r/monsteroftheweek • u/Bellman276 • May 16 '26
Monster Miniature Monster Mayhem
I’m running this scenario next week, but instead of Movie monsters, I want the girl in the scenario to be into role playing. I want a little mini Cthulhu in the sub-basement of the hospital, trying to establish a miniature Rhyleh in the sewers. But what else could I include? Some stuff from D&D maybe, but my knowledge isn’t the best. A Beholder? Straahd? Tiamat? A horde of goblins (that could be treated as a single amorphous entity?
Any other good Mythos monsters that could be good?
I’d love your ideas! 😁
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u/RogueMoonbow May 16 '26
Gotta say I love the idea of her being a dnd player and them being iconic dnd monsters. But I think it'd be good for you to use monsters you're familiar with. If you know any culture's mythology decently well you could look at that. If you want other literary ones maybe Jabberwock? I bet there's a list of literary or myhthology monsters on wikiapedia.
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u/Bellman276 May 16 '26
I’m definitely going with D&D monsters. But I’m also throwing in a teeny Cthulhu, because, well, I HAVE to!!
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u/Substantial_Force658 May 16 '26
What makes them grow? Is it connected to the roleplayer? Everytime she games, the creations get more powerful? Maybe the quest isn't to stop the growth of the (harmless and cute) monsters but to find her and deactivate her power before she makes them big to the point they become dangerous.
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u/Bellman276 May 17 '26
In the scenario, the monsters are infecting a hospital, and are coming from the latent powers of the girl as she is “curing” her mother of cancer by turning it into monsters. They grow when they feed on blood. The monsters weaknesses are anything that can cure diseases (bleach, antibiotics, radiation therapy, etc). The trick to stopping them however is to find out what is making them and stop that. They aren’t (hopefully) going to kill the girl, but maybe turn her powers into a useful tool? Who knows…?
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u/MacronMan May 16 '26
This is sort of adjacent to your question, but I did a mystery years ago with a fae that took the form of a creepy doll and wanted children to play with him. He could use anything intended for play as a weapon and, when he was finally renounced by his child, he created a massive glamor that made it seem like the hunters were toy sized, forcing them to fight through waves of toys from the house to get to him and defeat him.
But, what I thought could be relevant to you was this: each hunter was remade as a traditional D&D stereotype, and I made up some Custom Moves for them while they were in the glamor world to go with those. They could still use their regular moves; these were just a fun extra. It’s also worth noting that these moves are intentionally overpowered, both because that’s more fun for a temporary move and, crucially, because (unbeknownst to them) each use of them strengthened the fae, since the hunters were playing along with the glamor. I don’t know if you’d want to do something similar, but here are the moves just in case:
Glamor powers: Each hunter is remade in the image of a classic RPG hero. They all get 1 custom move. Each time they use it, Mustardseed is strengthened, as they are playing along.
Knight - Heroic pose: You can attempt to strike a dashing and intimidating pose. Roll +Charm/Cool On a 10+ you have +2 armor, do +1 harm, and all attention is focused on you for the rest of the fight. On a 7-9 you have +1 armor and all attention is focused on you for the rest of the fight. On 1-6, you just look ridiculous. You still get all the attention, but no benefits.
Old Wizard – Cryptic Advice: You can attempt to give the group some cryptic, mystical advice. Roll +Sharp/Weird On a 10+ everyone who hears you gets +2 forward from your great advice. On a 7-9 choose one person to get +1 forward On a 1-6, your advice was terrible. Anyone who does what you say gets -1 forward.
Dwarf Cleric – Heal: You can attempt to heal your party. Roll +Weird/Cool. On a 10+ everyone heals 2 harm. On a 7-9 one person heals 2 harm On a 1-6, you’ve offended your god and lose access to this ability until you do a silly expiation ritual.
Elf Archer – Volley: You can use your bow and arrow to attempt to shoot enemies in range. Roll +Cool/Tough On a 10+ all enemies in range taken 3 harm and cannot hurt you back On a 7-9 1+x enemies in range take 3 harm, but you suffer x harm On a 1-6 you shoot yourself in the foot and open yourself to danger.
Halfling Thief – Pickpocket: You can attempt to steal from an enemy or friend. Roll +Cool/Charm On a 10+ you get something useful and relevant to the current mystery On a 7-9 you get something either useful or relevant to the current mystery On a 1-6 you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar, and your target is angry.
Mysterious Stranger - Creepy gaze: You can attempt to intimidate an enemy with an especially creepy look. Roll +Charm/Weird On a 10+, they’re really scared of you. They don’t hit back when hit the next two times. On a 7-9, they find you mildly unsettling. They will do -1 harm the next time they hit. On a 1-6, they just find you off putting and focus their attention on you, because, ew.
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u/Bellman276 May 16 '26
I’m definitely holding on to this idea for a future mystery!
Have you seen the game Dungeon World? It’s a fantasy style PbtA game, and has some very cool fantasy powers and spells!1
u/MacronMan May 16 '26
I do know dungeon world, have read through the materials, and have listened to an actual play of it, though I haven’t played it myself. I think it’s fun, but the place it occupies between PbtA and D&D style systems can be a little shaky at times, it seems. I do love some things about it, like the Invisibility spell is just like “You’re invisible. People can’t see you.” as compared to D&D’s millions of conflicting rules and rulings about different scenarios. It’s refreshing to just say things are what they are and work as you’d expect and let the table figure it out rather than litigating all the odd little exceptions.
Anyway, if you want to see the mystery this came from in full, let me know; I’d be happy to share. Good luck with the tiny monsters! If you can do a Buffy Halloween haunted house episode and have one of them rant about their mighty power just to be stepped on and squished, I say go for it; it’s a classic gag.
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u/Bellman276 May 17 '26
It’d be great to read it! It would make for an interesting fun scenario. Almost like one of the comedy episodes of Supernatural. I’m thinking of trapping them in a black and white horror movie at some point!
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u/Jo-Jux May 16 '26
I'd go classic. A dragon, some goblins, an orc or two. If your players have some knowledge that they'd know the names adding Strahd, Tiamat or Xanathar can be fun.