Metal Monster Manual Monday - Volume 10

Continuing a weekly series of posts wherein I share several album covers (mostly by death metal bands!) as brainfood for encounters in your tabletop RPG. Expect this every Monday!

PARADISE GALLOWS (Inter Arma)

I love the colors and textures on this one.
I THINK that is a sun (obscured by clouds and miasmas) and not a moon, but it is hard to tell. I imagine it being a sunrise, actually (daylight dawns upon this grim scene that has transpired during the night), though it could just as easily be a sunset.
It is also hard to tell whether the object in front of the sun is a ruined castle or a rock formation. I'm gonna go for the latter, because the shape is evocative and it's a cooler option anyway.
So, two main things to think about for this piece in the context of building an adventuring scene.
1) What's with the ship? It looks like it got wrecked on some rocks, and the crew (but not the captain) abandoned ship. I imagine that's the captain up top, who hung himself in order to "go down with his ship." What was this ship carrying - treasure? Contraband? Prisoners? Looting a precarious shipwreck upon the rocks would be a great adventuring scenario, but so would tracking down dangerous missing prisoners! (Perhaps they are sheltering in:)
2) The ruined castle. Who once ruled here? Whose lands were these? Why was the castle abandoned to ruin - was it conquered? Cursed? Simply too expensive to maintain? What unwholesome denizens now reside within its crumbling corridors? (What treasures and secrets might be found within?) Are these - either the denizens or the treasures or the secrets - connected with the wreck outside?

DREAM AN EVIL DREAM (Aevangelist)

I imagine this being as a classic door guardian spirit of some kind. Solve his riddle, or answer his question, or bring him his sacrifice, or retrieve the key, and he will let you pass! Fail this and attempt passage anyway, and he will inflict withering necrotic damage with the merest touch of his shadowy tendrils, while your mundane weapons pass straight through his un-substance.
I find it interesting that there is a suggestion of a third eye on his forehead. Perhaps he has sight of a kind not possessed by most mortals. (He may have oracular powers, or extraordinary powers of perception, or the ability to see into minds.) This would make an encounter especially interesting, or give another motive to interact with him besides merely obtaining passage through his doorway.
The fact that the artwork has no words on it means there is no reason to merely show your players what they see!


Alright, time for the BOSS BATTLE:

EXTINCTION NECROMANCE (Xul)

We have already featured a Xul album cover on a different Metal Monster Manual Monday a while back, but here's another one!
This is another one of those covers that I've actually used in my experimental Metal Monster Manual Campaign - it was actually the culminating, final boss! It's gonna be hard for me to abstract it from the way that I actually used it, so I'll just run you through how it figured in that campaign.
The being above, who I named Xul (much creative, right?), was encountered by the players previously in the form presented by the Resist the Thought artwork in this post - note the horns (now repaired above!) and the third eye (replacing the previous mark or brand!).
In the very center of the artwork, protected by some kind of bubble or shield, is the perhaps-fetal demon-child from whom Xul draws power to restore her lost deity and assume this form. Xul needed to be slain before this infant god could be handled or harmed.
This is a hard thing to do. Xul's head, arms, and torso are armored with bone plate (save the crack where her third eye may be seen!). Furthermore, her four powerful arms, many tentacles, and sharp horns provide myriad mundane ways of hindering and harming players. Finally, the aura that crackles about her head my be channeled by her third eye into a blistering ray of DOOOM.
The ensuing combat was great - full of danger. The players managed to slay Xul in the nick of time, as one player leapt upon her back and cracked her protective skull wide open with a Word of Power, allowing another player a clear arbalest shot straight into her third eye, destroying this form. (The party, with much disagreement and strife, then murdered the infant demon-god as it slept, destroying its dream world that the campaign took place in and returning the players to the waking world which the demon-dreams had been seeping into. Long story. I may write it out fully if there's interest.)
I was very happy with how Xul functioned as a final boss. Success!


How would YOU use any/all of these monsters, encounters, and scenes in your game, Reader?
(Let me know how it goes if you do!)

Housekeeping note: after two weeks of unemployment, my new job will be starting up at the end of this week or the beginning of next. I will be busy, and I will transition this blog into two posts per week rather than three. Monday and Thursday, most likely. Now that Metal Monster Manual Monday has reached its 10th installment (yay!), I will probably bring it down to bi-weekly, and fill the intervening space with miscellaneous articles.
So, stay tuned!

