Flora and Fauna table

[pyratejohn]

Cards are nice, but of course if I have a book I can make the cards myself.

[guymc]

Originally Posted by Shostak

I'd prefer option 1, though only if it was an either/or case. I might prefer to have both to take advantage of their respective advantages

Well, yes I can dig that...

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by guymc

Just off-hand, which would you rather have:
1) A book of beasts with adventure hooks listed with each.
2) A deck of beast cards with pics and stats and a separate smaller booklet of adventure hooks.

Book, because it's hard to loose.

[flankspeed]

Originally Posted by guymc

Just off-hand, which would you rather have:
1) A book of beasts with adventure hooks listed with each.
2) A deck of beast cards with pics and stats and a separate smaller booklet of adventure hooks.

If it’s an either/or situation, then I believe there is immense value to the GM in an illustrated and detailed bestiary in book form. (Though I’ve always thought the word “bestiary” implied a tome full of best friends — “besties” — but then English is weird like that.)

If it can be a both/and situation, I would like a book-form bestiary to allow for lots of detail, while the cards would be more like separate decks of 32-point fighters, 32-point wizards, and 32-point-appropriate monsters/creatures.

Then we could enjoy the illustrations and detail in the book, complete with tables of monsters we could roll on that summarize their stats, divide them by native environments for random encounters, etc. (and also list page references, or else include a good Index/Table of Contents).

We could also enjoy using the decks for quick encounter creation. Does the GM have a party of four adventurers that needs to meet a wizard, his two body guards, and his pet? Check! Draw one wizard card, two fighters, and one monster. Random encounter easily created.

These are just a few thoughts, but I really want the book the most because, if I must, I can use 3”x5” cards to make my own decks.

[guymc]

Originally Posted by flankspeed

These are just a few thoughts, but I really want the book the most because, if I must, I can use 3”x5” cards to make my own decks.

I was going to reply to this here, but realized that a separate thread addressing a larger issue is called for. I’ll comment there instead,