How I Write Up Monsters Now

We need more guidance on reaction rolls!

When I run encounters at the table, I mainly use the procedures found in OD&D with one twist. I treat random encounters where the player characters are surprised as attacks if the thing encountered is at all potentially hostile. But for all other random encounters, I roll a reaction roll to see how they are disposed. Of all the versions of reaction rolls through various editions, my view is that OD&D had BY FAR the best version, because it was so simple and flexible. For a reaction roll, the GM rolls 2d6.

2-5 Negative Reaction

6-8 Neutral Reaction

9-12 Positive Reaction

The text also suggests that different things may affect the reaction roll depending on what kind of a monster it is and what features the party has. So, we have 3 different valences of reaction, with some kind of modifiers. This a lot unspecified, including what each of these valences of reaction might entail, and what things might modify the roll.

The one twist on this I use, which is an old OSR regular, is to treat the number above an encounter as the sign of the passage of a wandering monster. That is, if the encounter is say a 1 in 6 chance every other exploration turn, then a sign will result on a 2. If I get this result, I roll an encounter to see what has left sign of its passage and describe it to the players. On the subsequent check, if an encounter or a sign result is rolled, I don’t roll on the table again—instead there is an encounter with the creature that left the sign. This little procedure allows some environmental story telling, allowing them to reason about what they might bump into, and telling the PCs to be wary about bumping into the thing that has recently moved through the area. It’s a little fiddly, but I like it.

When I write up monster descriptions, these procedures dictate what I need to know. I now always include what sign the wandering monster has left. I also include information about what modifies a reaction roll with it, and what a low, middling, or high reaction roll indicates. I have substituted low, middling, and high for negative, neutral, and positive because the latter are a little too specific, since for some monsters a neutral reaction might be pretty hostile. Finally, I also like to include something about what a surprise might look like? Is it an organized ambush? Or would it take some other form? This information provides me with everything I need to know to run my encounter procedures.

Other people like to include a table that tells you what the wandering monster is doing when you encounter it. I find that this is too specific, since items on the table of actions may often make no sense in the context in which they occur. I prefer instead to improvise the activity of the wandering monster from the monster description, the location key, and the reaction roll.

I thought I would show you how such a writeup looks. This example is from The Oneironaut issue 2, which is in layout right now. The Oneironaut is the Patreon exclusive mini-zine I’ve been releasing lately. This entry is from an add-on area that can be accessed through the Catacombs of the Fleischguild from Through Ultan’s Door 2. The monster is a flame gremlin and the jade and gold tiles referred to in the description are magical barriers that extinguish light sources, keeping the flame gremlins—and their terrifying father-mother—trapped in one part of the dungeon.

By the way, if you want both issues of the Oneironaut, I still have copies of issue 1! Just subscribe to the Patreon here at the level of High Priest of MĀNA YOOD-SUSHĀĪ and you will receive issue 1 immediately and issue 2 as soon as it is printed.

Flame Gremlins

Surprise: Childlike laughter as flame gremlins leap from light sources to attack.

Mod: Naive, add highest party charisma modifier in parlay.

High (9+): Curious, sad, imploring .

Middling (6-8): Mischievous, reckless, wheedling.

Low (5-): Explosive, prone to tantrum, demanding.

The flame of each lit light source the party carries (torches, lanterns, candles) animate, assuming the form of a single squat gremlin composed of flames. They amble off their point of origin, extinguishing the light source, but cast illumination themselves. (If the party has no flamed light sources, 1d4 flame gremlins are encountered have come from some light source elsewhere.) They speak in the voice of crackling fire and are childlike by disposition. They want help removing a single gold tile from area 8 or just one jade tile from area 9 to allow them to return home (if outside Region C) to their father-mother, or allow them to explore beyond the bounds of their prison (if inside Region C).

Flame Gremlins AC 9 [10], HD 2+1 (10 hp), Att 1 x Engulf, THAC0 18 [+1], MV 90’, SV D10 W11 P12 B13 S14 (2), ML 6, AL Chaotic, XP 45

• Immunity and Vulnerability: Immune to non-magical weapons. Harmed by water as though undead struck by holy water, and can be extinguished by smothering with a blanket (50% chance smotherer is engulfed instead).

• Engulf: Leaps at foe. On a failed save vs. wands, the victim takes 1d6+1 damage and is on fire, taking 1d6+1 damage each subsequent round until a full round is spent smothering flames. Once one foe is on fire, the flame gremlin will leap to another in a subsequent round.

Improvising Actions

Let’s look at how we can use this information to improvise the actions the flame gremlins are taking when encountered.

Suppose the party is using a light spell and has no lit light sources. Suppose they encounter 3 flame gremlins as they approach a doorway to a room. Suppose no one is surprised and the reaction roll is high. Curious is one of the descriptors for a high reaction roll, so perhaps the curious flame gremlins are poking three little flame heads just around the corner of the door to watch the party and whisper to one another about what they see.

Or, suppose the party surprises 3 flame gremlins as the party enters a luxurious bedroom. Suppose the reaction roll is middling—a result of mischievous and reckless. Perhaps the child-like flame gremlins are too caught up in a wild game of catch me if you can to notice the party, recklessly careening with showers of sparks into furniture that smolders, threatening to burst into flames at any moment.

So that’s how I do all my wandering monster write-ups now! I even use this format when I’m jotting down hastily scrawled notes for running my home games, usually reducing the description to just a few sentences that give the vibe and some basic desire of the creature. But I always include all the information about reaction rolls and surprise. That way I have everything I need at my fingertips to improvise and run flexibly at the table.

I find this method even works well for wild animals, e.g. a territorial animal might be outright hostile (low), aggressively defending its turf if encroached upon (middling), or uninterested (high). I can then improvise the animal’s specific behavior from the combination of context, animal type, and reaction roll. It’s all very flexible.

If it’s different from how you do it, give it a try and tell me how it goes!