Aggregate Monsters: Ecologies Challenging Encounters | Analog Game Studies

Abstract:

A small number of the monsters in the Fiend Folio: Tome of Creatures Malevolent and Benign1 are what I call “aggregate monsters:” creatures composed of a group of living organisms. Aggregate monsters provide a micro-example of a phenomenon underrepresented in Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) mechanics: the aggression of groups rather than individuals. In this article I describe how D&D frames dangerous entities in terms of their engagements with players, which D&D inscribes into its game mechanics as a ritual called “the encounter.” I then analyze how the encounter separates Players and Monsters, defining Monsters as Other and thus limiting the detail with which the game’s mechanics can represent them as social beings.

A small number of the monsters in the Fiend Folio: Tome of Creatures Malevolent and Benign1 are what I call “aggregate monsters:” creatures composed of a group of living organisms. Aggregate monsters provide a micro-example of a phenomenon underrepresented in Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) mechanics: the aggression of groups rather than individuals. In this article I describe how D&D frames dangerous entities in terms of their engagements with players, which D&D inscribes into its game mechanics as a ritual called “the encounter.” I then analyze how the encounter separates Players and Monsters, defining Monsters as Other and thus limiting the detail with which the game’s mechanics can represent them as social beings.