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Monsters for Vaesen
A recent poll of Monster of the Month Club members showed that people love Vaesen, so here are all the creatures that I’ve published through the Free League Workshop. More will be appearing, so watch out for announcements!
https://www.patreon.com/posts/monsters-for-155366342
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March’s Monster of the Month: The Lamia
Just posted for paid members of the Monster of the Month Club: the Lamia. The version of the Lamia that entered D&D through the 1977 Monster Manual is not exactly that same as the Lamia of Greek mythology. See the whole tragic story here, as well as four case studies and the usual array of basic and optional abilities along with adventure seeds fro fantasy, historical, and modern settings.
Paid memberships start at just $1 per month! As a member, you can expect regular, in-depth treatments of creatures from worldwide myth and folklore — some familiar, some not — in a tried and tested, system-agnostic format that is easy to use with your tabletop rpg system of choice.
Join us on Patreon at patreon.com/MonsteroftheMonthClub and follow us @MotMClub, or email [email protected].
Want to support my work?
If you’ve enjoyed the content on this blog, please consider supporting me by making a small donation. Here are a couple of ways to do so.
Thanks!
August’s Monster of the Month: The Dullahan
Just posted for paid members of the Monster of the Month Club: August’s Monster of the Month just might be the ancestor of all headless riders, from Sleepy Hollow to Ghost Rider. Usable with all – and I do mean all – tabletop RPG systems. Paid memberships start at just US$1.00 per month, so don’t miss out!
Want to support my work?
If you’ve enjoyed the content on this blog, please consider supporting me by making a small donation. Here are a couple of ways to do so.
Thanks!
Vote for August’s Monster of the Month!
If you’re a paid member at any level, pop into the community lounge for your level and vote for August’s Monster of the Month!
This time around I’m leaving it entirely up to you, the members: the only stipulation is that the creature has to come from myth or folklore and it can’t be copyright of any publisher – though of course, having been published for any game does not necessarily exclude any creature. Other than that, it’s completely open!
So go on: what creature would you like to be the next Monster of the Month? Let me know!
The Monster of the Month Club is a Patreon campaign that offers backers playable information on creatures from worldwide myth and folklore in a unique, system-agnostic format that has been tested successfully with the world’s most popular tabletop roleplaying rulesets (and some fairly obscure ones). Each month, backers will receive a deeply-researched, 4-6-page monster treatment in PDF format, consisting of:
• Basic description
• System-agnostic game statistics
• Basic and optional skills and traits, based on primary sources
• Adventure seeds for fantasy, historical, and modern-day settings
• And where available:
o Case studies from myth and folklore
o Variants from around the world
o Other points of lore that do not fit anywhere else
• Evocative art from public-domain sources
They can also join other backers in a dedicated Discord server to discuss their own experiences, swap advice on converting to specific game systems – and, at higher levels, to request treatments of their favorite creatures from their favorite myths and legends.
The Monster of the Month Club is present across most popular social media platforms @MotMClub, and maintains mailing lists for press and reviewers as well as for members.
For more information, email [email protected]
Links:
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MonsteroftheMonthClub
• Discord: https://discord.gg/J3dbnav5YJ
Free Games for May
(For those of you younger than dirt, the title’s an old Pink Floyd lyric. Hey, it’s my blog, so I’ll do what I like. Grin.)
Feliz Cinco de Mayo! Here’s a little extra for members of the Monster of the Month Club (https://www.patreon.com/MonsteroftheMonthClub).
La Llorona is a complex set of legends, and can be viewed as a simple ghost, a manifestation of an Aztec goddess, or any number of things in between. In a free bonus post for all backers, I try to unravel the complexity and discuss how the multiple versions of this lady can be developed for your roleplaying campaigns. I also included a short bibliography.
And that’s not all. May’s Monster of the Month posted yesterday, and it’s a two-fer, presenting both versions of a creature that is described differently in different folklore sources. If you’ve suffered from siblings (or significant others) taking food off your plate, the Irish Alp-luachra may stir up some uncomfortable memories.
The Monster of the Month club has free and paid memberships, with free posts every Wednesday (and the occasional bonus like La Llorona above). Paid members also get an in-depth, system-agnostic monster treatment on the first Sunday of each month, complete with a stat block (yes – system-agnostic stats are actually possible!); lists of basic and optional skills/traits for maximum customization; story seeds for fantasy, historical, and modern settings; and where available, variants from around the world and case studies from legend and literature.
