Ironbeak...!

IRONBEAK

FREQUENCY: Rare
 
NO. APPEARING: 1-2
 
ARMOR CLASS: 4 (tail 6)

MOVE: 18"

HIT DICE: 4

% IN LAIR: 15%

TREASURE TYPE: E

NO. OF ATTACKS: 2

DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-10, 1-10

SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below

SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard

INTELLIGENCE: Animal

ALIGNMENT: Neutral

SIZE: L  (12' long)

PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

       Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

Ironbeaks are such an ungainly mix of shapes and forms that some believe them to be the result of a magical experiment gone awry. They live in mountainous areas and subsist on minerals that they leach from the rock itself, and their presence is usually an indication that iron ore can be found nearby. They can prove to be a danger to adventuring parties because of their predilection for refined metals, especially steel.

When attacking they will always focus on the most heavily armed or armoured opponent first. It can attack with its beak, which inflicts 1-10 points of damage, or grapple with its numerous tentacles. Each of these delivers a paralysing attack, and its victim must save vs paralysation or become immobile. Otherwise they may attempt to roll below their Strength in order to break free. The tentacles then secrete a powerful acid which instantly reduces metals to so many dessicated flakes. Fumbled attacks against the creature from its front quarter mean that any weapon has become entangled within these tentacles and any metal component will similarly be reduced to nothing. Magical weapons and armour are somewhat more resilient to the acid and have a 10% chance for each plus they possess of surviving intact, i.e. a +2 sword has a 20% chance of remaining intact. However, this must be rolled for every round that they are exposed to the acid. The acid also affects weapons and objects made from stone or minerals (including precious stones and minerals, except diamond), completely consuming them in two rounds.  The rearmost part of the creature is less resilient than its forequarter but does end in a sharp, curved talon that can inflict 1-10 points of damage.

 

Should the Ironbeak be engaged in combat but then lose more than 75% of its hit points, it will attempt to fly away. If any victim is still within the grasp of its tentacles, it has a 20% chance per round of making a successful escape attempt whilst grasping its prey, but its attacks are reduced to 1 in that time. If its victim is not paralysed they must roll below their Strength score in order to break free, but are possibly at risk of injury from falling. The Ironbeak will fly to its lair and kill any victim on the wing.

Ironbeaks will usually be encountered singularly, but should two of them be present it will be a mating pair. The creatures lair will be a rocky nest atop some high point and any treasure found there will be what remains of their victim's possessions. If a mating pair is encountered in their lair, they will be accompanied by 1-3 young who, whilst not possessing tentacles, can still deliver 1-3 points of damage with their beak or talon. Each possesses 3 hit points.

Description: Ironbeaks possess coarse fur that is reddish-mauve in colour. Their tentacles are a sickly yellow-white and their large globular compound eyes are green edged with orange. The rearmost part of their bodies is yellowish-brown, mottled with patches of deep crimson. Their insect-like limbs and wings are dark greenish-black. Their beak and talon is a blackish blue edged with a raw copper-like colour. Both are very resilient and are composed of the metals and minerals on which the creature feasts. If removed, the beak weighs 50lb, the talon 10lb and, should a specialist artificer be found and hired, they can be used to make +2 weapons or armour.  

Jellies...!

Time to get back in the ol' blog saddle and get back to designing some monsters.

I have a general propensity to think that many of the monsters in 1E AD&D are... well.. weird. I thought that when first introduced to the RPG and I still think it now. One of the stranger species in the Monster Manual is the Ochre Jelly. If I remember correctly, Gary Gygax said that jellies were the result of life springing up from drains, down which various exotic ingredients had been discarded after magical experiments.
 

Anyway, a few years ago I ran a homebrew 1E AD&D dungeon crawl and designed a new type of jelly (and subsequent posts will feature some others):

STAR JELLY

  
FREQUENCY: Uncommon
 
NO. APPEARING: 1-2
 
ARMOR CLASS: 8

MOVE: 6"

HIT DICE: 4-6

% IN LAIR: Nil

TREASURE TYPE: Nil

NO. OF ATTACKS: 2

DAMAGE/ATTACK: 4-8

SPECIAL ATTACKS: None

SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard

INTELLIGENCE: Non-

ALIGNMENT: Neutral

SIZE: L (10 – 15 feet wide, 3-4 feet high)

PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

       Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
 

Star jellies resemble a huge starfish and exist in a wide variety of colours. This gelatinous mass is usually found in cold, dark, damp places such as caves but will venture into dungeons in search of food. Unlike the ochre jelly, star jellies lack the ability to flow through small spaces and cannot move along ceilings. However, they are a much faster opponent, propelling themselves along with a multitude of feelers beneath each limb.

These creatures are particularly attracted to metals of all kinds, seeking out mineral veins in caves but preferring the refined steels, irons, and precious metals common to adventuring parties. They will attempt to engulf any target and use powerful acids to consume metal and flesh alike (4-8 hit points per round of exposure).

