Monster Geographica: Underground

[Messageboard Golem]

The Monster Geographica books compile 200 monsters of specific terrains into one inexpensive resource. Collected from over 20 different sources, Monster Geographica books also provide an extensive array of challenge ratings and concepts.

Due to its organization, Monster Geographica is an ideal monster supplement for random encounters, adventure building, and campaign design. Unlike other monster books, Monster Geographica organizes monsters by challenge rating. Building a CR 5 encounter? All CR 5 monsters are right next to each other; no need to flip back and forth between a CR table and the monsters’ stat blocks. Need a random encounter level 7? Again, all CR 7 monsters are right next to each other. Don’t see one you like? Flip to the CR 5 monsters and pick two.
We also include an alphabetical table of contents with a listing of creatures by type and subtype (also arranged by challenge rating), making Monster Geographica books easy to use from many different approaches. Listings by type and subtype allow you to search using a different set of parameters. Need a CR6 ooze? With Monster Geographica, you can reference the listing by type and know each monster’s CR without having to flip to the actual stat block.

We have many fond (and often bloody) memories of great 3.0 monsters, and we didn’t want to leave them out of the Monster Geographica books. Therefore, up to 50 % of the monsters in every Monster Geographica book are conversions of 3.0 monsters updated for a 3.5 game.

And lastly, we wanted to make Monster Geographica books affordable. We hope you
understand and agree with our no-internal-art policy that allows us to offer 200 monsters for $20 ($8 for PDF). And notice the spine? That’s a lay-flat binding that will hold up to the most dedicated use.

Monster Geographica: Underground is the first book in the line, gathering 200 monsters commonly found below the surface. The next book is Monster Geographica: Marsh and Aquatic, coming out November 2004, followed by Forest, Hills and Mountains, and Plains (Deserts and Tundra).

 

[wocky]

When I design adventures I like to start with a loose plot, but a strong theme. Once I have the theme nailed down I get every monster book at hand and start looking for appropriate encounters, which often lead to new ideas for the plot and hooks. No matter the amount of monsters at hand, once I narrow it down with CR and plot in mind I end up with just a few which are usable. The new monster book by Expeditious Retreat Press, "Monster Geographica: Underground", is not only a very welcome source for yet more monsters, but also one organized with the process of monster searching in mind.

This book, authored by Joseph Browning, Suzi Yee and Kevin Baase, is the first offering in the "Monster Geographica" line. Books in this series compile two hundred monsters that inhabit a particular type of terrain from different Open Game licensed sources in a pocket-sized affordable format. Twenty different sources from different publishers were used to collect all the underground monsters, with the fifty percent that needed it having received a conversion to the 3.5 rules.

At first I made the mistake of assuming this book was about Underdark creatures. Though many of them are, monsters in this book fall into a broader "creatures living underground" category that includes dungeon denizens and creations of pure horror. However, be it the Underdark you want to populate, or a cave or dungeon, this book is filled with creatures that can be used for the thorough design of a realistic underground ecology. There are around twenty creatures for every CR between 1 and 8. Twenty in total between CRs 9 and 12, and two or less for every CR until 20. Most of them fall into the Aberration, Magical Beast or Undead types, though some of the types get much more creatures than we'd expect: there are sixteen oozes, twelve vermin, eight fey and thirteen constructs.

Being a compilation the style and flavor is quite varied, with monsters covering a number of different campaign styles. Interesting creatures include the Eldlorn, a race of fey connected to dwarves that can contact their ancestors for advice, the Corpse Fungus, which can animate zombies, the Abroan, a sound sensitive swarm, the Skunk Goblins and Snailfolk. Horror flavored creatures include the Fowl Spawners, which are large undead who hide more of their kind within, the Blood Pudding, which gets inside of it's victim body and forces their blood out, the Bone Sovereign, an amalgamation of skeletons that becomes more powerful by assimilating other undead, and the Silent Reaper, who steals people memories and their shrunken heads. There are many bizarre creatures, like the Time Spider, who weaves a four-dimensional web, the sneaky Shadow Ooze, the Gremmins, undead prospectors that cause Gold Fever, and the Crystal Moss, a seemingly harmless psionic plant. There's also the Ambush, which is... ehhr... an ambushing bush.

