As submitted to RPG Net:
Short Take:
The Asian Bestiary stands as an excellent product, useful for Asian themed games in many genres. A good choice for Hero System gamers, and useful for players of other game systems.
Longer Take:
Michael Surbrook’s Asian Bestiary Vol.1 presents 144 pages worth of monsters and mythical beasts from China, India, and elsewhere in Asia for use in Hero System games.
I picked this book up at Dundracon, looking for ideas for my Pulp era campaign, and I wasn’t disappointed. Surbrook’s writing style is crisp and readable, and the research he poured into this shines through on every page. There are monsters, odd creatures, godlings and strange sub-races of men here, all with the flavor that only comes when a writer starts from traditional mythology.
Surbrook has not tried to modernize these creatures, instead staying as closely as possible to the form each beast takes in traditional Asian myths and folktales. China, India, Cambodia, Indonesia, Mongolia and Viet Nam are all represented. Each creature receives its own short entry, and many are accompanied by extra bits of lore and a number of package options demonstrating how the write up can be used to represent similar mythical monsters. The resulting collection should prove very useful to Hero gamers exploring any genre where fantastic beings may be encountered. Gamers who work in other systems should still find plenty of useful information and adventure seeds here.
The layout is not as strong as the content, but is still solid. The art ranges from interesting to merely acceptable, and a small number of typos have snuck through. As far as the art is concerned, many entries would have benefited from a more stylized, Asian themed approach. Many mythic creatures just don’t look very impressive when drawn in a basic Western realistic style, unless the artist puts the time in to manage Alex Ross style super-realism. The book itself is well indexed and well put together.
I expect I’ll get a lot of use out of the Asian Bestiary in my Pulp and Weird Conspiracy games, and it is perfectly suited for its intended use in Asian themed fantasy campaigns. In a Super Heroic game many of the creatures would require a moderate power upgrade to present an interesting challenge to players. Adapting these creatures for use in Science Fiction games is also an option.
Overall, I was very happy with this purchase, and I’d recommend it.
Originally Posted by Cancer
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[Review] Asian Bestiary I
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