Interview: Nick Baran's Horrors of the Whispering Wood

A collector's box of Stennard goodness

Nick Baran, aka Mr. Breaker Press Games, has finally answered those hungry fans who wanted a collector's box. Horrors of the Whispering Woods is a crowdfunding project that brings two new zines packaged in a sweet box set. That means there's plenty of room left inside for the many, many existing pamphlets and zines that you may have from Nick's patreon! Lurking Horrors is one of the zines here and is a compiled bestiary of creatures to add to your game. The other new zine is A Guide to the Whispering Wood is a hexcrawl toolkit that will help judge's bring the Stennard region to life. I was able to spend some time with Nick and got some awesome details about this project. Keep reading to find out more!

Lurking Horrors is a bestiary collection, but is more than a collection of stat blocks. You've included adventure hooks, possible treasures, and monster sub-types/variations. Tell us a little more about how Lurking Horrors make each monster come alive?

Several months ago, I was digging into the Dolmenwood PDFs (Gavin Norman/Necrotic Gnome) and I was absolutely inspired by the extra detail they added to their monsters to make them more interesting for a GM to use. Within days, I started screwing around with the bestiary zine that became the bones of Lurking Horrors Vol. 1. By adding a short encounter table, you can show a Judge how to build an engaging encounter with a monster that isn't just combat. In the sample pages I did for nolids, they can be found taunting an injured animal, hiding their morbid treasures in a hollow or burrow, or brawling over a severed foot. This is so much richer than, "You see 6 nolids on the path. They immediately attack you." It gives them depth and ultimately gives you guidance on how to run nolids by showing you, rather than trying to info dump all of that into a description. Their treasure table, filled largely with trophies taken off of foes and animals, gives you clear indication of what they value, and it isn't piles of gold. And you can apply these principles to any monster.

Care to share a story from a game session about one of these monsters? Maybe a story where the monster was later updated to reflect what happened during that session?

I have to admit that I tweak monsters all the time, usually because in my brain PCs are always levels 0-1. When I was growing up, playing AD&D, the sweet spot for me was levels 1-3. Everything felt so much more dangerous - that's part of why I fell in love with DCC RPG in my 40s. It carried the tension that comes with lethality. When I was working on Hillwood Camp, I designed Agnimara, a mother bristle bear... Basically, a bear with porcupine quills. She is absolutely TERRIFYING to a handful of PCs levels 0-1. I remember Trevor, from Tales of the Smoking Wyrm telling me, "she's way underpowered. She's a BEAR!" My PCs encountered her again when they were level 2, and this legendary beast only survived because of a failed morale check on her part. Trevor was absolutely right, her stats did not reflect the might of a bear. I'd like to take a moment to publicly chastise my players for going after a momma bear who is revered by the people of Hillwood Camp. They're the real monsters! "No heroes," indeed!

A Guide to the Whispering Wood is a hexcrawl toolkit that you've created for the campaign region. "How to best run a hexcrawl" is a popular topic within the OSR. Any hexcrawling advice you want to share with the judges out there?

I will admit, I do not consider myself a hexcrawl expert. I love the structure of The Dark of Hot Springs Island and Dolmenwood. I, personally, rely heavily on wandering monster tables and set-piece encounter areas in my home game. I want the fans of Stennard to feel empowered to take the adventure off the rails. And it gives me the opportunity to write-up some of the fantastic encounters my players stumbled into while just wandering around Stennard. At the end of the day, the beauty in a hexcrawl is letting the players and the dice run the show, and whatever happens, happens.

I'm sure the that AGttWW offers a whole lot to players and judges, but can you give a overview of what makes this toolkit unique?

All of the rules from the Pervasive Corruption pamphlet I released in early summer will appear in this toolkit. That pamphlet included rules for famine, taint, scarcity, and Insidious Luck. Stennard is grimdark, survival-horror and AGttWW will reinforce that. The constant rains in the region that caused the crops to rot in the ground can also cause the PC's rations to rot in their bags. Wandering in the torrential rains is miserable, but the likelihood of an encounter with a monster is reduced. However, when the skies clear up, all of these starving monsters and bandits will come crawling out of their holes. The focus is on ramping up the survival-horror angle with simple rules that carry the themes and vibes of Stennard. I think that's what will set it apart.

Thanks so much for sharing with us! Anything else that you'd like folks to know about?

A lot of people have been asking me for storage boxes to keep their collections in. I have fans of the setting send me photos of their overflowing bookshelves and binders fairly regularly. I have sought to alleviate this need with the box having space to hold 4-5 zines. Additionally, you can add on additional empty boxes to hold your Stennard content, or zines that might feel Stennard-adjacent to you. I recommend The Sorcerer's Fate by Andy Edmonds, Crawl! 9, The Arwich Grinder, The Gongfarmer Militia by Per Aspera Games, and others that I'm forgetting.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to ramble and for highlighting Horrors of the Whispering Woods. It is greatly appreciated. I'm looking forward to, The Conquest of Chaos!

What's your favorite hexcrawl toolkit?

What Else Is Going On?

The Conquest of Chaos

A levels 0-5 campaign path for Dungeon Crawl Classics! Six adventures inspired by the classic GDQ series take the PCs from humble beginning to fighting the primal forces of chaos and saving their world from certain doom!

Dungeon Dwelling Creatures Quick Start Rules

You're no hero.

You destroy heroes. You are the bane of adventurers and those who seek fortune and glory in dungeons and ruins.