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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Simon Collins" data-source="post: 2010063" data-attributes="member: 9860">Beware! This review contains spoilers (one of the chapters is an adventure).This is not a playtest review.The Slayer's Guide To Undead is Mongoose Publishing's look at a range of undead creatures - notably, it is written By Gary Gygax, along with his co-author Jon Creffield.The Slayer's Guide To Undead is a 128-page mono softcover product costing $19.95. Space usage is good (including the use of the inside covers), margins seem slightly larger than standard, but font size is average. Interior art runs from poor to good, and shows off the talents of a wide range of artists. The inside covers display some amusingly gross full-colour art, including an undead corpse eating his own entrails (for those with a weak stomach - beware, my wife wanted me to change that last comment to amazingly gross!!). The same artist is used for the front cover which pictures a number of different undead in a gothic-style cathedral. I found the writing style very appropriate to the topic covered - it has a hint of gothic formality without quite descending into cliche. Editing seems good.Unlike most previous Slayer's Guides, this one concentrates on a number of different undead - indeed, all the undead from Core Rulebook III are discussed. Each type of undead has information on its physiology, habitat, society, and methods of warfare, along with general ideas for use in a campaign, together with specific scenario hooks and ideas. As well, many of the undead creatures are presented as a template, rather than just as a creature (unless such has already been done in Core Rulebook III). This makes it possible to create hundreds (if not thousands) of different creatures using a mix of these different undead creatures with various base creatures - e.g spectral nymphs, shadow pegasi, skeletal stirges, etc., etc.Chapter 1: A Demonic OverlordThis chapter gives one popular option for the presence of undead in a campaign setting - a demonic lord of the living dead (Orcus), who created the undead through a mighty curse. There is also a sidebar covering the presence of good undead within this concept and some flavour text. There is further advice to the GM on creating undead from different creature types - very relevant to the rest of the book, with regard to the undead templates, though somewhat nebulous and unhelpful in its comments. The chapter continues with a discussion of the physiology of undead creatures, bringing together varied information from Core Rulebook III and relevant spell information from Core Rulebook I to present a cohesive overview.Chapter 2: The Unwilled Living DeadThis chapter looks at skeletons, zombies, and a new type of undead - the skassassin, which, as its name implies, is a skeletal assassin, raised by a necromancer to be a deadly killing machine.Chapter 3: The Free-Willed Living DeadThis chapter looks at bodaks, devourers, ghouls, ghasts, and lacedons, mohrgs, mummies, and wights. Two new free-willed undead are also presented - gholle and ghulaz (regenerating ghast-like undead), as well as two demonic rulers of these two undead of CR 20 and 21 respectively.Chapter 4: Spirits Of EvilThis chapter looks at allips, ghosts, shadows, spectres, and wraiths. It also includes three new colourful varieties of wraith with differing special attacks.Chapter 5: The Lords Of The Living DeadThis chapter discusses liches (with additional sections on its advanced planning abilities, lieutenants, minions, and some advice on personal confrontations, the final fate of a lich, and some final discussion on good-aligned liches), nightshades, and vampires (with additional information on their hunting methods and tactics). Chapter 6: Hybrid UndeadThis briefly discusses mixing templates to create such undead as a spectral ghoul. However, most of the chapter is taken up with advice to GM's for creating an atmosphere of horror so as to present undead as chillingly as possible.Chapter 7: The Peak Of The NightlordThis is a 14-page adventure designed for 4-5 players of levels 9-11. Three plot hooks are given, some interesting background, though the rest at first glance seems to be a dungeon crawl starring some of the new undead from the product. However, there is some opportunity for roleplaying, as there are in fact two factions within the 'dungeon' vying for power, and the players may interact with them. The adventure may need some amendments to account for its specific religious implications.Chapter 8: Bestiary Of The DamnedThis chapter gives specific examples of how the templates in the book can be used, including such creatures as an allip treant, ghoulish dryad, mummified dark naga, spider-wight, and winter wolf wraith.The book ends with an index.Conclusion:The book scores a huge success to my mind with the undead templates, and has probably stolen a little of the thunder of undead in the upcoming v3.5 of Core Rulebook III. The book provides a GM with hours of malicious fun creating various undead based on the templates and even hybrid undead.The rest of the book was average at best - it needed better reasoning and more specific advice on limitations of creatures to be used as a base for the templates, more (and more original) options on the origin of undead, and probably to have left off the adventure in preference for more rule-related information (or a shorter page count at a lower price). I wasn't immensely impressed with the new monsters, particularly the fact that none of them was presented as a template (the major innovation of the book). I would have also liked to see the concept of hybrid undead expanded (and the GM advice put in a different chapter - probably the first).Its pedantic, I know, but I did get annoyed that the sections titled "Roleplaying with [specific undead]" mainly gave advice on campaign and adventure use or nebulous comments about their general demeanour, instead of sound advice on how to present them in terms of visual and verbal cues at the table, and identifiable behavioural idiosynchrasies.I did like the inclusion of scenario hooks and ideas, and some of the extended information related to the lich and vampire (shame they didn't do the same for the Nightshade, which got short shrift).All in all, good value for money, but mainly based on the template concept.</blockquote>

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