Character Design Brainstorming: The Monster Among Us

We live in a world of routine, predictability, and pedestrian problems. (2020 doesn't count. Much.)

Magic doesn't really seem to exist in our world.

Or does it?

Perhaps we live above a very thin surface, like floating on a tranquil lake, and just underneath it there are ghouls, and vampires, and monsters of all kinds that live among us.

Some may be threats we are not even aware of until they become the last thing we see. Others live in parallel and just want to live and let live. Still others are there to make sure the world stays stable as we know it, either as guardians or as policing agents or even as puppet masters of the mortals that live without being aware of them.

The thrill of this premise has fueled many legends and stories and myths- and it isn't likely to stop.

Usually when designing such monsters, the supernatural element revolves around the creature's powers and his/her/its capacity to shapeshift/morph/glamour itself as human so they can exist and interact within human society.

That means that the design of the monster will inadvertedly go hand in hand with the design of the setting and the lore: the rules you design for your world will be pivotal in how your monster is also designed.

Are they loners, outliers that roam the world and are suprirsed if they ever get to meet one similar to them, even more so if it's their own kind?

Or are they a society within a society, like a secret cult that has meeting places and rules of their own in place for how they will conduct themselves within the world of the humans?

Usually, the design is derived, one way or the other, from legends and myths- from vampires and werewolves to nine-tailed foxes and goblins and even the old pantheons of gods.

And therein lies the challenge and the risk, if you will: if you make the monsters too powerful, it becomes hard to 'sell' the reason why they keep themselves secret rather than rising above human society, making the humans the ones that have to hide and pretend (unless they are part of the cosmos in a more existential way like Charon or the Grim Reaper). If you make them too weak, they lose the 'coolness' factor and it's hard to make them alluring or awe-inspiring, let alone threats and possibly superior to human capacities.

So what you need to do is basically walk a tightrope where the monster is powerful and deadly, but the human can stand a (relatively good) chance to outwit/outsmart/outfight/overpower the monster if the human is aware of the monster's existence- hence the need for secrecy but without reducing the awe and the dread.

What that means is that, regardless the legend you're drawing from, you must consistently give weaknesses that make sense for your monster while also giving them their strengths. Perhaps the moonlight enhances their senses and their strength, but the sunlight makes them weak (or within human range). Perhaps they are powerful and nearly indestructible, but if you manage to steal a magic possession, or cut off a tail, or hair, or use a specific type of weapon, they become especially vulnerable.

Or perhaps you must find out their real name, or steal their skin, or strike a deal that magically binds them to you.

Whatever it is, it has to be attainable by humans, even if it is very hard to do.

Have you ever created monsters that walk among us?


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