leshie

✨ Monstertober 2025 prompt list ✨

Will see how many I can do this year since I am always away for half of october hh// As always I will be selling all the designs I make at the begining of November/

Tag your creations with #monstertober2025 and #monstertober //

You can use whatever technique you want and there’s no pressure to finish/  

The main goal is to have fun/ As always feel free to share around for people who would like to join/

Info on Mossfoots under the cut//:

I recently bought an art book on Caspar David Friedrich, whose emotional work stuck with me since I first saw it in a museum years ago. Over the course of a few weeks, I read about his life and at the same time did studies/interpretations of many pieces. It was a really enjoyable and fulfilling project; here's a good lot of them together :)

When the players are about to visit a new town, pre-generate several NPCs who fit the demographics of the town, but don't give them jobs. Your town is Mostly human, with a number of halflings and gnomes? Make a list that's mostly humans with some halflings and gnomes mixed in, with names that match the vibe you're going for and maybe the barest description + a quirk of some sort.

So the list would look something like this:

Ophelia Bracegurdle, older Halfling woman who laughs a lot

Norabecka Johnson, a young human woman who seems tired

Geraldofinio Babblecock Nimsy, gnome gentleman who takes pains to maintain a fabulous mustache

Etc.

Then, when the players are like, "Can I go to the blacksmith?" You look at your list of NPCs and the one at the top is Ophelia Bracegurdle. She's your blacksmith now. Then they want to go to the tavern, where Norabecka is the innkeeper and Geraldofinio is a patron having a drink at the bar. He's using a straw so he doesn't mess up his mustache.

If they had gone to the inn first, Ophelia would have been the innkeeper with Norabecka as the patron, and then Geraldofinio should have been a blacksmith with some sort of mustache guard to keep the sparks off.

Making the list ahead of time doesn't take much time, and you can often re-use the people you never got to at the next town.

Your world will seem vibrant and interesting and like you have everything planned out.

This prep is fairly simple and easy. You could use a random name generator and find lists of character quirks online or you could just make your own shit up. Because no one has any jobs or stats, you have very little you have to decide ahead of time.

It removes in-the-moment decision making from your game. Because you assign NPCs to roles as the players meet them, you don't have to pick who is gonna be the blacksmith or make up a blacksmith ahead of time.

This third point is the heart of this method for me: Randomization thwarts stereotyping. Some DMs struggle with this more than others, but I know I have made my fair share of gruff burly man blacksmiths! How many of us would really pick Ophelia Bracegurdle, older halfling woman who likes to laugh, to be the blacksmith? Honestly I probably wouldn't. But since in the example the players wanted to go to the blacksmith first, there she is. And now we have the option but not the requirement to think about why and how old Ophelia got her job. Maybe she's a widow who took over for her dead husband. Maybe she just always wanted to be a blacksmith or this town just has always had halfling ladies be their blacksmiths. Or maybe you don't think about it at all, and she's just the blacksmith because she is.

𝕆𝕟 𝕠𝕔𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕨𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕞 𝕠𝕗 𝕞𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕟𝕖 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕤𝕡𝕚𝕣𝕚𝕥 𝕕𝕣𝕒𝕨 𝕔𝕝𝕠𝕤𝕖, 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕞𝕒𝕪 𝕘𝕝𝕚𝕞𝕡𝕤𝕖 𝕒 𝕗𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕙 𝕠𝕗 𝕣𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕞𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕤. 𝔽𝕠𝕣 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕕𝕨𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕝𝕒𝕕𝕪 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕠𝕠𝕕𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕤𝕡𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤, 𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕧𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕓𝕝𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕕 𝕨𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕤...