The Sea Devils (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition: Monstrous Arcana, Accessory/9539) [Paperback]

Skip Williams (Author), Keith Francis Strohm (Editor), Paul Jacquays (Illustrator), Arnie Swekel (Illustrator), William O'Connor (Illustrator), R. K. Post (Illustrator), Todd Lockwood (Illustrator), Henry Higginbothan (Illustrator), Darren Lamb (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: TSR Inc.; 1st edition (July 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078690643X
• ISBN-13: 978-0786906437
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,742,558 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Toadkiller Dawg says: A tasty snack at a full meal price., January 6, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Sea Devils (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition: Monstrous Arcana, Accessory/9539) (Paperback)

The Sea Devils is a comprehensive look at sahuagin physiology, psychology, history and society. Each subject is covered in just the right amount of detail with plenty of useful tidbits and interesting facts that ought to be useful in any campaign based in a coastal area and especially those that revolve around maritime pursuits. Rules for sahuagin weaponry and combat are included as is a sample sahuagin village. Although there are several references to information given in the "Of Ships and the Sea" supplement, The Sea Devils appears to be capable of standing alone and does have a section that gives handy rules for underwater campaigning. The book includes a poster that shows the relative appearances and sizes of various members of the sahuagin race and other creatures of the sea.

The material itself rates four stars, at least. The text could use with slightly better organization, some of the details are scattered through the text rather than being collected under a single heading and way too much space is spent on fake NPC sages mysteriously commenting on various sahuagin theories and facts rather than just presenting the material in a more straightforward manner.

The biggest drawback to this product, however, is that it is terribly overpriced for the volume of information it contains. After reading through the first dozen pages or so, one realizes that there is a terrific number of really big illustrations, sidebars full of pseudo-NPC drivel, redundant information and filler like "sahuagin often use poison in combat, but that will be covered in chapter 7". The margins are wide, the type is large and there is a disconcerting amount of just plain blank space, sometimes right in the middle of the page. The format resembles something you might expect from someone assigned to write a 20-page essay, but stuck with only 12 pages of material. The supplement checks in at 96 pages, but any competent editor could reduce the page count by a half, if not more.

The Sea Devils contains very useful gaming material, but nobody should be paying full price for a half-empty book. It is highly recommended, but only if you can get it at a discount.

0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Who wants more?, May 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Sea Devils (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition: Monstrous Arcana, Accessory/9539) (Paperback)

This is the greatest source you can find from TSR about under water campaings! Every little detail required for an underwater adventure. I can recommend this book if you are going deep!