Taking Questions: Monster Encyclopedia I

[Man-thing]

I just picked up Monster Encyclopedia I: Ravangers of the Realms.
I am willing to answer questions about Mongoose's newest Monster book.

 

[Crothian]

is it all oprginal monsters? How much of it is ogl?

 

[JVisgaitis]

How about we start general. How is the art, how original and cool are the monsters?

 

[Man-thing]

is it all oprginal monsters? How much of it is ogl?

It appears to all be original Monsters. (No product beyond itself are listed in seciton 15)
Matthew has also said in other threads that this one was going to be all new monsters.

All of it falls under the OGL.

But I think you meant OGC, Verbatim

All text paragraphs and tables containing game mechanics and statistics derivative of Open Game Content and the System Reference Document are considered to be Open Game Content.

I hear some people complain that MGP often uses this line, but I think people fail to read this:

If you have questions about the Open Game Content status of any material herein, please contact Mongoose Publishing for clarification.

I've used that line a number of times to contact Matthew about using this or that material which seemed closed to me and have never be dissatisfied with my requests.

 

[Man-thing]

How about we start general. How is the art, how original and cool are the monsters?

The book is black and white so that may turn some people off the artwork. Every single monster seems to have earned an image which I appreciate. The art varies dramatically depending on your own tastes there are some pieces i dislike greatly and others that I really love, most are good and seem to fit the descriptiont the authors wrote. It looks to be the combined work of 23 illustrators so there are a lot of different styles. So unfortunately it tough to overall picture, I'm probably not best to do it anyway as I tend to look at monster books from a 'how much pain and suffering can I cause my players' perspective.

The book was written by Lizard, August Hahn and Gareth Hanrahan. It features a wide array of creature though few animals (1) and humanoids. I haven't had a great deal of time to read through it all but I really like:

Anarchons - an a nice outer planes addition (also seem like they could be used as when good guys act without looking at the big picture)

Bridge Trolls - for eating pesky billy goats

Crystal Viper - natural invisibility always rocks

Divine Vessel - A contruct that an outsider can transfer their essence into

Ghosthunter Cat - The only creature preventing spectre plagues

Facada - Outsiders based on the suits of the Tarot

Tons more still yet to read.

 

[Crothian]

Is it layed out one monster per page or do the monsters share pages?

 

[Man-thing]

Is it layed out one monster per page or do the monsters share pages?

Monsters shares pages, so there may be some awkwardly broken stat blocks but I bought mine in pdf so I can copy/paste what I need for my game so that doesn't bother me. It also should mean a slightly higher monster/page ratio.

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

As a Owner of Ultimate Monster I....

Are all the monsters stats absolutly, ummm, useless (to be polite), or did they actually TRY to come up with correct monster stats.

Just check a few AC's, Initative Mods, simple stuff; see if it meshes.

Thanks,

 

[DaveMage]

As a Owner of Ultimate Monster I....

Are all the monsters stats absolutly, ummm, useless (to be polite), or did they actually TRY to come up with correct monster stats.

Just check a few AC's, Initative Mods, simple stuff; see if it meshes.

Thanks,

I would suggest waiting for the John Cooper review for a complete answer to this question.

 

[Hand of Evil]

What would you say is the percentage of humaniod monsters in the book, for me I am getting tired of just another troll, giant, undead, in monster books, I want animalistic monsters!