Should any jelly lose 50% of it’s hit points, one or more of it’s afflicted limbs will dissolve into an acidic gas and the jelly will attempt to escape. Anyone within 10 feet of the creature must make a Saving Throw or receive 1-6 points of damage. Wounded jellies can regrow a single limb in 1-4 days. Similarly, upon death the jelly will dissolve into a larger cloud and anyone within 10 feet must make a Saving Throw or receive 1-8 points of damage. Any form of metal exposed to this gas will tarnish and become discolored.

Star jellies are immune to cold attacks but fire-based attacks have a normal effect. Striking the creature with lightning bolts causes it to split into seperate limbs, each with 2 hit dice but with all movement, attacks and defenses remaining the same as a complete jelly.

Blood Beast...

So, after a bit of a break, I'm back. This time around it's with an idea for a 1E D&D monster inspired by a not very good movie. That movie is Night of the Blood Beast, which is only particularly watchable via Mystery Science Theater 3000 and you can see it here. Or you can see the un-riffed version here.

Actually, I say that it's not a very good movie but that sells it short a bit. The overall premise is quite well done and there is a suggestion of an atmosphere to the scene it sets, but it's all just handled a bit poorly. As it's a film produced by Roger Corman, this is not really surprising but probably not entirely his fault.

I've watched it a fair few times in it's MST3K incarnation, and I've found myself liking the Blood Beast as a creature. It's not too different from creatures in later movies, such as the xenomorph from the various Alien films. And, at the end of the day, all are just blokes in suits waving their claws around but Corman and co. just had a lot less money. The way the creature goes about its nefarious purpose in Night of the Blood Beast has a bit more of an interesting angle, and I thought it might translate well to being a 1E D&D monster. I've also run up a quick drawing to go with the description:

BLOOD BEAST

FREQUENCY: Rare

NO. APPEARING: 1 

ARMOR CLASS: 4 

MOVE: 8" 

HIT DICE: 4 

% IN LAIR: 20%

TREASURE TYPE:  None 

NO. OF ATTACKS: 3

DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-12 claws,1-8 bite

SPECIAL ATTACKS: Charm

SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil

MAGIC RESISTANCE: 25%

INTELLIGENCE: High 

ALIGNMENT: Lawful Evil

SIZE: L (8') 

PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil 

      Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

The Blood Beast inhabits dark caves and similar underground places, and is particularly attracted to the presence of sentient beings. If it detects a party of adventurers, it will attempt to follow them and can Hide In Shadows and Move Silently as a fourth level thief. It will then carefully chose a time to make an attack on a single victim and attempt to drag them back to its lair.

In melee combat, the Blood Beast will attack with large claws and a bite. In order for its kind to propagate, it must use its bite to infect its victim with parasitic young. Anyone infected in this way will become host to 2-8 amorphous, amoeba-like creatures which will gestate for 2-12 days before eating their way out of their victim. This 'birth' will cause 1-8 damage per creature, and any that escape will grow into a fully formed Blood Beast in 2-8 days. Until that time, the infected person will seem normal and healthy.

The Blood Beast will also try to sow dischord and confusion amongst a party by the use of a powerful Charm spell, hoping to lure more victims. If a player has been dragged away and killed by the Blood Beast, it will use that player's voice as a Charm in order to call to his or her compatriots and so place them in a situation in which it can make another attack. Alternatively, it will use Charm on a victim it has bitten and release them back to their party. That player will then try to convince their compatriots that the Blood Beast is only acting in self-defence etc, and try to place them in a situation in which the monster can make another attack. In both cases, victims must save versus magic at -2.

Description: the Blood Beast is a large humanoid with a prominent eyes, a large beak-like mouth and long claws. It is covered with many folds of rough abrasive skin, some of which hangs from its body in ragged tatters. This skin is made up of many dark hues that allows it to blend well with its envionment. Its eyes are a deep blackish red.

Christmas critters!

During 2014 I've managed to make a semi-sporadic series of updates to this blog that have shown various creature designs. At the same time, I've been tinkering with other ideas and sketches as they've popped into my head or have been part of on-line threads for various RPGs. I've also been messing around with new techniques, or dusting off some old ones.

The first and most recent piece of artwork is this Mindflayer:

 

This started off as a pencil drawing, then became a line drawing which was subsequently scanned and mixed with digital colours. I've not done this sort of thing for quite a while, although I used to create artwork in a broadly similar way when I was a concept artist. It's good to have a try at this again, although I am quite rusty and need more time to get more polished. Still, I think the Mindflayer is a good illustration as to how lurid D&D monsters are, based on the description given in the 1E Monster Manual. If I get the chance I'd like to create some more D&D themed artwork. Earlier in the year I created this image of a troll:

  

This came out fairly well, although there seems to always be a fine line where a troll either looks scary or is just some weird version of Marge Simpson. I'll let you be the judge of which side of that line the above image lies. Another basic sketch shows a group of adventurers battling with orcs:

And finally, here's a more developed drawing of a goblin-like chieftan:

This came out quite well, although I think various details about the helmet decorations need reworking.

