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Monsters of the City
by Lucas H. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/15/2020 12:29:08

If you like the previous two books in this series, Monsters of the City will not disappoint you. It has the amazing art, clear layout, and inspired creations you have come to expect from any of the Cawood Publishing products. If you pick this up and don’t already have Monsters of Feyland and Monsters of the Underworld, your only regret will be that you didn’t get all three at once.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Monsters of the City
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Monsters of the City
by Hanno Z. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/13/2020 17:04:55

Okay, so let me start with the fact that I'm a big fan of the previous Monster books. And this one is equally awesome. Extremely interesting monsters, embedded in an awesome theme. From experience I can tell you, that the monsters are very well designed, either to be thrown at the players dirctly or as inspiration. And as always, there is so much lovingly created background that you're sure to find several ideas to bosst your game. PLUS: AMAZING ART!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Monsters of the City
by Curse o. S. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/10/2020 10:11:17

Monsters of the City: Sin’s & Virtues by Andrew Cawood (@cawoodpublish)

I came upon the ‘Monsters of’ series with Monster of the Underground (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/290974/Monsters-of-the-Underworld?affiliate_id=1507682), which I relished reviewing and got me hooked on the series, after first getting to grips with Cawood’s work through his Treasure Hunts (https://www.dmsguild.com/product/287659/Treasured-Finds?affiliate_id=1507682), which I remember, get this, while waiting in line at the post office – like actually outside of the house with people (it’s been a long, long time grounded for many of us in the at risk category)... What am I talking about? How I never go into town, I mean city anymore – now we’re back in business! Monsters of the City (MotC) continues this wonderfully, original and inspiring series full of wonderful expansions of the familiar, the finest picks from myth and folklore and swathes original oddities with all new for monsters us to want to hide in our homes or run away to the country, because there are monsters in them there city! So when I saw the Kickstarter go up I couldn’t have backed it more quickly or been more excited to get my paws on this!

Introduction The Introduction opens on discussion of the City, these “worlds unto themselves” in adventures with an impressive amount of evocative portrayals of polis in one paragraph.

Game Master Advice An efficient breakdown of the different kinds of questions and situations DMs may face running a city, from purchasing a meat pie, mercenary or mansion to considering the local history and lighting situation in the avenues and alleyways, as well as some great Traditional Population sizes of small, medium and large conurbations. Did you know, “a square mile of settled land will support about 200 inhabitants”? That’s a fascinating factet.

Sins & Virtues A really cool concept Cawood has included in MotC are the personified legendary sins and virtues included in complimentary pairs at the beginning of each district section with the advice of using them as “powerful beings that influence the district through their minions”, having “a pair vying for control”, or running “a megacity that includes all of the sins and virtues.” However they are used, they are an awesome addition and inspiring NPCs to use in your games.

The Alliance of the Griffon Gemma Goldheart is a truth teller and member of the Alliance of the Griffon, a faction that unites characters from the previous Monsters of Manual. She is used as an example of how various elements can be pulled together to flesh out a character, including the Cleric Domain of Truth that can be found at the end of this supplement, along with the Paladin of the Heart.

City Adventure Hooks A whopping 40 adventure hooks are included from “the Alliance of the Griffon sends your party on a mission with the truth teller Gemma Goldheart” to the umbral urban “an unnatural darkness descends on the entire city” provide all manner of inspiration and jumping off points.

Districts. Monsters of the City is divided into seven districts from Castle District to the Sewer District, with the likely creatures and denizens, as well as the legendary sin and virtue found therein. Each district comes with relevant Themes, Authority, Factions, Landmarks, Stores, Inns and Taverns, Services and d20 random encounters.

Castle District This is the seat of power for most cities, home Pride, the “spiderlike” fiendish princess with devilish needles, and Humility, the humble, dishevelled celestial, as well as the unholy Anti-Paladin and Fallen King, along with all manner of courtly folk from Ambassadors of the classic fantasy origins, Friendly Ghosts and Armored Griffons, to the singular annoyingly foppish Royal Pain and the cold, calculating Sleepless Governess.

Wealthy District This is where the other half live, beside Gluttony, the oozing, multi-headed, cube birthing, demon, and the Celestially chilled, water-loving, Temperance, along with the flying food of Animated Feast, the gorgeous horseous, Daydream and the handsome hidden horror of the Rakshasa Lord, as well as among others, the glorious wordplay creations of the Duck of Many Things and Rich Lich.

