The Monsternomicon Vol. I

[Messageboard Golem]

The Monsternomicon brings the denizens of the Iron Kingdoms to life! This 200+ page book is packed with over 80 interesting and useful creatures, all lavishly illustrated by Matt Wilson and Brian Snoddy. Every monster entry is at least two pages long, making this the most detailed, DM-friendly monster reference in the field. The Monsternomicon is suitable for use in any d20 System fantasy setting, but is specially made for fans of the Iron Kingdoms.

The book features an exciting cover by Brian Snoddy and these entries:

• Over 80 creatures
• Traits for the playable races of the Iron Kingdoms: trollkin, nyss, gobbers, ogrun
• Three prestige classes (monster hunter, adventuring scholar, bone grinder)
• "Quickplates": quick and easy templates to boost your monsters when you just need to bump up the Challenge Rating a bit
• Bio and stats for Prof. Viktor Pendrake, the books narrator
• Summary of the cosmology of the iron Kingdoms—learn about the Infernals and their horrifying soul trade
• Rules for discovering monster legends & lore
• Rules for writing and using scholarly tomes

 

[Messageboard Golem]

BASIC OVERVIEW: ***spoilers ahead***

The Monsternomicon is a 240 page hardcoverbook about the denizens of the Iron Kingdoms campaign setting. The cover shows an undead ripping through the metallic binding.The interior consisits of "parchment" type paper with black and white art. The font size used is a 10 point font and there is minimal borders / empty space. The average entry per monster is two pages. The book has been in production for a long time. The release dates were pushed back a few times. Is this book just a typical monster manual or is it actually worth the wait?

A DEEPER LOOK:

The monsternomicon contains 80 monster plus sections on "quickplates"(templates that can be added on to boost critters, Prestige classes, Cosmology of the Iron Kingdoms and Playable Races of Iron Kingdoms. The book introduce a great idea in the monster lore skill which is tied into the Legends & Lore section explained later on in this review. The art with in, usually one or more per creature, is outstanding and relevant to all entries.

The book is written in first person narrative by "professor Viktor Pendrake". This basically means that all monsters are given a first person introduction/ blurb in the monster entries giving each monster a unique perspective and giving the GM a very good understanding of how they fit in.

1. MONSTERS: (PGS 4- 206)

The extra time spent on produciing the book seems to have been well worth it. Each monster entry has the following additonal features in comparison to other products: a size comparison chart on top of the page- namely the outline of the creature VS humans, Treasure, Legends & Lore and Hooks.
The size chart is a very cool idea. It helped tremendously in visualizing the creature. The treasure section breaks down what can be found from the creature - this is not necessarily money or items but what can be harvested/ used from the creature itself; i consider this to be a tremendous and very useful idea; many adventure ideas popped into my head when i was looking through this. The Legends & Lore breaks down what the player character would know depending on the sucess level of their monster lore check (which is either tied into existing knowledge skills such as wilderness lore or knowledge skills or a separate skill - the choice is left up to the GM). The hooks provide the GM with great or unique ways to introduce a monster.

Here is an example of a typical monster and how these features apply :
Burrow Mawg:
Treasure: "... The adrenal gland, located at the base of its brain, is teeming with the hormone that gives the beast its exceptional physicality. Eating the adrenal gland of a Burrow Mawg raises the Str and Con score of the consumer by +2 for 4d8 rounds."
Legends & Lore: (catogorized as common, uncommon, rare and obscure)
common: None
Uncommon: "Burrow Mawgs cannot tolerate direct light....they hybernate during the deepst part of the summer months" etc.
Hooks: "... the adrenal glands have become the drug de jour among the local nobility..."

Some of the entries that stood out to me include the following:
Dragons (CR49-66): Not your typical dragons, these are unique creatures that could destroy a kingdom and they have some cool extra powers such as blighting the area that they dwell in. I would run from these guys on any day of the week.
Cephalyx (CR6): Monsterous humanoids that twist their captives into mindless servitors. They have multiple mechanical arms
Iron Lich (CR14>): A creature that has sold its flesh for immortality with some cool abilities as well as vulnerabilites.
Totem Hunter(CR11): Seems to have been inspired by predator, yet the creature is so unique with some ver cool abilities such as totem reaping (gains strength and additonal abilities by beheading the target).

2. LEGENDS AND LORE (PG208-209).

Gives an explanation of how the legends & lore works including how existing skills apply to what is known of a creature (common and uncommon legends & lore only). Rare and uncommon lore has to be researched.Introduces the new skill, Creature lore, which is very well blanced and thought out.

The section also introduces 4 new feats, namely unearthed arcana - the ability to gain rare legends on lore on 2 creatures per selection of this feat, Myth Delver - which gives a +4 on bardic knowledge or research checks, Sagas and Stories - which automiatically gives a PC common knowledge on a specific creature type (undead, fay etc) and Tall tales- which gives you an intelligence check DC10 to recall any common knowledge on a creature.

