Another Random Mega Dungeon Map

I added round corridor layouts to my map generator, here's a rescaled copy of a random output.

Door placement on thus could be tricky but I'll figure it out.

Randomly Generated Megadungeon Map

 a Randomly generated Megadungeon map:

Generated from a program I'm working on. Each tile on the map is 10' by 10', the image is scaled up 200% after generation. No doors just yet and there's still the occasional blocked route now and again but I'm definitely getting a different look from what I usually draw manually.

another one straight out of the program, no cropping or rescaling:

Procedurally Generated Dungeons and Geomorphs

 No secret that I enjoy dungeon geomorphs and randomly generated or as the cool folks say "procedurally generated" dungeons.  I've been messing about a lot lately with programming my own generation tools and having a lot of fun with different methods.  I'm getting decent results combining a 40 or so year old method of generating a text-based maze and converting it to more graphical output.   Here's a sample, this  one scaled out so you so you can see the whole thing.  If you zoom in you'll see little colored spots those are location markers for the most likely spots for doors, monsters, and treasures.     

Still wondering about an explicit stocking method and how to convert it to proper tabletop play.

Bwgs (re-skin, campaignification of goblinoids part I)

Bwgs

An outline on the characteristics and behavior of bwgs (boogs) more commonly known as goblinoids. Bwgs are classified in three broad categories and a related sub-class of goblin folk. The smaller among them are generally classified as goblins, with hobgolins and bugbears as larger types.

Goblins

Among the folk classified as goblins by men and their allies are a variety of humanoid folk ranging from 18"to 54" in height, generally thin of build with oversized hands, feet, and heads when compared to mankind. Goblins tend to have pointy ears but this is not a universal feature and while they can grow beards they are not widely known for this outside of select populations.

Gremkin - the least of the common bwgs a slight and simple folk more reactionary and more recklessly impulsive than purposefully malignant. They range from 18"to 30" in height and seldom if ever topping 1 stone in weight. They are surprisingly strong for their size but still not as capable as larger folk when it comes to muscle power. Their stealth is uncanny but despite claims to the contrary that is due to their size and habits above anything else.

Gremkin are able to identify and use goblindoors but lack the capacity to cipher any locks or wards that may be placed on them unless carefully instructed by other bwgs. Gremkin will use a combination of skirmishing and swarm tactics in combat but can generally only be compelled to swarm attacks if their lairs are directly threatened or they are forced by a strong overlord.

Gremkin are not talented craftsmen and probably wouldn't be able to work metals without others directing them in simple tasks. They do however have a natural knack when it comes to fungus farming and slime-herding (the later practice is still horribly dangerous for them).

Gremkin occasionally have individuals that identify as warriors or knights, but they have no true formal martial traditions among themselves and typically rely on a spontaneous levies drawn together as needed to defend themselves. While able to use bows or crossbows of appropriate size they are generally incapable of manufacturing them and tend to use pointy thrown weapons in ranged combat, due to their size they favor puncturing and slashing weapons in melee. Armored gremkins are fairly rare outside of the occasional wicker or pot-lid shield unless they are part of a larger (and wealthy) bwg community.

Gremkin are seldom magical practioners and those displaying magical talent are typically pretenders (possibly) making use of a magical item or were in some way altered by an external force or entity. As mentioned above their knack with fungus has enabled the most clever of them to come up with a variety of fungal unguents and concoctions that can almost be as capable as some of the weaker known magical potions.

Boglins- Lowly goblins that seldom form their own communities and only live briefly in loose bands when not among other bwgs. Typically between 24" to 36" in height and seldom over 2 stone in weight. Possibly the most colorful of bwg folk with a wide range of skin-tones all over the color spectrum with little obvious connection to heredity; their occasionally vibrant skin and hair colors can cause them to be victimized by other bwgs, hags, or trollkind as a source of pigments and colored fibers.

Boglins can be capable miners and crafters if carefully directed by the more capable among them or outsiders. Specialization of labor among boglins is relatively minor with only the occasional rare member of group having the talent and focus to work as a specialist.

Boglins are not particularly aggressive as part of their own nature but are easily manipulated by their more cunning kin that will often use drink and a wide variety of fungal and herbal concoctions to bribe and direct them. 

