The Inside Scoop on Gaming

It’s rare to see a collection of monsters that spans only 32 pages long. Even the smaller compendiums on the market like Armies of the Abyss by Green Ronin or Nightmares & Dreams from Mystic Eye Games tend to weigh in at 64-72 pages long.

So what does Menagerie have in store for the anxious GMs? Not as much as it should for the cover price. SIt begins with an internal cover with the basic information like the title of book, and the fact that it’s published under the Open Game License, Menagerie then starts off with some huge blocks of text in the form of fiction that introduce us to Drahcir, a creator and cataloger of monsters of unusual nature. The next page provides us with some information on what the Menagerie looks like and how it moves around, how dark cults revere it and Drahcir as a god. By page four, there is a section, using this collection which includes a monster listing which is an alphabetical breakdown with the page number, challenge rating as CR, and creature type.

Monsters are in the midrange challenge rating here with a few being 1 and below, and most falling in between 6 and 9. No monsters rates higher than a nine in this book. There are eighteen monsters and two new templates.

The book is arranged alphabetically with the monster’s name in the upper corner followed by the stat block, background/appearance information, combat, and in some cases, society and character notes. Most creatures are illustrated and the illustrations range from poor, as in the case of the Drogg, an amphibian humanoid, to great, like the Beast of Drahcir, a two headed dragon spawn creature.

For those looking for more variety in their unicorns, they’ll be pleased with the Blackthorn, a neutral variant, as well as the bloodthorn, an evil variant, and the bonecrown, an undead unicorn.

Some of my favorite creatures from this book include the Dragoneye, a strange combination of beholder and dragon and the fell knight, another variant of an elite warrior given over to the cause of evil even in death.

My personal gripe with this product is the same as with most monster collections. When throwing the GM and players a bone in the form of characters, it’s not enough to tell us the favored class. Take a few more lines and provide the stat bonuses and save the players and GMs the hassle of doing the subtraction from the base stats per the Dungeon Master’s Guide.

The two templates are the Loup-Garou, a shape changer whose nature is caused by the mother calling upon ancient and far off gods to have a child. These creatures have a base form and an animal form and have to carry their totem skins to change shape. The Outcast Skeleton is a fallen outsider. Either it’s a fallen angel or a noble demon. These creatures possess a host and the changes it inflicts upon that host aren’t pretty, but the host gains some special abilities.

One of the interesting things about this book is it’s use of Product Identity. While the stat blocks are all open game content, the creature’s name is product identity. Now in some cases this isn’t really going to matter as it’d probably be pretty difficult in some cases to claim that Cloak, Fell Knight, Harvester and Loup-Garou have already appeared in one form or another, but their solution has its own merit. The names can be used as long as the user insures that they don’t make them OGL and note that they are PI under a “Limited License to Use creature names and Product Identity (PI) in creature names.” Fair enough.

There are a couple of problems with this product. Most who’ve read my reviews know that I’m a stickler for a couple things. First, interior cover use. While not mandatory, it always gets thumbs up from me. This is especially true if you’re going to waste a page with the title of the book, and another page for the credits at the back of the book. In addition, I don’t like excessive amounts of white space. What is excessive? Is it a little under a quarter of a page like on page 5 and 6, or is it more like three quarters of a page as on pages 16 and 20? How about only a paragraph on a page as on page 22 or two paragraphs on page 27? This is even more baffling when you consider that there are several monsters with no illustrations at all.

If the art in this book had been top notch and if this book had more ideas on using said creatures in your campaign, the book would rate higher. Average art and lots of white space make this a purchase only if you’re running on empty for monsters for 5th-9th level characters or if you want to craft your own cults based on the worship of Drahcir and his strange tome, the Menagerie.

http://www.vikinggames.net/ The website has a link to a free preview for those wishing to see an actual example from the book.

