Sunday 4 March 2012

FF-only WM tables

Half-formed thunks on dungeon stocking using /only/ the curate's egg that is the Fiend Folio. This meme was cool when Jeff Rients (the instigator), Zak S , Fr Dave and Joshua of RB were doing it. I expect my input will kill it deader than disco.

Edit 6th Mar 2012: Jeff Rients, the Grand Wizard of Gonzo, hath compiled a link collection of FF fanlove. So much goodness!

TL;DR: What I've found in the course of my nosings:
  • If you're using MM+FF, you're 30-40% likely to be rolling Fiend Folio monsters at L1-4.
  • L5+ Fiend Folio monsters are poorly represented in MM+FF, with only a 16% chance of appearing at best. This drops to only 7% for L8.
  • NPC parties turn up from 5-12% of the time, with seemingly no rhyme or reason as to frequency by level.
  • Dragons turn up 2% of the time on L4-8, 3% of the time on L9, and 9% of the time on L10. Li Lung (earth dragon) only until L7.



Note on the Tables

The freq # on the tables below is derived from the percentage chance of encountering that creature on the MM+FF WM tables in the back of the Fiend Folio. I've taken it as a direct indicator of relative scarcity in FF-only world. Why? Because the orthodox "common/uncommon/rare/very rare" frequencies in the AD&D monster listings are just so tediously sensible. Needs more gonzo.

The #number at the bottom of each table tots up the numbers in the freq# column. It might be useful in making short and sweet FF-only random encounter tables, like, I dunno, these ones: FF only WM tables.pdf

Dungeon Level I
freq #Creature# enc
1Al-mi'raj1-4
2Bullywug3-18
2Carbuncle1
2Dire Corby2-5
3Gibberling6-17
4Jermlaine6-20
2Mite3-18
1Norker2-8
2Ogrillon1-4
4Snayd1-8
7Tween1
1Xvart6-15
#31

  • L1 has little variety; just a bunch of runty humanoids and a couple of beasties with odd forehead adornments. It's like all the least imaginative parts of Star Trek as a dungeon level. :(
  • Gibberling, Jermlaine and Snayd comprise ~30% of all L1 encounters. But then they are "kobold, goblin, orc" by other names...
  • Notable exception: the luck-tweaking Tween. This weirdy is by far the commonest single monster type on L1: ~22% of encounters! Ask your DM how multiple Tween luck manipulation powers interact... (throw things at him if he bottle it and claims they cancel out)

Level II
freq #Creature# enc
2Assassin Bug2
2Coffer Corpse1
2Crabman2-8
2Flind2-8
3Flump2-8
1Galltrit1-4
2Goldbug1-12
4Gorbel1-8
4Grimlock2-12
1Gryph1-6
2Ice Troll1-6
1Nilbog1-6
3Poltergeist1-8
2Quaggoth4-10
3Skulk1-8
4Volt1-8
2Vortex1-8
#40

  • Fiend Folio VTEC kicks in yo! on L2. Flumps, Gorbels, Nilbogs and Vortices all bring their own brand of crazy to the dungeon. Also, gnollchucks.
  • Gorbels, Grimlocks and Volts appear a lot. 1in10 chance of each if playing FF-only.
  • Finally! a use for that turn undead ability that's been clogging up the cleric's character sheet to no apparent purpose.
  • Ogrillons are missing from the WM table. Unsurprising considering that neither of their progenitor races exist in FF-only D&D.

