Monsters Upon the Coast, part 2 (H-Z)
This is a continuation of my other post, read part 1 here.
Hobgoblins - Some of my favourite monsters for the same reasons as the gnolls, but in large part because of how different they feel despite sharing a central conceit of "warriors from ages past waging eternal war". I also like how there are entire hexes dedicated to being extremely foreboding about their approach, and that they're coming up north because they found out about Noos being a colony to Atlantis and want to sack it. Kinda like a permanent Sea Peoples.
Invisible Stalkers - There is a single one in the entire map and I'm not sure what it is. Seems like some sort of D&D monster. Whatever it is, it's invisible and wants to kill people, which is a bit scary but again, another one of those animalistic monsters that I don't find particularly interesting. Could have been a particularly sneaky wolf.
Juggernauts - I also love Shadow of the Colossus, so no notes, they're amazing. I also enjoy that they're the prison to some sort of embryonic god, the "mad Lemurian" that Atlantis "helped", and that killing all of them will eradicate any evidence of both from our world.
Kobolds - Kinda like goblins except less interesting. Their purpose in the text seems to be pragmatic.
Living Statues - Less of a proper monster and more of a generic category for automata found throughout the world. I cannot judge them as a single thing because this is just a statblock. Overall though, I think the three-ish encounters with Living Statues aren't anything to write home about on their own, I imagine they're more interesting in the context of the game proper (as all things in TTRPGs should be).
Lizardfolk - Lizards which have eaten human flesh and become human-like in all spectrums except physical. There are only two encounter with them, one is the classical situation of "the subhuman monster appears human and then reveals its monstrous nature", often paired with "the ignorant rurals" (as in this case), and the other is of lizards who "have no malice in their heart and bide their time, for now". This is one of the cases where I don't quite see what making them be inhuman does that making them human wouldn't do it scarier. Wouldn't it be more spooky if, instead of being extremely obviously inhuman and wanting to eat you, they were exactly like every other village you've passed through?
Manticores - I generally do not like manticores in RPGs, as they feel too much like videogame monsters, but I quite like the Manticores in Wolves. They're a very simple concept - dogs who have been mistreated taking revenge - but their encounters are interesting and well-executed. Moreover, in a world where things can be very "big and serious" in scale, usually involving dramatic sacrifices or cannibalism, these Manticores bring a personal flavour that I really appreciate.
Medusae - One of the Roman monsters. I don't particularly care for Medusa as a recurring monster, she's so iconic and specific that it risks feeling like a videogame, but I think the author mostly pulls it off. I say "mostly" because they're ultimately still very one-dimensional, being usually guards of the treasures of the fallen Romans, and the one of them that gets a name is a siren that will try to deceive the players to do her bidding and conquer a kingdom for herself.
I understand they are basically manifestations of Roman aggression ("Make a wasteland. Call it what you will." a great reference to Tacitus), but part of what makes the Roman compelling to me in a fictional context is that they have interiority. We mostly get their atrocities straight from their own mouth, so you often get to see the wheels of Empire turning in the writings of Julius Caesar and such. They were aggressive imperialists, militarized lunatics, and also real people with all that entails. We don't get to see the Romans as humans in Wolves, which I think is a bit of a shame. It draws so often on the Welsh language, particularly in Ergyng (which, in real life, was around Herefordshire), but cunningly dodges the idea that the medieval Welsh liked the Romans, and took pride in being a legionnaire fort... yet we also know that their quality of life got objectively better once the Romans left.
The medusae are a good emblem of this flattening. The Greeks usually understood her as simply a monster that was killed by Perseus (with exceptions), but the Roman version of her as seen in Ovid is the one which is usually portrayed as a victim. It makes this entry feel a bit like wasted potential.
Merfolk - These guys are so interesting. In talking to others about them, their position was that the Merfolk in Wolves are exclusive bad guys, because in the text they mostly are. They are evil strangers who hunt humans to turn them into monsters like themselves, and also to eat them.
Yet... look at the encounters and plotlines they have. In Rhus, they are only attacking because the head of their idol was stolen; in Faroe, they observe the coast of a river, "remembering a settlement that was once here", implied to have been destroyed in the time of the Giants. In Noos, one of them asks the party for help; in Ruislip, they likewise await off the coast, observing and remembering the land they used to inhabit.
For each of these there is also an equivalent encounter where the Merfolk prey on humans (and they are a common enemy on the encounter table, which indicates they harass sea travellers), but I think that is their least interesting aspect. See, there is much under the sea in Wolves, such as the undersea giants, the giant lobsters, Cthulhu, etc. All of these things hate the characters and often attack without provocation, but the Merfolk are unique in that they have provocation. They have a justification for waging war, and that's something almost no other monster has.
I'm half tempted to let them be another path to leaving mortality behind, why not? The giants walked off into the sea, why don't humans too? When all that is left are a few households and the world has taken all that you have, you are literally dehumanized in the ocean. Broken shells in the sand take to the water.
Minotaurs - The second of the Roman monsters. Really good interpretation, very compelling. I had to read all of the encounters before it finally clicked that "being turned into a minotaur" was meant as a punishment, not as something that crazy people would do to be immortal. Why would anyone want to live forever in the world of Wolves is entirely beyond me. I don't usually like it when the Minotaur is taken and turned into a category of monster, because he's invariably just a bull man, but this one goes beyond.
Mummies - In the context of Wolves these are typically bog mummies, which is a very clever recontextualization. I like them, though I do feel like their encounters could have been more involved with the extended history of the world. Most of them have no name.
