I'm creating a 5e D&D compatible bestiary featuring monsters and NPCs of a bizarre, grotesque, and even comical bent. I'm looking for suggestions for a title. Something like The Grimoire of the Grotesque.
Here are a couple sample entries.
(http://i462.photobucket.com/albums/qq342/henrydoodle/Captain%20Brackenbush.jpg)(http://i462.photobucket.com/albums/qq342/henrydoodle/Captain%20Brackenbush2.jpg)
(http://i462.photobucket.com/albums/qq342/henrydoodle/Lunkhead%203.jpg)(http://i462.photobucket.com/albums/qq342/henrydoodle/Lunkhead%2032.jpg)
Miscellany of the Macabre
Opuscule of The Odd
Codex Phantasmagorica
Queer & Curious
That way you could also get sales from people thinking it's gay porn. And it's a nod of sorts to The Raven.
I like Grimoire of the Grotesque, but grimoires are usually related to spells and grotesque to transgressive horror.
BTW, Lunkhead is quite unique. Good luck with the project.
Considering that you've already done the hard work (art, text), you may want to do a Pathfinder and an OSR version of the book to increase your audiences.
Quote from: Spinachcat;952087Considering that you've already done the hard work (art, text), you may want to do a Pathfinder and an OSR version of the book to increase your audiences.
If the Kickstarter is a success, I'll definitely do an OSR version at least.
Vivsavage's Fantastic Ménagerie of the Absurd and Bizarre.
Quote from: Opaopajr;952139Vivsavage's Fantastic Ménagerie of the Absurd and Bizarre.
Oh man, if only I could use that! Unfortunately, "viv savage" is a character from This is Spinal Tap and would be off limits where a public product is concerned.
Quote from: vivsavage;952207Oh man, if only I could use that! Unfortunately, "viv savage" is a character from This is Spinal Tap and would be off limits where a public product is concerned.
:) Then supplant possesing proper noun with another of your devising! And if you want, create a fictitious pastiche of a fantasy character along similar lines. Ta-dah! Done.
:)
Nice art!
Final decision: Doctor Faust's Grimoire of the Grotesque. I've used the name "Faust" based on the various versions of Faust where he rejects religion in favor of science. My version of him does not literally make a deal with darker forces for power, but has effectively sold his soul by engaging in abominable experiments in the face of anything pure and holy. The book will be filled with monsters he has created, as well as his notes on how he achieves his results. The latter aspect is the "grimoire" portion, explaining how various spells (established and new) are used with surgery.
Faust is so obsessed that he gets to the point where he starts using his own body parts when he can't get what he wants from others. There are a couple of examples of people seeking him out to be changed themselves. One person whose partner was leaving him drugs the latter and goes to Faust to get the doctor to combine them permanently so they will always be together. Faust also grafts their dog to the new body.
There are also a few humorous creations. My favorite is Thomas the Shank Engine, a man who built machines of war who wanted to become one himself. Faust grafts a bunch of metallic parts to him, including a bunch of knives (hence the "shank" part), and parts that look mildly like the parts of a train.
There's also Crabby Paddy, a small girl who Faust "implants" into a shambling mound, merging with it over many months.
Faust is wanted dead by so many people that he's constantly on the run.
I hope you will like it!
That's a good title!
Quote from: vivsavage;952039I'm creating a 5e D&D compatible bestiary featuring monsters and NPCs of a bizarre, grotesque, and even comical bent. I'm looking for suggestions for a title. Something like The Grimoire of the Grotesque.
Here are a couple sample entries.
(http://i462.photobucket.com/albums/qq342/henrydoodle/Captain%20Brackenbush.jpg)(http://i462.photobucket.com/albums/qq342/henrydoodle/Captain%20Brackenbush2.jpg)
(http://i462.photobucket.com/albums/qq342/henrydoodle/Lunkhead%203.jpg)(http://i462.photobucket.com/albums/qq342/henrydoodle/Lunkhead%2032.jpg)
What's wrong with your initial idea: Grimoire of the Grotesque. Sounds great!
