[DESIGN] The Monsters of Quill

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Hello,

In here we can discuss the denizens of the dark forests of the world. I can give you a few of the creatures now, and feel free to add to the conversation.

We don't want a huge variety, to keep costs and dev time down, but we would like each type to have variations and more put into their personalities and habits, so you get to know how best to extract what you need from them. And remember, they have populations...so killing off all the dragons would mean many years without them!

Here are a few to keep you going a while. (Four you may already know of from other threads around the forums.)

• Hobgoblin
• Hag
• Dragon
• Banshee
• Remnant
• Barghest
• Spriggan

We want the creatures to be rooted in folklore for the most part, and to have variety when it comes to their habits and attacks. Thoughts?

Did you say... BANSHEE?!

Well you just can't exclude boggarts; their name is too fun to say!

 

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Could we talk with some of them?

It's very nice if they are rooted in the folklore and not just here to be killed.

a tad late ..sorry.
can we tame/reproduce the captured monsters?
it's always nice to have a partially "pacifist" route . . .after killing the parents and captured the eggs -v-

Lips are sealed...

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Originally Posted by chirisu

a tad late ..sorry.
can we tame/reproduce the captured monsters?
it's always nice to have a partially "pacifist" route . . .after killing the parents and captured the eggs -v-

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I totally agree, it would be nice to have this option, or at least some sort of option besides simply killing the 'monsters'; it seems especially appropriate for a game where it's inhabitants appear to be quite close to nature anyway. Maybe there could even be a way to make peace or ally 'humans' with a certain population of monster, perhaps by marrying one of their kind, or by holding a festival in honor of the bond (not the word I was looking for, but you get the idea). Both are pretty folklore-ish concepts that would likely fit in the setting.

In any case, when dealing with monsters I think it would be interesting to offer a route or routes that is/are unique to this game in some way. :)

Also, here are some other potential 'monsters' to add that seem to fit the bill from Irish folklore:
- Wisp. Appearing (rarely) in foggy parts of the forest or a strange dancing light at night that is definitely not a firefly.
- Selkie. For your bodies of water, perhaps at first appearing as a human to the player until they later discover the truth.
- Pixie. Perhaps some children can be found playing with the pixies before they dart away on the character's approach. Could also be fun to have a pixie that begins following the character around after being helped/saved (and so befriended) - whether their presence is desired or not (would make a cute 'event'). :P
- Kelpie. A water spirit that can shapeshift, and most often takes the form of a beautiful black horse drowning in the water, in order to lure folks that would save it to a watery grave.. but you could take artistic liberties and make it a kindly spirit instead.
- Gnome. Gnomes are cute! :D
- Harpy. Half human, half bird. Could inhabit a mountain peak somewhere.

Irish folklore has many great offerings that have a similar feel to what Kynseed seems to be aiming for, and that would make a great base for new creatures/monsters to inhabit the wilds of the game. :)

Erized mentioned them above but Kelpies are one of my favorite mythological creatures.

My favorite story I was told as a child stated that they appeared as beautiful, strong, and wild horses. They are completely harmless if on land and left alone. However, if you are greedy and attempt to ride the wild and free horse, or if you attempt to capture it to put to work on your farm it will take you to the water- drown and eat you.

Though most renditions of them have them as vain and malicious. If you touch the horse at all, it's skin will become an adhesive to which you can never free yourself (save chopping off your hand or whatever you've touched it with). The end is always the same, it will run to the water- drown and eat you. There was one story where a kelpie captured a large amount of children who were petting and hopping on it for a ride. Yeah, gets pretty dark sometimes.

If you managed to befriend it (somehow) it may help you on your land with its incredible strength or bestow you you with whatever blessing dwell in the lake or river that it lives/resides in. Water always hides secrets.

Sorry for the long post! So excited about all you do!

Since the game is so heavily germinated with gorgeous greenery:

Hamadryads - tree nymphs; integral part of their trees: if the tree died, the hamadryad associated with it died as well
Peryton- half bird/half deer: could be among forest-dwellers
Nuckelavee- similar to centaur but inherently evil, i.e. would purposely destroy crops of farmers

I saw this figured you guys might like it.

https://d36tnp772eyphs.cloudfront.ne...-the-world.jpg

A few of those things I could see out of the 45 - some might have to be sort of stuff you see in certain situations. Jikininki would make sense for an NPC(or player) who has been selfish and greedy his/her whole life. Gargoyles would be super classic and would fit if there is any sort of large castle/graveyard. REDCAP is basically a super violent goblin. A ghoul would be really awesome since it could assume the role of someone who has passed away or it could KILL someone in your village and you'd never know ...Imagine having a scenario where a bunch of ghouls is your neighbors...that would be a nightmare scenario lol

Preta would be good as well since there seems to be a joke with feces in this game, I guess if you leave to much of that stuff around you'll basically encourage her to cause havoc in your area.

Love those monsters...you might meet one or two of those...