The skill and the research/ synergy info in this chapter is exceptionally well done. The feats, even though relevant, seemed a bit repatitive. I think the number of feats could have been reduced but never the less, none of the feats are unbalancing (some seem a bit underpowered)and they do add a new dimension to the game/

3.QUICKPLATES: (212-215)

These are templates that can be easily added to creatures to make them a bit more unique and challenging. The templates are:
1. Alpha Hunter: as the title imples, the leader of a pack, basically doubles con bonus, addition of the improved intitative feat plus bonus to stats, saves and feats. Restricted to only creatures that hunt in packs and have some form of communication
2.Blood Thirsty: as the title implies a creature whose love of killing has grown so strong that it is filled with blood lust. Boosts stats a bit, reduces AC and gets the Blood Rage ability .
3. Crafty: as the names implies, added bonuses to Int and wisdom etc.
4.Deep Dweller: a creature who has wandered into the subterranian environment and has adapted
5.Holy: a creature that has guarded a holy site for so long that it has gained abilities such as detect evil, damage reduction and enlightened body.
6.Maligned: a creature that has been tainted by dark energies. Gets additonal abilites such as detect good and logevity.
7.stealthy: as the name implies, gains sneak attack ability as well.
8. Tough: as the name implies, gains improved healing.
9. Urban: a creature found in the wilderness that has adapted to city life; gets abilites such as city stealth and hidden den

The templates are very utilitarian. They are well designed for a quick bump to creatures and also give regular monsters some added flavor if used properly.

4. PRESTIGE CLASSES: (219-234)

This section contains the following prestige classes:

1. Adveturing Scholar: A very well thought out prestige class. This PrC is very Indiana Jonsesque. The BAB, saves etc are on par with a rogue. The Prc gets features such as Field of Study and other abilities reating to the field of study which helps with knowledge skills, Base of Operations, Against all Odd (luck bonus that increases with level), Adventurer's Zeal(cha bonus to AC) and Pen scholarly work (which helps the Scholars abilites in influenicing other academics). Overall, a very well balanced and interesting PrC. The PrC migh be improper in a hack n slash campaing.

2. Bone Grinder: a PrC where the character gains the ability to create spell tokens that enhance spells and other abilities. This can only be done through hunting/ harvesting monster parts and specific types of monster parts enhance specific spell types and the HD of the creature used must be at least twice that of the spell enhanced (via metamagic feat). A very quirky and exceptional PrC.

3.Monster Hunter: similar to a ranger in some ways, this PrC also provides the character with the ability to set and create and set traps to capture creatures (think of the bad guys from Tarzan etc.). This PrC didnt really stand out to me, it could be duplicated by multi classing and as such seemed a bit redundant.

5&6: COSMOLOGY AND PLAYABLE RACES: (234-239)

Both these sections are unique to the Iron Kingdoms (IK) campaign setting and as such might not be portable to other campaigns.
COSMOLOGY: right off the bat the reader is told that there are no planes in IK and no planar travel. There are very few Outsiders in IK. There are only 2 kingdoms known to the denizens of IK, namely the living and the dead (Caen and Uracen). Another key factor that stood out was the fact that the gods are embroiled in fighting in an endless war (reading between the lines, i would presume no raise dead etc. in IK as the gods have an eminent need for souls). The Infernals in IK are in the Soul trade (not by tempting mortals mind you but by outright stealing souls on their journey in the after life - souls are pretty valuable in Uracen as they are the armies in the endless war). An order within the Infernals is given with the breakdown of the basic functions within the group.

This section was very unique and interesting. It peiqued my interest in IK. what seems to stand out is the fact that Privateer Press seems to be willing to think outside the box. The information here is a bit scant as one suspects that this is a teaser for their campaign setting.

PLAYABLE RACES:
The races outside of humans are, Dwarves, Elves, Gobbers, Trollkin, Ogrun and Nyss

Dwarves: As per PHB except they are Oathbound - any oath taken by a dwarf is considered a Geas/ Quest spell with all repercussions. Dwarves have to be Lawful.

Elves: Same as PHB except elves are Natural Diviners - free spell focus divination and +2 on scry checks.

Gobbers: two variations with the basic gobber getting +2 dex and -2 strength and the Bogrin getting +2 dex, -2 dex and cha. They get special abilities such as camouflage (+4 to hide checks)., +1 on saves vs. poison, +2 to alchemy checks, and +2 to escape artist checks (Gobber only). The Bogirin get the following additonal abilities; immune to natural exteme cold and heat, do not gain the +2 to escape artist and have a -2 to Bluff and Diplomacy.

Trollkin: +2 str, +4 con, -2 to dex and charisma. They also get improved healing (heal at twice the normal rate along with +4 vs poison and +2 vs disease and regenerating lost limbs), toughness (ability to shrug of subdual damage). they are considered level +1 creatures.

Ogrun: +4 str, -2 wis and int. These are large creatures +2 bonuses to intimidate and Craft checks. Once an Ogrun swears fealty to a cause it cannot betray those oaths. They also start with +1 hit dice at first level. They are considered level +1 creatures.

Nyss: Winter elves with +2 bonus to dex, -2 to wis. They are resistant to natural cold and vulnerable to hot weather. They also get +4 to saves vs cold based spells, -2 vs heat/fire based attacks, +2 to listen spot and hide. They also gain proficiency in the Claymore and Longbow and can apply weapon finesse to the Claymore.

The races, even though interesting, didnt seem well balanced. All races get skills that they are always adept at; this seems like a very good concept.Some of the races seem to have game mechanic bonuses off set by role playing penalties which does not work well in all situations. Further, the Gobbers seemed a bit underpowered while the Trollkin seemed a bit too powerful even considering the level adjustment (this is diregarding what seems to be an editing mistake where the poison and disease resistance was repeated twice under seperate sections).


OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:

This book is outstanding as far as production values and content goes.The art, layout and concepts were all above par. The only issues I had was with the Races section as noted above. The portability of the creatures to any setting was a pleaseant surprise and the monster section stands out as the strongest section in the book. This book is well worth having just for the monster lore concept alone. The detail provided for each creatures raises it a level above MM and similar books. Kudos to Privateer. Please feel free to ask any questions or post any comments, both positive and negative.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

I recall the excitement building as I stepped into my local gaming store last week. They finally had my copy of Privateer Press' Monsternomicon set aside for me, a product I had been hotly anticipating since being introduced to Privateer's unique setting in their trio of adventures that began with The Longest Night two years ago.

I have since devoured the book like a hungry buzzard beetle (see page 24).

Here's a brief description of the book before we take a more specific look inside: Hardbound, 240 pages, and a price tag of $29.95. The cover sports an iron-clawed undead creature tearing a hole in an iron door. Inside there are over 80 monsters described, along with several templates, an appendix with, amoung other things, rules covering legend and lore, "quickplates"--more on these later, prestige classes, and notes on using several of the races as player characters.

The meat of the book is the description of of over 80 monsters. Following the usual columns of statistics for each creature (hit dice, armor class, etc.), each entry continues with a first-person encounter with the beast as described by one Viktor Pendrake, a noted scholar of the monstrous. These are a nice way of introducing the reader to the creature--very easy to read and great for putting the creature in the context of bloodthirsty adventurers!

Following Pendrakes account of the creature are combat rules that seem to be thorough, with unusual abilities described nicely. Any unique rules are well thought out.

A paragraph or two on treasure follows. Many of the creatures body parts are described as being valuable (one creature's adrenalin gland fetches a handsome fee from the upper class who use it as a narcotic!).

Each creature has a section of "Legends and Lore," or information meant to be divulged to players as they make discoveries regarding the creature. Each bit of lore is divided into common, uncommon, rare, and obscure facts, with each fact having a higher difficulty to ascertain then the previous. Undoubtedly the "Legends and Lore" will make for some interesting role-playing, as the characters interview eye witnesses, consult sages, or convince the wizard's guild to let them open all those dusty tomes once again.

Finally, each creature has one or two adventure hooks. These all seem to be reasonable ideas for an evenings' adventure. Very helpful for a DM who needs to come up with an adventure quickly.

If the DM wants to add additional abilities or skills to a creature the appendix contains a section called "quickplates." A quickplate is an easy to use template useful for fleshing out a band of creature's leader, scout, or other individual the DM would like to be more unique. There are quickplates for Alpha Hunter, Bloodthirsty, Crafty, Deep Dweller, Holy, Maligned, Stealthy, Tough, and Urban.

I would be amiss if I didn't note a few of my favorite creatures from the Monsternomicon. The first one that comes to mind is the horrible Cephalyx, a monstrous humanoid who uses mind control to capture unfortunates who are turned into Drudges--brass helmeted slaves who unquestionably obey their master.

Another favorite is the always hungry Dracodile, a crocodile-like creature with a breath weapon of noxious swamp gas.

My favorite may be the Monsternomicon's treatment of trolls. Over a half dozen types of trolls are described, including the monstrous Dire Troll, the almost humorous Pygmy Troll (funny until 20 or 30 show up and the players realize that only fire or acid will permanently put one down), and the undead Black Troll. Each type of troll can create a whelp, or an immature troll with a short lifespan. This happens nearly instantly by cutting off a body extremity prior to a battle. A small band of trolls can thus become a nasty challenge if given time to prepare!

Much of the artwork in this book is by Ennie award winning artists. The presentation is beautiful.

To say the Monsternomicon met my expectations would be a gross understatement. This book is bar-none the most useful D20 book in my large collection. Very useful creatures, an appendix with handy rules, and the "legend and lore" and adventure hooks provided with each entry make this tome useful for someone (like me) running a Privateer Press campaign--but I think the book might be equally as useful for someone who needs to expand past the normal Monster Manual fare in a Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms camapign. Many creatures have a steampunk flair to them, making the book a great companion for a Deadlands D20 game.

The Monsternomicon is the type of product I always hoped the D20 license would bring. This book has raised the bar for monster books--any subsequent releases will be compared to this book, including the forthcoming Monster Manual II. This book WILL win Ennies. It's a D20 all-star.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Monsternomicon Volume I-Denizens of the Iron Kingdoms
Edited by Brett Huffman, J. Micahel Kilmartin, John Thompson
Published by Privateer Press
www.privateerpress.com
www.ironkingdoms.com
240 b & w pages
$29.95

This may turn out to be the year of the monster with so many monster books out. Liber Bestarius from Eden, Monster Manual II later this year for Wizards of the Coast, the Tome of Horrors from Necromancer, and of course, the Monsternomicon from Privateer Press.

This book has several strengths that are obvious right away. The first thing one notices is that many of the creatures, either due to design or sheer skill on the artists part, have a very exotic look, like monsters from say the old Talislanta Bestiary or Tribe 8. In addition, at the top of the page, by the name, a silhouette shows a comparison with the creature and a regular human. For those who love role-playing information and ideas on how best to utilize the creatures, there are two sections, Legends & Lore, and Hooks. The Legends & Lore is broken up into Common, Uncommon, Rare and Obscure details. The hooks provide quick ideas on how to use the monster in question. The art is usually broken up into two different illustrations, making each creature a minimum of two pages.

