Just when you thought your Hacklopedia of Beasts collection was complete, Kenzer comes back with a ninth volume, filled with options for your critters and a butt load of tables. And I do mean a BUTT LOAD of tables. Over a hundred pages of this 144-page book are taken up by tables. That’s enough tables to make a Rolemaster player drool.
Physically, the book is identical to the previous eight volumes. It has a color cover and black and white interior. Layout is simple and there is little wasted space. The cover painting depicts the final fate of the hapless Halfling torch bearer that survived the previous eight volumes. Interior illustrations are pretty sparse (as you might expect with so many pages taken up with tables), but I particularly liked the full-page scene of mayhem on page seventeen.
The actual rules section of the book takes up only 32 pages. The best part, in my opinion, is the guidelines for creating variant monsters. A critter can vary by size, demeanor, body, color, element/climate, supernatural, markings and age. Most variants are divided into a number of subcategories. For instance, under the demeanor heading, you will find dire, feral and howling variations (among others). These subcategories work somewhat like templates and change or add to the creature’s attributes in some way. For instance, a vengeful variant gets the following advantages when it becomes enraged:
- +2 to attack rolls
- +1 to each die of damage
- +1 on all saving rolls
- Fanatic morale (20)
- Immune to fatigue
- +4 on saves against trauma damage (TOP)
You can determine variations randomly by rolling on a series of tables or just assign whatever combination your devious mind comes up with. The system is easy to use and, as you might expect, can even be a little silly. That bandy-tailed, club-footed owlbear might not strike the kind of fear into your players that you would hope…
The remainder of the rules section explains some commonly misunderstood monster topics like threshold of pain, fatigue factor and critical hit base severity level. It also includes a discussion of determining hack factor and experience points for special monsters.
The rest of the book is taken by tables. Here is a list:
Fatigue Factor/TOP
Crit BSL (for all eight volumes of the HoB)
HackFactor/EP Ratio and Edibility
Monster Fumbles (no weapons)
Critical Hit Location and Effect: BITE ATTACKS
Monster List – HackFactor and Frequency
Random Encounter Tables – Glacier: Day
Random Encounter Tables – Marsh, Salt: Day
Random Encounter Tables – Ocean, Open: Day
Random Encounter Tables – Ocean, Coastal: Day
Random Encounter Tables – Lake, Fresh Water: Day
Random Encounter Tables – Lake, Salt Water: Day
Random Encounter Tables – Aerial: Day
Hacklopedia of Beasts: Stats Overview
Some of the tables I really appreciated like the new encounter tables and the critical hit/fumble tables. Others, like the Crit BSL table and the HackFactor/EP Ratio and Edibility tables are much less useful to me. Gamers that own a 1st Edition DMG will recognize the Hacklopedia of Beasts: Stats Overview table as being virtually identical to the table found in the index of that hallowed tome.
I like the Monster Matrix, but it’s not exactly the best bang for the buck. It would have been nice of Kenzer to have released at least some of tables as free downloadable PDFs and then included the rules for monster variations in another product. As it is, I feel at least a little irritated at paying twenty bucks for what amounts to a book full of tables. Of course, I have bought my share of Rolemaster books in the past and so I guess I really shouldn’t complain. So, if you are looking to jazz up some of your monsters or just complete your collection of HoBs, you should definitely pick up the Monster Matrix. If you are a more casual fan, however, you should probably flip through it before you put down your cash.
