So far in this “fun” series, I’ve covered food, weather, foliage, and city locations. I think it’s time to talk about the creatures that live in this world. that’s right. The world’s fauna is probably more interesting than many of the topics mentioned above. I think that’s because we can mythologize everything and combine different animals into their own ecologies. Even if we don’t like using existing creatures to play Dr. Moreau, it’s easy to distort existing creatures. Heck, if we really wanted to, we could easily create something unique. Of course, you can also choose to delve deeper into the science and base the characteristics of an interesting creature on an exotic and interesting climate.
Hybrids
There are many such examples. You really don’t need to look any further than most mythology to find examples of how different creatures (even humans) merged with other creatures. Honestly, the merging of any two creatures is reasonable if one has enough imagination in this regard. This may require some leaps of logic (or powerful applications of magic) to justify certain combinations, so while creativity in this area is encouraged, don’t make players too suspicious.
Distort Nature
Vampire rabbits? Teleporting dogs? High-speed flying mosquitoes that swoop through their victims? Extraordinarily large insects? A snake with elk antlers? A perfectly balanced one-legged kangaroo?
Yes. All of this triggers a sense of weirdness that players love to experience. Think of the strange things taxidermists made for circus sideshows in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Yes. Use it to inspire and then make those wacky things happen in your world.
Taking something normal and adding (or changing) an aspect can make the creature special and memorable. You don’t need to spend a lot of time impressing (or intimidating) players. This is especially true if your players have memorized every page of the Monster Manual.
Unique Creativity
Of course, it’s amazing to come up with something completely new. Look at classic D&D creatures like carrion crawlers (my first PC death was to a carrion crawler), rust monsters, black puddings, displacers, and even the iconic beholder. These creatures are not plucked from mythology. They are created from the minds of role-playing game creators. From what I understand (this may be a completely untrue story, but it’s a good one), Gary Gygax went to a toy store to look for some “monster miniatures” to use on his desk. He discovered these little plastic and rubber “dinosaurs” and came up with the first uses for the Rust Monster and the Displacer Beast from these inspirations.
Look around the world and brainstorm on your own. There are quite a few artist meetup sites (I highly recommend Deviant Art) where you can find your own inspiration.
Creatures from Interesting Climates
See the real world of extreme climates: hot, cold, dry, wet, undersea pressure, mountaintops, and more. You’ll find some amazing adaptations that allow organisms to not only survive, but thrive in these environments. If you want to study the mutations that allow these organisms to dominate in oppressive environments, then you can apply those changes to other organisms. Players will automatically accept anything you throw at them.
Statistics and Properties
For a long time I’ve enjoyed creating handcrafted artisan stats for my monsters. Then I realized players didn’t really see or understand what this work was all about. This means that most of the energy is wasted. Draw from what already exists. If you want a creature to have regeneration like a troll, find that section of the Monster Manual and copy/paste it into your own document.
Heavy leather is also my favorite. I’ll be taking attributes from existing creatures without changing the game mechanics. Nothing at all. Nothing came of it. postal code. I will add a new skin or description to the number and provide that description to the players. For veteran players, this might excite them, scare them, inspire them to interact, or a combination of all three. This is because the monster is “new and interesting,” when in reality it’s just a demon disguised as a giant, flightless bird that lets out a powerful scream and has a cloud of feathers floating around it.