Previous volumes:
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6
Volume 7
Volume 8
Volume 9

Metal Monster Manual Monday - Volume 9

Continuing a weekly series of posts wherein I share several album covers (mostly by death metal bands!) as brainfood for encounters in your tabletop RPG. Expect this every Monday!

PROMINENCE AND DEMISE (Winds)

I actually find this one to be super creepy.
So, we've got this slender, amorphous figures amid this colorful-but-horrid blurred background. I'm gonna say that, in a game, a creature that looks at or near one of these figures experiences blurred tunnel vision, with colors of all but the figure itself hideously accented.
The figures themselves move as if made of solid smoke, rippling and distorting with the growing winds. They move slowly, struggling against gusts. They can be fled, but not forgotten; once seen, they haunt the mind in dreams each night thereafter. (Such sleepers regain one less hit point, or hit die depending on the system, from sleep. Blacking out from drunkenness prevents this, but has other drawbacks.)
They are the stuff of dreams. If you see one in your waking hours, it is because someone somewhere is dreaming them into existence. Soon, you will fall asleep, and dream into existence your own. Perhaps someone else will see it. Perhaps, however, you will not live long enough to dream it.
Their touch causes flesh to part cleanly and painlessly, right down to the bone.
They are supremely difficult to hit, bending and snapping like a flag on a pole whenever weapons are swung at them. If a weapon connects, anything but magical weapons pass straight through as if through dense smoke. (Magical or silver weapons part the figure's body cleanly, separated appendages disintegrating like fumes in a gale.)
Everything is soundless, except the howling of winds.

(Update: I wrote this up as a fully-statted monster! See it here, use it if you wish!)

CURSE OF THE RED RIVER (Barren Earth)

Once, this land was green. Now, the plants grow twisted. Their sap is red. Do not eat fresh plants.

The dead do not stay dead. They rise, twisted as the plants. They bleed red from every worm-hole, bulging cyst, and site of decay that mars their flushed skin. Do not touch their blood.

Priests and sages debate why the River turned red, shaking their hoary heads in frustration. Much blood had been spilled here, but it should have washed downstream by now. The River merely winds on, sluggish and turbid, red as fresh blood. Perhaps the plants turned red, infected by disease, and their noxious emissions tainted the water.

Even the Sun is red. Perhaps it is the Sun that cursed the plants AND the River. If so, truly this land is doomed, for who can reach the Sun to cleanse it?


Alright, time for the BOSS BATTLE:

CLIMBING THE COLOSSUS (Sunnata)

I imagine that there are tales about The Colossus. It appears out of the desert near a random town every few years, base hidden by blowing sand and strange fumes. It moves very slowly, so slowly that those staring at it fail to see it move at all. However, within a few days, it is at the town. Anyone who stays longer than this is never heard from again; all that is found later is a patch of glowing, cooling glass, and a tall figure on the horizon toward the desert.

For a PC, this would not be a traditional "boss battle," as in practical terms it cannot be fought. Do you see the town or fortress at the bottom foreground of the image above? Look at the scale!

To be stopped, The Colossus must be climbed.

Those who approach its base find it shrouded by biting sand and billowing smoke. It is difficult to see if it has legs at all, but, groping blindly through the haze toward the low rumble of moving stone, The Colossus itself can be found. From there, it is a matter of a long, harrowing climb on smooth, hard stone.

Its mouth is as if the fires of heaven burned within the pits of hell.

What would be found within its eyes?


How would YOU use any/all of these monsters, encounters, and scenes in your game, Reader?
(Let me know how it goes if you do!)

Previous volumes:
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6
Volume 7
Volume 8

Metal Monster Manual Monday - Volume 8

Continuing a weekly series of posts wherein I share several album covers (mostly by death metal bands!) as brainfood for encounters in your tabletop RPG. Expect this every Monday!

IGNOTUM (The Voynich Code)

I think of this little guy as more of a questgiver or informational resource rather than a monster or foe (though he could be that, too).
I imagine his skin having the same texture as parchment.
The drawings, writing, and symbols on the cat's skin are either from or inspired by the Voynich manuscript, as indicated by the band's title. What knowledge do they reveal in YOUR campaign world?
I'm honestly not sure what's going on with the roots or the flame. Perhaps the flame is merely ethereal, or a sort of "burning bush" effect?

