Fiend Folio
Encyclopedia
Fiend Folio is the title shared by three products published for successive editions
of the fantasy
role-playing game
Dungeons & Dragons
(D&D). All three are collections of monsters, making each Fiend Folio a sequel to that edition's version of the Monster Manual
.
The first incarnation was unusual, in that the bulk of the material came from the English gaming magazine White Dwarf
, rather than being authored by Gary Gygax
, the game's creator. Readers and gamers had submitted creatures to the "Fiend Factory" department of the magazine, and the most highly regarded of those appearing in the first ten issues were selected to be in the publication.
, with Don Turnbull editing the project, originally intended to produce and publish the Fiend Folio tome (ISBN 0-935696-21-0) in late 1979. The Fiend Folio was intended to be the second volume of the Monster Manual, and would be officially recognized by TSR
as an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D} product, with the monsters mostly taken from submissions to White Dwarf
s "Fiend Factory" column. At the time, Games Workshop was the holder of the license to publish D&D game products in the United Kingdom
. Although the manuscript was completed on time by editor Don Turnbull, a business dispute between Games Workshop and TSR Hobbies delayed publication of the book for nearly two years. The Fiend Folio was finally published in August 1981 by TSR itself, who used the product to launch its UK division.
Much of the material for the 128-page hardcover Fiend Folio was drawn from the first ten issues of White Dwarf. Also edited by Turnbull, the magazine's "Fiend Factory" column featured new AD&D monsters, many of them created by gamers who read the magazine. The bulk of monsters in the Fiend Folio come from British contributors, all of whom are acknowledged in the index. The book used the same format as that of the Monster Manual, clearly and succinctly defining the each monster's specifications and abilities. The supplement describes over 150 monsters, all illustrated, and many of the illustrations were previously featured in the "Fiend Factory" column as well. Besides creatures from the column, jermlaine
, drow, kuo-toa
, and svirfneblin
, all of which had previously appeared in TSR modules
, were included. Turnbull also included creatures that had been submitted to the magazine, but not published in the column. Aside from monsters, the book included random encounter tables for dungeons, outdoors, and the Astral and Ethereal Planes; these encounter tables combined creatures from the Monster Manual and Fiend Folio, superseding the tables in the Dungeon Master's Guide
.
The githyanki
, designed by Charles Stross
within the pages of White Dwarf, was introduced to most D&D players in the Fiend Folio. The githyanki was featured on the cover, which helped it gain traction among the D&D community. Not all creatures featured on covers have done as well; the firbolg appeared on the cover of 1983's Monster Manual II and has since slipped back into obscurity.
Monsters featured in the Folio were originally submitted by Stross, Ian Livingstone
, and Tom Moldvay
, among others. Interior illustrations were supplied by Chris Baker, Jeff Dee
, Emmanuel
(who also illustrator the cover), Albie Fiore, Alan Hunter, Russ Nicholson
, Erol Otus
, Jim Roslof
, David C. Sutherland III
, Bill Willingham
, Polly Wilson, and Tony Yates.
The publication of "Fiend Factory" monsters had one unintended side-effect for Citadel Miniatures
, who had the contract to produce gaming miniatures based on White Dwarf features. As a condition of including "Factory" monsters in the Folio, Games Workshop transferred the copyright on those monsters to TSR, who already had an exclusive contract with Grenadier Models
. This forced Citadel to discontinue miniatures depicting "Factory" monsters that appeared in the Folio.)
In 1983, TSR used the Monster Manual II to introduce a new orange spine cover design for hardcover AD&D manuals. The Fiend Folio was the only AD&D hardcover that did not have its cover redesigned to match the new style; instead, TSR let the Folio go out of print. In 1985, as TSR was getting ready to begin work on the AD&D 2nd edition, Gary Gygax stated that he was planning to incorporate material from the Fiend Folio into a revised Monster Manual for the new edition. However, Gygax resigned from TSR in October 1986, before the second edition was produced.
series, consisting of a cardboard cover, sixty four loose-leaf pages, and four divider pages. Also known as the Fiend Folio Appendix, it contains over sixty monsters created or updated by members of the RPGA
, including revised versions of many monsters introduced in the original Fiend Folio.
rules. The 224-page hardcover manual includes only a few monsters from the original, but added many new creatures, with an emphasis on monsters with extraplanar
origins. The book contains over 150 monsters, with approximately half of them being all-new.
