The Elven Crystals - Monster Commentary & Conversions to D&D Adjacent

Alan Craddock cover art.

Three adventures, linked as a mini-campaign. Put together the Elven Crystal and claim the treasure of Elvaron (the Elf): a blood-and-guts romp through forest, castle and to the seaside. Almost every encounter is a monster that wants to kill you and will fight to the death, and there are a lot of Skeletons and Zombies (these latter aka Undead Servants and the Undead). 

There's plenty of new monsters to revel in, though fairly typical of the genre or variations on a theme. Conversions to D&D adjacent as per the previous post, but without comparisons to OSE because they seem made for the adventures rather than made for a wider world (some will reappear in the bestiary expansion in Book 4).

I. Gallows Wood or a Goblin Grim.

Leo Hartas.

There's a map of Gallows Wood here. Strict time records are recommended for running this adventure, though there isn't a time limit and it's suggested you overrule this and jump to after dark upon reaching a particular location.

Your motivation: Ned the Hobgoblin kidnaps Clothilda and rolls her off in a barrel. Gold to get her back. Off you go. Oh, and there's elven crystals or something.

Black Riders.

BAB +3 AC by armour att. by weapon HD 2 Rank 2nd

Your standard evil humanoid. Under their black armour (chain and shield), they've got snouts and fur because they're sorcerous animal-human hybrids (called Wadwos). Might be mounted on Warhorses.

Werewolf.

A Human who can turn into a Wolf after dark, or during the day by swallowing a potion of lycanthropy.

If a non-Werewolf drinks the potion (save vs. poison/magic/polymorph at advantage/bonus - the effect has a low MAGICAL ATTACK), they risk transformation when night falls: 90% at 1st Rank/level, -10% per level above, then only 1% from 10th onwards.

In Wolf form (use those stats), they are immune to nonmagical weapons, and AC +4 to solid silver and magical weapons. 

They keep all their knowledge skills, which isn't really a thing in DW so might be an inadvertent reference to RQ or GURPS versions of the setting. They can also gain experience in their new wolf persona, but it doesn't elaborate on this - maybe it goes to their Human class? Or you could rustle up BECMI/RC Night Howlers.

All damage is healed when changing form in either direction.

Centaurs.

BAB +1 AC unarmoured att. hooves d8(d6) HD 1.5 Rank 2nd

They sport long white beards that are often tangled with moss and twigs.

Normally will flee or hide from encounters, but 1-2 on d6 they're drunk - initially friendly but turn nasty, demanding gold for booze (brewed and sold by Goblins) and kidnapping women. 

White Ladies.

Sort-of appear in Book 1, as an example of a narrative random encounter (the Lady Samana and her entourage of spellbound Knights). 

Look like lovely fairytale/fantasy ladies, but they're really horrible demon worms from another dimension. No stats for worm-form (which you only see briefly after defeating one) - otherwise, they're average 7th Rank Sorcerers. Usually accompanied by 1-6 soulless and spellbound 2nd Rank Knights (see below).

Any charm or similar control spell cast by a White Lady is extra-powerful: save with disadvantage/penalty. Control is absolute and does not rely on shared language. Duration increases to a year and a day.

Not only that, it captures your soul and stores it in a pool (or possibly a silver chalice) until she's got 10 and can return to her home plane to make a gift of them to her demon master, Fengris. The storage facility is in a tower that will be within 1 mile of your encounter with her.

Touching the water in the pool will send you to the nether planes if you fail your save. Casting dispel magic will release the souls and the White Lady's control over their owners.

Ignis Fatuus.

Will-o-wisp, Jack-o-Lantern, Joan-the-Wad, spunkies, punkies and so on. Look like a torchlight procession in the distance, accompanied by the noise of chatter and laughter (which adds an extra dimension of creep). A statless environmental hazard monster with a mechanic attached.

If you follow them, you never seem to catch up and after a mile will have been led into dangerous quagmire - the lead members of the party are automatically caught in the bog and will be sucked under and drowned if they fail 3 saves.

The bog has STR 18; if someone's helping to pull you out, add their STR to yours; roll under the difference to escape. No dice are designated. The text seems to contradict itself about whether or not the victim contributes to rescue efforts.

Those first five monsters are for random encounters and (apart from a version of the Black Riders) don't otherwise feature in the adventure. The Werewolf could have been integrated as a roaming (rather than random) encounter, and the White Lady has potential for Gallows Wood to swarm with enslaved Knights and bristle with mysterious towers.

Anything with a first-listed damage die of d4 or less is unable to beat plate armour, expect on a crit, RAW in DW. Whether and/or how you factor this into the conversion is up to you. 

