A MONSTER Tome

[HellHound]

One massive tome of monsters would be an easy sell to me. Even iff it included MM1 in addition to MM2, FF, and so on...

In fact, MM1, MM2, FF, MM3 together... throw in a pile more templates (so, for example, throw in material on the level of the most EXCELLENT Advanced Bestiary from Green Ronin), and it would be a tome worth fearing indeed. I'd buy it even with all that duplicate content.

A book that big, will frighten players. If not of the contents, then of the damage dealt when used for thwacking about the head.

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As a footnote, I never could stand the binder format. The idea was good in that you could easily add more monsters to your binder with only a few new ones in each product, but the end result was a lot of loose pages floating about.

 

[SpiralBound]

Hello? WOTC? Notice this thread!!! Here we have a golden publishing opportunity: Take previously published material, re-edit it to fix known errata and update it all to 3.5, and presto instant sales! Any questions?

 

[der_kluge]

Only if they put in new art of the Vampire. Egads, that thing is hideous. Hideous as in, whoever drew that thing should be shot in the head.

That would be a huge tome. If they were to do that, I'd prefer that they take out all the stupid, useless monsters that never get used. I'm looking at you, Destrachan, and Athach.

 

[The_Universe]

What if they did the "binder thing" like they tried back with AD&D some years back.

I'd buy that thing in a second (or, in the second that I had 75 bucks). I'd love to get all the WotC monsters in one book!

Please though...no binders. I can make a binder on my own time. I want a book, dangit!

At 100, I'd have to think a lot harder about using it (which is the same reason I don't have the World's Largest Dungeon).

 

[Desdichado]

What, the new Wayne Reynolds vampire? They're OK. The old Tom Baxa artwork, though... yikes, that's bad.

 

[A'koss]

In another thread I was thinking how I might design a monster book...

I agree that the previous binder paged MMs did not hold up. However, I think it is a good idea if done with a little more care. If you made the pages so that they had sturdy snap-in 3-ring spines (so you don't actually have to open the binder to get the pages out) and lightly laminated pages - I think you'll have the ideal MM. One side would have the monster illustration to show the players and the stat block on the back.

You could then bundle loose Monster Pages with Dragon, Dungeon, various Adventures...

 

[The_Universe]

I (for one) prefer WAR to Baxa on any day of the week (and even on days that have escaped the normal continuum). While the spiked chain vampire is hardly traditional, it beats the heck out of the weirdo in clown makeup that was its predecessor.

 

[Gez]

Number of pages this would require:

Full monster books:
Monster Manual 1: 320
Monster Manual 2: 224
Monster Manual 3: 224
Fiend Folio: 224
Monsters of Faerûn: 96
Savage Species: 224

Other books with monsters:

Player's Options
Complete Warrior: 3
Complete Arcane: 12
Races of Stone: 6
Planar Handbook: 27
Arms & Equipment Guide: 1
Miniatures Handbook: 28

Setting Options
Frostburn: 55
Oriental Adventures: 55
Deities & Demigods: 5
Manual of the Planes: 42
Book of Vile Darkness: 18
Book of Exalted Deeds: 34
Expanded Psionics Handbook: 34
Epic Level Handbook: 76
Draconomicon: 54
Libris Mortis: 34

Forgotten Realms Line
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting: 8
Magic of Faerûn: 9
Faiths & Pantheons: 1
The Silver Marches: 5
The Shining South: 14
Serpent Kingdoms: 30
Underdark: 21
Unapproachable East: 23

Eberron line
Eberron Campaign Setting: 27
Sharn, City of Tower: 8

Miscellaneous Settings
Ghostwalk: 20
Dragonlance Campaign Setting: 22

That's nearly 2000 pages. Granted, you can probably reduce it by 25--33% because of the repeated stuff (like glossaries, reprinted critters, etc.) and by cutting stuff they would probably not reprint (like the Shadowland Oni in Oriental Adventures). Even with a smaller font, and smaller illos (for shame!) you would still have at least 1000 pages.

So, to be more manageable, you would have to use a larger format than the standard for D&D books. Like one of those huge book you see in fantasy stuff, half as high as its reader, that is chained on its lectern...

 

[Voadam]

I would prefer it as a cheap pdf then a huge physical book.

Bring back the cheap ESD program!

 

[DonaldRumsfeldsTofu]

That is exactly the kind of product I would love WOTC to produce.