The Fiend Folio was released before the 3rd edition rules were revised to the 3.5 edition; the book's designers tried to anticipate changes due to appear in the revised Monster Manual and implement them in the Fiend Folio. The extraplanar and swarm subtypes
, and the allocation of skill points and feats to work the same way as they did for player character
s, were introduced in this book, and then featured in the revised Monster Manual. The book also introduced three new fiend
prestige classes for monsters: fiend of blasphemy, fiend of corruption, and fiend of possession. This edition also introduced grafts and symbionts as new elements to the game.
The Fiend Folio also introduced two demons more powerful than balors
: kluritchirs and myrmyxicus. It also introduced a devil more powerful than pit fiends
: the paeliryon.
Many of the creatures from the 1st edition Fiend Folio were updated to the d20 rules by Necromancer Games
in their ENnie award winning Tome of Horrors.
magazine featured two separate reviews of the book in issue No. 55 (November 1981). Ed Greenwood
called the book a disappointment, citing its lack of detail and "breaches of consistency". He felt that there were many incomplete or inadequate monster entries, and also criticized the book for having too many new undead and too many new races. Greenwood, however, did consider the slaad
, elemental princes of evil
, and penanggalan "worthy additions to any campaign" and noted that the previously published drow and kuo-toa were "expected attractions, but good to see nonetheless." Contributor Alan Zumwait also reviewed the book, noting that a few of the inclusions were "just Monster Manual creatures that are changed or crossbred with other monsters." He was pleased by the inclusion of the neutral Oriental dragons, but felt that their descriptions were inferior to those of the dragons in the Monster Manual. He also liked the slaad and elemental princes of evil, but felt they should both have counterparts of other alignments
. Zumwait summed up his review by stating, "the FIEND FOLIO Tome is like a basket of peaches: Most of it is pretty good stuff, but part of it is the pits." At the urging of Kim Mohan
, Don Turnbull wrote a rebuttal, which was printed in the same issue. Turnbull cited the publication's legal holdups, and the AD&D game's evolution during that time, as part of the reason for the work's inconsistencies. He also felt that Greenwood's concerns of incompleteness and inadequacy were a matter of subjective personal taste.
AD&D creator Gary Gygax
was also critical of errors in the book. Gygax noted that due to "premature actions", TSR got "the cart in advance of the horse" by mentioning a spell (advanced illusion) and a magic item (the philosopher's stone) which had not yet appeared in a game manual, promising they would eventually appear in game material in 1983. Gygax later commented on an individual who had criticized the Deities & Demigods Cyclopedia, noting that this was the same individual responsible for errors on the Fiend Folios random encounter tables, among other errors.
The Fiend Folio was given an 8 out of 10 in the December 1981/January 1982 issue of White Dwarf. Reviewer Jamie Thomson compared it to the Monster Manual
(MM) in format, and felt the Folios artwork was better. Thompson felt the biggest distinction was that while the MM was American, the Folio was of British origin. Creatures he commented on were the giant bat ("seems an obvious choice for D&D), the death dog ("rumored to be a descendant of Cerberus
"), Lolth ("which often appears on fantasy literature"), the elemental princes of evil, and the drow ("who figure prominently in a number of TSR dungeon modules"). Also mentioned were the penanggalon, the caterwaul, the death knight, and the revenant. In summary, Thomson recommended the book for readers who wanted more monsters, but that if they didn't already possess the MM it was not essential.
Lawrence Schick commented on the book's contents in his 1991 book Heroic Worlds: "Some of the monsters are really goofy—you're sure to find several good belly laughs in this volume. A dozen or so entries are genuinely imaginative and useful."
Editions of Dungeons & Dragons
Several different editions of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game have been produced since 1974. The current publisher of Dungeons & Dragons , Wizards of the Coast, produces new materials only for the most current edition of the game...
of the fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
(D&D). All three are collections of monsters, making each Fiend Folio a sequel to that edition's version of the Monster Manual
Monster Manual
The Monster Manual is the primary bestiary sourcebook for monsters in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It includes monsters derived from mythology, and folklore, as well as creatures created for D&D specifically...