Temple District This is where the pious pout and party, crashed by the apoplectic demon-rider, Wrath, and Patience always waiting in the wings. There is a veritable rogues and heroes gallery here, including the Cynical Sage of Old Age, wrathful Dracorians, Lost Souls channeling the Lost Boys, the outraged mob, sinister Red Robe and serene Saint.

Market District The eclectic, hectic hub of commerce presided over by the inscrutable devil, Greed, on his piles of gold, and bolstered by the joyous celestial, Charity. In the crowd you can pick out the demonic Beserk Butcher, the shameless Charlatan, the foul fey Death Scribe, the deluded ego of the Hollow Man,the terrifying killer in the kitchen, the Pieman, among others, and above them, watching the strange, stretched, shadow sentinels Stalker Walkers.

Docks District The docks are a busy district filled with the sights, sounds and, especially smells of the catch of the day and less savoury denizens. These poor, unfortunate souls have the intoxicating effects of Lust and the patient respect of Chastity. The docks are filled with all-manner of strange figures, from the famous pirate, Gray Beard, the tentaclular, aquarian crimelord, the Codfather, the schmoozing Handsome Devil, the enchanting gang-leader, Mesmerella, the famed adventurer and seeming amalgamation of David Bowie and The Shadow/ Darkwing Duck (but “Let’s get serious”, quite the opposite), Sirius Moonlight, and the bizarre conjoined undead, twins and needles with needles shooting out of one body and a bloody glaive the hands of the other.

Slum District “The Slum District is the poorest and the most populous area of the city. The majority of the peasants, the bulk of the population, live here” alongside the masked and demonically disturbing Envy, and the empathic wanderer, Kindness. Among the masses living in this district, the Anxious Apprentices, with their wild Spellcasting Chaos that could cause their spells to work backwards, turn them into a frog, or amongst others cause “the closest creature changes gender for a week”, which is somewhat problematic and something you would need to have an a firm understanding of your group and implementation of safety tools to even consider (might be best to re-roll this result), the terrifying fey Cradle Snatcher ripped from the pages of the darkest faerie tales, The Critic who holds a very real mirror to an aspect of myself, “a fraud whose outgoing personality hides [their] true self...an un-happy person caught up in the lives of others”, the Fagan-esque Lord of the Slums and our Truth Teller from the introduction, “vessels of wisdom” who teeter on the brink of being “profoundly present and genuine” and “taken over by ego”. The Slum District also houses the largest number of ‘traditional’ fantasy creatures with Goblin and Werewolf Spies, Satyr Brutes, among others.

Sewer District “The Sewer District is the most overlooked of any of the districts. The sewer system, catacombs, and other labyrinthian spaces make up the underground area”, home to the sorrowful sad hag that is Sloth and the-hardworking, toned Diligence with his utility belt of mediaeval tools. Other fellows of the flues are the enigmatic emperor, Cult Leader, the friend to rats, Druid of the Undercity, my personal second favourite creature and most loved work of wordplay, the Fowlbear (Press F to pay respects), the slacker, slothful sorcerer, Lothar the Lethargic, my actual most favourite creature, Quog, a society of a fungal humanoids who spit spores and look unbelievably adorable, almost like a combination of the fungi worm and madcap from Monsters of the Underworld, the “Underworld Boss”, the longsword waving, rat summoning Rat King, and the truly terrifying antithesis of the Easter Bunny, the Shadow Rabbit!

A sturdy city map clearly showing all the districts, free of labels, is provided to help make your own city.

Monster Lists The monsters are listed by challenge rating and again by creature type for ease of reference.

Player Character Subclasses

Cleric Domain of Truth “This cleric is born a truth teller. They are innately present and are wiser than most humanoids. High priests search the land for these blessed beings and help guide them along their challenging path. These clerics are destined to speak the truth and change the world.” These Clerics open themselves up to the world and see more and are wiser for it, allowing them greater awareness of the world around them, keener insights which they lend others and ultimately truesight.

Paladin Order of the Heart “This paladin has a deep connection to their heart and the collective heart in the multiverse. Everything they do comes from a place of love. These paladins are romantics, seeing beauty in everything. They feel their emotions intensely and act to make the world a better place.” These Paladins open their hearts to love, lending them greater awareness of evil and alignment, as they grow their crits also heal their companions and a loyal pegasus becomes their steed. Ultimately, those they call friend who fall before them have no fear of untimely death.