Forest Harpies.

BAB -2 AC +2 att. grapple HD 2.6 Rank 3rd

Stench: they smell so bad, detectable within 10m (c. 32'), that they're unlikely to surprise anyone unless they swoop out of the sky.

Horrible Appearance: so foul that you need to take an immediate Morale Check. There's a specific DW mechanic but for D&D adjacent PCs either ignore it, apply only to NPCs, or make it a one-off 2d6 roll (choose snake eyes or boxcars as the trigger).

Grapple: successful hit grapples; one time d20 < STR to break free, or they carry you off to their nest to devour - implied off-camera auto-kill?

Hideous hybrid creatures with the bodies and faces of old women, but the wings and plumage of large crows. They converse with one another in loud caws.

AC+ for high DEFENCE. One of several different grappling mechanics across the books.

Witch.

Pretty traditional. A 3rd Rank Sorcerer. Can fly in addition to her spell-casting abilities.

Unicorn.

Partial stats given for an encounter you don't actually have, because you'll be fighting Black Riders and Hellhounds.

Black Rider II.

BAB +2 AC armour +1 att. weapon HD 3.3 Rank 3rd

For some reason, the Black Riders appearing in non-random encounters are more robust and better defenders (hence AC +1). Text specifies they hate Humans and will fight to the death.

This type of Black Rider also shows up in The Castle of Terror (below).

Hellhounds.

BAB +1 AC unarmoured att. bite d4(d10) HD 2.2 Rank 1st

All one word. Dobermann Pincher-sized, black fur, burning blood-red eyes, eerie baying. A pack will gang up on one target at a time. Big angry dogs.

Thorn Demons.

BAB 0 AC +1 att. raking claws d6(d8) HD 2.2 Rank 2nd

Thin, insect-like beings with ebony-coloured, stick-like arms and legs and dark, knotted domed heads, with what look like conker husks for eyes. They screech at you in a horrible bony chatter.

Three hits vs. leather armour and they've shredded it to uselessness. Not specified that magic leather is immune to this. No mention of vulnerability to fire.

Your choice whether they're demon, elemental, plant monster or it's just a local name for something horrible.

Killer Bees.

BAB -1 AC +1 att. sting d4(d2) + poison HD 4.4 (1hp each) Rank 5th (swarm)

In the adventure, it's a swarm of 20 Killer Bees and they're only twice the size of a normal bee - which doesn't seem that much. Presumably, that's a save or die poison in their sting and the swarm will attack one victim only per round.

But is that 1 attack or diminishing from 20? And are you striking multiple bees from the air per hit, or only one at a time?

Queen Bee.

BAB +2 AC +1 att. sting d4/d6 + poison HD 1.5 Rank 3rd

Twice the size of a Killer Bee. Will fight to the death.

Swamp Folk.

BAB +1 AC unarmoured att. grapple HD 1.7 Rank 2nd

Wrinkled green heads like toads... yellow blinking eyes... webbed hands.

There's monsters to fight here, but it's more like a trap.

They all attack one victim at a time (either on a collapsible bridge or in the quag beneath). Each round, compare your STR to the combined STR of the Swamp Folk that manage to hit (10 each) - if they've got higher, you're half-submerged; if it happens again, you're fully submerged and drown within a turn.

If you're wearing metal armour, you'll sink within 4 rounds regardless (unless rescued).

DW doesn't use turns, so I don't know if this means 10 minutes (which seems a long time) or as long as it takes for everyone to take their action in that combat round. Apply any other drowning rules/rulings you prefer.

The text refers to a colony of Swamp Folk and specifies combatants as Swamp Man 1 to 4, giving the impression of there being more to this if you wanted.

Titan.

BAB +14 AC +6 att. weapon +2 fist d6(d4) +2 HD special Rank 15th

An immense bronze warrior glowing with occult flames.

Gets +5 AC for being bronze, +1 more for being a strong defender. DW STR of 19 implied by damage bonus. High MAGICAL DEFENCE suggests it should get advantage/bonus on saves vs. magic.

Don't know whether it's a typo, but it's only got 5 Health Points so I can't calculate appropriate HD as I normally would. BAB and Rank would suggest something like 10 to 15, but the Titan gets a do-over in Book 4 anyway.

Always travels in a direct line (in this case, in pursuit of its stolen +2 sword) - stone walls or trees will not present any grave obstruction.

Giant Viper.

BAB +2 AC unarmoured att. bite d6(d4) + strong poison HD 2.6 Rank 2nd

RAW it can only harm those in chain or plate with a critical hit. 

