Years ago, I backed the Slaughter at Splinterfang Gorge (PF/5E) from Total Party Kill Games, going so far as to pick a level that included contributing minor bits content. During the The Fighter Folio (5E) Kickstarter, Brian Berg of TPK and I talked about that project and discussed what options would appear in it. With his newest Kickstarter, Book of Monstrous Might for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition, it comes full circle as we do an interview about the project and its massive offerings.
EGG EMBRY (EGG): I appreciate getting to talk with you about this project. Let talk about your Kickstarter, what is Book of Monstrous Might?
BRIAN BERG (BRIAN): It’s a massive new resource compatible with 5E Dungeons & Dragons filled with fun new playable monster races, challenging new monsters, surprising monstrous abilities as well as tactics for monsters and dirty tricks to level the playing field. It’s about monsters being smarter, and not played simply as hit point and AC totals. What makes this exceptionally fun though is its use. Players and GMs alike will love this book for very different reasons…
EGG: This book presents new monstrous PC races, new monsters, new abilities, and new tactics. Let’s break that down and start with the new monsters. What types of monsters and what CRs should backers expect? Have you developed any new monster actions to give GM’s a new edge?
BRIAN: Oh yes… I have a very specific philosophy on monsters. They don’t exist as HP and AC, simply awaiting their inevitable deaths by some young adventurers that have nothing better to do on a weekend. No. They are intelligent beings lying in wait for a meal. They want to survive. They have desires and instincts that drive their decisions. They are cunning foes that should leave a mark on those that encounter them, lest they become banal and boring. They deserve their own sourcebook as much as fighters or any other class.
When it comes to the actual design of monsters, I’m less concerned about making killing machines that can “challenge” a party, and much more interested in monsters that leave a mark. Sometimes that’s psychological… as many a great monster instills fear, not only in the characters, but also the players. Fear and wonder are amazing tools in any GMs arsenal. Players love it too. There’s a reason horror movies are so popular. We like to be scared and shocked now and again.
I want to give every game master the ability to surprise their players with something new. Something dangerous, and something that wows their players.
I’ve teased out a handful of monsters already, so have a look:
Camazotz or Death Bat – A type of giant bat that uses its horrific screech to debuff the party. I love the idea of this swooping in on a party, its shriek so loud and terrifying spell casters have difficulty concentrating on any spells. Also, perhaps when someone is reduced to zero by this creature’s attack it automatically fails its first death save due to the trauma.
Are we having fun yet?
Gloom Moth – The gloom moth is a type of giant magical insect with a skull shaped pattern on its wings. The pattern shifts as it hovers and it can create illusions. Imagine a small number of these using mirror image on a low-level party. It should terrify players, who will feel outnumbered and outmatched, unless they can see through the illusion. Multiple gloom moths could seem like a swarm of droning dark wings… But let’s make this worse. Let’s add some necrotic dust that floats from its wings, or is inflicted by touching (or striking) the moth.
Oh, and talk about delightful spell components!
Sandshark – Technically a lizard, and not a shark, this creature appears much like a shark that dwells under sand dunes and appears to swim through them, leaping out at unsuspecting passersby. The visual on this is great, and I imagine players will react with some colorful vocabulary. Imagine the frills of this creature emerging from the sand before diving back down and tugging the legs of an adventurer down, trapping them up to their necks in the sand. The sandshark can then deal with any other opposition before enjoying its delicious wriggling prey.
Landshark…
Chatterbox – An undead shrunken head of a former spellcaster, which still knows some of it’s former magic, terrifying onlookers as its jaws clatter and clack incessantly. An aura of despair follows around this tiny rotting head. Anything within 5ft has disadvantage on its rolls. This also means some spell casters might use the rotting wizard heads as security, placing them at gates and in hallways. There are also, of course, chatty as anything, alerting creatures in the area of another creature’s presence, possibly even with the message spell!
Imagine the fun that will be had when the players see a cackling shrunken head that gives away their location to the rest of the dungeon’s guardians!
Silhouette Golem: This construct is a free standing two-dimensional humanoid silhouette that can fold itself into nearly any tiny to large shape. Their attacks would deal levels of exhaustion and give disadvantage on concentration checks. Spellcasters like them because they are easy to sneak into places as a tiny square of shadow and then: instant construct guardian!
Such creatures would make dangerous spies or assassins, let alone guardians!
On top of all of that, we have a massive 90 page section on monstrous abilities. These abilities are fueled akin to those within our Recovery Dice Options book, meaning the creatures are allowed to expend hit dice to fuel surprising new abilities. A monster’s level keeps them in the same power level as before, but the new abilities will make stale monsters exciting again.
EGG: New player race options, what can backers expect?
BRIAN: There’s likely to be a dozen or more new monstrous races within. We’ve taken a few from our classic Pathfinder racial sourcebooks and breathed new life into them for 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons. But there’s also a number of surprises as well. The brain-gorger spawn has already been illustrated, and that’s available on our Kickstarter page for viewing. The brain-gorger being a more advanced version of WotC’s mind-flayer. The brain-gorger spawn those humanoids tainted with the aberrant genetics of the brain-gorger and raised as servants, but many a canny player will be able to weave a great tale of how they escaped and get to play a creature akin to the mind fl…, sorry, brain-gorger.
There’s many more races too, though they have not all yet been announced. They’ll be a little darker than your typical sourcebook, but we are Total Party Kill Games after all. People would expect nothing less.
