united nations – Dungeon's Master

Greatest Hits 2013: The United Nations… of Monsters

While the Dungeon’s Master team enjoys some well-deserved vacation time, we’re breaking out the greatest hits and shining a spotlight on a few of our favourite articles from 2013. We’ve searched for hidden gems that our newer readers might have missed and our long-time readers will enjoy reading again. Enjoy a second look at these greatest hits from Dungeon’s Master.

The idea is really quite simple; introduce a governing body to your game world that has representation from all races in your fantasy campaign. In the article we suggest a few ways to make this work. At the end of the article we provided some possible adventure hooks. Today we’ve got a few more.

These hooks will certainly work better if the DM knows he’s going to include the UN of Monsters in his campaign when the PCs are developing characters. The DM can provide direction without revealing too much. Enjoy.

Every party member is a different race (not that uncommon). They are approached by a mentor early in their adventuring career. The mentor explains that they are being considered for membership in a very exclusive club. Every time the PCs take on a quest they are scored and judged. Eventually some or all of the PCs are offered seats on the UN of Monsters’ council.
Every party member is the same race. They are brought together as special enforcers in order to protect and promote the culture and history of their people. They are fully aware of the UN of Monsters as they take orders directly from their race’s representative. Do they do so unconditionally? What would happen if their contact on the UN was killed or replaced? Is their loyalty to the UN of Monsters, their race, or the person who happens to hold office right now?
One of the PCs represents his race at the UN of Monsters. His race is expelled from the UN. Any protection his race had from being included in the UN of Monsters is gone. What does the PC do? Is he personally held responsible for any problems that spin out of the expulsion? Is it within his power to get his people back in to the UN? What are the consequences to other races that help?
The PCs witness monsters coming together after a natural disaster to provide aid. Creatures like Dragons and Giants (many of them evil) literally move mountains, redirect the flow of rivers, and rebuild infrastructure like roads and bridges. During this unexpected cooperation hunters attack and kill the creatures. What do the PCs do? What side does the party sympathize with?

The idea of a United Nations of Monsters is one I’ve kicked around for a long time. It certainly has a lot of potential for any fantasy game world. I hope that some DMs who read the original article and who read this rerun borrow it and use it in their campaign. If you’ve used a UN of Monsters or something similar, please share your experiences in the comments below.

From April 24, 2013, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: The United Nations… of Monsters.

The United Nations… of Monsters

One thing the fantastic worlds of D&D always seem to have in common is extreme racially diversity. Hundreds of intelligent races and monsters coexist on one planet, often even on one continent. In a world with magic this improbability becomes accepted as part of the campaign world. But have you ever wondered how all those monsters continue to coexist?

Think about it, why haven’t the biggest and most powerful creatures completely decimated some of the less populace races? It’s almost like there’s some kind of force in place to ensure that no matter what kind of creature, monster or humanoid you happen to be, you will never be the last of your kind. Every race will continue to live in some form or another in the world of Dungeons & Dragons.

What if the reason that no species is hunted to extinction is that the monsters themselves have some kind of arrangement or agreement in place? What if the Giants agreed not to destroy the Orcs and the Dragons agreed not to wipe out the Halflings? What if the Beholders agreed not to eradicate the Svirfneblin and the Goblins agreed not to kill every last Pixie. What if there was some kind of governing body, a council if you will, that had representation from every sentient creature on the planet and that this group met in secret to decide on matters concerning all beings in the gaming world? It could happen. In fact, who’s to say it hasn’t already happened.

Throughout April Dungeon’s Master is participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge is to write a new article ever day in April, excluding Sundays. That’s 26 articles over the course of the month. To make things even more interesting the title of each article will begin with a different letter of the alphabet. Today “U” is for United Nations of Monsters, a governing body where all the races of the D&D world come together in peace for mutual benefit and prosperity.