Third party material on animals and prehistoric mammals?

[harpy]

A sandbox game I'm running is now underway and I want to stress a lot of the natural world, so before pulling out nature books and making up stats for lots of offbeat animals and prehistoric mammals, I was hoping someone already did that in the OGL community.

Are there any monster manual like books that greatly expand on the natural world?

 

[Alisair Longreach]

Yes, Goodman Games sells some pdfs with stats for animals, prehistoric critters and Call of Cthulhu monsters.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Lost Prehistorica comes recommended by me.


RC

 

[Celebrim]

This is the best:

The Bestiary: Predators

It's not just the best supplement on animals out there, its one of the best 3rd party supplements ever. It would have been great had they done a supplement on herbivors, dinosaurs, etc.

 

[Wycen]

I have this image in my mind of a pdf product that was either from Goodman Games, and/or Black Dirge about animals and or dinosaurs that was for 3E, but not just regular modern animals statted up. I wonder if it was purged with other 3E Goodman Games stuff.

Or maybe it was a different publisher, but I am pretty certain it was pdf only. Had black and white cover art of some critter with red/orange? lettering or stripes. Not the template or 4E stuff my cursory search of RPGNow turned up.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

I have this image in my mind of a pdf product that was either from Goodman Games, and/or Black Dirge about animals and or dinosaurs that was for 3E, but not just regular modern animals statted up.

I suspect you're thinking of the Animal Archives series from Blackdirge.

 

[Celebrim]

I have this image in my mind of a pdf product that was ...not just regular modern animals statted up...I am pretty certain it was pdf only. Had black and white cover art of some critter with red/orange? lettering or stripes.

Did you click on my link above?

Bestiary stats up not only modern animals, but various Pliocene predators like smilodons, flat-faced bears, hyeanadons, etc. as well as various cryptozological creatures.

 

[harpy]

Thanks for all of the suggestions!

So I ended up picking up the Bestiary: Predators and it is a pretty comprehensive catalog of modern day animals, with a small mix of prehistoric animals. The CRs range from 1/8 to 9, which is fine for an E6 sandbox game. Most of the bigger and deadlier creatures are aquatic, which... well, is natural.

Overall I'm impressed with this pdf. It takes a historical and academic approach to the subject, which is great if you want to go for a simulationist route to your game.

The Animal Archives seems to be zeroing in on a lot of real and imaginary apex predators, many of which are prehistoric predators, which a typical party of adventurers would perhaps gulp a bit when it charges them. I haven't picked up these three pdfs though. It's broken up into three pdfs. I guess it would have been more compelling if it was just one pdf for around $10. I want to see what I can get out of the Bestiary pdf first before trying out the Animal Archives.

 

[Greg K]

I have heard great things about Betabunny's Predators/ Bards and Sages also has the following three: Sharks!, Snakes!, and Spiders!. I have not bought or seen any of the forementioned products due to budget constraints, but those are the ones of which I familiar.

 

[Alzrius]

Overall I'm impressed with this pdf.

Agreed 110%. The Bestiary: Predators is, as Celebrim said, one of the best third-party supplements ever made. Man what I'd give for a follow-up to be released.

The Animal Archives seems to be zeroing in on a lot of real and imaginary apex predators, many of which are prehistoric predators, which a typical party of adventurers would perhaps gulp a bit when it charges them. I haven't picked up these three pdfs though. It's broken up into three pdfs. I guess it would have been more compelling if it was just one pdf for around $10. I want to see what I can get out of the Bestiary pdf first before trying out the Animal Archives.

Did you look at the free Animal Archives Sampler? The monsters in it are new, not pulled from other products, so you can at least put a giant sea scorpion in your game too!