Getting back to the subject of digitally-coloured drawings, before I started on the Mindflayer I had a practice run with a creature I designed many years ago for a Star Frontiers adventure I'd created:

This is an example of the penguin-sized creatures that were living on a remote planet just outside the Frontier. This seemed to be the source of odd energy readings that could not have been created by their Stone Age culture. And speaking of Star Frontiers (incidentally, one of my favourite RPGs), here are some more sketches of aliens:

The above shows some conceptual sketches of a race called the Jakar, the best description of which would be tall bipedal bovine or bull-like creatures.

These sketches depict the Thyrann - pretty much upright lizards/komodo dragons. Both the Jakar and the Thyran were developed during discussions over at the Starfrontiers.us site. Back in January I was doodling various images of Sathar (the main baddies of Star Frontiers), which is always fun:

I've also been working on machines as well as creatures. There's this design for a prison ship for Star Frontiers:

 

And, last but not least, a pencil and 3D sketch of a light attack tilt-prop for the 2300AD RPG:

I'll hopefully add more details about this last design to my blog in 2015!

The Life-cycle of the Gelatinous Cube... Part 4

I've previously described the way in which Gelatinous Cubes are created, but that details the manner in which they reproduce whilst wandering dungeons and other underground places. What follows is a description of the creature from which these cubic seeds are originally sown.

 

MOTHER OF ALL CUBES

FREQUENCY: Very Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 2
MOVE: none
HIT DICE: 450 hit points
% IN LAIR: 100%
TREASURE TYPE:  See below
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 4-40
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Paralyzation
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below
MAGIC RESISTANCE: See below
INTELLIGENCE: Semi-
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: L (120' tall)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
       Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

Somewhere deep in the earth and at the middle of a vast cavern lies an ancient creature known as the Mother Of All Cubes. Although only one such monster is thought to exist, dwarf and gnomish folklore hints at there being more. It is rumoured that Cubes and other gelatinous forms occasionally return to the Mother in order to have their treasure absorbed by it, creating a vast horde at its centre.

The Mother will always be surrounded by at least 100 Cubes, which will protect it from any attacks, and it can also calve 4-40 new Cubes per melee round should the need arise. The creature can be hit by all forms of weapons, and attacks by fire have normal effects. It is unaffected by cold unless it fails its saving throw. Electricity, fear, holds, paralyzation, polymorph and sleep-based attacks have no effect upon it. Any creatures that can get close enough to come into contact with the Mother will receive 4-40 points of damage and require a saving throw versus paralyzation, or will be anaethetized for 1-10 months (during which time they will be at the mercy of its cubic offspring).

Description: this creature resembles a huge, polychromic gelatinous sphere that radiates a slight greenish glow. Although semi-transparent, there is a dark mass at its centre, and light is reflected and refracted though the creature in a very odd manner. Outwardly spherical in shape, it's surface is made up of a multitude of facets.The main part of its body rests on an amorphous mass from which Cubes sprout or are absorbed.

The Life-cycle of the Gelatinous Cube... Part 2

Carrying on from my initial post about the cube, here are a few later stages in its life-cycle: the gelatinous dodecahedron and icosahedron...

GELATINOUS DODECAHEDRON

FREQUENCY: Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 6
MOVE: 6" (9" if rolling)
HIT DICE: 5
% IN LAIR: Nil
TREASURE TYPE:  See below
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-10, 1-3 (see below)
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Paralysation, crushing, surprise on 1-3
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below
MAGIC RESISTANCE: See below
INTELLIGENCE: Semi-
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: L (10' dodecahedron)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
     Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

Should a gelatinous cube survive into its thirtieth year, it will seek some dark and remote place in order to tranform into a 12-sided dodecahedron. As part of this transformation it will gain some form of very basic sentience, which in turn will make it into a somewhat active hunter. Although it usually moves from place to place on one of it's twelve flat faces, if the circumstances allow (i.e. if it is at the top of a slope or flight of stairs) it can roll and gain some speed when making an attack. The dodecahedron can inflict 1-3 points of crushing damage for every 5 hit points it possesses when attacking in this way. Normal or rolling attacks will also require a saving throw versus paralyzation or the creature touched is anaethetized for 3-30 melee rounds. It will also inflict 1-10 points of damage per melee round when surrounding and digesting its victim.

As is the case with their cubic incarnation, dodecahdrons sweep up metallic and other items as they move around and so can contain treasure types J, K, L, M, Q, as well as potions, daggers and similar items.

Dodecahedrons can be hit by all forms of weapons, and attacks by fire have normal effects. They are unaffected by cold unless they fail their saving throw, in which case their movement rate is halved. Electricity, fear, holds, paralyzation, polymorph and sleep-based attacks have no effect upon them.

Description: these creatures are large 12-sided masses with somewhat rounded edges. Although usually hard to see, their movement may be discerned when the creature is rolling as light is reflected by one or more faces.

