Monsters aren’t born; they’re made. No, that’s not right. Monsters ARE born. Orcs, goblins, kobolds, and the like are monsters because that’s specifically what we call their races. We even have books with “Monster” in the title specifically telling us where to find these creatures and what sort of dangerous implements to apply for their removal. Something these books largely gloss over, though, and something which should be a huge part of the consideration process when it comes to advocating their genocide against them, is what sort of life they live outside of their conflict with adventurers and the selectively approved races. Today we’re going to look at what these so-called monsters have to offer to the game apart from being mere antagonistic collections of numbers to beat.
The sentience problem
Human beings are designed to think in terms of “us” and “them”. This helps create a unified pack or tribe mentality when it comes to setting priority for survival in adverse conditions. This is also responsible for things like racism. We also differentiate between “person” and “animal.” Orson Scott Card, the author of the Ender Saga books (Ender’s Game is the first entry), is particular about using a specific hierarchy of belonging which classifies “others”. The point is that humans tend to classify killing those closest to them as bad, and those furthest away as more acceptable. On this spectrum, the monstrous races tend to place very, very, VERY low.
Often, DMs will skip entirely over the fact that these are living, speaking, thinking, spiritual, feeling beings with friends, families, careers, hopes, and dreams. It might not be a fantastic storyline if every creature you kill causes you to experience its entire life history and all of the happiness you’ve cut short (I’m looking at you Terry Goodkind), but it is important to remember that you ARE cutting short someone’s hopes and dreams and not just exterminating a pest. DMs who complain that their players murder everyone and everything they meet may want to focus on creating a more empathy-inspiring world which feels inhabited.
How do I do that?
Look around your house. Humans tend to collect objects like they’re going to disappear forever if not snatched up. Do you throw out everything you’ve ever owned, every couple of days? Do you try to keep your place reasonably neat so you aren’t crunching dirt particles, or do you eat from a pile of food directly off the floor?
Monsters are basically humans with entirely different appearances and customs. Some of them are more intelligent than humans, and some are somewhat less, but they are more or less around the same. Even a creature with an 8 intelligence is still only slightly less intelligent than the average modern human being (and not by much. I’m not being snarky; it’s true. The average IQ is 100, which means that every person above 100 must be balanced by scores below 100. Think about that next time you read a newspaper, which on average will probably be written at a middle-school level to accommodate all readers).
All of this means that your monsters are likely to have homes, with objects they’ve collected. These homes are probably in reasonably decent condition with varying degrees of hygiene. They probably exit their homes to use the restroom. Our books depict them wearing clothing and using armor, and many of them are capable of crafting their own, meaning that they are intelligent enough for production and manufacturing. This means jobs. And if one Orc spends his days hammering out swords and armor, another Orc has to produce enough food to cover both of them, a third Orc has to critique how both of them are performing without actually contributing anything meaningful or constructive, and a fourth Orc has to govern the group and make rules and regulations. The cycle of bureaucracy is always there; sometimes it’s just small.
Start populating your environments with more evidence of life and intelligence. What do your monsters do when they aren’t screaming and committing war crimes? If the PCs spy on the village, do they just see a circle of Orcs sitting around a fire, rocking back and forth because they’re having murder withdrawals? Farm fields, forges, buildings, barns, livestock, government, religious worship, the boring drudgery that fills the majority of every person’s day: add these things in by the handful. Orcs don’t stand around whipping slaves 24/7 on the off chance that someone is watching through a telescope.
Kobolds are known to be clever creatures who tinker and create mechanical items. What do their cities look like? What do their warrens and nests and bedrooms look like? Have you ever considered what a kobold bed would look like, since they’re essentially (according to some world lore) a small lizard ? Do they sleep singly, in couples, or in groups? Do they cluster in a pit around embers to stay warm? Do they write down their ideas and designs in books? Do they teach their children to read?
What’s the motivation for the trouble between the races? Goblins love to eat, but are they just killing because killing is fun? That’s an awful waste of time and resources, not to mention an incredible risk every time they engage in battle. It’s more believable that they lack resources and are looking outward for them. They are likely to have that the same racist thinking going on, and can perhaps learn to accommodate other races into their own world view, if given a chance.
These are all things which can add a tremendous feeling of life and pathos to your story. Players may be more inclined to reason with a pack of knee-high armored lizards if they know those lizards are trying to feed their families.
What about those monstrous animals?
So often, DMs have fantastic animals attack for no reason, out of the blue. The adventurers never find a reason for it, and just write it off and say, “That species is extremely vicious.” But think back to every wolf that has ever been killed in a movie. The majority of the time, the person who survived the attack later finds a den overflowing with adorable puppies. This helps us understand the wolf who did the attacking, and provides a reason for the attack. We understand what happened, and why. It also makes wolves as a whole more relatable to us, because we now know that they will protect their babies, and we can avoid conflict by watching for signs and avoiding dens.
The problem with fantasy creatures is that we just don’t do this. Some of the same considerations can be made with griffons, non-intelligent dragonkin, and the like. These creatures hunt, mate, bathe, nest and do everything that a normal animal would do (anyone ever caught a dragon bathing loudly in a lake and managed to slip by unnoticed?). Add believability to a fantasy setting by having your creatures get caught doing normal things. This will help normalize the experience a bit, so the players are more engaged in the world around them.
If you really want to confuse your players, have the animals (fantastic and mundane) available for more than just combat. Remember the first time you could pet an animal in a video game? How long did you sit there just pressing the button over and over?
The aim of all this is to make your world more believable, and to help your players feel like they are interacting with real societies, peoples, and worlds. Let me know in the comments below some of the memorable times you’ve seen this done in games – any type of game.