I...love these subclasses and that’s the...truth! But seriously, these add a lot of flavour and truly reward the pure of heart and mind.

City Events Tables Two d100 tables or city events are provided with all manner of events to spice up or inspire your games, from a “huge dragon flies by” to “a portal opens up”, to an “earthquake” or “tornado”. City Encounters and Location Tables A d100 table of creature/s from this book you might encounter is provided, as well a d100 city locations table from an “underground temple” to a “Wizard’s tower”.

From Baldur’s Gate to Evernight, Waterdeep to Akros, Sharn or any other urban environment and beyond, Monsters of the City has an absolutely phenomenal range of creatures, characters, districts, subclasses, seeds and locations that will flesh out and bring wherever your players are to life, as well as making up a colossal city full of flavour ready for you to put your own mark on and drop into your games!

A fabulous variety of over 100 creatures and denizens, as well as the individually inspiring characters and the big goodies and baddies to populate, inspire and add to your arsenal of intriguing challenges to set. Before your players!

Cawood’s writing and concepts continue to be truly inspired and Hanson’s art is spectacular as always, and with the introduction of McCaplin’s art direction and graphic design, the whole package comes together in a seriously splendid, aesthetically awesome and gosh-darn gorgeous supplement. This is by leagues the most professional and pleasing Monsters of Manual yet and I truly hope to see more of the Terrific Trio™!

I do feel the need to mention that gender roles, particularly with the Sins and Virtues, but also in a number of places throughout the supplement seem to conform to expectations, opposed to reality. I appreciate that these personifications, as inspired and tweaked as they are, are based on the archetypes of the original sins and virtues, but I do feel that in this day and age it would be better to move away from gendering such large and oppressive concepts, especially with those that reinforce stereotypes and misconceptions of femmes. This is something seek across the board with TTRPGs and D&D, shown most recently with Tasha of the Hideous Laughter, Cauldron of Everything and young girl’s sweet concept turned cruel, over-sexualised witch by Gygax, so this is not just a problem of this supplement, but the industry as a whole so I feel it is important for me to make my observations here, despite my otherwise thorough enjoyment of the supplement as a whole. A similar issue is also seen in the unfortunately named aquarian, Fishmongrel, whose name comes from the tongue-in-cheek wordplay seen throughout the supplement, combining fishmonger and mongrel, which does come with racial baggage when applied to a sapient humanoid/ amphibioid. Though, again, I am certainly not casting aspersions at Cawood and the playful use of language in this supplement, this is something we all need to be more aware of, especially when this character can bring to mind the decidedly racist Deep Ones of H. P Lovecraft’s Innsmouth.

On the whole I absolutely love this supplement thay absolutely bursts with flavour, inspiration and a whole toolkit of city splendours, urban delights and the darker underbelly.

I can never get enough of the Monsters of Manuals and I cannot wait to see what Cawood and the Terrific Trio™ do next!

Credits Designer/Editor/Project Manager: Andrew Cawood (@cawoodpublish)
Illustrator: Travis Hanson (@TravsTheBean) Art Director/Graphic Designer: Gordon McAlpin (@GMcAlpin)
Special Thanks to: Anders Aagaard, Chris Anderson, Sarah Bagshaw, Tim Broekhuizen, Toby B., Sarah Cheney, Leroy Dullemond, Justin DuPont, Oskar Eggertsson, Jeremy Esch, Nikki Ewart, Travis Fauber, William Hart, Keith Healey, Lucas Henderson, Jacky Leung, Sarah Mair, Susan Mair, Tim Mcdonald, Michael Mordor, Mittin, Daniel Niehsner, Montana Rosalle, Curse of Sebs, Frances Sinclair, Andrew Strobl, GM Tim, Doug Vehovec, Philip Vlummens, and Hanno Ziegler

About the Creators Andrew Cawood has written Monsters of Feyland, Monsters of the Underworld, The World of Myrr, and many other RPG books. Andrew lives with his wife and daughter in Vancouver, Canada.

Travis Hanson is an Eisner-nominated illustrator and the creator of the RPG comic Life of the Party, The Bean, and many other games and books.

Gordon McAlpin is a Filipino-American book designer, illustrator, and animator based in Somerville, MA. He wrote and illustrated the comic strip Multiplex from 2005 to 2017, after which he launched the award-winning animated web series Multiplex 10.

