This article originally appeared in d20 Weekly

Monsters of the Endless Dark: The Wanderers Guild Guide to Subterranean Organisms

Monsters of the Endless Dark: The Wanderers Guild Guide to Subterranean Organisms

Published by Goodman Games

Written by Jon Pollum

Cover and Interior Art by Andy Hopp

64-page b&w softcover; $18.00

Monster books have been a popular subject for d20 System publishers. Goodman Games joins the fray with Monsters of the Endless Dark: The Wanderers Guild Guide to Subterranean Organisms. Monsters is a bit different from your average catalog of creatures, however. Instead of page after page of ravenous fiends, each bristling with an array of outlandish abilities, Monsters of the Endless Dark devotes an entire two pages of detail to each of its 28 creatures. But is the detail worth it?

The book itself is a standard, 64-page softbound with color cover and black and white interior. Andy Hopp's design work and illustrations are very professional and the layout is unique. The main body of each page is devoted to background detail, with a sidebar on each page contains the monster's game statistics. According to the text, this is designed so that the DM can easily cover the sidebars with a piece of paper and only show the players the monster's illustration and background information. The book is designed to look like a journal/sketchbook, complete with a crumpled paper background. This is fine, but I admit to a prejudice against text on busy backgrounds, and while Monsters of the Endless Dark is not a terrible offender, I could still do without it. Andy Hopp's . . .

This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.



Article publication date: May 7, 2003

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