GELATINOUS ICOSAHEDRON

FREQUENCY: Very Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 4
MOVE: 8" (12" if rolling)
HIT DICE: 7
% IN LAIR: Nil
TREASURE TYPE:  See below
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-12, 1-6 (see below)
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Paralysation, crushing, surprise on 1-2
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below
MAGIC RESISTANCE: See below
INTELLIGENCE: Low
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: L (12' icosahedron)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
 

Once the gelatinous dodecahedron survives into its tenth year, its shape will transform into an 20-sided icosahedron. This process will also bestow some modicum of intelligence upon the creature, and it will now actively seek out victims - particularly if they posesses treasure. Although it usually moves from place to place on one of its score of flat faces, it can chose to roll when making attacks or other movements and does not require a slope, etc for such purposes. The icosahedron can inflict 1-6 points of crushing damage for every 8 hit points it possesses when attacking in this way. Normal or rolling attacks will also require a saving throw versus paralyzation or the creature touched is anaethetized for 4-40 melee rounds. It will also inflict 2-12 points of damage per melee round when surrounding and digesting its victim.

As is the case with their other gelatinous forms, icosahedrons sweep up metallic and other items as they move around and so can contain treasure types J, K, L, M, Q, as well as potions, daggers and similar items. As they are wont to retain certain forms of treasure, there is a 40% chance that an individual will contain types R and U. This makes them somewhat more visible, although the treasure tends to pool towards the lower half of their bodies.

Icosahedrons can be hit by all forms of weapons, and attacks by fire have normal effects. They are unaffected by cold unless they fail their saving throw, in which case their movement rate is halved. Electricity, fear, holds, paralyzation, polymorph and sleep-based attacks have no effect upon them.

Description: these creatures are large 20-sided masses with rounded edges. Although somewhat hard to see, their movement may be discerned when the creature is rolling as light is reflected by one or more faces. Icosahedrons are attracted to gold, jewels and other precious items and will seek to attack any creatures which possess them.

Dragons...! (Part Three)

Following on from my previous posts (here and here), this week's dragon is the...

CHITINOUS DRAGONLING

FREQUENCY: Very Rare 
NO. APPEARING: 1 
ARMOR CLASS: 1 
MOVE: 6"/12" 
HIT DICE: 4-6 
% IN LAIR: 50% 
TREASURE TYPE:  D, S, T 
NO. OF ATTACKS: 3 
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-4, 1-12, 1-12 
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Spit acidic glue, poison sting 
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil 
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard 
INTELLIGENCE: High 
ALIGNMENT: Lawful/Chaotic Neutral 
SIZE: L (8' long) 
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil 
        Attack/Defense Modes: Nil 
CHANCE OF:

Speaking: 50% 
Magic Use: 20% 
Sleeping: 20%

These Dragonlings are the juvenile form of the Greater or Lesser Chitinous Dragon. At birth they are a pearl-like egg 2' in diameter, which is concreted on some part of their parents' lair. Within a few hours, this egg grows into a pupa-like form from which the Dragonling emerges after one day. From that point onwards, it has the capabilities given above. Over the next 200 years, the Dragonling travels from place to place, during which time its alignment and temperment will slowly evolve down one particular path until it changes into its Greater or Lesser form. The route of this path will be steered by what the creature experiences and observes, and by how it is treated by other creatures. Those Dragonlings that can talk will be keen to converse with other creatures, and will seem particularly interested in treasure and magic. Their manner will seem somewhat abrupt and jump from subject to subject, and they speak with a curious wheezing tone.

Although they may appear ungainly, Dragonlings can move quickly and will engage in combat defensively or if provoked. It can opt to fight with either a pair of small, sharp claws and a bite, a poisonous sting in its two-pronged tail, or by spitting an acidic glue. Its tail attacks with +1 to hit, and any creature struck by it must save versus poison or be paralysed for 1-4 rounds. When spitting, its range is 3" and is aimed at a single creature. The victim will be trapped for 2-12 rounds unless the glue is burnt or frozen away, during which time a highly corrosive acid will eat into clothing, armour and flesh. If the dragon can speak and employ magic, they will know 1-3 spells up to 2nd level. Roll randomly to determine which spells they know.

Description: The Chitinous Dragonling resembles a large blubbery mass with a forked tail and three pairs of opaque wings. Its skin is tough and partially covered by layers of jagged chitinous scales. Dragonlings favour a wide variety of colours and markings which they can change at will, depending on their mood and environment.

Dragons...! (Part Two)

Following on from last week's post and details, this week's dragon is the...

CHITINOUS DRAGON (Lesser)

FREQUENCY: Very Rare 
NO. APPEARING: 1-2 
ARMOR CLASS: 0 
MOVE: 9"/18" 
HIT DICE: 7-9 
% IN LAIR: 50% 
TREASURE TYPE:  H, R, S, T 
NO. OF ATTACKS: 4 
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-4, 1-4, 2-12, 1-12 
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Breath weapon, poison sting 
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil 
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard 
INTELLIGENCE: High 
ALIGNMENT: Lawful Good 
SIZE: L (14' long) 
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
       Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
CHANCE OF:                Speaking: 70%
                Magic Use: 40%
                Sleeping: 20%

These dragons prefer to live in high places or high points in the landscape. Their lair is usually some remote place which is particularly hard to access. They are very interested in the world around them, with some travelling from high point to high point closely observing what they see en-route. Others prefer to hunker down at one particular high point and watch whatever passes by - in fact, some can easily be mistaken for mossy rocks or similar features if they have been observing for a prolonged period of time. They have a faultless memory, and can effortlessly recall minute details about anything that they have seen. Because of this, they are very useful sources of information about their locale but will ask many and varied questions in exchange. Any creature that tries to lie to the dragon will never be able to speak with it again, and the conversation will come to an abrupt halt.

