Greyhawk Monstrous Compendium Review [A to C]

I’m currently preoccupied with the design of the RPG I want to make – when I’m not busy being stressed! To relax, then, I’ve been reading old Dungeons & Dragons monster manuals, trying to find ideas I could leverage. There’ll be an upcoming post that discusses in further detail monster theory and culture in relation to the monsters I’m thinking about. But I came across a compendium in my search, the Greyhawk Monstrous Compendium from 1990. In the vein of other such reviews – see the wonderful Fiend Folio review by The Cosmic Orrery, or Save vs. Worm’s review. I want to carry on the tradition, such as it were, and contribute to this obscure genre of internet review. Each monster will be rated out of five stars, based on the likelihood that I’d use them in my own games of Dungeons & Dragons (or the myriad of other fantasy systems I use), and the general likeability of their concept. As always, reviews are t̶o̶t̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ o̶b̶j̶e̶c̶t̶i̶v̶e̶ a̶n̶d̶ y̶o̶u̶ c̶a̶n̶’t̶ d̶i̶s̶a̶g̶r̶e̶e̶ w̶i̶t̶h̶ m̶e̶ subjective, so I’d be curious to hear what others think of these strange creatures. I’ll be tackling the list in alphabetical order. If you wanted to read it for yourself, the handbook is available on the Internet Archive.

And, for some final detail, Greyhawk is one of the first official worlds designed for Dungeons & Dragons, an amalgamation of designer Gary Gygax and his friends’ early worlds. It has a very “low-fantasy” feel. If you want to know more about Greyhawk, there is a subreddit which has a lot of great resources, and there is also this tremendous blog by David Leonard, which historicizes the world of Greyhawk, collecting any and all sources about characters and places and compiling them into detailed articles. I can say that blog has done a lot to deepen my own appreciation for the setting. Now, without further ado, let’s get to some monsters.

Aspis

★★★★☆
The Aspis are a species of giant sentient bipedal insects that “look much like giant weevils”. That’s a look I can get behind, but I don’t tend to feel compelled by insect colonies as enemies, given that players tend to feel like they’re just squishing bugs. I’m also not a huge fan of the whole “hive mind” thing these days, given how many times I’ve seen the trope played out. All you seemingly need to do is dispatch the brains of the operation and the rest of the hive goes down. Bugs aren’t always tactically very interesting to fight either.

Aspis, at least, are given a culture and a way of fighting – they fight with bows and arrows, or shields and swords – whatever other cultures can do, Aspis can do, too. My favourite detail that might make me actually use them is the way they communicate. The book says that “Aspis do not speak in the way that humanoid races do, although roughly 5% of them have been able to master a rough form of the common tongue. Among themselves, they have no spoken or written language; they communicate via a unique language of scents”. The stinger, though, is that “[t]he human olfactory system is wholly unable to detect the subtle changes of odor used by aspis in their conversations”. Bummer that humans can’t even try to guess what they’re communicating about, but kind of cool. There are three kinds of Aspis detailed by the book – drones, larva, and cow aspis. Cow aspis are slow-moving queens of the hive, that live in a room filled with acid. I like that. Larvae aspis are the young form of aspis – very easy to kill, apparently. 

Drone aspis are the fighting ones, and apparently despite having “no sense of individuality, lacking even in unique names or personalities”, also “check for morale” unless fighting for their cow. I’m not quite sure how this works, but I guess even hive minds have morale? Self-preservation instincts, I suppose. I do like the idea that the book raises that they have the potential to take giant rodents as mounts – I was originally going to give them three stars, but I think four is appropriate for what they can do, and the level of detail put in to fleshing out their society.

I could imagine using these guys in at least one adventure, and having the Aspis be misunderstood antagonists, who are just trying to build a hive somewhere that also threatens a human settlement. But they’re also portrayed as just a species of samey slaughter-insects that threaten everyone in exactly the same way. They are also “masters of perfume” – which lets them make smells that attract vermin to human settlements, a really cool idea – but given that they don’t have personalities, I fail to see how they can be developed into characters of any sort. Good for one adventure, but probably not as a recurring enemy type.