SINGULARITY (Stortregn)

Aw yiss. Dem ruins.
The area looks volcanic, or at least geothermally active (geysers, hot springs, etc.). I'm imagining that either the structures were built before the area became volcanic (in which case the volcanism itself depopulated the area and ruined the buildings) or that they were built in an already geothermally active area. I lean toward the latter, since volcanism would usually WRECK buildings like that, whereas they look like they're in pretty good shape.
So, there's a couple possible reasons why such buildings would be erected in an area characterized by hot springs and mineral pools (which looks like what's going on above). From the architecture, it's not a fortified or military structure (except POSSIBLY that tower-like structure in the foreground on the right).
It could be a complex of decadent bathhouses and spas, its nurturing empire now fallen apart and its former patrons reduced to members of distant peasantries.
It could be a religious complex, a place of worship for the deities who created or dwell in the hot colored waters.
It could be a magical or alchemical nexus, making use of the mineral-rich waters or the natural heat to create strange and wonderful enchantments, effects, or compounds.
In any of the above cases, it would be worth exploring for a party of greedy adventurers.
What dangers would they face? Scalding waters, spirits of the inner earth, mutated monsters?


Alright, time for the BOSS BATTLE:

GHOST THIEF (Living Sacrifice)

I love the mood in this one, first off.
Right, so, the towering skeletal figure on the hilltop is obviously the Ghost Thief (see him stealing the ghost of that woman walking toward him?). He has the power to steal souls and thereby add to his power (Dark Souls, anyone?).
I imagine him then burying the lifeless bodies on the hill and placing a cross upon it.
It's telling that at least four individuals seem to be walking resignedly up the hill to have their souls stolen. I imagine the Ghost Thief has formidable powers to enchant and compel, perhaps even from a great distance, luring prey to him to have their souls stolen.
Combat would involve both a mental element (psychic compulsion, followed by the theft of a PC's soul) and a physical element (a JANKING HUGE robed skeleton stomping about and impaling people on crosses).


How would YOU use any/all of these monsters, encounters, and scenes in your game, Reader?
(Let me know how it goes if you do!)

Previous volumes:
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6
Volume 7

Metal Monster Manual Monday - Volume 7

Continuing a weekly series of posts wherein I share several album covers (mostly by death metal bands!) as brainfood for encounters in your tabletop RPG. Expect this every Monday!

ESSENCE OF THE LAND (Warforged)

Fairly straightforward. This is either a faerie portal, sapient elder tree, or fey conglomeration of deceptive, malignant vegetation. You know what to do.
Beautiful artwork, though.

WHOM THE MOON A NIGHTSONG SINGS (Various Artists)

What would she say to one who approaches her?


Alright, time for the BOSS BATTLE:

PRIVATE JUDGMENT DAY (Aborted Fetus)

This town is obviously controlled by a corrupt and tyrannical government, or a wicked and perverse cult. Whether the PCs want to rescue a specific prisoner or simply stop this gruesome spectacle of terror, there's challenge to be had!
1) Obviously the executioner. Big guy with an axe and mask. Fairly standard; give him a ton of HP and damage, with not too much in the way of brains.
2) Guards. They seem well-armored, and have long polearms ideal for fighting in ranks (or hooking interfering PCs off the execution platform!)
3) That hag or wretch to the left of the executioner, holding a head. Witch? Necromancer? Just a garden-variety creep, haha?
4) Those dogs at the bottom. Obviously have a taste for blood, probably violent, possibly possessed or magical (look at the eyes!).
5) An evil necromancer showing up on the scene would have a heyday. Animate piles of shifting heads? Check. Mutilated horrors reaching from their gibbets toward the living? Check. Shuffling, burning, headless bodies? Check.

As a parting note, I notice that the execution block is a stump. Where did it come from? Was it once a sacred tree? Does it still derive nourishment from the streams of blood that run down its roots? (What eldritch changes would such nourishment bring about in it?)


How would YOU use any/all of these monsters, encounters, and scenes in your game, Reader?
(Let me know how it goes if you do!)

(Sorry that some of this post was somewhat sparse. I've got a lot on my plate and a lot on my mind this week. The stuff should still be useful and perhaps thought-provoking, though.)

Previous volumes:
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6

Metal Monster Manual Monday - Volume 6

Continuing a weekly series of posts wherein I share several album covers (mostly by death metal bands!) as brainfood for encounters in your tabletop RPG. Expect this every Monday!

SOVEREIGNTY (Resist the Thought)

A lot of cool stuff going on in this one. (I've actually used this in my Metal Monster Manual campaign that I DM'd last spring!)