My Affiliate Link: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/327314/Monsters-of-the-City?affiliate_id=1507682



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Thanks for the review. Very detailed! Although I understand your point of view with the gender and race roles/terms, we can agree to disagree. We actually made sure to play with the archetypes and present them in new ways and make sure the book had a diversity of people. And 'mongrel' isn't used in any other way than its actual definition.
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Hirelings and Henchmen
by Jeremy E. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/24/2020 09:50:24

This product is a huge help while prepping for a session but for me, even more importantly, to have handy DURING adventures. It seems like I always need an extra NPC for the party to interact with and to have every class represented is really useful. I just have the pdf open while I play and if I need a character it's easy to reference! Very good!



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Hirelings and Henchmen
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Monsters of the City
by Martin K. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/15/2020 19:26:17

It is done so neautifully; a lot of art and so many well designed monsters. Highly recommended!



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[5 of 5 Stars!]
Monsters of the City
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Monsters of Feyland
by Lucas D. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 08/21/2020 10:51:32

Fantastic art, solid and clear writing that sticks to the theme perfectly. Mostly suitable for low-level adventures, but the ideas and art still mean you can use this as idea-fodder for higher-level games.



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[5 of 5 Stars!]
Monsters of Feyland
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Monsters of the Underworld
by Zachary H. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/18/2020 18:34:48

A great book overall that adds spice to any underdark campaign, or rather any campign in all honesty, just more so in an underdark story.

The art is simply enchanting giving the Monsters of series a great identity due to it being done in a single artists unique style. The drow are a stylized yet not too foreign, the Svirfneblin have a look that surpasses their offical art in my honest opinion and the undervoid and its minions are a strange mixture of threatening and cute. Despite the more family friendly art i can easily imagine the beasts in a grim or gritty campaign. This product will give you minor to major baddies to face in glorious combat and roleplay!

The issues I have with this book though are few, first the infected creatures (Despite being part of the undervoid my favorite thing in the book.) all feel too similar in stats, and a tempalte block would have been more useful for converting monsters to the undervoid's service, and also the player options feel a bit tacked though they can be modified with some simple homebrewing. (also i can't quite search or highlight the text on my PDF copy, so i hope it gets updated eventally)

All in all monsters of the underworld will expand almost any 5e game in glorious ways, if you're running out of the abyss, then maybe spice things up with some lovely monsters from the deep, after all what's more unnerving than strange exotic creatures from beyond the base game?



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Monsters of the Underworld
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Monsters of the Underworld
by Curse o. S. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/06/2020 09:09:20

Monsters of the Underworld by Andrew Cawood (@cawoodpublish)

In the spirit of full disclosure, I was provided a review copy of this supplement for a full and honest review.

This is just a quick review with the intention to come back to another time in more detail.

This isn’t my first Cawood Publishing supplement, but it is my first of their mightily impressive “Monsters of” series, with this edition focusing on the eponymous monsters, but also the people and beasts of the underground and Underdark.

I have to say I’m absolutely blown away by the quantity, quality and vision that has gone into this bestiary!

Cawood’s ideas for the creatures and how they come through so clearly in the flavour and description texts, as well as the statblocks themselves are brilliant. There are a great mix of new creatures, adapted and changed creatures, greater specificity of creatures that fill this tome with everything you could possibly want to run a game underground or Underdark with far more flavour and surprise than what is available in the official manuals. But beyond the subterranean, there are many fabulous creatures and racial archetypes that have a much wider scope for populating your games above ground.

Hansons’s art is glorious! Their creature design is wonderful and full of flavour; there are comic tones (both book and humour), blended with the genuinely creepy and grim to create a truly original and arresting style that treads the line between visceral and whimsy.

Porter’s layout is great exercise in clean simplicity, letting the text, statblocks and artwork speak for themselves.

Monsters of the Underworld is perfect for unground adventures and campaigns, while also just being a bloody brilliant collection of creatures that give DMs so many wonderful new blighters to play with. Keeping players on their toes is great for everyone at the table.

There are many manuals on monsters available on the market, only a few of which are discussed in the same breath as the official Monster Manuals, Cawood’s Monsters of the Underworld most certainly should be one of them!

