Welcome to Part 2 of a 5 part interview with the ENnie nominated designer of the Book of Monster Templates, Steven D. Russell; You can find part 1 of the interview HERE.
Illustration by Grey Thornberry
11. I know how close you get to your work, how do you handle criticism?
Mark Gedak uses a PC phrase “workable feedback,” but in reality that’s really want you want. Someone telling your design is Awesomesauce is nice, and someone saying it Suxors is bad, but neither one helps you improve your design. We have a lot of very talented freelancers who comment on our designs before they go out the door so often times these designs have been through the ringer already. To answer your question though, I try to see any criticism as an opportunity to improve my design.
12. Describe your best moment so far working on Book of Monster Templates?
One of our preorder customers sent me an email about how he just used the Blood Maw Creature Template and the Tax Collector Creature Template last weekend. Having people read your work is great, but having people play with it and the book is not even out yet, now that feels good.
13. What do you feel was the most ingenious part of the Book of Monster Templates that you have devised so far?
The Format; One or two pages for the template, one page for the sample monster stats and Image, 4 paragraphs for the monster description specific to Questhaven, but still modular enough to drop in the majority of campaign worlds. These include the monsters Appearance, Attitudes, Aspirations, and Account of Deeds (infamous sample creatures and their actions). Lore DCs of various levels, 2 feats specific to the template for advanced base creatures to take and the Ecology encounters which makes ecology not just fluff but an actual part of the game and its mechanics.
14. What specific design choice are you most happy with, and why?
Being able to apply the template item by item without worrying about going back to make changes. For example, with the Bloody Maw template when you see an Ability Score Adjustments we tell you each adjustment that has to be made to a base creatures stat block. Str +4 (+2 to attack and damage, +2 to Climb and Swim skill checks, +2 to Strength, and CMB checks, +2 to CMD, +2 to the DC of Jaws of Severing and any of the base creature’s Strength-based DCs ). This really cuts down on the amount of time it takes to apply a template to a creature, my initial goal was to be able to apply the template in 5-10 minutes.
15. Which design element was the hardest to figure out, and why?
The themes for the new templates, I have every OGL monster book ever released on PDF, so I know which templates have already been done. So making sure I created useful templates that are just not retreading old ground is a challenge. You especially can’t touch anything that was in the Advanced Bestiary. There may be one or two that we have a go at, we have had a few requests for ”Living Spells”, and a small and larger sized “Mob” Template. I have been taking a hard look at why certain templates get used more than others and applying those principles to these new designs.
16. What have you learned about design and especially designing for monster templates?
That I don’t have a monopoly on great ideas, we have a few folks do a monster template so that we have a perspective beyond my own. Sometimes as a designer you create you own blindspots, and a fresh set of eyes really helps, Michael Welham’s creature template and Crystal frasiers creature Template are fine examples of amazing ideas come to life.
17. Do you have any initial thoughts on new templates that you're working on?
Right now I am working on the Exemplar creature template, a creature that stands out as an alpha leader of the other member s of its group. I wanted something that could be used for any creature and could be added very quickly to the design. I also want to create a template for collective groups thinking and working together.
18. What are the initial obstacles that Book of Monster Templates must overcome? How did you surmount them?
Besides finding preorder customers so that we can do a real print run, I think the hardest one is going to be acceptance and comparison, there are some really good template books out there. From the very beginning I am going to be compared to the Advanced Bestiary. So equaling or surpassing the quality of that work is a very challenging endeavor. But the feedback from reviewers of the free preview and from the preorder exlusive previews have been extremely positive.
19. How do you decided what has become cliché and what is a valuable trope to explore when it comes to monster templates?
Lets take the Dread Undead Templates from the Advanced Besitary as an example. What made that trope work is that it worked on almost any creature and it increased the challenge rating so it foiled player expectations. Instead of its another lich, it’s a titan lich, it really has that added affect of keeping the players off balance by providing more options for the GM. Those fundamentals are never cliché’; its just a matter of finding the right theme. Now where I find my themes and how I play with the tropes of those themes is what’s really important.
20. Are you happy with the progress of Book of Monster Templates so far?
Yes I am over halway completed with the design phase we have 25% of my personal goal for preorders in just a few weeks, with over two months to go. I am content with our progress, but I always want more J
