Sword & Sorcery Creature Collection II: Dark Menagerie (Core Rulebook) [Hardcover]

Sword and Sorcery Studios (Editor), SSS STAFF (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 9, 2001

CREATURE COLLECTION II: DARK MENAGERIE

THE TWISTED LEGACY OF DEAD GODS

Over 200 horrifying aberrations, undead and other creatures ready to corrupt or kill the most stalwart heroes. Picking up where CREATURE COLLECTION leaves off, CREATURE COLLECTION II: DARK MENAGERIE presents a host of NEW MONSTERS for use in your 3RD EDITION D20 FANTASY CAMPAIGN. Revisit the Carnival of Shadows, and witness the twisted servitor races the titans fashioned in their war against the gods.

FULLY COMPATIBLE WITH 3RD EDITION RULES

OVER 200 BRAND NEW MONSTERS ADD UNIQUE CHALLENGES TO YOUR 3RD EDITION CAMPAIGN.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MONSTERS RELATED TO THOSE IN THE CREATURE COLLECTION.

A HARDCOVER, 224 PAGE HARDCOVER CORE RULEBOOK B Y THE FOLKS AT SWORD & SORCERY STUDIOS!

SEE ALSO THESE OTHER SWORD & SORCERY CORE BOOKS FOR THE SCARRED LANDS SETTING:

CREATURE COLLECTION (ISBN: 1565044878)
RELICS AND RITUALS (ISBN: 1588461599)

SWORD & SORCERY BOOKS ARE PUBLISHED UNDER THE OPEN GAMING LICENSE AND ARE 100% COMPATIBLE WITH 3RD EDITION RULES AND THE D20 SYSTEM.

ARTISTS INCLUDE:
Guy Davis, Steve Ellis, Ron Spencer and others

Product Details

• Hardcover: 247 pages
• Publisher: White Wolf Publishing (July 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1588461602
• ISBN-13: 978-1588461605
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,070,034 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not the Monster Manual, December 5, 2001

By 

"neonspade" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sword & Sorcery Creature Collection II: Dark Menagerie (Core Rulebook) (Hardcover)

This book is good. Really good. It shows what the Open Gaming License can do.

The monsters in this book are for the most part creative and interesting. Swords and Sorcery Studios obviously put some thought into a lot of the monsters. True, there are monsters in the book that lack the pizazz that you would want in a campaign of heroism that Dungeons and Dragons is suited to. Yet with 300 monsters or so, it would be irrational to expect them all to be perfect.

I have to complaints with the book, each of which cost the Creature Collection II a star.

My first gripe is a personal one, but I think it's significant. The CC2 is in black and white. While this is usually issue, I feel that in role-playing, hardcover books should come in color. You may disagree, and if you're happy with black and white, then consider this book a four star supplement.

Gripe two is more significant. Whoever came up with the challenge ratings (CR) for the monsters has either never played the D20 system (...). They are way off. There are monsters in there with CRs of 5 who I would pit my not-so-buff group of 1st level PCs against without any fear for their lives. On the other hand, there are monsters who have Crs way lower than they deserve. Example: The "Time Killer" has a CR of one, yet can use a touch attack to send players ahead in time, thus seperating the group, and it's touch attack also ages players 1d10 years. It also has a sizable number of hit points. I would have reservations pitting 4th level PCs against this monster.

Two notes that are neither pros nor cons: The book is a bit campaign specific (for the SSS campaign "Scarred Lands"), but with minimal work the DM can change the monsters to any campaign. Also, this book is very dark. Lots of undead and grisly aberrations. You could call them demons or devils and have all of the Planes fleshed out with evil. If you want some scary monsters, here they are.

Overall, good, but not the MM.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Much better than the first Creature Collection, July 13, 2001

By 

Yoshitsune (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sword & Sorcery Creature Collection II: Dark Menagerie (Core Rulebook) (Hardcover)

"Creature Collection II" contains a lot of interesting monsters, most of which can be used in most campaigns (a few entries are a little too world specific to use if not playing in the Scarred Lands). For the most part, this book is well written, and the artwork is very good except for a few rare cases. Most of the creatures are well balanced (in my opinion anyway), and of course there are the critters which make you wonder why did they put that in here. I definitely like the amount of detail and information they give for each monster (this is something I miss from 2nd edition AD&D). This book would be an excellent addition to any game master or person adventuring in the Scarred Lands.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More Bad guys for your buck!, July 16, 2001

By 

Brian K. Eason (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sword & Sorcery Creature Collection II: Dark Menagerie (Core Rulebook) (Hardcover)

For those that are NOT familiar with the idea, WOTC has offered an 'Open Game License' to any publisher that would like to contribute to the further growth of the d20 system that has been implemented with D&D3Ed.

Sword and Sorcery Studios is one of the leaders in the race to see who will dominate the d20 market (outside of WOTC). With White Wolf Games as Publisher/Printer of their materials they stand a good chance.

The Creature Collection II is the much anticipated sequel to the sometimes maligned Creature Collection. Though I really enjoyed the creativity that went into the Original CC, CC2:Dark Menagerie is by FAR a better product. The illustrations are of a much higher calibre (though still black and white) and it is obvious that the creators had a great time putting this work together. Much like the Original CC, the whole collection manages to work well and add some very nice elements to what appears to be an exciting campaign setting.

Unlike the Original, CC2 seems to be more geared towards the minions of the Dark Titans that once ruled the Scarred Lands. These creatures run the gamut from the Frighteningly deadly to the just plain DISGUSTING... but it all manages to work, giving the GM (whether he is using the SL campaign setting or not) a veritible army of bizzare minions to delight and confound players in his/her d20 game. By far, this is one of the most pleasing products recently released for the ever expanding d20 game system.

Finally, SSS has stated their manifesto to be "3rd Edition D&D with a 1st Edition feel"... with that goal in mind... I'd say they are succeeding.