Thursday, September 29, 2011

The horrors...the horrors...

Well I finally got my "giant book" in the mail yesterday. After months of waiting and watching the mailbox, the Tome of Horrors has arrived. I got the Pathfinder version because I've been collecting the main books for that particular game. I've never played Swords & Wizardry. I'm sure it's cool and all, but I already have the original Monster Manual 1 and 2 and Fiend Folio. Besides that, I can always back fit any Pathfinder stats into an older school game if I need to.

Pepper is not impressed by the Tome of Horrors.

This book is huge. There are 799 pages including the open game content legal document in the back. And then there's about ten pages of ads in the back for both Pathfinder and Swords & Wizardry products. I really don't mind the ads given the size of the rest of the book and the fact that about half of them feature art by Wayne Reynolds.
The first monster in the Pathfinder version of The Tome of Horrors is..The Tome of Horrors!
It is a chaotic evil construct worth 307,200 XP. An intelligent animated book that can fly, swallow victims whole and summon any monster within it's pages. It sounds kind of silly, but maybe just possible to use as a powerful arch enemy.
Bronson understands the scope and majesty of such a tome and is as enamoured with it as I.
With over 750 monsters there's enough to fill a solar system. Some of them are silly or redundant, but I like seeing the classics like the Forlarren and the Froghemoth. Plus there are several options for PC races.

I also bought the book as a collectible. I use to collect comic books, but in recent years I have tried to pick up various limited editions of games, especially Call of Cthulhu or older D&D stuff. Some for nostalgia some as investments.
Anybody else just buy stuff to collect? Sounds like an idea for future posts.

The horrors...the horrors...
 Over all I am very pleased and think it was worth the wait. This could make a lot of wandering monster tables!

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