Moldvay's Visions of the Underworld: Iron-age Swords and Sorcery Bestiary

My dear friend Wizzzargh has been writing a series of posts on how he changes the aesthetics and dynamics of the inhabitants of the AD&D monster manual since 2019. I have enjoyed these posts and he suggested I do the same. This a look at the monsters (not men nor beast) detailed in Basic '81 as how they may be utilized in a iron-age swords and sorcery milieu. The "playable" demihumans have been omitted as they are not traditional underworld denizens. 

Bug-bear

3HD, 3 in 6 surprise, +1 damage

So in the older editions these are depicted with jack-o-lanterns for heads. Surprisingly there is another monster which also has a similar appearance and aptitude.

“It was huge, like the harvest moon, huge and amber. But this Moon had eyes that burned in its pallid, pitted face. They were for all the world like wounds, those eyes, as thought someone had gouged them in the flesh of Rawhead's face then set two candles to flicker in the holes. Garrow was entranced by the vastness of this Moon. He looked from eye to eye and then to the wet slits that were its nose, and finally, in a childish terror, down to its mouth. God, that mouth. It was so side, so cavernous. It seemed to split the head in two as it opened.” Rawhead Rex - Clive Barker

Raw-head Rex appears as a tall lanky and hairy creature with a moon-face smooth like raw meat. I think this may have been the original inspiration of the monster.

In the original story, RR acts as a very phallic symbol and is implicit with the horror of rape. The fear of pregnant women or those menstruating isn’t something needed in my game as that’s crossing over past the PG13 territory and further doesn’t really have a place in any game focused on physical exploration of dangerous places. Also my games assume all male characters with a female-as-class which has attribute requirements for play, so it doesn’t seem like a good way for players to demonstrate their skill of understanding the milieu. 

Thus bug-bears are forest dwelling spirits of destruction worshipped by ancient men. They appear at night and fight with no weapons, instead possessing a supernatural power strong enough to rip men in half. 

Bug Bear [3HD, armor as leather, ripping claws or bite 1d8+1, 3 in 6 chance to surprise, morale 8]

A group of beings stand before you, each lankly and covered in matted fur. Each stands two heads taller than a man and it's arms end in great claws. The head of each is utterly hairless, deathly pale, and larger than a pumpkin. Two eyes, deep set like stab wounds, are set above a pair of slit nostrils. A cavernous mouth opens cleaving the head into half spheres revealing predatory teeth.

Carrion Crawler

3HD, 8 paralytic attacks, walk on walls

In my games these turned into a less hardcore xenomorph from alien. So there are 3 stages, egg, larva, and adult. Adult is the classic example. Eggs rupture if a person steps within 5’ or if a torch is brought within 10’ with the baby carrion crawler reacting to body heat. They are essentially a save vs paralysis for 2d4 minutes. If the character fails to save, it crawls down their throat and emerges into a larval version (1HD) exiting from their intestines in 2d4 days killing them. The larval version’s paralysis lasts for 2d4 turns. The larval versions will lay eggs into the stomachs of their paralyzed prey and then depart. 

Also I think 8 paralytic attacks is a bit much, so I just turn it into 4 attacks but with a range as long as a spear allowing the carrion crawler to attack the 2nd rank. The adult carrion crawler itself does not lay eggs into people, only setting up the eggs as traps. 

Carrion Creeper Egg [Carrion Crawler eggs will have their progeny emerge in response to body heat. A character who approaches within 2' of an egg will have 1d6 child carrion crawlers burst forth and the character must then roll save vs paralysis for a number of minutes equal to the child carrion crawlers. The carrion crawlers will attempt to crawl into the paralyzed victim and in 2d4 days will mature enough to burst forth as Young Carrion Creepers. If a torch, or a similar source of heat, is brought within 5' of the eggs all of them will burst with the creepers seeking the heat.]

Four 3' tall, pale green oval-shaped almost spherical shapes stand together each covered in gray ichor. 

Young Carrion Creeper [1 HD, armor as leather, 4 tentacle strikes which cause a save vs paralyze for 2d6 minutes or bite for 1 hp, crawl up walls, morale 8]

A vibrant green caterpillar twice as long as a man's leg squirms forward, four tentacles writhe as it rises upwards like a snake, opening its maw.

