Pretty good book. Definitely a new look on very small creatures.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Worth buying for the Ashmalkin, and using Diminutive creatures as real threats to lower level characters. Can even be elevated to be challenging for mid-level characters.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The Hollow Husk is an interesting creature, but the variants don't seem all that well thought out. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

I'll really enjoyed this one. Stirges are rarely handled in a fashion that makes them a serious threat, often leaving them as little more than a "I need to fill this room" monster. This book presents some really interesting variations on a theme that will elevate the stirge to a fearsome and deadly foe! <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

AWESOME PDF, I FORGET WHAT I PAID FOR IT BUT I CAN SAY IT WAS WORTH IT. PLAYING A MINOTAUR IN 3.0 OR 3.5 IS A NIGHTMARE, HAVING TO MAKE A CHARATER WITH ANY DEPTH I HAD 2 USE THE SLAYERS GUIDE TO MINOTAURS, MONSTERS MANUEL, AND 1 OR 2 OTHER RESOURCES. AS A DM IT PUTS A NEW AND DANGEROUS TWIST ON A OLD MONSTER. SOMETHING THAT PC'S TAKE FOR GRANTED. AS A PC PLAYING A MINOTAUR IT IS LIKE HITTING GOLD.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: IT HAD WELL THOUGHT OUT AND EXPLAINED IDEA'S, GAVE A BIT OF DEPTH TO THE MINOTAUR, GAVE STATS FOR THE FEMALE VERSION OF THE MINOTAUR, AS WELL AS "PRESTIGE" CLASS FOR THE MALES. DIDN'T PORTRAY THEM AS NEAR MINDLESS BEASTS. THE ARTWORK WAS PRETTY COOL JUST WOULD LIKE TO SEE MORE OF IT<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO SEE MORE PRETIGE CLASSES AND MAYBE SOME SPECIAL WEAPONS/ ARMOR TO ONLY MINOTAURS AS WELL AS FEATS. PERSONALY I LIKE DRAGONLANCE MINOTAURS THEY ACTUALLY HAVE ECOLOGY TO RIVAL MOST OTHER RACES.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

This book is misnamed, and that is a good thing. Stirges are a relatively simple monster, they're bat-mosquitos and that's about all there is to them. I was expecting a lengthy ecology article on a monster that was pretty straightforward. What I got was so very much more. Yes, all the ecology information is included, along with a cute-yet-disturbing prose story. The real stars of the book, however, are the Ashmalkin, a race of fey that use the stirges as war steeds. They are legitimately interesting and well developed (a rarity for fey monsters) and really steal the show for the whole book. The book also includes a stirge swarm, the blood bloat(a later stage in the strige life cycle) and the hollow husk, a sort of undead creature created from the remains of creatures who have been completely drained of blood. All of it is very useful and if you've never used stirges and don't plan to you'll still get good information out of the book.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The design and layout are fantastic, which is odd given the less interesting cover design. All the additional information is fantastic, from the use of ashmalkin as player characters to the wing jocky prestige class to the old-school random trait tables for the hollow husks. Each creature presented has an example NPC as well, which is a nice touch.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Aside from a few minor layout issues, not much. The only problem I have is that you really don't know what you're getting until you have it in hand, as the cover and title emphasize the least interesting parts of the text.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

This book is one of the few D20 books I have actually enjoyed. I have been playing D&D for over 10 years now and this is the first book in a long time to scare me as a player. It takes the hack and slash and gives it to the monster for a change. The Minotaur has always been a fearsome creature but to only to lower level characters. Now even high level parties with 5 or more people in it, will regret they said "It's only one minotaur". If you want a good impression on how scary they are, skip ahead in the book to find Baragor. Nuff said. Come on, a Minotaur who uses Entangle on his opponents then wades through them like a weedwacker from hell (btw, he is immune to entangle) brings a whole new meaning to dirty underwear. The attention to detail is very high and it easy to see. One of the Designer's Notes talks about how they modeled the Minotaur society off of lion prides, and as a guy who watches alot of Discovery and Animal Planet, I could see it come through this work. Not only that, but the history and the flavor they included brings them to life in such a way that I can never see them as mindless creatures again. I first saw this, along with the Stirges book, at GenCon this year, and was impressed with them there. I look forward to all of the future releases from B3. It makes simple dungeon crawling a thrill once again.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: B3 included Designer's Notes throught the book to give you an idea of what the author was thinking regarding that section. It was great to be able to get their intent and understanding of what they were trying to present. The other nice part was the linking with the SwoRD Project (their online SRD). Each keyword linked to the SRD database and allowed you to get the necessary information without having to pullout all the different books to look up a spell or Feat. But above everything, the art stands out. Sang Lee did an awesome job portaying the Minotaur in such a way that it actually enhances the book. I am not sure that the book would be as "scary" if not for the vivid images.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The included Minotaur's Maze was rather small and unexciting. I would rather have seen a bigger and more complex map. As it stood, there were 2 levels and each level was only one 8x11 page and even then, not a whole page. It would be nice to see them come out with a maze by itself.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

An interesting product that takes a D&D staple and amps it up! If your players have read pretty much any or every monster book, then throw these thngs at them and watch them try to figure out what is going on!

An interesting product that takes a D&D staple and amps it up! If your players have read pretty much any or every monster book, then throw these thngs at them and watch them try to figure out what is going on!

Thoroughly bookmarked and hyperlinked. Thoroughly illustrated. Chock-full of adventure ideas. Well-balanced material. Obviously a labor of love, and well worth the $5. The demo excerpt is a good indication of the quality of the pdf. I'll definitely keep an eye out for future products.

My only complaint is that "M&M" is already taken by Mutants and Masterminds. It would have been nice if a more distinctive brand name had been chosen.