EGG: Before we get into the abilities and tactics, you mentioned Recovery Dice Options. Tell us about that book and what it adds to Fifth Edition?
BRIAN: That book did some amazing things. It laid the groundwork for tossing inspiration right out the window. Let’s face it, your GM probably forgets to hand it out more often than not anyway. Players use it every once in a while to get advantage on attacks.* It could be so much more. So imagine if players had control of their own narrative and chose when they could have those really amazing super-cool moments? Imagine a wealth of character abilities that would allow them to do just that, but they had to spend their hit dice (or recovery dice if you will) to fuel them then at the cost of not being able to heal as much later? Yes, that’s the amazing wonder of the Recovery Dice Options title.
Now imagine what we’ll do for monsters…
[*AUTHOR’S NOTE: These are the two truest sentences ever stated about my 5e experiences.]
EGG: Recovery Dice Options is available for free right now, correct?
BRIAN: Yeah, you can get it right from our website here. Just use code ‘MIGHT’. It’s kind of crazy for me to give away the PDF for free, but I really want people to see what we are doing. It’s an amazing book. It’s already a Gold best-seller on DriveThru with a Five-Star nod from community reviewer Endzeitgeist and we are translating that same sort of thing over for monsters. It’s going to bring the wonder back to encounters with surprisingly devilish new abilities for monsters.
EGG: Based on Recovery Dice Options, what new options are you adding via the Book of Monstrous Might?
BRIAN: Imagine if every monster you faced had a couple tricks up its sleeve that players weren’t expecting. We’ve broken down all the abilities by type, meaning you as the GM can choose the ones you want to use in your encounter and surprise your players with. They aren’t going to be able to do these abilities each round, like something from the monster’s stat block, but it’s something fun and surprising every once in a while, keeping combat fresh and exciting.
EGG: You have a great team on this book. Because it’s a long list, who are some of the highlights that you’re working with on this?
BRIAN: I would never say any of my guest writers are better than another. They all have their strengths and I’ve put all the aces in their places. Sometimes that means they will outshine me, and that’s 100% ok.
I’ve been working in this industry for ten years now. That’s a frighteningly long time. I’ve been very lucky to meet and work with so many of the industry’s greatest people in that time, and I’m pleased to work with so many of them here. For me, the gaming industry folks are like family, and rather than competition, they are trusted friends and advisors. I’ve got folks from Paizo, Kobold Press, Wolf Lair, and more on this list. Some are folks I’ve not yet worked with and felt that I should.
It’s a diverse group of very talented individuals and I’m really proud of who they are in their personal lives as well as the assembled team on this project.
EGG: You’re not just offering a supplement, but the campaign features other options. What else are you offering through this Kickstarter?
BRIAN: You are correct! As many of you know, I sell tons of dice at conventions and I am supplying some really sweet ones for this Kickstarter as well. You can see the photos here. If you back at the highest level you can even get our amazing Chromium Dragon metal dice set. But there’s some ultra-comfy TPK Games shirts as swag available as well. It’s a complete package with the book and sweet goodies to go along with it.
EGG: From this book, as a GM what are you most eager to use at the gaming table?
BRIAN: Oh man, make me choose my favorite child!?! You are the real monster here.* I kid, it’s a tough call though. Since I’m the GM, and I know all the content not yet leaked, I’m going to go with monster abilities. That’s the real hidden gem. Yes, there’s cool new races, tactics, and monsters. But the monster abilities that few players will know about that you can drag and drop in new encounters is going to be a riot.
[*AUTHOR’S NOTE: Guilty.]
EGG: Let’s turn the clock back to the last time our paths crossed on a campaign, The Fighter Folio (5e). It’s an excellent book, but it had a rocky road to get to print. Looking at the finished product, you’d never know this was anything but a smooth production because the finished product is first rate. If you don’t mind, as a publisher, can you talk a bit about how you’re able to muscle through unexpected twists and turns to craft an excellent product?
BRIAN: Hey, you are absolutely right. Publishing isn’t easy. Neither is writing or design. There’s always someone smarter than you, and I’ve simply found that I should listen to them. At its core, it’s an outstanding book with tons of great content and advice. There’s 5k people following us on Facebook for a reason. They like our content. But, as a small publisher, we don’t always have the funds to do what I wish and that’s a project where I just bit the bullet and said, let’s make the changes people are requesting even if I don’t make a dime on the project. So we hired some top tier talent for art and really dug in. It turned out to be an outstanding book that is much-loved by fans and led us to new insights and evolution of our products. That was worth every penny.
EGG: The art turned out wonderfully on the book, it has an outstanding cover and artwork throughout. Like you said, worth every penny.
You are involved in a number of projects, what else are you working on?
BRIAN: Well, that’s an understatement. By day, I’m the brand manager for a very large video game company. I’m also part of the entertainment group Wizards of the Couch on Twitch, as well as a dad, husband and creative director for Total Party Kill Games. I fold space-time to make all the things work, and I do it for all the people who love what we do.
EGG: Thank you for talking with me. Where can fans find this campaign, and keep up with you?
BRIAN: You can find us at the links below! Thank you for listening, and thank all of you for reading and your support. Even if you can’t pledge, share the good word!
Book of Monstrous Might for 5E Dungeons & Dragons DnD RPG from Total Party Kill Games
End Date: Mon, July 20 2020 12:59 AM EDT.
“An arsenal of new playable monstrous races, tactics and dirty tricks for use with the 5E Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game (RPG)!”
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