Evolved Grottoes & Griffons: Teratic Tome
Author: Rafael Chandler
Publisher: Rafael Chandler
Page Count: 118
Available Formats: PDF and Print
Cost: PDF – $Pay What You Want or Print – $26.66

PREMISE:
Evolved Grottoes & Griffons: Teratic Tome, Teratic Tome from this point forward, is a collection of unique source material for OSRIC and other early edition fantasy roleplaying games. The Teratic Tome contains a menagerie of beasts and monsters to torture your players with. 

PRODUCT QUALITY:
The book comes in two different formats, PDF and hardcover. The PDF is the version used for this review, but I have seen physical copies in the wild and they are gorgeous. The PDF itself is simple by design and reminiscent of early edition D&D books. The font type and layout harken back to those early days. The book is easy on the eyes and the artwork is very appropriate to the theme and nature of the contents within. The physical books I have seen are printed with an orange spine, similar in color to the original 1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons books and blend well when placed together.

CONTENT OVERVIEW:
The book is Mr. Chandler’s homage to all things gross and grotesque! Well, okay, just another one of his homages to the grotesque. To that end, it is an amazing piece of work. To fully appreciate this book and the work of Mr. Chandler you must have an appreciation for and want to use this type of content in your games. This book fits very well into Mr. Chandler’s catalog of works.

The book itself contains, by my count, eighty-nine different creatures for gamemasters to plagues their players with. Each monster is lovingly detailed, both artistically and contextually. Each entry has a rich description which includes interesting information that will help the gamemaster bring them to life. The information includes all the basic statistical information (stat blocks) needed to add these creatures into your game. Additionally, the robust descriptions may include information such as feeding patterns, detailed weaknesses, detailed abilities and common locations that these creatures can be found in. Lastly, adventures seek fame and fortune and these baddies include suggested treasure rewards for those fortunate enough to survive a confrontation.

PROS:
Well written
Well illustrated
Thematically different from other similar products on the market
Creatures provide an opportunity for gamemasters add more variety to their games
Non-standard creatures
Written for old school fantasy games
Easily adaptable to modern fantasy games

CONS:
Content might offend or not appeal to some gamemasters and players
Illustrations used are not consistent in style, the product of many different artists
Creatures might be hard to incorporate into existing campaigns

PARTING SHOTS:
Hands down, I like this book! I think the content, theme and tone are unique and well worth having in my collection. Do I expect to use much out of this book? I doubt it, but I love having options. Much of what is contained within would make for some fun and very challenging climatic encounters or recurring enemies. I may have to make it a point to incorporate something from this book into my existing Stonehell Dungeon game, just to mix it up slightly.

~ Modoc

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