.
The first incarnation was unusual, in that the bulk of the material came from the English gaming magazine White Dwarf
White Dwarf (magazine)
White Dwarf is a magazine published by British games manufacturer Games Workshop. Initially covering a wide variety of fantasy and science-fiction role-playing and board games, particularly the role playing games Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest and Traveller...
, rather than being authored by Gary Gygax
Gary Gygax
Ernest Gary Gygax was an American writer and game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of role-playing games....
, the game's creator. Readers and gamers had submitted creatures to the "Fiend Factory" department of the magazine, and the most highly regarded of those appearing in the first ten issues were selected to be in the publication.
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition
Games WorkshopGames Workshop
Games Workshop Group plc is a British game production and retailing company. Games Workshop has published the tabletop wargames Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000...
, with Don Turnbull editing the project, originally intended to produce and publish the Fiend Folio tome (ISBN 0-935696-21-0) in late 1979. The Fiend Folio was intended to be the second volume of the Monster Manual, and would be officially recognized by TSR
TSR, Inc.
Blume and Gygax, the remaining owners, incorporated a new company called TSR Hobbies, Inc., with Blume and his father, Melvin Blume, owning the larger share. The former assets of the partnership were transferred to TSR Hobbies, Inc....
as an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D} product, with the monsters mostly taken from submissions to White Dwarf
White Dwarf (magazine)
White Dwarf is a magazine published by British games manufacturer Games Workshop. Initially covering a wide variety of fantasy and science-fiction role-playing and board games, particularly the role playing games Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest and Traveller...
s "Fiend Factory" column. At the time, Games Workshop was the holder of the license to publish D&D game products in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Although the manuscript was completed on time by editor Don Turnbull, a business dispute between Games Workshop and TSR Hobbies delayed publication of the book for nearly two years. The Fiend Folio was finally published in August 1981 by TSR itself, who used the product to launch its UK division.
Much of the material for the 128-page hardcover Fiend Folio was drawn from the first ten issues of White Dwarf. Also edited by Turnbull, the magazine's "Fiend Factory" column featured new AD&D monsters, many of them created by gamers who read the magazine. The bulk of monsters in the Fiend Folio come from British contributors, all of whom are acknowledged in the index. The book used the same format as that of the Monster Manual, clearly and succinctly defining the each monster's specifications and abilities. The supplement describes over 150 monsters, all illustrated, and many of the illustrations were previously featured in the "Fiend Factory" column as well. Besides creatures from the column, jermlaine
Jermlaine
The jermlaine is a fictional creature from the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. They are evil and fiendish underground fey who spend their days sneaking, hiding and plotting.-Publication history:...
, drow, kuo-toa
Kuo-toa
In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, the kuo-toa are fish-like monstrous humanoids that dwell in the Underdark, and in the sea.-Publication history:...
, and svirfneblin
Svirfneblin
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, svirfneblin , or deep gnomes, are a sub-race of gnome.-Publication history:The svirfneblin first appears in first edition in the adventure modules D2 Shrine of the Kuo-Toa , and D3 Vault of the Drow , and then in the original Fiend Folio...
, all of which had previously appeared in TSR modules
Adventure (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, an adventure or module is a pre-packaged book or box set that helps the Dungeon Master manage the plot or story of a game...
, were included. Turnbull also included creatures that had been submitted to the magazine, but not published in the column. Aside from monsters, the book included random encounter tables for dungeons, outdoors, and the Astral and Ethereal Planes; these encounter tables combined creatures from the Monster Manual and Fiend Folio, superseding the tables in the Dungeon Master's Guide
Dungeon Master's Guide
The Dungeon Master's Guide is a book of rules for the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons...
.
The githyanki
Githyanki
The githyanki are a fictional humanoid race in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. They are cousins to the githzerai. In the Dark Sun setting, they are simply called gith...