Ogres - Impeccable. I would expect nothing else. Ogres in Wolves are people who are so greedy, they start to want "everything" of one particular thing. It's a surprisingly fairy-tale interpretation for Wolves, and I welcome it.
Orcs - Pieces of torn flesh with a slug of iron in the middle, whose blood ruins metal and hate the sun. I'm divided on the Wolvish orc. On the one hand, as far as orcs go, I really like this one; it's evocative, creepy, strong, and mean, just like the doctor ordered. On the other hand, it's essentially a Man that you can't parley with. Not that that's intrinsically bad, as sometimes it is nice to have just straight up evil guys, but I've noticed that Wolves is really combat focused, and I think part of it is because the monsters are extremely aggressive and always have a reason to attack you.
Pegasi - Not on the hex key at all, lol. Existing solely as a piece of poetry on the V2M&. It sure is an interesting move to pick only 50 monsters from OD&D, turn a green slime into a black pudding, put a single gelatinous cube, and no Pegasus at all.
Purple Worm - Another one that is actually an individual. Only one exists in the hex key, inside a dungeon dedicated to it. I never liked these creatures, they feel like a less interesting dragon, but I do enjoy how Wolves hands an entire dungeon to one and brings it entirely into the spotlight. Also, "Away from the sun, they teem in hypothetical millions" is a very cool line.
Salamanders - There are three salamander encounters and they're all good. Very simple, in a good way. Making them be the restless, eternally burning undead who constantly seek further warmth is a fascinating choice, and makes them be probably the only real way of defeating a black pudding.
Skeletons - Classical monster deployed classically, no notes. I don't mind skeletons.
Sphinx - The third of the Roman monsters, though this one wasn't as immediately obvious to me until I read their encounters. I find them interesting, though strange in a way where I wish there was more clarification. It seems like turning someone to a sphinx is a punishment in the world of Wolves, since they need to be flayed first, but the Sphinxes in the world seem to quite enjoy the Roman Empire and be their stalwart defenders. Is this another symptom of the disease where no Roman is ever allowed to be a full person, including their victims? Or were the Sphinxes given a reason? It is just unclear on the encounters, but given that they're one of the parleyable monsters (one of them is even described as chatty), more context would be nice.
Trolls - I don't like the original D&D troll, it feels too gamey and I don't appreciate making up a monster for your game and then handing it the name of a random folklorical being, with not even an attempt at a connection, as if the culture of the entire world could be chewed and spat out into a nothing-creature, drained of all context.
That said, the Wolves troll has no real reason to be called a troll besides its incomprehensible (to me) dedication to D&D, but I quite like it the way that it is. It's unclear to me if turning troll is a punishment or not, as it seems to be extremely painful, and there is at least one troll which needs to be cared for his mother because he can't do anything on account of all the glass in his gums and fingers, but I suspect that it is a strange form of punishment. Again, it is entirely incomprehensible why anyone would choose to live forever in the world presented by Wolves.
Unicorn - Just the one, because there is only one, and you get one shot at hunting it. Strangely whimsical for Wolves, you'd think he would have focused more on the part where the Unicorn is an embodiment of the untamed wilderness - a horse that is also a goat that is also a lion. I'm not complaining though, I quite like the Unicorn encounter.
Vampires - Vampires in D&D stick out a bit to me, probably because I always associate them with the modern world, so seeing a Dracula in a clearly medieval-ish context feels strange. In Wolves, however, there are four vampires and they're all very interesting characters. One is Boudicca, being sustained by an entire town, another is nameless and bestial, and the last two are a pair of immortal Romans locked in a centuries-long feud.
Honestly, they're not changed in any way, but as it always is with vampires, the context in which they're presented makes them shine. I find it particularly interesting that Boudicca is described as once being "Queen of Albann". Ball-knowers are aware that, in real life, Boudicca was queen of the Iceni, who lived on what today is East Anglia, but I choose to interpret this as a bit of lore from Wolves. There are indications that the Saxons never did get to "Albann" - given that it is called Albann and everyone has Welsh names - and perhaps consolidated with the Franks instead, hence their nobility being called "Istvaeonic" (an alternate name for an early, North Germanic language). So the vampires are interesting from a game perspective, but also add to the history of the world in a fascinating and subtle way.
Werewolves - These are difficult to parse, as there are much less of them than you'd might expect. I like that they seem to belong to some sort of brotherhood or hidden fraternity of werewolves. Despite their description in the V2M&, it seems as if all of the werewolves in Albann are very sober, have nice goals, and are embedded into the world of the game interestingly. I'm half-tempted to make them be the "druid-equivalent", as they are way more interesting than the druids and also way scarier, because they're not idiots.
Wraiths - Not much to say, really. They're ghosts, the encounters with them are fine if overly aggressive and sure to result in a fight, much like most other monsters in Wolves. Like the Mummies, I half expected there to be more to the wraiths, that they would add more to the history and the world, but they generally don't. I suspect that it's because of sheer numbers, there are a lot of Wraith encounters in Wolves.
Wyverns - Genuinely incredible monsters. Exiled people who got so mad, they turned into a dragonling. Every single one of them has a tie to the currently extant history and seems to be intelligent enough to be conniving and also angry enough not to care that much about killing people. There's a sadness about each wyvern told in the little touches that they possess. Wolves at its best, hinting at something bigger and, if you have been paying attention, you will understand where they slot into the world.
Zombie - "It is not dark magic that animates dead flesh. It is pity." Hard cut to every single Zombie encounter being extremely typical, quite a few very decidedly having been reanimated by dark magic. Classic Wolves move.