Obviously the central figure in this artwork is the (de-)horned woman. Some clues to piece together:
1) Her horns have been broken off (but are now being repaired?).
2) Both here hands have been pierced. (As if by crucifixion?)
3) Tattooed or branded on her forehead is a sign (perhaps a crucifix?).
4) Blood is around her mouth and running down her body (coughed up from internal bleeding, or sucked from her hand-wounds?).
5) She may have a chest wound (it is hard to tell, since her hands are in the way from this angle).
6) In her arms (not really clear how they are being held) is a bone and a dagger (or sword - the blade is long compared to the hilt).

Now consider the two figures flanking her:
1) Veiled, but in both cases the veil is stained with blood (either from the eyes, mouth, or nose?).
2) Emaciated (perhaps undead?).
3) Preparing to replace the central figure's broken horns.

Put this together how you will, of course, but here's what I think is going on:

The central figure is (or was) a deity or demi-goddess, defeated: horns (a symbol of power or authority) broken, and crucified. Some say gods cannot die, so it is only natural that a manifestation of her power would remain: broken, bleeding, but oh-so-thirsty for power (she has taken to drinking her own blood from her still-open wounds). Her veiled servants continually try to restore her power (repair her horns), but something more is needed.
Something the players can provide, perhaps?
Should the party speak with this broken deity, they might be asked (or compelled) to aid her, whether by acquiring a source of power to enable her recovery (blood sacrifice? magical McGuffin?) or to take revenge on her enemies (and thus break their symbolic domination of her?).
Should the party not like where this is going, they might have an opportunity to slay a (former) deity! Her horns have already been broken and her body already crucified, so those may not work. Perhaps exploiting the bloody hole in her chest, cutting her hair, or a good old-fashioned beheading would do the trick. (Watch out, though! She's armed with a slender sword and a bone wand, and her servants would die to defend her!)

In my campaign, the players ended up retrieving a baby god (her replacement) and returning it to her, restoring her lost deity. She then resumed her original form - a massive, horned, four-armed monster (note the cross on her forehead has four arms!) and attempted to destroy them. Rude.
(Both the infant god and her original form were also taken from other album artworks, of course - we may get to them with time!)
Edit: I've presented the artwork with her original (and final form) in Volume 10!

EMPIRES OF ASH (Sojourner)

Something a bit less grim and involved this time. What you see is what you get: a religious ruin (yes, religious, those massive windows wouldn't stand up to a siege for two minutes!) in a high-sloped veil. Very beautiful.
Interestingly, this structure looks remarkably two-dimensional, like a facade of stone with no interior (save that one door in the middle of the image). Was there a sanctuary hidden from view behind the building? (I think not - both grass and trees seem to butt right up to the ruins from what we can see - but the angle isn't optimal, so that may be the case).
Perhaps the whole edifice wasn't built to form an aboveground enclosure, but to mark and surmount an underground area! The stairway in that tall tower may continue downward as well as upward. (I find the suggestions of windowslits and masonry in the cliffs edging into the foreground to be suggestive.)
Also, I totally wanna run a fight scene on that precarious bridge or flying buttress on the right.


Alright, time for the BOSS BATTLE:

DEGENERATING ANTHROPOPHAGICAL EUPHORIA (Putridity)

Ghouls, man. Ghouls.
Obviously these are forward-thinking ghouls, who string up corpses for later enjoyment rather than devouring them immediately. (Defeated players may even be hung upon butchers' hooks for later, rather than being eaten post-haste!)
King Ghoul sits on a wicked-cool throne in the center. (Notice his massive brain cranium. Can a ghoul be psionic? Sure!)
King Ghoul may command his retainers to refrain from attacking a party that blunders into his lair - perhaps he has a task for them, seeks news from other places, or is merely bored. (Take care his interest doesn't wane!)
If it comes to combat, the environment could work for or against the players. The ghouls may use the hanging chains and hooks as traps and weapons - snaring players and winching them helplessly toward the ceiling! (Perhaps our possibly-psionic King Ghoul might even animate the chains and hooks with his mind, creating a grasping maelstrom of metal!)
Perhaps it is worth considering where all the curved and spiked bits of metal in the background came from - some DMs would no doubt posit the remains of a crashed spaceship, but that's not really my style. Perhaps ruins from an older civilization - or perhaps metallic bones of some legendary creature(s). (What if its progeny still lurk in the area, waiting for tasty PCs to wander by?)


How would YOU use any/all of these monsters, encounters, and scenes in your game, Reader?
(Let me know how it goes if you do!)