, designed by Charles Stross
Charles Stross
Charles David George "Charlie" Stross is a British writer of science fiction, Lovecraftian horror and fantasy. He was born in Leeds.Stross specialises in hard science fiction and space opera...
within the pages of White Dwarf, was introduced to most D&D players in the Fiend Folio. The githyanki was featured on the cover, which helped it gain traction among the D&D community. Not all creatures featured on covers have done as well; the firbolg appeared on the cover of 1983's Monster Manual II and has since slipped back into obscurity.
Monsters featured in the Folio were originally submitted by Stross, Ian Livingstone
Ian Livingstone
Ian Livingstone OBE is an English fantasy author and entrepreneur. He is a co-writer of the first Fighting Fantasy gamebook, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, and co-founder of Games Workshop....
, and Tom Moldvay
Tom Moldvay
Tom Moldvay was a game designer and author most notable for his work on early materials for the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons .-Career:...
, among others. Interior illustrations were supplied by Chris Baker, Jeff Dee
Jeff Dee
Jeff Dee is an American artist and game designer. Based in Austin, Texas, he is a recognized figure in the role-playing game community and game industry...
, Emmanuel
Emmanuel (artist)
Emmanuel is the name used by an artist whose works have included covers for early issues of White Dwarf Magazine, and for the Puffin edition of The Citadel of Chaos in the Fighting Fantasy gamebook series...
(who also illustrator the cover), Albie Fiore, Alan Hunter, Russ Nicholson
Russ Nicholson
-Career:Nicholson is best known for his work on the Fighting Fantasy gamebook series, in particular, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, and numerous Games Workshop products, including Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Warhammer 40,000 and to their magazine White Dwarf.Nicholson...
, Erol Otus
Erol Otus
Erol Otus is an American artist and game designer, known internationally for his contributions to the fantasy RPG genre, most notably for the early Dungeons & Dragons franchise...
, Jim Roslof
Jim Roslof
James Paul "Jim" Roslof was an American artist and graphic designer particularly well known for cover art and interior illustrations of fantasy role-playing games published by TSR, Inc. during the "golden age" of Dungeons & Dragons...
, David C. Sutherland III
David C. Sutherland III
David C. Sutherland III was an early Dungeons & Dragons artist. Sutherland was a prolific artist and his work heavily influenced the early development of Dungeons & Dragons.-Early life and inspiration:...
, Bill Willingham
Bill Willingham
Bill Willingham is an American writer and artist of comics.-Career:Willingham got his start in the late 1970s to early 1980s as a staff artist for TSR, Inc., where he illustrated a number of their role-playing game products...
, Polly Wilson, and Tony Yates.
The publication of "Fiend Factory" monsters had one unintended side-effect for Citadel Miniatures
Citadel Miniatures
Citadel Miniatures Limited is a company which produces metal, resin and plastic miniature figures for tabletop wargames such as Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000....
, who had the contract to produce gaming miniatures based on White Dwarf features. As a condition of including "Factory" monsters in the Folio, Games Workshop transferred the copyright on those monsters to TSR, who already had an exclusive contract with Grenadier Models
Grenadier Miniatures
Grenadier Models Inc. of Springfield, Pennsylvania produced lead miniature figures for wargames and role-playing games with fantasy, science fiction and heroic themes between 1975 and 1996. Grenadier Models Inc...
. This forced Citadel to discontinue miniatures depicting "Factory" monsters that appeared in the Folio.)
In 1983, TSR used the Monster Manual II to introduce a new orange spine cover design for hardcover AD&D manuals. The Fiend Folio was the only AD&D hardcover that did not have its cover redesigned to match the new style; instead, TSR let the Folio go out of print. In 1985, as TSR was getting ready to begin work on the AD&D 2nd edition, Gary Gygax stated that he was planning to incorporate material from the Fiend Folio into a revised Monster Manual for the new edition. However, Gygax resigned from TSR in October 1986, before the second edition was produced.
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition
The Fiend Folio Monstrous Compendium (ISBN 1-56076-428-7) was published by TSR, Inc. in April 1992, for use with the 2nd edition AD&D rules. It is the fourteenth volume of the Monstrous CompendiumMonstrous Compendium
The Monstrous Compendium is a series of accessories for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.-Volumes:MC1 Monstrous Compendium, Volume One was published by TSR in 1989...
series, consisting of a cardboard cover, sixty four loose-leaf pages, and four divider pages. Also known as the Fiend Folio Appendix, it contains over sixty monsters created or updated by members of the RPGA
RPGA
The RPGA , is part of the organized play arm of Wizards of the Coast that organizes and sanctions role-playing games worldwide, principally under the d20 system...
