GM Time Savers--basic NPC "bestiary" or archetypes

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by thulben

Absent basic creatures, the templates in that thread aren't of much use. But I agree that the archetypes are definitely there.

Many creatures are in other books. For Dungeon Fantasy, see DF3 for the many humanoid templates on pp. 5-16. For Action, the simple foes are on pp. 45-46 of Exploits. For Monster Hunters, well, I don't have it, but there's a whole supplement of them.

Herein lies an issue: you can't just have a generic set of NPCs for a generic game. They must be genre-specific. Action foes lack many stats; they're almost always men and women, and their look and personality are more important. For something like Dungeon Fantasy or Monster Hunters, they're going to have lots of game stats to handle their unmannishness. And they are keyed for different power levels. Thus, each genre should have its own set of foe archetypes.

[ClayDowling]

This thread comes up every so often. The answer is always the same: YAGNI, You Ain't Gonna Need It.

It's so easy to generate a throw-away mook that it hardly makes sense to generate a book of them. I can populate a whole campaign of them on a sheet of notebook paper. I typically do it over lunch, often from a copy of a genre or core book on my phone. That includes a few mooks, a couple of important NPCs for the next adventure, and maybe even a key scene for that NPC.

[jacobmuller]

and another monster thread

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by thulben

Absent basic creatures, the templates in that thread aren't of much use. But I agree that the archetypes are definitely there.

The GURPS system is riddled with basic creatures. They're spread between animal writeups and racial templates, but outside of the modern line and some of the core crunchbooks, there are basic creatures all OVER the place.

The problem is usually that they're basic creatures (that, and they're not all in one book).

But aside from that, that thread is a great example of a crapton of completed, written up creatures. Go read it, instead of dismissing it for not having "Monster Manual" written on it :)

[mehrkat]

I also love the thread and monster creator tool. I use the tool more than I use the samples though I would love to see an organized PDF of the monsters created. Alphabetical by type. (if it exists please point me to it. I've made some attempts to do it myself but life intruded)

[thulben]

Originally Posted by Bruno

The GURPS system is riddled with basic creatures. They're spread between animal writeups and racial templates, but outside of the modern line and some of the core crunchbooks, there are basic creatures all OVER the place.

The problem is usually that they're basic creatures (that, and they're not all in one book).

SJGames didn't seem to have a problem with taking all of the perks published to date and putting them in a book. I see a lot more utility in a similar exercise for animals/creatures/whatnot.

Originally Posted by Bruno

But aside from that, that thread is a great example of a crapton of completed, written up creatures. Go read it, instead of dismissing it for not having "Monster Manual" written on it :)

That was my mistake. I'd forgotten that Malinka had also put monsters in that thread. I read it when it originally came out two years ago and remembered the utility being in the lenses that are in that thread. My apologies for a faulty memory.

[Wraithe]

In addition to the aforementioned items (I strongly recommend the thread by Mailanka and Historical Folks/4E), there's a pair of PDF's out there:

It Came From The Forums: A Community Bestiary [download link] A Collection of creatures collected from the GURPS forums.

The Natural Encyclopedia [download link] This looks like a worldbook for the author's campaign, for which the site appears down.

These two are pretty much the closest thing to a D&D'esqe "Monster's Manual" for GURPS I've seen, if that's what you're wanting. The Natural Encyclopedia says it's got something close to 1,000 creatures, so...

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by Wraithe

The Natural Encyclopedia [download link] This looks like a worldbook for the author's campaign, for which the site appears down.

It is a massive translation of many 3e books' beasts into 4e, including Bestiary, Fantasy Bestiary and Space Bestiary. It isn't at publication level–it's just stats, and lacking point totals—but it is a good start. The author has been away for some time; I last heard from him this summer when I asked him to look over my own stat translations for Bestiary (more extensive).

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

It is a massive translation of many 3e books' beasts into 4e, including Bestiary, Fantasy Bestiary and Space Bestiary. It isn't at publication level–it's just stats, and lacking point totals—but it is a good start. The author has been away for some time; I last heard from him this summer when I asked him to look over my own stat translations for Bestiary (more extensive).

Point totals matter for PCs.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Point totals matter for PCs.

And PCs can figure out what the cost of those stats are. It's not grab-and-go for PCs/allies/enemies, but that's not what the author was doing and doesn't appear to be what the OP needed anyways.