Tome of Horrors - The Art (oh the horrors!)

[the Jester]

I thought that yugoloth sounded all creepy and cthulite, personally. Gehreleth wasn't too bad either. Baatezu and tanaari were stupid, though (imho). In any event, I really liked the Tome of Horrors (and posted a review. ) I dig having all those old-school monsters present, and I can always use the old pics if I prefer them.

I do like the idea of a Tome of Horrors II, depending on how much old stuff's in the Fiend Folio. (I know that one's gonna focus on fiends, but it'll have some of everything... does anyone know anything specific about this one yet??) There's a ton of monsters from older editions not yet in print, and the content in ToH is good enough to make me believe in S&S's ability to do up a second volume.

As to the art: sure it varies, but I like it overall. Some of the stuff in there isn't as cool as I wish it were (mist dragon), but some of the stuff is done in a really cool style that I enjoyed a lot (flail snail, f'rex).

 

[Neo]

Well I got tome of horros just prior to Christmas and although I wouldn;t say the art was wonderful, it was good enough for the most part, certainly not on par with the Lockwood dragon pictures from MM1 maybe but good enough.

The only art gripes I had were in relation ot a few of my old favourite creatures, namely the Shadow Demon and Phantom Stalker both of which were originally in the D&D cartoon as well as the Fiend folios appearing as they did in the cartoon yet in the ToH they look radially different which was disappointing.

then theres the Cave Fisher, which just doesn't look frightening anymore. And the Cambion the old picture of these from the 2nd Edition Monstrous Compendium inserts was a real gem, but the picture in ToH looks totally different and uninspiring.

but these are just a few I found annoying, there were some real gems I felt in the art department also like the Disenchanter, the Dracolisk, theOinodaemon, Orcus, Cloud, Mist and Faerie Dragons etc.

As such on the whole I think what you get art-wise is pretyt much the same as you get with any other Monster book released too date a mixed barrel of fish, with some good some bad....

On the whole I really liked the book.

 

[kenjib]

there were some real gems...like the Disenchanter...

That, my friends, might very well be the only time you will ever hear the disenchanter referred to as a "real gem." Savor the moment!

*dodges Heward's hail of heavy tomatoes and flees the thread*

PS - Yes, I do love the book overall.

 

[the Jester]

Plus it's got that dire template in it, which I've already cheated with.

 

[eXodus]

my gaming group picked this book up for their great dm (me) for my birthday last month.

yes. the art did for the most part make me cringe. my wife is an artist and we sat and mocked it together.

the monsters held within the covers though were mostly good. i would not have purchaced it myself but since i have it i use it. a lot of good ideas. some not so great ones.

rating: 3 out of five stars.

 

[maddman75]

Here's my take on the demon naming controversy.

Most people call all evil outsiders from the lower planes 'Demons.' A sage or conjurer would divide these up into true demons, devils, daemons, and so forth.

On the planes, there is a *type* of demon called a Tanar'ri, and a type of devil called a Baatezu, and these two races participate in the Blood War. There are other types of demons and devils, as well as some (mostly Tanar'ri) that don't participate in the conflict.

Daemons I always called Yugoloths, because the term 'daemon' always gets me thinking of networking. Its the Unix geek in me.

 

[Azure Trance]

I have the book, and bought it for the content. But I can't helpsometimes but compare the art to Monsternomicon sometimes .... I hope TOH2 will be better art-wise.