My Favorite Monster Mambo

[@Odothuigon]

Playing AD&D, a fellow player (druid) and I (magic user) went back to where stirges attached us, captured about a dozen with sleep spell and net. Then we went with rest of party and released our nasty pets into the large room containing an 8 orc lair. Shut door, wait for noise to die down, dispose of injured survivors. Collect gold.

[@jimmurphy1591]

Odothuigon that works

[@mikegould6590]

Stirges are one of those “they win/we win” types. Either it’s a Sleep Spell and the players win, or one player gets swarmed. A classic threat. They’re also a great way to create rumours of vampires in low level adventures. Blood drained victims, and witnesses who mistakenly think stirges are “vampire bats”, all lend credence to the tale. Nice job!

[@jimmurphy1591]

Mike Gould Oh.....vampires! Like Kobolds and Dragons. Nice

[@yeetoburrito9972]

That is an awesome idea man, really nice👌

[@JonathanGilman87]

Jim I rolled out a basement stirge encounter last night for my brand new group. It was fantastic! a couple went down. The party had to retreat. They learned valuable lessons in the difficulty of my version of Eberron. Great tip!!!

[@denysbeecher5629]

The Otherworld stirge minis look exactly like the Erol Otus stirge illustration from B2. That was always a very iconic D&D image for me

[@Pissleflip]

I cannot wait to Stirge lair my unsuspecting party, thanks for the tips.

[@liamcunnane4049]

I love the tactics you bring to your encounters. It's a fun thing for me to increase the tactics of my game as my group becomes more savvy with their characters.

[@jimmurphy1591]

Liam Cunnane glad to be of help

[@theDMLair]

Liam Cunnane Agreed. I've also found that I learn TONS about tactics by paying attention to what my players do in combat. Also learn lots about using spells this way. And then, in the next session, I'm usually using those same tactics -- when reasonable -- against my players, too. It's like a constant arms race. Fun stuff! 😂

[@theDMLair]

Stirges have always been a fun creature for me. Those little beasties are way more deadly than their CR would lead one to believe, too. Especially when deployed in large packs. They can be a challenge even for higher level PCs. Love the terrain, Jim! 😀👊

[@johnnybigbones4955]

Lovely set up for this. I recently made my own stirges out of putty and leaves from aquarium plants, but I haven't had a chance to use them yet!

[@Parker8752]

Worth noting that 3.5/Pathfinder Stirges are CR 1/2, and deal CON damage. They detach when they've dealt at least 4 CON damage, so you'd need a decent number of them (2-4 per character, on average) to take even a level 1 party down, but the real danger they pose is that the party is now significantly weakened - their Fort saves are weaker, and they have up to double their level deducted from their maximum HP. If you have that many of them, however, there's a decent chance that characters are going to die.

[@jimmurphy1591]

HectorGrey they were more fun in 3.5

[@Biostasis5x7]

Jim I LOVE your game setup. I recently bought a 3d printer and im halfway through building my cavern setup. After that, I'll be working on a sewer setup. Game on, Jim!

[@jimmurphy1591]

Chumley belated oh cool send pictures!

[@thebowedacious]

Wow, this blew my mind Jim. I always thought about the natural environment the enemies are in but I never thought to make them one and the same. I am definitely stealing this and applying the same concept to other tiny baddies. Hope you're doing well!

[@ZeniusAug]

thx for a great video and a beautiful setup

[@domranson5222]

Hi Jim, more monster mambo encounters with miniatures please! Nobody else on KZbin does anything like it, they are really your strong point!

[@jimmurphy1591]

Dom Ranson I’ll get on this

[@jayson9484]

Brings the little suckers into a new light! love it

[@williamwells790]

I can understand how Stirges are fun to run, I ran The Forge of Fury last week and the party got to the Stirge colony and almost had a tpk, next to the black dragon it was the most intense fight of the adventure. Also thanks for pointing out the minis, way better than the prepainted ones from the mini packs that DnD puts out.

[@jimmurphy1591]

William Wells my pleasure.

[@darrenp9454]

Great video, I'm a big fan of Otherworld Miniatures.

