It doesn't take a Dungeons & Dragons nerd to know that the pen and paper RPG is full of a wide range of exciting creatures and monsters. Most know what a goblin or dragon is, for example, while mind flayers, beholders, and kobolds probably require a bit more Dungeons & Dragons experience. What's rare is the introduction of a new monster to the Dungeons & Dragons mythos, especially one that's surprisingly familiar across pop culture already.

From time to time Dungeons & Dragons releases a new campaign sourcebook, which not only provides a new campaign for pen and paper fans to play but also expands the fantasy universe in certain ways. Next week is the release of the Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft sourcebook, with a focus on horror and mystery in Dungeons & Dragons. One of the new additions in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft is a hauntingly familiar new monster by the name of the Bagman.

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At first, the Bagman looks like it may be some kind of riff on a mimic. That's because players encountering a Bagman will first find what appears to be a simple bag. It could be a sack, a pouch, a catch, or similar. But whereas the mimic would be the bag itself, the Bagman hides within. The Bagman is a lanky, gaunt, and flexible monster that crawls out of bags regardless of their size. The Bagman is the Slender Man, only it lives in backpacks.

While the Bagman is said to be inspired by the modern urban legend of Slender Man, a tall, lanky monster that appears in films various corners of the internet, the Dungeons & Dragons version has its own frightening backstory. The legend is that an adventurer climbed into a bag of holding and was trapped in the mysterious space within. The magics of the bag of holding, over time, transformed the adventurer into a Bagman monster. The Bagman will sometimes emerge to pull someone or something into the bag with them.

The Bagman is just one of many new monster entries in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, of course. Carrionettes, gremishka, vampiric mind flayers, as well as new types of goblins and zombies have also been teased. 40 pages total have been dedicated to new horrific Dungeons & Dragons monsters in the new sourcebook, so there should be something for every adventurer to fear.

The Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft campaign sourcebook will officially release on May 18, so it's just a few days away. It's 256 pages long, features new monsters, subclasses like the College of Spirits Bard, race choices, NPCs, the Domains of Dread, and an adventure named The House of Lament. For Dungeons & Dragons fans, it's not a book to miss.

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Source: Polygon