Making players — and by implication, their characters — feel as if they are in over their heads is the hallmark of a savvy GM. Especially for your horror-themed game session. It also takes players who are willing to buy into the moment — the payoff comes when the sick feeling in the pit of the stomach starts churning. Creating that moment of dread requires more than dropping a dragon ...

A recent online search for folklore information on Scandinavian-styled trolls for a future gaming session I was planning took me to a site I hadn't encountered before. Monstropedia.com turned out to be the proverbial pot o' gold at the end of the rainbow -- and there wasn't even a leprechaun guarding it. But there was an entry for leprechaun -- and those pesky trolls, too -- full descriptions of ...

Some could argue that the Fourth Edition designers took the bite out of Lycanthropes — literally. The Monster Manual lists only two, the wererat and the werewolf. And making the condition hereditary rather than an affliction makes them no different than shifters, at least thematically. The two shifter templates, for the longtooth and razaorclaw versions, provided in the racial traits section of the Monster Manual, can serve in ...

It’s a given that  your October- or Halloween-themed 4E-dungeon’s going to have a hovering ghost (page 116, Monster Manual) haunting the undisturbed crypt, at least one gruesome hag (page150) stirring a kettle with a noxious brew and a blood-thirsty vampire (page 258) waiting in the wings — so to speak — to strike. But here are some other monsters from that glorious tome you could use to slip ...

Villainy with a shadowy purpose: Rogues that strike out from dark alleys. Monsters that lurk in the dark spaces beneath the stairs. Creatures of smoke and raging spirits. The 4E Monster Manual has an outstanding selection of opponents of dark purpose. Here are some heroic-level encounters you can spring on the unsuspecting. (The target encounter XPs are for 5 PCs of each level). Level 1 Encounter Following the ...

Bugbears are great monsters for the DM. They’re these brutish beast-men that know how to use armor and shields, and they have both ranged (javelin) and melee (morningstar) combat capabilities.  Moreover, the DM doesn’t have to hold back when they fight. As the Monster Manual describes them: “Bugbear attacks are coordinated and their tactics are sound if not brilliant.” That’s a descriptor that makes every DM’s heart pound faster. In ...

“Son, you got a panty on your head,” the old hayseed tells Nicolas Cage’s convenience-store robbin’ character H.I. in “Raising Arizona.” And sure e’nuff, somewhere beneath all that nylon is the Nicolas Cage we know and love — even though it’s pretty hard to recognize him just by looking. Experienced D&D/3.5 players know their monsters backwards and forwards, just from hearing the description or showing them a picture. ...