The art of Dungeon Fantasy 13: Monsters 1

[kmunoz]

Originally Posted by Kromm

But something else resonates with nearly every gamer. That's the thrill of taking a powerful, faux-medieval adventurer down into a cave – or a haunted forest, or a sinister stronghold – and seeing lots of monsters, killing them, and taking their treasure. For that, there's GURPS Dungeon Fantasy. Break it out when you don't feel like dealing with complicated plots, fussy social interactions, and so on. The results won't be refined. They might not even be "real roleplaying" (whatever that is). But they'll be fun![/INDENT]I think that GURPS Dungeon Fantasy is utterly honest about its objectives. It's deliberately looking at a very specific, not-generic-at-all subgenre of fantasy and even of fantasy that takes place in dungeons. It isn't trying to handle "all fantasy set in dungeons," but only, "all rather goofy, low-fi fantasy set in dungeons."

Then the question becomes: what, apart from the mission statement you quoted, should be considered part of that "goofy, low-fi fantasy set in dungeons"? Nothing in your mission statement tells the reader whether to expect serious-seeming monsters or ones that are parodies of the genre you are attempting to emulate. DF is humorous and perhaps a little "silly" at times but it is not parody, at least in my reading of it. And I think some folks may be concerned that, based on your comments about the silliness/goofiness of DF, you're producing a parody bestiary. And given the kinds of goofy creatures that have appeared in the past, in the more serious bestiaries like Fantasy Bestiary 3E and Space Bestiary 3E, the concern seems legitimate to me. I really don't want to see monsters that are, for example, variations on the Leucrocotta (FB p. 42), which is "a swift animal the size of a donkey, with a badger's head, the legs of a deer, and the neck, tail and chest of a lion."