Monsters can be either designed around an idea, or around a game mechanics concept. The first might seem better, but sometimes leads to encounters which aren't unique enough, and just differ in their description. Monsters in this book were mostly designed around an idea, and either use standard mechanics, or new mechanics which don't depart much from the norm. It's not to say that there aren't some very interesting concepts flavor-wise, and standard mechanics are extensively explored with creatures like a tiny flying ooze, but some creatures, like the two-headed Troll, don't contribute enough.

The format for the entries, beyond the game stats, is somewhat varied (which I'd expect in a compilation), though usually very close to the 3.5 version Monster Manual. In some cases the departures are good, like monsters that have extended ecology information. True to the 3.5 spirit, appropriate monsters have Level Adjustment listed, and some even include information on how to play them as characters.

It's hard to evaluate this in a review, but I think many of the CRs are too low for the creatures, mostly when abilities dealing with paralysis, venom, etc. are involved. Like the Addlevetch, a plant that at CR 1 has initiative +7 and can make a ranged touch attack with a +8 attack bonus to Inflict Light Wounds for 1d8+5. The diminutive Cave Beetle also has CR 1 and may be able to slay it's victim unless it's treated with a Remove Disease or Heal spell in about an hour and a half. Obviously, this kind of problem would depend on the source a monster was taken from and isn't generalized, but caution is advised.

An outstanding feature of this book is that monsters are organized by Challenge Rating. When you're searching for an encounter of a particular level you can just browse through adjacent pages, instead of going back and forth between monsters and the CR table. Alphabetical and type/subtype indexes are also given in the first pages, and the PDF edition of the book is bookmarked by these three criteria as well. The page layout is also very good, most monster entries begin at the top of a page. This is not only great in the print edition, but also very good if you're printing a couple of monsters off the PDF. Besides the cover by Ravindra Rana this book has no art. Though I find art very useful to get a general notion of what a monster's abilities are, and description purposes (I'm of the old "Here, it looks like this..." school), I know that good art is expensive and having two hundred bad illustrations is no good.

The print edition is pocket sized and comes with lay-flat binding. If you buy the PDF you'll get two versions, one that matches the page distribution of the print edition, and one in landscape format that has two book pages for every PDF page. I'm no big fan of the landscape edition, but if you have a program that allows you to print in booklet format (such as FinePrint) you can use the portrait oriented version of the PDF to get a portable copy. In any case, thanks to the thorough bookmarking and good page layout, printing only the monsters you're using has been quite facilitated.

"Monster Geographica: Underground" excels at it's usability as a research and reference tool because of it's format and layout. Between it's covers you can find a large and very varied selection of monsters that can help you populate the dark corners of your world or give you new ideas for an adventures and encounters.

Score: 3.5

 

[Crothian]

Monster Geographica Underground PDF

Monster books are really on the rise. The production values of some of them have been full color and full gloss pages in a nice hardbound book. Others pack in lots of good creatures with some good art to attract customers. They usually offer a wide variety of creatures or a narrow focus that serves as the theme of the book. Monster Geographica Underground offers a new type of monster book though; all the monsters in it are from other books.

Monster Geographica Underground (MGU) is a PDF by Expeditious Retreat. They are best known for their PDF/Book a Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe. As with that they break new ground by offering a new type of monster book. MGU focuses on creatures that can be found underground and while this is not anything new in itself (see Monster of the Endless Dark for example), this is compilation of previously released monsters. About half of the monsters had yet to be updated to 3.5 before this volume. All the monsters have been edited to make sure that they are done properly and all the little errors are nonexistent. The book offers two hundred monsters in this 200 pages of text. And its all text as to conserve on space and price no art except the cover appears in the PDF.

The PDF comes in a zip file a little under five megs in size. Inside are three different PDFs. The first is the cover done in full color and by Ravindra Rana. The other two are the bulk of the book one in designed for on the screen and the other designed to be printed. One of the highlights for me is the book marks. This is possible the most concise book marking I have seen. One of the great things they did was have the monsters listed three ways in the book marks. They are listed by challenge rating, alphabetically, and by creature type. That is a great way to make sure the creatures can be found with ease. However, there is no art. As I said they did not include art for cost and size reasons. I can understand that, but monsters are nice to have pictures of. It is just easier to envision some of these creatures using a picture then the written descriptions.

