What's Old Is New Again

By far, the most time consuming part of designing The Hero's Journey was writing the menagerie. The second edition of The Hero's Journey actually features fewer monsters than the the original game, but this time I sat down and had a very specific design philosophy and intent when creating that chapter instead of a simple "copy, paste, and tweak" that was done with the first edition. From the beginning, I wanted the monsters of THJ2e to stand out. Fantasy roleplaying games have plenty of staple monsters that we all know and love: kobolds, mimics, chromatic dragons, and beholders - just to name a few.

But I wanted to make things fresh by going back to the mythology and legends that inspired The Hero's Journey and influenced many of the works that were in turn an inspiration for the game. To that end, whenever it was possible for me to go back to the British or Celtic mythological sources in terms of monster design, that's what I did.

Kobolds became tiny, wizened old men that live in the stone deep beneath the earth. Salamanders became strange tree-dwelling lizards that fallowed the land. Dragons were no longer separated by the color of their scales - instead, the very definition of the term "dragon" grew to include mythological creatures like the great wyrms of Arthurian myth and the poetry of Beowulf, while "new" monsters revealed themselves like the strange and tragic lindworm. 

This exploration was really a lot of fun when it came to exploring the fey. That makes a lot of sense in hindsight, given their prominence in British and Celtic mythology and I knew by the time I'd finished the menagerie that the Fair Folk were definiately going to need a more thorough investigation in their own supplement even before the core book was done. Keep an eye out for Betwixt and Between, it's in the works.

This became more than just a question of "how do I stat that?" as a game designer. Each monster became a unique creature with unique elements that still felt genuine because they were rooted in real, historic mythology. It was, at least for me as a creator, both refreshing and familiar. It created a kind of internal consistency in the entire chapter that I didn't notice until the entire chapter was completed. It also introduced me to a lot of wonderful stories along the way, and isn't that what The Hero's Journey is all about really? Sharing stories?

Exploring the monsters of mythology was a wonderful adventure in and of itself, and I feel it's given The Hero's Journey a flavor all its own. Just ask anyone who's ever taken the offered Goblin Fruit from a Goblin Merchant lingering in the deep places of the world or along the banks of a long forgotten river. I'm sure they'll have a story all their own.