Customer Reviews

Creature Collection: Core Rulebook (Sword and Sorcery)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'd really like to give this book 3.5 stars because it fits somewhere between average (3) and good (4). I went with three stars because the content is not quite up to the standard set by the Monster Manual (MM) and as a result I don't think that I would use many creatures from this book without first making a few changes.

That said, there are some aspects of this book that I really like and some areas in which the Creature Collection is superior to the (MM). First the layout of the book is much better than the MM. Every creature gets it's own page so its easy to tell which picture corresponds to which creature and statistic tables never get split across page boundaries (like in the MM... argh!). Second and more important, the background descriptions for various creatures tend to include a historical perspective of the creature relative to the world as a whole (Forsaken Elves come to to mind). This approach helps the DM build scenarios around the creature type and is just plain more interesting to read. This approach also provides an introduction to the 'Scarred Lands' campaign world, which actually looks very promising.

On the downside the artwork in this book is not up to third edition standards. The art, while professional, is black and white and is reminiscent of first or second edition work. In addition, the creature statistics don't appear to be as well thought out or balanced as those in the MM. I often found myself thinking that a particular creature would make more sense if it had less hit dice, was one size larger, etc. Finally, the book is more expensive than the MM and doesn't have as much content. It contains roughly 200 creatures compared to approximately 500 in the MM.

I guess if you want to surprise jaded players with new beasts, this is for you. If you play in the Scarred Lands, this is for you. But if you want to adapt some of these monsters to your own campaign, you are in for some work. Most of them have very specific histories that are difficult to modify. Normally I like little creative notes and world specific blurbs. At times they are inspiring. But here they just make the creatures difficult to port to my own campaign. The page layout is MUCH better than the Monster Manual, but the pictures are a dull black and white and they do not have the edgy 3E feel. Good art for 2E or 1E, but not what I was looking for. I also thought the creatures were a bit silly at times, but then I rarely use any aberrations. I am more of a humanoid/construct type who plays a lighter magic campaign. Heavy magic campaign folks may not shy away from these monsters as much as I did. Even with the drawbacks I mentioned, I still felt this was an average buy. I will likely get a few game sessions of material out of it, and in my opinion, that will pay for the cost of the product.

One of Sword and Sorcery Studios' first publications, and what an attractive and useful tome it is. This hardcover publication features over 200 creatures, and I have already used a couple in my new third edition D&D campaign.

The Creature Collection is similar to the Monster Manual, giving all the stats you need for game play. All the creatures have well written descriptions, detailing their natural habitat and special abilities. Very impressive interior art. The artists include Jeff Holt, Steve Ellis, Guy Davis, Jeff Rebner and others. The authors Geoff Grabowski and Stephan and Stewart Wieck -- among others.

All in all, Creature Collection with many fascinating monsters is a nice book to add to your D&D collection.

I have so far found this to be a useful and easy to use reference, although it is not presented quite as nicely as the Monster Manual. The black and white illustrations just don't quite bite the imagination like the full colour of the MM.

Sword & Sorcery Studios; www.swordsorcery.com ; has made the most impressive start as a company and use of the d20 Open Gaming Liscense to-date with their Creature Collection.

This sourcebook, for the yet to be released 'Scarred Lands' setting, is an excellent resource for any creative DM wishing to spice up his own world, or any world his game is set in.

Interesting twists to known races, as well as the addition of several others.

The Slitheren, Ratmen spawned from the flesh and ichor of slain Titans; the beings who ruled Scarn some century and a half ago, slain by their children - the Gods; who hide, sneak, and walk as two legged, sentient vermin - Brown Gorgers, Foamers, the Diseased, and Red Witches are names to be feared by your players.

Wrack Dragons, rare and dangerous creations of the fallen Titans.

New Golems, including the Mithral Golem, grace the book with ingenious and interesting twists to their nature.

Overall if this is an inkling of what Sword & Sorcery Studios, as well as Necromancer Games; www.necromancergames.com ; can do, then it's all good on the horizon.

Skimming through Ceature Collection, the product appears professionally produced, the monster descriptions are reasonably detailed and the artwork is also fairly good (with a some exceptions). Looking more closely many of the monsters appear nothing more than variants of existing D&D monsters, though there are a few novel concepts (e.g. Butcher Spirit for example). For the most part they are quite dull and uninspired. Some of the creatures have vague descriptions which may need some modification e.g. Storm Kin. Looking much closer, the stats given for each creature, such as attack rolls, saving throws, DR's etc often don't conform to Monster Manual. One good example is that the golems and undead have constitution bonuses when they're supposed not to. Many minor problems and typos with game stats are present, this may seem pedantic but the inaccuracies may effect game balance in some cases. The latter problem is readily fixable by a DM if each monster is examined carefully. Overall, the book is an unfortunately mediocre product, really only useful if you're playing the Scarred Lands scenario.

First of all I think that the book overall rates 4 and a half stars. Why five then you may ask. The main reason is a start to all things. I think that the open license will open up Dungeons and Dragons back up to the populace that went to White Wolf (even if white wolf owns SSS) and other products. I also think that this shows all of those critics aho have bashed WoTC for purchasing TSR and realistically saving it. And their Open License could make D&D bigger then it was when WoTC purchased TSR. If you play D&D and you want 200 more monsters that are creative and extensive then get this. Nobody should be disappointed with this product. I look forward to additional products and the scarred lands world setting. This book has good artwork in it who cares if its not in colors. I like to see quality work not pretty work. And a good bonus to things is the included (Wrack) dragons. Like Dragons are not nasty enough in 3rd Edition already.

"Creature Collection" is a good place to start when introducing people to the Scarred Lands campaign setting. I very much liked the details and bits of history that were given in each entry. Unfortunately this book does suffer from two flaws. Many of the illustrations in the book were just plain bad; they were just poorly done. The other thing I did not like about this book was the fact that many of the creatures were ludicrous and not really useful outside of the campaign setting without a lot of changes. If you were going to be campaigning in the Scarred Lands, I would recommend getting this book; otherwise you can safely skip over this item without really missing anything.

While this isn't the best Monster Manual I've ever seen, this collection of non-Greyhawk, non-Faerun monsters is quite useful. I get more monsters to work with, such as the Thunder Orb and Fatling. And, it's a good bet that most of the players in my group don't have this book, so if I monkey with the monster, they can't complain.

First off, let me say that the main thing that encouraged me to buy this book were all the good reviews of it. I'm really sad I listened to them.

I felt most of the "monsters" in this book were uncreative and bland. The main gripe I have about it is the fact that it seems most of the book contains animals with twists on them. Want to fight a "Great Swan"? How about a "Moon Cat"? And hey, if you have a bird fetish, you can even choose from the "Great Harrier" or "Cerulean Roc", or even the "Dread Raven". *snore*

If I wanted to fight D&D's wild kingdom, I would have bought a book revolving around that. And the things that aren't even animals just seem like monsters with different templates, such as the golems or hags they have in the book. Silver Golem? I could've thought up that one myself, and for less.

The only reason I don't give it a 1 is because of the few (few being two or three) monsters that I'd actually want to use. Also, as mentioned, the layout is nice. But besides that, this book is a major rip-off in my opinion. My suggestion to everyone who wants to buy this is to just think of an animal, like a goat or a dog, and put "Fire" or "Razor" or something in front of the name. Bam. You have the Creature Collection.