Jun 3, 2020
The Adventuring Party - Episode 594
This week's hosts: Eoin, Savage and Shane. Special Guest Colin
This week, the party discuss Monsters: Which gribblies are they in a stable relationship with, which are to be courted for a one-shot, and which are to be cast out of the encounter tables.
Show notes:
01:00: Savage explains the rules of this well-known game with a dangerous alternate title.
02:00: Eoin is wedded to the Servitor, from Deadlands.
04:00: Special Guest Colin chooses The Boss Fight as his partner-for-life.
04:49: For those who don’t know, the Tar(r?)asque is the toughest monster in D&D, and before 5th Edition you could only kill it if you brought it to -30hp and then made a Wish to keep it dead. So, it was something you could indeed base an entire campaign around.
06:17: Shane chooses the Oni/Ogre Mage.
06:30: Well AK-tually the Oni is a very broad concept with a lot of intepretations in Japanese Myth, but what I meant was that I think ‘Ogre Mage’ is more indentifiably D&D as a name, while ‘oni’ is a deliberate invoking of a specific real-world culture and might imply too much about this huge muscly blue wizard.
07:10: Now now, there are plenty of Ogre Mage ladies around.
09:40: Savage chooses his zombie harem. Sorry ghosts and Spectres, he’s all about that oozing once-flesh.
10:20: He’s really not picky folks.
11:50: Eoin chooses the Secretly Powerful Surprise Villain as his bit on the side.
12:55: Necromancy is always hot.
13:06: Colin has his eyes on mounting some fine stallions.
14:38: Well I’m already sold on Ghenghis Kobold.
16:15: Shane plans a dalliance with The Shadow.
16:16: Ok actually I meant this.
17:32: ‘Never always wrong’ kinda sums up my feelings on the OSR overall. But also we’ve had two different episodes on it.
19:08: The Alternate Kill Condition monster is only fun if the players can see their impending doom and do something about it. Do not use them en-masse, but rather as an interesting addition to a more conventional fight. Or, indeed, make sure the players have their cleric to hand, and said cleric hasn’t blown their Channel Divinity on +2 to stealth checks or somesuch.
19:36: Anyway, Savage is on the prowl for a massive black pu-....Oh right, the age rating.
19:45: A dir-whatnow? When did we start believing anything Ed Greenwood said?
20:02: If you were wondering why the ‘Guard Dogs’ in Final Fantasy 7 Remake have those weird back tentacles, that’s the result of years of adapting Displacer Beasts from the OD&D books and then photocopying the idea from game to game.
20:22: Now available on Steam!
20:34: I know there’s no reason to keep harping on about Displacer Beast trivia, but I do remember 3.5 had the CR 12 Displacer Beast Pack Lord, and it just seemed so ridiculous a concept yet I feel like I want a 5e version just to have around.
22:03: We’ve suggested a few of these not-technically-in-the-monster-statblock abilities over the course of the episode. I think we can safely say we’re pro-tweaking when you want to make interesting fights.
22:55: Eoin scorns the Accidental TPK Monster, which means he probably disapproves of my dalliance with the Shadow.
23:23: Spoilers for Age of Worms, one of the first Paizo Adventure Paths and one of the last big hurrah’s for the Greyhawk setting. Also spoilers: Manzecorian is meant to be Tenser.
24:26: Also spoilers of Age of Worms: It’s a very hard Adventure Path.
25:52: Yeah, just....a little goes a long way, y’know?
26:11: Colin ain’t up for no Brutes in his 4e.
27:27: Man, its almost like 4e had problems or something...
28:12: I’m sorry, but the Ice Devil just leaves me cold.
28:13: Why is everyone booing me?
28:28: Good thing I did wait, because who would want to mix up the frozen hell of Cania with the frozen hell of Levistus?
30:43: Savage has no eyes for the Beholder.
32:12: I don’t think there’s nessecarily anything wrong with the idea of Beholders as dream-forged scouts of the realms beyond realms, but it is a retcon and it’s not inherently better than them being horrible space monsters sent forth by Mama Shoggoth. I encourage DMs to come up with their own origins for any monsters they see, since the canon is apparently inherently disposable.
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