
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Dungeons & Dragons is a lot more than just dungeons and dragons. The game is full of iconic monsters with unique legends and mystique, some pulled from mythology and others found only in this game. But from D&D, many of these monsters have become pop culture icons with stories and expectations that have taken on a life of their own.
There is a fine line between meeting expectations and playing a boring cliché, though. In some ways, the iconic monsters can be the hardest to DM because you have a type to play, but it helps to play against it just a little to make the game more fun.
Here are seven of the most iconic monsters in D&D and how Thorin, Tony and Dave get the most out of them in their campaigns.
2:00 Embracing the legends: How do you make goblins feel like goblins and vampires feel like vampires, but still make them memorable?
4:00 Give yourself some range for memorable characters … but not too much
6:00 Monster 1: What makes goblins iconic?
16:00 Monster 2: Kobolds – a short flight
20:00 Monster 3: Orcs from D&D to Star Trek
29:00 Monster 4: Mind flayers – Squids From Space! Bring your inner H.R. Geiger to play
38:00 Monster 5: Black pudding or gelatinous cube?
42:00 Monster 0: The Logo: Dragons – listen to episode 62 for more
44:00 Monster 6: Giants – Storm, fire and thunder
52:00 Monster 7: Beholders – The Round Mound of Eye-Beam Beatdown
60:00 Final thoughts
By The 3 Wise DMs4.9
4747 ratings
Dungeons & Dragons is a lot more than just dungeons and dragons. The game is full of iconic monsters with unique legends and mystique, some pulled from mythology and others found only in this game. But from D&D, many of these monsters have become pop culture icons with stories and expectations that have taken on a life of their own.
There is a fine line between meeting expectations and playing a boring cliché, though. In some ways, the iconic monsters can be the hardest to DM because you have a type to play, but it helps to play against it just a little to make the game more fun.
Here are seven of the most iconic monsters in D&D and how Thorin, Tony and Dave get the most out of them in their campaigns.
2:00 Embracing the legends: How do you make goblins feel like goblins and vampires feel like vampires, but still make them memorable?
4:00 Give yourself some range for memorable characters … but not too much
6:00 Monster 1: What makes goblins iconic?
16:00 Monster 2: Kobolds – a short flight
20:00 Monster 3: Orcs from D&D to Star Trek
29:00 Monster 4: Mind flayers – Squids From Space! Bring your inner H.R. Geiger to play
38:00 Monster 5: Black pudding or gelatinous cube?
42:00 Monster 0: The Logo: Dragons – listen to episode 62 for more
44:00 Monster 6: Giants – Storm, fire and thunder
52:00 Monster 7: Beholders – The Round Mound of Eye-Beam Beatdown
60:00 Final thoughts

2,518 Listeners

590 Listeners

175 Listeners

10,244 Listeners

33 Listeners

40 Listeners

10,642 Listeners

183 Listeners

57,851 Listeners

19 Listeners

10,785 Listeners

54 Listeners

3,185 Listeners

215 Listeners

89 Listeners