There are two hundred creatures here. I am not sure exactly how many monsters are found in the other monster books, but two hundred does sound like a good amount. They range in challenge rating from one fourth to twenty. Creature types are also very varied. One really good thing that they include is flora and fauna. These are a great addition for people who want exotic but not always deadly plants to enhance their world.

MGU is a very good monster book. The stats of the creatures were specifically all checked and redone when necessary to ensure accuracy. The two hundred monsters that come from a few dozen different sources brings together the creatures one needs to populate the underground.

 

[wocky]

Most of the items in the "Flora and Fauna" are crystals, mineral formations or geographical accidents (like caves). The closest to "plants" are some fungi presented. The only "fauna" is the 'Stonemite' (stone eating termite).

Even Joseph Browning's introduction jokes about the fact that most of the "Flora and Fauna" bits are neither.

 

[BOZ]

thanks for the good review Crothian.

 

[GameWyrd]

I don't normally notice whether a PDF opens up to show its bookmarks or not. I like bookmarks in a large PDF and tend to notice when they're missing or when using them annoyingly re-sizes the PDF.

This Monster Geographica from Expeditious Retreat Press is a large product. We get 200 pages for a mere US $5. It needs its bookmarks and has them. Okay, okay, why start waffling about bookmarks so soon? The first thing I noticed in Monster Geographica: Underground is that there are three lists of monsters. We have monsters by CR. We have monsters by Type. We have monsters by Alpha. Pause there. Have some more coffee. Monsters by Alpha equates to Monsters in Alphabetic order.

That there is Monster Geographica: Underground's major innovation. This is an easy PDF from which to find yourself a monster. By default the monsters are listed by Challenge Rating. The theory is that if you're looking for one random encounter set at CR 6 then it pays to be lurking in the CR 6 section. You've the next one lined up already. Don't knock this; this is an extremely handy feature and it's magnified by being able to quickly click-click to alphabetical or type lists.

There's another "power up" in Monster Geographica: Underground's favour too. The entire product (barring art, logos and company name) is OGL. You can take these monsters and use them yourself (providing you do the legal foo correctly). If you just happen to make a living or enjoy a fun hobby of publishing d20 adventures then Expeditious Retreat Press have done you proud.

You worked out that all the monsters here are suitable for underground encounters, right? Good.

There's a reason why Expeditious Retreat Press have been so generous with this Monster Geographica. These aren't their monsters. There's a joke about the world's largest legal section for this PDF and do check it out. It's a prestigious list. What we have here is a mammoth harvesting task wrapped up with the extremely useful administration. We've creatures initially created by Goodman Games, to Necromancer Games and even some prolific Mongoose Publishing thrown in for good measure. You loose plenty in terms of originality here but gain some suspension of disbelief. It really depends on your gaming group but mine our immediately cynical of All New And Power But Never Ever Seen Before Monsters (especially when they're strong against the group's weakness). In fact, there's something to be said for the reprinted 3.0 monsters in here. As you'd expect for this day and age (he says, in November 2004) Monster Geographica: Underground is 3.5.

It's the 3.5 edition which explains why this Monster Geographica is both a first in the series and has a 3002 number. What happened to 3001? It sounds like an even more Herculean task of administration and bringing stats together to make life easier for DMs - but it was 3.0.

Monster Geographica: Underground is a collection of stats. I feel the PDF really lacks artwork. I often wonder why I like bestiary books quite as much as I do. I don't like NPC books. The answer, I think, partly lies in the illustrations. I like to see the monsters. I like to be able to tell players; "It looks like this" and show them. The artwork inspires me.

I think I'd get the most out of Monster Geographica: Underground if I already had most of the books and wanted to bring most of the monsters from them together in one world. Alternatively, if I wrote more, I'd use it as a resource.

It is worth repeating the price tag; $5. That's super cheap. You can't really go wrong there.

