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Encyclopedia of Demons & Devils Vol. II | ||
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Encyclopedia of Demons & Devils Vol. II
Capsule Review by Wes Johnson on 24/09/02
Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty) If you need fell creatures for your d20 campaign this is a good plave to start looking. Product: Encyclopedia of Demons & Devils Vol. II Author: James Ward, et all Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Fast Forward Games Line: Cost: 29.99 Page count: 226 Year published: 2002 ISBN: SKU: Comp copy?: yes Capsule Review by Wes Johnson on 24/09/02 Genre tags: Fantasy Horror |
The Encyclopedia
of Demons & Devils Vol. II (EDDv2)
is a good sourcebook for fell creatures great and small. The quality of the text bears a much higher
value than what the average production values and art might suggest. EDDv2
is a solid sourcebook for and dungeon master who wants to introduce demons and
devils into their campaign.
EDDv2 is a hardback and its layout is akin to either Monster
Manuals: there are a bunch of demons and devils in alphabetical order with a
brief introductory section. It would
have been nice to see the demons split into better groupings than alphabetical
within the book, or having a table in the front that grouped them. By groups I mean what culture did they
originate from, what type they are or even factions. While it is easy to find by name any given
demon or devil, how they related to each other is haphazard at best.
Text in EDDv2 is
generally well done. Each demon or devil
has its vital statistics, followers, history, motivation, combat style and even
some text dedicated to them if they are viewed as a deity. Minor demons or devils have 1-2 pages
dedicated to them, while greater ones have 2-3 pages on average. Some demons and devils are very intriguing,
some less so. But given the sheer amount
of demons and devils there is likely numerous ones that would fit into a campaign.
In addition to the demons and devils themselves, EDDv2 has a number of prestige classes tied to the
demons themselves. Usually these classes
are designed for followers and priests of the demon/devil and are likely only
useful as an adversary and if the demon/devil is involved in the campaign’s
story arc. Though I do not see why some
prestige classes could not be used for demons or devils with are similar.
Art inside EDDv2
is black and white and ranges from adequate to what looks like bad clip
art. Even though the art is a bit dodgy
at times each demon/devil is represented which is helpful, especially when the
text is factored in. The cover is a
scanned picture of a Greco-Roman statue with a layer of cheap digital graphic
effects layered on. Art I view as
completely necessary, but unless it is truly hideous or brilliant does not
factor too heavily in my review, EDDv2 is mostly adequate and I will
leave it at that.
From a text perspective the layout and design in EDDv2 is decent and easy to read given how much
verbiage is there. There are a few
editing issues that should have been caught by the copyreader, which does
matter since the book is a spendy hardback
supplement. If it were a 20 dollar softcover rather than a 30 dollar hardback, there is more
room to be lenient. But if a company is
going to publish high-end books
Over all Encyclopedia of
Demons & Devils Vol. II is a decent supplement with meaty text
and a large volume of fell creatures big and small. The price tag and average production values are deceptive
to the good information within.
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