The Book of Monsters

The Book of Monsters is a supplement for fantasy role-playing games published by Little Soldier Games in 1976.

Contents

The Book of Monsters is a supplement that describes 124 monsters from worldwide myth and legendry.[1]

Publication history

The Book of Monsters was written by Phil Edgren, and was published by Little Soldier Games in 1976 as a digest-sized 44-page book; a 2nd edition was published by Gamescience in 1978 as a 16-page book, and it was later included in the compilation The Fantasy Gamer's Compendium.[1]

Shannon Appelcline commented that "Little Soldier had also gotten into the roleplaying field with a series of generic fantasy-roleplaying supplements, the first of which was The Book of Monsters (1976) a description of 124 monsters by mythological scholar Phil Edgren. Edgren would end up being Little Soldier's most prolific author."[2]:130

Shannon Appelcline noted that Dungeons & Dragons was the clear market leader among about a dozen RPGs available by early 1977, by which time "third parties had begun supplementing the game, with the most notable early supplements including Wee Warrior's The Character Archaic (1975) and Palace of the Vampire Queen (1976), Little Soldier's The Book of Monsters (1976) and The Book of Demons (1976), and Judges Guild's City State of the Invincible Overlord (1976+) and Dungeon Tac Reference Cards (1976). It would be 1977 or 1978 before "generic fantasy" supplements intended for D&D really started to proliferate, but even then, most would fit into the categories defined by these early publishers: accessories (like The Character Archaic), adventures (like Palace), monsters manuals (like Little Soldier's Books), and setting books (like City State)."[3]:320

Appelcline also mentioned that Gamescience bought the back catalog of Little Soldier Games in 1978, "which included several board games and a half-dozen "generic" fantasy supplements of very early pedigree. (Little Soldier had published them starting in 1976.) Gamescience expanded its roleplaying line almost immediately with reprints of Little Soldier's Book of Demons (1978) and Book of Monsters (1978). Zocchi had originally planned to publish more, but the rest of the Little Soldier FRP books would have to wait until all six appeared as part of The Fantasy Gamer's Compendium (1983)."[3]:292-293

Reception

Lew Pulsipher reviewed The Book of Monsters for White Dwarf #5, and stated that "Book of Monsters really isn't worth it, particularly since much of the information is available in decent libraries in encyclopedias of mythology and folklore."[4]

References
  1. Schick, Lawrence (1991). Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games. Prometheus Books. p. 159. ISBN 0-87975-653-5.
  2. Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
  3. Shannon Appelcline (2014). Designers & Dragons: The '70s. Evil Hat Productions. ISBN 978-1-61317-075-5.
  4. Pulsipher, Lew (February–March 1978). "Open Box". White Dwarf. Games Workshop (Issue 5): 12.CS1 maint: date format (link)
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