Welcome to the Finder’s Archive and a review is what we have in store for you this week. 😊
We take products and review them, intending to give the reader the best chance of evaluating whether this particular release is for them.
There is, of course, a scoring system, similar to that used elsewhere, in a 5-star rating, which we have determined as follows:
1 * – Bad
2 * – Mediocre
3 * – Decent
4 * – Good
5 * – Excellent
The following review is an OPINION piece and only reflects the opinion and tastes (because ultimately, all reviews will be based in personal taste) of the reviewer. Also please note that we were given a free copy for this review, but we will base it on the actual price as well.
That disclaimer out of the way, let’s get on with the show!
This week we give you Monsters of the City
Publisher: Cawood Publishing
Author: Andrew Cawood
Cover Artist: Travis Hanson
System: 5e
Page count: 144 ( 1 page cover, 1 page inside cover, 1 page credits, 1 page OGL,1 page Table of Contents, 137 pages of content, 1 page back inside cover (advert), 1 page back cover)
Right, so let’s look at the cover first. It shows us a young girl, standing in a well-lit hallway, but surrounded by dark leering monsters, hiding in the shadows above it, and in the doorway of a nearby house. A good moody piece, but if I’d been looking at it I’d have thought that this was a horror game, rather than a monster book. Also, I noticed something odd while looking at the cover – it seems to have a subtitle of “Sins & Virtues,” but that isn’t named on the product page, nor on the preview cover. Perhaps it was an earlier or later image that was used, rather than the one on the preview and product page.
Here I also have to address something that could well be off-putting to some people, and that’s the artwork itself. It is VERY cartoony/comic-y. I know that a lot of that is because Travis Hanson is a comic-book writer, but it’s not to everyone’s taste, and I think it’s bold that they put that front and center. While I’m not a fan of this type of artwork, I don’t hate it either – and more importantly, the artwork is consistent throughout the book, which I REALLY appreciate, as so many 3rd Party Publishers haven’t got the budget or time to ensure that it looks consistent.
Right, to the content!
So, there are a number of monsters in this book. One hundred three new ones to be specific, that represent characters that you could reasonably expect to run into, in a city. Well, most of them. There are a couple, called “Sins” and “Virtues” that represent the classic 7 Deadly Sins and 7 Virtues, and how they each affect a district of the city through their presence. While most of the monsters/creatures/NPCs work well, some of them feel a bit same-y (like the Dwarf, Elf, and Halfing Ambassadors). While each has a couple of unique skills and abilities, they still manage to feel the same – though their background story separates them out. My main issue is actually these sins and virtues – they’re extremely high challenge rating wise (23) and they feel like they were written for a specific city, rather than a generic one.
That brings me to the second issue I have with them, which is more of an “I’d like more” type thing. The Challenge Rating spread of monsters is very uneven. There’s a heavy load of creatures at certain CRs, while others are almost completely bare. It just feels strange that Challenge Rating 23 has more creatures in it than any of the lower levels, the same goes with the choice of so heavily going in on low-CR creatures (which is good), but on CR 9-20, there are only 14 monsters. That’s the same amount of opponents as you find on CR 23.
There are a few minor issues in layout and formatting, but they’re mostly just a matter of something not having gone in quite right in layout (like the odd thing being in italics when it shouldn’t be, etc.). I’m also a little surprised at the Random Encounter Tables. I like them, but I don’t quite understand why they didn’t put in the CR for them. It would have been easier for a GM to quickly decide if that encounter was appropriate for the heroes, rather than having to flick through pages to find the monsters (especially the monsters that aren’t included in the book itself).
There is also a section on adventure hooks, which I really like. Especially one where it is a “Group of halflings on mastiffs terrorizing town.” I have this mental image now of a “halfling biker gang” riding mastiffs, and the thought of a bunch of Hell’s Angel Halflings (HAH) on dogs is just hilariously funny. 😊 The same goes for the Ogre Baron, who definitely feels like a play on Trump. 😛
I have 2 things I don’t understand though: At the beginning of the book, the Alliance of the Griffon is introduced, but there’s no real explanation of who they are, and how they pertain to the monsters. Presumably, they’re a Campaign Setting thing, or a recurring theme in Cawood’s books (I’m afraid I haven’t read others, so I can’t judge on that part). The other thing that puzzles me is the choice of including player options in a monster book, the Domain of Truth, and the Order of the Heart. They’re ½ page each – and if you had to include them, you really should have let them have more space to explain what they’re about, and WHY they relate to a city.
But that leads us to the conclusion:
This is a GOOD (4-star) book. I feel like this had the potential to be a 5-star product, but there are just a few missteps that cause me to detract from it, like the player options. They should either have been expanded on, or removed, and the heavy load of some CRs, along with that unshakable generic feeling (I really can’t explain it better than that), means that I can’t justify it being a full 5-star one. The cartoon-like art is a bit off-putting to me as well, but I’ve chosen to ignore that, as I think a different art style might have pulled me in more – that could have affected the review in a positive way.
That said, a 4-Star is a good book, that definitely had the potential to be a 5-star. Well done folks. 😊
Kim Frandsen
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