Lesser Chitinous Dragons are usually loathe to engage in combat, but if need be the dragon can opt to fight with either a pair of small, sharp claws and a stabbing beak, a breath weapon, or with a poisonous sting. Its breath weapon is an acidic gas 5" long, 3" wide and 3" high that will blind any creature for 2-12 rounds. A barb in it's short flexible tail attacks with +2 to hit, and any creature struck by it must save versus poison at -2 or be paralysed for 1-8 rounds. If the dragon can speak and employ magic, they will know 1-6 spells up to 5th level. Roll randomly to determine which spells they know.

Description: The Lesser Chitinous Dragon resembles a large beetle or tortoise with a short hooked tail and long pointed head. It flies using a pair of opaque wings which fold backwards and lie flat against its carapace when not in use. Their chitin can be made up of a wide variety of colours, although those that prefer a more sedentary lifestyle chose colours that best blend with their environment. Those that can speak do so with a soft, melodious tone and will be very keen to converse and exchange information with any creature that engages them in conversation. If two are encountered, they will be a mating pair.

Dragons...! (Part One)

Much as I like dragons, I do sometimes wonder whether there might be other choices aside from the 'big scaly lizard with wings' default. With that in mind, I've rustled up a few interrelated designs that I'll add to this blog over the next few weeks, along with an accompanying scribble. As with my 'Edible Monsters' series, these have been written out in a 1E AD&D format, and for fun I've started off with the 'baddie' version.

Chitinous Dragons

These dragons differ slightly from their better-known bretheren by having a tough chitinous hide rather than scales and leathery skin. They exist in three forms, all of which are very rarely encountered: Dragonling, Lesser and Greater. The Lesser and Greater Chitinous Dragons are both forms of the Chitinous Dragonling. The Dragonling lives for around 200 years, during which time it explores and learns about the world and about magic. After this period, depending on what it has experienced and how it has been treated by other creatures, it chooses either the Lawful Good Lesser form, or the Chaotic Evil Greater form. Note that the terms 'Greater' and 'Lesser' only refer to the dragon's size and not its capabilities, and either lives on for 201-400 years.

After death, the carapace of any form of Chitinous Dragon is greatly prized as a source of +1 to +3 armour, when worked by a suitably skilled individual. Similarly, their wings can be included in the construction of +1 to +3 composite bows.

Unusually for dragon-kind, Chitinous Dragons do not make lairs in caves or similar underground dwellings; rather, they prefer somewhat inaccessible places above ground.

Note to Dungeon Masters: Chitinous Dragons do not pass through ages in the same way as other dragons. Aside from that, their other powers and capabilities are as stated in the section dealing with dragons in the Monster Manual.

CHITINOUS DRAGON (Greater)

FREQUENCY: Very Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1-2
ARMOR CLASS: 0
MOVE: 12"/36"
HIT DICE: 8-10
% IN LAIR: 50%
TREASURE TYPE:  H, R, S, T
NO. OF ATTACKS: 4
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-8, 1-8, 2-20, 2-16
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Breath weapon, poison sting
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: High
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Evil
SIZE: L (24' long)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
                Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
CHANCE OF:
                Speaking: 50%
                Magic Use: 30%
                Sleeping: 30%

Greater Chitinous Dragons prefer remote forests and woodland, preferably within reach of a lake or similar body of water. Their lairs are usually atop some large ancient tree, with their treasure kept in numerous (2-20), hard to reach nests in the canopy.

Its breath weapon is an acidic gas 6" long, 4" wide and 5" high that attacks organic matter (such as wood, leather, wool, linen, etc) and thus quickly destroys shields, belts, fittings, rope and other such items. A barb in it's very flexible tail attacks with +3 to hit, and any creature struck by it must save versus poison or be paralysed for 2-12 rounds. If the dragon can speak and employ magic, they will know 1-3 Druid spells of 3rd to 5th level.

When attacking, the dragon can opt to fight with a pair of hook-like claws and a bite, a breath weapon, or with a poisonous sting.

Description: The Greater Chitinous Dragon resembles a giant cranefly (albeit one with a long, whip-like tail), covered in a multitude of thorny barbs, and carried aloft via two pairs of opaque wings. Their chitin can be made up of a wide variety of colours, as some of their kind prefer subtle camouflage whilst others employ garish, pie-bald patterns of several hues. Those that can speak do so with a harsh, buzzing tone. If two are encountered, it will be a mating pair.

Orcs...!

