Developer Journal : Monsters

What is exciting about 9Dragons is that the monsters also have their own clans. Oh don’t get me wrong, not all monsters are in clans, only the ones you need to be really frightened of!

There are generally lots of monsters wandering around and these can give adventurers a hard time on their own. But 9Dragons is special because there are also five clans of monsters with special powers of their own. They have their own unique background histories just like the Shao-Lin and the Wu-Tang!

There are five major monster clans in 9Dragons. They are the Clan of Secret Shadows, the Clan of Death Valley, the Clan of the King of Hell, the Clan of Beasts, and the Clan of the Golden War.

There is too much to say about these clans to fit it all in to one article so I have broken this up into two pieces. In the first I shall deal with the Clan of Secret Shadows and the Clan of Death Valley.

Another unique point about the monsters in 9Dragons is that they are mostly based on the history of ancient China. Thus monsters in 9Dragons frequently take animal or human forms.

Right, so before we talk about the monster clans specifically, let’s just look at some of the random monsters that appear in the game.

There are many wild animals such as snakes, wolves, leopards, bears and even tigers. The wild animals were a problem in ancient China and people had to find ways of dealing with them. The good thing about defeating animals is that you can use their skins or furs, or claws for trading. However, not all of the pests were non-human. In the game, as in ancient China, there are many gangs of troublemakers. They harass innocent people and generally cause as much trouble as they can. Overall, they don’t know many fighting skills but do seem to enjoy ganging up on solo players or small groups.

Then there are the thieves, burglars and bandits! Once innocent people, they started to grab weapons instead of farming tools in the age of chaos and now can be very dangerous indeed.

If you survive your encounters with them, you may then stumble on some of the legendary creatures of ancient China. Folklore tells of zombies and evil spirits who have not found rest because of the evil times in China. Some say that the remains of zombies, blood zombies and ironclad zombies still haunt the world.

After all those relatively unskilled fighters, there are of course the expelled disciples from the great clans. These were once members of the clans but were expelled for various reasons. The danger with these people is, of course, that they have had some level of training in the martial arts. Approach with care, only skilled fighters can deal with these!

The White Shadows specialty is infiltration, scouting and spying. They always wear masks to frighten the unwary. However, they are cowards and will run away if things are getting tough for them.

The Black Shadows specialize in hiding and sudden attack. They love to disguise themselves as innocent passers by and then launch sudden vicious attacks.

Then you have the Blood Shadows. They are assassination unit of the Clan of Secret Shadows. Expect no mercy from these people! If you are on their list they will find you!

Very little is known about Shen-Mo the evil Head of the Clan. It is believed that he was born in Japan and is a master of Japanese sword and ninja skills. He has immense fighting skills. Moreover, four of the strongest guards of the clan always escort him. So anyone wanting to bring him to justice (and get their hands on his treasure) would need to be in a very strong group indeed.

Finally there is the Clan of Death Valley. Shuang-Mian secluded himself in Death Valley and killed any members of the White Clans who dared enter the valley. His brutality and hatred against the White Clans caused the valley to become an evil place indeed. Blind madmen, drunken swordsmen and dungeon guardians protect the valley.

Blind madmen look frail and weak, but if approached by a member of a white clan they can turn into crazed fighting machines with no sense of their own danger.

Drunken swordsmen are one-armed sword masters who wander the valley. What they drink is not liquor but poison and drugs. They may stagger from intoxication, but their sword skill is still fierce enough to kill even skilled players.

Dungeon guardians are believed to protect the ruler of Death Valley. They were once masters of fighting skills and became even more powerful in death. They play their role of protecting Shuang-Mian inside his dungeon or patrolling Death Valley to kill anyone who comes near to their master.

Finally there is Shuang-Mian himself. He is the ruler of the Northern Death Valley. He was once a Gai-Pan master but disappeared during the War of 9Dragons. No one knows why he reappeared as the hideous demon he is now. He rules from a deep dungeon surrounded by poisonous traps numerous guardsmen. Only the bravest would seek to find him.

By Ken Johnston