Previous volumes:
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5

Metal Monster Manual Monday - Volume 5

Continuing a weekly series of posts wherein I share several album covers (mostly by death metal bands!) as brainfood for encounters in your tabletop RPG. Expect this every Monday!

DANS LA JOIE (Au Champ des Mortis)

Okay, personally, if I see a skull just lying around, I ask myself "what did it come from?" So, here's this giant skull; probably came from a giant, eh?
Then, of course, you ask how this giant('s) skull got here. Like, where is the rest of the body? Is there an entire giant('s) skeleton somewhere nearby? I'd expect so. Giants don't tend to get very far without a head.
But here it is. A lonely skull.
Is there some headless, undead giant roaming about these dank woods, searching for his head? What if he came crashing through the trees AT THIS VERY MOMENT?
The other way to approach dead stuff is in the mindset of a necromancer. What could some wicked necromage do with a massive giant('s) skull? Probably a lot. Probably a lot more if they had the giant('s) skeleton.
What if some necromancer has already gotten to the skull? What if it rose from the earth and made a massive bite attack? Or, what if the necromancer's attempts only succeeded partially, and the skull simply lays there, able to speak in a voice of grinding teeth and bone, but unable to do much else?
What would it say?
(I just wanted to note that this image has a FANTASTIC atmosphere. Great texture, object placement, and use of contrast.)

THE HIERARCH (Hegemon)

From the perspective on this image, this thing looks fairly massive. Like, a dude standing on the ground probably couldn't reach its knee.
Anyway, probably the first thing one notices is that this dude (statue?) has no face. Two obvious possibilities why: 1) it was created that way or 2) it was created with a face but now that face is gone.

So, why would 1) come about?
It is perhaps telling that the statue looks up toward a swirling void in the sky. What if this monolithic guardian was created to defend from otherworldly horrors come down from between the stars, incomprehensible in a way that would destroy eyes that look upon them or minds that dwell on them? This statue was created without eyes or mind - just limbs of cold, unyielding stone, the bones of the earth animated to defend against incursions from Beyond.
Perhaps its foes never came. Perhaps it still waits, watching the void between the stars.
What if it was one day needed elsewhere? Who would arouse it and convince it to leave its throne to find its foe in far lands? (Cue a party of intrepid adventurers..,)

Okay, but what about 2)? What if it had a face, but no longer does?
I imagine this statue as able to speak, a deep, grinding voice echoing from its open cranium.
What would it say?
Would it tell of how its face was lost - greedy dwarf vandal-thieves, striding giants, catapults, mages? (What did its tormentors want to accomplish?)
Would it mourn the loss of its face? Would it ask passing adventurers if they had found it? What would it do if its face were returned?
(WHAT IF the skull from the previous album cover was all that were left of its face, torn from its stony skin and left to rot in a swamp?)


Alright, time for the BOSS BATTLE:

BONG CAULDRON (S/T)

So, obviously this chap is a mage of some kind. (The arcane sigil carved into his flesh and the eldritch fire from his eyes are a pretty good clue.)
Also, he doesn't look dead, despite having his entrails draped across the surrounding foliage.
Then, I notice his fingers. They look like they are becoming twigs or tree branches.
What if his entrails CONNECT HIM TO THE FOREST?
Is he a mad wizard who masochistically plugged himself into the trees to steal their power?
What can his burning eyes now see - all that occurs within the woods?
What vengeance would he unleash upon trespassing adventurers - lashing trunks and roots? Burning fire from his eyes?
What if his grisly connections to the forest were severed - would he die like a mere man?


How would YOU use any/all of these monsters, encounters, and scenes in your game, Reader?
(Let me know how it goes if you do!)


Previous volumes:
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4

Metal Monster Manual Monday - Volume 4

Continuing a weekly series of posts wherein I share several album covers (mostly by death metal bands!) as brainfood for encounters in your tabletop RPG. Expect this every Monday!

PORTALS TO A BETTER, DEAD WORLD (Cara Neir)

Wow, sucks to be that guy.
So, he's obviously infested with some sort of flesh-eating worm or parasite - apparently not deadly enough to kill him outright. (The players should soon after run the risk of becoming infested with the same parasites!)
More worrying are the large centipedes (carrion crawlers?) writhing from the darkness on either side. Are they poisonous? (I recall that in early editions of D&D giant centipede poison was save-or-die, and that carrion crawlers had paralyzing antennae/tentacles.)
Why haven't they devoured the prisoner yet, though? How has he kept them away? (Will he share the secret with the players if freed?)
Why was the prisoner manacled to the wall in the first place? Common criminal? Political agitator? Practitioner of forbidden arts?

