Unveiled Masters: The Essential Guide to Mind Flayers... anyone tried it?

[Crothian]

It starts out with a very well written and welkl defined history. It keeps that Mind Flayers are a menace the multi verse over, they have dealings on the Heavens and the hells. The assult planets all over the prime m,aterial and have an empire like non other. It of course collapses and has problems but it's firmly detailed. It even has these creatures orgins with a god that isn't a god but a creature from the universe before the current one. It is very Lovecraftian but I like that feel.

There is a full biology of the creutes presented. It goes ito how they eat reproduce, and live. Again very well defined and easy to use. Creepy as heck too.

There are many differnt kinds presented in the book. Some natural others not so natural.It has weapons anr armor that they use and meld to them.There;s flesh crafting and other unholy ways to alter creatures. There are new domains and magic al spells and prestige classes to make even the most seasoned Mind Flayer hunter scared and weeping.

The book has many options to take a classically feared monster and give it depth, and status betyond anything it had before. It has mystery and intrigue and some nasty suprises in it.

 

[HellHound]

Out of curiosity, how is this possible? Mind flayers are not in the SRD. Was there a special licence aranged or something?

Expanding on Psion's reply here.

At GenCon 2002, I found out that Paradigm Concepts was planning a Mind Flayer book (oh yeah, and they had just spent half an hour praising my writing in Necromancer's Legacy...).

As soon as I got home from GenCon, I wrote up a proposal for the book, and sent it in. They asked the two writers already on the project (who hadn't started on it yet) and the gentlemen involved agreed to bring me into the team.

We finished the writing and it was basically *on it's way to the printer* (it was camera-ready and on its way) when the SRD changes came through. One of the staff at Paradigm Concepts (I can't remember right now if it was Henry or Eric) phoned WotC and begged for the release to be authorized since the book was done and ready to launch.

An agreement was reached and a disclaimer was added to the book stating that Mind Flayers are not Open Game Content, and the book went to print.

There are a few books that came out like this in the final death throws of the old pre-release SRD's gentleperson's agreement.

Mongoose Publishing's The Slayer's Guide to Yuan-Ti
Paradigm Concepts' Unveiled Masters: The Essential Guide to Mind Flayers
and Goodman Games' The Complete Guide to Beholders (which is currently available from E.N.Publishing in our $1 sale on RPGnow).

 

[Nightfall]

Also worth mentioning,

Yuan-Ti are mentioned in Vigil Watch: Secrets of the Assathi. I don't know HOW that got worked out but it's in there.

 

[Piratecat]

I own Unveiled Masters, and both like it and use it. Tentacular goodness!