Raven Crowking
First Post
prodigyxss said:Thanks for pointing out that error Raven.
Hey, I had to be sure. I mean, if there were really 20,000 creatures in the book, I'd have to buy it. Even if I hated 15% of them....
Monster Geographica: Underground
- Thread starter Messageboard Golem
- Start date
Hey, I had to be sure. I mean, if there were really 20,000 creatures in the book, I'd have to buy it. Even if I hated 15% of them....
MavrickWeirdo
First Post
“Monster Geographica: Underground”
Monster Selection and Design by Joseph Browning, Suzi Yee, & Kevin Baase;
Art by Ravinda Rana;
Conversion and Editing by Kevin Baase & Joseph Browning;
Published by Expeditious Retreat Press
Disclosure: The reviewer did not purchase the PDF, but received a free copy for reviewing.
The reviewer wishes to admit, up front, he is not a fan of, “Underdark,” style games. The designers have compiled a list of underground OGL monsters, so it should not be surprising that there are many references to drow in this book. There are over 18 creatures described as spiders or looking like spiders. There are also references of how other race ‘X’ interact to drow. In addition I feel that I may not have sufficient experience as a DM to fully evaluate the “monster balance” of each creature.
So what am I qualified to say?
Let’s start with the format. They make a big deal of the fact that they put the monsters in order based on their Challenge Rating (lowest at the beginning, highest at the end). After looking through the book I have decided that they are right. If you are looking for a specific CR it is easier to have them arranged this way. There was a broad variety of monsters to choose from at most levels.
It does separate related or connected creatures. For example; the Undal on page 43 is a heard beast often used by the Noja on page 76, however that information is in the write-up (including page number).
They also include 2 indexes in the front. The first is alphabetical, and tells you the page if you are looking for a specific monster. The second lists the monsters by Type, and gives their CR number. One drawback to this is that, if you find what you want in the “By Type” list you still need to check the alphabetical list to get the page number.
The language is concise and clear. There were no glaring typos that I could see. They also included, where they had space, small “flora and fauna” entries. These were nice bits of background and may have been my favorite parts of the book.
The artwork was almost non-existent, but what they included was fair quality. The have a color cover, ‘front & back’ as a separate file. They also have a nice drawing of a cave or cavern on the title page. They do not include monster drawings at all.
This collection is a compilation from several different OGC sources, so it is possible that a buyer may already have some of the creatures included, however I can see that it would be easier to have a single source of many creatures, rather than needing to refer to several different resources through the game. The price is high for a PDF, $20.00 at the time I received my copy, but with over 200 monsters that’s 10 cents each.
So if you are a DM, running an Underdark campaign, looking for a bit of variety and background, then I think this supplement will work for you.
Monster Selection and Design by Joseph Browning, Suzi Yee, & Kevin Baase;
Art by Ravinda Rana;
Conversion and Editing by Kevin Baase & Joseph Browning;
Published by Expeditious Retreat Press
Disclosure: The reviewer did not purchase the PDF, but received a free copy for reviewing.
The reviewer wishes to admit, up front, he is not a fan of, “Underdark,” style games. The designers have compiled a list of underground OGL monsters, so it should not be surprising that there are many references to drow in this book. There are over 18 creatures described as spiders or looking like spiders. There are also references of how other race ‘X’ interact to drow. In addition I feel that I may not have sufficient experience as a DM to fully evaluate the “monster balance” of each creature.
So what am I qualified to say?
Let’s start with the format. They make a big deal of the fact that they put the monsters in order based on their Challenge Rating (lowest at the beginning, highest at the end). After looking through the book I have decided that they are right. If you are looking for a specific CR it is easier to have them arranged this way. There was a broad variety of monsters to choose from at most levels.
It does separate related or connected creatures. For example; the Undal on page 43 is a heard beast often used by the Noja on page 76, however that information is in the write-up (including page number).
They also include 2 indexes in the front. The first is alphabetical, and tells you the page if you are looking for a specific monster. The second lists the monsters by Type, and gives their CR number. One drawback to this is that, if you find what you want in the “By Type” list you still need to check the alphabetical list to get the page number.
The language is concise and clear. There were no glaring typos that I could see. They also included, where they had space, small “flora and fauna” entries. These were nice bits of background and may have been my favorite parts of the book.
The artwork was almost non-existent, but what they included was fair quality. The have a color cover, ‘front & back’ as a separate file. They also have a nice drawing of a cave or cavern on the title page. They do not include monster drawings at all.
This collection is a compilation from several different OGC sources, so it is possible that a buyer may already have some of the creatures included, however I can see that it would be easier to have a single source of many creatures, rather than needing to refer to several different resources through the game. The price is high for a PDF, $20.00 at the time I received my copy, but with over 200 monsters that’s 10 cents each.
So if you are a DM, running an Underdark campaign, looking for a bit of variety and background, then I think this supplement will work for you.
Yair
Community Supporter
I just want to comment that I really liked this collection. Many entries were just OK, and there were several I didn't like, but I run into several that immediately brought an adventure or even campaign to mind, and that's grand. The organization is also neat, and the lack of pictures not so bad.
Similar Threads
