ITT we discuss the creation and sharing of bestiaries (I.E. a compendium of fantastical creatures).
Imagine walking through the forest with good ol' Canis when all of a sudden he finds something in the dirt: an old leather journal, bound tight and covered in dirt. You save its contents for your return home.
Carefully removing the thread, dust escapes as the beasts within take their long forgotten breath. The leather shudders in your hand like arising bone as you turn the cover. The name ______ stained in thick, black ink across the page. For hours your fingers trek hundreds of pages of exotic fur bound by yellowed tape, detailed anatomical sketches of impossible life, and riveting stories of mythic beasts. When the dreadful end is turned and dawn calls, the same thick ink tells, "The Fairy Tale Awaits".
>TL;DR surely you fellow animal lovers have want of more. Join me in my creation of these bestiaries. You know it sounds cool as fuck.
>>48131750
Please don't, it's a good thread idea, but you don't bump after 5 minutes on /tg/.
I really like the way Bravely Second handles its bestiary.
Basically, the more times you fight a monster, the more that the five main characters write about it, in five different colored inks. They reveal not only strategies to fight the monsters, but the creature's history and biographical/biological notes, as well as little jokes and asides that help illuminate the main characters.
I like the idea so much, I think I'm going to suggest doing something similar with my group, where after fighting a new monster, we pass around a notebook and each write a quick line about it.
>>48131668
>Ogres
>We have decided against including what would be typical glandular secretion samples for this section, as most people, animals, spirits, and deities find the unique "perfume" of ogres revolting. So repugnant is an ogres body odor that some researchers have gone so far to suggest that ogres were the first species to develop a fear of bathing before fire.
>Ogres are large, cunning, and frightfully odorous humanoids with adult heights averaging at around 7 to 9 feet. Their primary evolutionary drive seems to be discovering new ways to enhance their natural musk - in ogre society, the smelliest ogre is the best ogre. Their immune systems are the stuffs of legend. No plague or infection, divine or otherwise, has ever been recorded as having any effect on ogre-kind beyond a mild stomach ache.
>Author's Advice: Avoid if at all possible. Highly unsanitary - wounds inflicted by ogres always become horribly infected.
I sculpt critters out of clay, play with them a little, and jot down stats that seem appropriate. Is that a weird way to make monsters?
I've been thinking of getting /tg/ in on it too, but unfortunately I don't have a camera and I wouldn't be able to start it off right.
>>48136475
>I sculpt critters out of clay, play with them a little, and jot down stats that seem appropriate. Is that a weird way to make monsters?
Rita pls
>>48136065
That's pretty awesome. Totally going to remember that for my own bestiary.
Not sure if it's 100% related to OP's topic, but something I always like to do is jotting down three or four unique or memorable versions of each standard monster. Stats tell you what a monster can do, and a description can tell you what they look like or what their nature is, but examples are a great way to have ready-made NPCs that a GM can just insert into their game when they're short on prep. I'm very much enamoured with any mechanic or content of an RPG that makes it easier for the GM to run adventures and tell interesting stories.
Recommended Bestiaries/Monster Manual
>FFXII monster profiles (in-game)
>Al-Qadim Monstrous Compendium
>Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary
>>48136691
I always found it kind of odd just how much fluff lore was put into FFXII, especially considering at the time I was convinced that most people who played the game would simply ignore all of it as strictly fluff, even though it definitely is really interesting.
what are the different interesting things you could put in a beastiary?
>what the creature eats
>where the creature migrated from
>from what species it descended from
>How it uses its unique biology for hunting/combat
>How WE can use its unique biology as parts/products
>Notable mating/raising rituals
>Differences based on diet
>How they react to certain common stimuli(loud noises, wounds, etc)
Because I'm thinking if we made a list of these, a regular beastiary would ping around 5 topics per creature, while a truly exhaustive one would hit all of them.
>>48138028
A truly exhaustive one would be a pretty dull read though.
Even 2e's monster manual can sometimes be a bit of a chore to get through, and it tries to stick to the most important information.
>>48141559
there's a reason why the regular one is the one that sells.
This game has the best bestiary.
>Every monster has it's origin story and fluff
>They all tie into each other
>You actually turn the pages of the book
I fucking love creating monsters and critters. Shame I just never have the chances to actually make them FOR something. Creating them for nothing really isnt exciting to me, even if common sense would say that I could use those creations later for something.
>>48142612
Just write them and publish them, it's what I do.
It's good writing exercise plus it cranks your gears, keeping your mind creative.
>>48142643
>publish them
Where? I am genuinely curious what you mean by this. Like post on /tg/ or something?
>>48142657
For example.
Writefag threads, blogs, collect them and publish them under a "fantasy bestiary", adapt them to DnD/Pathfinder/GURPS/Whatever and publish that as an ebook for additional monsters.
>Knight Limpets
>Semiaquatic snails whose substantially tough shells vary between 6 and 12 inches in circumference. Unlike regular Limpets which attach themselves to rocks and other nonliving surfaces, Knight Limpets are symbiotic creatures that attach themselves to living creatures, acting as a surprisingly sturdy form of armour in exchange for feeding off of nutrients and oils from the host's skin surface.
>Though it would be a maddening task to collect enough Knight Limpets to use as a form of armour in itself, it's not unheard of for inventive warriors to slather algae or similar substances over a damaged area of armour and affix a Knight Limpet to it as a form of improvised field-repair. Some even go so far as to treat parts of their armour to allow for permanent fixture of Knight Barnacles as a bizarre decoration
>>48142672
Interesting. What made you go for this? Or better question: How did you go from creature making to wanting to actually make books on it?
>>48142612
TIme ago I worked on a setting with /tg/.
I would be delighted if you would write some monsters for this setting.
https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Ameth
No need to read it if you don't like it, just something desert-egyptian will make me happy.
Living Clay
For centuries, scholars found the movement of these creatures indescribable, but recent experiments with sonic magic suggest these tiny beings are a form of golem made by stabilizing vibrational energy within non-newtonian fluids. Constantly growing and losing psudeopods, breaking into pieces which worm their way back together, the primary motivation of these creatures appears to be to seek out every available surface and object to feel and take note of before moving on to the next.
Bundle Paws
Long, branching cords of connected animal paws that are most similar in form to the common field rabbit, these beasts appear as though a small bush uprooted itself to find a spot out of the shade. Indeed, they are often taken to be nocturnal due to their overwhelming need to remove themselves from any shadow, panicking for hours after each sunset, but always fall asleep after it becomes apparent there is no light available, awakening only when new light is shed on them, whether by dawn or torch.
Lions
Strange creatures combining the head and face of a Leonal, much as the manticore has a human's head and face, atop the wingless body of a griffin, with large, tiger-like paws where its talons should be
