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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2011721" data-attributes="member: 18387">Maze of the Minotaur    I like the books that center on a tight and specific topic and expand upon it.  I thing these books really give the gamers good details and ideas on the subject.  The Master and Minions series which Maze of the Minotaur is part of is a nice series that takes a single monster and expands on it.  It makes these creatures useful and more then just something to kill.  I have been very critical on books like the Monster Manual that give only basic combat information and make it so the only way to use the creature is in combat.  There is nothing wrong with just using monsters that way, but I feel that gamers need to be given more options.  Too much material is written under the assumption of a combat oriented role playing game.      Maze of the Minotaur is the second in the Master and Minions series.  The first is the Swarm of Stirges and it really did a nice job of exploring those creatures and offering new and interesting creatures.  I do like that one better, but both of them I fear suffer from the same thing: the writer contains the creatures to a certain challenge rating.  This book does offer higher level challenges then the Stirge book and by combining some of the elements one can even challenge higher parties.  But the higher levels are an area that are not covered enough of and Minotaurs as the classic creature from Greek myth I feel could have done that.      That is not to say the book is bad, far from it.  The book takes a great look at Minotaurs and gives them an ecology that they have been lacking.  It answers some of the age old questions like where is the female of the species.  Maze of Minotaurs is a new sixty page softbound book by the guys of Behemoth3.  This is their second product and it really leaves me really looking forward to the next creatures they decide to tackle.  The book uses good art and the layout is good with a few areas of excessive white spaces.  There are some great tables in the back.  I think I neglected to point these out in the Stirges book.  It is great for easy reference and showing the different groupings, and different levels of minotaurs combined with classes.      The book starts with a great introduction.  Details are something that Behemoth3 are not afraid of.  They cover the Greek origin and the classic labyrinths Minotaurs are known to haunt.  They even include attitude adjustments for the typical Player Handbook races and the new creatures presented here.      There are some really good new additions here as well.  The first is the Bull Lord.  This is the mean old alpha male of the herd.  He is physically powerful and should be able to dominate in melee combat.  The only problem I found, and it’s a small one, is the alignment is Chaotic Evil.  I would think Lawful Evil would be better suited since it is the leader of the herd.  One great thing that the author does is include the Designer Note’s.  These are great to give ideas and how it was used in the play testing.  It is nice to see that they were actually play tested since it does seem there are some books that get printed without it.  After the Bull Lord the regular Minotaur is presented here greatly expanded on with good notes on ecology.  I like that that they note that the regular minotaur just isn’t powerful enough to reflect how it was presented in the Iliad.  They really did a great job of just expanding on the basics and keep it true to what people know at the same time.      People have always wondered about the female Minotaurs.  In this book they are presented as the Minotrice.  They are skilled hunters and trackers being more agile then their male counterparts.  I like that they are pack hunters and use tactics to their advantage.  And some of them know magic and are called the Minotrice Maze Mage.  They are the spiritual leaders and their magic is much like that of a Druid.  And then there are the Tauron, the Maze builders.  I find it a little odd they choose not to make them biped though.  They do serve as very strong beast of burden and even though they are not super challenging in a fight should provide an additional challenge when encounter in groups and with other minotaur types.      The book does not stop at just presenting the creatures though.  It also goes into using all of them except the Tauron as player characters.  Each has racial levels and is presented fully as a character race.  And then there are the ways to use these creatures.  There are plenty of adventures and NPCs and encounter ideas in the last section to really make the players think twice and to make the whole experience seem more alive.  A lot of thought and creativity went into this book and it really shows.      Maze of the Minotaur is another good solid addition.  It will take the creature that people think they know and really present in a clever and thought out way.  It makes the minotaurs come alive and seem real in a campaign world.</blockquote>

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