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The Jar of Evil Part 1: Monster Organization

Storage. The bane of craft GMs everywhere. I make 3D terrain for my table and all my kits are modular and reversible whenever possible to help alleviate this problem. ICRPG saved my proverbial bacon in a lot of ways when it came to miniatures, providing papercraft minis of heroes and monsters in a consistent style that can be fitted to removable bases.

My storage problems for miniatures did not end quite here, however. In fact, I found myself with a new problem: I now had 100+ paper minis, each with a craft stick glued inside for stability and basing, and sorting and storing them was becoming a problem. I needed to come up with a system that was as simple as ICRPG itself and in the process, revolutionized the way I thought about monsters in game design entirely.

Behold: GM Grizzly's Jars of EVIL.

The Jars Of Evil

What is a Jar of EVIL? Fundamentally, it is a jar, container, or in my case, an old Greek Yogurt or
Cottage Cheese tub that keeps a specific "class" of monster. What are these classes? We'll get to those in a second. What makes this different from say, 5e's monster classification system is that there are only 6 Jars of EVIL: Minions, Harbingers, Ambush, Undead, Certain Doom, and CHUNKS. None of these have anything to do with Hearts, geography, lore, or complimentary nature in combat. That's for a different post. The Jar has many purposes:
  1. Storage;
  2. Speed and Ease in Room Design;
  3. Inspiration in Monster Creation;
  4. Reminder of relation PCs and appropriateness to Encounter;
  5. Reminder of certain types of Mechanics some Monsters may have.
Let's talk EVIL.

TL:DR: It's a simple monster classification and sorting system based on their relation to the Party, Encounter, and Adventure, rather than specific features such as geography, sets, lore, HP, and "difficulty rating."

The Jar of MINIONS

"Let them come! We'll cut them down and build a wall with the corpses."

What is a Minion?

A MINION- type creature is anything with 1-4 Abilities, rarely more, and is meant for use in groups of two or more. The primary feature of a MINION is their natural tendency to form HORDES whenever possible, with a secondary feature being any Ability that calls for reinforcements. MINIONS can have multiple Hearts, powerful attacks and abilities, but they should not, when attacking as an individual, have abilities that are instantly dangerous/deadly to a 2 Heart Hero at full health. MINIONS should be a joke to a mid-high level hero when alone, but terrifying in large groups and HORDES.

Uses for Minions 

Minions are perfect for starter sessions with HORDE mechanics and Spawners. They are also prime candidates for enemy allies to Harbinger and Certain Doom monsters. Minions are good bait for traps and ambushes, drawing the party into a larger fight.

What Goes in the Jar?

From CORE, good examples of MINIONS are Gerblins and Mutant Reptoids. From WORLDS, a good example are Squags. 

The Jar of HARBINGERS

"Courage, friends! Together, we can destroy it!"

What is a Harbinger?

A HARBINGER-type creature is anything with at least one high-damage ability, temporary PC altering ability, or a potentially deadly mechanic as an individual. A primary feature of a HARBINGER is in the name: a herald of the party's certain doom. This can either mean that a CERTAIN DOOM creature is near, or that the tone of the adventure has shifted from "easy" with MINIONS to "deadly" with HARBINGERS. 

Uses for Harbingers

HARBINGERS are great for shock value and end-of-night sessions/cliff hangers. This is a monster you pull out to do some damage to a party and use up some health potions. Start small, then add more as the party proves to handle themselves. HARBINGERS also tend to make perfect "lieutenants" for a CERTAIN DOOM campaign boss, or even an Adventure "mini-boss" for longer dungeon delves. HARBINGERS are also perfect "tanks" in an "enemy ally" encounter, meaning that adding them with MINIONS can make for an epic encounter that stretches the party to its limits.

What Goes in the Jar?

From CORE, good examples of HARBINGERS are Crystal Worms, Minotaur, Ogres, and Invincibles. From WORLDS, good examples are Custodians.  

The Jar of SURPRISE

"To arms! The devils are upon us!"

What is Surprise?

SURPRISE! is, unsurprisingly, anything designed with Ambushing the players in mind. This is the only trait they require to be in here. Their deadliness may range from MINION to HARBINGER, maybe even CERTAIN DOOM-like.

Uses for Surprise

Ambushes, of course! Scare the pants off your party, and remind them just how important Scouting Checks are.

What Goes in the Jar?

Anything with strong Ambush abilities, powers that cloak themselves to get the drop on players. Examples from ICRPG CORE: Agnar, Flimes, Cave Ropers, Carrion Crab, and Brain Horrors.

The Jar of UNDEAD

"This perversion of Life shall be cleansed!"

What is an Undead?

UNDEAD should terrify your players. And yes, I mean all of them from skeletons to the Flying Dutchman. I put anything that is technically UNDEAD in its own Jar because it poses significantly different threats to the PCs in my games: heavy resistances, SMOKE (ICRPG WORLDS), and dire consequences in party defeats.

Uses for Undead

UNDEAD are good for points of tonal shift in an adventure, specifically from dangerous to horrifying. This doesn't mean that the game is now Horror, but that UNDEAD are a sign of the subversion of nature itself. The Underworld is spilling into our realm. And even Skeletons have a one in ten chance of afflicting a PC with SMOKE on contact.

Grab your mace, a priest, some holy water. Something. Cause we're goin' to war with hell itself!

What Goes in the Jar?

Literally any undead creature that doesn't fall into the CERTAIN DOOM Jar.

The Jar of CERTAIN DOOM

"Odin's Blood! What is THAT!?"

What is Certain Doom?

No faulty advertising here: it's certain doom for the party or the world they live in as they know it.
These must be stopped at all costs. They might have abilities that can end characters outright, or completely alter the world on a grand scale.

Uses for Certain Doom

Final bosses for adventures or campaigns. Use sparingly! These are no joke to throw around.

What Goes in the Jar?

From CORE, Eye Beasts, Gargoleth, Child of Azatoth, Dragons, Tree of Death.

The Jar of CHUNKS

"Aim for the weak spot!"

What are CHUNKS?

CHUNKS are a concept in CORE. In short, it's anything vehicular in nature or large enough to employ CHUNKS as part of it's makeup. 

Uses for CHUNKS

Wars, space combat, naval combat, mecha encounters.

What goes in the Jar?

Anything that uses CHUNKS: Imperatus Rax, Speed Kills, Krell Fighters.

Conclusion

That's a lot of words to say it's different way to sort monsters. Mostly, it helps me clean up my paper mini collection on the shelf. What I discovered was it also helped me design better Monster encounters. Maybe it will help you too.
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