How stellar was the old Fiend Folio!

[Raven Crowking]

It's not just you. I think that the FF artwork is, by and large, much better than that in MMI and at least on par with that in MMII.

Thirded. I prefer this art to what I see in 4e and 3e. I did like the way the fey were done in 2e, as well as some of the iconics like the rust monster, though, and there are a few 3e & 4e illos that I find evocative (once more, the rust monster!).


RC

 

[pawsplay]

I think we have to separate empty rooms into two classes:

1) Rooms that don't contain monsters, traps, or treasures.
2) Rooms that have no description or features.

I'm all for #1 and think that they are absolutely essential to create a believable world. I despise #2 and consider it bad design. One of the first things I'll do when preparing a module for play is go through all the empty spots on the map and dress them with some sort of features appropriate to the setting so that I have a description ready.

This room is another natural chamber. One of the walls has a lichen stain. You smell a faint odor of... cavern.

 

[jaerdaph]

No empty room is every truly empty.

 

[Thunderfoot]

Quick trivia question for you: which extremely active EN World member created the stunjelly, the quillan, and the shadow demon?

Crothian!!!!

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Love the Fiend Folio. And the art work. Many fine monsters in there. Yes, some duds. But every game book has some duds. Not every book has Slaadi and Gith. And flumphs. Couldn't have flumph gags without fumphs.

Never knew it was fan created. So extra coolness now.

 

[Thunderfoot]

I remember the very first time I had a FF monster sprung on me - I cursed the DM for a month, until I could afford to go buy it.

It's the only 1st edition original cover book I don't currently own and it still grates me every time I see one and don't have the extra cash to pick one up.


Long live the shadow demon!!!! (Thanks Plane Sailing!)

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

Is there some other way to write empty in a way that would be more aesthetic?

To me it's more that the room got keyed and text used for it, when it could have just as easily been unkeyed and the space in the text used for something else.

What darjr said. Either use the keyed area to detail some features about the area (many of the currently published modules have areas without encounters that still have a description beyond "This room is empty.") or just don't number the area and most people would get that the area is unoccupied.

 

[OchreJelly]

Thoughts of the lava children's vapid stare still give me nightmares.

 

[billd91]

The 1e Fiend Folio may have been a bit uneven, but then so are most monster books after the first Monster Manual includes the main bread-and-butter monster of D&D lore. Once you're covering your basics, you're mainly looking for stuff with the right kind of appeal rather than what's essential.

I would consider the 3e Fiend Folio just about as uneven. I simply can't generate any more enthusiasm for a creature like the Rilmani than I could for the CIFAL.

 

[Contrarian]

A Hybrid earth/fire elemental race has their own Pantheon? There really is a god for everything in D&D!

Their "pantheon" is two deities -- the earth and fire elementals that created the Lava Children. The two elementals are lovers who have been separated and imprisoned by other elementals. Lava Children priests are all dedicated to freeing their gods, of course.

That story? Sadly, more interesting than anything in the Fiend Folio description of the Lava Children.

Anyway, White Dwarf did a series of articles (issues 39-42, I think) describing deities (in 1E DDG format) for most of the intelligent humanoids in the Fiend Folio. Worth tracking down if you like The Foilo's monsters.

Which I do, actually. After many years of ignoring them, I find sticking an occassional FF monster into a dungeon adds a welcome bit of surprise and weirdness to the game.