On Monsters and Hunting

Recently some of my fellow TTRPG hobbyists have been talking about the boss monsters that have inspired them to run more engaging encounters. Ty discusses Nested Monster Hit Dice ((which is one of my favorite parts about The Bold + The Breathless)) inspired by Horizon Zero Dawn, and Marcia elegantly converts Minecraft's Ender Dragon fight to the tabletop. Go read those cause they're lovely and I won't be covering much of what's in them here!

Instead what I want to talk about some core concepts from a game that I personally take a lot of inspiration from, one that's left an irreplaceable impression on me. Anyone who gets goose bumps when Proof of a Hero plays knows exactly what I'm talking about: Monster Hunter!

((Monster Hunter World promotional art courtesy of Capcom's website))

So what makes Monster Hunter so special? For those who have never had the chance to enjoy this absolute masterpiece of a series, let me assure you that it's exactly it says on the tin. You and up to 3 friends (and probably an entourage of cats) prep gear, craft potions and eat a hearty meal before diving into a hostile location where you're tasked with hunting a monster (ostensibly to protect your village, gather resources and help nature do its thing). Pretty simple right? The game could've just stopped at that and many of its less interesting imitators do. However, Monster Hunter since its inception has been about being a small dude in a big monster's world, and it delivers the awe and fury of nature through a couple of core gameplay elements that I want to talk about today, especially as they apply to tabletop running an emergent boss fight:

• Zones and Zone Ecology
• Multiple Bosses, One Target
• Combat Points of Interest (I call this Red Barrel Design)
• Learn-by-Hunting

There's even more to gush about that goes beyond this post's scope, like Monsters losing abilities when parts break ((Seriously go check out Ty's post // The Bold + The Breathless)) or how combat focuses on Player execution and memory allowing for a truly tactical experience (we won't be talking about how that can be done system side, but that sense of "if you lose you know exactly how you messed up" is a combat vibe I'm always trying to design with). But let's just focus on these 4 for now. 

Part 1 - We All Live in a Monster Hunter World

When most TTRPG players think of a boss fight they probably think of a big open room, maybe with a bit of cover, and a meaty damage sponge that they can whale on at nauseum until it dies. Instead we're looking to make a boss that truly, lives in this space. It may have a lair where it can sleep and rest, but it'll likely be encountered outside of that. It can chase or be chased between locations, make tactical retreats or take a detour to grab a snack.

While critically acclaimed Monster Hunter: World (2018) chose to emphasize the series' living breathing world by removing loading screens, every Monster Hunter has had incredibly engaging environments. And part of huge part of that is breaking up the map into distinct and memorable Zones. What's nice is that these Zones work well as both shorthand for an area if you're playing purely in theater of the mind, or as a way of considering what blocks you're stitching together for your Grid-Based combat experience.

Each Zone essentially functions as a small arena (it would probably take a player their full turn to cross from one side to another) within which to fight Monsters. Each has quirks and landmarks (which we'll cover later) and a function in the greater ecosystem of the map. But showing is easier than telling so let's start building a map! Having a recurring map for Players to explore can (in my experience) create an incredibly powerful adventuring loop, so we're especially designing this one with replay in mind. We'll say the area is an Ancient Forest, at its center is a titanic tree older than any beast that may haunt its hollow core. Next lets design some simple zones that can all flow together, each serving as a small arena that the Monster can move between as it retreats (or chases). Each Zone should be visually distinct and feature varying topography, to make fighting in each one have different advantages and disadvantages.

Map: The Ancient Forest
Zone 1 : The Shoreline - A vast beautiful shoreline, peppered with lush tropical vegetation. The low tide often leaves behind a cornucopia of sea life in the shoals. The air is salty yet refreshing!
Zone 2 : The Caustic Clearing - A clearing filled with dandelion-like Sporepuffs and the noxious oozing fruit of Poisoncups. The odor is pungently sweet.
Zone 3 : The Riverside Run - The Riverside is usually quite calm, blocked by a variety of vines and dead trees. Be cautious during a rainstorm though, as the quiet riverbeds can quickly change to deadly rapids.
Zone 4 : The Glimmering Caves - Deep caves carved by now rotted roots below the Great Tree. Its sides glisten with worthless fragile crimson gems that absorb and reflect light exceptionally well.
Zone 5 : The Vines - Vines the size of houses wrap around the Great Tree, providing ample footing and plenty of sturdy ivy to swing on for brave hunters.

Zone 6 : The Treetops - The top of the Great Tree is home to a variety of nests and unique fungal growths. It's a long drop down, so watch your step.