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Originally Posted by Charlie

Love those monsters...you might meet one or two of those...

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Please say it's the drop bear cause I wanna type in a Austraillian accent to scare them away

I'd have to say something I'd love to see if a church grim at the family graveyard, maybe like the first dog in the game becomes it or even the cat.

Thats awesome there is so much to pick from I love a few of the japanese ones just so you can separate yourself from the typical goblins/orcs type of stuff...which of the two you might choose from that list has me amped up lol

This stuff kind of reminded me of kynseed art style sorry for the image being so massive lol
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/35/8e...1c362b1275.jpghttp://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p3o4kT4Ur0...ldCollage3.jpg

love this style and the monsters really seem to fit into the world - great!

Wow that are some really nice Monsters =o
I especially like the Sprites <3

yeah if you guys are interested http://spiderwick.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Faeries - spiderwick has excellent lore on its "fae" and creatures , the art just kind of reminded me of kynseed so i was like wow this is pretty cool!

Well you just can't exclude boggarts; their name is too fun to say!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chirisu

a tad late ..sorry.
can we tame/reproduce the captured monsters?
it's always nice to have a partially "pacifist" route . . .after killing the parents and captured the eggs -v-

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Perhaps some sort of offering or ownership integration?

Perhaps monsters have something they feel they own, or something they want. I mean they are living entities too.

Maybe, for example, approaching a hostile goblin for the first time with something shiny may prevent it from initially attacking,
This might allow a descerning adventurer to develop a tenuous relationship, giving him access to... Whatever.

Or allow him to get close before attacking... Which i guess would also carry its own consequences!

Just thinking out loud!

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Originally Posted by CKFlynn

Erized mentioned them above but Kelpies are one of my favorite mythological creatures.

My favorite story I was told as a child stated that they appeared as beautiful, strong, and wild horses. They are completely harmless if on land and left alone. However, if you are greedy and attempt to ride the wild and free horse, or if you attempt to capture it to put to work on your farm it will take you to the water- drown and eat you.

Though most renditions of them have them as vain and malicious. If you touch the horse at all, it's skin will become an adhesive to which you can never free yourself (save chopping off your hand or whatever you've touched it with). The end is always the same, it will run to the water- drown and eat you. There was one story where a kelpie captured a large amount of children who were petting and hopping on it for a ride. Yeah, gets pretty dark sometimes.

If you managed to befriend it (somehow) it may help you on your land with its incredible strength or bestow you you with whatever blessing dwell in the lake or river that it lives/resides in. Water always hides secrets.

Sorry for the long post! So excited about all you do!

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The story I most remember about kelpies is that when not hostile, they could shapeshift into beautiful men (women too I imagine) and it was possible for humans to marry them. Something about a silver necklace/bridle that contained their powers. Shapeshifting NPCs would be interesting.

I'm loving the ideas in this forum!

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Originally Posted by Roddybug

The story I most remember about kelpies is that when not hostile, they could shapeshift into beautiful men (women too I imagine) and it was possible for humans to marry them. Something about a silver necklace/bridle that contained their powers. Shapeshifting NPCs would be interesting.

I'm loving the ideas in this forum!

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Aaaaand surprise, the old woman in the shoe is a dragon!

The Witcher 3 has some fantastic monsters based on folklore, Japan has some Frightening stuff, D&D has some good choices and borrowing from Lovecraft would be good too. All of these would be fantastic for inspiration.

Witcher 3

Attachment 224
Imagine this coming toward you near an ocean cliff

Attachment 225
Leshen, forest spirit. Controls wolves to protect their totems


Japan

Attachment 226
Jorōgumo

Attachment 227
Kasa-obake

I could see this as being more mischievous, stealing your stuff, leading you the wrong way, ETC but not one that would outright attack you.

D&D

Attachment 228
Mimic

Pretends to be a treasure chest or a wine/beer casket and then attacks the human it tricks.

Attachment 229

Beholder

Beholders are often found occupying deep, underground caverns they create themselves.

Lovecraft

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Attachment 231

Oh, and Silent hill could be good inspiration also. Have fun picking!

@Everyone: Hi there! This is my first post, excited to be a part of this community! I've been following the game design and updates for many months now, but didn't buy the game yet because I didn't want to spoil anything for myself... Now I just can't hold it anymore, I will have to succumb...! :-) Especially since I'd love to share some ideas and that should be done with a strong knowledge of the game, right?
@Charlie: I guess there will also be some 'unfightable' monsters/creatures dwelling around? In that case, there are some creatures I came up with many years ago, when I wrote some kind of fantasy story. For example what I then called "blood crows" were black crows with bloody red eyes who tended to prey on people who got lost on their journey and then provided them with mysterious information (in rhyme) about how they could find the way back home, or with information about danger coming their way. The tricky thing about them was that sometimes they would speak the truth, and sometimes they'd lie, so children were warned to never follow their advice as one could never be sure of their intentions. Sadly, unknowing wanderers were often misled and thus dug their own graves. Some mysterious creature like this could be nice in the game, especially in places where you could easily get lost.
There was also this ghostlike 'lady of the forest', who (many centuries ago according to legend) had lost her beloved and could not find peace. She disappeared, lingering in a world between the living and the dead. She was sometimes to be found singing melancholically, deep in the forest, but only by others suffering from a broken heart who could feel and understand her pain. Maybe something like this could be implemented? For example, only players who lost a spouse (death or divorce) could encounter her on very specific conditions, in a certain part of the forest. And maybe there could also be a way to free the lady from misery and reunite her with her deceased lover.
Now, concerning a real monster: how about some kind of Krampus that punishes bad children? One that would come into their room at night if they *really* misbehaved and could only be fought off by doing some kind of ritual? (Considered children wouldn't be able to defeat it through fight)

