d30 Challenge Day 23

This is my 23rd entry in the d30 Challenge, which is a bastardization of an idea I first saw on Mark "CMG" Clover's feed. Now I'm a sucker for these things and I know some folks aren't so while I'm committed to answering one question about my favorite hobby each day, and putting together a d30 table before the end of the month, I know not everyone is so interested. I'll put the question & answer after the break, posting late in the day, and not promoting this on G+ so those who don't like this kind of thing should be exposed only minimally.

I think this is the best I can do....
Day 23's question is "Least Favorite Monster Overall".

HM4 Gummy Fiend

For me this isn't a singular monster, but a class of monsters: the "joke" monster.

Ugh....spare me the monster that only exists to bring levity to the game. I get more than enough joking around from the players...there is no need to add comedy to the game, like the inclusion of the Gummy Fiend (pictured right) in HackMaster 4th Edition.

This singular monster caused a LOT of grief for people who loved playing HackMaster because it was so derided by people who thought the whole game was a joke. Those same people bitched and moaned about the eight volumes of the Hacklopedia of Beasts, but more often then not they were subscribed to WotC's "book-of-the-month club".

Now I get it.....the license for HackMaster required a certain level of parody and the overwhelming majority of those who played the game regularly discarded the majority of it. I can only remember fighting one of these joke creatures, the Death Rabbit (I don't remember it's name) from Monty Python & the Holy Grail. That creature may have been a joke, but it was lethal as hell and the only thing saving my PC was a special reactive spell.

If you look closely enough you can usually find a joke monster or three in most game systems. Some systems have a bit of silliness about them and it works, but more often then not it doesn't.