I can’t wait to delve into their Monsters of Feyland when I get the chance and I am ridiculously excited for their new Monsters of the City, Sins and Virtues Kickstarter, which I am backing and recommend you do too! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/monstersofthecity/monsters-of-the-city-for-5e-rpg?ref=android_project_share

Credits

Written by Andrew Cawood (@cawoodpublish)

Illustrated by Travis Hanson (@TravsTheBean)

Layout and Graphic Art by Jeff Porter​



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Monsters of the Underworld
by Lucas H. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/01/2020 10:52:50

Both Monsters of the Underworld and Monsters of Feyland are fantastic books—an incredible collection of new creatures in a well organized easy to read layout, on sturdy pages with amazing art.

Scattered throughout the pages are fun little extras that you can easily place in your game. For example, "Flora/Features of the Underworld": Plants, fungi, and features like crystals (just a few examples) one may encounter during their travels as an adventurer, all easily placed in almost any setting.

The back of the book contains a collection of handy tables: A list of creatures by CR, events table, encounters table, locations table. You will also find a couple new subclass options and maps you can insert into your game.

As a fungal fanatic I would be remiss not mentioning the plethora of fungi themed creatures included. If you crave more mycological monsters this is the place to find it.

Highly recommended for any ttrpg hoard. Let the inspired creatures within inspire you for any tabletop game you play.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Monsters of the Underworld
by Cameron D. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/18/2020 08:41:33

I can remember when Andrew first shot me a copy of Monsters of the Feyland - holy hell was that a fun book. With beefy thematic monsters and Travis' fantastic art, Monsters of the Underworld only builds on that model of cartoony but deadly creatures and amazing visuals. A lot of the monsters in here are fantastic additions to any Underdark themed or suberterranian campaign, and as always the variety is better - far better - than anything in the base Monster Manual. I especially enjoy of the fungus themed monsters, primarily the fungus giant which is absolutely terrifying in any way shape and form. I highly reccomend this book for anyone getting ready to delve into the deep. Comics, Clerics, & Controllers d20 Roll: Nat 20



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Monsters of the Underworld
by Andrew S. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/03/2020 15:24:17

I love Cawood Publishing's monster books! Following Monsters of Feyland, the Alliance of the Griffon describes an awesome amount of deadly creatures infesting the Underworld. Writing is crisp and engaging. Art is vibrant and consistent across all entries. The layout is very table friendly. A few more tables and maps are included than are found in Monsters of Feyland. You get a great feel for the dwarfs, drow, minotaurs, fungi, deep gnomes and duergar. So much of this book can be used in other settings too. The quality of Cawood Publishings monster books is up there with the best content producers for 5E and they have found the sweet spot with these very usable monster books. I can't wait for the next monster book in the line!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Monsters of the Underworld
by Leroy D. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 12/05/2019 21:56:36

As with all products from Cawood, this is an worthwhile purchase, in fact it's probably their best book yet. I usually prefer physical copies but as soon as this was released, I needed it right away so I got the PDF. Now I am eagerly waiting for the hardbound version.

The art by Travis Hanson makes this supplement really pop. If you're going to have artwork of adventurers wielding oversized swords, it's best done in cartoon format like this. I always enjoy Hanson's cartoons. The book is amazingly colourful.

The side tidbits like Flora amongst the monster descriptions add real flavour to your underworld campaign. I can't wait to introduce the Eddybell mushroom. This book can be used for so many different RPG games and any editions.

I sincerly hope the staff at Cawood are plugging away at the next supplement. I look forward to their books more than those produced by spellcasters down by the Coast.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Monsters of the Underworld
by Travis F. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 12/05/2019 07:03:58

Fantastic work by Cawood publishing and like the Monsters of Feyland it is must have book for anyone’s table. The enchanting art work by Travis Hanson alone is worth the price. I suggest this book for help filling in any gaps you might have to monsters for your 5th edition game and it is a great resource to get the imagination flowing for another campaign with your friends.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Monsters of the Underworld
by Ja F. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 12/04/2019 15:03:47

“Hidden underneath the everyday world is a dark, mysterious realm…” THE UNDERWORLD This book is a well organized, beautifully illustrated, collection of 100+ monsters. I really enjoy the content! Cawood Publishing has earned my support over the last few years. It is a great book to add to your 5e collection - Don’t miss out!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Monsters of the Underworld
by Hanno Z. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 12/04/2019 14:20:52

Surprise your players!

Like its predecessor Monsters Of Feyland (which I highly recommend) Monsters Of The Underworld features 100+ highly creative and balanced monsters to challenge your players with. Together with the beautiful art and accompanying texts this book will provide lots of entertainment to any D&D 5e group. Included are maps and adventure hooks to spark your imagination.

Don't wait, get it now!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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