The monsters cover a nice range of challenge ratings. The lowly Thrall, an undead with different power levels starting from Risen, Slave, and Warrior, all less than a CR of 1, to Lieutenant, Bane and Skarlock Thrall, moving up to 1, 3 and 4. Those who have Epic Characters wandering over the lands making trouble for the world will marvel at the power of Dragons in the Iron Kingdoms. These unique beasts are named, Scaefang, Blighterghast, Halfaug, which doesn’t’ count the lord Toruk who rules his own island. The challenge rating on these mighty monsters? How about 60, 66, and 49?

The book also introduces several Iron Kingdom standard equivalents. Want to know what goblins are like in the IK? Look up Gobbers. Instead of Ogres, we have Ogrun, both regular and Black versions. The Black Ogrun are master crafters of weapons and armor and are sought out by many despite their evil nature. The standard Troll, is replaced with several unique types in the Iron Kingdom. First off, it gets rid of the stupid, savage troll. While that troll is part of D&D history, it’s never really been too accurate and some D&D books have tried to redeem this a little by changing some factors but now you don’t have to.

But what of the other types of Troll? Well, Dire Trolls are the biggest and toughest of the normal bunch, more giant than troll. On the other hand, we’ve got Whelps, which are severed limbs that take on a life of their own for a brief period of time. My favorite is probably the Pygmy Trolls, just for the difference. These short creatures are smart hunters and work in large numbers, which makes them a little more dangerous than merely encountering one or two. What’s worse is that they often work for trolls so it’s best not to create an enemy of something that may have some big back up.

The Black Troll is actually an undead troll and is like a creature of tar that drains blood. The most advanced of the trolls, Trollkin, is one with it’s own culture based on bloodlines. These individuals use weapons and wear armor and are actually suitable for player characters.

Outside of the monsters, all of which are superbly illustrated, there is a section on how to use the Legends & Lore classifications in the monster entries. It includes a new skill, Creature Lore, which we’ve seen in some other books, and new feats, Unearthed Arcana and Myth Dlver, and Tall Tales. The Creature Lore is pretty much a standard monster information roll with the DC dependent on the rank of monster knowledge: Common 10, Uncommon 15, Rare 20-23, Obscure 30+. The UA feat provides specific information on two creatures for every four ranks of Creature Lore you have. Myth Delver provides you Common knowledge of creatures types when they’re described. So you could take Undead, and if someone mentioned Thralls, know what they were talking about while Tall Tales provides you with common knowledge by making an intelligence check against DC 10 and Uncommon Knowledge if you hit a DC of 20 on your roll.

Other cool bits abound like Quickplates. These aren’t full blown templates but rather represent some aspect of a creature that makes it different than the rest of its fellows. Say you have a pack of wolves. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a leader? Give it the Alpha Hunter. How about that one orc whose more vicious than the rest of his fellows? Give him the Bloodthirsty quickplate.

Those looking for an NPC to throw into the works get Viktor Pendrake and information on his allies and enemies. While his deeds make him out to be very powerful or very lucky, he’s no Elminster and comes off a little more believable as a character. You’ll note that Viktor has a Prestige Class called the Adv Sch, and that’s the Adventuring Scholar, introduced in this book, along with the Bone Grinder, and the Monster Hunter.

The PrCs include information on how to use them in the Iron Kingdoms, as well as NPCs to help set the tone. The Adventuring Scholar in some ways seems to be another take on the old Indiana Jones bit as this is a man with a thirst for knowledge who won’t let a little thing like a trapped temple stop him. The free exotic weapon proficiency also seems to be a wink in that direction. The Bone Grinder is a bit different than other PrCs in that it’s a spellcaster who doesn’t embrace normal alchemical formula, but instead, uses body parts from creatures to craft their wares. While they have reduced spellcasting ability, only one level of spell casting every other level, they gain feats to craft their unique magic items, and a higher hit die and base attack bonus than standard mages. The Monster Hunter, well, he’s a monster hunter whose special abilities focus on killing monsters with such things as a penetrating blow, which does extra damage to a monster taken as a favored type.

One of the best things about the PrCs is the detail. Not only are the standards included, i.e. what the PrC is, what special abilities it gets, but also lots of examples to help move you along. The Adventuring Scholar has a list of scholarly works, the Bone Grinder, example Spell Enchancers and Tokens, the Monster Hunter, Gear and Traps. These things make it very easy to start using the information here right away.

One section I wasn’t sure belonged in this book is the Cosmology & Infernals. While it’s important to note that the Infernals fill a role similar to demons & devils in other settings, this is pretty setting specific goods and probably should’ve been in another book devoted to the Iron Kingdoms. Still, those who want to use the Infernals in their own setting will find that there are many differences between these outsiders and other fiends and the information here, such as why Infernals want souls, and what the hierarchy of Infernals are, will find this section handy.

The section on Playable Races suffers a similar problem. This isn’t a setting sourcebook so why is information on elves and dwarves listed? I fully appreciate having character stats and information for the new races presented here, including the Gobbers, Trollkin, Ogrun, and Nyss, but don’t need to know about elves, dwarves, and the races not standard in an Iron Kingdoms setting. That’s not the purpose of this book. This is a monster book. That space could’ve been used for background feats for the Gobbers and Trollkins for example.

There are a few weaknesses in the book though. For one thing, I find it amazing that a book that focuses on the Iron Kingdoms, a setting where one of the logos is a Steam Jack, doesn’t have stats for them. The next weakness is the lack of a table that breaks down monsters by CR. Having no table for something important like that insures that there is no table for different areas to encounter creatures or subtables like Liber Bestarius included. Lastly, I was a little leery that racial traits aren’t included for all monsters that advance by class level. While the Skorne have racial traits, the Bog Trog, Dregg, Farrow and Gatorman do not.

