rootring
rooted in blogs, linked in a ringd4caltrops
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On the ring since 2026-03-19
Latest activity 6y ago
423 posts
Earlier
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Decided to change things up a bit when I rolled Normal Human for the next Monster. Being a relatively “Normal” Human, I typically do not have as much trouble improvising what...Linked by the ring
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The Rock Baboon! Aside from appearing on a few Dungeon/Wilderness Encounter tables (and interestingly: the Neutral Reincarnation Results table!), I don’t think I’ve ever really...
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Herd Animals may serve largely as set dressing most of the time (until an inadvertent Stampede is triggered), but these tables might also be useful for intrepid Adventurers who...
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Insect Swarms! Reacquainting myself with how they work, these are pretty interesting Encounters. Automatic damage within an area (no Save) is fairly unusual, and I like how...
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Like the previous entry on Oozes, Puddings, Slimes I’ve always treated Shriekers as more of a “Dungeon Hazard” than a traditional Monster. Even though they are ostensibly...
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I always enjoy a good Wave Crawl! Pirates share some of the same headspace for me as Buccaneers which were one of the early Entries in this series. Since I resisted the...
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Gazing back at me this entire time has been a foe I’m pretty partial to: the Majestic Medusa. My impatience to tackle this one finally got the better of me, so here we are. I...
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Here’s a d100 Encounter Activities Table for Nomads. As another somewhat region dependent encounter, this might take some strategic seasoning (Desert and Steppe are specified...
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Beware the Killer Bees and their tempting Healing Honey! If the Poison doesn't get you then the persistent point of damage just might. If you have access to a patch of land for...
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I simply can’t think of a more perfect capstone for Lost World Week: The tremendous and terrifying Tyrannosaurus Rex!
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Mastodons! Even now I often conflate them with Woolly Mammoths, and I suppose this table could be serviceable for both. As with most of the prehistoric megafauna, when inserted...
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I have found uses for Triceratops a lot in non-Lost World contexts. They make excellent siege machines for Dwarfs/Orcs/Nomads and it doesn’t hurt that Ceratopsids come in all...
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Soaring Pterosaurs are almost essential to set the tone in any Lost World adventure, but I didn’t realize that this was another sneaky “dual” entry until I got around to this...
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Titatontheres (perhaps more accurate termed Brontotheres) are another of the Lost World critters found in B/X and OSE. Huge, and travelling in large herds, hopefully they only...
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As a child, I was utterly fascinated by Dinosaurs. I had numerous Dinosaur toys, Dinosaur bedding, and nearly every birthday cake for several years prominently featured some...
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Neanderthals! In older versions of the game, these were much more frequently found on Encounter Tables (the “Lost World” theme was apparently a pretty popular way to populate...
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Monster one-hundred-and-one is the dreaded Dalmatian! Just kidding, it’s the Griffon:
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With this entry, I believe we have reached ONE HUNDRED of the OSE Monsters! What better way to celebrate this milestone than with one of the foes that has been with us since...
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The Party is laden with lucre from their forays into a dismal Dungeon when who should they see smiling in the sun as they surface but a convenient Trader! I love it when these...
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Clawing our way ever closer to one hundred entries, here is a d100 Table for the dreaded Wraith! I believe this may be our first of the incorporeal Undead, and like the Wight,...
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The Roc! One of the tragically few Lawful monsters we find in B/X and OSE. I often wonder if the alignment a vestigial Tolkien “Giant Eagle” thing, or are they also extremely...
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What is it about those Warp Beasts? Is it their hexapod body-type, their lashing tentacles, or their light-bending hide? Melanistic Panthers have always been one of my...
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One of the highest HD Monsters in the list: The Purple Worm, rightfully terrifying Adventurers since the early days of the hobby (where I suppose they were an exotic form of...
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Ah, Thouls. Decided to tackle these unusual Humanoids after coming across them in a conversation this morning. Splicing together abilities from Ghouls and Trolls on a Hobgoblin...
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I tend to make Unicorns exceeding difficult to stumble across in order to preserve a sense of wonder. It’s fun to have something almost mythical even in a world with Dragons...
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The Owl Bear has stalked dank dungeons and dark forests of D&D since Greyhawk. I tend to support the theory that its real-world inspiration may have come from another...
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The Stirge! I often like to refer to them with the more mythological Strix, but I see Stirges more often. Good terms of venery include a Scourge, a Thirst, a Clot, or a Gush....
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Finally getting around to the perpetual Party menace at lower levels: Goblins. Goblins are one of my favorite monsters (as hinted at in my Goblin Project posts). I have an...
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Sprites! Along with Dryads, Nixies and Pixies, Sprites are a definite “must have” for my more Sylvan adventures. I noticed that the description specifies them as being at a...
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Today we have a hundred activities for the Gorgon. I remember being a bit puzzled by the presence of both Medusae and Gorgons as a lad who had voraciously devoured Bulfinch's...