Boglins due tend to be fairly greedy and acquisition in favor quantity or gaudiness directs a lot of their activity and social interaction. They do understand the general concept of money but keeping track of the genuine value of metals and types of coins is beyond the typical boglin. This natural greed does lead to the popular concept that all goblins are greedy bandits and while unorganized bands of boglins will take up banditry now and again they are far more likely to spends weeks pilfering a villages food stores by drips and drabs than they are to launch an organized raid and attempt to do more than hijack a stray cartload of goods.

Most boglins lack the dedication and determination to become magcial practioners but it isn't completely unheard of for the occasional boglin to become a spellcaster of some meager talent. They seldom manufacture goblindoors but ciphers and wards on such seldom restrain them.

Boglins will sometimes be drawn up into a body of troops and some will even purposefully serve as mercaneries but they are not particualry potent combatants. Boglins favor ranged weapons over melee weapons and seldom have much in the way of armor due to their general low status in bwgholds.

Boggins are fairly common and militantly organized bwgs. They stand between 24" and 40" in height and vary from 3 to 5 stone in weight. Most wars betwen goblins and dwarves typically involve boggins. Boggins will often organize themeselves in militant bands, cadres, and entire legions in service of a heridtary king or usurper warlord.

Boggins are masterful miners and able to achieve engineering feats just shy of the more capable gnomes and dwarves; men that foolishly disregard their talents will not live long in assaulting their domains. Boggins are capable of engineerign goblindoors and will of course use them to create sprawling and confounding labyrinthian complexes. A bwghold can be spread out over a shockingly large distance and levels underground often seemingly discrete but connected through the goblin doors. Despite their talents boggins still have to rely on the work of boggarts or other more capable magical practioners to craft the more powerful ciphers and wards for their goblindoors.

Boggins can be capable crafters but are truly seldom as capable as men outside the field of structural engineering. Boggins have just discovered explosives and pyrotechnics however and this may either prove to provide them with uncanny advantage or to detonate their bwgholds in a blaze of glory.

Boggins can be individual spellcasters but they are known to be more capable as part of a troupe of magcial-henking boggins. Magical-henking allows even as few as 3 Boggins to work a magical spell. Large boggin forces will form huge multi-layered rings of wild dancers to work their magics and have been known to open gates and even bring down walls in this manner. This is not without risk to the troupe as the magical energies can exhaust them, turn them to stone, or burst in a magical explosion.

Boggarts- Sometimes known as High Goblins by dwarves and men these folks stand 36" to 54" in height and range in weight about 5 stone.

Boggarts are driven by ego but still tend to form more cohesive groups than most bwgs. They will typically organize into bafflingly complex feudal courts with overlapping hierarchies, duties, colleges, and guilds with dense zeal and organization beyond the wildest dreams of human bureaucrats. Many boggart kingdoms are in the midst of generations long feuds among royal-houses, guilds, or cults; when these feuds abate their neighbors often suffer from waves of marauding and conquest.=

Boggarts are as capable as dwarves when it comes to metalwork and readily make use of magic as well. Boggarts can fashion magical arms and armor only surpassed by the most competent of gnomes, elves, and trows. Men jealously raid them to steal their handiwork despite often being booby-trapped or hexed.

It's not impossible to encounter a boggart knight as they can be capable warriors if they focus on that but tend to press their weaker kin to the task or employ their larger cousins as mercenaries. 

Boggarts are the most likely of bwgs to grow long beards and tend to be misidentified by the ignorant as brownies, gnomes, dwarves, or even kobolds.

(hobgoblins and bug-a-bears to follow)

Dungeons and Idolatry

 The cleric as presented in D&D and similar games has always been a curiosity to me. Not every faith has the cleric as magician or equates the workings of clerics to be similar to that of magicians and claims the supernatural workings of the cleric to be apart from those ascribed to magicians. What I strive to do is to work up games mechanic to further differentiate the powers of magic-users and clerics in old school fantasy gameplay and link this to popular forms of play thus "Dungeons and Idolatry".

