Before writing about My Dad's Monster Manual (MDMM) I would like to write about James Introcaso.
James is easily one of the most amazingly positive and kind members for the TTRPG community with a fantastic body of work and a history of supporting diversity and acessibility in the TTRPG space. It would be remiss of me not to state this as the character of James is evident throughout this work.
MDMM is what happens when you have a father who has taken the time to impress upon his child the importance of stories and narrative. This child then grows up to be a highly talented and influential game designer and then comes back to his father with a Monster Manul, covers the words and asks "So dad, what do you reckon this thing is/does,is like?" and then writes down and refines the beautiful creativity down to something we can use to make our players lives slightly or extremely difficult with.
Good times.
Each of the monsters is an excellent re-imagining of what they used to be. From the now extremely lethal Kragon (Grick), a swamp dwelling and regenerating hunter, capable of terrorising parties with guerilla tactics to the still extremely evil Dythrong (Illithid, and less face it, that dude DOES look evil, even if you gave him a hat with a pompom on it he would still look evil(yes, I DID Google search it, and no, there are no images of MindFlayers wearing knitted beanies with pompoms on them)) who is now not just evil but also hedonistic, which makes my favourite evil guy slightly more relatable (but still extremely evil).
Would I recommend you buy this book?
Yes. And then buy a copy for your parents. Or your kids for when they run a table.
|