrops. Maybe the local gang is fighting the temple because the temple is secretly gathering up the homeless and selling them to yuan-ti for sacrifices. But on the surface the gang looks like the baddies? Or just situations where factions are in conflict and there isn't a "right answer". Instead, moral dilemmas and how should the PCs intervene if at all?
Luna
I see myself needing NPCs far more than anything else on this list. The more detailed NPCs I can have the better!
