The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I'll admit, when I first heard about the Bestiary for Dragonlance Fifth Age, I was skeptical. DL5A contained, in the back of the book, statistics for all the monsters I'd ever need, plus a short description of each. I was wary of anything more: with the focus of DL5A on story, I feared a Monster Manual-like tome, complete with dry descriptions and information I'd never need would be a hideous mistake. Likewise, I was worried when I saw that it would be "narrated" by Caramon Majere. Books narrated by characters from the game universe are usually annoying and badly written.

I should have never worried. The Bestiary is another solid, if unnecessary, winner in a long line of great products for TSR's Dragonlance Fifth age. The book takes the form of "Caramon Majere's Guide to Meeting Fantastic Creatures of Myth and Legend and Surviving the Experience" (I personally like that last bit), sandwiched between two sections explaining the format and offering helpful tips. Caramon's narration is perfect because it does exactly what it should: give a description of creatures from the viewpoint of the average adventurer, not a scholar. Caramon is the epitome of every sword-swinging hero, and as such his descriptions are much more useful and interesting to players than a simple paragraph on the animal's behavior. Due to this practical approach, the Bestiary has much the same relationship to your typical rpg monster book as Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail of '72 has to the typical high school history textbook. The first may be biased and anecdotal, but it was written by someone whose knowledge comes from the experience of actually being there, and it's a heck of a lot more interesting to read. Balancing out Caramon's practical anecdotes and assertions is the voice of Bertrem the Aesthetic, a librarian in the city of Palanthas, offering the scholarly take on various creatures, as well as the odd legend from the Library's vaults. Since Caramon isn't very good with less practical knowledge, Bertrem manages to flesh out the description of each creature without sounding too much like an encyclopedia. Kudos to the writers for this rare accomplishment.

The art, an important part of any critter sourcebook, is very good. All the art is new instead of being recycled from older TSR products. Rebecca Guay (who did art for Magic: the Gathering) and Matthew Mitchell do a wonderful job overall. Guay's watercolor-and-pencil creations are stunning, and Mitchell's pencil/ink art is fantastic. Both do a lot to add to the "nature guide" feel that the Bestiary tries to cultivate.

Don't expect much in the way of original monsters here. Most have been translated straight from AD&D, although many new ones are included (including a possessed barbarian beanie baby!). Perhaps most telling is the fact that most of these monsters are also available (sans detailed description) in the basic rulebook. That's not a totally bad thing, since I'd much rather have a ton of monsters in the basic set than in a $25 sourcebook packaged separately, but it does highlight the fact that you really don't need the Bestiary to run a Dragonlance campaign unless you aren't familiar enough with the genre to be able to use the tiny descriptions in the DL5A rules.

If the Bestiary has a weak point in the book itself, it is the layout. The text is printed far too close to the binding, and text is also wrapped around the art in a very awkward manner. It looks neat, but it's tough to read whenever the art is so big that the columns of text have only one word per line for a few lines. It's a good thing this doesn't happen very often, but as it is, it's enough to knock the Style rating down a point.

To summarize, you don't actually need the Bestiary because the designers were kind enough to put all the crucial information in the DL5A rulebook. At $25 (the same price as the DL5A game itself), the price is a little high as well. Although I think it's a fantastic product, filled with great writing and art, all of which its rating reflects, I would recommend it only if you have money to burn or you aren't satisfied with the creature descriptions in the basic rulebook. Still, isn't it great to have a TSR RPG where the Monster Manual is not required reading?

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

The Bestiary
Author: Steven "Stan!" Brown Category: game Company/Publisher: TSR Cost: $24.95 Page count: 239 pages ISBN: 0-7869-0795-9 Playtest Review by Thomas Wilburn on 11/16/98. Genre tags: Fantasy Diceless	I'll admit, when I first heard about the Bestiary for Dragonlance Fifth Age, I was skeptical. DL5A contained, in the back of the book, statistics for all the monsters I'd ever need, plus a short description of each. I was wary of anything more: with the focus of DL5A on story, I feared a Monster Manual-like tome, complete with dry descriptions and information I'd never need would be a hideous mistake. Likewise, I was worried when I saw that it would be "narrated" by Caramon Majere. Books narrated by characters from the game universe are usually annoying and badly written. I should have never worried. The Bestiary is another solid, if unnecessary, winner in a long line of great products for TSR's Dragonlance Fifth age. The book takes the form of "Caramon Majere's Guide to Meeting Fantastic Creatures of Myth and Legend and Surviving the Experience" (I personally like that last bit), sandwiched between two sections explaining the format and offering helpful tips. Caramon's narration is perfect because it does exactly what it should: give a description of creatures from the viewpoint of the average adventurer, not a scholar. Caramon is the epitome of every sword-swinging hero, and as such his descriptions are much more useful and interesting to players than a simple paragraph on the animal's behavior. Due to this practical approach, the Bestiary has much the same relationship to your typical rpg monster book as Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail of '72 has to the typical high school history textbook. The first may be biased and anecdotal, but it was written by someone whose knowledge comes from the experience of actually being there, and it's a heck of a lot more interesting to read. Balancing out Caramon's practical anecdotes and assertions is the voice of Bertrem the Aesthetic, a librarian in the city of Palanthas, offering the scholarly take on various creatures, as well as the odd legend from the Library's vaults. Since Caramon isn't very good with less practical knowledge, Bertrem manages to flesh out the description of each creature without sounding too much like an encyclopedia. Kudos to the writers for this rare accomplishment. The art, an important part of any critter sourcebook, is very good. All the art is new instead of being recycled from older TSR products. Rebecca Guay (who did art for Magic: the Gathering) and Matthew Mitchell do a wonderful job overall. Guay's watercolor-and-pencil creations are stunning, and Mitchell's pencil/ink art is fantastic. Both do a lot to add to the "nature guide" feel that the Bestiary tries to cultivate. Don't expect much in the way of original monsters here. Most have been translated straight from AD&D, although many new ones are included (including a possessed barbarian beanie baby!). Perhaps most telling is the fact that most of these monsters are also available (sans detailed description) in the basic rulebook. That's not a totally bad thing, since I'd much rather have a ton of monsters in the basic set than in a $25 sourcebook packaged separately, but it does highlight the fact that you really don't need the Bestiary to run a Dragonlance campaign unless you aren't familiar enough with the genre to be able to use the tiny descriptions in the DL5A rules. If the Bestiary has a weak point in the book itself, it is the layout. The text is printed far too close to the binding, and text is also wrapped around the art in a very awkward manner. It looks neat, but it's tough to read whenever the art is so big that the columns of text have only one word per line for a few lines. It's a good thing this doesn't happen very often, but as it is, it's enough to knock the Style rating down a point. To summarize, you don't actually need the Bestiary because the designers were kind enough to put all the crucial information in the DL5A rulebook. At $25 (the same price as the DL5A game itself), the price is a little high as well. Although I think it's a fantastic product, filled with great writing and art, all of which its rating reflects, I would recommend it only if you have money to burn or you aren't satisfied with the creature descriptions in the basic rulebook. Still, isn't it great to have a TSR RPG where the Monster Manual is not required reading? Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)