Monsters Needed

[ShadeZ]

I'm looking for a lesser known monster to put in a scene. Obviously not a unicorn, dragon, or anything well known. Currently I'm considering a gryphon, basilisk, hell cat, or winged deer

 

[WooHooMan]

Bunyip could work since there’s no consensus on what it looks like, how big it is or what it does. You can basically call anything a bunyip.

 

[TWErvin2]

A manticore might be what you're looking for.

 

[Zygzy]

Tatzelwurm, Scitalis, Jaculus, plenty of oddball creatures from a medieval bestiary.

Medieval Bestiary : Beast Index

 

[Lancasrer]

Part ant mixed with hellcat.

 

[bob1thousand]

Make your own. Go through a list of animals and pick two at random

 

[Lancasrer]

Half ow.cat monster

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Puppy monkey baby.

Sorry, I'm a bad person.

This is my go-to for looking for critters to populate our urban fantasy world...
https://www.amazon.com/Element-Encyclopedia-Magical-Creatures-Fantastic-ebook/dp/B003IDMUMW/

 

[ShadeZ]

Puppy monkey baby.

Absolutely terrifying and the prize goes to AE lowen lol.

 

[skip.knox]

It's interesting, and a bit frustrating to me, that the vast majority of monsters are nothing more than stuck-together animals, sometimes with a grotesque size thrown in. It's interesting because I would have thought a couple thousand years of human activity would produce rather more original work; it's frustrating because I wanted to have monsters ready-made!

I'm not a big Lovecraft fan (*ducks*), but I do give props on originality. Alas, it also means that every tentacle-y squish beast we create winds up being compared to Lovecraft, so there's that.

Anyway, here's a bit of encouragement to roll your own.

No, that was it. The encouragment. Free and invisible. <g>

 

[ShadeZ]

It's interesting, and a bit frustrating to me, that the vast majority of monsters are nothing more than stuck-together animals, sometimes with a grotesque size thrown in. It's interesting because I would have thought a couple thousand years of human activity would produce rather more original work; it's frustrating because I wanted to have monsters ready-made!

I'm not a big Lovecraft fan (*ducks*), but I do give props on originality. Alas, it also means that every tentacle-y squish beast we create winds up being compared to Lovecraft, so there's that.

Anyway, here's a bit of encouragement to roll your own.

No, that was it. The encouragment. Free and invisible. <g>

I have a few original monsters. For example a darkling a spirit monster made us shadow with two red serpent eyes a serpent's tongue and ears like horns as for shape it's a polymorpher but usually feline as they prefer it. They are not harmful but very cunning and devilish they enjoy playing pranks and testing human intellect.

 

[Prince of Spires]

It's interesting, and a bit frustrating to me, that the vast majority of monsters are nothing more than stuck-together animals, sometimes with a grotesque size thrown in. It's interesting because I would have thought a couple thousand years of human activity would produce rather more original work; it's frustrating because I wanted to have monsters ready-made!

I think it comes down human nature. We're terrible in coming up with new things, but we're really good with taking something existing and expanding on that. It's fairly easy to take an existing animal and enhancing some features it has or sticking another animal to it. It's something different to come up with something completely new.

 

[shangrila]

It's interesting, and a bit frustrating to me, that the vast majority of monsters are nothing more than stuck-together animals, sometimes with a grotesque size thrown in. It's interesting because I would have thought a couple thousand years of human activity would produce rather more original work; it's frustrating because I wanted to have monsters ready-made!

I'm not a big Lovecraft fan (*ducks*), but I do give props on originality. Alas, it also means that every tentacle-y squish beast we create winds up being compared to Lovecraft, so there's that.

Anyway, here's a bit of encouragement to roll your own.

No, that was it. The encouragment. Free and invisible. <g>

It seems to depend on what part of the world you're looking at.

A lot of European folklore has monsters like this. Then you get something like the Indonesian penanggal and...yeah.

Don't know if that thing works for you OP but you could give it a try.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Something you can’t compare to anything else is easier for an artist to draw than for a writer to write. If you write a creature that’s all new, odds on every reader will visualize something a little different, and many cases, completely different. Things that are familiar, but warped, also tend to be more frightneing, much in the way that Hannibal Lecter is more frightening than Freddy Kruger... The familiar has a better chance of being real. The written language is difficult enough when talking about known concepts, heh heh.

 

[skip.knox]

It seems to depend on what part of the world you're looking at.

A lot of European folklore has monsters like this. Then you get something like the Indonesian penanggal and...yeah.

Don't know if that thing works for you OP but you could give it a try.

Actually, Europe has many variations on the "white woman" -- a ghostly apparition, sometimes vampiric. It surely says something that so many manifestations are specifically female. Guys scare easy. <g>

Thanks for the reference, anyway. What a culture chooses for its nightmares seems like it ought to be significant, somehow, and I'm always glad to hear from outside my familiar turf.

 

[S.T. Ockenner]

You should do an octopus that peels open like a banana to reveal a human head growing out of it

 

[Mad Swede]

Does it need to be a fantastic monster, or is a "mundane" monster OK? If you want something fantastic then a look through an old AD&D Monster Manual should give you plenty of inspiration. Otherwise, why not something mundane but dangerous - like a bear or even a moose? I sometimes think there is a tendency to overlook animals that in real life are quite capable of killing you but which most people think of as harmless. Moose and cattle are an example, they can be extremely agressive and can (and do) kill adults.

 

[ShadeZ]

Does it need to be a fantastic monster, or is a "mundane" monster OK? If you want something fantastic then a look through an old AD&D Monster Manual should give you plenty of inspiration. Otherwise, why not something mundane but dangerous - like a bear or even a moose? I sometimes think there is a tendency to overlook animals that in real life are quite capable of killing you but which most people think of as harmless. Moose and cattle are an example, they can be extremely agressive and can (and do) kill adults.

Needs to be magical enough that a farmer would hire a monster hunter to hunt it.

 

[S.T. Ockenner]

Needs to be magical enough that a farmer would hire a monster hunter to hunt it.

You should do an octopus that peels open like a banana to reveal a human head growing out of it...that can also shoot lightning out of its nose.

 

[Mad Swede]

Needs to be magical enough that a farmer would hire a monster hunter to hunt it.

Magical enough or dangerous enough? A wounded or stressed animal can be very agressive.