Bryan's Dungeons & Dragons Site

updated 01/25/2022 This monster came into being during a game. The party was trying to trap an unknown monster, patrolling the city invisibly at night. A thief tried to mug the one PC who was visible, and was beaten unconscious for his trouble. The party decided to use him as bait, to see if it […]

updated 01/25/2022 I’m not sure where I got the idea for this one, but it may be that the Rock Trolls of the Sword of Shannara inspired me, although these are quite different. Darkworld Troll Frequency very rare No. Encountered 1d12  or 6d6 Size L (7′ tall) Move 150 feet Armour Class 2 Hit Dice […]

updated 01/25/2022 Someone on Dragonsfoot needed a low level monster for an Underdark campaign, and this one popped into my head. This monster was originally published in Footprints, and the short fiction that was published along with this description is here. Cave Blinder Frequency very rare No. Encountered 1 (1d6) Size M (5′ tall) Move […]

Kevin invented this one — it proved deadly for lower level parties, especially when the spore spitter kept making spores faster than we could kill them. This monster was originally published in & Magazine, Issue 8, and the short fiction that was published along with this description is here.     Spore Spitter Frequency very […]

My first campaign as DM had a number of experienced players. This was a first attempt at shaking up the experienced players by providing encounters for which they could not be prepared. While we never used all the types listed here, the Gem spore was entertaining, as was the Invisibility spore.   Gas Spores Frequency […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]