This is an excellent resource for bringing Cthulhu entities into an existing D&D campaign. The monsters are tough and the players are unfamiliar with the D&D versions of these monsters. The art is creepy and it captures the feel of Lovecraftian horrors well.

Putting stats to Lovecraftian creatures is tricky. In Lovecraft’s own stories, monsters rarely featured as opponents, but rather as harbingers of the vast truths that revealed to Lovecraftian protagonists their own cosmic insignificance. In Dungeons & Dragons, however, monsters exist to be killed. The test of a Lovecraftian bestiary, then, is whether the creatures succeed at being terrifying without being utterly unbeatable. Aeryn Rudel has certainly made these creatures into stiff competition for D&D heroes, and he’s captured their flavor quite well. The artwork is very evocative, too. But where are the byakhee, the dark young, Nyarlathotep, and the rest? This volume’s greatest weakness is that it never had a sequel. (Parts of this book are, however, reprinted in Level Up #2.) Its other primary weakness is simply the publication date; it predates Monster Manual 3, so you may find it prudent to adjust the hit points and damage expressions to bring them in line with current standards—being sure to also inflate the heavy hitters accordingly.

This book was created with true scholarship and love. The monsters are helpfully set out each with description, stats, attacks, driving force/reactions and a picture, all the information you need to add them to your campaign seamlessly. Easy to use and a joy to look through. Some magic items at the end are the cream on top of this excellent work.

Excellent bestiary, full of interesting new twists to throw at players. Matches the new 4e flavor quite well while still keeping the older versions at heart, especially in monster powers. Have used it many times, vry worth the price!

Wrote a review of this product - here's an excerpt of my review:

"The forty-two page supplement covers over thirty Monsters from the collective works of H.P. Lovecraft. In addition, there are seven unique Magic Items found in this work, most of which are scaled over a range from Level 2 to Level 30, so in essence creating over twenty-five items in all. You can also find over twenty original sketches in this supplement, illustrating the blasphemous entities and bizarre items contained therein, to use as game aides and to just further enhance the overall creepiness of the work.

Starting right from the Introduction, I knew that the author was as much a fan of Lovecraftian horror as I was. From reminiscing about his first experiences with the Mythos to lamenting the lack of good Lovecraftian material in the game, I was pretty sure the Author would not disappoint me when I got to the really good, tentacle-flailing, icky stuff.

I am very pleased to report that the Author did not let me down.

After just reading one of the creature entries in this book, it is becomes quite evident that “Blackdirge” has a clear and concise understanding of the Cthulhu Mythos material – as does McFalls, who illustrated the assortment of cosmic terrors lurking between the pages. From the bizarre Powers these fearsome entities possess to the Flavor Descriptions and Lore, “Blackdirge” shows that he is well versed in the language and treatment of Lovecraftian Horror, and makes it very accessible for use in D&D 4e.

Coincidentally, the Author writes his material to be just as accessible to a GM running a Modern 4e Campaign as it would to your typical Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Setting. So it’s really like getting two supplements in one PDF."

Please check out the rest of this review at Neuroglyph Games website - http://www.neuroglyphgames.com/?p=526

To my perception, one of the biggest hits among Game Masters, is a big old book of monsters. When Chaosium had opportunity under the OGL and their deal with Wizards of the Coast, who produced a full color Call of Cthulhu d20 hardcover, to make a Monster Mallus for 3.0/3.5 and didn’t take it, I thought it a massive lost opportunity. Game Masters of the Dungeons and Dragons game want to bring in elements of the Cthulhu mythos. Paizo and Green Ronin, along with others, have been tweaking the material that’s open for years. This doesn’t count the various homage such as WoTC’s own Far Realm and various critters from the beginning like Mind Flayers.

For me personally, this is a great product in that I’ve been waiting for more material in this vein for a long time. While the old 3.0 hardcover from WoTC was nice, it’s great to have this material in 4th ed. Between the original Deities and Demigods, which was essentially useable with 1st and 2nd edition, this means we’ve got eldritch goodness for essentially every edition of D&D.

Now fans of the 4th edition game need wait no longer. Clocking in at 42 pages, this is I believe, the largest Critter Cache that Goodman Games has done. Yes, the stars are indeed right and it’s not a nightmare you can awaken from. The Lovecraftian Bestiary is out. As a nice touch, it’s on sale now for $3.99. A solid deal.

The book is illustrated by Hunter McFalls who should be familiar to fantasy fans. If you like the cover, you’ll enjoy the interior illustrations. Written is done by Blackdirge who should be familiar to fans of both 3rd and 4th edition.

Monsters range in level from a 2nd level skirmisher, Mi-Go Scout to a massive 35th level solo soldier Cthulhu himself. In between is a nice range of old favorites including Star Spawn, which come in at the second highest level, 25th, to Dragon himself, a 15th level solo brute.

Lore checks vary depending on the monster. For example, on the deep ones, it’s a nature lore. On the big guy? It’s dungeoneering or religion. Other standards, including encounter groups, and tactics are included.

As an added bonus, there is a brief section on eldritch artifacts that allows you to include such treasures as the silver rod or the green trapezohedron. These act a little different than standard magic items even though these are statted up as regular magic items with details including level, gold piece cost, and ability. The silver rod for example, ranges from 2nd to 17th level and does cold damage and slows the target. To use such an item requires an arcane check equal to 10 + item’s level. A nice touch is a +2 bonus for warlocks with the star pact. There is a potential side effect if the user fails the check by 10 or more. To continue with the silver rod, the user would take damage and be slowed.

It is my hope that with this, Chaosium shakes off the strange apathy they have for the Dungeons and Dragons system and works with Goodman Games and author Blackdirge and make a full fledge 4e Monsterous Mallus.