Review & Commentary On Manavores -- A Shadowdark Supplement By James Mishler, & Jodi Moran-Mishler For The Shadowdark rpg & adapting It to Castles & Crusades rpg

 

"Manavores
By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler"

"Manavores provides 16 new and strange monsters for use with the Shadowdark RPG and other Old School RPGs."

"All the creatures herein are manavores, which eat or absorb magical energy and convert it to other sorts of magical or non-magical effects."

"All originate in areas of high concentration of magical power, and so can readily be found in just about any dungeon or area of high native magical or extra-planar power."


"Charm Cat – these felines possess the power to charm creatures into service.
Dweomer Dog – these dogs absorb magic and provide it for their master’s use.
Enchantment Eater – these chimerical creatures consume and destroy magic.
Glamour Bug – these insects use their glamour to drain spellcasters of life.
Heka Hound – these dogs are used to hunt spellcasters and magic monsters.
Hexrat – these rats are carriers of baleful magic in the form of curses.
Hypno-Ooze – these oozes absorb magic and exude hypnotic patterns.
Incantarnate – these living spells seek out spellcasters to feast on their magic.
Mana Mite Swarm – these swarms drain magic from items and spellcasters.
Mana Moth – these giant moths eat magic and excrete it in magical dust.
Necrotoad – these giant toads swallow the living and spit out undead.
Phantasmic Presence – these strange entities are only quasi-real.
Pishogue Pig – these swine absorb curses and harmful spells for their master.
Spell Slug/Snail – these giant gastropods eat magic and expel it in pure form.
Witching Wolf – these beasts provide allies with power and protection.
Wizard Worm – these tiny annelids provide magic power at a cost"

So there have only been a few times that I've played the Shadowdark rpg. However the overlap with Troll Lords Castles & Crusades is pretty obvious in the similarities of the rpg systems. So there's a certain amount of cross compitibility within these OSR rpg systems. Manavores -- A Shadowdark Supplement By James Mishler, & Jodi Moran-Mishler  is the perfect way to take the magical bite of our favorite OSR glass cannons the wizard or magic user. These monsters are not your average monsters and horrors that are hunting and eating magic. Instead these are creatures that have evolved in a highly magick charged enviroment. This is a fact brought home in the introduction; " The materials presented in this booklet are an optional, providing additional monsters as challenges to and perhaps allies of player characters. All the creatures herein are manavores, which eat or absorb magical energy and convert it to other sorts of magical or non-magical effects. All originate in areas of high concentration of magical power, and so can readily be found in just about any dungeon or area of high native magical or extra-planar power."  
Manavores is a well laid out and solid book that presents a really nice font, layout and basic graphic presentation that is easy on the eyes. 
   

  This makes   Manavores -- A Shadowdark Supplement  perfect for 

Castles & Crusades Codex Celtarum 2nd Printing

. Because of the magick rich enviroment that C&C campaigns present. And this is especially true of the Castles & Crusades Reforged books that will be coming out after  the current Kickstarter. 

The Manavores presented in the book are both wild and having been captive bred making them incredibly dangerous to PC wizards. Some of these Manavores could be used as pets or companions but keep them far away from party wizards. 
Within  Aihrde the manavores would certainly fit in nicely as there are already some monsters that would certainly fit the manavore moniker. I could also see using the manavores within Greyhawk. 
Is the manavores supplement worth getting?! In a word yes there's a good range of magick eating creatures and monsters within to leave even the most cynical wizard shaking.