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D&D’s Mimic monsters take centre stage in RPG supplement

Get it off your chest.

Find new ways to implement a classic monster from Dungeons & Dragons with Mimics, An Unnecessary Work.

A supplement designed to be used with fantasy roleplaying games such as D&D 5E, Mimics, An Unnecessary Work features a collection of ideas to help dungeon masters and games masters to add the deceptive monsters into their RPG campaigns and one-shots. Rather than just having the classic creature occupy a room in a dungeon, awaiting some poor hapless adventuring party to stumble across it, Mimics, An Unnecessary Work introduces some more creative methods of utilising the iconic monster.

One of these methods is by enabling mimics to use spells and magical abilities, changing up the monster’s usual biting moveset by adding the use of 13 different incantations that it can use against its enemies. Another section of the roleplaying game supplement includes new ideas for what a mimic can imitate or pretend to be. The most recognisable form of mimic is one that disguises itself as a chest, tempting greedy adventures to open up its lid to discover a nasty surprise. However, DMs and GMs are able to mix things up using a 4d6 and 3d6 table that features a variety of other disguises.

Mimics, an Unnecessary Work sheet 3

On the other side of the Mimics, An Unnecessary Work, readers can find a collection of potential encounters featuring the duplicitous creature called ‘what is that rascally mimic up to now?’. Using a d20, DMs and GMs can find ideas for how players can discover a mimic and what exactly happens when they have the misfortune to. Also on this side of the supplement is a ready-made dungeon featuring the lair of a mimic that can be used to run a straightforward one-shot.

Another supplement available alongside Mimics, An Unnecessary Work, called Jiggles & Wiggles, focuses on the iconic Dungeons & Dragons monster the gelatinous cube. Featuring several sections including ‘what is that damn sliggly cube doing?’ and ‘what’s inside this jiggly cube?’, the Jiggles & Wiggles functions similarly to Mimics, An Unnecessary Work, but for the gelatinous cube.

Cover image for YouTube video

Mimics, An Unnecessary Work and Jiggles & Wiggles were both created by Philip Reed, a game designer whose previous releases include a tabletop title inspired by shooter video games, called Frag, and Mars Attacks: The Dice Game, a movie board game based on the Tim Burton 1996 film.

The Kickstarter campaign for Mimics, An Unnecessary Work is live until January 27th, with a pledge of $2 (£2) getting backers a PDF of the supplement in May.

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About the Author
Alex Meehan avatar

Alex Meehan

Senior Staff Writer

After writing for Kotaku UK, Waypoint and Official Xbox Magazine, Alex became a member of the Dicebreaker editorial family. Having been producing news, features, previews and opinion pieces for Dicebreaker for the past three years, Alex has had plenty of opportunity to indulge in her love of meaty strategy board games and gothic RPGS. Besides writing, Alex appears in Dicebreaker’s D&D actual play series Storybreakers and haunts the occasional stream on the Dicebreaker YouTube channel.

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