Every DM has their seasoning.
Some go for high fantasy heroics. Some love swashbuckling pulp. Some dive deep into political intrigue or dungeon-crawling strategy.
Me?
I like my monsters with a touch of horror.
Okay, more than a touch.
Call it the jalapeño principle: whatever the dish is, a little heat makes it better. And for me, that heat is horror.
Doesn’t matter what system I’m running, D&D, Pathfinder, Wasted Lands, even a more story-driven game like Daggerheart or Blue Rose, my monsters always bring a certain Flavor. And that Flavor usually tastes like grave dust, candle smoke, and old houses.
It goes back to my origin story, Dark Shadows, Hammer Horror, witch trial folklore, and that first glimpse into the Monster Manual. I didn’t just want monsters that challenged the players mechanically. I wanted monsters that unsettled them. That made them ask, What is this thing really? And worse, why does it know my name?
Even the familiar creatures, such as your trolls, kobolds, and giant spiders, get filtered through that lens. A vampire in my game isn’t just a bloodsucker. She’s a former lover, an ancient queen, or a fragment of a forgotten god, wearing a corpse like a wedding dress. Kobolds are not just a type of humanoid; they are the lost souls of miners who died underground. Trolls? They are the last remnants of an ancient species that fought the gods and lost.
And the truly unique monsters? The ones I design from scratch?
They’re stitched together from nightmares, folklore, and the weird corners of mythology that don’t get cleaned up for public consumption.
I like monsters that linger. Not just in combat, but in the imagination. The kind that leave players looking over their shoulder even after the dice stop rolling.
Tone matters. Flavor matters.
It’s the difference between “you fight a ghost” and “you wake up with frost on your fingertips, and realize something is weeping under the floorboards.”
That’s the Flavor I chase.
A little uncanny. A little dread. Enough shadow to make the torchlight meaningful.
So yeah. You can run your monsters however you like. Heroic. Mythic. Comedic, even.
But me?
I’m going to keep tossing in the horror jalapeños.
And trust me, my players wouldn’t have it any other way.
Questions
Why. Confident. Rule.
What rule are you the most confident in and why?
Yesterday I talked about the rule I was envious of. To turn it around today I'll talk about a rule I did come up with that I am most happy about. In Ghosts of Albion there are magical philosophies and these change how you learn and use magic. We playtested the hell out of these and I love how to work in the game. I'd love to do something similar for my witch classes.
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