The biggest bane about almost any Role Playing Game is the lack of information needed to create your own adventures for your playing group. At least, that's what I discovered when I started trying to run my own games back in the late 70's with AD&D. It seemed as if things were either too well defined (no, that kingdom is ruled by so-and-so thus it can't have this in it) or there wasn't enough general things to create a new area with (it's a what? Those only exist at such-and-such a place. They don't move around). Another major problem occurs when you are wanting to deal with mundane creatures, like cows. How much does a cow cost? What does it eat and how much per day? Can I have a pet cow? When things like this popped up, and believe me they do, the Game Master had to make a split second ruling on it or spend several minutes/hours searching for the game rules on the subject...often both. Palladium Books foresaw this problem and became the first company ever to release a Monsters and Animals volume with answers to most questions.

This volume was released shortly after the basic rules book and is jam packed with hundreds, perhaps thousands of monsters, beasts, wild animals and strange creatures from both new and old. Many of the creatures found in this volume will not be seen in any other game because they are the creations of Kevin's ever fertile imagination.

The book starts off by talking about the terms used to define the statistics of the various creatures listed. Then a full page map of the Fantasy world is given with some brief notes about each of the major regions of said world. These notes include such things as the population (percentage) of the various races that live in each area. For example, the Northern Wilderness is 47% Wolfen, 22% Human, 10% Orcs, 8% Gnomes and 13% Others (meaning all the rest of the Player Races). This information is valuable to a Game Master because it allows him/her to determine what the players will most likely encounter when they enter a village or town in that area.

After that, there are lists of monsters that are common to each area. These lists are in no way, shape or form random encounter tables. They are merely listing the most common types of creatures that one would find when traveling a particular area. It is from these lists that the Game Master can generate his own random encounter tables. Of course, just because something is not common to an area does not meant that it cannot show up there.

Then the lists of monsters and creatures begin. Each critter
has a full description (detailed enough to allow the players to envision it without having to be told exactly what it is), statistics, and abilities both natural and learned (if any). Many of the creatures can be used by the players as a character race, and those have the eight attribute dice listed in case a player wishes to do so. That is, if he can get the permission of the Game Master to use that race. Following the basic info is a small version of the world map (about 2 inches square) that has a shaded area showing the natural habitat of the beast. Most of the creatures also have highly detailed drawings as well.

Near the end of the book is the animal section. In this area you will find the game stats on everything from ground hogs to woodpeckers to bears to horses of all types. Each animal is detailed carefully, listing the dangers/benefits of encountering one. For instance, while it might be good luck to find a riding horse that had been left to go wild again finding a rattlesnake would NOT be a good thing.

About the only thing that I didn't like about the first version of this book was the fact that the creatures that were listed in the basic rules book do not appear at all in this one. This was a good and bad thing. It was good because when you buy this book, you know that you are getting all new material to use for the game. But it was a bad thing because many of the creatures listed in the basic rules were merely glossed over, with just enough info to use them in certain areas or settings. It also tends to make it a little difficult to find the stats on a particular beast because there is more than one book that has monsters listed. Palladium cleaned up this mess by releasing a 2nd Edition volume. This one has everything listed with the new version of the stats and abilities for use in the updated game system. Well, everything that was already in print at the time, that is.

This is a great book to get even if you have no intention of ever playing the Fantasy game. The background information on the monsters is still useful for plot hooks and will merely add to your to arsenal of knowledge to be used in the various game worlds of the Palladium Megaverse.

Recommended: Yes