Planned 'Dungeons & Dragons' Anthology Focuses on Classic Female Creatures

A new anthology plans to focus on the classic female monsters found in Dungeons & Dragons.

Experienced D&D module writer Ashley Warren has put out a call seeking writers to submit to her upcoming Uncaged anthology. The new anthology will collect several adventure modules for Dungeons & Dragons, each of which centers around a different classic female mythological creature. Warren noted that the one-shot modules will likely include hags, witches, succubi, sirens, medusas and more, and she encouraged pitches focused on monsters that come from non-Western cultures.

One of the underlying goals of the upcoming anthology seems to be repurposing these monsters and moving them away from their misogynist origins. The upcoming anthology is seeking submissions that take a "unique, feminist approach to classic archetypes" that reinvents some of the underlying lore that surrounds the creature.

This doesn't mean that the monsters will necessarily be good or sympathetic - just that their motivations won't necessarily be crafted from a male perspective. For example, sirens and succubi both represent the dangerous allure of women to men, while most versions of the Medusa myth features Medusa being punished for being violated by the god Poseidon.

Warren plans to release the Uncaged anthology in early 2019 on DMs Guild, a Dungeons & Dragons owned website that allows creators to use official D&D IP in their self-published modules and adventures.

Submissions are currently open, with priority given to female and non-binary writers. The plan is for each one-shot adventure to run about 3,500-5,000 words, with the level of the adventure directly tied to the challenge rating of the featured monster.

If you're looking to get your tabletop RPG work published, you should consider submitted a pitch to Uncaged by the end of September. Additional details about pitching can be found on Warren's website. This sounds like an exciting D&D project and we can't wait to see the completed product early next year!