Our goal here is to have a network of interconnected Zones, each with a distinct flavor that builds around the central idea of our map. Each also provides their own niche in the ecosystem and have a distinct sense of geography compared to one another. We can imagine a wide variety of Monsters living in these Zones and that's the next most important part: Endemic Life - When Monster Hunter uses this phrase it mostly is referring to smaller tertiary monsters, but I use it to mean everything but the Boss Monsters. 

Lets say a poison variant of Vespoids are known to have nests in Zone 2. Our herbivore Aptonoths wander between Zones 1-3, but they generally nest on the beach during the summer season ((because yes, the older Monster Hunters had seasons and I think that rocks)). Pelican-esc Wing Drakes can be found in Zone 1 diving for fish, or all the way up in Zone 6 where they nest and sleep. To bring this ecology to life I'll always let the Player know what these creatures are doing in the Zone they're in once per Combat Round, even if that's just the (clearly bouncy) toad-like Bombabooruses ((I made these ones up cause they sounded fun)) sunbathing while the player is fighting a Monster on the Vines.

This is to do more than just create a convincing ecosystem though - This gives the Players smaller targets to occasionally contend with, or use to their advantage. For instance if Players find that a monster has a weakness to poison, they might try to lure it to Zone 2 and literally kick the hornet's nest, or if a Dragon-esc monster is being fought, the Players may be able to reasonably assume the nest is up in Zone 6 and use the boisterous Wing Drakes as cover for their stealth. This also lets us tie Boss Monsters to specific Zones (more on that next), and assign each Boss a "lair" where they'll heal a certain number of dice worth of damage if they can successfully retreat to. 

Part 2 - Wandering Monsters (Only Now They're All Bosses)

Where the ecology gets juicy though is Wandering Monsters, and not the type you're used to. Sure the players may be hunting a Tobi-Kadachi, but during the entire hunt you should be running at least one or two other boss monsters of equal strength that are simply going about their routine between the Zones. Maybe there's the patient Nercsylla who has giant webs in Zone 4 and occasionally preys on smaller insects in Zone 5. On top of that there's a voracious Anjanath wandering the lower 3 Zones for a hearty meal. Players can likely beat Tobi-Kadachi, but simply don't have the resources to contend with all 3 bosses. This keeps the Player humble compared to the greater world's ecology, and reinforces the vibes we're aiming for.

Our Anjanath will start in a random Zone (d3 between Zones 1-3) and each round of combat we'll roll another d6, on a 5 or 6 he'll move in search of more prey. Nercsylla meanwhile will mostly stay in Zone 4, but if we're in Zone 5, we'll roll another d6 each round to see if she shows up (on a 5 or 6 again). An alternative to these random behavior patterns could be clocks (something I use more often in my game) that track time of day, with different Monsters following different daily routine paths.

If our Players are unlucky enough to be near either of these monsters, they'll look like a good snack and draw aggro. These Monsters will only retreat after being sufficiently hurt, evaded or dissuaded. The good news is, if you get either of these in the same zone as Tobi-Kadachi you can start a Turf War. When a Turf War begins, the Wandering Monster joins the initiative proper and can start shelling out damage to Players and their Targets alike.

Lastly, since we've already established where Nercsylla and Anjanath tend to haunt, we'll need to pick where Tobi-Kadachi is usually hanging out and why. We'll say he can often be found hunting bugs in Zone 2 during the morning hours where bees/Vespoids often become active, then drinking water in Zone 3 in the afternoon, then sunbathing and sleeping in Zone 5 to round off its day. This would make Zone 5 its "lair", so if it's able to retreat there it can heal for ~20% of its HP once per day.

What's nice is that we can theoretically have any 3 of our boss Monsters be the main target and know roughly when and where their paths may intersect. This is knowledge Players may also glean on recurring visits to the Ancient Forest, allowing them to gather a degree of information without having to do a full investigation. Next lets breathe even more life and fun into these zones, this time with an eye for combat...

Part 3 - Intro to Red Barrel Design

Chances are if you've ever played shooters you've encountered one of my favorite pieces of game design: The Red Barrel. For the uninitiated Red Barrels explode when you shoot them. It's that simple. And yet this one simple addition will completely change how a Player will interact with their environment. Enemies they were once mowing down mindlessly, they're now thoughtfully kiting towards the Red Barrel. Each step a careful calculation on how close they can get without being too close. Now their aggro isn't just a tool for survival, it's a weapon. Hazards aren't always Red Barrels, they could be chandeliers you drop, bridges you cut, or landslides you cause. But all of this falls under what I'd like to call Red Barrel Design. 

