Creature Collection

updated on 22-NOV-02

A fun collection of creatures. In fact, most of them are a lot of fun. The big problem with them, however, is that they are far, far from accurate, as far as adherence to the rules is concerned (some creatures have more or less skill points, feats or what have you; many have stats they should not have, such as undead with a CON score; the challenge ratings are just plain wrong, however there is online errata available for this) -- but I am prepared to give the book some slack here, seeing as how it was released before the Monster Manual was.

The layout is easy to read and very easy to follow (one creature per page, creatures always start at the top of a page, etc). In this fact, this book is far superior to the Monster Manual. It is lighter in content than the MM -- but I find myself using it more than the MM these days. Very good -- worth every penny. I love this book.

However, considering the poor editing of the book, and the relative quality that one has to compare this book to, I have to say that the book rates only average (to slightly above). I dearly hope that they produce a second, better edited version so that I can revise this review once again.

Creature Collection is a source of information about a world few people may hear about. As it was the first book published by S&SS, people were interested and then when the MM came out, people found it flawed. Even so, rereading through it, I again find what I initially enjoyed. A world unlike the one I've seen published by WoTC. A world where monsters created by both gods and beings older than they.

I think thought I have to at least list a couple stand outs that people might enjoy, so as I can show, that while stat wise, they are flawed, they have, in terms of actual character, they are remarkable

1. Hags. Unlike your traditional ugly women, there is a reason. Hags are powerful creatures, women that for some reason, grow very attached to the earth. This also comes from their deep belief in the power of their teacher and mother, Mormo, a dark and hungry thing of snakes, magic, and woodlands. (She's actually a Titan, an outsider that was cast out by the Gods in their war against the Titans) However in doing so it removes their humanity, their compassion for other life in favor of control it. My personal favorite is Cavern hags, as they have no eyes but sharp noses and tactile senses.

2. Gorgans. Again, going against the grain, they were creations of Mormo. Some can appear human, the high ones at any rate. The lower ones, reminsce of ugly snake like things. Truly they are to be fear.

3. Slacerians. Followers of neither gods nor Titans, they were an ancient race that may have died out. Much that is know is through sheer speculation and encounters with creatures such as Slarecrian ghouls, who CANNOT be turned. They defy understand and often seem demonic. Whether they are not is another matter.

4. Finally, the Mithril Golem, symbol of the strength of the Paladins there, followers of the God Corean. Probably larger than a tarreque, this cossoll construct makes itself a part of the city, and provides strength for the those followers of the Shining One, Corean. Without a doubt, the most intimidating thing one could ever hope to see.


I hope that gives you people some idea of why I like this book, flawed though it may be.

Okay, so I bought this book when it first came out. I thought the cover was cleverly done, somewhat matching the D&D core book covers, and the yeti fur look was cute. Quickly thumbing through the inside I saw a bunch of monster entries each sporting art and stats--I figured it would be useful, and ponied up my twenty-five bucks.

The book sat on my shelf until yesterday, when I decided to look through it for new and exciting monsters. Well, at least I supported my local gamestore when I bought this book.

The creatures in this book seem to be either medium-sized, very very large, or--get this twist--very very small. It also seems that any given monster will (a) always attack you as soon as it sees you, (b) never attack you because it cleverly has a raft of others willing to attack you on its behalf, or, for an amazing amount of these scary and dangerous creatures, it (c) is unwilling to ever attack anyone unless backed into a corner, which is most unlikely to happen, seeing as it probably ran away long before you got near.

Most of the creatures in this book are tightly entwined with the Swords and Sorcery setting, which would be a great idea if they then inspired one to purchase the rest of the books. They don't.

As for the art, well, let's dwell on the positive: There are several pieces in here by Ron Spencer, whose style is consistent and evocative. And not all of the remaining pieces look like they were drawn on a napkin.

I don't forsee using these critters in my campaign. The Creature Collection is now snugly nestled on my shelf next to both unused books of the single-book Synnibarr system, right where it belongs. If you haven't bought this book, take a much harder look at it than I first did before you plunk down your cash. And if you have already bought it, well, thanks for supporting your local game store.