Menagerie
Menagerie Capsule Review by Joe G Kushner on 28/05/02 Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 2 (Sparse) A new monster collection that provides some interesting alternatives for a hefty price. Product: Menagerie Author: Richard deMorris Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Viking Games Line: D20 Cost: 12.95 Page count: 32 Year published: 2002 ISBN: 097087815x SKU: VCG1801 Comp copy?: yes Capsule Review by Joe G Kushner on 28/05/02 Genre tags: Fantasy	It’s rare to see a collection of monsters that spans only 32 pages long. Even the smaller compendiums on the market like Armies of the Abyss by Green Ronin or Nightmares & Dreams from Mystic Eye Games tend to weigh in at 64-72 pages long. So what does Menagerie have in store for the anxious GMs? Not as much as it should for the cover price. SIt begins with an internal cover with the basic information like the title of book, and the fact that it’s published under the Open Game License, Menagerie then starts off with some huge blocks of text in the form of fiction that introduce us to Drahcir, a creator and cataloger of monsters of unusual nature. The next page provides us with some information on what the Menagerie looks like and how it moves around, how dark cults revere it and Drahcir as a god. By page four, there is a section, using this collection which includes a monster listing which is an alphabetical breakdown with the page number, challenge rating as CR, and creature type. Monsters are in the midrange challenge rating here with a few being 1 and below, and most falling in between 6 and 9. No monsters rates higher than a nine in this book. There are eighteen monsters and two new templates. The book is arranged alphabetically with the monster’s name in the upper corner followed by the stat block, background/appearance information, combat, and in some cases, society and character notes. Most creatures are illustrated and the illustrations range from poor, as in the case of the Drogg, an amphibian humanoid, to great, like the Beast of Drahcir, a two headed dragon spawn creature. For those looking for more variety in their unicorns, they’ll be pleased with the Blackthorn, a neutral variant, as well as the bloodthorn, an evil variant, and the bonecrown, an undead unicorn. Some of my favorite creatures from this book include the Dragoneye, a strange combination of beholder and dragon and the fell knight, another variant of an elite warrior given over to the cause of evil even in death. My personal gripe with this product is the same as with most monster collections. When throwing the GM and players a bone in the form of characters, it’s not enough to tell us the favored class. Take a few more lines and provide the stat bonuses and save the players and GMs the hassle of doing the subtraction from the base stats per the Dungeon Master’s Guide. The two templates are the Loup-Garou, a shape changer whose nature is caused by the mother calling upon ancient and far off gods to have a child. These creatures have a base form and an animal form and have to carry their totem skins to change shape. The Outcast Skeleton is a fallen outsider. Either it’s a fallen angel or a noble demon. These creatures possess a host and the changes it inflicts upon that host aren’t pretty, but the host gains some special abilities. One of the interesting things about this book is it’s use of Product Identity. While the stat blocks are all open game content, the creature’s name is product identity. Now in some cases this isn’t really going to matter as it’d probably be pretty difficult in some cases to claim that Cloak, Fell Knight, Harvester and Loup-Garou have already appeared in one form or another, but their solution has its own merit. The names can be used as long as the user insures that they don’t make them OGL and note that they are PI under a “Limited License to Use creature names and Product Identity (PI) in creature names.” Fair enough. There are a couple of problems with this product. Most who’ve read my reviews know that I’m a stickler for a couple things. First, interior cover use. While not mandatory, it always gets thumbs up from me. This is especially true if you’re going to waste a page with the title of the book, and another page for the credits at the back of the book. In addition, I don’t like excessive amounts of white space. What is excessive? Is it a little under a quarter of a page like on page 5 and 6, or is it more like three quarters of a page as on pages 16 and 20? How about only a paragraph on a page as on page 22 or two paragraphs on page 27? This is even more baffling when you consider that there are several monsters with no illustrations at all. If the art in this book had been top notch and if this book had more ideas on using said creatures in your campaign, the book would rate higher. Average art and lots of white space make this a purchase only if you’re running on empty for monsters for 5th-9th level characters or if you want to craft your own cults based on the worship of Drahcir and his strange tome, the Menagerie. http://www.vikinggames.net/ The website has a link to a free preview for those wishing to see an actual example from the book.