I have to admit that I've always been more impressed with the depictions of Orcs in the Bakshi version of Lord of the Rings than with those in the more recent LotR films. I think this may be to do with the fact that they tallied more with my mental image of them from reading the books. That said, this was also partly tempered by the way they were depicted in miniature form by Citadel, Ral Partha and Grenadier Models. All of this blended together around the same time I started playing D&D in 1982, as it was also the first time I saw the Bakshi film (via rental video) and became aware of the various minis.

Since then in my mind's eye I've tended to see Orcs as more akin to a Gigantopithecus skull, barely covered with flesh. Something along these sorts of lines:

If anything, these probably need to be more gaunt and thinly-fleshed. And have tusks...

That said, recently I've found myself becoming more interested in the 'pig faced' versions as depicted in the 1E Monster Manual. I'm not sure why, particularly as when first seeing them way back when, I thought that they didn't seem... well... 'Orcish' enough. But after recently having a go at drawing Orcs in that particular vein, I can sort of see where David C. Sutherland III and Gary Gygax were heading with their ideas. Their Orcs are skewed more to being like boars, as least as far as looks are concerned from the neck up. The overall shape of their heads do suggest something like a fleshed boar skull.

With that in mind, I have been working on some scribbles that go with the boar theme. For example, here are a few 'pig-like' examples:

And here's one that is a tad more 'streamlined':

I've also had a go at a full-body depiction, taking my cues from the 1E Monster Manual:

This version goes with the studded leather and polearm theme more common to 1E Orcs. And by taking my cue from Sutherland's drawing it also seems to be a mixture of historical nods at, say, Vikings and possibly Babylonians.

I think I'll come back to doing a few more scribbles along these lines, and maybe also the Gigantopithecus versions. In the meantime, Fractured Miniatures do some rather nice pig-faced Orc minis that are worth having a look at. Their Orcs are a tad tubbier than mine and they have interesting boar-like faces.

Artwork for Gygax Magazine #2

A month or so ago, a chance note on the Old School Gamers Facebook group put me in touch with Jayson Elliot, editor-in-chief for Gygax Magazine. After a very interesting 90-minute chat with him on Skype, I volunteered to create a full-page illustration for an adventure that appears in issue #2. This is for The One Ring RPG, entitled 'The Hare and the Hill Giant', and is written by Shane Ivey. 

The plot for this interested me and a couple of ideas for a composition immediately sprang to my mind, primarily because trolls feature strongly in the plot. Here's a scribble of an initial idea:

However, I was cutting things a little fine. I had around 3 days to create the image and get it signed off, as the deadline was fast approaching. That's a rather quick turnaround time. Not only that, but the weather here in London decided to take a turn for the worse - at least, as far as creating artwork is concerned. Temperatures were around the 33 degrees C mark (that's just over 90 degrees F), which isn't at all good if you're working with gouache and ink in a room that has no air conditioning. I wanted to get back into working with pen and wash, although the conditions weren't ideal, but your brave author indomitably slaved away regardless...

Anyway, once I'd had a few tries at the overall composition, things started to fall into place. I'd also managed to work up two other sketches more fully with the goache/ink treatment. So here is the final full-page piece:

And here are the two spot illustrations:

Everything came out okay in the end, I'm happy to say. It was an interesting challenge, to say the least. I wanted to keep the main image fairly neutral. Rather than depict a combat scene - as it's not a given in the adventure - I chose instead to have a troll surveying his new-found residence as dusk closes in. I had a variety of options for my depictions of the creatures, and this came out in the smaller drawings.

Hopefully the weather will be better when I work on my next piece! Oh, and for the record, everything was done on Bristol Board using Pilot DR and Unipin pens, Windsor & Newton inks and gouache, and a Faber Castell water-soluable pencil.

Green Grabber rework...

Here are another couple of quick scribbles of a Green Grabber. I thought I'd redo the overall shape so that it's more like a bladderwort:

 I've also had a go at depicting the 'Sleepflower' stage of the plant:

I'm not sure that both designs still sit 100% right in my mind - the Sleepflower may be a tad too 'Little Shop of Horrors', perhaps. Anyway, it's always fun drawing Stirges!

Green Grabber

Inspired by the description of a Holmesian D&D monster over at the always interesting Zenopus Archives, I decided to do a quick scribble of how it might look...

Maybe mine looks a tad overactive in the tentacle department and perhaps needs to look less solidly anchored, but hopefully you get the general idea.

As you might have gathered from my previous posts about redesigning the Otyugh (i.e. here and here), odd-looking dungeon-dwelling beasties are something I enjoy scribbling. The Green Grabber reminds me of a (as yet unamed) creature I need to draw. This also spends it's time waiting for unwary victims to wander into it's clutches, but is an insect rather than plant-like thing...

On the Physiology of... the Otyugh - Part Six.

Moving around

As I've previously mused on whether the Otyugh is more like some sort of slug, a question arises as to how it moves around. Originally I imagined that it had a slug or snail-like 'foot' - a sort of large pad which skimmed along a film of mucus. However, I wasn't sure that this was veering away too slightly from the whole idea of it being an animal which is fairly tough all over.