When considering magic for a fantasy game campaign it isn't unusual to wonder on the origin of this magic. Is magic the result of the would-be caster's will and knowledge or is it by association to elemental and supernatural forces of the universe? The source of a clerics magics are generally considered more specific or at least tempered by the relationship a cleric has with the powers behind their supernatural workings. So in face of this consideration I have turned to idolatry (or a crass and simple view of idolatry) as a method and focal origin of clerical magic.

A question not often asked but often described in myth and fiction is "Where does magic happen?". Fiction and myth are overflowing with magical places from entire parallel universes hiding alongside out own to magic circles being scribbled on the ground as the workplace for magic. So now the easy answer is for the cleric is that a significant portion of that magic happens alongside shrines, temples, and altars with the presence of the idols of their faith. This has a number of ramifications to consider such as the establishment of magical places of a faith, access to such places and how that magic is used.

So who can establish a magical space for a faith? Major agents of the faith be they avatars of the deities of a faith, saints, or acolytes all are often invested with the power to mark or establish a place of power that is recognized by the faith. This lends itself well to level based old-school fantasy gaming where clerics of advancing levels have greater associated powers; a 1st level cleric mat be able to temporarily make a space safe for a minor blessing but a cabal of  priests of level 10 or higher ma be required to sanctify an altar capable of being the dead back to life. So , no surprise here, it is one or more clerics of adequate level in alliance with their faith that may establish a magical space for use by themselves and others.

In answering who can establish magical spaces of a faith it is also heavily implied that the cleric is who has access to these spaces. While the general public and the laity of a faith may beseech their gods and make offerings in that regard it is still generally recognized that clerics acting as acolytes of the faith have influence or control of the situation. This presents several facets that can be applied to a cold school fantasy campaign to enhance and add verisimilitude to the relationship clerics have to their faith. Clerics would be required to travel to and associate with other clerics as they do in the real world and fiction. The significance of place also puts it above the and beyond specific characters and makes the location of said place important; if only one temple of a faith allows it's clerics to resurrect the dead that becomes a very important place to the faith and does it retain it's powers even in absence of acolytes in attendance?

The answer to the question in relationship to the question above is "of course it does" but there are associated ifs. The power of a magical place can only be accessed by one recognized by the power of an intact idol, perhaps only by one in knowledge of specific rites and an intact altar. Idols and their associated altars and shrines can indeed populate the ruins and ever popular dungeons of fantasy campaigns. This gives another reason for adventures to happen in a campaign and for places of importance to retain importance.

So in future postings I will write on how to revise the cleric to provide for the duties of acolytes, and the importance of shrines, altars, and such for Dungeons and Idolatry.

Getting The Gang together for a Heist

You know what adventure model works best for virtually any version of Dungeons & Dragons? 

The Heist.

The more old school your rules, the more the game supports heists too. 

If you are playing the original game, Basic/Expert, and AD&D prior to 2nd edition experience points meant getting gold pieces. Fighting monsters is a 2nd rate means to gain EXP (after the original greyhawk supplement) if playing by the rules the game is best played as a heist game. PC's don't have enough HP to really make combat a good option unless the players are darned careful in deciding when, where, and who to fight.

The very idea of character classes supports the heist as ideal play. Watch a heist movie and there's a team of assembled specialists ... those are characters with different classes.  Even with just 3 or 4 classes there's enough differentiation to support a heist setup. Everyone has a role and everyone gets a chance to shine and best of all...you can split the party and focus on briefly on one or two characters working towards advancing the heist for the whole party.

When adventures are heists and not saving thr world from unending evil it actually adds the chance for depth in play. There's less reason for characters to be murder-hobos. They are encouraged to bribe and trick NPCs into helping out on the heist not just killing everything and everyone while the experience points pop out. This allows for a much wider cast of foils and foes which may be against a successful heist but aren't threatening the lives of everyone in the campaign world.

I'm jumping about here but check out the spells from the 2nd Basic set and how they add to heist play.

