Yoon-Suin: Additional Monsters

Goatman's Goblet posted an expanded list of traditional monsters for Yoon-Suin. This is my own addition to a list I wholeheartedly agree, with monsters taken from a variety of other games and given a reskin of some kind, in the vein of this texgolem post. The truth is, just about any monster works in almost any setting with some quick re-skinning.

Gudul Lurker by Christopher Burdett

General Fantasy Monsters

These are creatures found in most fantasy RPG based off the original. Their stats are expected in just about every bestiary if they are 'open game' or, if not, there is probably a suitably copyright-compliant version in there which is suspiciously similar to the version which is copyrighted by a certain company. The Basic Fantasy and Labyrinth Lord monsters were the main pool which inspiration was drawn from.

• Ghost-Kin of Lahag (Bugbear): Some say they are the souls of the lost reborn in a twisted body. Others say they were the people of Lahag, before the jungle swallowed it forever. Others yet say they are children which ventured into the wilderness and were adopted by ghosts. Bent, twisted, feral humanoids with pale skin and shaggy discolored fur. They wear feral masks and no one know what's behind it. Often found as worshipers of some spirit of some kind.
• Vikarâ (Caveman): Found around the Oligarchies and slopes of the moutains are all manner of tribes, some of human some of older, pre-human beings. They are an isolated lot, primitive and distrusted. Some have shaggy fur, others have horns and other still are covered in scales. They never speak and some believe they are from an older world. The truth may never be known.
• Moon Apes (Girallon, Option A): The Girallon of the Purple Land are found upon the slopes of the Mountains of the Moon and look like huge, four-armed macaque with russet fur. The adult males have deep red fur and oversized fangs. They mate during specific lunar events, which occur every few decades. In the months before the event, the males with grow in size and aggressiveness. Some believe they are intelligent.
• Jungle Beast (Girallon, Option B): These are four-armed bipeds, something they share with their stat block. And that would be just about it, as the jungle beast is a creature living in Lahag and is best described as a toad and a locust in the rough shape of a four-armed biped. It is unknown if this creature is a unique specimen or if it is a whole species.
• Giant Beastmen (Stone Giant): Called many things which only roughly translate to 'giant beast-men', these are creatures found around the Oligarchies and Lower Druk Yul. They have skin akin to that of an elephant or rhinoceros, three-fingered hands and feet and rows of spikes growing along their spine and shoulders. Males have very long tusks, which they decorate.

Ten Monsters Setting

The 3 Toadstools Publishing blog posted a challenge and I'm happy to jump on the bandwagon. The idea/rules are fairly simple. You have to pick a book with monsters and you need to make a mini-setting using these ten monsters. There are some rough ideas and guidelines to pick a monster from specific categories. I'm adding my own rule that this doesn't rule out the category of monsters-that-aren't-quite monsters, namely giant bugs and 'dire' or giant animals. So these likely exist but they aren't counted as the ten monsters. Those are animals, not monsters. Skeleton and zombies are likewise too basic to count, as they are created with spells and abilities.

Generally when it come to 'generic' or 'basic' OSR systems, my two picks are Basic Fantasy and Labyrinth Lord. For this post, I've chose the Basic Fantasy Field Guide of Creatures Malevolent and Benign. It should have enough material in there to work with and is a nice halfway between a general-purpose monster manual and a weirder, optional Fiend Folio-like book.

Disclaimer: Setting does not actually feature dog people.

Semi Intelligent: They come from the northern land, where the nights can last more than days (which we know as Polar Nights). These hunched, pale and hairy creatures are barbaric hunters which have acquired a taste for human flesh. They are the Snow Orcs although people just call them 'orcs' as the regular breed does not exist. As the winter grows thicker, more and more of these monsters come to the civilized lands.

Undead: There are a few dark powers in this world which can animate the flesh of the dead (such as spells) but none are as dreadful as the death-curse of the Kings of Old. In ancient times there were many dreaded kings and thanes and it was not uncommon for the most wicked of them to utter terrifying death curses. These kings exist now as undead known as Draugr and haunt their vast tombs, ruling a court of lesser undead warriors.

Ancient Fey: The ancient realm of the Fey has long faded away from this world but its power is not completely gone: the horrid Bog Crones are descendant of wicked, exiled Fae. Stripped of their beauty and power they live on in our world, haunting fetid swamps. Rumor old of one last Crone Queen who retained her beauty and power.

Mythology: The realm of the Fey is gone but its hungry predators have migrated to our world. to feast upon mortal flesh and souls The Barghest were once the vicious attack hounds of the dark fey. Now they hunt alone or in packs. Elder Barghest have the cunning and magical abilities one would expect of a true fey.