Adult Carrion Creeper [3 HD, armor as leather, 4 tentacle strikes which cause a save vs paralyze for 2d4 turns or bite for 1d8, the tentacles may attack as longspears, crawl up walls, morale 9]

A massive green caterpillar nearly 15' long crawls forward, four tentacles, each 5' long undulate seeking flesh as it opens a maw of churning teeth.

Doppleganger

4HD, transform into anything it sees

In my games these are the biological creations of Egg of Tenyks as opposed to the metal men which normally carry the Egg’s banner. They can not only mimic the visuals of those hey see but can also mimic the voices of others that they hear. They are sent to sow destruction and discord and travel in groups of 1-6 (wow that’s enough to replace most of a party) and will present themselves as heralds wishing to meet with local men of authority. They will then impersonate those men and commit violence as they attempt to pass themselves off as them. The tell of a doppleganger is that they can only blink manually, much like how the Teethousand would not blink when firing his firearm.

Dragon 

12HD, flying, breath weapon as HP, lots of treasure, may have multiple heads

In my games, each one has a name (like The Black Dragon) and only appear in a wilderness lair or dungeon room but never as a random encounter. Civilization knows where a dragon is and avoids those places.  A dragon whose hoard is robbed will exit it’s domain and begin destroying the countryside as in Beowulf. Dragons do not lay eggs, instead arising long after the breaking of a great taboo by greed such as slaying one’s own brother to obtain treasure as in Fáfnir. 

Gargoyle

4HD, Armor as plate, immune to non-magical weapons, 4 attacks, fly, immune to charm and sleep

Mechanically these are monsters which require players to think beyond “I cast sleep” or “I attack”. These are obstacles to be overcome by tying them up, activating a trap on them, or locking them behind a stone door. I think that is the core identity of a gargoyle as opposed to a flying statue that comes to life and potentially slays 4 different characters per turn.  

When I was I kid I grew up watching digimon and I remember seeing a very strangely shaped one called Shakkoumon. It remember later learning that it was based on an old japanese artifact known as Shakōkidogū which were discussed in Chariots of the Gods as representing ancient alien visitors wearing a spacesuit. The design of the Shakōkidogū was also present in the 3rd generation pokemon games as Claydol, a pokemon which I really liked aesthetically. The games give the following lore about it:

Claydol are said to be dolls of mud made by primitive humans and brought to life by exposure to a mysterious ray. This Pokémon moves about while levitating. - Ruby

Claydol is an enigma that appeared from a clay statue made by an ancient civilization dating back 20,000 years. This Pokémon shoots beams from both its hands. - Sapphire

While gargoyles existed in Egyptian and Grecian antiquity, they strike me as very much a gothic architectural element. I much prefer using the Jomon period constructs as they could be buried guardians which predate the player characters and thus have reason to be within a dungeon. The Shakōkidogū remind me of the golems/robots found within Laputa Castle in the Sky, and the notion of ancient constructs powered by psychic energy capable of unleashing beams of destruction fits the swords-and-sorcery aesthetic very well for me. 

You might say that unleashing a line of destruction, similar to a dragon’s breath attack, is to powerful for a gargoyle. But if it were swapped with the 4 attacks I think it would be a fair trade, especially as breath weapons occur every 1d4 rounds rather than every round. 

"Gargoyle" aka Shakokidogu [4HD,  armor as plate, 90' line of destruction dealing damage equal to HP save vs half or slam 1d8, must wait 1d4 rounds between firing lines of destruction, immune to non-magical weapons, immune to charm and sleep, able to fly, morale 11]

Before you stands a construct of stone shaped to be a man thrice the height of a normal one. The figure's arms hang down past it's knees and it stands on all fours as a gorilla. Repeated patterns of auspicious petroglyphs repeat upon it's skin and a single vertical red eye has been painted upon it's forehead. The figure turns it's head towards you and suddenly an orb red light begins to coalesce around the vertical eye. 

