Monster’s Tactics by John Walts is a role playing game supplement published by Dark Eagle Games for use with Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. 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 from DriveThruRPG as a five page Pay What You Want PDF. One page is the front cover and one the Open Game License.
The Introduction explains that this is a work in progress, links others available in the series, covers the legal and ideas for the future.
Monster’s Tactics asks what a monster would do after taking down a character, and that this is often determined randomly. This guide suggests that monsters should use logic to determine their actions, and not human logic at that. A monster’s motivations, logic and tactics can be determined, and these can be done in advance using the lists in the supplement. Metadata can be used to determine targets and motivations can be mild, major or in-between. Motivations may also change depending on the situation and the gameworld.
The List has Monster’s Tactics. This table has 31 different motivations, each given a name and a brief explanation.
Examples from Play? has 34 different monster races listed. Each has their tactics given using two or more motivations from the previous list, together with an explanation as to how this will work in-game.
Monster’s Tactics in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and isn’t long enough to need them. Navigation is fine. The text maintains a two-column format and a number of errors were noticed. There is a single black and white illustration stated as being commissioned for another supplement. Presentation is okay.
This is a simple enough supplement, with a list of ways to enhance the behaviour of monsters, explanations as to how these work and examples of them in practice. It is a short, useful little supplement based around an interesting idea. Monster’s Tactics can be found by clicking here.
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