80's/90's movie creatures

[SouthpawSoldier]

Currently playing around with an '80s/90's themed campaign. Each chapter/module is based around a particular movie, TV series, or the like. The overall theme will be Pirates of Dark Water; discussed that in an older thread that I won't resurrect.

What I intend is a collection of modules I can swap out depending on where the party goes. If they decide to explore the city, TMNT and Addams Family. Wilderness? Captain Planet/Rescue Rangers. Dungeon Crawls? Goonies, Indy Jones, & Labyrinth/Legend. Once I know where the party is headed, I can spend a little time adjusting the module to be level-appropriate. This also enables a mix of foes/situations, so any class will have something to do.


The trick is getting the results right, and writing the modules as more than "go to ____ fetch _____ Treasure of Rule". Right now, I'm brainstorming transcription into 5e. Once I know how each theme would be translated into 5e, I can play around with writing a story that makes them interesting and still relates to the overall campaign. I'm not too worried about XP values or CR, since I prefer narrative levelling. I do want to watch CR enough to keep from TPKing my players, so a mix of options for each location type (Aquatic, Nature/forest, Urban, Dungeon, etc) would be nice.



Source
Result

Ninja Turtles; Splinter
Kappa (no 5e stats); Were-rat


Terminator
Iron/Flesh Golem; Helmed Horror; LE Warforged w/ futuristic weapons from DMG


Thundercats
Rakshasa/Were-felines (prefer the former for a twist)


Gummy Bears/ Care Bears
???


Critters/Gremlins
Some type of Swarm?



Any suggestions? Additional elements and suggested write-ups would be appreciated.

[Gruzzle]

My goodness you take me back! Ren was my favorite cartoon character throughout the early 90s. That monkeybird was always good for a chuckle too. +1 for nostalgia!

Edit: did you ever watch Dinoriders in the 80s? Questar was my first boyhood cartoon hero, before even Ren! Just throwing in my own childhood for more setting variation funness! Who doesn't love raptors and lazers, after all?

[mephnick]

It's not the 90's without Power Rangers. Animal constructs that can fuse together..or something?

[Hawkstar]

It's not the 90's without Power Rangers. Animal constructs that can fuse together..or something?

Therianthropes that can summon giant animals that can then combine and transform.

As far as robot animals go.... BEAST WARS!

[Cyan Wisp]

80's movies and TV shows? Now we're talking! Sinbad was much earlier, I think, but I saw it in the 80s.

Krull for sci-fi/fantasy with a super-cool weapon: The Glaive

the Crystal Spider and the Widow of the Web
Slayers
the Beast


Sinbad the Sailor for high seas adventure

cyclops
roc
skeletons
bronze minotaur (like a golem)
giant wasp
sabre-tooth tiger
giant walrus


Neverending Story

the Nothing
Gmork, the wolf-beast thing
Swamps of Sadness
The sphinxes
Falkor the Luck Dragon


He-man and the Masters of the Universe!

Skeletor
Beast Man
Evil-Lyn
Jitsu
Tri-Klops

[SouthpawSoldier]

Coming up with a list of elements is (relatively) easy. I managed to fill a couple pages of a notebook with ideas. Everything from Alien Nation to the Smurfs. What's kicking my but is how to transcribe them to 5E.

Alien Nation? Gith planar "refugees" that are actually a criminal clan being followed by a Druid trying to repair the disruption they cause (E.T.).

Care Bears/Gummy Bears? The former are easily Warlocks of some kind, but how do you stat Gummy Bears? A type of Barbarian that "Rages" after chugging a potion? what species, before classes?

Transformers; Mimics? Warforged? A hybrid of the two? How the heck does one stat that?....Unless....Beastwars, and make them Warforged Moon Druids. That's getting a little late in the 90s, but may work for younger players, if I have any.

Trick is not relying too much on giving the NPC's and monsters actual classes. I'd like for the majority of their nature to be inherent. That's why I lean towards the Terminator that will be sic'd on the party to be a Helmed Horror. Definitely saving that one until the party is ALMOST of high enough level. Just enough that it's not a "rocks fall" bit but still early enough to cause a bit of terror.

The next step is having them all written into modules with interesting stories. Pirates of Dark Water, the Goonies, and Indiana Jones are easy to integrate. But Attack of the Killer Tomatoes? Only guess is a Swarm of Awakened Plants.

I actually had Neverendng Story somewhat planned as an extraplanar hub; a bit of "Wreck it Ralph" 4th wall graffiti with portals leading to other universes.

The Glaive; are you referring to Krull?

I also have Dino Riders and The Land Before Time listed together; probably another module I'm going to save until the party is ready.

Addams Family; a predatory trading family that possesses the animated hand of Ash Williams, who has affixed a blade to the stump and become a pirate, targeting that family's fleet. The Addams' use the hand to break into other traders' homes, and steal information.

The first story will be Goonies, with a little TMNT mixed in. A pair of cities in a delta. One is a fishing/oyster farming village that sold pearls and the like for GDP, the other a trading port on an island in the center of the river. Over time, the trading city overwhelmed the fishing ville economically, and now the fisherfolks area is slums for the larger city. Occasional press-gangs to clean out the city's tide-powered sewers, bully rich kids slumming to pick fights, a biased city guard; you get the idea.

Sahuagin and pirates have always been an issue, but they lately gained control of some type of superweapon (summoning/conjuring a gigantic Ooze?) that is causing enough risk to trade the King/Emperor has taken notice. The city council proposes to raze the slums of the fisherfolk to build a naval shipyard. The PC's are out to save their homes, which leads to searching for "One-Eyed Willy's" treasure, the main item of which is the first Treasure (dead cyclops with skeleton former crew guarding his lair). If they go to the sewers under the city, they may find the Turtles.

After they've found a couple of the Treasures, they'll notice the Treasures interact; eventually they'll figure out there's a set. This will lead to a "predestined heroes" trope, playing off the Infinity Gauntlet.

[Hawkstar]

If they're not player characters, don't give them player-character rules. Homebrewing is best.

For Thundercats: A small band of werecats is having problems with Gnolls and Bullywugs, lead by a Mummy Lord.

Beast Wars works more as two factions of fighting Werecritters.

[Yagyujubei]

If they're not player characters, don't give them player-character rules. Homebrewing is best.

For Thundercats: A small band of werecats is having problems with Gnolls and Bullywugs, lead by a Mummy Lord.

Beast Wars works more as two factions of fighting Werecritters.

this. just give them direct swaps with the stat block of a monster that you think fits.

Youre looking at this from the wrong angle imho. don't think "which current 5e monster LOOKS like the creature i want" think "which 5e monster PLAYS like the creature i want" and then just reskin to the monster you want. done and done.

if nothing quite fits, then add an extra power to make it really click.

[Hawkstar]

Of course, if you want the actual creatures, homebrewing isn't out of the question, and 5e is pretty easy to eyeball numbers for.