Quote from: vivsavage;953601Final decision: Doctor Faust's Grimoire of the Grotesque. I've used the name "Faust" based on the various versions of Faust where he rejects religion in favor of science. My version of him does not literally make a deal with darker forces for power, but has effectively sold his soul by engaging in abominable experiments in the face of anything pure and holy. The book will be filled with monsters he has created, as well as his notes on how he achieves his results. The latter aspect is the "grimoire" portion, explaining how various spells (established and new) are used with surgery.
Faust is so obsessed that he gets to the point where he starts using his own body parts when he can't get what he wants from others. There are a couple of examples of people seeking him out to be changed themselves. One person whose partner was leaving him drugs the latter and goes to Faust to get the doctor to combine them permanently so they will always be together. Faust also grafts their dog to the new body.
There are also a few humorous creations. My favorite is Thomas the Shank Engine, a man who built machines of war who wanted to become one himself. Faust grafts a bunch of metallic parts to him, including a bunch of knives (hence the "shank" part), and parts that look mildly like the parts of a train.
There's also Crabby Paddy, a small girl who Faust "implants" into a shambling mound, merging with it over many months.
Faust is wanted dead by so many people that he's constantly on the run.
I hope you will like it!
This sounds bloody awesome. My only query would be, are you sure you dont want to make up your own name up for your scientist? Faust is pretty well known..?
I think that "Dr. Faust's Fantastic Ménagerie of the Absurd and Bizarre" would have been better because it sounds more science-y. Grimoire of The Grotesque sounds more like a side show at a circus than a treatise on strange creatures.
But it's your book, after all.
Quote from: vivsavage;953601There are a couple of examples of people seeking him out to be changed themselves. One person whose partner was leaving him drugs the latter and goes to Faust to get the doctor to combine them permanently so they will always be together.
This bit reminds me of a Thomas Ligotti story.
All sounds pretty cool, and I like the art.
Here is the introduction by Dr. Faust:
My fascination with modification developed when I was a youth of approximately ten years. I was the charge of a human female calling herself mother and a human male calling himself father. The two were joined in a social contract that involved procreation of which I was the result. I gestated within the female for a period of months before emerging. Of my juvenile years I remember little, nor do I concern myself with them until the age I discovered my purpose.
As best as I can recall, said male struck mother with a chopping instrument after a conflict of fervent words. The female's dexter hand was severed and her cranium split in the struggle. The female fell to the floor and expired after several minutes of hemorrhaging. The male experienced a severe emotional reaction and repeatedly thrust a blade into his chest. As with the female, father hemorrhaged to the point of expiration.
I watched the aftermath with significant curiosity. I remarked that the hemorrhaging ceased soon after pulmonary function terminated. The corpses grew rigid and eventually cold to the touch. I examined the severed hand and matched it to the terminus of the female's dexter arm. The chopping instrument had achieved a clean separation, with little raggedness of flesh or splintering of bone. Though limited in intellect compared to my latter years, I was still a gifted youth, and I was able to attach the female's hand to her arm using implements such as a tailor might ply. The success of the experiment inevitably lead to further tests and I managed, over a period of days, to remove several of the extremities of the male and female. I also severed each head from its neck.
Exchanging the extremities of the female with those of the male proved difficult but not vexing. The resultant appearance of each corpse was a source of fascination and pleasure to me, and I desired to experiment with further bodies to achieve greater understanding of physiology. Moreover, I wished to create new physiologies through means I was increasingly becoming proficient with.
I read texts on the topics of chirurgery, physiognomy and humoral theory. I grew to know the most minute details of the physiques of different mammalian species and discovered that many were not incompatible, at least by my own aesthetic judgment. Porcine and canine features, when combined with those of various humanoid species, were of particular satisfaction.
Small canines and felines were easiest to obtain for my experiments, as there were many of these creatures roaming the less civilized quarters found in the city. Securing humanoids proved difficult. Fresh corpses had to be removed from cemeteries during dark hours. Not only was it difficult to see, but bearing the bodies to my laboratory was a strain on my admittedly frail physique. Inevitably I became convinced that I would be seen by local constabulary and ceased these activities for another method of procurement.
My operating theater was located in the dregs of the city's southwestern arm, a place rife with prostitutes, carousers, and waifs. Enticing them into my rooms with the promise of nourishment was simplicity itself. Once inside, each subject would be encouraged with soup or pie laced with poisons of my own devising. Death was assured for all but the largest specimens. For those, I was forced to strike repeatedly on the cranium with a hammer. Doing so would often render the skull and its contents unusable.