First Level MU spells
1.  Charm Person- compromise a guard or foil.
2.  Detect Magic- not just for identifying scrolls and magic items, also good for spottign magical traps and alarms (which should be part of some heists).
3. Floating Disc- got to move that loot after all
4. Hold Portal- getting in and getting out are key features of a heist and those pesky doors are certainly an issue.
5. Light- when it's dark you have to see
6. Magic Missile-  this is a lousy heist spell unless there's some key guardian that must be taken out with magic and is easy to beat that the MU knows about.
7. Protection from Evil- not as big a deal in heist play.
8. Read Languages- research montage
9. Read Magic- to use a high level spell slipped to the PCs by a patron or contact at the wizards guild
10. Shield-  not so useful in heist play unless you want to have someone distract guards and draw a few arrows while the loot goes the other direction.
11. Sleep- Defeat a bunch of guards youhave no actual motivation to kill, they aren't likely to be going on a rampage and slaughtering a village after this and they are probably hired men-at-arms or draftees that have no strong need for revenge.
12. Ventriloquism- the opportunities this spell gives for a heist game give it much more utility than it has in default dungeoncrawling or world saving.

SencondLevel MU Spells
1. Continual Light-  a useful tool and a foil the PCs may have to defeat to sneak away with the loot.
2. Detect Evil- not a real biggie in heist play unless it can be used to detect people who are goign to con you.
3. Detect Invisible- pretty darned useful in a competitive heist or the mark uses invisibility.
4. ESP- very useful for planning, scouting, and look outs.
5. Invisibility- Much more useful to grab loot and scoot than it is to enable a sneak attack, also obviously useful for scouting ahead.
6. Knock- get that door open!
7. Levitate- get in that window or over that wall.
8. Locate Object- surely useful if the goal of a heist is a specific McGuffin.
9. Mirror Image- distraction is the a major part of the art of heist.
10. Phantasmal Forces- as above but even more so.
11. Web- another spell for neutralizing a number of foes without killing them.
12. Wizard Lock- a foil and a useful tool for covering up a theft.

Not a perfect summary but in those 24 spells there are 19 with direct and obvious utility in a heist.


The heist is a much more survivable adventure model for low level play than typical smash and grab dungeoncrawling. The game rules have always supported that style of play really. Just look at the reaction table, it's a little wonky in a dungeon bash but of great utility in a heist adventure. Played RAW a heist adventure works great with the reaction table. If the whole world isn't in the balance and not every NPC is an evil monster it makes sense fights will be rare and NPCs may help out the PCs on a whim.

Another cool thing from the DM point of view is the heist doesn't have to be a level-specific to allow PC to survive. You want a dragon in the heist go for it...defeating the dragon is not the goal. A troll guard on the front door..go for it, the party pulling a heist shouldn't be fighting their way through the front door. It's actually possible to have a campaign with a bit more verisimilitude by not having everything level specific.

The adventure can be quicker too. Want a quick adventure for a session or two? Have a heist where the Players have a map of the place, at least of the areas you want to feature. There's less bumbling around and fights with random monsters to deal with, motivations are clear and the whole campaign isn't over of the heist fails. A failed heist sets up a rescue from a dank cell or before execution.

The heist opens up a wider range of opponents and place for Dungeons and Dragons campaigns where the goal is loot and world-building instead of world saving or murder hobo hijinks.

Megadungeon Slum Encouter Table I

An encounter table with 10 options to flesh out encounters in a megadungeon slum.