Level III
freq #Creature# enc
1Adherer1-4
1Astral Searcher2-11
1Babbler1-4
1Berbelang1
1Blindheim1-4
1Bonesnapper1-3
1Dark Creeper1
1Death Dog3-12
1Enveloper1
1Firedrake1-6
1Firenewt2-16
2Fire Snake1-6
1Forlarren1
1Frost man1
1Gambado1-4
1Garbug, violet1-3
1Huecuva1-4
1Imorph1
1Iron Cobra1
3Kenku1-4
1Mantari1-3
1Meazle1
2Mephit1
1Necrophidus1
1Qullan1-6
1Scrm. Devilkin1
1Sheet Phantom1
1Shocker1-3
1Stunjelly1
1Symbiotic Jelly1
1Thoqqua1-2
1Tirapheg1
2Whipweed1-2
2Witherweed1
#40


  • L3 is Fiend Folio heaven! Adherers, zapfrogs, thermal worms, killer jack-in-the-boxes, crazy snakes (iron, firey, and skeletal), several types of malicious imp, and a variety of angry wall hangings. This is the Fiend Folio that the cool kids rave about.
  • No Osquip listing on the WM table? For shame! I can't stand the little buggers myself, but they're a Fiend Folio classic.
  • Kenku are the single commonest encounter. Expect lots of kidnappings and suchlike crow-ninja antics, especially with the Dark Creepers in town too.
  • Nice variety, with only 1in10 chance of weed- or fire-themed beasty attack.

Level IV
freq #Creature# enc
2Bloodworm, Gt1-3
2Caterwaul1
1Dark Stalker1
1Denzelian1-2
1Disenchanter1
2Ettercap1-2
1Eye killer1
2Firetoad1-3
1Flailsnail1
2Garbug, Black1-3
2Grell1
2Hook Horror2-5
2Kamadan1
1Kuo-tou2-12
1Lava children1-6
1Meenlock2-5
2Sandman1-2
1Scarecrow1-2
1Shadow demon1
1Son of Kyuss1-2
2Tiger fly2
2Y.musk creeper1 (+ YMZombies = # of flowers)
#33

  • Lots of penny packet fights with second-string heavy metal bands on L4.
  • Only Kuo-tou (and yellow musk zombies) turn up anything like mob-handed.
  • Dragons finally put in an appearance, in the form of the Li Lung. They can turn invisible at will and create roof-collapsing earthquakes to which they are immune 1/day, so expect TPKs.
  • The Meenlocks will chant "one of us, one of us" in your nightmares, and then make it so.
  • Disenchanter? Warning: multiply rust monster by disjunction effect and brace for butthurt players.
  • Flailsnails. Why? Because f***ing FLAILSNAILS!


Level V
freq #Creature# enc
1Crypt Thing1
1Elf, drow3-12
1Githyanki1-4
1Githzerai1-4
2Ice lizard1-2
1Khargra1-2
2Phantom Stalker1
2Svirfneblin2-5
2Tentamort1-2
1Trilloch1
1Umpleby1
1Xill1-2
#16


  • Here be poster boy scheming humanoids with their own cultures, magic and class-levelled bosses: Drow, Gith*, and the vile Smurfnoblins. When does /cloudkill/ come onstream?
  • The Xill want to make sweet ethereal love to your paralysed/subdued body.
  • Phantom Stalkers paw at you surprisingly ineffectually for L5 creatures. 1-4/1-4 and a one shot 6d6 fireball? Ogrillons hit harder!
  • Crypt Things are on the WM table despite a listing of In Lair: 100%. Eh? how does that work? Schrodinger's Crypt Thing or sommat...?
  • No entry for Caryatid Columns. Them girls are real homebodies.
  • No listing for Doombats either, even though they're a L5 creature described as living in underground caverns.


Level VI
freq #Creature# enc
1Apparition1
3Hellcat1
1Lizard King1
2Penanggalan1
2Protein Polymorph1
1Slaad, red1
1Spirit Troll1
1Sussurus1
1Terithran1
2Troll, giant1-2
1Vision1
#16


  • L6 is the first of the billy-no-mates levels inhabited by too-cool-for-company loners. Thank goodness for the Dungeon Random Monster Level Determination Matrix in the DMG, otherwise "1 of... 1 of... 1 of..." would just get tedious.
  • Hellcats are the single commonest encounter, probably looking to sign on with a better class of Lawful Evil boss downstairs.
  • Lizard kings have no lizardmen to lord it over in FF-only D&D. Ronery ronery rizardking-in-exile.
  • Charles Stross-written, Russ Nicholson-illustrated commie chaos frog in easy access loincloth will give you BAD touch. ("It's Slaady time!" "No dad, no!")
  • One Vision. No, not the cheesy Queen song, or the Marvel superhero, but a adversarial GM not-undead with exception-based powers of aging you to death only if you believe it capable of doing so.

