Tabletop games use too many European or stock DnD monsters, Americana stuff is wildly underused. Pitch me some of your Americana monster (or such) ideas. Folklore, cryptids, literary stuff, as long as it's American it's good.DnD stock monsters as the obvious aside.
>>98536550Monsters from "Americana" all sound like joke creatures from Harry Potter or Doctor Seuss. That's why no one uses them. >Gee willikers! I almost got bit by that gumberoo. Least I don't have to deal with the snallygasters I saw on the run to this here barn. >Thought I saw a hugag, but thankfully it just turned out to be a hodag. It immediately weights your setting towards the whimsical.
>>98536593Have you ever considered that this is due to your exposure to them? Are things like Halfling or Babayaga that much more threatening on their own? Lich rhymes with bitch. They've just become natural to you that you barely even notice how silly their names can sound.
>>98536550america was founded long after the middle ages which means people were not retarded and didnt believe in literal goblins or demons
>>98536643Oh, boy...
>>98536593Hodag I think has great potential.>The hodag was said to be born from the ashes of cremated oxen, as the incarnation of the accumulation of abuse the animals had suffered at the hands of their masters.An undead monster with fire-based attacks and a byproduct of abuse and murder. Could work really well in a Western-fantasy setting with cowboys, but fits anywhere with cattle. A shame a lot of designs for it online just make it into a weird reptile for some reason when it should be more like an imposing ash golem with cattle bones in it.
>>98536623>Lich rhymes with bitch
>>98536593>Boobies>Cuckoos>Dik-diks>Guitarfish>Lumpsucker>Pink fairy armadillo>Fried Egg Jellyfish>Thanos simonattoiThis worldbuilding is trash, how can anyone take these names seriously? They're so unrealistic
>>98536623Halfling is TSR damage control agains Tolkien estate, Baba Yaga is literally a name of the old witch and lich is old English (motherfucker, do you speak it?) for a corpse.
>>98536759The point is the names are, on the surface, silly. If you weren't already acclimated to them, you'd think they were just as silly too.
>>98536593Snallygaster is based as fuck though
>>98536593>It immediately weights your setting towards the whimsical.This is a good thing thoughbeit.
>>98536759>Halfling is TSR damage control agains Tolkien estateIs hobbit that much more of a serious and "realistic" name?
Wendigos, Chupacabras, and Skinwalkers are pretty popular. So are Mothmen. Bigfoot. You also have all the aliens in the desert. New Jersey Devil. Ozark Howler. Enfield Monster.
>>98536550mishibizhiw - the water jaguar of the Great LakesCan I post prehistoric fauna? I'm working on a setting that's all American but along with folklore and Native monsters, there are lots of prehistoric creatures like semi-sentient mammoths.
>>98538910>mishibizhiwAin't that one of them Jap car brands?
>>98538992>mishibizhiw>driving thunderMythologically, it kind of works as the water jaguar is associated with storms and lightning.
>>98538084Here's a map to get started.
>>98537670No, I'd say it's bit less serious, being originally made for a childrens' book and all.
>>98536550Even when using European monster, it's superficial, but that's D&D for you.-Cheeno: naked cannibals with icy hearts and wolf-like eyes. Their lips and shoulders are raw meat, like if something chewed on them. Strong and skilled with axes, they come with the north wind, grab someone over their shoulders and run away. Their war cries can kill and their rage can make them bigger. The heat, fire and summer harm them. Being gentle with them can make them also be gentle in return, not out of goodness, but because they get confused. If you kill a Cheeno, burn all of it. Leftover remains spawn a new Cheeno. The heart, which looks like a lump of ice with a tiny person inside, takes hours on a fire to melt. Sorcerers and evil spirits can turn people into Cheenos. The victim feels hot, eating snow to feel better, growing larger and fiercer, shedding off clothes.-El Muerto: Vidal was a horse hustler, caught and decapitated, the body left over his horse's saddle. The undead headless horseman still rides. People shoot him, natives fill his chest with arrows, it rides away, full of lead and broken shafts. A group caught and buried him, but it reappeared. Despite being headless, it says: "it's all mine". -Haietlik: lightning-snakes. They live within the feathers of the Thunder-Bird, and are shot when it flaps its wings.-Hanehwa: a sorcerer can use a flayed skin to craft a proximity sensor. The thing is always awake, and screams three times when strangers approach.-Oshadagea: an eagle, but it's so big it has a whole lake on its back. When the fire spirits burn the woods, it rains dew, extinguishing the fire and also healing burnt plants.-Sapiya: magic stone pets. Can be yellow, red and blue. They reproduce and move by jumping, like frogs. Give it dew, squirrel blood and songs, so it can give you good luck.-Uncegila: a terrible wyrm, creating mutant beasts. Seeing it makes one mad and blind, then the victim dies 4 days later. Wolverine killed it.
>Red Ghost, a feral and violent camel whose rider, a US Armyman, died while still strapped to him and his decaying corpse and blood dyed the camel redShould this be a necro monster or something else?
