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One of my goodies from the comic con was this book, Beasts of Lejend, courtesy of our wonderful editor.
This is a supplement of the Lejendary Adventures game, created by Gary Gygax (of Dungeons and Dragons fame). It is published by Hekaforge Productions. That being said, let's get into the details.
I don't know a thing about this game. I only received the Beasts book, which is the equivalent of a Monster Manual for the game. I was unable to locate the game at my local RPG shop. Luckily, I went to www.hekaforge.com, and found some information on ordering. If this sounds interesting to you, check it out. They even have a message board.
Perhaps not knowing anything about the system is a good thing. It makes me less biased, picking up one of the books in the game without knowing how it works, and just looking at how well (or badly) it was put together. In this particular case, I read through the book, and saw that it was actually done quite nicely. Everything is organized into different classes of creatures, and then alphabetically. They give the stats of all the creatures in the category all at once at the beginning on a pretty easy to read chart, and then get into the details for each of them in separate paragraphs later on (that way, if you know what a harpy vulture looks like, you don't have to read through all the other descriptions to get there).
This book is very throrough, something I appreciate in a monster manual. If I make up my own monsters, I enjoy getting into the nitty-gritty. If I use someone else's, I expect that they do the same. Not only are all the creatures given a precise description of powers, appearance, and behaviors, but also most of them are alongside with pretty well- done artwork (although in black and white).
I can't vouch for the rules, but from what I've managed to piece together, they seem fairly simple and flexible. They do make reference to less commonly used dice, like d16s and d30s, which can pose a problem for some people without access to those kinds of things. I like their combat system, but I disagree with some of the names they use (calling a round or turn an "ABC" sounds kinda silly
). Of course, coming from something with the name Lejendary Adventures, this is to be expected.
Many of these creatures are familiar to players of Dungeons and Dragons, or even to people who have read varied mythologies. Even so, they manage to get a good variety of critters and beasts, and lots of twists on old ones. I know that I'll be converting and incorporating some of these into the games that I run.
All in all, this is a pretty good supplement, and if the rest of the series is put together as well as this one is, it is definitely worth picking up (even at 30 bucks) to try out with your friends. Assuming, of course, you can get past the name . . .
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