, including revised versions of many monsters introduced in the original Fiend Folio.
Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition
The third Fiend Folio (ISBN 0-7869-2780-1) was published in April 2003 for use with the 3rd edition Dungeons & DragonsDungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
rules. The 224-page hardcover manual includes only a few monsters from the original, but added many new creatures, with an emphasis on monsters with extraplanar
Plane (Dungeons & Dragons)
The planes of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game constitutes the multiverse in which the game takes place.In the earliest versions of Dungeons & Dragons, the concept of the Inner, Ethereal, Prime Material, Astral and Outer Planes was introduced; at the time there were only four Inner Planes...
origins. The book contains over 150 monsters, with approximately half of them being all-new.
The Fiend Folio was released before the 3rd edition rules were revised to the 3.5 edition; the book's designers tried to anticipate changes due to appear in the revised Monster Manual and implement them in the Fiend Folio. The extraplanar and swarm subtypes
Creature type (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, creature types are rough categories of creatures which determine the way game mechanics affect the creature. In the 3rd edition and related games, there are between thirteen and seventeen creature types. Creature type is determined by the...
, and the allocation of skill points and feats to work the same way as they did for player character
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
s, were introduced in this book, and then featured in the revised Monster Manual. The book also introduced three new fiend
Fiend (Dungeons & Dragons)
Fiends is a term used in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game to refer to any malicious otherworldly creatures within the Dungeons & Dragons universe. These include various races of demons and devils that are of an evil alignment and hail from the Lower Planes...
prestige classes for monsters: fiend of blasphemy, fiend of corruption, and fiend of possession. This edition also introduced grafts and symbionts as new elements to the game.
The Fiend Folio also introduced two demons more powerful than balors
Balor (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, a balor is one of the most powerful types of tanar'ri demons. Of all the inhabitants of the Abyss, balors are second in power only to the demon lords, klurichirs, and myrmyxicus...
: kluritchirs and myrmyxicus. It also introduced a devil more powerful than pit fiends
Fiend (Dungeons & Dragons)
Fiends is a term used in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game to refer to any malicious otherworldly creatures within the Dungeons & Dragons universe. These include various races of demons and devils that are of an evil alignment and hail from the Lower Planes...
: the paeliryon.
Many of the creatures from the 1st edition Fiend Folio were updated to the d20 rules by Necromancer Games
Necromancer Games
Necromancer Games was an American publisher of role-playing games. With offices in Seattle, Washington and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, the company specialized in material for the d20 System, with most of its products being released under the Open Game License of Wizards of the Coast.The company's...
in their ENnie award winning Tome of Horrors.
Reception
TSR's DragonDragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
magazine featured two separate reviews of the book in issue No. 55 (November 1981). Ed Greenwood
Ed Greenwood
Ed Greenwood is a Canadian writer and editor who created the Forgotten Realms. He invented the Forgotten Realms as a child, as a fantasy world in which to set the stories he imagined, and later used this world as a campaign setting for his own personal Dungeons & Dragons playing group...
called the book a disappointment, citing its lack of detail and "breaches of consistency". He felt that there were many incomplete or inadequate monster entries, and also criticized the book for having too many new undead and too many new races. Greenwood, however, did consider the slaad
Slaad
In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, slaad are a fictional race of Outsiders that resemble giant humanoid toads of various colors.-Development and licensing:...
, elemental princes of evil
Archomental
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, archomentals are powerful exemplary beings of the Elemental Planes and rulers over the elementals. Although they are not truly rulers of their planes, archomentals like to consider themselves as such and often grant themselves regal titles like...
