Random World Part 4: Monsters of the World

Rather than fleshing out a specific area of the random world, this time we'll explore the monsters which inhabit this world which began as a random meaningless map and has now evolved into an increasingly fleshed-out world. Generally in mind I've thought of either using Basic Fantasy, Labyrinth Lord or Scarlet Heroes depending on what would work best on a hypothetical group.

Monsters Unchanged From Books

These critters are either iconic or very simple in what they are, with little need to change their fluff, design or abilities. They work 'as is' and I intend to add them to random encounter tables exactly as they are with the expectation they're the average monsters of the setting. If a monster can be called 'average', anyway.

• Any giant insect and arthropod
• Any giant or 'dire' or 'man-eating' version of a regular animal
• All slimes
• Basilisk
• Bugbear*
• Chimera
• Elemental (With an added Wood and Metal version)
• Ettin*
• Giant, Hill*
• Griffon
• Harpy
• Hippogriff
• Hydra
• Lizardfolk
• Lycanthropes (Always chaotic, never carry the disease and possibly not human to begin with!)
• Manticore
• Ogre*
• Owl Bear
• Pegasus
• Rust Monster
• Treant

*Considered a form of 'lesser' troll-kin.

Goblins

Pumpkin Goblin by Mike Phillips

The goblins refer to a family of creatures which include gnomes and dwarves, among others. They are trickster spirits made flesh and like the trolls they have some connection to the world and soil, albeit to a lesser and less noticeable degree. They are rarely a conquering force and more akin to a mischievous nuisance. Often they are considered a type of demon or spirit and some strain of goblins certainly support this classification, able to slink into shadows or to cast curses on people.

• Diminutive, twisted creatures found in dark and wild places, although some do form crude and bizarre societies. Possibly very distant relatives to Trolls?
• Rarely openly aggressive, more likely to screw with people and trick them than attack head-on when provoked, unlike trolls.
• More openly and blatantly magical in nature than trolls and orcs. Some say new goblins are born of evil spirits, ill omens and restless ghosts who lose their humanity and construct themselves new bodies, which are small and deformed.
• Often called upon by witches as minions. In other cases, greater goblins-witches (also known as Hags) may willingly join a coven or even take control of it by force.
• Some goblins breeds are wholly physical creatures and may or may not be more tied to the material world and/or partially of human descent. A disturbing and disgusting implication. This include the vicious hobgoblins and the greedy dwarves.
• Very commonly found underground, where it is dark. Some goblins are completely blind and allergic to sunlight. These creatures resemble shriveled mixtures of humans and bats with some traits of earthworms.

Orcs

Stinky Orc by Gabrielle Votta

There are few monsters which are as much of a staple to fantasy (except maybe goblins?) and who scream 'evil minion' as the Orc. However, rather than a common world-wide threat the orcs of this still-nameless world are limited to a single area: the Orcfen. Born of mud, blood, flesh, filth and dark magic the orcs of the Orcfen are more akin to homonculi than people.

• Created as minions of the Witch-Trees, they have little to no individuality beyond their purpose as minions to their primordial mistress.
• They are short (most of them are around five feet tall), wiry yet strong things with waxy skin the color of dirt or some shade of green or blue, with ugly and unformed features. Their hair, if they have any, is tangled and always greasy.
• They are virtually immortal in so much as they do not age nor suffer diseases. However they barely change over time and most die in battle. They are also utterly sexless and have nothing down there. Kicking them in the groin does nothing.
• It is not unknown for orcs to become symbiotic nest with vermin and swamp creatures.
• Orcs have little to no personalities beyond being angry, snarling killers....unless one consume a powerful being and/or a magic-user of some kind, which can cause a transformation similar to that found in other soulless beasts. Should the orc be transformed into an individual, it will be able to grow stronger and smarter.
• Those orcs with individuality either must swear allegiance to their Witch-Tree creator and be obedient (in which case they are rewarded, if only to be kept on a leash) or be destroyed. Some renegade orcs lead war bands against their creators. These are still not the allies of civilized folks.

Trolls

Wood Troll by Ekaterina Yakovleva

The Trolls of the currently-unnamed world differ in many ways from the iconic D&D troll: for one thing they are a large category of creatures and not all of them possess the regeneration so infamous in the green, warty brutes of the Monster Manuals. Trolls are an ancient race, primordial monsters of the earth, tree and rivers. Nature's hungry teeth, vicious streak and malice. Strangely cunning and wise in the most bizarre of moments.

• Ancient creatures which walked the earth much before humans.
• Trolls are a wide category of creature, in part because they have quite a bit of mutability. Trolls vary in size, shape, appearance and intelligence both between regions and between individuals of the same litter. 
• They are hungry and vicious but many of them are much smarter than they appear. Trolls are just as likely to be hulking brutes as to be a trickster and a bogeyman.
• Troll Wyrd are trolls who display magical abilities which are quite uncommon to the rest of their kin, such as the ability to cast spells as Magic-Users do. They are strange-looking and very unique even by troll standards.
• They have relatives in Ettin, Bugbears and Ogres, which are lesser cousins.
• Trolls can be found in all the dark and wild corners of the world but one locale where they are more common is the Mavre Woods, which is a breeding ground of trolls. Trolls encountered elsewhere are likely to be more isolated but also more cunning and older. Wood Trolls are the type of troll generally seen around the Mavre Woods, but there are trolls who live in water and others who live in mountain or caves.