Megadungeon Slum Encouter Table I

1d10	Encounter	Description	Further Details
1	Melchsops (1d6)	Gatherers, cooks and sellers of Melch. More about Melch here: https://aeonsnaugauries.blogspot.com/2015/03/megadungeon-food.html	Roll 3 times to see what each Melchsop is carrying. 1- Gallon Cask of Raw Melch 2- Half a dozen Melch Loaves 3- Two small jars of Melch Paste 4- The means to setup up and quickly cook up to a dozen servings of Natters. 5- 3’ feet of freshest Jollies 6- a bag with 3d20 pieces of Traggy
2	Corpse Whisperer	Lowly necromancers that will pose questions for the dead.	roll d12: 1-3: a Cleric or Necromancer actually able to speak with the dead. 4-6 an illusionist or mountebank with some magical skills to fool marks 7-10 simple frauds 11-12 ventriloquist.
3	Bit Faker	Passes counterfeit money. May be posing as money changer but also likely will offer to buy some goods for a bit of coin.	Has 1d100 fake coppers, 5d10 fake silver, and 2d20 fake gold. Thieves and dwarves will note the  counterfeit coins 65% of the time, others 33% of the time. There is a 25% chance the Bit faker has 1 real coin of each type to fool a mark. The bit Faker will usually stash a few real coins within 100’ the current location.
4	Nobblers (1d3)	Enforcers that punish fellow dungeon miscreants by the breaking of limbs.	Has a big mallet or sledge hammer to break the kneecaps of those who haven’t paid their bills to loansharks, bartenders, and bookies.  25% chance that any successful strike is good enough to break a limb if the victim fails a save vs wounds/paralysis.
5	Bludgers (1d12)	Hired beaters of unruly miscreants. Can be paid off to leave victim alone. Will Bludge for pay.	These lowly thugs are employed to quickly beat uncooperative miscreants for an established boss or paying customers.If the bludgers outnumber a target by more than 2 to 1 the victim must make a save or be knocked unconscious if struck during a round. On a successful hit they normally deal 1d3+1 temporary damage. There is a 67% chance they will not steal from their victims as their role is
6	Pealers (2d4)	Dungeon muggers that specialize in clothing and armor	They will sneak attack inflicting 3d6 temporary damage and stay to peal the clothing and armor off their incapacitated victims. They aren’t above pilfering coin purses but seldom bother with the time it takes to go through or carry off backpacks.
7	Wailer (1)	A very capable noisy beggar.	These poor miserable sods will make all but the most wicked feel miserable if they don’t toss the wailer a coin or two. those who don’t toss the wailer coins must make a Wisdom save or all saving throws for remainder of day are made at -1. There is a 33% chance anyone that tries to rob or slap the wailer will be cursed.
8	Corby (1d2)	Lookouts.	A corby can usually hide as well as a thief of 4th level. They will spot anyone within 100’ (or twice normal dark sight for species) unless the intruders are both silenced and invisible 75% of the time.
9	Dookin Seer (1d4)	A palm reader, probably not legit.	The Dookin Seer themselves have a 33% chance of having 2 or 3 levels in a spellcasting class. If more than one is encountered there will be an apprentice otherwise they are guards acting as helper or fake customers for the Dookin Seer.
10	Prater (1d6)	Itinerant priest, usually bogus.	roll d12:. 1- Cleric, 2- Druid, 3- Fallen Paladin, 4- Illusionist, 5-9 thief, 10-12 simple fraud. If more than 1 is encountered the remainder have a 50/50 chance of being beggars or thieves posing as  traveling friars.

Note/Caution: Many players are really going to hate getting mugged by Pealers the most. Some players will likely act very poorly and irrationally after having a character lose equipment to a Pealer as losing equipment is almost as bad (or worse) than character death to some.

Caving Panoramic Tours

while doing some research on space and ceiling heights I got curious about the language of cave heights and stumbled across a number of links to Panoramic Cave tours on wikipedia.

A dozen goo panoramic cave right here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caving

Describing such places or mapping them in a useful fashion for a RPG caving adventure would be a challenge. While caves have come up over the year in various publications it is curious how little time and language we commonly use that would apply to describing or navigating such a place.

Go check out those panoramic tours. 

More Holmes Era Monsters

I skipped on a few monsters/monster groupings from the Holmes edit of basic last time I did some analysis, now I shall rectify that.

Rip You To Shreds
The following monsters have 3 or more attacks.