Well, well, where to begin? I've got to say that I was very disappointed when I read this book. But some things are nevertheless useful...

The pros :
- New monsters! My players have played AD&D for a long time. Before the 3rd Edition, they new the stats of nearly every monster of the game. And even if the stats aren't the same under this new set of rules, the conversion is quite logical (no red dragon who breathe ice that might surprise them!), and they thus still know the qualities and weaknesses of nearly every monster.
- White Wolf! You may like it or not, but White Wolf has a style completely different from Wizards, and I love it. You can see these monsters are different from the ones in the Monster Manual. However (a little con sneaking up here), the differences may cause problems to some DM who'd have difficulties using these monsters in their own campaign, but I believe that minor changes could handle the problem.
- Harcover! It might seem strange, but that's not to be underestimated. A monster manual must be sturdy. And a softcover is quite the opposite...

The cons :
- Art! Yes, some of it is good. But I came to wonder if they ever found those paintings I made while I was 2 years old. Look page 36 and page 62, you'll know what I mean. Furthermore, some of the art is good, but I think it would have fit a product like the other White Wolf products : dark. Look at the book! The cover is even white...
- Types of monsters! There seems to have been a lack of imagination during the creation of most monsters. I think I know what scarred the land : a nuclear bomb! The monsters are just hideous evolution of animals... I won't count all of them, but there is an incredible number of monsters who are just an animal a bit more hideous than normal, with some characteristics that make them monsters and, voila!, you've got a new monster!
- Rules! It seems that some monsters aren't really in the rules, too many skillpoints here, too many feats there... It doesn't matter much for the monster in itself, but it matters when the time comes to give it a CR...
- Gods! You've got the gods of the land at the end of the book. I'm still trying to figure why the gods are included in a monster collection. I suppose there is a monster description I haven't read yet that talks about the gods. Yet, I believe that's not where they should be. It looks like they had two more pages to fill and thus gave us some preview of what will be included in the setting...

Conclusion :
- That's not the best book ever, but it might prove useful to people (like me) who want to have some new monster to bring in some diversification in their campaign. Some people say that anyone can create his own monsters, I tend to disagree. I already spend an insane amount of time just writing adventures, I don't want to have to spend some more creating monsters... If you like having your work done for you, this book will prove useful!
- If you plan to play in the Scarred Lands setting, I won't surprise you if I tell you that this book is for you!

I guess having taste for good prose, even at the expense of the game stats makes me partial to SSS products.

Most people seem to be disappointed by this book. I find it (with its newly released companion volume) to be the best creatures encyclopedia so far. Necessary comparison is of course with Monster Manual and in this one, in my opinion at least it blows the competition out of the water.

First of all, the formatting is that of old and cherished monster manuals with one creature per page with statistics in upper right corner. I guess lines are already drown on this issue but for me the ease of use gained with this format is well worth the price.
Secondly, art, although black and white, or maybe just because it is black and white, has much more atmosphere then that of the monster manual. With the few blundering exceptions it conjures the images of dark and scary creatures and not the action figure templates like so many monster manual pictures.

Most importantly, monsters themselves are far from cartoony silliness that has grown to be a trade mark of Dungeons and Dragons game over the years (Flumph anyone ? or Attach or Digester or many many more creatures that make players mirthful rather then afraid). Hags, some of the best monsters in the book are a wholly new concept, human-turned-monster with interesting and somewhat unpredictable abilities; they alone can be a campaign engine for a good long time. Similar holds for Unhallowed, Gorgons and several others. Even the less interesting ones like Morgaunts and Chardun Slain have much more character then their MM counterparts. I am also particularly partial to CC Dragons, scary misshapen creatures, denizens of the periphery of dragon-kind. Sort of beings much like to what I imagined Grendel to be.

I am not a big fan of the monster encyclopedias as they can never do full justice to any of their entries ("Slayer's Guide to Hags" would be something I would like to see though...). However, as much as any book can do a decent job of presenting a mass of new monsters at the one this one does that. In addition it is a good read and even for those who do not use Scared Lands setting (like me) all the campaign related info can still be a valuable inspiration for the role of the monster in their campaign - definitely more so then the shallow ecology info in the MM.

