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A Tale Of Two Bestiaries: Looking At The Fiend Folio And Creature Catalog In POD
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<blockquote data-quote="Lancelot" data-source="post: 7748012" data-attributes="member: 30022"><p>Interestingly, the Fiend Folio was heavily criticized in Dragon Magazine when it first came out. Two reviews were published, both negative. The first was <strong>Ed Greenwood's</strong> (!), who described the book as "irritating" and "disappointing". </p><p></p><p>Among his specific criticisms were: not enough info provided on ecology and origin (which is a harsh call, IMO, given how little is also available in the 1e Monster Manual), too many things left unexplained, some of the monster names are grating (like Caryatid Column), too many new races (Ed felt that creatures like the Forlarren would find a comfortable place in D&D, while others like the Bullywug were merely adequate, and the Xvart was completely needless), and a host of nit-pickings (Death Dogs are unnecessary given the Hell Hound already exists; why Oriental Dragons, when a perfectly good set of neutral dragons were created in Dragon #37?; etc).</p><p></p><p>The other review was from <strong>Alan Zumwalt</strong>, who heavily criticized the Oriental Dragons. His issues were that nobody would use names like Li Lung instead of the easier-to-remember Earth Dragon, the dragons didn't fit with the Euro-centric nature of most D&D campaigns (and, hence, more "European" neutral dragons should have been used instead), and the Oriental Dragons lacked a leader like Bahamut or Tiamat. He also criticized the lack of Elemental Princes of Good, the presence of sub-races of existing creatures (like Lamia Nobles and Lizard Kings), and that many creatures from the official D&D modules weren't included (most would later appear in MM2). Overall, he described himself as "semi-satisfied".</p><p></p><p>[For my part, I thoroughly enjoy the Fiend Folio... terrific artwork, imaginative creature design, and some invaluable contributions to D&D lore]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lancelot, post: 7748012, member: 30022"] Interestingly, the Fiend Folio was heavily criticized in Dragon Magazine when it first came out. Two reviews were published, both negative. The first was [B]Ed Greenwood's[/B] (!), who described the book as "irritating" and "disappointing". Among his specific criticisms were: not enough info provided on ecology and origin (which is a harsh call, IMO, given how little is also available in the 1e Monster Manual), too many things left unexplained, some of the monster names are grating (like Caryatid Column), too many new races (Ed felt that creatures like the Forlarren would find a comfortable place in D&D, while others like the Bullywug were merely adequate, and the Xvart was completely needless), and a host of nit-pickings (Death Dogs are unnecessary given the Hell Hound already exists; why Oriental Dragons, when a perfectly good set of neutral dragons were created in Dragon #37?; etc). The other review was from [B]Alan Zumwalt[/B], who heavily criticized the Oriental Dragons. His issues were that nobody would use names like Li Lung instead of the easier-to-remember Earth Dragon, the dragons didn't fit with the Euro-centric nature of most D&D campaigns (and, hence, more "European" neutral dragons should have been used instead), and the Oriental Dragons lacked a leader like Bahamut or Tiamat. He also criticized the lack of Elemental Princes of Good, the presence of sub-races of existing creatures (like Lamia Nobles and Lizard Kings), and that many creatures from the official D&D modules weren't included (most would later appear in MM2). Overall, he described himself as "semi-satisfied". [For my part, I thoroughly enjoy the Fiend Folio... terrific artwork, imaginative creature design, and some invaluable contributions to D&D lore] [/QUOTE]
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