Larian Studios Forums General Chat Chat (Anything) Monsterlist/poll for a little game.

As far as monsters go I am a big fan of ancient greek myths.

Minotaur
Harpy
Medusa
Siren
Kraken

etc etc etc...actually ancient greek, egyptian, and norse mythology could be a treasure trove of baddies...see also Tolkien

These are all good lists of monsters, and I do know what most of them are, but what makes them so special to you? How could they be in the game as more than just another guy-with-an-axe?

how about pokemon & digimon? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

seriously i think cockroaches are monsters. little monsters.

minotaurs! yes!

i just love minotaurs, but i would keep them for maze 3 (if not higher)
and harpies sound cool to but how can we add the minotaurs and harpies in our game. like wich boss uses harpies or minotaurs? and a whole maze of harpies????

zombie pigmy's

rock people?
electric beings, made of pure energy

evil microbes

I think thats covered in a plague type card <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Guards of the evil wizard? They could be simple, powerfullish minions.


Ooh, I like those ideas. We made one like that. A ghost that is immune to most physical attacks so you need special weapons or smarts/magic to defeat it.

Have you any flying foes, or some that can teleport on short distances, like in within a room.
To me, the monsters that were the most challenging (annoying but so satisfing to kill <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" />) were always those that regenerate themselves. Like those trolls in Icewind Dale that you can't kill except with a fire/acid enchanted weapon or when they're quite dead they get inert and wake up full health again after a little while...

we have some creatures that can only be killed by special weapons.
like a holy mace dealing holy damage IIRC

Not yet. I can't think how to incorporate that into what we already have. There's no concept of position or range in the game. You're in an encounter or you're not. Come to think of it, we do have flying foes – bats – but that doesn't mean anything as far as the game is concerned, except maybe +1 Defense.


That's a good idea! We can have a monster that heals 1 Damage each turn. Kill it quickly! Any other ideas we can build off that?

Imps: Little devil-like creatures, often red but can be other colours (green, sickly yellow). Known to have a tail with a triangular point at the end, and sometimes has a little pitchfork. Their size vary from a little less than a foot tall, to up to three feet in hight (maybe four but...).

Demons: They are sometimes seen as big versions of imps, but are often anything that looks like it is spawned from hell. That is to say, a demented distorted creature that may or may not follow any laws of how an earthly being should look, and commonly has many uneven (or out of place) razor-sharp teeth.

Ghosts: Humanoid entities that are the walking souls of the dead, on earth. Transparent, often unaware of the fact that they are dead, they may or may not be the type that likes to screw around with people to scare them. They may or may not be able to affect solid objects around them.

Spirits: More often than not, they aren't humanoid. Transparent, they are perhaps in the form of whisps or fogs, and may try to posess objects or even people. It is spirits of demons who are prone to humanoid posession. They may also temporarily take on creepy demon-human-like shapes. They may or may not be able to affect solid objects around them.

Humes: A short form for 'humans'. Be they common men, wizards, amazons, knights, sorceresses, bandits, archers, etc., thats the humes.

Humanoides: These are the creatures that have the basic shape of humes: technically elves, orcs, imps, some demons, halflings, some faries, etc. are all humanoids. You may even have bird-men, satyrs, goat-men, wolf-men, giants, any other animal-hume mix, some gargoyls, etc. that fall into this category. As far as I can tell, humanoides need to be organic (not walking statues, for example).

Farmer John: It would drive a man insane to even try to think of explaining this creature, so I shall not. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> All I can say is that, if you step on his land, you will never return... without having him give you a nice few jabs with his hay-fork!

Elemental: A creature that is spawned completely from the very energy of the elemnents. They are made from lightning, fire, water, ice, earth, plant, air, etc. They are part of nature, and are offspring of the elements caused by a non-understood reaction, or by some unexplained rage. The elementals can have a small or large control over the elements themselves, using them at will.