There are free samples so you can try before you commit, so go and take a look!
Monster of the Month Club: April 2025
April was a good month for the Monster of the Month Club, with another monthly monster treatment for paid members and a free post every Wednesday for all members.
April’s monster, the Fachan from Scots and Irish folklore, overpowered Patreon’s scheduling system and broke out a little early, complete with all the usual features: the club’s unique system-agnostic stat block; a fearsome range of basic and optional traits and abilities; a case study from Glen Eiti in Scotland; variant types from Africa, India, Arabia, and South America; and adventure seeds for fantasy, historical, and modern settings.
The free posts included a reprint of an old article on designing monster-based adventures; a review of Solemn Vale, the roleplaying game of British 1970s folk horror from indie publisher Dirty Vortex; and an Ask Me Anything where I wrote about WFRP, Vaesen, Vampire: The Masquerade, unpublished work, and the best magic system in the history of rpgs. There were also two book reviews: The Undead by Vaesen creator Johan Egerkrans and A Field Guide to the Little People, which has been in my collection for more than 40 years. Plus, I posted some thoughts about the current goings-on at Hasbro/WotC.
The club is continuing to grow, with both free and paid members coming on board during April. Although it’s still my hope that free members will eventually be convinced to switch to paid, I set up a poll to gauge opinion on selling monster treatments individually for those who don’t want to subscribe to the lot. I’m still mulling that.
May promises to be another good month. May’s monster will post this Sunday for paid members, with a surprise bonus for Cinco de Mayo on Monday. As for free Wednesday posts, I’m preparing a book review, a game review, a reprinted article, and an Ask Me Anything as usual – and because May has five Wednesdays, I’m planning an extra post on an interesting piece of monster trivia.
If you haven’t heard of the Monster of the Month Club before, check it out at https://www.patreon.com/c/MonsteroftheMonthClub. There are some free samples under the Collections tab, so you can try before you buy. Both free and paid memberships are available. If you like mythology, folklore, and tabletop roleplaying games, I think you’ll like it!
Want to support my work?
If you’ve enjoyed the content on this blog, please consider supporting me by making a small donation. Here are a couple of ways to do so.
Thanks!
January’s Monster of the Month
Happy New Year to Monster of the Month Club members! January’s Monster of the Month just posted.
In Danish folklore, a helhest (‘hell horse’) is a churchyard revenant, active at night and attacking any living person it finds within its territory. When a helhest appears, disease is sure to follow.
This 5-page product includes:
- Stat guidelines for 3d6/d20-based, d100-based, and other tabletop roleplaying systems.
- A full monster description with lists of basic and optional skills and traits.
- Two case studies from Danish folklore.
- Three adventure seeds, covering fantasy, historical, and modern settings.
The Monster of the Month Club
As a member of the Monster of the Month Club, you can expect regular, in-depth treatments of creatures from worldwide myth and folklore—some familiar, some not—in a system-agnostic format that is easy for an experienced GM to use with the tabletop rpg system of their choice.
Back us on Patreon at patreon.com/MonsteroftheMonthClub, join us on Discord, follow us on socials @MotMClub, or email [email protected].
Giving the Gift of Monsters
I just posted a couple of things to the Monster of the Month Club’s Patreon page:
First, for all members, a movie review: Red One is an okay Christmas action movie with a good cast, but the best thing about it is its use of Icelandic Christmas folklore.
Second, a bonus monster as a Christmas present for paying members. It’s also from Iceland.
Free memberships are available and paying memberships start at $1.00/month, so join now!
Whatever you celebrate at this time of year, may it be happy and peaceful. January’s Monster of the Month is coming soon!
The Water Leaper: A Welsh Monster for WFRP4
I’m getting ready to launch my new Patreon project, the Monster of the Month Club.
Every month, members will get a 4-8-page treatment of a creature from world myth and folklore, presented in a system-agnostic format with guideline stats for d20/3d6 and d100 systems, plus comparables (e.g. Strength: as ox; Intelligence: as normal Human) for easy conversion to all tabletop roleplaying systems. Basic and Optional abilities are described in detail so GMs can tailor each creature to their own preferences and create unique, elite individuals, and adventure seeds are provided for fantasy, historical, and modern settings.