Also, since the book's OGL and purely for the purpose of a fair review, let's squeeze in a monster.

Stinkgnarl

Large Plant
Hit Dice: 12d8+156 (210 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 10 ft. (2 squares)
Armor Class: 19 (-1 size, +3 Dex, +7 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 16 Base Attack/Grapple: +9/+17
Attack: Slam +12 melee (2d8+6)
Full Attack: Slam +12 melee (2d8+6)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft. (15 ft. with slam)
Special Attacks: Abhorrent stench, mucus pustules
Special Qualities: Blindsight 60 ft., lowlight vision, plant traits, tap root
Saves: Fort +21, Ref +7, Will +0

Abilities: Str 19, Dex 17, Con 36, Int ?, Wis 2, Cha 4

Skills: ?
Feats: ?

Environment: Underground
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 11
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 13-24 HD (Large); 25-36 HD (Huge)

Level Adjustment: ?
The stinkgnarl is a tall and pulsing mass of fleshy fungus that periodically belches a small gray cloud from under its cap. This cloud is the first thing everyone notices when approaching the stinkgnarl, having a rank odor that hangs in the air. There is no one color specific to the repugnant fungus, but most are brightly colored yellow or green, and a few phosphorescent specimens have been identified. The whole of the spherical cap is covered with fist-sized weeping pustules and is protected by a random pattern of woody plates that allow freedom of movement.

This fungus grows best near pools of standing water or wet caverns, but can be found nearly anywhere underground. It will tolerate most any plants and fungus that grow nearby, but it will not tolerate Violet Fungus or other poisonous plants, and will attempt to smash any that come close enough.

Combat This fungus does not hesitate to blast an area with its stench, or flail its massive body like a rubbery hammer at anything that comes near.

Abhorrent Stench (Ex): Whenever approached, the stinkgnarl emits a misty spray of foul gasses that fills up to 300 square feet, rising 10 feet in the air, and lingers for 1 hour. Living creatures able to smell the cloud must make a Fortitude Save (DC 31) or become severely nauseated, gagging and coughing as tears well up in their eyes. Nauseated creatures are unable to attack, cast spells, concentrate on spells or do anything else requiring attention. The only action a nauseated creature can take is a single move (or move-equivalent action) per turn. These effects last as long as the character is in the affected area and for 1d10 rounds after leaving the area. Those who remain in the area that make their save must continue to save each round with a +1 resistance bonus. Creatures with the Scent or other heightened olfactory qualities suffer a -4 circumstance penalty to resist the noxious vapors. If a creature spends 10 rounds breathing inside the affected area, they must make a Fortitude save (DC 31) or take 1d4 points of subdual damage the next round and each round thereafter. Leaving the area will end this damage. The save DCs are Constitution-based.

Blindsight (Ex): The stinkgnarl has several simple "ears" that detect sound and changes in air pressure, allowing the stinkgnarl to locate creatures within 60 feet.

Mucus Pustules (Ex): Whenever the stinkgnarl makes a successful slam attack, it causes several of the spherical pustules to burst and splatter the target with slimy mucus. The stinking glop acts like a powerful glue, and if a creature is hit 3 or more times with the mucus attack, they will become entangled for 10d6 minutes. The target suffering mucus entanglement must make a Reflex Save (DC 19) every turn or become stuck and immobile. The save DC is Dexterity-based.

Taproot (Ex): In order to gain more leverage for its flailing slam attacks, the stinkgnarl possesses a thick, woody taproot it can drill deep into the rock. This gives the stinkgnarl a +4 stability bonus against charge-type attacks.

* This Monster Geographica: Underground review was first published at GameWyrd.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Monster Geographica: Underground [PDF]

Monster Geographica: Underground

The Monster Geographica series is quickly becoming my most used monster source - the format of dividing the creatures by environment and CR is the most useful I have seen to date. While the book has a good index I rely almost entirely on the bookmarks, which are the most comprehensive I have ever seen, allowing you to flip through the virtual pages by CR, alphabetical order or type. I almost always find myself using the CR listing, every now and again the flora and fauna, and only occasionally taking a look by type for a specific encounter. The free demonstration comprised the entirety of the CR 7 creatures, and proved an effective lure, all the more so since the players in my game had just reached that level.