[@jimmurphy1591]

Darren P they are very cool

[@ollygibson8397]

Great vid. My favourite so far I think. Fascinating to hear your tactics and very useful for a fellow DM. More of the same please.

[@alexp.4270]

Great series. The new cell thing about these videos is that you give really good examples of the monsters in use, with tactics behind the encounter. Can't wait to see whatever monsters you love to use. As always, thanks for a great vid.

[@jimmurphy1591]

Trickier Hades 👍

[@disonanciamusic4333]

Please make more of these quick! Excellent video!

[@roninCeacross]

I love these videos! D&D 5e I can relate to. Please more of these!

[@dustintaub]

This is a great idea for a series of videos. I'm really looking forward to the next one.

[@darrenchristie924]

Was trying to track the original dungeon down that you based this on. Thought it would be fun to look at from a historical point of view. Sadly wasn’t able to do so. But thanks for a great video.

[@MrFleem]

And then the ranger tries to tame the stirges. And the wizard wants a stirge familiar. The party become expert stirge wranglers. Then the party becomes responsible for numerous unintended deaths when other adventurers mistake their stirge farm for a dungeon.

[@jimmurphy1591]

Fleem Q Swipes ooops

[@danielelsom9259]

Jim, thanks for making this video, it is incredibly insightful and useful. I hope you will continue to make content like this. Until then game on!

[@jimmurphy1591]

Daniel Elsom I will

[@jonrichardson652]

Devious! Definitely going to give this a try.

[@MarshalltheMarshtompOfficial]

Did you get the Stirge Miniatures from Otherworld's website? I'm looking for the x20 Stirge box.

[@jimmurphy1591]

Marshall Sonsteby I purchased on eBay but I believe that’s were they came from

[@MrRourk]

Hags are so overlooked these days.

[@jimmurphy1591]

Fredrick Rourk but they are good leader

[@visegrips_n_gafftape]

Would love your thoughts on an Applause of Crawling Claws. Haven't found a mini I like for them yet, but the foreshadowing available when PCs start finding corpses witht heir left hand cut off early on... it's priceless.

[@jimmurphy1591]

Mike PS4stonemovies sounds like fun

[@visegrips_n_gafftape]

My first intro to them was D&D 3rd edition "Monsters of Faerun" but I Wiki says they first appeared in Dragon#32 (December 1979). Anyway, thanks for the content, Monster Mambo is a great idea. Getting to know more monsters/variants is valuable, but getting the info on how Jim Murphy uses them, in what scenarios, etc... well, that's gold.

[@theDMLair]

Mike PS4stonemovies You could buy super cheap plastic army men or fantasy figures from a toy store, cut off their hands, and glue several of them -- or a pile of them -- to a miniature base. Bingo. Mob of crawling claws! Or leave them on the mini base but unglued. Then when they attack, you could take the claws and put them on the player's miniatures to show the claws clinging to them. Here's a Bucket of Zombies on Amazon that might work nicely for this: www.amazon.com/SCS-Direct-Zombie-Action-Figures/dp/B00KBHVSTY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1530354958&sr=8-1&keywords=bucket+of+zombies

[@visegrips_n_gafftape]

the DM Lair Thanks for the suggestion. I've thought about it, but Ive been thinking about getting a 3d printer and it might make a cool project. Gotta do more research on how much I have to spend on one to make minis that are decent quality. No sense doing it if the printer can't do fine details.

[@theDMLair]

Mike No problem! I'd check out the 3D Printed Tabletop channel. This guy spend I think $200 on his 3D printer and he's getting really good results. I only watched one of his videos, but it looked pretty good. kzbin.info/door/r_uz-iWzyR1VJNlN-E1y7w

[@jelio123456]

Encounter ideas are fun to hear about. they give good ideas to DMs.

[@sergeantchannelclicker8060]

great vids! nice to see a gamer older than me! thanks lol

[@jimmurphy1591]

😼

[@christopherdecator9742]

Just wanna say, I love the vids Jim!

[@DensetsuVI]

Great video! How do you handle running large numbers of monsters, like swarms of stirges? When I try to go large, combat tends to get really, really slow. Do you use any tricks to handle large numbers of enemies making large numbers of movements?

