Oldskull Game Expansions: Book II - 1977 Bestiary (5e)
Wonderland Imprints is proud to present the second volume of the Oldskull Game Expansion series¸ providing exciting and inspirational materials for players and Game Masters who prefer to play the Original (OSR)¸ First Edition (1E)¸ and Second Edition (2E) versions of the world's greatest role-playing game. If you're looking for universal and directly compatible old school materials to bridge the original game editions created by Arneson and Gygax (1974-1985)¸ Holmes (1977)¸ Moldvay and Cook (1981)¸ Mentzer (1983-1986)¸ and other luminaries of TSR (1974-1989)¸ you've come to the right place. Players of Fifth Edition will also discover much of resourceful interest here¸ because these historically-informed systems are rules-light and concept-heavy¸ ready for quick conversion to the ruleset of your choice.
This is my first supplement in the requested 1977 Bestiary sequence¸ fulfilling a design goal which I've wanted to tackle for decades: a comprehensive page-by-page revision and full expansion of the game's 1977 monstrous bestiary¸ the famous hardcover tome wherein E. Gary Gygax first bridged the Basic and Advanced editions long ago.
In this book you will find over 130 OGL-compliant monsters (beginning with the letter A) for your campaigns and projects¸ including iconic beasties such as aerial servants¸ anhkhegs¸ ants and beetles¸ bugbear variants¸ bulettes¸ demon lords¸ the horrific Evil Eyes of Yog-Sothoth¸ and much more.
The primary goal of the 1977 Bestiary project is to unify the Basic¸ Expert¸ and Advanced games with a universally compatible monster resource. The second goal is to bring classic Gygaxian monsters into your Basic campaigns¸ with clarified stat templates of many Advanced monsters that never crossed into Basic territory. Thirdly¸ if you're well-versed in the Advanced game¸ you will note that this book addresses hundreds of vagaries and ambiguities in the 1977 bestiary¸ bringing forth many implied or half-developed subtypes of monsters alluded to in the original tome¸ such as chieftains¸ sub-adults and young¸ large and huge creatures¸ orders (such as clerical¸ magical¸ and sacred couatls)¸ Balor tiers¸ evil eye hierarchies¸ and much more.
Chronic issues such as ambiguity in proportional treasure assignment¸ the exact meaning of the term "lair" (and its implications for treasure generation)¸ incidental treasure¸ inconsistent numbers appearing¸ humanoid weapon selections¸ psionics¸ unstated morale levels¸ varying XP values for subtypes (such as varying-power anhkhegs of 3 to 8 hit dice)¸ and other nettlesome technicalities have been corrected and clarified in this tome¸ and these improvements will carry their way throughout the 1977 Bestiary series. All monsters are presented with clean and updated stat blocks (check out the preview)¸ with an easy-to-use quick reference format that is perfect for use at the game table.
The improved and profusely illustrated monster stat blocks will also give you immediate details on rarity¸ monster type (elemental¸ undead¸ etc.)¸ average hit points¸ attack accuracy¸ average damage¸ vulnerabilities¸ clarified special abilities (such as demonic gating)¸ clearer special attack mechanics (for charges¸ catoblepas gazes¸ evil eye rays¸ etc.)¸ average treasure type values¸ and many other pieces of information that the original books never fully provided¸ all in a single master resource. Whatever your interest in old school monsters¸ you will find much to love herein.
I hope you enjoy this celebration of the old school TSR tradition. Be sure to watch for future volumes in this series which will detail character classes¸ races¸ equipment