Flora and Fauna table

Chris Rice · 07-10-2018, 05:23 AM

Going through my battered old copy of ITL today, it struck me that there are quite a lot of critters, more than I remembered.

Would it be possible to have a Table that summarises them at the end of the section. This would be handy for me as a GM to quickly generate encounters and compare danger levels at a glance.

I know there will be lots of things competing for the page count but this would be a big plus for me.

marctabyanan · 07-10-2018, 05:57 AM

Agreed. We need the descriptions, but also a summary.

JLV · 07-10-2018, 11:35 AM

To my mind, the best way to do that would be a separate Bestiary, that lists them, say, by environment, and then indexes them alphabetically (and maybe a second time by environment again). However, since that almost certainly won't be part of the Kickstarter, I'm just hoping for a good creature summary chart somewhere in the package (that has page references to the actual write-ups).

Steve Jackson · 07-10-2018, 06:11 PM

How many creatures - not just monsters - would it take to justify a separate Bestiar project? I have not counted the number in TFT proper, but obviously, not enough, even if the one-line entries are expanded with more data. Fantastic creatures should probably get more word count than most mundane creatures, but there are actually a lot of things to say about some real-world beasts.

Other than tables and lists, what makes a good bestiary book? I note that GURPS 4e never got a bestiary.

tomc · 07-10-2018, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Jackson

Other than tables and lists, what makes a good bestiary book? I note that GURPS 4e never got a bestiary.

Adventure hooks!

Adventure hooks built around a creature's:

Habitat - makes burrows in the roots of gigantic trees, lives on the rims of volcanoes
Behaviors - attacks dwarves on sight, only migrates under a full moon
Special Properties - gargoyle gallbladders, dragon dung, unicorn horn
History - infested and destroyed the Crown City of Angoreon and were never seen again
Myths and Legends - too many to list
Anecdotes - Uncle Jurek saw saw one, deep in the swamp. He doesn't talk about it much...

David Bofinger · 07-10-2018, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomc

Adventure hooks!

A splat book of adventure hooks with TFT flavour might be even more useful.

JLV · 07-10-2018, 08:41 PM

I guess I'd reply with a question of my own: How many did it take to justify the Fantasy Folk and Fantasy Bestiary from GURPS Classic?

I would think that since TFT is easier to write up than GURPS (which would make for shorter entries, at least when it comes to stats and "advantages/disadvantages"), that combining those two, along with the stuff already in TFT, plus more mundane beasties from the real world would give you quite a huge number of things to work with. And while some of the GURPS creatures might not be suitable for TFT, just glancing over my copies of the two mentioned above, I don't see anything there that would be inappropriate for TFT.

As far as what makes a bestiary; I would say that the kind of quality write-ups you gave us in the original ITL, plus illustrations of each creature, plus the stat blocks along with some mundane details ("nests in trees") if they aren't already included in the basic write-up, and, as tomc suggests, adventure hooks/rumors, all would combine to make a really interesting book.

Chris Rice · 07-11-2018, 03:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Jackson

How many creatures - not just monsters - would it take to justify a separate Bestiar project? I have not counted the number in TFT proper, but obviously, not enough, even if the one-line entries are expanded with more data. Fantastic creatures should probably get more word count than most mundane creatures, but there are actually a lot of things to say about some real-world beasts.

Other than tables and lists, what makes a good bestiary book? I note that GURPS 4e never got a bestiary.

A quick flick through ITL reveals about 120 creatures/types in less than 20 pages, so there's a surprising amount packed in there because the presentation is so compact and clear compared to something like D&Ds Monster Manual. Entries such as Giants and Mermen are single paragraph and could stand a fair bit of expansion along with Mnoren, Demons, Dragons etc.

I wouldn't want this section removed from the new book as it's very useful for GMs but I would like a "Bestiary", maybe just because the other systems had them and I was jealous!