Poison save at disadvantage/penalty, and presumably it's just save or die.

Tarantula.

Partial stats for the living part of an ancient, still operational trap. It's going to die from poison gas whether it bites you or not (RAW it auto-hits, just has to make Armour Bypass roll).

Nightmare Hut.

HD 8.8

An old rickety hut covered by climbing plants and moss.

That doorway's a mouth and if you step inside it clamps its woody jaws down on you. RAW subtract your STR from the Hut's (14) and roll d20 equal or lower than the result. Looks like failure is insta-kill (and it sprouts legs and runs off).

Feels like it needs more detail, but has the selling point of being abruptly weird.

Hydra.

BAB +2 AC unarmoured att. bite(s) d6(d4) HD 2 (special) Rank 7th

Leo Hartas.

Description and illo suggest it might be a woman first and a serpent second, and it gives me Medusa/Scylla vibes.

This one is bound to a grave as a guardian, so implied that it's immortal and doesn't need to eat (or it's running on dungeon-logic, just like that Tarantula).

Her poisonous breath is like thick fog or smoke, giving her automatic surprise. Breathing it for more than 2 rounds triggers poison saves each round thereafter (effect not specified, so presumably fatal - and in checking back on the poison rules in Book 1, I realise I'd forgotten that you take damage even if you make your save vs. fatal poison!).

The bite is quite weak and described as bite of nine heads, so I'm not sure if it means 9 individual attack rolls or 1 abstracting them all.

Low HD and only 9 DW Health Points. Any hit against her severs a head and 2 grow in its place, represented by her gaining hp instead of losing it from wounds (I think). Thus, you need to cause a single wound your characters can't produce with normal weapons (in DW, best you could do is 7 with battleaxe and STR 16+) or using spells (a DW Dragonbreath spell would do it).

There's poison in her spit (but not her bite) and her tail (which she doesn't use) that her slayer's can dip arrows and weapons in.

I like this specific iteration of this monster, but it's a bit of a muddle.

Master Edas's Skull.

AC +3 HD 2.2

Master Edas is both an ancient holy man and not a good man, as well as being one of the foremost sorcerers of all time. 

Dig up his fire-blackened, cloven-hoof imprinted skull and it will follow you around, giving sorcerous advice and trying to get you into trouble of the worst kind. 

Saves vs. magic with advantage/bonus and regenerates 1 hp/round.

II. The Castle of Terror.

Leo Hartas

Yeti.

BAB +7 AC +3 att. claws d8(d12) HD 4.6 Rank 5th

White, hairy, towering (3m or c. 10') monster, blue ice for eyes and their teeth and claws are like iron-hard icicles. Covered in frost and surrounded (10m or c. 30' radius) by a (specified) magical snowstorm; temperature drops to below zero (Celsius) in this area.

Vanishes (along with the snow) with an echoing howl if slain.

No mechanics for effects of snowstorm (but the encounter is followed by a save vs. exposure for being out on a cold night in the hills anyway).

Hell Hounds.

BAB +5 AC unarmoured att. fangs d8(d10) + strong poison HD 3.3 Rank 2nd

Two separate words and much tougher than the Hellhounds in Gallows Wood, with poison fangs and implied DW STR of 16+.

Black mastiffs with burning red eyes, reeking of sulphurous flames - actually demonic, rather than just a name?

Black Hippogriffs.

BAB +6 AC unarmoured att. bite d6(d8) kick d10(d12) HD 5.7 Rank 5th

Angry, angry horses that can magically sprout wings and fly for an hour per day. You need magic to control them, and they can't be tamed.

Grey Gnomes.

A reskin of the Book 1 Gnome, as something spending its time pretending to be a statue or gargoyle. Despite their apparent camouflage, they are so ugly and grotesque that you can't help but notice them - only normal chance of surprise.

These ones will run away if detected, apparently - so presumably they're not intending to ambush you?

Demon Wolf.

BAB +8 AC +2 att. fangs d6(d12) HD 7.3 Rank 6th

A 2m (c. 6' 6") tall wolf that materialises from the shadows and is one of the earthly incarnations of the demon lord, Fengris.

Implied DW STR of 16+ and will reappear, completely healed, 24 hours after it is killed. Not much else to it.

Poltergeist.

BAB +14

You can't hurt it or drive it off. 

Leo Hartas

55% chance per increment of distance travelled that it hurls weapons at you - 1-2 daggers, swords, axes or halberds, or 6 to 18 arrows, but I suppose it could use whatever else is to hand if it was relocated.

Mud Monster.