Memberships start at US$1.00, and free memberships are available.
…Okay, that’s the commercial over. Now to the show! Here’s a WFRP4 adaptation of the Water Leaper from Welsh folklore. You may remember that I mentioned this beastie in an earlier post: it may or may not have been made up in a Welsh pub to keep the ale flowing, but in WFRP it is terrifyingly real.
It only remains to say that like everything on this blog, the following should be considered a fan work and no challenge is intended to copyrights held by Games Workshop, Cubicle 7, or anyone else. Enjoy!
no challenge to copyright intended.
Water leapers are native to the lakes and bogs of western Albion, though there have been some reported sightings in the Wasteland and the lower reaches of the Reik. They look something like large toads with wings (sometimes bat-like, and sometimes like those of a flying fish) instead of front legs and a long, sinuous tail instead of back legs. Their broad mouths are full of very sharp teeth. Their bodies are 2-3 feet long, with tails twice as long again. Some individuals have venomous stingers tipping their tails.
They will attack almost anything, and regularly destroy the nets and lines of local fishermen. They also attack swimmers and livestock drinking at the water’s edge.
Water leapers have been known to try to knock fishermen out of their boats by deliberately leaping at them. They can emit a piercing shriek which can startle an unwary fisherman or animal, making their attack easier. In the water, up to 12 of the creatures can attack a human-sized victim at the same time.
Their pack attacks show a rudimentary organization. For instance, they may spread out and attack a target from all sides at once. One creature may stand a little way off and shriek just as the others are swimming or leaping to the attack.
Water leapers can live on lake fish, but their appetites are so voracious that they quickly deplete the fish stocks in any lake they inhabit. They seem to prefer the meat of sheep, cattle, and humans. They have no natural enemies apart from enraged fishermen and deadlier water monsters such as lake worms and fenbeasts.
| M | WS | BS | S | T | I | Ag | Dex | Int | WP | Fel | W |
| 4* | 35 | – | 25 | 30 | 35 | 30 | – | 15 | 15 | – | 9 |
*2 on land
Traits: Amphibious, Bestial, Fly 60, Scream, Skittish, Stealthy, Swamp-strider, Territorial, Weapon +6
Optional: Armour 1 (scales), Size (Large), Venom (Very Easy – Very Hard)
New Traits
Scream: All who hear a Water Leaper’s scream must pass a SL 3 Willpower test or gain a Stunned condition.
Slam: While flying, a Water Leaper can opt to end its movement by slamming into a target, requiring them to make an Agility Test opposed by the creature’s Strength, gaining the Prone condition if the test is failed. If the victim is in a small boat, this may result in them being knocked into the water. The Water Leaper, meanwhile, lands back in the water 2 yards from the victim’s position.
The Water Leaper has also received a system-agnostic treatment from the Monster of the Month Club, and is available as a free sample, downloadable from https://www.patreon.com/MonsteroftheMonthClub
More WFRP 4 Monsters:
The Phantom Chicken of Highgate: A London Ghost Story
Image stolen from Redbubble. Used without permission.
This is a repost of something from a long time ago, but I just came across it again and I think it’s worth retelling. It may be my very favorite English ghost story, simply for its pure ridiculousness.
I love history and folklore, in part because they are full of things that fiction writers could never get away with. Here’s an example, taken from J. A. Cuddon’s excellent introduction to The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories. I was previously aware of Bacon’s experiment in early refrigeration techniques and its fatal outcome for him, but I must admit I had never considered the poor chicken.
“My personal favourite non-human ghost is ‘The Phantom Chicken of Highgate’, the victim of an experiment in the theory of refrigeration conducted by Sir Francis Bacon in the winter of 1626. During a blizzard Sir Francis went out to the duckpond on top of Highgate Hill and stuffed frozen snow into the carcass of a freshly plucked chicken. The enterprise was too much for Bacon, then in his sixtieth year. He caught a cold, developed bronchitis, and died. The spectre of the luckless fowl, featherless, squawking, and agitating the stubs of its wings, has ever since sporadically haunted Pond Square. Observers remark that it disappears through a brick wall.”
I hope that brings a smile to your week. For readers who demand corroboration, here are some other tellings of the story:
More about English philosopher, scientist, and statesman Sir Francis Bacon:
Sadly, no biographical details are available for the chicken.
Graeme Davis 