Dragonbane Bestiary

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

I was so impressed with the Dragonbane Core Rules box that I picked up the Dragonbane Bestiary hardcover earlier today.

 

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

The Dragonbane Bestiary is a 148-page book of monsters for use in your games.  The first thing I noticed upon opening the book was the monsters are not arranged in alphabetical order.  There are nine broad categories of monsters including Nightkin, Rare Kin, Insectoids, Trolls, Giants, Beasts, Undead, Dragons, and Demons.  The monsters are presented in alphabetical order within their group.  If you are looking for a monster by name, you can always use the index as well.  

The Preface is a short one-page section with a half page of fiction serving as thoughts from the writer of this tome, Theodora Sneezewort.  She has catalogued these monsters with information and illustrations on her adventures.  She has also left instructions for preserving and passing on the knowledge in this book if your characters should stumble upon her remains on such on adventure of your own.  A short section of the preface explains that each monster entry not only comes with an illustration and stats but also includes a random encounter and an adventure seed.  Finally, this work adds nine new playable kin that may be used as player characters.  The offerings include Orcs, Goblins, Frog People, Cat People, and more.

A minimum of three monsters is included in each chapter with several of these monsters including variants such as fighter, mage, merchant, etc.  There are a total of 63 monster entries but with the breakdown in several of the entries there are quite a bit more.  Each entry seems to be written as if Theodora was jotting down the information and lore contained within the pages instead of just listing the information by the numbers. Maybe other monster books have done the same, but this is the first one I've seen and it's a welcome and intriguing change from the standard writing encountered in many of these types of books.  The monsters have all been expanded from the core rules and given this same treatment as well.  In addition, several of the monster entries have been expanded with much more variety.  For example, instead of a single Dragon entry there is now a single entry for Hatchling, Young, Adult, Ancient, and Lindworm (sea serpent).   

I have to say the Dragonbane Bestiary has impressed me just as much as the core rules and maybe even more. It does a great job of catching your interest by presenting itself as an actual in-game document that your characters might discover.  Free League really did a top-notch job on this line so far and I'll be picking up more supplements and expansions for Dragonbane in the future.