Overall, it's a good book and an essential one to actually run Shadow of the Weird Wizard. However, in many ways, it's two books: a GM guide book but also a bestiary book - and they're not of the same quality.

The first half or so of the book - basically a GM's guide - is an easy 5/5: it's a good overview of the basics of GMing, how to keep a game fun and engaging, build interesting scenes and plots and introduces modern RP tools (like Session Zero). This is accompanied with a advice (and some light rules) to handle situations ranging from weather to social interactions, followed by a gazetteer of the Borderlands. Plus, there are some inventive traps and fun tables for random magical items ("oddities"), too. All of this is writting in an opinionated but friendly way that genuinely feels like somebody giving you solid advice - the enthusiasm shines through! This even makes stuff like "session zero" or "creating quests" fresh and worth the read, even as experienced GM.

The second half is a bestiary and feels like a 4/5 to me: the balancing system of assigning a "Difficulty" to each monster but then only having difficulty budgets per play tier (novice/expert/master) does not match the rapid powerscaling across these tiers for the PCs. Once you understand the monsters and play a bit, you get a better feel for it - but it's a bit of an accidental pitfall for beginners. Additionally, the quality of the monsters can vary a bit: many monsters have flavourful abilities that make then unique and guaranteed to give the players a very good feel of what makes that monster what it is - that is even true for the "boring" humanoid monsters - even "criminals" have a bunch of statblocks, ranging from burglars to murderers with unique abilities. At the same time, some conceptually interesting monsters end up with a very basic "attack in melee, but twice!" routine. Nor is there much advice to customise monsters or add some spice to them (like 13th Age's "nastier specials"). This said: the choice of monsters is great - it's a fun mix of "classic" fantasy monsters mixed with a folklore-/fairytale-inspired take on many of them that adds atmosphere to the setting and feels fresh.

Overall, it's a solid book that is essential to the Shadow of the Weird Wizard game with excellent advice and a solid bestiary that isn't quite as tightly designed as the rest of the book or the accompanying player's book, but definitely functional.

One of my favourite Game Master books for a d20 Fantasy systems. Monsters, lore, traps, guidelines on running and planning the game, It's all here.

Rob has churned out another banger with this one. Lots of fun to read and great at the game table.

Amazing improvements over Shadow of the Demon Lord. I love this game. I am eager to see the final release.

For a pre release product, this book rocks. The monster design is chef's kiss. There seems to be another review that misses the ALL CAPS text saying this is pre release, so if reading words is not your thing then I'd steer clear.

This is incomplete with cover art etc missing from the download. The system itself is not as clean a Shadow of the Demon Lord with a lot that does not make sense - like weapons an armour.

When combining the information in this book with the rules from the players book we are given a fantastic game! It's strange and wacky, with some neat character options and good rules.

Happy to say this is an excellent product even in the pre-release state. Along with Shadow of the Weird Wizard (the players guide) the game is 100% playable today. As with Schwalb Entertainment’s other games I greatly enjoy Rob Schwalb’s take on monsters, peoples, places, gods and legends. In this case in the Borderlands setting where the Weird Wizard has recently disappeared initiating the mass migration of refugees. Taking inspiration from Greyhawk, it seems to likewise be inspired from many other fantastical places such as Lankhmar, the Dark Empire of Granbretan, the wastelands of Essos, the medieval realms of Three Hearts & Three Lions and other old and new fantasy novels. I would say there are even nods to Freeport and Ptolus. Included in all of this is solid advice on running the game, rules for zone play, traps and a bestiary both grand and grotesque. Also Man-Bear-Pig!!! Buy it!