Thursday, February 14, 2019

Review & Commentary On 'The Pay What You Want' OSR Monster Book - The Found Folio Volume One By Jeremy Reaban

"Found Folio is a collection of roughly 130 monsters converted from 3rd edition (most notably the in print 3.75 edition) of the world's first fantasy roleplaying game back to 1st edition (and to an extent, original and other old school editions)."
The Found Folio Vol I does exactly what it says on the tin. A collection of converted 3.5 monsters ready & willing to go into your latest adventure or dungeons as a pay what you want title. There are seventy one pages of wall to wall monsters of malice waiting to be inflicted unto your players's PC's!







Monsters are always something that a dungeon master can always use for dungeon & adventure design. Jeremy Reaban is a one many OSR band that takes & designs some very well thought out products. Case in point is the Found Folio, this is an OSR monster book that clocks in at seventy one pages. With two monsters per page the Found Folio packs in some great 3.5 OGL monsters converted over to OSR stats with both descending & ascending armor class. The monsters have a solid all round set of old school stats. For example here's a Bomon a type of giant vampire bat as an example;
"Boman
FREQUENCY: Uncommon
NO. APPEARING: 2-8 (colony) or 4-32 (swarm)
 ARMOR CLASS: 6 (Descending) or 14 (Ascending)
 MOVE: Fly 15”(b) (Classic) or Fly 40(good)' (Neo)
HIT DICE: 2 %
IN LAIR: 25%
 TREASURE TYPE: None
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-3
 SPECIAL ATTACKS: Attach
 SPECIAL DEFENSES: None
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Low
 ALIGNMENT: Neutral Evil
SIZE: S (1' long) L/XPV: 1/20+2/hp (40) xp
 Boman are a magical form of vampire bat, cursed by the gods. While able to subsist on cattle, deer, and other animals, they prefer the blood of humans, humanoids, and demi-humans."
This style of layout & stat block is familiar to any Advanced Dungeons & Dragons dungeon master or player. This is a pay what you want book with plans for more in the series; "Found Folio is a collection of roughly 130 monsters converted from 3rd edition (most notably the in print 3.75 edition) of the world's first fantasy roleplaying game back to 1st edition (and to an extent, original and other old school editions).

Volume One consists of monsters you might actually use in a normal game (dungeon or wilderness) since they are all monster I've used in my game. Volume Two is planned to convert various player races, Volume Three on outsiders (demons, devils, daemons, demodands, divs, etc), and Volume Four (if i ever get that far) will probably be on dragons (which despite the name of the game, are creatures I am loathe to use in play) " 
Despite its simple design & purpose there's lots of legs in this volume perfect for getting together a Saturday night special adventure or a Sunday old school creature feature. The monsters are vibrant & very well done with just enough detail left out for the dungeon master to fill in what's needed.
There is artwork here but its  lean & its not really necessary per say. The interest is in the monsters & how to use them. There are lots of familiar faces here some of quite nasty & dangerous aspect for old school play.
What I can see actually using the Found Folio for is old school adventure construction where the dungeon master needs something a bit different for a dungeon or wants to surprise the players with a new & very deadly creature. The production values while not high are well thought out with easy to read fonts & solid stat blocks that don't clutter the landscape. All in all the Found Folio does a nice job of introducing lots of nicely converted & monsters who might be new to the jaded playing palettes of experienced players. Monsters find their value with the dungeon masters who are willing to think outside of the box when designing adventures. Here the creatures are engaging enough to warrant your attention & a few of these  monsters are perfect for both gonzo & solid old school dungeon design.
Do I any complaints about the Found Folio?! Maybe that I wish it was longer. Overall a healthy four out of five for the Found Folio in my humble opinion.

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