Like pretty much every gaming group ever, my groups have had a share of inside jokes develop over the years, especially with my old gaming group from high school and college. One of our most persistently-recurring jokes was the "War Lich", the symbol of ultimate GM dickishness. The "war lich", as we envisioned it, was simply a lich riding a beholder. The joke was that the "war lich" would be the monster that a GM would bust out to use against a party of hapless adventurers; "You better watch yourselves, or the next room's gonna have a war lich in it!"
Like I said, the war lich was never more than a conceptual in-joke, but I did do a doodle of one, on the margins of a dungeon map, during a game a few years back:
So imagine my surprise a couple weeks ago when, in the course of browsing around
Monte Cook's site, I come across this little gem:
A war mind-flayer?
The similarities are...striking. Obviously this war lich idea had stronger legs than we ever gave it credit for.
Out of curiosity, is there anyone else out there who has ever envisioned (or even introduced) one monster riding another?
We had a Cardmaster game played online over at Dragonsfoot in which a Lich and a Bulette encounter (those cards being drawn) became a Liche *riding* a Bulette. That was, like your War Lich, an inside joke for the run of the game.
ReplyDeleteThis much is fact: your WarLich doodle is far better than the other one! You don't say how old you were, but the lich hands and lich feet are particularly nice -- that stuff ain't easy!
ReplyDeleteI like how your beholder is drooling. The sort of beholder that would allow a lich to ride him around must be a simpering fool, without the skills necessary to use a blanket properly, getting most of his nutrition from a soiled Ernie doll.
ReplyDeleteMy big idea was a knight riding a horse riding a dragon. See, the idea is then the horse needs dragon-riding skills which frees the knight to take horse-riding skills.
Wow, thanks for the kind comments on my doodle! :)
ReplyDeletecrazyred: I'm guessing I did this roundabout 2003, which would've made me 25 or so. Technically "post-college", but who's counting? As for the hands and feet, having an artist Dad made for free, on-demand art lessons as I was growing up, something I totally took for granted at the time.
1d30: I think I was definitely going for something along those lines with the drool--it's probably been mind-controlled or some such insidiousness by the evil ol' lich.
After seeing a photo of a bird riding an eagle, I'm less inclined to think of a horse riding a dragon as the least bit ridiculous. Brilliant way to save a proficiency slot!
If you count wargs as monsters, then it's very common.
ReplyDeleteI never did much monster-riding monster stuff, but I'm gong to now, now that I have seen your wonderful WAR LICH. I agree that your drawing is the better of the two. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Would that be an undead beholder?
"I agree that your drawing is the better of the two."
ReplyDeleteToo kind, too kind!
And I think the original concept was simply a classic beholder, since the idea was piling one classic foe on the back of another. But if I were to stat up a war lich, I might be inclined to make the beholder, if only for the sake of verisimilitude.
I've come late to the party here...but when in high school, our DM decided to send our high level, AD&D party (16th at the time I think.) to hell. I distinctly remember him tossing out these guardians that were T-Rex's with Beholders for heads. Not quite creatures riding creatures...but certainly an amalgamation that was more than surprising at the time.
ReplyDeleteIt was hideously delicious.
T-Rexes with Beholders for heads...
ReplyDeleteThat is fantastic! I'll definitely have to steal that at some point. :)
Cool concept! We've had goblins armed with crossbows mounted backwards on the backs of ogres in our game.
ReplyDeleteSince Blackmoor which had the first good dungeoneering mix and matches - such as an evil warlord riging a wyvern or a Balrog riding an ancient Red Dragon....
ReplyDelete