Doug's Art and Games Blog

Monster of the Week, April 28 I'm as surprised as you are that I keep publishing these things. Hangman Tree When a person is hanged unjustly, the psychic wound of that injustice marks the world. If the person being hanged unjustly is both magically gifted and willing to call on the dark powers to avenge their suffering, those dark powers are more than willing to grant the wishes of the supplicant and gain more presence on the material plane. These dark powers take the blood and the remains of the sacrifice, their rage and hatred, and the rage and hatred of the mobs that killed them and combine them with the earth itself and their own dark nature. From the ground where the body of the unjustly killed is buried or left to rot, the earth gives birth to a twisted, leafless tree. Eventually, the tree sprouts long filaments with eyes on the end of them, a great maw cracks in the trunk, and a misty gas issues from the tree. The misty gas first summons animals, whose blood feed...

Monster of the Week, April 21, 2020 Even if you wanted me to, I refuse to stop. Hopping Horror Long before the earliest speciest made their way to land, before the earliest chordates began to form into the species we know, many unknown creatures evolved in the sea and made their way to land. The Hopping Horrors are remnants of that time, living deep in the earth. Their bodies consist of a single muscular foot with corded muscles above the foot leading to a gut and maw filled with teet and vestigial, glowing eyes. Above this are frilled breathing membranes and a mass of muscular tentacles. Driven by hunger, these solitary hunters occasionally bud asexually when gorged with flesh. Otherwise, they wait in the dark to surprise miners and explorers who dig too deep and awaken the predators that  predate the lif we know on the surface world.

Monster of the Week, April 14, 2020 I guess I am continuing to put these things out on the Internet. Masked Haunter Those who read through the play The King in Yellow are known to go mad, particularly if they read beyond the first act. But madness is not the only fate of those who meddle in the forbidden text. Sometimes, the text causes the world to warp. Other times, the text serves to open a door to other worlds, particularly when the play is performed. It is said that the Masked Haunter is native to the shores of Lake Hali, and that it is not unknown to the inhabitants of Carcosa. Called by the play, the Masked Haunter is transported from the Hyades to our world, where the alien beings are able to manifest and feed upon the minds of their prey. Hidden normally behind porcelain masks that conceal their brain-like bodies and loose flesh and tentacles that move them as they hover near the ground. They negotiate the world primarily through psyching senses; they feed o...

Monster of the Week, April 7, 2020 More monstrosity this week. Nightmare Forester Creatures of the Far Realm, Nightmare Foresters travel through the Ethereal Realm next to our world until they find the nightmares of mortals. That means they seek out the traumatized and abused most of all, feeding on the energy of their fear and sorrow. Becoming semi-material over their sleeping victims, Nightmare Harvesters reach out with physical and psychic tendrils to enhance the fear and sorrow of their victims and then feed on the psychic energies. Pale, pulsing, six-eyed cephalopods, Nightmare Harvesters usually appear as translucent and immaterial apparitions when seen on our plane. They defend themselves psychically, lashing out against the egos of victims or enemies, causing fear and cluding minds to power their escape from dangerous situations.