We've been reading the original DMG - the ultimate DM book! - but from a B/X and OSR point-of-view.
Check the other parts of this series here.
Today we discuss random monsters!
APPENDIX C: RANDOM MONSTER ENCOUNTERS
This includes extensive tables for random monsters. These are bigger, more detailed, and overall a bit better than the weird B/X / OD&D tables. Whales are not encountered in any kind of "water", but only in "deep water", etc.
"the only monsters which are included are those in MONSTER MANUAL. Two notable exceptions to this are those the mezzodaemon and nycadaemon which are found in the AD&D module D3, VAULT OF THE DROW (TSR Games, Inc.). If you do not have this module, simply ignore results calling for these monsters and roll again."
A weird choice, but okay; the author found these two creatures important enough to be part of the core.
This section includes encounters in dungeons, outdoors, water, underwater, airborne, astral, ethereal, and also psionic encounters, whatever these are.
I'll admit this looks like it is too much for me. Underwater adventures are maybe 100 times less common than forests, at least in my campaigns.
First, there are random dungeon encounters. I do not think this is a great idea but the tables are detailed enough that they may help you create your own dungeon, with a proper theme and hopefully some coherence.
There is a big focus on balance here; in theory, players can only find the strongest dangers if they travel deep enough (alike wilderness encounters, where they can suddenly face a couple of dragons). This has indeed some "mythic underworld" vibe, with little regard for naturalism/realism/etc: the deeper you go, the bigger and more numerable the monsters become. You can find a dozen bandits on level 1, but there is 120 of them if you find them on level 10.
You can also find adventurer NPCs, each extremely detailed, including random magic items. It is not clear how - and why - are these tables different from the ones in the appendix P.
The book recommends you prepare several parties/NPCs in advance. Looks like a lot of work, but fortunately we might have some tools like this one to make it automatic.
Underwater encounters are simple enough, but detailed - they are "are divided into those which occur in fresh water and those in salt water (seas and oceans). Each division is further broken down by depth - shallow and deep water encounters". Not much to comment here, and not much use for me as noticed above.
ASTRAL & ETHEREAL ENCOUNTERS are next. These are completely baffling to me. The explanation might be elsewhere; I might have read and forgot about them, or skipped it (probably they are the result of some spell?). The glossary indicates there is an explanation in the PHB, so its my fault for not reading it first.
After some research, it seems these pertain to a certain spell, so maybe they should be include in that context. Like underwater encounters, I feel these won't be used often.
In any case, these are evocative and very interesting. It makes astral/ethereal travel feel dangerous and exciting.
PSIONIC ENCOUNTERS may happen if PCs are using psionic powers - these apparently can attract demons and other entities, which is sinister. These seem to manifest out of thin air (since the yellow mold doesn't move IIRC), so I'm not sure why the book suggests "Roll until an appropriate encounter occurs, ignoring inappropriate results" for this particular table only.
OUTDOOR RANDOM MONSTER ENCOUNTERS is the meat of the chapter. It has tables and subtables for Inhabited areas, Uninhabited areas, Castles, multiple types of terrain in various climates (artic, subartic, temperate, etc.), plus some setting conditions like "faerie", "Pleistocene" and "Prehistoric".
Well, Pleistocene is part of "Prehistoric", but here it means "Age of Dinosaurs", as indicated by the table. The book adds: "Feel free to devise your own encounter matrix for Jurassic, Triassic, or other period with non-aberrant creatures.".
Why are there no mountains, hills river or seas in the age of dinosaurs? No idea. Probably it is the other way around: in D&D-land, you'll only find dinosaurs in these places.
Pleistocene conditions are somewhat to Sub-Arctic Conditions, without fantasy creatures such as trolls, etc.
I can IMAGINE the Pleistocene/prehistoric tables could be combined for a pulp/S&S campaign, but then you'd also need a river/sea table without nixies, hobgoblins and such. as written, maybe they are meant to apply to certain "lost world" parts of your settings - despite dinosaurs and mammoths being found in the regular tables too.
Putting everything together looks like a bit of a headache, but hopefully this too can be automated (I am sure there is an online roller somewhere, please let me know in the comments!). This one is based on 2e.
AIRBORNE RANDOM MONSTER ENCOUNTERS is short and sweet: "simply use the appropriate
OUTDOOR RANDOM MONSTER ENCOUNTERS table [...] but an encounter occurs only if the creature indicated is able to fly or is actually flying."
CITY/TOWN ENCOUNTERS are meant for unexplored cities, basically. They seem to happen incredibly often ("every three turns"), probably because you meet people all the time in a city, but many will simply ignore the party.
Checking that often must be a bit of a hassle in practice; maybe we could just check a few times a day for "memorable" encounters that are likely to approach the party.
Also worth noticing that ordinary people seem to be a small percentage of encounters. I'd assume there are more, but unlikely to make memorable encounters. As written, these tables make cities extremely dangerous, full of demons, undead, and bandits, maybe even more than the cities of S&S like Lankhmar.
BTW, this is where you can find the infamous "harlot table" that describes encounters with "brazen strumpets or haughty courtesans".
We also get ANOTHER table to generate magic items for NPCs, for reasons I cannot fathom.
APPENDIX D: RANDOM GENERATION OF CREATURES FROM THE LOWER PLANES
This is, basically, a generator of random demons, devils, etc.
I LOVE this chapter. This is a precursor to Teratogenicon and all similar books.
Basically, it makes each creature weird and unique, from head to toe, including stats. Here is one example created by this generator:
Demon #1---------------------------------------------Frequency: UncommonNo. Appearing: 3Armor Class: 0Move: 15"Hit Dice: 9No. of Attacks: 3Damage: 3-9 (Mouth), 2-12 (Each Arm),Special Attacks: Summon/Gate, Spell-like Abilities,Special Defenses: Acid Immunity, Weapon Immunity, Cold Immunity,Other Abilities: NoneMagic Resistance: 45%Intelligence: HighSize: LPsionic Ability: NilStrength and To Hit/Damage Bonuses: 18 (00) (+3/+6)---------------------------------------------Appearance:Head: Human-like / KnobsOverall Visage: Wrinkled - SeamedEars: NoneEye Color: MetallicEyes: Huge, Flat; Two-EyedNose (If Necessary): Slits OnlyMouth: Tusked; TinyBipedel Torso: Ape-likeGeneral Characteristics: Short and BroadTail: NoneBody Odor: UrineSkin: Leathery/LeprousSkin Color: ReddishBack: NormalArms: 2Hands: TalonedLegs and Feet (As Applicable): Suctioned
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| Pictured by Grok using data above. |
This technique is great to keep things fresh and keep players guessing, although all fiends share some traits (e.g., magic resistance).
Teratogenicon extends this reasoning to other creature types: undead, aberrations, monstrosities, etc.
APPENDIX E: ALPHABETICAL MONSTER LISTING
A list of monsters and their stats. Probably based on the Monster Manual. No stats for the mezzodaemon, but more than 20 lines for hydras with varying number of heads.
Overall, these appendixes are good, despite some redundancies, weird choices, and mixing things of dissimilar importance without clear distinction, which seems to be a common trend in the DMG.
NOTE: there is a California Wildfire Relief Bundle on DTRPG. It has lots of Savage Worlds (including Savage Worlds Adventure Edition) and a couple of OSR games. "By This Axe I Hack!" and "There and Hack Again" are the most interesting to me.
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