, and penanggalan "worthy additions to any campaign" and noted that the previously published drow and kuo-toa were "expected attractions, but good to see nonetheless." Contributor Alan Zumwait also reviewed the book, noting that a few of the inclusions were "just Monster Manual creatures that are changed or crossbred with other monsters." He was pleased by the inclusion of the neutral Oriental dragons, but felt that their descriptions were inferior to those of the dragons in the Monster Manual. He also liked the slaad and elemental princes of evil, but felt they should both have counterparts of other alignments
Alignment (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, alignment is a categorization of the ethical and moral perspective of people, creatures and societies....
. Zumwait summed up his review by stating, "the FIEND FOLIO Tome is like a basket of peaches: Most of it is pretty good stuff, but part of it is the pits." At the urging of Kim Mohan
Kim Mohan
Kim Mohan is an American author and editor.-Biography:Kim Mohan was born in Chicago, Illinois, and moved to Williams Bay, Wisconsin when he was five. He became an avid science-fiction and fantasy reader and occasional wargamer, and graduated third in his high school class...
, Don Turnbull wrote a rebuttal, which was printed in the same issue. Turnbull cited the publication's legal holdups, and the AD&D game's evolution during that time, as part of the reason for the work's inconsistencies. He also felt that Greenwood's concerns of incompleteness and inadequacy were a matter of subjective personal taste.
AD&D creator Gary Gygax
Gary Gygax
Ernest Gary Gygax was an American writer and game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of role-playing games....
was also critical of errors in the book. Gygax noted that due to "premature actions", TSR got "the cart in advance of the horse" by mentioning a spell (advanced illusion) and a magic item (the philosopher's stone) which had not yet appeared in a game manual, promising they would eventually appear in game material in 1983. Gygax later commented on an individual who had criticized the Deities & Demigods Cyclopedia, noting that this was the same individual responsible for errors on the Fiend Folios random encounter tables, among other errors.
The Fiend Folio was given an 8 out of 10 in the December 1981/January 1982 issue of White Dwarf. Reviewer Jamie Thomson compared it to the Monster Manual
Monster Manual
The Monster Manual is the primary bestiary sourcebook for monsters in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It includes monsters derived from mythology, and folklore, as well as creatures created for D&D specifically...
(MM) in format, and felt the Folios artwork was better. Thompson felt the biggest distinction was that while the MM was American, the Folio was of British origin. Creatures he commented on were the giant bat ("seems an obvious choice for D&D), the death dog ("rumored to be a descendant of Cerberus
Cerberus
Cerberus , or Kerberos, in Greek and Roman mythology, is a multi-headed hound which guards the gates of the Underworld, to prevent those who have crossed the river Styx from ever escaping...
"), Lolth ("which often appears on fantasy literature"), the elemental princes of evil, and the drow ("who figure prominently in a number of TSR dungeon modules"). Also mentioned were the penanggalon, the caterwaul, the death knight, and the revenant. In summary, Thomson recommended the book for readers who wanted more monsters, but that if they didn't already possess the MM it was not essential.
Lawrence Schick commented on the book's contents in his 1991 book Heroic Worlds: "Some of the monsters are really goofy—you're sure to find several good belly laughs in this volume. A dozen or so entries are genuinely imaginative and useful."
Additional reading
- Review: Different WorldsDifferent WorldsDifferent Worlds was an American role-playing games' magazine, now defunct.-History:Different Worlds was launched in 1979 by Greg Stafford to promote the role-playing games from his own editing house, Chaosium...
#15 (1981) - "Inhuman Gods, Part I" White DwarfWhite Dwarf (magazine)White Dwarf is a magazine published by British games manufacturer Games Workshop. Initially covering a wide variety of fantasy and science-fiction role-playing and board games, particularly the role playing games Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest and Traveller...
#39 - "Inhuman Gods, Part II" White Dwarf #40
- "Inhuman Gods, Part III" White Dwarf #41
- "Inhuman Gods, Part IV" White Dwarf #42
External links
- The Acaeum: Later AD&D Manuals, retrieved June 2, 2006.
- Dragonsfoot Forums: Fiend Folio - Underrated?, retrieved June 7, 2006
- EN World Forum: How stellar was the old Fiend Folio!, retrieved June 7, 2006
- Google Groups: rec.games.frp Fiend Folio, retrieved June 7, 2006
- Stuff of Legends: Fiend Factory, retrieved June 7, 2006