Dungeon Dressing: Wandering Monsters (P1) by Creighton Broadhurst is a role playing game supplement published by Raging Swan Press for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result.
The supplement is available as a 12-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $3.75 but was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. Two pages are the front and rear covers, two are ads, one the front matter and Contents and one the Open Game License. The PDF comes in two versions, one intended for print and high-end devices, one intended for low-end and mobile.
Wandering Monsters explains that characters should not be the only things wandering around a dungeon, although this has rather fallen out of fashion and are less common. It explains that wanderers could be denizens, explorers or scavengers. The benefits of having wandering monsters are they keep things random, preventing characters from wandering the halls with no problems, they add realism, as occupants should not be just waiting to be killed inside their rooms, they can both consume and provide resources, they can slow or divert the party and they can add XP. There are also some tips on designing encounters.
What Are the Wanderers Doing? has tables for what denizens, explorers and scavengers might be doing. There is also a table of creatures who wouldn’t be looking to fight the party and another foreshadowing encounters.
Sample Random Encounters has five different encounters for different monsters. These are named, described, given brief details, their personality and mannerisms and a hook to involve the characters.
Dungeon Dressing: Wandering Monsters (P1) in Review
The PDF is bookmarked with the major sections and subsections linked. The Contents is to a similar level of depth and is hyperlinked. Navigation is good. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are some black and white stock illustrations, up to half page in size. Presentation is decent.
This is, unlike many of the recent Dungeon Dressing supplements, not a revamp of an old one, though some of the material may have been repurposed from elsewhere. Wandering monsters do make dungeons into living places, and the tables provide reasons for the creatures to be moving around. The five sample encounters are to a large extent NPC descriptions. Though this may be intended for Pathfinder, there are so few stats that it is effectively system neutral. Dungeon Dressing: Wandering Monsters (P1) is a useful supplement and it can be found by clicking here.
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