DriveThruRPG.com
Browse Categories
$ to $















Back
pixel_trans.gif
Bestial Ecosystems Created by Monstrous Inhabitation $24.99 $9.99
Average Rating:4.3 / 5
Ratings Reviews Total
15 1
2 1
2 1
0 0
0 2
Bestial Ecosystems Created by Monstrous Inhabitation
Click to view
You must be logged in to rate this
pixel_trans.gif
Bestial Ecosystems Created by Monstrous Inhabitation
Publisher: Hack & Slash Publishing
by Jakob S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/25/2023 13:17:20

All three books by hack & slash publishing have some interesting ideas and tidbits of information, hidden in mounds of random text, and need some serious editing. First of all the books lack a clear structure. It seems like several articles from the blog were just copypasted together for a book, without much editing or reorganisation. The sentence structure sways between what seems to be the authors personal notes & cryptric sentences like: „The reality of mechanical triggers is relevant only to inform our design of them for play in the game.“ Editingwise the difference between chapters & sub-chapers seem to be rather arbitrary, and all kinds of headings are the same size. There is no clear transition in between. Sometimes the images cover a part of the text. While the books claim to be system agnostic, they contain several concepts which have not been used since 3rd edition or even before (reaction rolls, constitution damage, only thieves can detect traps, etc.). Saves from staffs, rods & wands stems from AD&D and literally has not been used for more than two decades. Also I do not get why the author would assume that all player characters are female. The intro of the last book reads: „These ideas are the way I run campaigns, and the books were created as a reference for me. The fact that they are useful for other people is just a wonderful bonus.“ except that if you sell your ideas to others, I would except a bit more editing & clarity than just personal notes.

Of the three books I think the Bestial Ecosystems is the least useful one. It is just a random collection of -often contradictive- „facts“ about monsters. (There are seven different physical descriptions of chimeras and several „metaphysical“ ones.) While there are a few interesting tidbits the book does not actually talk about ecosystems created by monsters. In the Introduction it says: „ I once had someone ask me "how to use" the information in this book, and that question befuddles me to this day.“ and „There are so many ideas on each page of this book, it's often difficult to read or even look at.“ which sum up pretty well what you can expect. For somebody thinking about how to play monsters as more than just mindless hitpoint bags with teeth, I found „the monsters know what they are doing“ much more useful.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Bestial Ecosystems Created by Monstrous Inhabitation
Publisher: Hack & Slash Publishing
by Morrigan B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/24/2022 20:37:02

The line about orcs being the result of teen mothers drinking alcohol while pregnant on page 114 is disgustingly inappropriate. A substantial portion of the book was cut out for the public edition and the actual subject of ecosystems is limited to twelve pages in the back of this book. Adding twists to a monster's concept is not enough to make them interesting, nor does novelty add depth. If you are bored with classic monsters, just use something else. Severely disappointing given the high quality of On Downtime and Demesnes.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Bestial Ecosystems Created by Monstrous Inhabitation
Publisher: Hack & Slash Publishing
by Johnathan R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/10/2022 09:41:47

This book is amazing. Not even so much for modifyiing the listed monsters (my vampires will never be worms infesting a host) but for coming up with creative ideas for other homebrew monsters. I wil only knock it one star for the fact that there is so much that is not in this book. it feels pretty bad knowing that this is only two thirds of what could have been and the rest was locked behind a kickstarter that was not well known at the time. I'm thankful for what I have, but I wish the rest could have been made publicly available in some form.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Bestial Ecosystems Created by Monstrous Inhabitation
Publisher: Hack & Slash Publishing
by Greg C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/24/2022 10:32:33

Found out about this from questing beast.
There is definitely a lot of good stuff in here, 192 pages compiled from the google+ community and I assume some original content. $20 is perhaps a little steep for a pdf, but I paid the price because I can definitely get some inspiration from this document.

Call me OCD but it bothers me that we are missing a lot of entries from Bens youtube review.
Namely the dragon turtle invisible stalker living statue lycanthropy manticore merfolk nixie ogre pixies rhagodessa rust monster salamander sprite troglodyte white ape giant hamsters from space slimes, oozes, puddings & jellies

I wouldn't care so much if I could jump on ebay and buy a physical copy, which I often do for the OSR stuff, typically a bookstore will buy themselves a copy and sell it.

But nope, I guess the print run was small, and advertising limited. So those monsters are lost forever.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Bestial Ecosystems Created by Monstrous Inhabitation
Publisher: Hack & Slash Publishing
by David H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/21/2022 14:18:19

I genuinely LOVE this kind of inspiration. These are the kinds of theory crafting hooks that can be pulled into anything, and they have the kind of wit and weirdness that I find wonderful and useful.

Worth the price, this is going to help my wife and I for quite a few campaigns.

EDIT: Didn't realize I was the first reviewer, I should probably make a more clear statement. The book contains entries for a ton of fantasy creatures, and each entry contains alternate names, a sort of short/high level description of the creature, and the bulk of each entry is a ton of rumors, thoughts, and ideas about each creature.

There are no statblocks, but you can take these things and with a sentence or two add some useful and effective spice to quests and sessions. Do you have a group of players who need to hunt a cockatrice but have never seen one before? Boom, advice on what townspeople might say and some ideas for spicing up the encounter. Need a reason for a boat to be haunted, or for there to be turmoil in the docks? Boom, dryad entry.

Highly recommend this, its a good resource for any DM looking to put their own spin on an encounter or region. Great asset for homebrews.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Displaying 1 to 5 (of 5 reviews) Result Pages:  1 
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif Back pixel_trans.gif
0 items
 Gift Certificates