April 2021 – Bryan's Dungeons & Dragons Site

Orc, Subterranean

Since getting back into AD&D I periodically search the web for new ideas. A while back I spotted the Black Orc on Dungeon Delver’s site. Thought it was a great variation and immediately added it to my campaign! More recently I started rewriting home-built monsters in a write-up style similar to that used by more […]

Circle of Jocelyne

I was looking for a new type of friend and/or enemy for a new campaign, and the Circle of Jocelyne developed over the course of a few weeks. Circle of Jocelyne The Circle of Jocelyne formed two thousand years before the first War of Rendelshod, the creation of a group of secular savants who eschewed […]

Oni, Noble

A while ago I stopped using the term “ogre mage”, and started using the original Japanese name, oni. Ogres and oni have nothing in common, so the original name makes more sense. I also realized the common oni was scalable, and I like scalable monsters. I developed the idea that oni are commoners, and giving […]

Oculus Despot

A challenge was posted on Dragonsfoot some years ago to translate monsters from AD&D to OSRIC, as not all monsters were translated when OSRIC was written. This is my response to the challenge. The Beholder is the poster child for AD&D monsters that were poorly written. The details are often vague and have produced a […]

Dungeon/Monster Level

Figuring out the “dungeon level” of a monster was a mystery for decades, as I missed a small table on page 174 of the Dungeon Masters Guide. It’s easy to miss as it has 5 lines and is not formatted like other tables in the book. It’s simple enough to use — just look up […]

Lycanthrope, Were-Moth

When thinking of material for & Magazine, issue 10 (Shapechangers), I watched The Blood Beast Terror, a 1968 movie starring Peter Cushing. This is a weak lycanthrope, suitable for lower level parties. Lycanthrope, Were-Moth Frequency very rare No. Appearing 1 (2d8) Armor Class 7 Move 120’/240′ (MC:B) Hit Dice 1 to 2 % in Lair […]

Greymen

I created the greymen as a replacement for the drow. While the drow were interesting at first, they tend to be overused in literature as the enemy. The greymen are an unknown and highly variable monster that can shake up a campaign. The greymen’s variability allows the monster to scale with the party’s growth, as […]

Gree-Kin

The gree-kin was created by Carl, one of my first DMs. At the time, this monster scared the crap out of me, as it would bite through the victim’s skull and eat the brain. This version is based upon my recollection of the monster. It’s faithful to what I remember from 20+ years before. Gree-Kin […]