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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2010466" data-attributes="member: 18387">TOME OF HORRORSOVERVIEWThe Tome of Horrors is a 328-page hardbound monster compendium collecting over 400 monsters, along with additional templates, animals, and vermin. The bulk of the monsters presented are Third Edition updates of creatures originally published by TSR for first or second edition AD&D and D&D, though there are quite a few new creatures and templates, including some that previously appeared in Necromancer Games adventures. The monsters in the book were selected in conjunction with Wizards of the Coast so as not to overlap with any in the Monster Manuals (with the explicit exception of Orcus, Necromancer's trademark deity, and perhaps one or two others). Since then, it should be noted that perhaps two or three dozen of the creatures appearing in the Tome of Horrors have been published by WOTC in the Fiend Folio and other books. Despite this, there is still a staggering array of creatures present that appear nowhere else in print in Third Edition. A few dubious specimens did manage to sneak their way in (most notably the nilbog, my vote for stupidest monster in all of D&D), but compared to the vast number of useful creatures, this too is an insignificant problem. And the authors did their best to make some of these lame ducks such as the al-mir'aj actually usable in your game without embarrassment.The primary author of the book, Scot Greene, is responsible for the Creature Catalog site here at ENWorld, which hosts a large number of converted creatures from previous editions of the game. This database became the basis for the Tome, though many of the conversions that made it into the Tome were updated and clarified. Formatting is reasonably good overall, with the monsters all depicted in black and white illustrations intermingled with the text, in similar fashion to the Monster Manual. This I think is partly responsible for some formatting issues with stat blocks and tables that occasionally appear, and with letter and word spacing to keep margins justified, though these problems are sparse and do not significantly damage the usability of the creatures.One problem that plagued the release of the Tome of Horrors was a bad batch of glue holding the pages to the binding; Necromancer Games and White Wolf have been excellent about product exchanges, though you can easily fix this problem yourself if you get one of these books with a little Aleene's tacky glue. One brilliant bit of formatting within the stat blocks themselves that appears, to my knowledge, nowhere else is the inclusion of a "Credit," which lists the original source of the creature in question (as best as the authors could determine them, anyway), and a "Copyright Notice", which states the author, both current and original where applicable. These two items are an excellent and informative addition to the listings, and are complimented by a two-page section at the end of the book targeted to publishers, stating step by step how to use creatures in the Tome in their products and be compliant with the Open Game License. From my experience using the monsters in my games, I have found them to be well-balanced overall, and Necromancer Games maintains an ongoing list of errata and updates at their forum to fix any mistakes that have appeared. Hopefully we will someday see a "3.5 Edition" re-release of this book, updated to the new revision and incorporating all the errata (though one mistake, a misspelling of the Slaad Lord of Entropy as appearing as a "15-foot tall black salad", has become so notorious that it will hopefully remain in). RECOMMENDATIONSDollar for dollar, the Tome of Horrors at just under $30 is the best monster book for 3rd Edition out on the market today, easily giving double or triple the value of any other monster book out there. After buying the core rulebooks, if you have any love for a variety of monsters in your campaign, this book is an essential purchase. It is also invaluable if you plan on updating any classic modules to third edition for your home campaign. The conversions by Scott Greene, Erica Balsley, and a number of other authors have been done by people with more experience at this than anyone outside of Wizards of the Coast. And the web support for the Tome is, I believe, unmatched by any other book out there, INCLUDING WOTC's books. One of Necromancer Games' and the industry's best values. I highly recommend it!</blockquote>

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