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Who has picked up "Dragon: Monster Ecologies"?
- Thread starter Glyfair
- Start date
That was kind of the point, though. By sticking to the more recent Third Edition Ecology articles, where they're already in (mostly) the same format, it allowed for a unified look and feel for the book. It also meant there was less updating (to 3.5 rules) to do.Festivus said:
I haven't seen the book yet, but I'm definitely keeping an eye out for it, even though I already have all of the original articles.
Johnathan
Dragonhelm
Knight of Solamnia
Glyfair said:
Saw the pic of the comic, so I found it on e-bay and ordered it. I'd like to pick up the novel at some point.
I liked seeing the evolution of the various monsters. I just feel so sorry for the displacer beast, though! I mean, he looked like a fierce cat in 1st edition, then a sleek panther in 2nd edition. Then they starved the fellow in 3rd edition! Shame on WotC for animal cruelty!
JustKim
First Post
I was one of the people who preordered it from Paizo and ended up waiting a month for it to ship. I ordered some other things and paid $12 for priority mail, but the first shipment arrived via UPS two weeks after I received notice that it was shipping. I got another notice that Ecologies was shipping on the 18th, and have yet to see it.
DragonBelow
Adventurer
I got my copy last week, it has great production values and the articles are solid, I read the ecologies of the lizardfolk and the kenku. Very good work.
The only complain I have is, it's kind of short or rather, I was expecting more critters to make it into the book.
The only complain I have is, it's kind of short or rather, I was expecting more critters to make it into the book.
The Green Adam
First Post
I have a love/hate relationship with "Monster Ecologies". While amny of the articles over the years have been fun, interesting and well written, the idea that certain magically creatures even have an ecology bugs me. The Will o' Wisp? To this day, after 30 years of gaming, my players don't know if they're faeries, the ghosts of faeries, lost spirits or just swamp gas.
Now to me, that's fantasy. When you and more importantly your players can read and article and know exactly how every monster eats, sleeps, mates and behaves...it just looses me and make me want to play SF where things are designed to be understood.
Now to me, that's fantasy. When you and more importantly your players can read and article and know exactly how every monster eats, sleeps, mates and behaves...it just looses me and make me want to play SF where things are designed to be understood.
Raven Crowking
First Post
The Green Adam said:
Quoted for Troof.
Chronepsis
First Post
Glyfair said:
Wow, high praise! Thanks Glyfair. I was the editor-in-chief on this and one very dedicated art director (Sarah Robinson), a who's-who of gaming industry vets, and some incredibly talented authors (Hey there Nick and Cam) are responsible for a lot of very hard work on this. I'm so pleased with how it came out.
The Monstrous Evolutions are perhaps my favorite parts of the book (though the index of every ecology ever printed is a rough second and was both Very educational and a little embarrassing to put together). Seeing the earliest days of some of these iconic D&D monsters and their gradual artistic progressions is really neat. Especially for the displacer beast, which obviously originated decades before D&D... yet isn't in the SRD. Weird.
Festivus said:
Mainly because there's never been an "Ecology of the Blue Dragon." The book is meant to be a compilation, so if an article hasn't run in Dragon, it's not in Monster Ecologies. That being said, we did a lot to update all the ecologies to the most current format of the series and expand all of the articles with new art, characters, rules, adventure ideas, etc, etc, so there's a lot more in here then just what saw print in the magazine. To use the "The Ecology of the Choker" as an example, as it’s the first one you come to in the book, that article has more than a page of new content, three pieces of new art, a new treasure chart, two expanded sidebars, and a new advanced example stat block.
Getting back to the cover, we actually had something else planned but made the decision to change things at the 11th hour. The dragon on a hoard of books, scrolls, and other tomes of lore seemed appropriate. Oh, and he looks awesome. (Look real close and you can even see the Player's Handbook in the pile.)
Festivus said:
Yup. This went out the door before the announcement that the magazines were going away, so it was a bit of a gamble, but in the end, it gives the book a completely comprehensive index of every ecology that's ever seen print in Dragon. I'm really looking forward to the last one, "The Ecology of the Tarrasque." Even a quick glance of the index reveals that two authors have written more ecologies than any other two writers by far: Jonathan Richards and Ed Greenwood. I'm ecstatic to say these two gentlemen have been kind enough to team-up to write the printed farewell to the series by covering the biggest and most feared monster in D&D.
…there might even be a little Monster Hunters action.
Richards said:
It's true. Again, though, aside from just the completely new sections, art galleries, awesomely insane comic by Kyle Hunter, celebrity quotes, index, etc etc etc, nearly all of these articles have received various—and in some case extensive—additions. For a while we talked about updating some very old ecologies, but they're so different and varied in formant from the most modern incarnation of the series that any update would have required extensive overhauling... not to mention a prohibitively costly amount of new art to make the entry mesh with all the others in the book. That's why I did the index. If you want to know more about a specific monster, now you know right where to look for it!
Nlogue said:
Wow! Awesome Nick. Thanks a ton. You're going to have to tell James and I all about your draconian adventure in a few weeks here at Gen Con. And apologize to the new Mrs. Logue for distracting you! Newlywed wrath is scary.
Cam Banks said:
And, if you didn't see it Cam, now with 100% fewer orcs!
In editing the original I was responsible for slipping a stupid, “I-should-have-known-better” error into the Knowledge of the Draconian sidebar. It has been corrected in the updated "Ecology of the Draconian." The keen eyed my catch a few dozen little tweaks and improvements like this throughout the book. As an editor, getting a second chance to correct something that's already seen print is a rare and wonderful opportunity. Sorry again, but it's fixed now! In fact, it never happened.
Also worth calling out since we're talking about that article. Margaret Weis was absolutely wonderful in adding her thoughts about her creations, the draconians, to this piece. I owe tons of thanks to her and about a dozen other authors and game designers (including grand-daddy Gygax) who contributed their time and memories to the book. These reminiscences really make the whole thing less a collection of old articles and more a retrospective of the coolest monsters in D&D's history.
Festivus said:
Funny you mention this. The size, weight, feel, and over-all quality of Monster Ecologies is very close—not exact, but close—to what Pathfinder's going to be like. So, if you like this, expect more in a similar vein every month come August!
So, I could ramble on and on about the book here... and I guess I already have. But I've gone on even more elsewhere. If you want to know more about the collection (or need to pick up your copy) there's a lengthy discussion that I've posted a lot to over on the Paizo message boards. Thanks for the kind words everybody and I'll try to check in later if any other questions come up!
Paizo Monster Ecologies Discussion:
http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizo/products/v5748btpy7vq1
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