Commentary On The Fiend Folio For 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons For Your Old School Science Fantasy Campaigns

 When it comes to the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition Fiend Folio there's something to remember about the monsters. These monsters have a completely different feel then thier American counterparts. This makes them ideal to use with Science Fantasy rpg's. Now I've talked extensively about the Fiend Folio on this blog. 

This is especially true of the OSR based games such as Stars Without Number where the creatures & monsters can easily be stand in's for alien creatures and monsters. 

Stars Without Numbers the number of systems that have been isolated by the Scream is numerous. We have no idea what or whom has been trapped. 
This makes perfect fodder for having the humanoid tribal  races that are in the Fiend Folio to the forgotten & fallen remains of alien empires. 

This goes back to something I said in my commentary on the Fiend Folio; "The Fiend Folio is the forgotten Monster Manual and the monsters are easily discounted and overlooked. This makes perfect fodder for the DM to use them and reintroduce his or her players to the terrors of them. " Stars Without Numbers has numerous space dungeons & ruins baked right into the campaign background. And this same principle applies to the undead of the Fiend Folio; "This book has some great undead in it and they are so great to add into post apocalyptic games such as Mutant Future and Gamma World as needed for alien planets and ruins. Yeah, there's a bit of science fantasy over flow with Fiend Folio and the gonzo factor is such an appeal here" 

Coming across a Vodyandi on a waterworld someplace in the interstellar back of beyond would cause quite a stir among players. The Fiend Folio has mostly been forgotten by today's fifth edition & Shadowdark crowd. This makes it a perfect suppliment to get a second life as a post apocalpytic or Science Fantasy supplement. 

Let's go back to our friend the Voyanoi here for a second. These alien horrors could have been bred by Interstellar Kua Toa and used as muscle, guardians, etc. The empire dies off and this leaves the ancient guards still going about thier duties. There's plenty of  life in the Fiend Folio as a supplement for OSR Science Fiction games. This brings up the encounter tables in the back of the Fiend Folio; "Fantastic encounter tables in the back of the book make dungeon and wildness setting design and monster placement a snap. This keeps things moving at the table during play. "

And this is doubly so for OSR Science Fiction games where a fast moving encounter can mean the difference between a successful game campaign and the loss of a player.