Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="John Cooper" data-source="post: 2010609" data-attributes="member: 24255">The Slayer's Guide to KoboldsMongoose Publishing product number MGP0018Alejandro Melchor and Matthew Sprange32 pages, $9.95In my mind, Mongoose's "Slayers Guide" series can be broken down into three different categories.  There are the 32-page "tongue in cheek" ones ("The Slayer's Guide to Rules Lawyers," "The Slayer's Guide to Female Gamers"), there are the 128-page ones covering a wide variety of similar monsters ("The Slayer's Guide to Dragons," "The Slayer's Guide to Undead"), and there are the 32-page "focus on a single monster" ones.  "The Slayer's Guide to Kobolds," the 18th in the line, is in the latter category.  Before I move on with the review, it seems only fair to point out that "Slayer's Guides" aren't going to be everybody's cup of tea.  They are primarily DM-focused, since the whole point of a "Slayer's Guide" is to give the DM (or "Games Master," the term preferred by Mongoose) enough information about the monster in question to integrate it seamlessly into his campaign.  This isn't to say that players won't get anything from picking up a "Slayer's Guide" - on the contrary, most have sections adapting the monster as a Player Character and suggestions on roleplaying the monster - but a DM is bound to get more use out of any given book in the series than a player is. It seems only fair to compare "The Slayer's Guide to Kobolds" against others in the same category (32-pagers focusing on a single monster).  As far as that goes, "Kobolds" is one of the better ones I've seen so far.The cover, by David Griffiths, is a full-color depiction of a band of kobolds in a typical subterranean environment.  The rest of the illustrations are black and white, but above average ones at that.  I'd like to make a few quick points about the artwork.  First of all, there are 14 pieces of interior art, plus the Chris Quilliams anatomical diagram on the inside front cover and a map of the sample kobold lair on the back cover.  The Quilliams piece is up to his fantastic standards (despite the rather embarrassing misspelling, "Kolbolds," displayed prominently above the artwork), rendering the best-looking kobold head I've ever seen, bar none.  (Here's a book idea for Mongoose:  Why don't you get Chris to do an anatomical drawing of every monster in the SRD?  His artwork is heads above that appearing in the Monster Manual; I'd love to see him do something along the lines of Wayne Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials.)  Together, Quilliams and Griffiths account for every bit of artwork in the book.  I really like this approach, as it gives a more unifying look to the kobold.  (Some of the earlier "Slayer's Guides" had up to half a dozen artists each, of differing levels of artistic talent, resulting in monsters depicted very differently from page to page.)  All of these kobolds look like they're part of the same race.Another thing I noticed is that the artists apparently read the book before drawing their illustrations.  For the first time I can recall in a "Slayer's Guide," much of the artwork actually depicts specific scenes in the book rather than just generic poses of the monster in question.  The three kobolds hiding from an ogre and the female kobold chasing newly-hatched broodlings with a stick are both illustrations from the short bits of fiction interspersed throughout the book; the seven kobolds piling onto a dwarf are a depiction of the kobold "latching" combat maneuver the book provides.  I definitely see this as a step up in quality and something I hope continues in future "Slayer's Guides."Also, I have to applaud the many little details found in the artwork.  In the discussion of kobold "pecking order" we learn that kobolds demonstrate their caste in society by wearing colored ribbons on their arms and that a scarf worn around the neck is the highest status symbol in kobold society.  Right there on that page is a smug-looking kobold wearing a scarf.  When I checked the cover painting, sure enough, the lead kobold's prominently wearing a ribbon on his left arm, as are the kobolds in many of the interior illustrations.  The text points out that kobolds prefer the crossbow and the shortspear.  Guess which two weapons are featurted prominently in virtually all the pictures of kobolds wielding weapons?  Good job, Chris and David!Okay, enough about the artwork, let's move on to the text.  The Table of Contents page credits both Alejandro Melchor and Matthew Sprange as the authors of the work, although oddly only Alejandro's name is featured on the cover.  These two stick very close to the standard "Slayer's Guide" layout - that it to say, we get the following:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Introduction - describing the purpose of the book followed by a page-long bit of fiction</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Kobold Physiology - where we learn about their enhanced vision and hearing and their "wet dog smell" (which they are blissfully unaware of, apparently) as well as maturation rate, diet, and innate penchant for sorcery</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Habitat - describing their narrow subterranean passages</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Society - including an interesting caste structure, lack of family values, and the vast numbers a kobold tribe can attain, as well as touching on slaves, mining, religion, and two kobold variants (a "Chromatic" template and the winged caste kobold)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Methods of Warfare - a very nice look at kobolds' trapmaking skills, including an example of each of the many types of traps they focus on</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Roleplaying With Kobolds - focusing on their spite and hatred of all other races</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> 8 Scenario Hooks and Ideas</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Kobolds As Player Characters - using different racial traits than those given in the Monster Manual)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Ki'chkeeshla's Lair - a sample lair, incorporating many of the ideas in the book and usable as-is for a decent night of gaming</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Kobold Reference List - giving stats for various kobolds (Warband Leader, Warband Sorcerer, Sergeant, Taskmaster, Trapmaker, and Hatchling)</li> </ul>The writing is generally clear and well thought-out, although another round of proofreading might have been in order, for there are some piddly little problems like incorrect punctuation usage that crop up again and again.  (Apostrophes and commas - especially commas directly after the word "but" - seem to be recurring bugaboos.)Some things worth pointing out:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> I was very pleased with the bit not only explaining that kobold eyes actually shine when exposed to light (and checking the cover, sure enough, we've got glowing eyes on kobolds in the background - good job again there, David!), but also tying it in with their light sensitivity and from that deriving the use of bright lights as a way to extract information from kobolds (in effect, it's a lightweight form of "torture").  On the other hand, while it says that kobold eyes are "important components in the crafting of many magical items," no examples were given.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> While I was pleased to see the inclusion of a winged kobold variant (previous editions of AD&D included the urd, a winged kobold), I was a bit underwhelmed by the presentation.  Whereas an urd was pretty much just a kobold with batlike wings, the winged kobold presented here is bigger, tougher, and stronger than a kobold - it even has the innate powers of a 2nd-level sorcerer, resistances to cold, fire, and acid, and the standard dragon immunities to sleep and paralysis - but the silly things are even bigger cowards than the typical kobold.  That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Likewise, the "chromatic" kobold seems to be a watered-down version of a half-dragon kobold.  (Chromatic kobolds don't get breath weapons, for one thing.)  I was a little disappointed that the authors chose to go that rather obvious route, given the supposed link between kobolds and dragons in the first place.  I'm all for variant races, but this one seemed rather lackluster.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">  The map of Ki'chkeeshla's Lair is well done, one of the better maps to grace a "Slayer's Guide."</li> </ul>Nitpicking aside, I am overall very pleased with "The Slayer's Guide to Kobolds."  Using the five-point scale system, I place it at 4 stars - well above a mere "Average," but not quite rating a "Superb."  I hope future "Slayer's Guides" follow the simple kobold's lead, especially in regard to the detailed artwork and unified artistic vision.</blockquote>

Verification