Image Artist: Arnie Swekel
Doug M. left a well written comment on my post about exploring evil in RPGs where he makes a clear distinction between Evil (The flavor, the horror, the creeping out of players), Menacing foes (More powerful than the party) and ‘I hate this guy’.
This, and a funny exchange of comments with the guys over at Critical Hits got me thinking. You see, when a playing group starts knowing a particular set of rules inside and out, the DM/GM can exploit metagaming knowledge to his advantage (for once*) and scare the heck out of the players (I may be a Neutral Good DM but I have a mean streak… somewhere).
Case in point: Take that picture seen here. Long time D&D players would recognize these creatures and react strongly should they meet. This is exploiting player expectations to enhance their trepidation. They don’t have to fight it… just having a group of low level PCs seeing a strong, well-known (by the players) threat can generate one of those ‘Oh SH…!’ moments that are priceless.
(Critical Hits’ Umberhulk ‘riding ‘ a Bulette image is also good, albeit somewhat disturbing).
*Of course changing games on your players without prior notice also works to your advantage, if you’re that kind of DM.
Remember the old gas spore monster? “Ahhh! It’s a Beholder!” KABOOM.
The Umberhulk riding a Bullette comes from an inside joke at a D&D game. The main villain of the game was surrounded by a Prismatic Sphere and we had no way to get in. We were trying to figure out how to burrow underneath to get to him, when one of the players yelled out “Let’s get an Umber Hulk riding a Bullette!” We all thought it was hysterical, but you probably had to be there. 🙂
Later, of course, we encountered a fused Umber Hulk/Bullete creature the DM called an Umbrullette (which sounds like a dessert.)
Ahhh the Gas Spore…. good memories… Or bad ones for players of Nethack
Umbrullette…. that’s just too funny!
That picture of an Umberhulk riding a Bullette was taken while on safari deep beneath the Earth’s crust in Africa, it is disturbing to all human beings because of the simple terror even the concept of such a creature produces, much less physical evidence of one existing to begin with. They seem to be fond of apple turn-overs.
Lol!
The picture is a huge hit in our crowd right now.
By the way thanks for the ‘featured site’ spot on your blog. I started out doing this because I wanted to emulate you guys (and Robotic cat)!