MONSTER	HD	DMG xATK	SPECIAL
Ghoul	2	1-3×3	Touch: Save vs Paralyzation/Elves immune
Troglodyte	2	1-4×3	Surprise 1-4; Save vs Poison or –d6 STR/1 per rnd
Horse	2-3	1-6×2, 1-4	Lt:2HD Med:2+1/180 Hv:3/120 Dft/Mule:2+1/120
Harpy	3	1-4×3	Fly 2.5×MV; Save vs Spells or charmed
Hippogriff	3+1	1-6×2, 1-10	Fly 2×MV; Always attack pegasi
Hydra	varies	1-6	1 HD/6 HP/1 AT per head (3 HD=18 HP/3 AT)
Gargoyle	4	1-4×4	Fly 2.5×MV; Magic to hit
Owl Bear	5	1-8×3	Attacks are beak/claw/bear-hug
White Dragon	5-7	1-6×2, 4-24	5-7 HP/1-8 age; breath 80×60ft cone of cold 3×day
Minotaur	6	1-6×3	Always attacks
Manticore	6+1	1-6×3	Fly 1.5×MV; Tail: 24 spikes; Fires 6/rnd; Range 180’
Troll	6+3	1-6×3	Regenerates 3 HP/turn except fire/acid
Black Dragon	6-8	1-6×2, 4-24	6-8 HP/d8 age; Breath 60×5ft line of acid/3×day
Brass Dragon	6-8	1-6×2,4-24	6-8 HP/d8 age; 70×20ft sleep or 80×60 fear/3×day
Griffon	7	1-4×2, 2-16	Fly 2.5×MV, Steeds but will attack horse in 360’
Chimera	9	1-3×2, 2-8 x2, 3-12	+2-8×2 (goat/lion)/3-12 (dragon) or 3-24 fire 3×day
Red Dragon	9-11	1-6×2, 4-24	9-11 HP/1-8 age; breath 90×30ft cone of fire 3×day

It should come as no surprise that Dragons turn up on this table with their claw attacks and mighty bites but do many  really consider how terrible trogolodytes or horses would be against a low level group of adventurers?  Ghouls are a nightmare that contributed to a high ratio of elves among olden day players, with 3 attacks a round a ghoul was probably going to paralyze a character if not rip them to shred so the immunity really helped out. With 3 attacks a round and a few HitDice many of these monsters can easily take on a whole party and still be a menace well after levels 1 to 3.


Heavy Hitters
The following monsters have the ability to dish out  18+ points of damage in a single blow, that’s enough damage to beat all but the luckiest of PCs from level 1 to 3 in a single successful strike.

MONSTER	HD	DMG xATK
Weretiger	5	3-18
White Dragon	5-7	1-6×2,4-24
Werebear	6	3-24
Black Dragon	6-8	1-6×2,4-24
Brass Dragon	6-8	1-6×2,4-24
Stone Giant	9	3-18
Black Pudding	10	3-24
Frost Giant	10+1	4-24
Red Dragon	9-11	1-6×2,4-24
Fire Giant	11+3	5-30
Cloud Giant	12+2	6-36
Storm Giant	15	7-42

Not all of these critters are going to dish out 16 or more points of damage in a single attack every time but they all have a chance and lot of HD to go along with that attack in several cases. Going toe to toe with any of these monsters for a low level party is insane yet it happened back in the day but it required trickery, numbers, and luck. In the main however in the old days these monsters were left alone unless the party was packing a useful wand or two, some ranged weapons, a charmed NPC or two, and a lot of flasks of oil (which might not always work so well).



Good Guys?
Not all the monsters are out to get the PCs.

MONSTER	HD	AL	HABITS
Dwarf	1	N/LG	Sturdy fighters
Gnome	1	CG/N	Hill burrows
Pixie	1	N/CG	Elf-friends, invisible
Elf	1+1	CG/N	Magical fighters
Pegasus	2+2	LG	Wild, shy
Blink Dog	4	LG	Intelligent, packs
Unicorn	4	LG	Fierce, elusive
Wereboar	4+1	N/CG	Solitary, ill-temper
Werebear	6	N/CG	Solitary, helpful
Brass Dragon	6-8	N/CG	Selfish, talkative
Storm Giant	15	N/CG	Mountain castles

The monsters above are not all good guys all of the time but they all stand a fair chance of bing on the side of good. Good guys like these should teach players not to kick in doors and attack everything beyond, sometimes talking just might be all it takes to earn the cooperation of a powerful ally. Blink dogs are a curiosity indeed, are characters going to know they shouldn’t always attack the teleporting dogs.? Gaining the help of a Brass Dragon or Storm Giant could prove to be a very wise tactic considering how tough each is. I knew Werebears could be good but am actually surprised Wereboars are sometimes good as well (makes me wonder if it is a typo).  Interestingly enough only 3 of the monsters that might be good are always good and each of them is a Lawful Good beast (Shades of Narnia?).


