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Arcane Ugly Public Beta is a few days away! Ideas wanted! (Patreon)

Published:
2021-11-10 20:00:09
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

My goal was the first week of November, so look, I'm a lil late, turns out laying out a book was harder than I thought hahah. The deadline has kept me on track without getting distracted though!
Here's some WIP screenshots. Some big changes to the Playing The Game chapter after lots of feedback and playtesting. Also the start of a bestiary! There is art for 40 entries so far including some new pieces from Conjured Craft (Terran) and Nerd Craft HQ (Luke). 

If you have any ideas for the creatures without rules/background text, please comment below and help me brainstorm!

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Comments

Dear _Obi

Loving the layout my guy, I've always found sentient parasite entities a fun idea, something that has latched on to you and needs you to survive but is able to talk to you and makes it presence know or maybe try’s to play off as your conscience

Geartooth Labs

A little bit of juxtaposition for a monster would be funny/fun. I'd say put in one monster that is something just so incredibly dull and normal. Like make it some average looking man from our world in a suit with a briefcase. No mutations or anything. Then you can make the description clear that the people from your world do not understand what/who they are because maybe they "speak in gibberish."

Dear _Obi
>>71568577

“A skittish creature who’s skin needs peeling to be clean every so often, primarily in either a state of surprise, shock or confusion to their current surroundings. Carries a very deadly appendage that is know to kill in a flash”

Anonymous

Lol I'm running a One-Shot on Saturday. How unfortunate timing.

Geartooth Labs

A psychic wyrm. It infests victims minds with music/poems/chants/sounds that will not stop playing in their heads on loops. Feeding on the thoughts that could/would have been if not for the noise that they projected into the victims mind.

Isaac

A couple of ideas The bag with barbed wire: an illusion making monster that attempts to trick you into hurting it. When you hurt it, it gets a bit of your soul or something. Eye book: a magic book that has been resting for to long. Similar to a computer program left for a long time developing ai, the knowledge within the book combines to create sentience. As a combat action it can let out a random combination of a bunch of spells/miscasts which it has no control over. Big snake: Likes to follow the players for a while waiting for the proper time to strike. Extremely adept at hiding itself (either a shadow form, or just hides itself behind trees and stuff to look like the landscape.) Very picky about ho w its food is eaten, won't kill the players until they are under certain random conditions. Face mask guy: Group of creatures with proportionally very tiny heads. To compensate, they wear the faces of those they hunt. The larger the face, the higher status they have. Would have a face stealing action in combat, permanently scarring the adventurer who has it happen to them. Guy with big chin next to a bunch of tiny creatures: The tiny creatures are spirits of imagination. They are able to take what others are thinking (characters role lore and the higher they get, the more horrific the monster), draw it, and bring it to life. It can only stick on 2d surfaces that fit it, so using some smart thinking, the players can avoid something if it is overpowered.

Dear _Obi
>>71569344

They make their lairs under densely populated areas, they’re creatures of high risk high reward, it’s all too common for them to get caught and run out of town for them to slowly make their way back into society’s unconscious mind, could be great worldbuilding tool this idea. A sect of guards who’s primary job is to listen out for contagious tunes and figure if it’a the beast again or a very talented performer

Geartooth Labs

A hive mind of butterflies. They are one being that when they wish to communicate to others fly into a formation of a huge face, the rubbing of their wings making noise similar to speech.

Isaac

Turtle with portal on back: Large species of sea turtle (portal only big enough to fit 1-2 people at a time) that use the portals to send food and resources to their mate. They will link portals when reproducing. They are sometimes tamed to create gates from some parts of the world to others, although some are treated inhumanely by putting them in small tanks. Mates naturally spread out from each other to get more variety in resources, so going through a wild one will bring players to a very different part of the world.

Geartooth Labs

Sentient lightning storm fell in love with an metallic earth elemental. They have birthed naturally made mechanized monstrosities. Fueled and able to use electricity, made from metal and earth that grinds together as the hulks move around. You may find them migrating in packs underneath massive storms, feasting on the lightning.

Geartooth Labs

I love all the snails and slugs you use in things. Perhaps try to create the opposite of a snail/slug?

Geartooth Labs

Sorry, one more and then I'll try to stop spamming your comments! <3 Invert the idea of a mount. Normally you ride on top of things. What about something that has to ride on you in order to transport you? Some kind of flying creature that you get to cling to you like a backpack. Perhaps a furry critter you tuck into your hat that makes you speed up.

Dear _Obi
>>71571726

Maybe instead of a backpack thing, maybe it slings to your shoes, like a “speed demon” that is taking a short break from running but they’ve built up so much energy that it gets passed on to you

Dear _Obi
>>71571401

Friction boulders? I imagine semi animated boulders with faces ala bouldy from Hades, who act like lost child when their mother, the storm cloud, isn’t around and giggling kids when she is as they get picked up and whirled around in the storm

Dear _Obi
>>71570345

1. As in it appears like a bag but contains thorns?? Maybe it appears like bubble wrap, that why billions of people will take joke in hurting this unknown creature and crazy conspiracy theorists go around screaming damnation about the evil bubble wrap! 2. I like this idea but maybe instead of it allowing you to cast spells, it instead eats them? It’s a monster that feeds on magic cast upon or near it, it appears to be a regular spell book with deep complex magic within it but when you cast a “spell” that is in it, it instead changes the wording of the spell so that it fails and you think it was just a mistake, and each time the book sucks up the spell, could be a good creature for a wizard to have on hand so he doesn’t totally die instead just loses his hand. 3. Giant posh and snooty animals is hilarious to me, especially the ones who need the moon to be waxing while your waxing your legs and after just waxing your surfboard! 4. A dark and shady underbelly of face thiefs that sell faces to kings, princes, paupers and slaves so that they can experience the other side of life. Each one they swap a face or give a face they take a little facial feature each time they do it until they’re a blank face, becoming one of the creatures or becoming their perfect meal 5. A army of pixies scribbling knifes on leaves during the autumn, fangs on the grass during the spring, monsters into the produce during the summer and laughing face on the dead trees in the winter, all because the village neighbouring the pixie home wronged them one too many times

Máighréad Shelley

Just noticed the charm table on page 10 has an AV column instead of a WV

Eric H

Really nice composition on these pages. Keep up the design work!

