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Dangerous Denizens is what I wanted out of the Monster Manual, a guide to fantastic creatures which didn't just provide a stat block, a terse description, and some information mostly applicable to combat. The denizens of this book have much more detailed descriptions, are located within the geography of the game setting, and have a section called On Tellene which elaborates on myths, plot hooks, and rumors concerning the creature. Even some terribly silly old monsters are given new life with their treatment. Take, for example, the sheet phantom -- a possessed piece of clothing. Never a monster concept I found terribly compelling. However, a very compelling explanation is given for their existence. They are the spirits of people betrayed by family or friends and the object of their possession is associated with the betrayal. The most common form is usually the sheet of a violated marital bed. Further, the On Tellene sections offers a myth regarding the first occurrence of the creature (the spirit being that of a tailor). Now this, a DM can work with. Still, there are a couple creatures that still struck me as silly (Anemaconda? Tarantubat?). Maybe they just need better names.
Some creature receive even more detail. The section introducing seven new mummy variants is preceded by almost four pages on the history of mummification in Tellene, including what cultures practiced it, why, and how it evolved over the millennia. The troll entry, which introduces over a dozen new variant species, has over a page of history and legend concerning the evolution of many of the species of outsiders and giants over the course of the celestial wars which predate written history, culminating in the history of the troll race and an explanation why they are always chaotic evil. It isn't just the detail, but the effort to make it all make sense, to take the disparate races of the D&D world and turn them into a coherent whole, with an ecosystem and a history.
The entries for races which form societies include a section on culture, like the Monster Manual but also tend to be a little more detailed and setting specific. Lastly, the geographic range of the creature is usually given on a small map with the areas they inhabit highlighted. One of the few flaws of the book is that these maps are grayscale and tend to be very dark, making them difficult to read. A summary at the end of the book lists most of the creatures by region. I wish they'd put the creatures from the Monster Manual in here for reference, as well, but can understand that it would have taken up a lot of room. Also included are lists of the creatures by CR and subtype.
These charts comprise only the last of four appendices. The first focuses on mundane animals and expands out the list from the Monster Manual considerably, adding several Tellene-specific species as well as Tellene-specific breeds (including the horse breeds from the sidebars in the setting sourcebook). One interesting choice that I was quite pleased with was the assignment of real-world breeds (of dogs, most prominently) to various regions of Tellene. So, for example, a guard dog in Kalamar will be a mastiff, while one from the Young Kingdoms will be a doberman. I like this move, it allows for added detail without giving the players a whole new list of setting specific names to memorize.
The second appendix is monster variants, which are merely setting specific details for versions of core book monsters native to Tellene. No stats are changed, they are just given a little twist and a context within the setting. The third appendix is half-breeds (all but one of which are half-human) with a half a page detailing the place of half-breeds in Kalamar, their frequency, odds on their survival, and speculation on the ability of humans to cross-breed so well while other races seem incapable (including speculation on the exception, the half-elf/half-orc crossbreed). It is a nice touch, acknowledging an odd quirk of the game while offering up some rationale (keeping with the trend of the book as a whole).
The section is well done but has the most glaring example of my other major gripe with the book: the poor editing. The half-elf/half-orc race (called the Tel-Amhothlan) is an intriguing concept and is handled well. However, the section on them is rife with awkward phrasing (like: "They also less frequently become barbarians or gladiators, but less frequently.") and blatant contradictions. In the section on alignment, we are told "lawful tel-amhothlan are almost unheard of" (which makes sense, given the chaotic bent of both parent races), yet in the adventuring section, it says "Tel-amhothlan monks... are not uncommon." All the book really needed was one more read through by an editor before going to printing to catch most of these problems.
Overall, the book is incredibly useful to anyone running a game using the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting. It is somewhat less so to those just looking for generic material, since most of the best bits are setting specific, but there is a lot here and all of it can be adapted with a bit of work. While the art isn't fantastic, it is quire adequate and tends to illustrate rather than serve as filler eye-candy. All in all, I highly recommend this book to Kalamar buffs, and suggest that those who aren't take a look anyway. Hell, who couldn't use rules for half-gnolls, racing camels, and lobstermen.
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