Monster book under consideration

[Whitemage]

Greetings, fellow planeswalkers!
I am interested in the possibility of publishing (via a pdf file on RPGNow.com) a book of monsters sutible for use in Planescape campaigns. It will be composed of 9 more ‘exemplar’ races (like the modrons, slaadi, etc.), one for each alignment. The idea is that they creatures therin could be used as either supplements to existing planer founa, or could be used as replacements for the more traditional demons and angels.
That said, would you use this product? How?
(Note: I am posting this on several messege boards; please vote on only one)

 

[Khayman]

The existing 'exemplar' races suffer from extreme familiarity. Anything new is welcome, but its usefulness depends on its quality.

You may wish to look at races that aren't locked onto a place on the Great Wheel cosmology. Love it or hate it, the trend in 3E/3.5 is to dump the Great Wheel and have custom cosmologies. FR did it, Eberron did it, and Monte Cook is doing it.

Maybe some archetype races --- ones that represent concepts as much as alignments. Maybe one or two playable at low ECLs, but the rest scary and weird. I like to shock my players with changes to their frames of reference; things like that would be useful.

 

[Crothian]

Quality sells. To put it bluntly when it comes to Monster books the Monster Manual doesn't even rate in my top 5 anymore. There have been so many great monster books over the past 2 years that many people really don't feel that need something new unless it really stands out.

A book of just Planar creatures does stand out, but there are many different cosmologies people use that limiting yourself to just the great wheel might not be a good idea.

 

[Seeker95]

The problem with the poll is it asks my opinion on something without giving me any clue what it is I am suppsoed to be giving an opinion on. I had to go looking for the thread to see what the front page poll was talking about.

 

[TroyXavier]

Tell me about it. Can you even do anything with Slaadi? I thought WOTC owned the rights to them. I'd love anything with Modrons(especially Rogue Modrons. I miss playing as t hem)

 

[Turanil]

Quality sells. To put it bluntly when it comes to Monster books the Monster Manual doesn't even rate in my top 5 anymore. There have been so many great monster books over the past 2 years that many people really don't feel that need something new unless it really stands out.

I have been considering buying another monster book. What would be your suggestion of a really interesting / well done / usable monster book? Thanks.

 

[Crothian]

I have been considering buying another monster book. What would be your suggestion of a really interesting / well done / usable monster book? Thanks.

Give me a few weeks when we announce the ENnies as there is a d20 Monster Book category but until then here are some great ones we've seen.


Fantasy Bestiary by Atlas is a just huge. It's over 350 pages with great detail. If you enjoy "fluff" the books has it for all it creatures.

Then there is Denizens of Avadnu. This one is full color and glossy paged, so it looks great. It's only a bit over 220 pages but the creatures in it area bit more creative and out there. If you think different is good, then this one's for you.

Goodman Games has another great monster book this year, Monsters of the Boundless Blue. It is all aquatic creatures, but very well done with a great amount of detail and description. Its in the same way they did Monsters the Endless Dark another book from them I really like. It is the only softbound of the ones here and is about 60 pages.

Lastly is Bestiary of Krynn. Tsis book has some of the best art in any monster book I've seen. It's also full color and while the creatures are for a setting, it is still easy to use them in any place. Krynn is not that different to make creatures hard to use. It is a bit smaller then the other hardbacks at less then 160 pages.

Now ther are other monster books that I just haven't had time to read like Warcraft Manual of Monsters, Tome of Horrors 2 , Dangerous Denizens (Kalamar), Creatures of Freeport, Legacy opf the Dragons (Arcana Unearthed), Book of Fiends and possible others that I'm forgetting.

And this isn't even covering the ones from over a year ago.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Slaadi lords are OGC, but Slaadi themselves are not.

Meanwhile, I thought his idea was to invent new ones, which I'm inta. It's not a bad idea, fer sher.

 

[Turanil]

Give me a few weeks when we announce the ENnies as there is a d20 Monster Book category but until then here are some great ones we've seen.

Now there are other monster books that I just haven't had time to read like Warcraft Manual of Monsters, Tome of Horrors 2 , Dangerous Denizens (Kalamar), Creatures of Freeport, Legacy opf the Dragons (Arcana Unearthed), Book of Fiends and possible others that I'm forgetting.

Thanks for the info. I think I will go with Tome of Horrors 2.

 

[Whitemage]

More details

Sorry Seeker; this is actually the first poll I have ever made, do you have any suddjestions as to how to avoid the problem in the future?

Here are a few more details:
Price: 6-9$
Page count: about 90
The book would be divided into 9 sections, one for each of the new planer 'races' (a system very similar to the way that baatezu or modrons are one race). Each race would correspond to one of the alignments, but my goal is to create each race with large differences from its associated Planescape race mechanicaly, socially (i.e. role-playing), and 'flavor-wise'. I plan to add more details when I have worked on the project a bit more. Khayman, I definatly won't make the monsters limited to the Great Wheel.
The idea is that the book would be useful for three things (of course, all three options will be addressed in the book):
A: Supplements to the existing races on the Great Wheel,
B: Replacements for said races, either because you didn't like one of the old ones or just because you wanted a different feel for that alignment's exemplars (I never liked the Slaad, personally), and/or
C: Monsters for non-core cosmologies, so that you can, for example, put CE exemplars in you homebrew planes without the monsters giving you the feeling that they have been 'imported from the Abyss'.