Monster Description Cards

The Monster Description Cards are extensive storytelling tools containing purposely unique flavor text to add realism or memorable characterization to creatures and their subsequent events. The cards provide keywords to spark your imagination and example phrases of their use. Written by novelists and organized by dungeon-masters, the cards are designed for quick on-the-fly use and inherently adds randomization.

There are Four cliché-busting storytelling tools within the
Monster Description Card Deck

1.Descriptions and Introductions: Above all else, the "core descriptions" provide brilliant creature concepts. They share unique ways to introduce or explain distinct physical features to an audience. These "core descriptions" allow writers to stay far away from monsters, terms, phrases, or even ideas that are now unoriginal and thoroughly overused.

2.Combat Descriptions: The second tool in the deck are the Combat Sections. These sections focus on drawing an audience into the sheer violence of monstrous combat. They explore unsettling concepts like great height and length, great strength, even preternatural abilities. They touch on the tension that lingers with the threat of a hero's death. These cards collect these concepts and inherently randomizes them for any writer to literally draw inspiration.

3.LAST STAND Examples: What happens when a monster is cornered, heavily injured, or both? What if the creature is smart enough to be deceitful, proud, or vindictive in its last moments? How can you subtly share that your monster is on its last legs, but there is still a worrisome hint of malice in their eyes? These questions are all answered by the LAST STAND section of the cards. Where examples help illustrate the response of creatures facing overwhelming odds and perhaps displaying heroism, sacrifice, or wickedness of their own.

4.Event Cards: Thanks to extra funding during our Kickstarter, we now have additional event cards in every deck. There are nine different types of Event categories, each category has multiple cards with unique system neutral ideas.

#1 HORNS & FRILLS:

Horns are hard permanent outgrowths, often curved and pointed and typically found in pairs. Frills are upward-curving bony plates typically extending behind the skull.

#2 FANGS & MAWS:

The Fangs category is considered the mouths, jaws, teeth, and maws of large, small, or odd creatures.

#3 CLAWS & PINCERS:

The claws category consists of pincers, paws, talons, and hooks. That is, any style of sharp, usually slender, and curved nail at the end of hands and feet.

#4 PROTRUSIONS & OSTEODERMS:

This category consists of bony deposits that form knots above scales. Protrusions regularly produce sharp structures that can be used offensively, or widen scales and plates that add to the defenses of a monster.

BODILY FORMS:

Creature’s (#5)hides, (#6) eyes, (#7) noses, (#8) ears, or other physical oddities that might distinguish a creature from its nightmarish kin are the focus of this group.

#9: TAILS:

The hindmost part of a monster, such as the flexible extension of the backbone in a vertebrate. Tails can be used to whip, constrict, or trip an opponent.

#10: WINGS:

This category focuses on wings of all shapes and sizes, functional or non-functional: Elliptical wings, high-speed wings, long soaring wings, and more. For the cards combat backside, wings will batter with winds, slice with sharp edges, and stab with spiked ends for a unique description style.

#11: TENTACLES:

The tentacles cards help depict any elongated, boneless, flexible organs, limbs, antenna, or barbels of famed monsters.

#12: WOUNDS:

Depict the The appearance of past and current wounds located on a monster.

System Neutral, Writer Friendly

We understand that there are a multitude of genres, points-of-views, worlds, rulesets, and games that writers and tabletop gamers choose. That’s why our ``philosophy dictates the following rules which will ensure our content is system-agonist, narrative Neutral and friendly to writers and GMs at all levels of expertise.

The cards will help you answer question like these:

In a sea of zombies, what makes this one stand out?

In a world of dragons what makes this dragon different? Special? Memorable?

Anime is all about unique characters and ability, so why not use the cards to create singularity among a crowded field?