SkeletonKey Ed
Explorer
Animal Archives Vol 1
The Earth has a history of interesting critters. Sure from mythology we get some monsters, but at times it seems the most interesting are the ones that actually lived. Some of the more well known dinosaurs have been written up but for the most part creatures that appear in monster books are the creations of someone imagination. Animal Archives presents a few creatures from prehistoric Earth so hopefully it will help create a trend.
Animal Archive is a new book by Skeletonkey Games. They have mostly done e-tiles and other terrain oriented products. This product is only twelve pages long and it has a good amount of information in it but it would have been nice to be a bit longer. The PDF comes in a zip file around a meg and a half and the PDF itself is under two megs in size. There is only one version of the book. The cover has color in it but the rest is black and white. There are pictures of each creatures and top and bottom borders so it can eat a little bit of ink. The PDF is also not book marked a feature I like to see on any PDF.
Each of the nine creatures is illustrated and next to the illustration is the picture of a person to show size. The art is really well done and the comparison with a person is a great touch. The creatures vary in challenge ratings from one sixth to seven. Below are the creatures. I’m going to use the common names though the scientific names are also given.
Bear, Short Faced: This is a longer legged bear that is swift and aggressive.
Bird, Green River Wader: It seems to be a cross between a duck and a swan. It can be used as a familiar and is also a valuable bird.
Bull Swine: This is a very large boar. It might be a little strong for its challenge rating of three.
Camel, Long Necked: This camel is given the DCs for handle animal and actually has alternative dame listed for when it does become trained.
Creodont Gnaw Fang: These are wild canines.
Elephant Shovel Tusker: This elephant has tusks that are side by side and resemble shovels.
Fish Giant Armored: This is a very large predator fish.
Rhinoceros Thunder Beast: This is the largest Rhino to ever live and its horn is shaped like a “Y”.
Tree Scamper: These look like large chipmunks almost two feet in size. It can also be used as a familiar.
Most of the creatures have DCs for being trained and raised listed. This is a great detail for these animals.
Overall, it is a nice collection of some creatures that all lived in the same area though the book does not say in which prehistoric age they did live.
The Earth has a history of interesting critters. Sure from mythology we get some monsters, but at times it seems the most interesting are the ones that actually lived. Some of the more well known dinosaurs have been written up but for the most part creatures that appear in monster books are the creations of someone imagination. Animal Archives presents a few creatures from prehistoric Earth so hopefully it will help create a trend.
Animal Archive is a new book by Skeletonkey Games. They have mostly done e-tiles and other terrain oriented products. This product is only twelve pages long and it has a good amount of information in it but it would have been nice to be a bit longer. The PDF comes in a zip file around a meg and a half and the PDF itself is under two megs in size. There is only one version of the book. The cover has color in it but the rest is black and white. There are pictures of each creatures and top and bottom borders so it can eat a little bit of ink. The PDF is also not book marked a feature I like to see on any PDF.
Each of the nine creatures is illustrated and next to the illustration is the picture of a person to show size. The art is really well done and the comparison with a person is a great touch. The creatures vary in challenge ratings from one sixth to seven. Below are the creatures. I’m going to use the common names though the scientific names are also given.
Bear, Short Faced: This is a longer legged bear that is swift and aggressive.
Bird, Green River Wader: It seems to be a cross between a duck and a swan. It can be used as a familiar and is also a valuable bird.
Bull Swine: This is a very large boar. It might be a little strong for its challenge rating of three.
Camel, Long Necked: This camel is given the DCs for handle animal and actually has alternative dame listed for when it does become trained.
Creodont Gnaw Fang: These are wild canines.
Elephant Shovel Tusker: This elephant has tusks that are side by side and resemble shovels.
Fish Giant Armored: This is a very large predator fish.
Rhinoceros Thunder Beast: This is the largest Rhino to ever live and its horn is shaped like a “Y”.
Tree Scamper: These look like large chipmunks almost two feet in size. It can also be used as a familiar.
Most of the creatures have DCs for being trained and raised listed. This is a great detail for these animals.
Overall, it is a nice collection of some creatures that all lived in the same area though the book does not say in which prehistoric age they did live.
