Shortly after receiving the pdf, copy (for these review purposes;) of the 'Morgalad' FRPG Creature Compendium, I found myself both intrigued and charmed, by this brave, little, tome.

Mcnabb's, familiar but simplified, stat-block, formatting, is concise and smartly, conceived (literally; "at a glance";) also well thought out is the breakdown of individual, ecologies along with physical, social, behavioral and inter-species, observations made for each creature. Entries are written with a pseudo-zoological, voice and while occasionally, a bit wordy, are interesting and descriptive enough to keep one turning the pages.

This handy, compilation of beasties, contains many of the, to-be-expected, standbys, eternally, regarded as archetypical to most FRPGs, but with a nice twist or change added, sometimes, beside a bit of original, history or cryptic, lore. A more literary and folkloric, take on some classical, monsters such as the cockatrice and basilisk was also refreshing. Best of all are the 'Morgalad' originals and though some did not overly, wow, me, most are cleverly, thought out and many are truly inspired. Of particular note, in the category of originality and concept: Alphynn, Bjornigar, Spritemare, Buggane and Manavore.

Artistically the book shines; particularly for a self-started and relatively, young, publishing venture. The artwork and experience of the artists varies some, but as a whole the book is something of a visual victory. Many illustrations are good enough to give one pause and in several instances, are startlingly well rendered. Worth checking out, a.s.a.p. in the art-dept. are: Centaur, Ablican (dragon), Kobold, Cockatrice and Balaur.

There are some typographical and formatting issues that bely a 5-star, rating, but this ten-dollar, purchase from a budding, young RPG company is at the very, least, a conscientious and pragmatic decision. The reference-material/ inspiration-value and surprisingly, excellent, artwork, makes it's current, price-tag seem more than a tad, too low.

I was given a promotional copy of this PDF to review. I don't play the base system, but the material presented within is suitably adaptable that without much work, I could adjust it to fit my system. This is a nice bestiary consisting of a brief forward, a quite varied collection of creatures, and then a series of appendices that detail the special abilities, genetic advantages, and genetic disadvantages reflected in the creature entries.

The book takes a fairly pseudo-scholarly and pseudo-scientific tone when discussing the entries, in fact the subsections on Physical, Social, Behavioral, and Inter-species Observation are fairly detailed and even somewhat practical despite the sometimes fanciful nature of the creatures discussed. Sometimes the entries fall back on the old "they wait around in woods/caves/swamps for children/adventures/other unfortunates to eat/spindle/mutilate..." tropes that probably really couldn't support an actual biological species, but these are monsters for your typical fantasy dungeon crawl environment, so that can largely be forgiven in the spirit of "adventurers need monsters to kill". The language sometimes seems like it is trying to sound more scholarly than it actually is when examined by someone with a background in science, psychology, or biology, but the tone is still good for a fantasy dungeon-crawl environment. Also, of note, is the clever use of some uncommon words, a few of whom I actually had to look up! Good job there!

The entries are a good mix between classic creatures such as the Basilisk and the Yeti, with some imaginative takes on them, and more unique and perhaps even original creatures. I am definitely going to use a couple of these in my games (particularly creatures like the Brag which very much fits the slightly more humorous tone some of my players' exploits entail).

There are a few little warts including some formatting issues, such as all entries but one in the Genetic Advantages list being of bold font, or the Bjornigar having a random box at the end of the Behavioral Observation section, or the smattering of red text for no clear purpose among the rest of the black text in many entries that prevents a 5-Star rating, but this is still a clever and interesting tome with lots of unique and appropriate line-art. I plan on making use of a number of these creatures and the supporting ecology/ behavioral data in my own games. All in all a nice little tome for less than ten dollars!