In terms of layout, when it works, it works. The storytelling system of having most monsters introduced through fiction is a time-honored tradition but the monster stats themselves seem to take up a lot of space and the handwritten text is sometimes difficult to read. In addition, while its great to see a comparison of sizes where the creature is standing next to a human, why is the opposite page on the same lower level? That eats into the text a bit. The flow of the book is easy on the eyes though and the normal text is easy to read due to good white space use.

What I don’t consider a weakness though, is the ‘Steampunk’ setting that some have mentioned. When looking through the book, I see very few creatures that rely on it. Someone might open the first page and go, “What about the Animatons?” I’d say that in a standard setting, they could just as easily exist in a Construct makers halls or in the places that use guns like Freeport. What about the Cephalyx? Well, that’s not really Steampunk, more like arcane machine work that relies not on the setting, but on the Cephalyx itself. Kinda reminds me of some of the old Magic creatures. The Galvanite Sentinel? It’s a suit of armor that uses electricity. That’s not steam, that’s magic. The Iron Maiden? Solidly on the side of a normal construct. How about the Pistol Wraith? Well, once again, if you have guns in your campaign, ala Forgotten Realms, Freeport, or another source, not a problem.

Pure Steam? I’ll give the Deathjack a nod. It’s meant to be a very bad monster with specific ties to the various Jacks of the setting. A GM could always rule though, that it’s a Gnome invention gone mad. I’ll grant that the Iron Lich is also pretty much right in the realm of SteamPunk as well. Throw in the Mechagargoyle as well because this steel sentry is another mechanical monstrositiy. The Mechanithrall, an undead humanoid with mechanical parts, also fits into this definition.

So if you’re running the Forgotten Realms or another setting that uses Guns, doesn’t have gnomes who are tinkerers, you’ve got maybe four creatures that would be difficult to use. Four.

The Monsternomicon is a good monster book and if it falls short in some categories, comes out strong in many others. It is currently the best-illustrated monster book. It provides lots of information for role playing purposes. It provides several Prestige Classes that study, hunt, or use monsters. It’s not going to provide the most monsters, and a few of the creatures may be difficult to work into your campaign but overall, the Monsternomicon deserves to be on every GMs bookshelf just so that when his players are getting all complacent in their 21st level status, he can whip out an Gorgandur and have them still running for their lives.

 

[Psion]

Monsternomicon Volume I

Privateer Press is know primarily for their Witchfire series of adventures that occurs in their Iron Kingdoms steampunk-fantasy setting. Though some d20 fans acquired an interest in this setting through the adventures, to date all information about the setting has been limited to that presented in those adventures.

Monsternomicon is the first actual supplement for the setting. While it is not a setting book, it does provide a number of creatures and other details about the setting.

A First Look

Monsternomicon is a 240-page hardbound book priced at $29.95.

The cover of the book has dressings like an ironbound riveted door; the front cover of the book depicts a skeletal creature with an iron claw ripping through that door. The cover picture is well done and moody.

The interior is black-and-white. Interior artists (many of whom you may recognize as veteran RPG or CCG illustrators) include Brian Snoddy, Matt Wilson, Brian Despain, Tony DiTerlizzi, Chippy Dugan, Scott Fischer, Gerald Lee, and Ron Spencer. The interior art is very moody and stylish, and is on the average very well done.

A Deeper Look

The bulk of Monsternomicon is new creatures, almost 100 in all. There is arguably a glut of monster books on the d20 system market right now, so how does Privateer set their book apart?

Well, first off is subject matter. The book is intended as a supplement for the Iron Kingdoms setting, a "steampunk" setting in which there are many steam-driven contraptions and devices beyond the norm for fantasy.

Second is the approach of the presentation and style. Instead of stuffing as many creatures as possible into the book, the book lavishes a lot of detail on each creature. Each entry has at least two accompanying illustrations. In addition to the normal combat and statistics details of d20 system creatures, the descriptive section is written from the vantage point of a sage in the Iron Kingdoms setting. Many creatures feature an additional Legends & Lore section detailing what characters might know or learn about the creature with successful skill checks, a special Treasure section detailing what sorts of treasure the creature is known to carry or that can be extracted from its remains, and/or a Hooks section providing adventure ideas for the creature.

Some of the more intriguing creatures are:
- Animatons: Kicking off with construct type creatures, the Animaton includes three types of mechanical monstrosities, the snakelike gear wyrm, the chain-armed rip cutter and the cunning beastlike chain runner. Animatons are especially potent against spell-users due to their anti-magical abilities.
- Cephalyx: These are humanoid creatures with grafted mechanical limbs (which end in surgical tools) that dwell underground and are known for their ability to create thralls called cephalyx drudges (template included) by means of chirugery.
- Galvanite Sentinel: An electicity creature that is can inhabit and animate suits of armor.
- Gatorman: A alligator-like monstrous humanoid.
- Gristle & Flay: A bizarre paired creature, gristle appears as a skinless creature, and the flay is its independently acting tattooed skin.
- Husk: A colony of vermin that inhabit and animates a human corpse.
- Infernals: A new race of fiends that are part of the Iron Kingdoms setting. Infernals appear very human, and by the rules enclosed here, can be summoned without spellcasting ability (though at a terrible price.)
- Iron Lich: A template that is essentially an undead spellcaster that lives on by implainting its skull into an iron body.
- Mechanithrall: I am guessing this is the creature depicted on the front cover. Mechanitralls are hybrids of undead creatures and constructs.
- Totem Hunter: A large monstrous humanoid with a penchant for hunting creatures, including humans. Very reminiscent of the creature from the Predator movies.