If we do get one, I'd rather it kept TFTs unique style, which would probably mean a different approach than other bestiaries. Maybe we can all put our heads together and come up with a plan.

zot · 07-11-2018, 06:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Rice

A quick flick through ITL reveals about 120 creatures/types in less than 20 pages, so there's a surprising amount packed in there because the presentation is so compact and clear compared to something like D&Ds Monster Manual. Entries such as Giants and Mermen are single paragraph and could stand a fair bit of expansion along with Mnoren, Demons, Dragons etc.

I wouldn't want this section removed from the new book as it's very useful for GMs but I would like a "Bestiary", maybe just because the other systems had them and I was jealous!

If we do get one, I'd rather it kept TFTs unique style, which would probably mean a different approach than other bestiaries. Maybe we can all put our heads together and come up with a plan.

Before or after the monsters, there could be a table with one entry per monster for name, stats, common damages, protection, spells (if any) and notes (sorry about the dots, they keep the table lines straight):

| Name ......... | ST DX IQ MA | Main Attack. | armor | Notes ................................... |
|----------------+-------------+--------------+-------+-------------------------------------------|
| Basilisk ..... | 10 8. 8. 12 | bite: 1 die. | 0 ... | As Freeze spell within 5 MH, 5/IQ to save |
| Indricotherium | 40 12 5. 12 | kick: 3 dice | 2 ... | ......................................... |
| Cold Horse ... | ??? ....... | ??? ........ | ??? . | ??? ..................................... |

Rick_Smith · 07-11-2018, 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zot

Before or after the monsters, there could be a table with one entry per monster ...

Hi Zot,
I would add a column that gave the page number where this monster could be found, (e.g. ItL pg 56 for Basilisk).

Warm regards, Rick.

07-10-2018, 05:23 AM	#1
Chris Rice Join Date: Dec 2017 Location: London Uk, but originally from Scotland	Flora and Fauna table Going through my battered old copy of ITL today, it struck me that there are quite a lot of critters, more than I remembered. Would it be possible to have a Table that summarises them at the end of the section. This would be handy for me as a GM to quickly generate encounters and compare danger levels at a glance. I know there will be lots of things competing for the page count but this would be a big plus for me.

07-10-2018, 05:57 AM	#2
marctabyanan Join Date: Dec 2017	Re: Flora and Fauna table Agreed. We need the descriptions, but also a summary.

07-10-2018, 11:35 AM	#3
JLV Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Arizona	Re: Flora and Fauna table To my mind, the best way to do that would be a separate Bestiary, that lists them, say, by environment, and then indexes them alphabetically (and maybe a second time by environment again). However, since that almost certainly won't be part of the Kickstarter, I'm just hoping for a good creature summary chart somewhere in the package (that has page references to the actual write-ups).

07-10-2018, 06:11 PM	#4
Steve Jackson President and EIC Join Date: Jul 2004	Re: Flora and Fauna table How many creatures - not just monsters - would it take to justify a separate Bestiar project? I have not counted the number in TFT proper, but obviously, not enough, even if the one-line entries are expanded with more data. Fantastic creatures should probably get more word count than most mundane creatures, but there are actually a lot of things to say about some real-world beasts. Other than tables and lists, what makes a good bestiary book? I note that GURPS 4e never got a bestiary.

07-10-2018, 08:41 PM	#7
JLV Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Arizona	Re: Flora and Fauna table I guess I'd reply with a question of my own: How many did it take to justify the Fantasy Folk and Fantasy Bestiary from GURPS Classic? I would think that since TFT is easier to write up than GURPS (which would make for shorter entries, at least when it comes to stats and "advantages/disadvantages"), that combining those two, along with the stuff already in TFT, plus more mundane beasties from the real world would give you quite a huge number of things to work with. And while some of the GURPS creatures might not be suitable for TFT, just glancing over my copies of the two mentioned above, I don't see anything there that would be inappropriate for TFT. As far as what makes a bestiary; I would say that the kind of quality write-ups you gave us in the original ITL, plus illustrations of each creature, plus the stat blocks along with some mundane details ("nests in trees") if they aren't already included in the basic write-up, and, as tomc suggests, adventure hooks/rumors, all would combine to make a really interesting book.