That's it for now, but would love to share more ideas later! Is there any option to still join the Dev Pub?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Erized

I totally agree, it would be nice to have this option, or at least some sort of option besides simply killing the 'monsters'; it seems especially appropriate for a game where it's inhabitants appear to be quite close to nature anyway. Maybe there could even be a way to make peace or ally 'humans' with a certain population of monster, perhaps by marrying one of their kind, or by holding a festival in honor of the bond (not the word I was looking for, but you get the idea). Both are pretty folklore-ish concepts that would likely fit in the setting.

In any case, when dealing with monsters I think it would be interesting to offer a route or routes that is/are unique to this game in some way. :)

Also, here are some other potential 'monsters' to add that seem to fit the bill from Irish folklore:
- Wisp. Appearing (rarely) in foggy parts of the forest or a strange dancing light at night that is definitely not a firefly.
- Selkie. For your bodies of water, perhaps at first appearing as a human to the player until they later discover the truth.
- Pixie. Perhaps some children can be found playing with the pixies before they dart away on the character's approach. Could also be fun to have a pixie that begins following the character around after being helped/saved (and so befriended) - whether their presence is desired or not (would make a cute 'event'). :P
- Kelpie. A water spirit that can shapeshift, and most often takes the form of a beautiful black horse drowning in the water, in order to lure folks that would save it to a watery grave.. but you could take artistic liberties and make it a kindly spirit instead.
- Gnome. Gnomes are cute! :D
- Harpy. Half human, half bird. Could inhabit a mountain peak somewhere.

Irish folklore has many great offerings that have a similar feel to what Kynseed seems to be aiming for, and that would make a great base for new creatures/monsters to inhabit the wilds of the game. :)

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Absolutely 100%! I'd love to be able to raise the captured young as a friend, pet, produce animal (such as milk, meat, or fur), or to befriend some adult and making them my spouse or something :D

Also, I'd LOVE to see Selkies, Gnomes, Wisps, and Harpies

I think that having some Leanan sídhe. A beautiful fairy woman that you could marry. It could make your character much better at artisan good creation but more likely to get sick and die. Or Oilliphéist which is an Dragon-like monster from Irish oral tradition. In the best-known story, the oilliphéist cuts the route of the Shannon River when it hears that St Patrick has come to drive out its kind. In a comic addition to the story, the oilliphéist swallows a drunken piper named Ó Ruairc [O'Rourke] who continues to play inside the monster, thus annoying it until coughed up and spat out. A Ceasg would be cool too. She is a mermaid who if caught will grant the catcher 3 wishes.

Some very nice ideas in this thread

I know this is probably far too late, but I have a suggestion for a creature:

In Swedish folklore there's a type of Faerie creature known as Näcken. He shows himself as a beautiful and completely naked man, who sits on a rock in the river and plays the fiddle so beautifully that you just have to follow him into the water, where he drowns you. He can also turn into Bäckahästen, "the brook horse", a creature much like the Kelpie, a beautiful horse that you just have to try and ride, and it can make its back longer to fit more children, and once you're riding him you cannot get off, you're stuck there. There are some stories where Näcken just drowns the poor sap who hears the music or rides him in horse form, but there are others where he can teach you how to play the fiddle as well as him. Usually the playing skill has a terrible price, such as making anyone who hears the music unable to stop dancing until they've danced themselves to death. There are also more adult stories where the danger is simply that he'll sleep with you and get you pregnant if you are a woman.

In Kynseed, his name can be Nekkid to keep with the spirit of his name in Swedish, which literally just means "the naked one". He might be difficult to represent seeing as his defining character trait (apart from drowning children and listeners) is that he's naked, but then again it's pixel art so you wouldn't be able to see much detail in his body anyway. He might teach you how to play the fiddle in exchange for a sacrifice, or perhaps for something less grim, like strands of your hair to restring his fiddle.

Compared to some of the bizarre and dark stuff we have ideas for, Nekkid sounds quite tame....except for we would have to cover up his danglers.

I think that having some Leanan sídhe. A beautiful fairy woman that you could marry. get-vidmate.com instasave