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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2009413" data-attributes="member: 18387">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.</blockquote>

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