Games Design - [Hot War] Humanising Monsters, part 2

Posted by: Malcolm Craig On: Feb 10th 2010 edited

Anyway, this is a follow on from this thread, looking at improved ways of creating monsters in Hot War (and by extension, Cold City). After a bit of noodling around, I've settled on the following setup. Obviously, this is very open to change and will have its flaws, I'm sure.

Preliminary Questions

What does the monster do?
What are it's goals? Does it need to feed, breed, control, assimilate, collect?
How does it achieve these goals?
Is it controlled or independent?
Does it know what it is or was?
What does it look like?

Attributes

Can it does something(s) exceptionally well in the physical realm? Is it very large, incredibly tough, amazingly agile, outstandingly fast? If it is, then assign an Action of 7+.

Can it does something(s) very well in the physical realm? If it can, then assign an Action between 4 and 6.

Is it not very physically adept? If it is, then assign an Action of 1 to 3.

Can it does something(s) exceptionally well in the intellectual realm? Is it exceptionally smart, cunning, farsighted, intelligent? If it is, then assign an Insight of 7+.

Can it does something(s) very well in the intellectual realm? If it can, then assign an Insight between 4 and 6.

Is it not very intellectually adept? If it is, then assign an Insight of 1 to 3.

Can it does something(s) exceptionally well in the influential realm? Is it exceptional at manipulating, dissembling, controlling? If it is, then assign an Influence of 7+.

Can it does something(s) very well in the influential realm? If it can, then assign an Influence between 4 and 6.

Is it not very influentially adept? If it is, then assign an Influence of 1 to 3.

Traits

Pick three notable characteristics about the monster and assign these as positive traits.
Pick two notable characteristics about the monster and assign these as negative traits.

Is the monster new to the world? If so, then no other traits are available.

Has the monster been around for all or most of the war? If it has been, then pick another positive and another negative trait.

Has the monster been around since before the war? If it has, then pick another two positive and two negative traits.

Relationships

Is the monster able to form relationships of any kind? Even if this is simply on the level of a dog relating to its owner, then that counts.

If it is adept at forming relationships, then there are eight points available to assign. At least three of these must be assigned to negative relationships.

If it is average at forming relationships, then there are between four and six points available to assign. At least one of these must be assigned to negative relationships.

If it is poor at forming relationships, then there are between one and three points available to assign.

If it is unable to form relationships, then there are no points available to assign.
**
Tools**

Does the monster use tools? If it does, then write down a handful of items that it uses or might use.

That's it really. Are there things missing which would enhance the monster creation process? Are there details which improve the end result? As always, feedback is appreciated.

Cheers
Malc