Level VII
freq #Creature# enc
2Cifal1-2
1Devil, Styx1
1Eye of Fear and Flame1
1Giant, mountain1-2
1Groaning Spirit1
1Guardian Demon1
1Guard. Familiar1
1Lamia Noble1
1Magnesium Spirit1
1Nonafel1
1Revenant1
1Slaad, blue1
1Troll, gt 2head1
#14


  • Another 'on-yer-billy' level. Only the Cifals (commonest single encounter btw), giants and 2-headed troll seem to want to engage in conversation.
  • Between the undead and infernals the cleric is going to be earning his keep.
  • Lamia nobles join the lizardkings in exile. At least they can lord it over non-lamia...
  • Magnesium spirits self-sabotage by lurking at a level too shallow to fulfil the stated requirements for them to leave this Plane. Eejits.
  • Wot no Mezzodaemon? They're described as being easy to summon to the Material Plane.
  • A second dragon type finally(!) makes an appearance. The Tien lung and its 50% chance of 1-6 Wind Walker cronies.


Level VIII
freq #Creature# enc
1Death knight1
2Giant, fog1-2
2Retriever1
1Skel. Warrior1
1Slaad, green1
#7


  • Two types of sword-swinging militaristic skeleton, one chartreuse chaos frog, one type of (hunched up) giant, and demon mecha-spiders with death ray eyes. L8 is weird.
  • The Retriever is listed as an L7 creature in its description, but makes cameos on deeper dungeon levels. Maybe its looking for something?

Level IX
freq #Creature# enc
3Achaierai1-2
2Nycadaemon1
3Retriever1
2Slaad, grey1
#10

  • This far down the locals are all extra-planar. Dungeon L9 is deep in the mythic part of the mythic underworld.
  • The Retriever gets another appearance, which is a bit odd.
  • Note the British spelling of 'grey' for the grey slaad. Possibly an indication that the charcoal chaos frogs are oh so frightfully British, what-what? Expect monocles, eccentricity and tea etiquette arguments.

Level X
freq #Creature# enc
3Demon Prince1
2Elemental Prince of Evil1
3Lamia Noble1
3Slaad, death1
1Slaad, lord1
#13


  • It's all chaos and evil down on L10. Even the dragons only go there in pairs.
  • The poor outclassed Lamia Noble seems to be listed in error. They're L7 monsters according to their description. Although the image of a Lamia noble slithering through the level looking for an exit as quietly as possible is fun...

Conclusion
The FF-only dungeonscape is weird and a bit sparse away from levels 2-4. No gygaxian naturalism yard trash (fungus, centipedes, spiders, rats, cave crickets, etc) here. Instead we get a level 1 composed of scads of humanoids leavened with a few Borgesian bestiary monsters, then several layers of outright bizarro, and then a layer of big name subterranean humanoids with extended write-ups. After that things taper down to a mix of weird fantasy and scifi-ish stuff, and finally to "all demons all the time". Even the dragons (when they finally rear their oddly-moustachioed heads) are weird and a bit non-dragonish.


Yeah, you've got some classic, iconic D&D monsters in the mix (death knight, drow, hook horror, kuo-tou, slaad, etc), but the overall feel of the underworld presented by the Fiend Folio is such a gonzo departure from the norm that I'm not sure whether or not FF-only D&D would cross that nebulous line into 'not-D&D'.

Pic source: weknowmemes.com

4 comments:

  1. Interesting. Oh, and those moustachioed dragons, like all hipsters, wear those 'staches ironically.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was going to write a lengthy praise of your analysis here, share it on Google+ and link to it from my blog...

    ...then you and talked trash about Queen.



    (PS But seriously, good work here.)




    (PPS Queen rules.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very cool idea. If I start a totally new campaign at some point I might consider doing this.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...