Monsters Of the Endless Dark: Review

[BenPowis]

A little review I wrote after reading Monsters Of The Endless Dark, I hope too post it on ENworld also but it does not yet appear in the product box.

Monsters Of the Endless Dark: The Wanderers Guild Guide To Subterranean Organisms.

Publisher: Goodman Games
Written by: Jon Pollom
Illustration: Andy Hopp

Review
Monsters Of The Endless Dark is a 3rd edition soft back monster manual documenting a series of creepy, humorous and devastatingly destructive creatures from the underground. Accompanying the selection of 29 unique new monsters is a brand new prestige class, the Deeprunner.

This first book from the Wanderer’s Guild series invites its readers and game players into a magnificent new world packed with its own completely unique history and a whole series of memorable characters. The book itself is themed along the journals of one such character, Bessimus Camfor. Thanks to the literary work of Jon Pollom this makes for terrific reading and draws the reader so deep into the world of the Wanderers Guild and its exciting history and documentations of new discoveries that even the occasionally typing error does not detract from the reader’s enjoyment. Accompanying the writing are a large number of detailed illustrations by Andy Hopp. On literally every page the reader is confronted by beautifully exciting illustrations depicting not only the monsters of the endless dark in full glory, but also detailing their weapons, anatomy and habitats.

Monsters Of The Endless Dark is very cleverly laid out. Each monster occupies a double spread page. The main body of this page contains in-character records and a descriptive text and graphics to give the reader or dungeon master a fantastic overview of the monster he/she is including in their game. As well as the large amount of descriptive text one can also view a graphical key on each monster’s page to review at a glace its habitat and diet.
No game information is contained inside this central area. Such information is printed on the sides of the pages for quick DM reference. The beauty of this feature is that a dungeon master can cover up these game statistics areas with a piece of paper and reveal the central area to his/her players. Revealing to them a wealth of information about the creature they are dealing with as well as a beautiful illustration, without giving away any game secrets.

Monsters Of The Endless Dark brings to life a truly unique vision. It is a breath of fresh air for d20 players who tire of the same old monsters in their campaigns. Originality is the Wanderers Guild’s main strength, but originality cannot work well if players cannot get to grips with new content and use it effectively. Monsters Of The Endless Dark works very well, and any campaign containing its creatures should run smoothly thanks to the wealth of information and its easy access.

As well as the information contained inside this first book, the Wanderers Guild official website is also available at http://www.wanderersguild.com. This website enhances the world in a way never seen before and brings the entire experience full circle. The Wanders Guild website gives visitors access to the Archives which contain many user submitted D20 entries. I should point out that I was a fan of the Wanderers Guild concept from the day the web site opened, long before this book came out. I even got a "thank-you" in the credits because of all my support on the WG web site. Writers and artists are able to work together bringing a single entry to life in the most effective way possible. And someone is always willing to oblige to help you with whatever you require on the discussion boards.

Conclusion
This first book from the Wanderers Guild gives a very interesting glimpse into a new world, providing more information than a reader would normally expect. Every aspect of the publication has been greatly considered and carefully thought out. Monsters Of The Endless Dark: The Wanderers Guild Guide To Subterranean Organisms has managed to succeed in making itself very unique, while still staying perfectly dynamic with the d20 rules system. With the accompanying website and the prospect of further publications carrying this world even further things can only get better for the Wanderers Guild. I look forward to the next book in the series.

[goodmangames]

Sounds like a good review to me. Glad you liked the book.