This is an above average alternative to the Core "Monster Manual", which I actually like much better than that particular core rulebook.

Yes, the interior art is only b/w and some of it sucks major (some is extremly good, too, just for honesty's sake) - but lets face it, so does some of the full colour art in the MM. ( and especially in the MMF. ) And I can do rather well without the full colour pieces. Must be because when I started RPGs, everything was b/w and most art was lousy or worse...

As for the 1 page = 1 monster layout, it keeps things organized and avoids the crowded look of the MM . So, no quibbles there.

The monsters themselves are pretty nice, each coming with sample background and history ( fitting for the Scarred Lands setting - replace/rewrite if you do not like it) and usually with some cute adventure seeds included. And as most are deliberate twists of old favourites (the Hags in particular beat the MM's hags hands down with regard to coolness, background and adaptability. So do the Slithereen/Wererats... ), this helps a GM find some new and unexpected uses for the critters. Personally, I could have done well without the "PC"-races treatment in a Monster handbook ( such as Elves, Dwarves etc. ), but, oh well, WoC does it this way, too.
Also, a large number of the critters are variations of "everyday" animals/beasts, giving them a strange touch in the "wellknown, yet surprising" vein, or new versions of "classic" critters ( like harpies, manticoras, gorgons (much better !), wererats, some weird dragons, a nice zombie variant....) and some nice antagonists which are, let's say, rather "indirect" in their effect on PCs ( such as the Unhallowed, and the Slarecians. Not to mention the Strife Elemental). Sadly these innovative creations are slightly marred by the botched CRs (some times murderously so... e.g. the High Gorgon, stated as CR5, errataed later to a hefty "9") and the lack of the basic "monster rules"/classification from the core MM. Also, some skill-totals and stats do not add up according to standard rules, but again, this is nothing that deters a reasonably creative GM all that much. These errors detract little from the inspirational value of the Book, rather being petty annoyances and minor quibbles for the rule purists.

As a resume - while the MM is the reliable (and slightly bland, as there is hardly anything innovative or suprising in it these days) backbone of D20s fantasy's menagerie, the CC is a refreshing wellhead of strange and innovative creatures, which shines at its brightest in the Scarred Lands setting, but can easily be adapted to other worlds/planes. Its IMHO the ideal book to spice up the "wildlife" in any world, shake up one's overconfident players, and helping out a GM with some nice adventure seeds in the bargain. Heavily recommended, except for the some art, and some ( erratad ) errors in the CRs and writeups.

4/5

As I continue my quest to review my older products (until I've got mostly all my stuff reviewed hopefully, even if by that point most of my reviews are too late to really make much difference) I finally come to one of my relatively early major purchases, Sword & Sorcery Studios' much-maligned Creature Collection. I was initially quite impressed, especially thinking that getting this released before the Monster Manual was quite the coup. However, getting it released so early cost the book in some ways, and it really shows that it was a bit of a rush job.

The book itself is similar in size to the Monster Manual coming in at 222 pages. It features the "old fashioned" format of one monster per page (or even more space) rather than cramming monsters in, which makes it a tad easier to use as a reference (although I never really had a problem with the MM layout too much.) It's black and white, though, and like Wizards of the Coast's own productions, uses several freelancers throughout, so the art is hit or miss.

In fact, that's probably my biggest complaint with the book. A monster book, more than any other, really depends on its art to bring the monsters to life. There are some wonderful artists in the Creature Collection, like Ron Spencer and Jeff Rebner, who's work I admired in the Werewolf: the Apocalypse game. Spencer does, for example, the Ratmen, the Paragon Crocodile, the Gorgon's and others, while Rebner does the wrack dragons, the hags and others. Most of the rest of the art is rather servicable rather than wonderful, although I'm sad to say that some of it is downright awful. Guy Davis, who did the Abadon Battle-dog, the Sandmasker, the silver golem, etc., for example, not only has a real ugly, sketchy style, but he apparently didn't feel it was important to read the creature descriptions. Another guy who I can't identify to save my life did, among other things, the Carnival Krewe, and his artwork, while not really bad, doesn't work well, because it's apparently drawn with a no. #6 pencil. The faded drawings are barely visible in print, and they also have this anime look to them, which I didn't really find appropriate for the setting. Another artist, who I also can't identify, did such things as the drowned lady, the butcher spirit and some others, and looks more like impressionist inkblots, or really lucky Rorschach tests that happen to vaguely resemble their subject.