Anonymous

Oh, that book with the eye? That's a living sketchbook. It's the same as a regular sketchbook, but it's a familiar that keeps your ideas/work safe. Sometimes they get separated from their owners and have to be returned, but they always have a general idea of where they are. How do I know this? I've, uhh, maintained *several* living sketchbooks, and they just tend to...run around my apartment. Rampant. You know, they say you can never have too many familiars, but I think whoever said that was lying to me...

Anonymous

Regarding the giant carrying a city perhaps they frequently find employment aiding in disaster prevention by simply moving the city out of the way, I like the idea of players arriving at where the city ought to be but finding only a crater and freaking out just for a giant to emerge and put it back.

Ikajda

Or fishhorse friend could be a Kelpie, something unusual is if you hop on its back, you become stuck to it

Anonymous

There could be a subtle theme in the bestiary of: the cruder the drawing the more dangerous/elusive the creature. This would mean that whoever drew the Doggo-Biped or the Squigly-Shark had to run away after capturing a piece of its likeness. This could be too complicated for what it's worth, though.

Anonymous

Looking really nice!

Anonymous

So cool! Will we be getting hardcover versions, or just digital ones?

Anonymous

Also, Woodlings. They’re little bugs that devour magical wood, sort of like magic termites. Wizard’s worst nightmare.

Anonymous

It won't be out in time for my One Shot in half an hour, but I'm sure we'll revisit it when the new one is out. Also, Diana the Cultist should defo have Arcane Ugly starblock.

Anonymous

Hi, hopefully im not too late! heres a bunch of my random ideas:

Anonymous
>>71770166

Burlap sack: what is in this sack that allows it to move? No-one knows, but judging from the liquid coming out of its injuries, adventurers are reluctant to slice it open and find out. When attacked with blades, small chance that something spills out....up to dm discretion? Cloak/halo guy: this old man's eyes have been burned out from observing a holy light. The light now resides within him and something about him isn't quite human anymore. Now it's his life mission to spread its gospel and he will approach passerbys mumbling in a language no one can understand. The more confused you appear, the more frustrated he will become. Smelly fly: they are known to dwell in forests with trees bearing huge fruits. If they are beginning to rot and fall off of the stems be mindful to take regular baths and to not wear bright colors or they may mistake you as a rotting fruit Book creature: The tome of a long dead wizard, enchanted so that if anyone but the owner tries to open it, it will run away while spewing spells written inside at random. Spells inside up to DM discretion Moon head: hides on the ceiling of caves and lures adventurers and creatures alike by making them think there's an exit. Can use its tentacle arms to snare prey Dog thing: “them things seems to think they looks just like a dog, but don’ it know that dogs aint walk on two legs? And besides, dogs aint made of lines.” Portal turtle: “Dare ye 5 coins to touch that circle” City carrying guy: people say that nothing lives up in that city. The city itself is alive though, and it searches for people to finally welcome into its walls and a place to settle down Wanky shark: from far away this creature looks like a strange species of shark but when it moves it seems to have no structure or rhythm as if it has no bones, and none of its movements seem to be what propels it forward. As it moves towards you you notice with fascination that each of its teeth can move independently like fingers, beckoning you to come inside Posh brainiac: spawned from a witch falling asleep in a boiling cauldron, causing her dreams to take form. Although it has various separate bodies with distinct personalities, it is an inseparable whole. It will sometimes appear in front of travelers in their sleep and subject them to strange experiments in order to try to produce another being similar to itself. 2 fairies: warning: do not dust or clean in any way any object in this house without confirming the lack of faerie marks. Disturb at own risk. Demon king: very rarely, demons begin to look upon the holy with envy and become obsessed with being worshipped. They covet symbols of power such as crowns, and once acquired by any means necessary, see themselves as a god-king of everything they lay eyes on. If they ever see another demon king, they try to kill each other on sight

Anonymous

I really enjoy the frog with the galaxies and stars about it, so here's my idea. It is not a hostile creature, but one that can provide a sort of bonus to the players if they find it. It is essentially a form of god in this world, or a keeper of the Nodes. If a player does something for it, then it will grant them the ability to change one aspect about the world. It's not sudden, and there definitely has to be some sort of restrictions about it or even some sort of backfiring mechanism kinda like the miscasts. Like maybe if something is really rare in the world, then the player could tell the frog to make it more common again. And then, to the player's despair, too much of it appears and envelopes the land or something. Idk just a little scenario that could happen with it.

Anonymous

Just had another idea lol: Ok, so the big snake was what got me thinking, but it could practically be used anywhere else. A dungeon of sorts, but instead of a subterranean structure, it's the insides of a monstrously sized creature. Then, a player could just pull random parts from around them to use for ingredients or magic, and the environment would be very weird and unique. It would in no way have to be anatomically correct. It could even have rivers or structures or OTHER MONSTERS living inside it. It would be like a weird mixture of fleshy insides and an old ruined structures made from bones. The only way to escape is to kill the creature and cut your way out or somehow be regurgitated.