THE PLAGUE OF A COMING AGE (October Falls)

There is a small man, looking at the grey night sky, or perhaps the withered tree.
Why does his head glow? In ancient and medieval iconography, a glow about the head meant the subject was a saint. Is this man a saint? (of what god?) Or, is he Enlightened? What arts and talents does he possess?
My imagination places a burrow within the roots of the bending tree. Does the man live in the burrow, like a hermit or sage of old?
What would he say to the players? Would he tell of the plague of the coming age?


Alright, time for the BOSS BATTLE:

MALIGNANCE (Xul)

So, obviously there is some sort of necromancer, stealing the souls from an ancient battlefield. (Somehow the flesh of the dead has rotted, but not the wood of the spears? It's POSSIBLE, I guess.)
It looks like he is doing something very bad. Are the souls being used to summon or feed some extradimensional horror?
What will he do when the players arrive? Return the souls to their crumbling skeletons, creating an animate army of undead warriors? Send the souls to harm the players directly, as a wailing torrent of chilling malice? Use his arcane magics to toss broken spears and splintered bone in a hail of pointy death? Complete a summoning ritual, and bring forth from the extradimensional void a world-ending menace?
(My eye is drawn to a single sword in the foreground, which has avoided both notching and rust. Is it magical? Is it powerful? What would it accomplish in the hands of a player?)


How would YOU use any/all of these monsters, encounters, and scenes in your game, Reader?
(Let me know how it goes if you do!)


Previous volumes:
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3

Metal Monster Manual Monday - Volume 3

Continuing a weekly series of posts wherein I share several album covers (mostly by death metal bands!) as brainfood for encounters in your tabletop RPG. Expect this every Monday!

THE IDEA OF NORTH (Norislk)

Great surreal atmosphere on this one, with the red sky and blue ice. (Why is the sky red? The smoke of distant fires? The aurora borealis? The setting sun struggling to pierce clouds of ash and gas?)
Man, that ice looks lethal, though. Don't slip. (So, the terrain functions as a trap, where clumsy characters fall and take piercing damage.)
On the left, a strange, strange city. Notice the ice encroaching upon it - was this area once warm and habitable,  but now being threatened by glaciers and the long winter?
The city itself is kind of how I imagine Charn to look. What magics and treasures may be found in its ruinous mazes?
On the right, some black silhouettes on a hill above the ice. (My imagination immediately pictures them as ants on an anthill.) Do they live underground for shelter now? Are they former inhabitants of the city, or new arrivals on the wings of winter? Are they hostile or neutral?
There really is a story behind this scene. But it's up to you to tell it.

THE UNCONQUERABLE DARK (Black Tongue)

"The tree is withered; its roots are rotted and weak -
they grow through the skulls and the ribs of the children murdered at its feet!"

This has a BEAUTIFULLY psychedelic atmosphere. It's tough to tell whether the location is underground or merely in a deep, dank wood - though I lean toward the latter. (It reminds me of the Weald locations from Darkest Dungeon - a HIGHLY recommended game, BTW.)
Obviously this is a very old, very autotrophic forest - one that has even gained the malevolence to feed upon civilization and its denizens. What magics or supernatural forces have given it such ravenous life?
I shudder to think that the skull on the upper right might speak. What would it say to a party of adventurers?
(The album itself is also highly recommended - it was in my top 3 albums from 2015!)


Alright, time for the BOSS BATTLE:

DEPRIVE (Disfiguring the Goddess)

So, obviously this could be the object of a "go kill this quest," which would work fine. To slay this... THING, you'd need to destroy or disable those spires or pylons on either side, which are obviously feeding some sort of energy to the... THING. (And then, probably venture WITHIN its maw and KILL IT DEAD from there.)
What would be even COOLER is if that maw were actually a gateway or an entrance to some deeper, darker region - then, player options would include: 1) killing the... THING as normal, 2) negotiating with it (in which safe passage would be accomplished by... bringing it something it wishes to devour? Accomplishing a task beyond the reach of its writhing tentacles?) or 3) running REALLY fast past those spiky tentacles and massive teeth!
It's worth considering what this area looked like BEFORE the... THING grew or emerged or otherwise got there. Those curving objects in the foreground seem to be warped and ruined pillars or totem-poles, and some of the objects in the background could be massive dead trees. Was this once a mighty forest? Did the... THING poison the earth and blacken the sky with dark energies? Did devour until it could move no more? WHAT LIES BELOW?