Ghoul

2 HD, 3 attacks, paralysis, undead

Ghouls are one of my favorite monsters in fiction. I think they’re a great monster to put in a dungeon as they could simply show up to eat the corpses there. My only issue is with the paralysis and that they are not intelligent as they were in Lovecraft’s works. The paralysis, alongside 3 attacks makes them effective at destroying a party as they are encountered in groups and are always hostile. 

In my games I decided to remove the paralysis and replace it with being able to dig through the ground using their claws. Further I made them intelligent rather than beastial to allow better use of their burrowing abilities. Instead of being man-like beasts which haunt dungeons they have become cannibals who can burrow beneath a house to feast on the flesh of the inhabitants. 

Ghouls are also a possible race-as-class in my games if the players make friends with a den of them or become on by a curse.

Lovecraftian Ghoul as Class

Unless otherwise stated: as a Chaotic Fighting-Man

1. Bite attack as light weapon or 2 claws as medium weapon. Attacks made with Man-made weapons deal a maximum of half of variable damage. [A ghoul fighting with an axe normally dealing 1d8 is would deal 4 points of damage on rolls of 4-8.]
2. +4 save vs poisons
3. Do not need to eat rations but may only heal by eating human flesh
4. Clearly inhuman thus unable to engage in downtime actions within a settlement 
5. Forces morale rolls from allied hirelings if they reveal their nature  
6. Able to tunnel large enough for a man to crawl through upon their hands in knees through unworked earth at a speed of 5' per 2 levels per turn.
7. Upon reaching level 4 become a “Worm of the Earth” able to engage in downtime actions as they are able to change their appearance to that of a corpse that they have eaten. Further, magic weapons no longer deal halved variable damage. 

Ghoul [2HD, armor as chain, bite and claws 1d8x3, fast, may dig through earth as worms, morale 10]

A bestial figure, impossibly gaunt, stares at you with a smile that stretches to its clavicles. The figure pulls its mouth open with its claws, the jaw dropping open from its clavicles unfurling a lashing forked tongue.

Lizard-men

2 HD +1, +1 damage, 12 morale

When I first read this entry I noticed the 12 morale as rather significant. Lizard men will never lose morale and retreat from combat. This alongside their 2HD and their +1 damage made me think of this as an artificial race created to wage war. Alternatively these could simply be fanatical warriors who would fight to the last man. In a Homeric game these could be Maenads. 

I would declare these to be the servants of the reptile god whose empire was destroyed by a cataclysm which sundered the very plane of existence. Through that gaping wound they fled into distant caves of lava. There they found the crystals which refracted the folding light and the unfolding light. They used these to unfold themselves and pass as men and folded others to serve as their beasts of burden. 

(Now you might say, wow Lungfungus what a daring synthesis of lizard-people conspiracies and hollow earth. Bro, this is just the plot of the Super Mario Bros movie. The world evolve use to mean unfurl/unfold so devolving could mean folding.)

Lycanthrope/Medusa/Minotaur

No need to change these, except maybe the non-wolf lycanthropes being lame.

Neanderthal

2HD, +1 damage

What I noticed when re-reading the entry was that each group of Neanderthals is lead by a pair of 6HD much larger Neanderthal and that Neanderthals will generally not be hostile unless attacked. The giant taller version reminded me of the K’n-yani aka the Xinaian from Lovecraft’s the Mound. 

The K’n-Yani appear physically terrifying. They are extremely tall some as tall as five meter and have yellow-grey skin. They have broad noses, and high foreheads and cheekbones, as well as a large, wide skull which elongates strangely in the back. Their teeth are broad and flat, and double rowed. Their hair ranges in color from black to wiry red.

I would rule that further these Neanderthal would be the proto-beings which later became men. They may not be the stereotypical cave-men but they would be instead any possible predecessor of humanity. These could range from those who once swelled within the terrestrial paradise and the K’n-Yani being the wielders of the flaming swords placed at the east, to them being ancient men of the Iron Age who survived their drowning by Cronus’s Bane and the K’n-Yani being their Othrysian attendants, or even them being first men carved from bark and the K’n-Yani being the giants born of Eiocha.