BAB +5 AC unarmoured att. claws d6(d8) HD 3.5 Rank 2nd

Initially in liquid form, it senses your presence and pulls itself together in 10 rounds to pursue you. Somewhere between an Ooze and an Otyugh. Described as octopoid.

The Nargut.

BAB +5 AC unarmoured att. acid bite d10(d6) claw d8(d10) HD 5.5 Rank 6th

Grey, seething, glutinous masses with eight toad-like eyes, four legs and four arms with claws on the and four gaping mouths filled with acidic spittle at each cardinal point of their squat, bullish heads. Their skin is a grey mottled colour.

There's only one here and it gets the definite article. Can faultlessly imitate any voice it hears, using this ability to trick victims (can ventriloquise too). Takes 1 hit/round from sunlight or other intense illumination (undefined).

It's bite is qualified as acidic, but has no defined properties other than a high Armour Bypass roll.

You only have to fight it if you rescue it.

Magnetic Monster.

BAB +7 AC +4 att. mandible d8(d6) HD 3.7 Rank 6th

A screeching giant beetle that generates strong magnetic force, and eats metal along with flesh - a less discriminating analogue of the Rust Monster.

Once encountered, you can't flee from it if you're in metal armour and it will attack you in preference to less protected targets. Metal weapons automatically hit, but will then be immovably stuck to the monster's carapace until it is slain.

The text has it spitting acid and devouring armour worn, but no mechanics. Maybe: you can sacrifice your shield or a helmet to get a round's grace, and three hits reduce metal armour to uselessness (see Thorn Demons, above). I don't think it will settle for precious metals, only iron and steel.

Tapestry Demons.

BAB +2 AC unarmoured att. claws d6(d6) HD 2.6 Rank 2nd

Not as cool as the Tapestry Warriors in Book 1 - these are just some 2D monsters that spring to 3D life, then back to 2D when slain.

Hellrots.

BAB +2 AC +2 att. claws d8(d8) bite d6(d4) + plague (strong poison) HD 4 Rank 2nd

Your basic demonic minion.

III. Wrecker Island.

Leo Hartas

Barnacle Men.

Already covered, here.

Devil Spawn.

BAB +2 AC +3 att. bite d4(d4) + venom HD 1.1 Rank ?

Monstrous cockroaches (with a thousand writhing legs and tentacles) that spawn from weird toadstool spores. They cannot approach anyone holding a holy relic.

Their acidic venom (strong poison - save at disadvantage/penalty) has the additional effect of transforming you into one of them if you fail an additional save (RAW it's 4d6 under your Health Points - which is harsh, considering DW hp levels - but could just be another poison save).

After 10 rounds of existence, the Devil Spawn and any transformed victims break down into brown slime and then evaporate.

Eagles.

BAB +4 AC +1 att. talons d6(d8) HD 1.7 Rank 3rd

Text also refers to them as Giant Eagles. AC is for high DEFENCE.

The Kraken.

BAB +8 AC unarmoured att. jaws d10(d10) HD 7.1 Rank 10th

Pretty low power for a huge sea snake with a ravening maw that can consume small ships at one gulp - but not if it's just for this adventure, rather than an extended campaign. You could also avoid fighting it altogether and skip to The Dark Hill, with a little luck and ingenuity. 

Has a tongue attack (5m or c. 16') that pulls you to its jaws.

Situationally, it takes 10 rounds to come when called (to take a sacrifice), with tremors felt at 7 rounds, then a minor tidal wave (undefined) when it breaks surface.

The text alludes to Tennyson.

Finale - The Dark Hill.

Golem.

BAB +8 AC +5 att. mallet d10(d16) HD 3.3 Rank 7th

It's a stone golem, guarding a burial mound on the other side of a dimensional gate.

You've got 20 rounds to defeat it before the demon-wolf Fengris brings the ceiling down on everything and insta-kills you all with his evil, chilling breath.

Commentary.

This was less of a slog than previous: these are monsters in context, more fun to write about than just going over the same basic bestiary again.

For a certain vintage of UK role-player, it's possible your introduction to Dragon Warriors (and even rpgs themselves) came about because of this green-spined book. Close enough in design to be mistaken for a Fighting Fantasy gamebook, with numbered paragraphs, mention of dice and pictures of monsters. This could have been an accidental purchase or well-meant gift.

As a whole it feels more self-contained than other DW adventures, less connected to the wider setting. There are few bits that make me think this wasn't originally written for DW (or at least, Gallows Wood wasn't) or maybe written in some haste. 

Sadly, I've never had the pleasure of running or playing this. Doesn't mean I don't like it though.