Golem: A summoned creature, made at the sacrifice of a material. They are sometimes viewed as lesser formes of elementals, but they are actually nothing like them other than that some are made of the elements. They are more then less often created by dark summoners or necromances or sorcerers. They can be made from the earth beneath the summoner's feet, from the metal of his weapon or armor, from his own blood (a very binding ritual, that has them share their pain and gain), or a mix from these things and a piece of the elements. Golems are almost always created by a summoning, and are slaves to the ones that created them.

Unknown things: I don't know, they're unknown. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" /> Perhaps that things that moves at the corner of your eye, or the boogeyman. Or, you can call it 'uknown entity' or something of the sort and have some indistinct shadow with eyes where ever you want.

Creature of your custom design: Well, thats up to you. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Killerzzz

P.S.: Killerzzz: always taking it a step too far. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

P.S.S: Yup, this is all from me, this info, collected and redirected from years of videogames, horror movies, fantasies, etc. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

To help in the organization of this process i think it would help to come up with categories for the creature types first then fill in...

So for example, Elementals (I would suggest the classical) Fire, Earth, Air, Water

And then of course you have to have the ALI sectors, Life and Death, Order and Chaos.

Beyond that I would suggest cross referencing those sections with different categories to ensure balance.

i.e you need Offensive and Defensive (creatures), Offensive and Defensive (Spells), Single target vs. Multi Target (for Buffs/Debuffs)

Beyond that I think you could add Artifacts, Hero Equipment(maybe one playable per round, stacking)

From this we can fill in so for example fire will have more offensive capabilities but less defense etc etc etc. Oh also I would avoid making "super" items or creatures, make everything fair and level (as much as it can be when you have to buy cards) For an RPG game it should be about skill of the player not who can buy the most cards and make their deck uber 733t R0XX0RZ

I like the evil twin creature that morfs into who ever is attacking in with all the special skills included.

Hehehe... I want to use that somehow.


Ooh! That just gave me a great idea for one of the later quests. Instead of there being one boss monster, there's four. There are four special treasures to find, each providing a great benefit against one elemental.


That would make a good boss-pair: master and golem. You have to face both together, the brains and the brawn.

Thank you very much for all of those ideas. I also like the first four because they can be used together.

Two more ideas before I forget them:

Shadow Stalker
If Shadow Stalker outsmarts a hero, it moves the hero to a separate combat area. Other minions and heros cannot tackle or use abilities on the Shadow Stalkre or hero. The hero can return to the main combat by killing the Shadow Stalker or fleeing.

Doppleganger – Thanks to Morbo
Selects a hero and morphs into them, using the same Attack, Defense and Smarts, including levels and equipment, but not other bonuses. Doppleganger tackles the hero using the higher skill: Attack or Smarts. If the hero dies or flees, the Doppleganger selects another hero and morphs into them. Other heros tackling the Doppleganger must roll. On a 3 or less, they tackle the hero instead.


Nero, you think like I do. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> You're right planning is important to give a balanced game. I've always had trouble previously. The balance is so important that I leave out fun and variety. I've tried to maintain balance between the heros and have even numbers of opponents using combat and smarts. One other point, this game isn't going to be like Magic: The Marketing. There's only one player, or maybe two players co-operative or competative (race to the goal). It's you versus the deck of cards. Think of Diablo: premade components making a random dungeon, only you can't run back to mummy for healing and weapons every five minutes.

We have two combat types: Attack (down and dirty combat) and Smarts (magic and trickery). There are a number of monster classes, the only significant one being Undead. Clerics, Paladins and some weapons gain bonuses against them. After the above ideas, Elemental and Demon could easily become significant monster classes.

We are ready for a test run and need some testers to see how the game plays, particularly in difficulty, challenge and enjoyment. What you need to do is send me your e-mail address, print out the attachment I send, cut it up into cards, play the game, and give your feedback.

Many of the great ideas above have not been used in this deck of cards. They are being reserved for later, more difficult decks.

I look forward to hearing from you!

you can send me a version HandEFood.
i'll be glad to test it.

ditto, ill take a peek

We need a name for this game. Well, two names really, one for the entire series, and a sub-name for the first maze: a crypt haunted by a mummy's curse.

What catchy names are out there?