Written January 16, 2025 in 12 minutes as part of the Gentle Games Habit
An exquisite corpse like game for a group of people to describe monsters or beasts for a tabletop roleplaying game, or just for the joy of it.
Everyone gets a sheet of paper. They answer the prompt based on the previous responses (if any) and their imagination. They then pass the sheet on to the next player so everyone can answer the next prompt.
- Name something the beast does - a single verb is best (“breathe” as opposed to “breathe fire”). It’s ok to be mundane (“walk”, “climb”).
- Name what the beast does the above action with - go with your second thought if possible.
- Why does it do what it does? What is its motivation?
- Draw this part of the monster doing it’s thing.
- Decide: is the monster done? If not, return to step 1 to keep working on the monster. If it is done, you can break until the next monster comes your way or start a new one at step 1.
If stuck on any prompt, think of a person, animal or other creature you know and ask how and why it does what it does.