[MUD-Dev] Non-traditional monsters?

[Brandon J. Van Every]

Jack Britt wrote:

> One thing that I want to do is to have non-traditional monsters
> for our game. While orcs, goblins and dragons will definitely be
> featured,

Why bother?  I mean really, why not just wholesale get rid of 'em?
Aren't there enough MUDs in the world with this stuff?  How about
some product differentiation?  Are you afraid your MUD engineers
will cry if there are no trolls?

> I'd like to pull things from other cultures. If I have an area of
> my MUD that has a Polynesian theme, I'd like to incorporate things
> from Pacific Islander mythology in it.

> Does anyone have some leads on where I can find such things?

Pacific Islanders or non-D&D monsters?  Assuming the latter, and not
necessarily excluding the former:

Google?

A bookstore?

Get a concept artist and let his pencil run wild?

Have a Surrealist "Exqisite Corpse" automatic writing party?

Listen to odd 19th or 20th century music and decide what it
represents to you?

My point is, unless you meant to ask about Pacific Islanders very
specifically, you're asking how to be creative.  Aside from the
forms of brainstorming and inspiration mentioned above, I think
you'd want to think about what stories you're trying to tell.  What
themes are important to you?  Even if your theme is hack 'n' slash,
is something like power politics in any way important to you?  What
do you think about how people behave in the political arena?  Once
you've identified some attitudes you want to deal with, how can you
communicate that through "monsters?"  The monsters should have forms
that follow their function.  Their function is to tell the story.
If a given monster isn't telling the story, don't include it.  Be
ruthless about that.

If you're asking about Pacific Islanders, why are they terribly
important?  Just because they're neat source material?  Or do you
want to bind your stories to their myths in some way?  Do Orcs get
in the way of telling Pacific Islander stories?  Why are they in the
same MUD?


Cheers,                         www.3DProgrammer.com
Brandon Van Every               Seattle, WA

20% of the world is real.
80% is gobbledygook we make up inside our own heads.


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