How would YOU use any/all of these monsters, encounters, and scenes in your game, Reader?
(Let me know how it goes if you do!)


Previous volumes:
Volume 1
Volume 2

Metal Monster Manual Monday - Volume 2

Continuing a weekly series of posts wherein I share several album covers (mostly by death metal bands!) as brainfood for encounters in your tabletop RPG. Expect this every Monday!

THE CONSCIOUS SEED OF LIGHT (Rivers of Nihil)

Can you say "adventure location"?
Anyway, there's a ton of interesting things going on here!
In the far background, there are several pyramids, temples, and/or fortresses, some looking like they were built BEFORE the water entered this area (i.e. their foundations are submerged, and their depths likely drowned). What civilization built such wonders? When (and WHY) did the water come to wash it all away? What now lurks on the lightless, airless depths of these structures?
In the middle background, there is a broken bridge and a large, stair-encumbered building with a MASSIVE MALEVOLENT TREE growing on and over it. What caused this HUGE, MALICIOUS vegetable to grow there? (Is it itself SENTIENT? What does it want? Why does it reach for the sun as if to devour it? What does it guard in the large building's depths? What would it do to a party of humanoids that approach it?) Secondly, that broken bridge would be an AWESOME scene for a battle, full of peril from falling over its low-railed sides or crumbling through its precarious masonry. (What horrors might crawl from that pyramid on the left to confront a party of passing adventurers as they struggle over the treacherous bridge?)
In the near background, there's another bridge (with a claw-like structure similar to the ones festooning the former on its gatehouse) and a surprisingly-intact squarish temple merging with the jungle. Which was first, the jungle or the temple? Has the jungle won its way INSIDE, and what has it spawned in the numinous dark of the religious structure?
Finally, in the foreground, is an AWESOME-LOOKING sarcophagus made of some sort of glass or crystal (stahlrim?). What lies within? (Or, perhaps, what LIVES within?) What would happen were the sarcophagus cracked or opened? (CAN it even be cracked or opened by mundane means?)
Anyway, ohmygosh, you could totally run a short campaign with JUST THIS ONE IMAGE. Seriously, it's LOADED.
(Check out the band itself, too. Rivers of Nihil has been doing some cool stuff lately.)

AURORA BOREALIS (Aureole)

Three main things arrest my interest in this cover.
1) The aurora itself, obviously. It's got people in it. So, in your game world, WHO manifests in the aurora? Noble saints? Ghosts of the departed? Angels? Demons? Dancing gods? A celestial hunting party? Incorporate the aurora (and its denizens) into at least one religion in your game world!
2) That bell. Like, seriously, massive hunks of shaped metal don't just TURN UP on random frozen shores. Is the building that the bell from behind the viewer's perspective? Did it sink beneath the waves? (Why didn't the bell suffer the same fate? Is it MAGICAL? What strange properties does it possess? What otherworldly effects manifest when it is rung?)
3) There's a strange-looking geographical feature on the far side of that bay or fjord - it looks like a hole. Or a massive eye. (If a hole, where does it lead? What lies beneath the glacial ridge in the background? If an eye, WHAT IS LOOKING AT YOU?)


Alright, time for the BOSS BATTLE:

PUTRID CROWN (Parasitic Extirpation)

Ohmygosh, this thing looks COOL. (Also drop-dead lethal. But COOL.)
So, what is it? It looks vaguely vegetable, from the thorns, bark-like texture, and verdant color. (Skyrim spriggan?) Is it some vengeful, bloodthirsty nature spirit? Or, a blighted tree that has gained sentience and now desires only to destroy?
Taking a cue from the album title, it seems to be wearing a crown. Did the crown warp this creature into its current state? Who made the crown? What would it do to a player character who decides to wear it?
What's with the spackling and blurring at its edges? Is it somehow coming apart? Or spewing spores or insectile assailants? (In tactical terms, that's an area effect that either inflicts direct damage or a malevolent status effect!)
Why is it chained? (I mean, besides the fact that it's OBVIOUSLY DANGEROUS?) Like, why would something want to keep this around? Is it a prisoner? A guardian? (Probably a guardian. Guarding that cave off to the left of the image.)
Why does it collect skulls? (Intimidation? Currency? Source of power? Or, was it directed to by something... else?)
If this is what you find OUTSIDE the dungeon (cave), what the jank kind of madness will you find INSIDE?


How would YOU use any/all of these monsters, encounters, and scenes in your game, Reader?
(Let me know how it goes if you do!)


