Here there be monsters within these pages - a Mephisto review
Dragonbane Beastiary
As befits a good fantasy role-playing game, the obligatory bestiary has now also been published for Dragonbane, which presents a whole arsenal of new monsters on 150 pages, but also summarizes the creatures from the basic box once again in these pages. The book is written from the in-game perspective of Theodora Sneezewort, who has compiled this manual of monsters and contributed her own perspective and interpretations.
The book is divided into nine sections. The nightkin, i.e. the goblinoids, are introduced, followed by the rare kin, insectoids, trolls, giants, beasts, undead and, of course, dragons and demons. A special feature here is that some of these new kin are also playable, provided the gaming group agrees on this, so that in addition to the familiar six kin, there is a good arsenal of other playable options with orcs, ogres, goblins, hobgoblins, frog people, karkions, cat people, lizard people and satyrs.
The structure of the monster descriptions always follows the same pattern. There is a short introductory quote, interspersed with a little black humor, then a short descriptive text by the fictional author, who always discusses personal experiences and special aspects in her descriptions and does not provide a simple schematic summary. There is, of course, a stat block, and for humanoid creatures, these stats are usually presented for two or three different classes. If it is a playable variant, there is, of course, also the corresponding special ability available to a character. The central elements, however, are the random encounter and the adventure seeds, whereby the random encounter describes a spontaneous meeting with the creature, while the adventure seeds can provide approaches for complete adventures.
Each of the monsters has also been excellently illustrated by Johann Egerkranz and David Brassegala. The selection of monsters largely comprises the usual stereotypes. There are lizardmen, minotaurs, mermaids, fairies, centaurs, different variants of giants and trolls, griffins, hydras, medusae, pegasi, ghosts, skeletons, vampires — or, in other words, all the usual suspects for such a book There are also some more special and unusual entries. For example, the insectoids, the ant people, the beetle people and the spider people are certainly more uncommon creatures. But the Swan Maiden, elven were-swans so to speak, are also rather unusual representatives.
In the case of dragons, the different variants, from newly hatched baby dragons to ancient dragons, are classified as separate entries, and various types of demons are presented in the demons section.
The Dragonbane Bestiary is very well presented. Both the structure and the graphic design and illustrations are excellent. The entries are also written in an entertaining way, making this bestiary easy to read. There are lots of little anecdotes, but also random encounters and adventure ideas that you can use to get started right away in the game.
The fact that Dragonbane does not use lots of complicated characteristics and special attacks, with monsters having adW6 table for different attacks, means that this part is sometimes a bit repetitive, so that monsters are sometimes similar in terms of pure game statistics. In my opinion, however, this is completely outweighed by the description because the way the creatures are presented here is very vivid.
Whether you want to allow the additional kin for players depends on the individual group. Of course, this expands the possibilities vastly. On the other hand, the question of whether you actually wish to play goblins, for example, if they do take damage from sunlight as nightkin, is somewhat questionable. Nevertheless, the options have increased significantly here, and there are probably also players who have only been waiting for such unusual opportunities as being able to play cat creatures.
The Dragonbane Bestiary thus remains true to the approach of simple rule mechanics and traditional fantasy in a well-written and beautifully presented design. This means that anyone who enjoys Dragonbane will get a fitting and excellent monster manual. The only downside of the PDF version is that, unlike the PDF version of the basic box, the cardboard stand-up figures of the printed book are not included as print-out templates, so you have to do without them. Apart from that, this book is a recommendation for Dragonbane fans.
(Björn Lippold)
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