Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Some Awesome News Regarding the Swords & Wizardry Monster Book; Attention Artists

NOT the Swords & Wizardry Tome of Horrors Complete, but the 300+ monster book put out by Mythmere Games available Here, with the illustrations free .doc version graciously available Here.

I bought the PDF a while back and I liked it so much that I purchased the softcover; recently out of some OCD need to have my monster books somewhat resemble my AD&D Monster Manual is size and format I've been considering ordering the hardcover version (along with the hardcover versions of Monsters of Myth and Malevolent and Benign, both of which I own the PDF and softcover versions... ...there's also albums that I own in cassette tape, CD and vinyl LP format as well, I'm a real piece of work).

EDIT: Although the Swords & Wizardry Monster Book is sorely lacking in MORALE SCORES and HOARD CLASS; I know they're not S&W rules but come on people, Morale Scores are absolutely crucial for fair DMing!

EDIT II: And as J Random pointed out, NO. APPEARING should be included in the revised edition as well.

It's a good thing that I didn't because I came across This on the Swords & Wizardry Forum:
"I have been putting my re-writes of the monsters into my draft of the S&W Monster Book, and the urge is coming upon me to get illustrations and new monsters, and upgrade the book. Not a second volume, but an upgrade (the cost of the bigger, complete book would not be measurably more than buying a second volume, so might as well do a combined one for convenience). We'd do basically what we did for the first printing, a group project of monster-writing. I might even be able to get contributions from one or two of the D&D celebs that I've hung out with a lot at NTRPGCon. No guarantees on that, but I think a couple of people might be persuaded to chip in a monster or two.

Has it been long enough since the initial release of the monster book for this not to piss off people who bought the first one? Keep in mind that a second volume would cost only slightly less than what I'm thinking of doing here. I think. I haven't run the numbers on the lulu calculators, yet, but that's what I'm assuming. The key here is getting more illustrations, too...

... the S&W Monster Book, only with a new set of monsters to be generated the way we did last time, with people posting their monsters on the board, group comments, me editing, and so forth, and also getting more illustrations (the paucity of illustrations in the monster book is its big flaw). This would be a Mythmere deal, not a Frog God deal, so it would be done through lulu."
I'm pretty jazzed about this bit of news; I'll be able to get my titty-grabbers on a bigger, badder hardcover version of the S&W MB and this is a great opportunity for all of the talented artists and monster-makers out there in OSR land to get their work in an awesome book.


Also, if you don't LOVE this song you're a fucking asshole ;)

11 comments:

  1. That is awesome news, and I'd love to be involved, but I seem to be unable to register for their forums.

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  2. I'm with you on morale scores and treasure tables

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  3. I would add No. Appearing too.

    Seriously, that one little number tells so much about the author's intention as to which ecological niche the creature is to fill that it's not even funny.

    Those three stats are just as crucial as the crunch, IMO.

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  4. I agree that Morale, Treasure Type, and Number Appearing should be added in the second edition.

    That said, this is very cool news! :D

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  5. Another comment appreciation for morale scores. Treasure types and Number Appearing would also be very helpful.

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  6. Hm, I'll have to look into it and see if I can work it into my schedule to contribute some art.

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  7. And let's not forget % Liar!

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  8. You can find the original stats for my S&W Monster Book monsters, in Labyrinth Lord/Rules Cyclopedia format, here:

    http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=34105

    Number Appearing, Treasure Type, Morale, everything :)

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  9. You are amazing.

    I'm going to update my Word.doc copy of the S&W MM with this info.

    Thanks a billion!


    Word Verification: matesse - as or like the artist Matisse, known for colorful evocations. See Myrystyr.

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  10. Ooh this sounds like fun! Confirming that no. appearing, treasure type and morale would be very useful.

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  11. @ Kelvingreen: Perhaps try getting ahold of Matt Finch via email or his blog?

    @ J.Random: Duly noted; although I am aware on some level that the S&W Monster Book doesn't include No. Appearing, I somehow forgot that as I assume every monster listing includes that crucial statistic!

    @ Myrstyr: Awesome & Thank You! BTW sorry I haven't emailed you back, I've overwhelmed by school & life and haven't had any time to get down to the print shop.

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