As it's a creature that needs to burrow into its food in some way, one idea was to make its underside flat but ridged so that it has some grip. That dovetailed into my previous ideas about the Otyugh being a mixture of rubbery hide and harder, mineral-like features. All of this combined into this scribble:

This shows a cross-section of one area of the body.

This shows those ridges, but also the teeth-like 'nails' it relies on for grip and perhaps also extra burrowing power. If we zoom in a bit, we can see how this might look in greater detail:

One idea driving this is that the underside is like some sort of toothed conveyor belt. With that in mind, a question arises as to how it might look when moving - I guess it could either move solely by the underside rippling along, or instead perhaps the whole body arches and rolls along in a caterpillar-like way. Here's a scribble showing how the muscles controlling this under the hide could look:

The idea is that they're ropey tendons attached to the main mass of the spine plates.

My various posts on the Otyugh will hopefully combine soon into a more detailed picture. Watch this space!

All hail Escher Girls...!

On a day when some silly people couldn't decide whether they're still scared of women or not, I thought I'd draw attention to the excellent Escher Girls blog. 

Although it focuses more on artwork from comics, anime and digital RPGs, those providing artwork for paper 'n' dice RPGs should take note. As I pointed out in one of my previous blog posts, the depiction of women in RPGs is usually awful. Escher Girls does a great job of showing the same sort of silliness going on in other types fantasy artwork. For me, this works well on several levels:

- It shows that there seems to be little interest in actually depicting women in any sort of realistic manner, either thematically or physically.

- It shows how bad a lot of artwork is. Many artists either have no idea how to actually draw, and/or ignore anatomy in order to create some very weird poses. These are also sexualised, for some reason or other. Okay they can't draw men either, but they don't seem to try and make them fit into such poses. I suspect that what's actually going on is that artists are copying other artists, rather than learning how to to draw. This may explain why modern comics seem to be distorting things even more than older comics. Or, it may be that 'how to' guides by established artists also have  a poor attitude towards the subject.

- It's thought-provokingly funny. By deconstructing the various images, it shows how badly done most of them are and at the same time makes it very clear how far such imagery goes in it's crassness. This works especially well when the the characters are changed to being men. It's also interesting to see how changes can be made in order to make the images actually work.

Mixed in with all of this are a variety of posts which consider what's going on in the imagery and what it suggests about the various attitudes and assumptions involved. As with the Gaming As Women blog, it does a very good job at holding these things up for consideration. 

The world of RPG art is still pretty much making the same mistakes as many comics, anime, etc. It's obviously not because it's trying to treat the subject matter with any sort of balanced consideration. Or maybe it's just laziness. Either way, it should be easy enough to fix if enough time and consideration is given to the subject. It would also help on a technical level. Artists should be familiar with anatomy. They should have been to life drawing classes - or should plan on going to some. Don't simply copy what others have drawn. If instead you can only copy from photos, find some good ones. Even somewhere such as Flickr has enough stuff to pick from that doesn't rely on clichés.

On the Physiology of... the Otyugh - Part Five.

Inside and out...

Two areas will be considered in today's update. First of all, the mouth. The Otyugh is described as having a sucker-like mouth that's full of teeth, and one or two of my previous scribbles have suggested how this might look. The scribble below goes into a bit more detail:

If we run with the idea that Otyugh is a sort of dungeon hoover, this area would usually be busy chowing down on various nasty things. At the same time, this also suggests that the whole mouth and throat is like a nozzle and a pipe - only a lot more dangerous. It also occurred to me that the mouth and teeth might be able to extend a little in order for the monster to get more of a bite, and this is what I've suggested in the lower part of the scribble above. The overall look is a cross between a pig's snout and a shark or lamprey mouth. If we zoom in on the only solid part of the whole area, a tooth looks like this:

The idea here is that the teeth are scooped shard-like pieces arrayed inside the mouth. These would act both to cut and perhaps also to rotate backwards from the root to convey it's food into the mouth. Imagine hundreds of these teeth acting in unison and the Otyugh seems more like a garbage disposal unit - which is effectively what it is.

The second point for consideration is how the monster might appear under the surface. I don't imagine the Otyugh having a skeletal structure in any practical sense:

Instead there's a main spine-like cartilaginous mass running along the top of the body, which is flexible but tough and acts as an anchor point for both the internal organs and the outer muscle layers. You can see more of this in the cross-section detail below:

Seen from the front: (A) skin/hide (B) muscle layer (C) internal organs

The upper left of the scribble is a section of the 'spine' as seen from the side; the detail in the bottom left shows the underside of a spine section with the tendon, etc attachments to the internal organs. The greater mass of the Otyugh is still fleshy lumps of muscle and organs. The spine, teeth, eyes and tentacle edges are made of tougher, solid stuff but the overall design is still one which is both flexible and resilient.

Next up for consideration is how the muscle mass might work and be arranged around what I've shown in the above scribbles...

More monster scribbles...

While the Otyugh stuff is on hiatus (I need to do some more scribbles of it's internal structure), here's a pic of a Gnoll...