Many creatures in the main section of the book are templates, but most templates have a ready-to-run creature with the template already applied.

While not all of the creatures are related to the steampunk feel of the setting, it is fair to say that the more unique and interesting ones are. Many of the non-mechanical creatures are merely variants of creatures that already exist in the d20 system, like trolls, ogres, and goblins. There are a lot of variant undead and other bizarre creatures, and the overall mood of the creatures is pretty grim.

In addition to the monsters, there is an appendix with some additional rules that you can use in your game.

The section on Legends & Lore discusses how to use the legends & lore entries in the book. It introduces a new skill (creature lore) and new feats that assist in the gleaning of knowledge about creatures. It follows this up with a section on Tomes of Lore, items that can be useful in identifying creatures.

There is a section called Quickplates. Quickplates are essentially templates designed to be used with a minimum of fuss and tabulation. You can create bloodthirsty, crafty, or holy creatures with these templates, among others.

A section introduces Victor Pendrake, the sage supposedly speaking throughout the book. The section presents Victor's background, his allies, and statistics, should you wish to use him in your game. Obviously, this section is most appropriate to an Iron Kingdoms game.

The book provides three new prestige classes that have a special interest in monsters: the adventuring scholar, the bonegrinder (crafts items of power from the bones of creatures), and the monster hunter (yet another class optimized against particular creatures.) Much like the monsters in the book, the prestige classes contain additional details such as campaign details and gear.

The book wraps up with a few iron kingdoms specific notes, such as the cosmology of the setting and more details on the role the infernals play, as well as some notes on PC races in the Iron Kingdoms setting, including many raced drawn from entries earlier in the book.

Conclusion

The Monsternomicon is a stylish entry to the "monster book" rat race. Fans of Privateer's Iron Kingdoms setting will, of course, want this book. The book is perfectly usable in other settings. The most compelling entries in the book are the ones with a "mechanical aspect" to them. As such, you will probably find it most attractive if you are running a game that is accommodating to these aspects, such as a game inspired by the Final Fantasy console game, a game in which constructs are a common theme (perhaps as gnomish creations), or a game with science fantasy elements such as Dragonstar.

Mechanically, the book was fairly solid, and I only caught a few errors (such as a creature with the wrong constitution modifier to its hit dice.)

-Alan D. Kohler

 

[Messageboard Golem]

By Steve Creech, Exec. Chairman, d20 Magazine Rack

This review is for Monsternomicon by Privateer Press. Subtitled Volume 1: Denizens of the Iron Kingdoms, this 240-page book is filled with all manner of beasts and retails for $29.95. I have to say that this is probably the best d20 monster publication to date. Even though the monsters are designed for Privateer’s Iron Kingdoms world (which is steampunk), they are useable in any setting. I don’t typically comment on artwork in a product because as a rule, artwork isn’t as important as the actual content. However, I am a fan of black ink and pen artwork and the drawings in this book really rock as a result. The artwork succeeds in making each monster menacing in its own right.

Monsternomicon consists of 97 monster entries. In addition, the final 32 pages list new skills, feats, magic items, templates (called quickplates), prestige classes and playable races for the Iron Kingdoms. Each monster entry is two full pages and consists of the game statistics, general description, combat methods, legends & lore, treasure, and adventure hooks. The game statistics are in the same format as your typical monster appearing to have no mechanics or balance issues. The general description is done in first person account by Professor Viktor Pendrake and makes an entertaining read (you gotta love his dracodile entry). Legends & lore offers common, uncommon, rare or obscure tidbits of information about the specific creature. I really like this feature. It’s quite original. The treasure section doesn’t always specifically list the exact treasure you would normally find, but rather a generalized description that may point out things such as the fact that the monster’s hide serves as masterwork hide +2 (for example). The adventure hooks are all fairly thought out and not typically the run-of-the-mill overused hook.

The last section of the book goes into mostly non-monster crunchies designed more for the Iron Kingdoms and those playing in it. A new skill, Creature Lore, is presented along with three new feats: Unearthed Arcana, Myth Delver, and Tall Tales. The quickplates (alpha hunter, bloodthirsty, crafty, deep dweller, holy, maligned, stealthy, tough, and urban) all add interesting twists to any creature. These templates will really throw your players off when you apply them to a monster they think they know inside and out. The prestige classes are definitely tailored to Iron Kingdoms but should be able to be used in any setting with little to no modification. The classes discussed are: Adventuring Scholar, Bone Grinder and Monster Hunter (very cool PrC!!). The playable races detailed include dwarves, elves, gobbers, trollkin, ogrun, and nyss. I am very interested in seeing the campaign book for this setting when it comes out so there is more detail on these new races.

Overall, Monsternomicon is an outstanding book. My only complaint is that there is no index that lists the monsters by challenge rating (they range from ¼ to 66). Perhaps Privateer will offer this as a web enhancement. In my opinion, this is a must have book for everyone. Buy a copy as soon as you can! It’s now my primary monster book in my campaign.

To see the graded evaluation of this product, go to The Critic's Corner at www.d20zines.com.

