Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 1

Creating game materials? Monsters, spells, classes, adventures? This is the place!
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SmootRK
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Re: BFRPG Field Guide (monsters)

Post by SmootRK »

I was not entirely clear above, the Grouping of the beings will be called Infernal. The individuals will still have their traditional names (and would likely still be sub-categorized in their descriptive text). And of course, the name of that grouping is subject to discussion... call it Nether-beings, Underworld, etc. Infernal just sounded best of what I could think of at that moment. I am willing to entertain other suggestions.

As far as things like Angels, Devas, etc., just thinking out loud. We don't have them represented in any monster entry, so I was just thinking pro-actively if anyone submitted or converted such a creature.

And for Nazgoreans, I am with you on all your points about them (and the realm). Do you have other specimens to share?
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Solomoriah
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Re: BFRPG Field Guide (monsters)

Post by Solomoriah »

No. The Nazgoreans listed in the Field Guide are the ones I needed for The Great Desert (specifically, The Lost Pyramid adventure within that multimodule). In fact, the current draft doesn't contain the hydramander, though I expect to get it in there soon.

Of course, there are more of them... I just haven't imagined them yet.

I keep swinging back and forth regarding whether Prince Frogs are from Nazgor or not. They're too colorful, but otherwise they're very similar to the Nazgorean beasts. I thought up the Prince Frogs while looking at a metal sculpture in my wife's garden...
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Joe the Rat
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Re: BFRPG Field Guide (monsters)

Post by Joe the Rat »

Solomoriah wrote: I'm not in favor of the higher powers being represented. In Swords and Sorcery literature, angels rarely appear but demons are in every second story. I'd like to emulate that. In fact, having no firm rules for the higher powers would suit me quite well.
In a lot of Sword and Sorcery, the Powers of Good seem indirect, indifferent, or not appearing in this universe.

We have clerics.
Assuming the clerics are heroes on the side of right, and they're not just channeling outer beings that don't go in for that whole physical corruption angle, TPoG do care to some degree - possibly moreso than lit. standard. Having messengers, guardians, or divine mooks that manifest to assist is a plausible (if rare) event. It would be nice to have something to represent them. As we are not beholden to the Great Wheel, we don't have to populate 5-6 different versions of "where the good people go." We only would want beings directly connected to gods/powers.

The problem becomes one of flavor. Demons and Devils are pretty diverse, which help them (along with their generally unsavory traits) shoehorn nicely into any setting as "the bad guys." Your flavor of Deva (keeping with the D theme for now) will depend greatly on the flavor of your setting. Angels. Valkyries and Einherjar. Foo Dogs. Avatars. Spirits of land and water. Crotchety old guys with monstrous eyebrows and a penchant for smoke rings. If we do this, we'd need something fairly generic (you might even say a Template) to assign some basic traits - just enough to give you a frame or fall-back. But it has to work for a variety of manifestations. None of that Blue Angels nonsense.

Anything above that (particularly where titles start with "G") is silly. I'm messing with tackling clerics and religion, and I'm not going there. I would be willing to make a home for Deva-types in the religion section if they don't belong in the Field Guide.
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SmootRK
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Re: BFRPG Field Guide (monsters)

Post by SmootRK »

There are no "heavenly" creatures in the BFRPG set yet, so it is moot. That said, having some of the lowest level sort stat'd up somewhere might be useful. Minor creatures of goodness can be made into plot devices, creatures to befriend and use as allies when a big fight against forces of darkness looms, etc. It is no stranger than good dragons or giant types in my mind.

But I agree that the higher powered types ought to be vague and undefined, so that each GM has the power to make it suit his or her game. Excessive defining of things is the nature of the later editions of these sorts of games.
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Solomoriah
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Re: BFRPG Field Guide (monsters)

Post by Solomoriah »

SmootRK wrote:But I agree that the higher powered types ought to be vague and undefined, so that each GM has the power to make it suit his or her game. Excessive defining of things is the nature of the later editions of these sorts of games.
Indeed, this is my feeling exactly.

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Steveman
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Re: BFRPG Field Guide (monsters)

Post by Steveman »

I have two very simple and easily customized Angels (Angel and Archangel) I've introduced into my games at higher levels. And in both cases the players sought them out, not the other way around.

I can clean up what I have and post them to see if they'd be to your liking.
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Himamura Jin (Night Wizard; Level 6 Great One/Level 1 Caster)
Benjamin d'Aide (BFRPG; level 5 cleric of the virtue of Sacrifice) - recurring hireling turned pseudo-DMPC
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SmootRK
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Re: BFRPG Field Guide (monsters)

Post by SmootRK »

Another sort of topic, I am really liking the Nazgor angle Solo has put on some creatures he created. The creatures are not so fantastically weird to be unusable except in certain specific preplanned scenarios. However, they do have a flavor that is not represented in other games... making them an exclusively BFRPG 'class' of monster (a good thing).

I have said it in some other threads that BFRPG can only be enhanced in coming up with its own 'flavor' instead of always being considered as 'just a knock-off' based upon other games and including only things likewise drawn from other games.

So, I was thinking that perhaps we could spin this flavor into some of the other entries that appear in the Field Guide. A few other monsters are already nearly perfectly suited for this sort of treatment. For instance, Aboleth seems like it is a perfect fit (likewise for Skum). Grey Render seems to have the look, and perhaps we could redefine the Thulids with the Nazgor treatment. I am also hoping that we might have another Nazgorian creature or two from Solomoriah who is doing some adventure writing with Nazgorian creatures.
Good idea to explore? Your thoughts...

Oh, to report some progress, I have been cleaning up entries, fixing some language, and even re-writing some of the descriptive text... but not so much that I think that I should post up a new document yet. Perhaps in a few days I will share the changes (all so very minor in most situations).
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dymondy2k
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Re: BFRPG Field Guide (monsters)

Post by dymondy2k »

Am I missing something? Where are these Nazgor of which you speak What supplement are they in?
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SmootRK
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Re: BFRPG Field Guide (monsters)

Post by SmootRK »

dymondy2k wrote:Am I missing something? Where are these Nazgor of which you speak What supplement are they in?
They exist already within the Field Guide but have not been grouped together and well identified as being from a common realm. Currently the list is: Eelbat, Frogman, Hydramander, Spiderwolf. My last post proposes to make some other existing creatures have similar origins.
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dymondy2k
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Re: BFRPG Field Guide (monsters)

Post by dymondy2k »

Thanx Smoot.. this Nazgor seems like a very lovecraftian dimension! I like it!
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