Monsternomicon or Liber Bestiarus: Any reviews?

[Psion]

The publisher was supposedly going to send me a copy of Monsternomicon, but I have yet to receive.

 

[jaldaen]

The publisher was supposedly going to send me a copy of Monsternomicon, but I have yet to receive.

Don't feel so bad Psion... I'm one of the freelancers on this book (did about 10 creatures- among them the assassin fly, boatman, eldritch, rusulka- and helped create most of the rest of them with my normally pithy comments) and I have not yet received mine... ;-)

Joseph

PS: I'm hoping that my local shop has a copy around so I can at least flip through it... I'm agonized by the knowledge that others are enjoying the Monsternomicon and I am still waiting at the post box each day.... ;-(

 

[kenjib]

Only about 12 of the 100+ monsters have a mechanical aspect, and even some of those are still usable in a less technological setting.

Cool. I'll have to give it another look then. Thanks!

 

[jester47]

I saw it and took a good look, I was very impressed with monsternomicon. Very impressed is a hard thing to do with me. So I would say its is a good book. I will probably get it when the other monster books hit the shelves.

Aaron.

 

[jaldaen]

Finally I got to see the Monsternomicon at my local shop... man I can't wait to start using some of the creatures in the book (especially mine) and watching the fear dawn upon my players face as they realize that fine vermin are not to be triffled with!

Now back to my mail box...

Joseph Miller
PP Freelancer

 

[Eridanis]

I bought the Liber a month ago, and got to flip through the 'nomicon at session this week. Liber is excellent, but 'nomicon blew me away with the graphic presentation, the flavor text that was actually well-written (reminded me of Baron Munchausen, actually), and imaginiative creatures. I would not have considered running a late 19th century-flavored campaign before, but after looking through, I'm hyped to give it a try some time. It's not steampunk, it's not typical fantasy - it's imaginiative. I plan to buy it next week - and I'll be glad to have both books, as the Liber also has interesting monsters in it.

 

[Ramien Meltides]

Let me chime in as another supporter of the Monsternomicon.

I picked up a copy of this beaut at Gen Con and I was extremely impressed. The monsters are inspirational, especially the way they handle Trolls and (as has already been mentioned) undead. Several nifty constructs are available as well. I must also hype the Adventuring Scholar prestige class... it's extremely well balanced and intriguing as a roleplaying concept, while not being a munchkin class, it can contribute to combat as well.

Of all the stuff I saw at Gen Con, Monsternomicon was easily in the top three. High quality all the way!

 

[JoeGKushner]

The publisher was supposedly going to send me a copy of Monsternomicon, but I have yet to receive.

I suspect that they're probably dealing with ordering issues for War Machine which looked to be selling quite well. I hope that they do send out the preview copies soon though.

 

[Krug]

All this begs the question... what do people look for when they get a monster book? Is it just interesting beasties?

 

[JoeGKushner]

Art work is very important.

Layout is very important.

Playtesting is very important in determining monster CRs.

Racial abilities like a normal race for playable PCs is very important.

Internal consistancy is important. i.e. don't say that creature X hunts creature Y and then in creature Y talk about how it and creature X are good friends.

Information that goes beyond stats to include habitat, ecology, etc...