 

[knight_isa]

Monsternomicon: Volume I--Denizens of the Iron Kingdoms
Privateer Press
ISBN 0-9706970-3-1
240 pages (art on inside covers, 2 pages copyright/TOC/OGL, 2 pages index)
$29.95

This is not a playtest review.

Monsternomicon is almost everything I want out of a monster manual--it's a beautiful book, a thick hardcover with a wonderful layout, great art, and some monsters that nobody else knows about. Although nominally set in the Iron Kingdoms, most of the monsters in this book could be easily placed in a more traditional fantasy campaign.

The Monsters. (204 pages, 98 monsters by my count) The monster entries are great. Each entry starts on a page boundary and most (if not all) entries sport at least two pictures. All the art is pen & ink, and most of it is fantastic. Each entry also has a silhouette of the creature next to a human one so you can get a sense of relative size. In addition to the expected stuff each entry has a bit of useful flavor text (descriptions of one Viktor Pendrake's experiences with the creature), a brief section on legend & lore (to go along with the Creature Lore skill presented later in the book) as well as some suggested plot hooks. My one and only complaint is that the treasure is listed a bit different that normal (it lists items, body parts, etc), which might make calculating treasure a little bit difficult for the DM. On the other hand, the treasure does match the creature a bit more than in the MM.

The monsters overall are a bit on the macabre side, and a lot of them are really cool. Here a a few of my favorites that I'm looking forward to using once I'm back in the DM's chair:

• the boatman (CR 7), a monstrous humanoid that poses as a boatman to ambush his prey, but is a sucker for a good deal and will let you go--for the right price. This entry includes a template for a boatman's "progeny" (victims that it brings back as undead).
• the cephalyx (CR 6), another monstrous humanoid with some mechanical implants that creates drudges of it's victims (template included). This one could easily be modified to be psionic instead of magical in nature.
• the eldritch (CR 14+), a sort of lich/vampire that can create minions called sythyss (template included). The eldritch is actually a template. I could see an eldritch being a big, bad, nasty recurring villian.
• the rusalka (CR 3), a fey that is bound to an enchanted dagger. I can imagine an adventure revolving around a rusalka and her dagger. I'd say more, but I hate to give anything away.

[5]

Legends & Lore and Tomes of Lore. (4 pages) These sections discuss the new skill Creature Lore (which lets you find out pieces of information about a creature as noted in its entry), new feats related to Creature Lore, and tomes that provide bonuses to said skill. The pricing for the tomes doesn't follow the DMG (it's quite a bit more expensive), and I think that I tome creation from Ink & Quill and bit better besides. [3]

Quickplates. (4 pages) Quickplates are templates that can quickly be added to a monster to buff it up a little or give it a bit of variety. The quickplates are Alpha Hunter, Bloodthirsty, Crafty, Deep Dweller, Holy, Maligned, Stealthy, Tough, and Urban. These seem well done. [5]

Viktor Pendrake. (3 pages) A couple of pages about the "author" of the book and his allies & enemies with stat-blocks. I think the campaign setting book might be a better place for this, but it does give you a bit of extra insight into the flavor text that accompanies the monster entries. [3]

Prestige Classes. (16 pages) The Adventuring Scholar (think Indiana Jones), the Bone Grinder (spellcasters that seek out body parts for increasing the power of their spells or creating magic items called tokens), Monster Hunter (super ranger that can set traps--new gear and traps are included). Again, while these are related to the material in the book, I think they should have been in the campaign setting book. To be honest, I didn't look at the prestige classes closely enough to check balance. [3]

Cosmology & Infernals. (2 pages) The Iron Kingdoms has its own cosmology, and outsiders are exceptionally rare. It's an interesting read, but, yet again, I'd rather see this in the campaign setting book. [3]

Playable Races. (4 pages) This section points out which races from the PH exist in the Iron Kingdoms (and which have changes), as well as which creatures from this book are considered playable races (along with short PH-style write ups). Oddly enough, these aren't listed in alphabetical order. [3]

Index. I really wish there were a couple of indices, preferably one by creature type and one by CR. As it is, there is just the alphabetical TOC. It would be really nice if Privateer came up with one as a web enhancement, but it would have been even nicer if one had been included at the expense of one of those aforementioned things that would have been better suited to the campaign setting book. [0]

Conclusion: Overall, I thought this is a fantastic monster book. Other than the missing index, it is everything I want in a monster book. I have to admit that the "Volume 1" in the title makes my hope for a volume 2. Should a volume 2 come out, I would buy it in a heartbeat, especially if it dropped the campaign setting stuff in favor of more monsters and the indices.

Normally I average out the scores to come up with my ending score, but in this case I think the Monsternomicon does so well with the monsters that it completely overshadows any complaints I had about campaign setting stuff being where (I think) it didn't belong. If I could give a fractional score I'd give this book a 4.75--the only real fault being the lack of the indices that I wanted. As it is, I'll give it a 5.

 

[negativtoo]

Appearances :
A 240 pages hardcover with glossy full-colour exterior artwork ( some friendly undead-steamtech hybrid staring out at the prospective buyer from behind a partially busted steeldoor, fitting the setting quite nicely ). Interor art is black and white drawings on slightly greyish paper. The interior art (by Brian Snoddy and Matt Wilson ) is exceptional to outstanding in quality, both in terms of decorative quality and depicting the relevant subject. As it is all done by the same two artists it has a very unique and cohesive quality. Some of the artwork is rather graphic and not for the "oh-so-faint-of heart" types, though, but nothing too gory.The paper is of heavy stock, giving the book a truly "tomish" feel. The price is US$ 29,95 , so it is not the the cheapest of bargains.