Giant/Ogre/Troll: Some say this ancient race predate men while others say they were once human but were twisted and cursed by dark powers. Others still believe they are the bastard offspring of men and spirits. The Girallon could be mere beasts, some twisted atavism that should not be or there is a darker truth to the their history. They dwell in ancient ruins, ruling over other ape-like beasts.

Underground Dweller: The scourge of summer time, creating large tunnel networks to attack farmlands are the Ankheg. They do make a decent, if somewhat sour meal if killed. Rumors of larger nest of Ankheg existing in underground realms are unproven...for now.

Aerial: Alongside the Snow Orcs a new terror has arrived from the northernmost lands. Giant, pale and silent spectres haunt the night, snatching away grown men in their talons. In truth, these are Giant Snow Owls.

Water-Based: When travelling near bodies of water, one should beware the dreaded Bunyip!

Extraplanar: Hunters from beyond the veil of the material plane, Phase Spiders are rare but dangerous creatures.

Lizard/Wyrm: There are no dragons anymore. No living dragons, anyway. The ancient kings who would become the Draugr (see above) derived their great size, charisma and wickedness from their ancestors devouring the hearts of dragons. The most wicked of these Draugr have summoned to their aid the Death Dragons but a few of them have broke free from their slavery.

So there you go, an implied setting with ten monsters. Some speak of a more complex history while others are simply abominations which are a threat to civilized folks.

Yoon-Suin: Soundtrack of the Purple Land

Skerples asked people about a Yoon-Suin soundtrack. Here's my contribution to the matter, which is sadly incomplete as I've yet to fully assemble for myself a decent and complete soundtrack to use for Yoon-Suin.

Action Music

• Endless Legend OST - Embrace the Agony (Link)
• Endless Legend OST - The Battlefield (Link)
• Endless Legend OST - The Battlefield II (Link)
• Endless Legend OST - The Battlefield III (Link)
• Mongolian Folk Music - Mongol Archers (Link)

Music Mix

• Endless Legend OST - An Ancient Wail (Link)
• Endless Legend OST - In Undertones (Link)
• Endless Legend OST - Still Angry (Link)
• Endless Legend OST - Trade Routes (Link)
• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - Bryyo (Link)
• Metroid Samus Return - Chozo Ruins (Link)
• Beautiful Indian Music - Mountains of India (Link)
• Beautiful Indian Music - Taj Mahal (Link)
• Beautiful Indian Music - Tales of India (Link)
• Mongolian Music Part 1 (Link)

Ambience Mix

• Indian Sitar Tantra (Link)
• Indian Sitar Raag (Link)
• Tibetan Instrumental Music - Tibetan Temple (Link)
• Tibetan Flute Music + Om Chanting (Link)

In fact, just go and grab these new age bullshit music for any kind of 'background noise' music to mix and match with sound effects loop.

Two More Hypothetical Time Periods

There's been a few posts floating around on the idea of 'hypothetical' time periods and so I've decided to jump on the bandwagon with four two more (there used to be two more but neither were quite as fleshed out). For the sake of variety from the previous posts, these are based off weird or unique fantasy landscape images. No bird age here, however*

Alien Landscape by Roboworks

The Great Funkadelican Era

Colors didn't always work entirely how we think they did. Before the era of humans, the land was dominated by civilizations of insect and crustaceans which could see a myriad colors. However as they grew more advanced as a civilization they saw fit to first categorize all colors and later to impose their own vision of beauty based on their peculiar color theory which only made sense to their alien eyes. Using great magic or science they began the 'great color mixture', combining colors which were never meant to be combine and which our puny minds and eyes cannot even begin to grasp. For a brief time the world was a technicolor funky mess to our primitive and distant ancestors but then the bug-crustaceans mixed colors which should have never been mixed, destroying the vast majority of colors in the process leaving us with those we know and a few survivors beyond our senses such as Jale, Ulfire and Dolm. And man, did that era look funky. Sadly the only ones who remember it are the mantis shrimp who still fly the colors of this bygone world.

The Endless Fractal

Well, maybe not so endless as it did end: the thing is nobody can really understand how and why. By nature, the Endless Fractal was when the universe was entirely fractal. Individuality didn't quite exist as we knew it because every organism we could perceive was itself made of smaller organism made of smaller organism who...well, you get the idea. And, indeed, the very fossils which survived to the modern day are themselves part of a bigger organism which was itself part of a bigger...again, you get the idea.

*That's what you think, motherfucker! (OVO)