The monsters themselves mostly feel a bit "different" from the standard Monster Manual type monsters. Nothing so prosaic as an orc, or a red dragon in here! Some really interesting ideas pop up, like the alley reaper -- a head-hunting undead, the bat devil as a servicable yet different flying PC-friendly race, the bottle-imp, a little bugger that I love to trap PCs with, the fatling, a completely repugnant aberration, lots of new golems, lots of new hags, the marrow knight, a kind of skeletal centaur creature, the narleth -- a great collection to your humanoid spider-ish creature repertoire, the ratman which deserve (and got) a book of their own because they're so cool and more. A number of other creatures are less stand-outish, mostly because they aren't quite as unique, or their uniqueness is just too strange to make them useful in a wider variety of non-Scarred Lands campaigns. And some of the ideas are just plain silly, I think, the Carnival Krewe being the most notorious example. Sure, everyone is afraid of clowns these days, but do we really need an entire court of strange, clown-like creatures, complete with their own kingdom and everything?

All of the creatures come with good descriptions, including how it fits into the campaign setting the book is designed for (the Scarred Lands, if you haven't guessed by now) which does, at least, also give some indirect hints as to how you can use the creatures yourself. And other than the creatures themselves, there is a little bit of information about the setting, including who the gods are, and who some of the titans are (were?)

In all, it's hard for me to give the book a higher score than a 3. It certainly had moments of brilliance, both in concepts and in art, although it also had some concepts that were pretty goofy, and many more that were not standouts from either a positive or negative sense. The art was even more spotty -- great when it was good, dismal when it was bad, and mediocre most of the time.

By Morgan Grover, Exec. Director d20 Magazine Rack

Sizing Up the Target
Creature Collection is a core rulebook for the Scarred Lands campaign setting. Published by White Wolf under the Sword & Sorcery imprint, this 222-page collection of monsters retails for $24.95.

First Blood
This book looks to be pretty solid, with many new creatures to use in a campaign. Although all of the creatures are a bit more tailored to the Scarred Lands campaign setting, they are still fairly easy to adapt to any other ongoing game with a fairly small amount of work. The artwork is okay, some of it great, other sections looking rather sloppy, but in all not too bad. It starts of with a simple introduction into the campaign setting then continues through with 200+ pages of new creatures. The book ends with a simple appendix detailing the gods of the Scarred Lands with a basic description.

Critical Hits
Many, many creatures! This book has a ton of new and original creatures to throw into a campaign, most with a fairly easy task of integrating them. Many of the creatures have a good horror / grim & gritty type feel to them, and portray the Scarred Lands setting perfectly. Creatures range from the Coal Goblins with a CR of 1/4, all the way up to the mighty Mithral Golem with a CR of 18! A good majority of them range in the 1/4 - 7 range however, so work very nicely for a good chunk of the campaign as they are described.

Critical Misses
An index by CR. This has become something that really is truly helpful. Instead of flipping from page to page to find an interesting CR3 creature I could always flip to the back, look through the name, find one that fits, and go to that page. Not in this case. You either need to know the name of the creature before hand, or flip from page to page. Can be a drag sometimes. There are also no templates, something I have come to enjoy in most creature based books. This is not really that bad, or big of a deal, although a few of them would have been interesting as a template, instead of a creature, such as the Unhallowed creatures.

Coup de Grace
Overall this is a pretty good book, and adds a lot to a campaign. Creatures of all types and sizes are abundant, even a few demigods / avatars. If you are a GM who loves throwing all sorts of fun creatures at your party, then this one should keep you occupied for months.

To see the graded evaluation of this product and to leave comments for the reviewer to respond to, go to Fast Tracks at www.d20zines.com.