My granddaughter turned three in mid-January. Last week she started a new game with me of “Talking About Animals.” She says, “Let’s talk about animals.” I ask what kind of animal she wants to talk about. She says things like kangaroo, horse, hippopotamus. I tell her something factual, and to her. interesting and amazing about that animal.

Today, she wanted to talk about animals. Unusually, she started off with cats that were blue, so I mentioned Persian cats that are sort of blue. Then she decided to talk about dogs. When I asked what kind, she said blue again, and I told her a bit about blue healers.  Next she said, “Monsters!” When I asked what kind, she said green. When I asked what they ate, she said, “Ceilings!” I went with it and talked about being able to see the sky and the clouds and the sun now, and then the stars and moon tonight. I asked where they lived, and she said in her shoe.

It was so cute and perfect I started up the web cam, made a test to make sure it had sound. We made a perfect one take on three monsters, green, black, and blue. Unfortunately, when I moved the microphone closer, I bumped the mute button, and a flawless take is a silent movie….

In the first take, she came up with the black and blue monsters,  their diet, and lairs on her own on the spot. She looked around to see what was around my desk for the new ones. She chose colors based on what she saw. My computer is black, and I have baby wipes because she wants to play when she has sticky fingers or a runny nose. I’ve managed to avoid the worst of what she’s brought home from daycare.

This simple exercise shows how easy it is to come up with ideas for monsters. One can extrapolate the look around your desk, bookshelves, kitchen, garage, etc. to come up with ideas for items, treasure, locations, NPCs, and more. Also, as a DM/GM it is OK to change your mind about something. For monsters, just make a variant that look alike/similar.  Don’t be afraid to GM. You just create starting conditions for your players and as they interact with it, you modify the environment to present new challenges and opportunities to the players. While it may seem artificial and awkward at first, as with anything, it gets better with time.

So below is the second take, not near as good, but lots of fun. Below that, I will have simplified stats for her monsters. Feel free to use her creations with attribution – Nikola Hamilton.

MONSTER STATS

Green Monsters

Lair: Shoes & Computers
Size: Tiny
Diet: Ceilings
Number Appearing: Blockbusters! (That’s a lot!)

Black Monsters

Lair: Grandpa’s jacket
Size: Tiny
Diet: Grass (not so much as to prevent grandpa from mowing the lawn.)

Blue Monsters

Lair: Cellphones
Size: Tiny
Diet: Used baby wipes