This post is part of a multi-part series on my approach to monster design. I wanted to start with some memories, and in the next iteration I’ll discuss my approach to finding inspiration and ideas. In all my years of DMing two battles stand out as more memorable than all the rest. It’s not because they represented reaching the apex of a storyline, but because the battles themselves provided interesting player choices which generated tension.
As I discuss my design philosophy I will stress player agency through meaningful choice. If in combat, you always have a single best action to take, it can feel like you’re simply rolling dice. Now, that can be plenty of fun just join a craps table at a casino! But players want to feel like their choices influence whether or not their characters succeed. By creating situations where the player has to figure something out and can make designs which influence the outcome. you tend to generate more engaging play.
The first fight I’ll discuss was a boss fight at the top of a wizard’s tower which focused elemental energies. The environment was inspired by the location and an extension of the story, but it also created benefits and drawbacks for the PCs and their enemies. The room was a circle separated into quadrants filled with different elemental energies. In each quadrant there was a golem of that element. Those golems could enter the neighboring quadrants, but not the quadrant opposite its own element. When the elements in a quadrant were active (there was a switch in each section of the room), the golems would gain benefits. But only if in their own quadrant.
This created a series of interesting interactions. Each room section created an advantage or disadvantage for being within it, the golems had to decide whether to stay in their quadrant or help their neighbors.
The environment created interesting, impactful, choices for the players and the golems. Not only did where each character stand matter, the players also had to choose which golems to focus on and figure out how and if to shut off the elemental energies. If a disabled golem remained in its own quadrant, it would begin to heal if the element was active.
The battle ended with about half the party down while fighting in total darkness. Once they figured out what turning off the switches did, they focused on shutting down the golems one by one. It was a tense battle where every player had impactful options.
I won’t go into as much detail on the other battle. It took advantage of the physical game board. My daughter made a Christmas tree out of a paper plate that we used as a slime demon. It had tentacles and eyeballs on everywhere. I used those characteristics to give it some related attributes like grab attacks and immunity to flanking. What made the battle particularly memorable was using the pipe cleaner tentacles to create reach. It made for a really memorable fight as the game board became even more interactive than it usually was.
In both cases, the terrain added an extra dimension to character choice, leading to fun interesting battles. I’ll have more posts on monster design and in the next post I’ll discuss inspiration more. In the meantime, I leave you with a simple advice and a recommendation. Try to add one dynamic element to your monster or the battlefield which gives the players a meaningful choice. It could be as simple as giving the players a tough path to advantageous terrain. Or leverage a mechanic like the one I used for the golems, where the players have to learn it along the way.
For the recommendation, watch this Matt Colville video on action-oriented monsters. You’ll find me recommend many of his videos throughout the blog, as I think Matt makes many aspects of game design quite approachable.