Shadow

2HD +2, 5in6 surprise, sap strength, immune to charm and sleep, immune to non-magical weapons, morale 12, cannot be turned

Like the lizard men, shadows do not fail morale and retreat from combat. They also are immune to the incapacitating level 1 spells and non-magical weapons. Further they only have a 1 in 6 chance of NOT surprising the party and when they do, they decrease the strength scores of characters. If we ignore the sapping of strength on a hit, we’re left with an entity that catches it’s foes unaware, is immune to mundane weaponry, is not effected by the level 1 incapacitation spells, and relentlessly fights and pursues it’s foes. 

Slasher villains come to mind, especially Candyman or Jason Voorhees. They appear from the shadows surprising the cast, are largely impervious to weapons, and continue to chase after their targets. Similarly so do the Erinyes from Greek myth.

Shadows are the psychic vestiges of violence and vengeance which coalesce to spill the blood of man. They may take many forms: some appear as shadowy figures ascending to grasp an additional dimension, some resemble those wronged bearing their wounds, others wear the guise of beasts of ill omen with glowing red eyes. 

Sidenote on Ghosts:

Ghosts are not monsters, they may exist alongside shadows and present way to end their existence, but they are not combat interactions. Ghosts present a great deal of interaction with the milieu and should not be reduced to a mere combat. They should be placed around the wilderness and underworld as means of changing it. Perhaps a ghost of tomb raider bars passage across a doorway until it’s corpse is brought up from the underworld and given a funeral. Perhaps a ghost resides in the ruins of tower and can tell of a safe path through the forest man-eating trees in exchange for a wineskin. Perhaps a ghost of a king walks the ramparts of a castle and may tell the player character of correct alignment that he was murdered allowing a character to slay the usurper and enter domain play. The cultural significance of ghosts presents such a wide array of interactions that to turn them into mere combat encounters is an excess of reduction. 

Wight

3HD, immune to non-magic weapons, level drain, undead

So in my games I got these confused with Ghasts or Wraiths or something. Thus they don’t have level drain but instead have a aura of weakness around them which imparts a -2 penalty on all rolls. I like to think of them as Nazgul as drawn by Ralph Bakshi. Ghastly figures which drain the life essence of those near them as they menace with their dark swords and leer with their glowing red eyes. 

Wight [3HD, armor as plate, phantasmal sword 1d8, all within 15' incur a -2 penalty on all rolls,  immune to non-magical weapons, morale as undead]

You torch light suddenly reveals cloud of shimmering darkness. A moment passes and the cloud coalesces into several shadowy red-eyed armored warriors each holding swords.The figures seem immaterial and almost illusory, but you feel your strength being sapped away in their presence

Kobold, Goblin, Orc, Hobgoblin, Gnoll, Ogre

These have no special abilities and just increase in HD. You can just make your own low HD monster-men. These are just demihumans who live in the underworld. I claim that the vast majority of them should simply be men of some sort. 

Within the underworld you could have a temple to a chthonic god populated by black robed clergy wearing horned masks, the training halls and vaults of a order of warriors, or even the bazzar of a once great empire stolen neath by a swarm of bats.

Skeleton, Zombie

These are as above but undead! I just use “walking corpses” as generic 1HD undead and try to make each more significant undead stand out by tying their death to their attributes. Men burned to death might rise as skeletons which are on fire and are able to point a finger and force objects to save vs catching a light. Similarly I try to have higher HD undead unique to specific burial rites of ancient dungeon making civilizations. The ancient Ytori bound the souls of men to their bones by golden masks and then placed them within giant urns of mud. Now those ancient spirits arise from the urns as gold masked mud-men who are able to envelop intruders in their muck and drown them. I don’t think it difficult to make these unique, and I think it adds a great deal to the created milieu. 

Further if encountered as a wandering monster roll, either in the underworld or the wilderness, another roll should be made for the type of undead being. I weigh my wilderness encounter tables to have a 3:2:1 ratio of men, beasts, and monsters which would lead to 50% of undead as walking corpses and another half as in-human carcasses or skeleton creeping from the darkness. If you have never hit your players with an animated skeleton of a hint crocodile emerging from waters I strongly suggest it!