The Works :
As yet another monster compilation ( for which the D20 market seems to have an insatiable appetite ) the "Monstronomicon is also the first non-adventure title/publication for Privateer-Press' Iron Kingdom setting, an atypical, if volatile, mixture of classic fantasy with a hefty dose of steampunkish technology and some gritty warmongering - so the "Monstronomicon" is also aimed at establishing the feeling privateer angles for in this setting. It contains 80 plus creatures, most of them either adapted varieties of fantasy stables, interestingly reworked for the Iron Kingdom setting, some are truly new creatures with a steamtech twist and some are unique beings which leave/have left deep marks on the IK setting.. You also have the Iron Kingdom variants of certain character races in here, like Winter Elves, Gobber (Goblins), Farrows and Trollkin .

Each monster has a 2 page or more length entry, two or more illustrations depicting it in action or in its environment ( and some of these illustrations alone make an encounter or adventure come to mind ), a "to-scale" illustration depicting its relative size to a standard human (cookie points for this !) a short vignette/story describing how and where the monster may be met, told by a fictitious narrator, a "legends and lore" block listing commonly and not-so-commonly known facts about the creature, some uses for its carcass besides as roadkill and a short "adventure hook" section...... Wow ! Every publisher out there intend to publish/republish a monster collection should take hints from this - this is masterwork quality stuff ! The mixture of low and midlevel, along with some high CR beings seems reasonable. Very few outsiders (as befits the setting ) but a bunch of constructs and parasites/vermin.

Into the first category of monster fall old stables of D+D like Gatormen (Lizardmen a la IK ), Mechgargoyles, Warpwolves (lycanthropes) Thralls ( Zombies) and Trolls (with a bunch of subspecies, and for once, a great idea for trollish "offspring"). Most of these have unique twists, both regarding environmental effects, habits, powers and or traditions, making them both a surprise for the players and interesting to employ for the GM, and it is quite surprising how Privateer Press pulls new uses from old hats.

The second category contains a lot of creatures which are new and unique, both for urban adventure and deep wilderness encounters. For most of them there is both a short vignette describing how and why they may be encountered, which, while not answering every question possible about a creature, gives the GM solid ground to build upon. Many of these creatures are spirits or wayside hazards like the Rusalka, the Boatman, the Old Man of the Swamp or simply dangerous animals like Dracodils (crocodiles with a vengeance ) and Hull Grinders ( the bane of fishermen ). Some new NPC races like the Black Ogrun ( dark but smart Ogre blacksmiths of superior, yet dangerous, arms), the Satyrix (humans changed by living in the proximity of dragons ), Bog Trolls (think "the thing from the black lagoon" ) among others. Some interesting "not-a-golem" constructs and rather undead thingies make their appearance here as well. Usually, each and every on of them has one or more nasty twists up their sleeves.

The third category has unique beings of the Iron Kingdoms - such has the three known dragons, all of which have extreme CRs (think 49 to 66...hehe ), but as they have both magical and political influence on the world around them (among other things ruling a certain nation, causing widespread mutation through their sheer presence and being a environmental nuisance for travels ) it makes sense listing them here. Also you have a bunch of creatures with CRs in the teens and lower which make great and terrible foes for characters, or are very useful for putting some real fear into their hearts. My favourite among these is the Deathjack, though, a deadly contraption from hell, eternally stalking the lands of the kingdoms fueled by consuming the souls of those it has defeated in its infernal furnace... closely followed by the doppleganger-fiend "Grizzle and Flay".

Simply put - almost each and every creature listed in the "Monstronomicon" will give you a unique ( especially if used in another campaign-setting ) and memorable encounter - and in many ways some of the scariest creatures in this tome are the tiny and silent ones. Most creatures, while having a strong Iron Kingdom flavour, will be easy to transfer one on one to any other fantasy campaign, even the steamtech monstrosities or the one undead being with handguns - unless you like your monsters cute, furry and pinkish, that is.

It should be noted that almost 30 pages of this book are devoted to additional Iron Kingdom rules for Monster hunting characters ( 3 prestige classes included ), with sample zoological books providing information on certain monstrosities, minster hunting equipment, rulesfor applying "Legends and Lore" in a campaign, rule son writing such tomes oneself etc etc etc. also you find stats on the "narrator" of the book, a daredevil scholar eccentric in the tradition of Dr. Jones and some hard and fast information on the Cosmology/planes of the iron Kingdoms, plus 4 pages on the Stats, limitations and attitudes of the Iron Kingdom player character races ( notably = no Gnomes, Half orcs or Halflings ). This is nice stuff, especially if playing/contemplating an IK campaign. about the value of it being found in a monster collection I am uncertain - while it is great stuff, I would have preferred another 10 or 12 monsters. Still, not bad.

Resumee :
Excellent value for the money - while not cheap, the "Monstronomicon" delivers in spades. In my opinion, while the monstronomicon is arguably not the Monster collection with the most new monsters, no other monster collection on the market for the d20 system right now does even approach the high percentage of useful, original (!) and interesting ones in the Monstronomicon, nor does any other book give so much intriguing and inspiring details about its "specimen". Its exemplary presentation, black-humoured writing and truly exceptional artwork are simply the icing on the cake. If you look for a creature collection to expand your campaign, get this one. You might even consider buying it for the sheer entertainment/inspirational value.

straight 5/5