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When Creatures of the Dreamseed first arrived, my original high hopes for it had lessened considerably. The strange vague unfinished feel to the Engel Corebook and the knowledge that the Lord of the Flies was quite literally that, as nearly all the demonic forces of the Brandlands and Dreamseed were insect-based, had turned me off to some degree.

Flipping through the book quickly, I was further disheartened to see that this was no Monster Manual or Compendium of Creatures. It was the narrative text of one Friar Domenico's journeys from Rome AEterna to a Brandland (a land scorched by huge pillars of fire and home to demons) and back. Only a few pictures and a scant statistic appendix made this volume resemble anything like a critter catalog.

So when I picked it up a few days later, I was thrilled to find that Domenico's narration was superbly written, immediately creating an atmosphere of real dread yet quickly moving and to the point. Each page gave details of one particular type of creature that his group encountered, accompanied by basic sketches of the monster, all set in an on-going narrative.

Each monster was unique and believable enough that I'm able to remember them all after just one read through CotD, and the appendix, which notes the page on which each monster is described, is sufficient for me to refer back far more quickly than I anticipated. This is partly because the encounters were grisly in the extreme and the monsters illustrated, pictorially and verbally, in a manner that preserves their mystery and encourages a sense of dread and malevolence. It's also partly because only about two dozen monsters are described in CotD.

Those GMs who have difficulty fleshing out the statistical side of creatures might find the somewhat scant statistical info frustrating. But a closer look shows that the information given is more than enough to play by and expand from.

In general, I give high marks for the excellent contextualization of each monster and how vividly and disturbingly each monster manifested itself. A few more monsters, esp. in the low to mid range of difficulty, would have made this a more well-rounded supplement. The few dozen critters illustrated are all superb, but the small number described changes the role of this book from full fledged Compendium to more of a world-shaping sourcebook.

But Quality definitely beats out Quantity in this case. Definitely worth picking up, even if you don't plan on playing Engel regularly.

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