The Inside Scoop on Gaming

So far, there’s been a few pretty obvious things about the d20 supplements to come out. They’ve been mostly either creature compendiums of some kind, or plug & play modules. Sure, there have been a few settings and such, but they tend to be the exception (and, hey, what do you know, some fanboy has likely already posted 98 exceptions to the forum below. Good for him!). So, when I saw Legions of Hell, I expected something different. I thought “cool, a book about the organization of the infernal plane! Perhaps they will follow a pattern similar to the hoary Dante-esque hell so favoured by gamers, or perhaps a different form their hell will take!”

I have no idea what happened to my grammar in that last phrase, but bear with me.

Anyway, I’ll admit, it was a bit of a letdown to crack it open and find that, yes, it was another listing of beasties. But then, as a good reviewer should, I put aside my initial impressions and decided to read it. And I liked it.

I think the book was disserved by its format. It should not have been presented as a catalogue o’ nasties, with various devils slapped into alphabetical order.

I think the book could easily (easily, I say, blissfully unaware of the complexities of writing, editing, producing art for, and printing a book of any size, much less a 96-instead-of-64-pageer) have been published as a guidebook to Hell, with the beasties within organized by their realm of servitude/mastery.

It does a disservice, for example, to have Hadriel, Duchess of Domination and her aides and assistants, the gladiatrixes, pain mistresses, painshreikers, and strigae scattered about the book nilly willy. Or to have the rivalry of Krotep and Nekhet, the children of Set, cleft in two between their listings. It struck me as a misstep in the book’s production.

The first few pages give us a very nice taste of the whos and whys of hell, and an appendix gives us a quick over-view of an Angelic choir.

Why is it, he digresses, we’ll see a hundred sourcebooks about demons and hell, but anything on angels and heaven will probably be dismissed as new-age piffle or just ignored and left on the shelves to die? Or am I crazy?

In the end, it’s a good book that suffers from being organized like a catalogue, when at its heart it’s a travelogue. The useful appendixes, which contain the d20 license, some info on heaven, info on falling celestials, and some prestige classes (which are actually kind of neat).

I’m sure it would be nice to see an Armies of Heaven sourcebook (although is there much joy to be found in wading amongst the divine throngs with your magical blades?), and it would have been even nicer if Legions hadn’t been saddled with a Monster Manual organization. But the book ends up being both a useful sourcebook (if you’re looking to pad out infernal armies; if you're looking for fuzzy kittens, are YOU in the wrong place) and a good read.

Legions of Hell
Legions of Hell Capsule Review by Justin Mohareb on 08/10/01 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!) Sure, it's a creature catalogue. But it's a really, really good creature catalogue. Product: Legions of Hell Author: Chris Pramas Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Green Ronin Publishing Line: Cost: $14.95 Page count: 64 Year published: 2001 ISBN: 0-9701048-4-7 SKU: GRR1005 Comp copy?: yes Capsule Review by Justin Mohareb on 08/10/01 Genre tags: Fantasy Horror	So far, there’s been a few pretty obvious things about the d20 supplements to come out. They’ve been mostly either creature compendiums of some kind, or plug & play modules. Sure, there have been a few settings and such, but they tend to be the exception (and, hey, what do you know, some fanboy has likely already posted 98 exceptions to the forum below. Good for him!). So, when I saw Legions of Hell, I expected something different. I thought “cool, a book about the organization of the infernal plane! Perhaps they will follow a pattern similar to the hoary Dante-esque hell so favoured by gamers, or perhaps a different form their hell will take!” I have no idea what happened to my grammar in that last phrase, but bear with me. Anyway, I’ll admit, it was a bit of a letdown to crack it open and find that, yes, it was another listing of beasties. But then, as a good reviewer should, I put aside my initial impressions and decided to read it. And I liked it. I think the book was disserved by its format. It should not have been presented as a catalogue o’ nasties, with various devils slapped into alphabetical order. I think the book could easily (easily, I say, blissfully unaware of the complexities of writing, editing, producing art for, and printing a book of any size, much less a 96-instead-of-64-pageer) have been published as a guidebook to Hell, with the beasties within organized by their realm of servitude/mastery. It does a disservice, for example, to have Hadriel, Duchess of Domination and her aides and assistants, the gladiatrixes, pain mistresses, painshreikers, and strigae scattered about the book nilly willy. Or to have the rivalry of Krotep and Nekhet, the children of Set, cleft in two between their listings. It struck me as a misstep in the book’s production. The first few pages give us a very nice taste of the whos and whys of hell, and an appendix gives us a quick over-view of an Angelic choir. Why is it, he digresses, we’ll see a hundred sourcebooks about demons and hell, but anything on angels and heaven will probably be dismissed as new-age piffle or just ignored and left on the shelves to die? Or am I crazy? In the end, it’s a good book that suffers from being organized like a catalogue, when at its heart it’s a travelogue. The useful appendixes, which contain the d20 license, some info on heaven, info on falling celestials, and some prestige classes (which are actually kind of neat). I’m sure it would be nice to see an Armies of Heaven sourcebook (although is there much joy to be found in wading amongst the divine throngs with your magical blades?), and it would have been even nicer if Legions hadn’t been saddled with a Monster Manual organization. But the book ends up being both a useful sourcebook (if you’re looking to pad out infernal armies; if you're looking for fuzzy kittens, are YOU in the wrong place) and a good read.