[MONSTERS] Stat Block Preview - brought to you by the letter A!

Hrothgar Rannúlfr · Feb 25, 2010

For Speed, I'd go to this format:

Speed: 40'; fly 100' (good); swim 60'

All those "ft." clutter up the statblock.

Hrothgar Rannúlfr · Feb 25, 2010

And, I'd remove the semi-colons on the BAB, CMB, CMD line. The semi-colons are unnecessary since you're already bolding the names.

Same for the Combat Reactions, Dodge, Parry line. No semi-colons needed.

GlassJaw · Feb 25, 2010

Good stuff Hrothgar - much appreciated!

We'll take those under consideration, although I'm inclined to agree with your suggestions.

TarionzCousin · Mar 17, 2010

Which monsters will be in the book? All of the Open Game License monsters from the first 3E Monster Manual?

GlassJaw · Mar 17, 2010

TarionzCousin said:
Which monsters will be in the book? All of the Open Game License monsters from the first 3E Monster Manual?

Yes, and more!

The "more" includes lots of customized monsters as well as some new monsters that will be designed along with some of our patrons.

In addition, everything is getting a fully-fleshed out stat block, including ALL the dragons.

Wulf Ratbane · Mar 17, 2010

GlassJaw said:
In addition, everything is getting a fully-fleshed out stat block, including ALL the dragons.

I want to expand on that a little bit.

We are definitely treating the PDF as a different product entirely from the printed book.

For the PDF, because "page count" is not an issue, every single monster will have its own page. One statblock per page. We'll put in extra pages with the monsters grouped and then hyperlinked in every useful way we can imagine-- alphabetically, by type, by CR, etc.

This is how I run my games, and it's very handy:

Game day, before the session, I print out the stat blocks I need. Goblin. Bugbear. Cockatrice. Medium Fire Elemental. Whatever.

Those pages end up behind my screen, with plenty of breathing room on each page and lots of white space to take notes during play. (Some might even call it wastefully extravagant to have so much white space to play with.)

Sometimes those pages roll over from session to session. Sometimes they get culled and tossed in the trash. Cockatrice only appears in that one room? I'll throw that page away at the end of the night. Or maybe just at the end of the "story arc."

Now, obviously, the book is another matter. It's simply not feasible to put each monster on its own page. For those, we'll have to fit more monsters per page. We'll do what we can to keep page breaks and column breaks as even as possible so that you'll never see two monsters on the same column. (Ick.)

This will end up being a lot more work, but the combination of PDF + Book will be a much stronger and useful product overall.

Elephant · May 14, 2010

GlassJaw said:
Yes, and more!

The "more" includes lots of customized monsters as well as some new monsters that will be designed along with some of our patrons.

In addition, everything is getting a fully-fleshed out stat block, including ALL the dragons.

Sold. That sounds awesome! Where do I preorder?

GlassJaw · May 14, 2010

Elephant said:
Sold. That sounds awesome! Where do I preorder?

Glad you think so Elephant! Thanks.

The stat blocks have been a major endeavor for me and they have been updated considerably from the original post in this thread. I've been harnessing all my technical writer ability and training and have literally rewritten EVERYTHING. Every stat block, rule, ability description, and format - you name it - nothing has gone untouched.

In my (perhaps somewhat biased) opinion, this is shaping up to be the most accurate, complete, consistent, and user-friendly monster book I've ever seen.

Anyway, I know things have been a little quiet in here lately and that's because of a lot of real-life stuff for both Wulf and myself (nothing bad, just busy). But I'm back, hard at work and hoping to make a big push over the next few weeks so we can start layout.