[@jimmurphy1591]

Alexi Bosconovich not really, just the same or packs with same initiative

[@onuq3r4y478]

Hey Jim, how do you like those Otherworld minis? I really like the way they look and was thinking abut getting some Otherworld Goblins to start my mini collection, but I'm worried that they won't fit in if I buy other mini brands like reaper or that they wouldn't be good for a beginner.

[@jimmurphy1591]

lglowen this is my first, but they look good. I will guess they are 25mm not 28mm. But if you mount on bases can work or you use old figures.

[@onuq3r4y478]

but stylistically, im worried about them fitting in. Like would you feel ok running these guys (otherworldminiatures.co.uk/shop/humanoid-tribes/ht2c-goblins-iii-2/) with the MCDM Ruby dragon? Or am i reading too much into it and consistency doesnt matter because the real dnd is in our minds?

[@jimmurphy1591]

lglowen I think they look great! Very old school. They are also unique

[@elgatochurro]

Ulliach?

[@Dan-sg1ox]

Do you focus fire a single party member with your monsters? Is this being a bad sport?

[@jimmurphy1591]

The Bearded Goblin not unless it is obvious he/she is the most deadly. Cast a fireball and you’ll get a lot of attention. Maybe a big healer, again if they notice. But normally not. Leads to whining!

[@Dan-sg1ox]

That's a good rule of thumb. I had an encounter where a group of kobolds ran around shanking whoever a juvenile white dragon felled, costing the fallen creatures failed death saves. It got complaints but it was plausible enough to be swallowed. I think ultimately your rule is plausibility, and I like that

[@kyliepoe6231]

Intelligent monsters will concern themselves with destroying an obviously biggest threat or a hated enemy first (fair play as a party operates in the same way), a lair monster will attack the furthest in/nearest it's treasure or loved ones, a predator will go for the weakest looking (or tastiest to career humanoid eaters) and packs of them will try to separate and single out their target. All feel fair as long as they seem plausible, more so if you take time to set it with a little description. However, to Jim's example... stirges would probably only single someone out if you threw a bucket of blood on them or something.

[@theDMLair]

The Bearded Goblin Here's how I think about this. My players almost ALWAYS focus fire on one enemy, usually the most powerful. Why? Because they are intelligent and want to drop him fast. So, I apply the same tactics when I'm running an intelligent -- INT 10 or higher -- creature. Someone of human intelligence (INT 10) is enough to realize it's smart to take out the biggest threat fast. This is 100% realistic. If my players were to complain about it, I simply explain my reasoning. "Hey, you guys do that same thing. Why wouldn't my intelligent enemies do it, too?" Now, if the monsters are not super intelligent (INT 8 or lower) they may not focus fire. Also, if the creatures are CHAOTIC and not known for great battle strategy (orcs come to mind) they probably won't focus fire. They'll just attack whatever is closest or looks to be the best/easiest target.

[@andythedestro12]

I'm planning on siccing these on my friends in Tor Keep. Have them track a mystery of victims appearing in the big city drained of blood. Maybe that might lead then to a dungeon or a crime ring :o

[@jimmurphy1591]

Or the Stirge God

[@andythedestro12]

@@jimmurphy1591 Blood for the Stirge God. Skulls for the skull throne!,

[@diagnosisninja]

Loving the insight into encounter design from a more experienced GM. I'm hoping that you don't mind if I got it all down and steal it mercilessly? =] Are there any differences between stirges in this edition, and older editions?

[@jimmurphy1591]

Darren I don’t mind at all!

[@theDMLair]

Darren Stealing is a time-honored tradition in D&D! 😀

[@seanhillman1016]

MERP and RQ if you feel comfortable talking about them. Stirges are awesome

[@jimmurphy1591]

Sean Hillman been a long time for both, do you play these?

[@seanhillman1016]

I am ramping up to play the new RQ Glorantha, both in Glorantha and in a Conan setting. MERP I have not played in a while or Rolemaster. For RQ Broo and of course Ducks. Nothing pops into my head about MERP in particular

[@onuq3r4y478]

god! now i wanna run stirges!

[@jimmurphy1591]

lglowen you should

[@tjn74]

I HATE STIRGES! Bastards have killed four of my horses across my D&D career. Can't kill a PC? Go after their pets :(