Monster Hunter does this exceptionally well by tying these Red Barrels to its ecosystem. Sometimes this comes in the form of a dammed river, just waiting for one good smack to unleash a torrent of water that can knock a monster from Zone 6 all the way down to Zone 3 with a mighty thud. Sometimes these Red Barrels are living creatures, like Nitrotoads that release an explosive burst after being spooked.

For each Zone we should have at least 2 or 3 of these Red Barrels that we can treat like Points of Interest, noting them as Players enter the Zone. It's up to Players to figure out exactly what to do with these Hazards, or when is best to use them. We'll use Zone 2 as an example:

Zone 2 Hazards: 

    - 3 Vespoid nests (roughly 4 meters tall each) float above the pappus filled clearing, hanging only by a few loose vines. ((If players knock down the nest angry Vespoids will appear to sting the closest target with poison))

    - A Nitrotoad can be seen sitting atop a nearby boulder, catching young hatchling Vespoids before they mature to their giant state. ((If the Nitrotoad is spooked or thrown it'll cause a minor explosion))

    - The clearing floor harbors 2 larger growths of Poisoncups on each end, both oozing with a sickly purple bile. ((Tipping or throwing a Poisoncup creates a ~2 meter diameter pool of corrosive fast acting poison for d4 rounds))

    - The area is covered in Sporepuffs, large dandelion-like plants. It's difficult to see anything below your waist. ((Players can use this as cover to hide below))

Here we've given a small additional tool box for the Hunters to play with, and more importantly locations for them to try to aggro monsters to (whether that's between Zones or in a given Zone). Now instead of Tanks simply being there to intake damage and keep a monster planted, they're playing footsies trying to line up the monster with whichever hazards the team thinks will be most effective! 

You can also tie these hazards to things like weather (EG Zone 3 floods during rainfall and can whisk the monster away to Zone 1 if the Player gets them in the river) or things that require players to take a more proactive role (the gemstones in Zone 4 will amplify the light they reflect, meaning anyone who can make a bright enough light could use the gemstones to blind a Monster further in the cave). Back to our example hunt; Since Poison is effective against Tobi-Kadachi, Players might do well to lure it to Zone 2 for their fight (or perhaps intercept it at Zone 2 when it's moving between Zones 1 and 3 as part of its daily routine).

Part 4 - Learn-by-Hunting

Lastly, one of the strongest parts of setting up your hunts in recurring locations is that investigating the Ancient Forest and doing a combat-centric hunt are largely indistinguishable. Players will be able to jump into the action with smaller Hunts against more manageable monsters and slowly grow used to how the surrounding ecology works. Instead of them having to do investigation checks, and slowly mapping out Zones 1-6 we can instead introduce things a more organically.

For instance we may always start Players in Zone 1 and for their first Hunt in the Ancient Forest we'll task them with capturing the manageable and cowardly Great Jagras (who begins the day by hunting Aptonoths in Zone 1). Because it's prone to retreating, Players will get to see Zones 1-4 (with 4 being its lair) and get the chance to play around with various Red Barrels that'll reappear in subsequent hunts. This low-stakes hunt allows for investigation, experimentation and plenty of mistakes, a perfect format for Players learning by doing. It's a kind of primer to the Ancient Forest. It also means that in future hunts where we may want to throw in more complex monsters, weather, etx, Players are already working with a baseline knowledge that equips them relatively well for the next fight.

All other preparations can often be done in town by collecting rumors then selecting gear. The canteen's cook may inform you to be wary of Tobi-Kadachi's strong lightning attacks or that the creature has a notoriously weak immune system. This gives Hunters the chance to load up on thunder resistant gear (or perhaps pick a different target if they don't have any) and lets them start formulating a plan to take advantage of poison hazards in Zones 2 and 5.

This Action-Oriented cycle of Learn-by-Hunting is ideal for more fast-paced games with strong combat loops. But it can be just as effective in slower ones as well. Perhaps a Hunt is intended to take several days and you can add 4 hours of travel time between each Zone in a larger map. This way Hunters get to recuperate and talk strategy if their target retreats to the next Zone. Additionally, even in the action-oriented structure, meticulous Players still have the option to comb every Zone if they so choose, and you can even pack in secrets, shortcuts, mysterious cave paintings, etx to reward this behavior.

There's so much else about Monster Hunter's design that is rife for adaptation to tabletop, and maybe that'll be the subject of future blog posts. But for now I hope this has already filled your head with ideas!