Appearance: Aside from the covers and fly page the PDF has no illustrations, perhaps one of the few failings of the book. Then again, since I primarily use this as a source to copy from and paste into my documents this is not that great a failing. Once the cover is scrolled past a series of lists break the creatures down by alphabetical order and type.

A single page introduction and then into the meat. There are 200 entries in this book, arranged by CR, alphabetically within that range. CRs 17 and 19 are skipped. As far as I know none of the creatures are unique to this book, though some have had their names changed when they were deemed intellectual property. Because of the nature of this book I will not single out favorites, but the choices made by Expeditious Retreat were appropriate, though I did miss a few old favorites that had not been selected.

One of the sources completely missing from this work is the SRD, I would have liked to see them, since if I want to use the core creatures I have to open another, less meticulously bookmarked PDF, and dig around until I find the appropriate entries. Since this is being aimed at a print preferring audience as well as PDF afficionados I can understand the lack, but it does force me to bounce between documents a good deal more. If somebody knows of a PDF of the SRD creatures bookmarked by CR, let me know! The only other thing that could be added to this work to make it more useful would be stat blocks of the creatures, so that I could cut and paste as needed.

Not bookmarked, but very impressive is the section 15 from Hell, with the sources for all the creatures, though only the ones from the Tome of Horror series by Necromancer Games are singled out specifically. While only Tome of Horrors requires this information it would have been useful, I tend to think of Section 15 as a shopping list when I encounter something I like.

All in all I would give this book 8 out of 10, or 4 out of 5 stars, while not perfect it is a very useful book. On a utility scale it rates a 9 out of 10, missing a 10 only by having neither the SRD creatures, nor stat blocks.

 

[prodigyxss]

Monster Geographica: Underground

I have always liked third-party monster products better than the ones released by the Wizards of the Coast. The reason why is mostly because most of them are generally focused along a theme and then not leaving that theme anywhere in the book. This is good for consumers because if we don't want monsters based around the theme, jungle for example then we dont have to get it. It is as simple as that.

Monster Geographica is a monster product line by Expeditious Retreat Press, who is well known for their A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe product. MGU is a 200 page pdf containing 200 monsters associated around the theme of underground monsters and baddies. Each monster takes up usually 1 page containing a statblock for the monster, a description, and a combat section. There is no art in the pdf except for the cover, so you will have to rely on the books description to get a feel for what the monster looks like.

The pdf comes in a zipped file which three different pdf's inside. The first is a well done cover, depicting a two headed underground monster that is found in the book and a back cover showing two adventurers in a cave. The second and third pdf is one version of the book designed to be shown on the screen and one that is meant to be printed. One of the best things about the pdf is the organization of the book. With the bookmarks, you can have the creatures listed by type, challenge rating, and in alphabetical order, which makes it easier to find the monster you need very quickly.

There are 200 creatures inside MGU. 50% of the monsters however are conversions of 3rd edition monsters from many different sources and books. The other 50% are ofcourse new monsters. The challenge rating of the creatures varies from 1/4 to 20, with CR's 17 and 19 being skipped however. These monsters range from abberations, dragons, animals, elemental, fey, and more. Some example monsters, is the Wyrdwolf, which is a fierce hunter in the underground that is over 7 ft. tall and has thick, leathery bone white skin and attacks savagely and scares opponets with its strobe special ability. Another example monster is the Stone Slug that are brown, dough like blobs that can blend in with rocks and crystals and carries diseases in its long black quills when it is threatened. MGU also contains a good addition of flora and fauna, which range from crystals and fungi to stonemite which are very cool stone eating termites.

Overall MGU is a very well done monster book and is great if you need a to populate any underground enviroment. My only complaint would be the lack of artwork to envision the monsters, which only leaves you the description to answer that question about the monster. Though the descriptions are pretty well done so you shouldnt have to worry about that. This book convinced me to buy Expedious's other Monster Geographica in the future.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Over 200 hundred creatures?!?!

Perhaps that requires an edit?


RC

 

[prodigyxss]

Thanks for pointing out that error Raven.