Previous volumes:
Volume 1

Metal Monster Manual Monday - Volume 1

Starting a weekly series of posts wherein I share several album covers (mostly by death metal bands!) as brainfood for encounters in your tabletop RPG. Expect this every Monday!

Some brief background: I have actually run an entire 8-week campaign based entirely around this. Pop an album cover up on a screen, "this is what you see," give some details on the action and atmosphere of the scene, see what the players do. Probably my most successful (and dark!) campaigns yet, and something I'll definitely do again sometime (with a different group of players - it's probably a trick best pulled once!).

Anyway, what you've all been waiting for (click to enlarge!):

INDUCED PRIMORDIAL REGRESSION (Cephalotripsy)

First of all, dat's menacing.
Now, let's break it down: what's going on here?
First, this guy (yes, GUY, look at his, er, crotch) has a BELLY MOUTH. Extra bite attack? "Ingest" ability?
Second, look at his left arm - that's clearly made for grappling. He's got a strong grapple attack, probably for pulling you into his belly mouth, haha.
Third, look at all those exposed veins - is he weak to slashing damage? Does he take increased bleed damage?
 Fourth, his drool is a weird color - the same color as the liquid flowing into this lair. Is it acid? Poison? Magical? Can he spit it as an attack? (YOU BET HE CAN!)
Alright, and what's going on with that giant eye up top? Is it this dude's master? Will he do anything to protect it? What magical powers does IT have? (It probably enslaves creatures as protectors, and, whether due to its malign influence or the toxic cave environment, these protectors eventually mutate into gross beasts like this guy.)
Finally, look at the tactical challenges and opportunities that the environment provides! Can you hide behind stalagmites? You bet! Can you knock stalactites down onto this guy? You bet! Should you DEFINITELY avoid stepping in the red-orange slime flowing from the walls? You bet!

WODE (S/T)

Can you say "adventure location?"
First of all, what's this place made of? Basalt? Enchanted black ice? Layer upon layer of cobweb? Then, WHO MADE IT like that? Who crafts structures from BLACK ICE or SPIDERWEBS?

What was it made for? Temple? Fortress? Cathedral? Mansion?  Palace?
Where's the door, anyway? Do you need a key, a password, or a very hefty warhammer to get in?
(Also, note the graveyard edging into the foreground. Definitely some sort of dank encounter is gonna pop up from beneath those tombstones the moment the party starts tromping through them.)

MONUMENTS OF EXALTED (Infestum)

Right, so, obviously some dank wizards of some type here. Very magical, and very grim.
But, what's the dude on the left holding? A spellcasting orb? An egg? (Of what creature?) A large snowball? You decide!
Are those masks, or faces? If masks, what kind of face do they hide?
And look at what the stars are doing! They're spiraling before your eyes! Obviously these dudes are TIME WIZARDS or something. Imagine the party's surprise to head home after this encounter, only to find that WEEKS have passed in their absence! How do they wield their unearthly powers, should this encounter come to blows? What do they even want (which is, by the way, the first thing you should ask when the party encounters ANY creature)?

SEPTEMBRE ET SES DERNIÈRES PENSÉES (Les Discrets)

You could opt to just have the being on the right be the encounter, but personally, I'd have the players walk up to the scene exactly as pictured, including the two figures on the left.
First, what's with Big Bird? Spirit of the Wilds? A dwindling Old God? Is it hungry? Lonely? Loving? Bitter?
Second, what are the two on the left doing? They look like just children to me. Do they come here often? Are they friends with Big Bird? How has that affected them?
(This is a great candidate for an encounter that doesn't end up with combat. Wannabe-thespians, rejoice!)

Alright, time for the BOSS BATTLE:

SPEWING THE VIOLATED SOULS (Maggot Colony)

So, obviously this massive tentacled heart lures and feeds upon unfortunates that come across it (perhaps including the party!) Like, it's literally devouring souls. Bad news. (Is this what they players came to destroy, given the recent disappearances in the next town over?) Watch out for magic soul-eating attacks, grabby spiky tentacles, and raging enslaved half-undead servitors!

How did this heart get here? Does it normally exist in a form like this? Or, perhaps it is trying to amass enough soul-nourishment to become something... bigger. (Or, perhaps this heart is all that REMAINS of something bigger! What creature would leave behind such a large, malevolent heart?)

How would YOU use any/all of these monsters, encounters, and scenes in your game, Reader?
(Let me know how it goes if you do!)