Need Magic or Silver
Not all of the monsters in the old bluebook basic could be harmed by normal weapons.

MONSTER	HD	AC	SPECIAL
Green Slime	2	nil	Can always be hit but only hurt by fire/cold
Yellow Mold	2*	nil	2 HD/10’ sq; If hit: 50% chance of spores/Save vs Poison
Shadow	2+2	7	Hit: -1 STR; Magic to hit; Immune Charm/Sleep
Wererat	3	7	Silver/magic to hit; Summon 10-100 G. Rats; See Werewolf
Wight	3	5	Hit: Drain 1 level; Silver/magic to hit
Gargoyle	4	5	Fly 2.5×MV; Magic to hit
Werewolf	4	5	Silver/magic to hit; Wolfsbane repels; Bite: Lycanthropy
Wraith	4	3	Hit: Drain 1 level; Magic to hit/Silver ½ dmg; Fly 2×MV
Wereboar	4+1	4	Silver/magic to hit; See also Werewolf
Ochre Jelly	5	8	Fire/cold to hit; Weapons make smaller jellies
Weretiger	5	3	Silver/magic to hit; See also Werewolf
Mummy	5+1	5	Fear: Save vs Spells; Hit: Rots; Magic/fire to hit=½ dmg
Spectre	6	2	Touch: Drains 2 LVLs; Magic to hit; Fly 2×MV
Werebear	6	2	Silver/magic to hit; See also Werewolf
Troll	6+3	6	Regenerates 3 HP/turn except fire/acid
Vampire	7-9	2	Hit: Drains 2 LVLs; Magic to hit; Regenerate as troll
Black Pudding	10	6	Fire hurts; Attacks split; dissolves wood/metal not stone

Over 20% of the monsters in the Holmes edit need some sort of special weapon to harm, that’s a pretty tough situation for a low level party. Silver arrows turn up on the normal equipment list so the characters should be aware of their utility but there will still be a number of serious contenders to deal with that require magic to harm. Some of the dungeon cleaning crew turn up here. The rarity of magical weapons and the chance of bumping into one of these creatures filled players with worry and encouraged them to actually snoop about instead of storming through the dungeons like mad berserkers.

In my original D&D campaign gargoyles took on the role of major foe to the PCS for a time and to let that work I had the gargoyles in the book be the tough ones there were smaller ones that could be harmed with normal weapons and had less attacks and HD. (they got one attack per HD , 1 and 2 HD took normal damage, while 3HD took 1/2 damage from non-magical weapons).

Shadows also took on an even more sinister vibe as an invasion force for a ShadowKing from another realm. Giving them shadows a motive and organization makes them seem even more mysterious and troublesome.

Why didn’t I mention theses earlier?
a few monsters have ,managed to slip through my analysis.

MONSTER	HD	AC	MV	AL	SPECIAL	HABITS
Doppelganger	4	5	90	CE/N	Mimic humanoids; Immune Sleep/Charm; Improved saves	Mutable, deceitful
Owl Bear	5	5	120	N	Attacks are beak/claw/bear-hug	Ugly disposition
Displacer Beast	6	4	150	N(E)	All saves at +2; -2 to be hit due to displacing	Hateful packs
Minotaur	6	6	120	LE	Always attacks	Maze, pursues

For some reason i didn’t classify these monsters in with the other categories. They are all sort of odd-balls.  The doppleganger is easy to misuse and make players totally distrust all friendly or neutral NPCs out of hand. Owl Bears are just big old freaky bears, there is opportunity to make them weirder and stranger as I recall players in the old days thinking they were darned remarkable but besides looking odd they aren’t (and yes they have 3 or more attacks but I wanted to discuss them here). Dispalcer Beast are darned strange as they are a panther with barbed tentacles that only seems to attack with the barbed tentacles in this version of the game. Minotaurs have 2 arms and legs but are traditionally used as lone marauders so I didn’t include them on folk table, most campaigns don’t have communities and tribes of minotaurs.