The bodies of each specimen were examined for interesting features, such as permanent body adornment, eyes of striking mien, disproportionate digits or genitalia, and so on. During my early years I had not yet learned to freeze the subjects, so operations needed to commence soon after they had perished. You can see the dilemma I was presented with, I am certain. With fresh material needed to enable my work, I needed at least two specimens for each creation. It was therefore preferable to goad two or more humanoids at once.
Escape did occur. Oft during the initial months of these trials I would underestimate the amount of toxin needed to terminate the individuals life. Some managed to overpower my attempts at restraint and find the exit. I never pursued the subjects if the region was crowded with traffic, but some I was able to dispatch before they were able to attract attention. It is a measure of the social indifference members of the city regarded these dregs with that no hew and cry was ever let loose.
My obsession did have its drawbacks. Principle among them was the unavoidable act that the bodies could not remain for long before spoiling and attracting attention. I was therefore unable to gaze upon the finished work for more than a handful of days before they would begin to become rank and collapse altogether. I was able to solve the problem by soliciting the aid of a laborer in the digging of a private cellar under the floor of my lower bedroom. Upon completion of the space, I offered the laborer a bowl of soup. He thus provided me both with a place to retire my decaying experiments and become a specimen himself. I used quicklime to cover the remains, and then placed the floorboards once more over the pit.
As any scientist may appreciate, there is always a new frontier to discover. Mine was life itself. Attaching the head of a canine to the neck of a human, or the reverse, yielded a result that was viscerally exciting. For a while. But repetition creeps into even the most creative endeavor, and I gradually became disillusioned by the limitations of what was, effectively, the creation of puzzles. If life could exist once, surely it must be able to find its way back.
This is where science must bend its will to less structured means. Having witnessed practitioners of arcane talent perform feats that transgress natural laws, it was inevitable that I incorporate such tools into my own repertoire. I thus enjoined myself with a master of these arts as an apprentice for several years, even forsaking my creative passions for months on end until I could bear their absence no longer.
Many of the lessons taught by my instructor were of little consequence to my intended purpose, but I never revealed any disinterest to her. Patience was my mandate. And so I became proficient to a level where she assessed me as competent enough to practice on my own. I have not seen her since.
Despite my now extensive understanding of magia, there were still limitations. The arcane arts do not produce effects that could be thought of as medicinal in nature. They cannot repair broken limbs or heal flesh, nor staunch blood flow or regenerate limbs. Being capable of producing those effects requires devotion to a supposed divine power, something I would, and will, not do. Everything I achieve shall be by my own hands. No "god" may assist me. I bargain with no one.
The key to reinvigoration is understanding what spells are most effective to my processes. I discovered the following to be of consistent value:
Burning Hands is essential in cauterizing freshly bisected anatomies.
Gentle Repose renders spoilage entirely absent, allowing me to leave some materials untouched for days on end without fear of decay.
Disguise Self and Dominate Person are used for obvious reasons. I have these spells prepared daily.
Alarm is placed on all portals within my theaters.
Nondetection and Invisibility are used on corpses when I fear discovery.
Shocking Grasp is the final step in bringing life to the specimen. By placing one hand upon the specimens heart and casting the spell, the organ should begin functioning anew if I have correctly attached the innumerable viscera.
Dimension Door, combined with Contingency, provide the best means of escape if I am harmed. Every morning I cast the latter spell, causing the former spell to be enacted if I am assaulted.
Despite the importance of sorcery, the most critical elements to my success remain mundane: understanding the anatomical minutiae of countless species, operating with delicacy and precision, and possessing a single-minded determination. Each new creation must be fully conceived before any cut is made. In unfortunate cases where my planning has been lacking, I have either destroyed the specimens or sacrificed a bit of my own body. In one instance, I replaced the ear of one specimen with an ear of my own after clumsily spilling a jar of acid. Any loss on my part is merely the price I pay. At any rate, I can always replace what I lose.
After years of working from the same location, I have abandoned my original laboratory and struck out on my own. The variation of species found beyond the borders of my previous domicile is staggering. My contribution to these variations continues with renewed vigor.