... and a Bulette:

I like the Bulette because, as with the Otyugh, it's a bit of an oddity. Mind you, I've not put much thought into getting the details right (i.e. the armoured bits). It's just interesting to play around with as a design. If anything, I need to stress the 'armoured armadillo' vibe of it some more.

As for the Gnoll, it's another D&D creature that I find interesting. They're a bit more uncouth and raggedy than your average Orc, Kobold or Goblin. The only problem area with design is how much the neck should extend from the shoulders. The hyena-like features would suggest a longish neck, but I'm not sure yet if it looks right. I think I need to do more studies of hyenas to get my Gnoll looking less like a dog.

On the Physiology of... the Otyugh - Part Four.

Eyes

As the Otyugh is a weird creature, with a pair of eyes on a stalk and an aversion to light, one idea that came to mind was whether those eyes are actually anything normal. By 'normal', I mean whether they would be like an animal eye, with a similar lens, retina, etc. My line of thinking was continuing along with the idea that bits of the Otyugh are 'solid' in some way. A few themes could follow this; namely, whether the eyes are compound and also if they might be formed from blobs or clusters.

As you can see from my previous scribbles, I've suggested that there are blobby bits at the end of the eye stalk. If we zoom in on just this area, one concept was that the eyes are within the stalk and are made up up of several smaller solid sections:

You can see the aforementioned blobs, with nerve strands leading away down the stalk. Zoom in a tad more, and things start to look like this:

The picture above shows how the blobs are clustered within the left and right sides of the stalk, and I've included a side view of one blob. When I say 'blob', the idea was really more along the lines of them being solid in some way, and sensitive to light - but perhaps too much, hence their photophobia. One visual that fed into this design was the way things look when you slice a gooseberry in half:

Note the veiny bits leading to the seeds

Why a gooseberry? I dunno. Perhaps it's the way transluscent and solid mixes together. As I've said before, this mixing is how I imagine the Otyugh's overall look.

Anyway, another approach might be that the solid parts of the eye rest on the surface of the stalk. One interesting creature that uses minerals as the basis for a kind of eye is the chiton. Perhaps the Otyugh could have something similar, at least in the sense of those blobs being more like encrusted, light-sensitive primitive eyes formed from some sort of solid matter:

The scribble above maybe has things looking a little too conventional, but with the fourth drawing I was also thinking about the ways those solid bits might work as a single cluster.

This last scribble mixes the above concepts together:

The idea with this is to have a rough faceted look, either like coal or roughly worked flint. I've drawn an individual blob just to give some impression of the idea I'm trying to get across.

Still, I've not settled on a final look - although I tend to gravitate towards the look and feel of the last scribble. I also like the idea of the being able to see the nerve strands within the eye stalk. Maybe perhaps if the tip of the stalk was a little more opaque and was pigmented with various disgusting hues, it would help with camouflage when the Otyugh is hidden away...

On the Physiology of... the Otyugh - Part Three.

Tentacles...

Here's a pencil scribble in which I try to out flesh out the overall shape of the Otyugh a bit more:

This is starting to move along the lines of how I envisage it might look, although the design is still evolving. 

As the Otyugh is described as having a pair of ridged tentacles, one is issue with this might be about how it can move along as it eats it's way through dungeon crap. When on the surface, this may not be a problem, but I was wondering whether they might sometimes actually be more of a hinderance than a help. One option might be that it drags its tentacles along with it as it moves, like this:

That might not always be practical. One thing that occured to me was the fact that the ends of the tentacles, being sharp, may be more like some sort of chopping/digging/cutting tool, as well as being weapons. The reason this popped into my head was from prior experience of... er... crap. Many moons ago (when I was 16, in fact) I got a part-time job helping to do maintenance work on a small-holding (a type of small farm). One of my main tasks was to herd goats from their covered pen each morning to a nearby field - I also had to herd the bloody things back again at the end of my shift. Another task was to clean out the pen. This wasn't a simple case of just chucking down some straw, oh no. My employers asked me to clear out all of the accumulated crap that had been there for years. This meant I had to chop down through a 2-foot deep layer to the concrete floor beneath. This was no easy task. Compacted years-old goat crap is very resilient, I'll have you know. I had to use various implements (fork, spade, hoe and shovel) just to make any sort of dent in the upper crust. Not all that much fun, as you can probably imagine. Don't try to imagine the smell as I broke through the surface either. This was all done at the handsome rate of £1.25 an hour for my troubles. I must've been bloody mad.

Anyway, the long and the short of it is that the Otyugh may possibly have to contend with similar trials when chowing down on dungeon crap, especially if it found a compacted layer in some dark corner somewhere. Perhaps it would need to chop its way through, thus leading to it evolving sharp edges to its tentacles - a handy adaption, as it also helps with defending itself. This might also mean that it would need to retract its tentacles when chopping and eating its way along:

Hmm - but maybe this makes it a little too seal-like...

With that in mind, I had a go at scribbling a few different ideas for how those sharper bits might look.

There's the spiny, curved profile theme:

Or variations on the 'chopping' theme:

I've yet to make up my mind which way the final design might feature these appendages.

Next up for consideration: the eyes...