Beastman

★★★☆☆
Ah, the humble beastman. Surely every fantasy setting of this era has this kind of jungle tribe analogue. The Fighting Fantasy gamebook series has tons of cavemen and the like who just exist to get angry at you intruding on their territory, and trying to murder you.

The beastman tries to distinguish itself by having “erect” hair – like a cat’s hair getting all bristly – but this is also just an excuse for the writers to say “that’s why they don’t wear clothes”. The fur does change colour and helps them disguise themselves, which is a neat detail – as well as factors into their conversations, meaning even travellers who live among beastmen can never quite speak their language, something else I like. I also like that beastman society prejudices against neither sex, only insisting that pregnant women stay at home and are protected and revered. Beastman society seems well-structured and well-considered, especially given the designers have just one page to flesh them out. They aren’t particularly violent, and will trap, rob, and release anyone who intrudes on their territory. Captured creatures are “killed painlessly” if they are judged to be too much of a threat. I am a bit confused about their power structure – apparently most beastman have a go at being a chief

The beastman might make for a good combat encounter, given their propensity to hide in the shadows and the bushes, but I think they’d be more suited to be a culture players spent time in. The details that are there about them are interesting enough to at least support a couple of sessions deep in the jungle, slowly encountering a new species of creature, and learning about their culture. I am not particularly fond of the “noble savage” stereotype, nor the “colonial savior” one either, for that matter – so inclusion of the beastman would have to be thoughtful and considered. You couldn’t just make them an idealization, nor could you merely allow them to be colonized. I think I am about as likely to use them in an adventure as the Aspis, and while they are a bit better considered than some native stereotypes I’ve seen in fantasy, they just aren’t quite interesting enough to use more than once, and their use has to be relatively situational. Whereas the Aspis could, theoretically, appear anywhere, the beastman seems locked into a jungle setting.

Beetle

★★☆☆☆
It’s a giant beetle. Two, actually – the “Death Watch” beetle and the “Slicer” beetle. The Death Watch beetle knows how to make cement – seriously – and stick stuff to its back so it lies in wait for people to walk by, unsuspecting. Then, it will ambush them. The Slicer beetle is a relative of the Death Watch beetle, which tries to slice people’s limbs off.

I’ve already said I’m not really convinced by giant insect enemies – they’re not super interesting to fight over and over again, and beetles just aren’t really interesting to me. Sorry, beetles. I just don’t think I’d use you. Well, I wouldn’t use the Slicer. I might use the Death Watch beetle once or twice. From the monsters we’ve read so far, I think I could piece together a campaign about the deep jungle, trying to decide whether to side with the Beastman town or the Aspis hive. Fighting beetles all the way. That’s about all I could see the beetle being used for, though.

Bonesnapper

★★☆☆☆
Okay, this is just a T-Rex. With longer arms, and human sized, but it’s just a T-Rex.

The book goes out of its way to declare that the Bonesnapper is pretty stupid, and just runs at things and tries to eat them. The book even says that “they are so amazingly stupid” they just fight to the death because they don’t know what losing is. I dunno, this sounds like a pretty lame combat encounter by itself. I’ve since outgrown that kind of combat encounter design – just throw things at player until player kills things – and like the enemies to have some kind of wits.

There’s really nothing to distinguish it from an actual dinosaur beyond its size, so the Bonesnapper is just kinda… eh. It might make for one good combat encounter, but it’s not a particularly interesting enemy. It’s also good at disguising oneself in the jungle. Really sensing a theme here, so far. Does Greyhawk even have jungles? The answer to that question, as it turns out, is yes.

Booka

★★★★☆
The Booka is an interesting relative of the fairy, the sprite, and the pixie. If you weren’t already pulled in three conflicting directions, the Booka also lives a life not unlike the Brownie. Okay? Keeping up?

They’re very small and they’re exceedingly peaceful. They wouldn’t hurt a fly, and are helpless in a fight. They can bite things, but they don’t like to. However, they can go for a bit of cold-blooded, pre-meditated murder if they get angry enough, apparently: “if a booka has been angered by the actions of another creature, it may take steps to injure or even kill the offender. In such cases, very delicate and clever traps are set up”. The book then goes on to say that basically booka can’t attack things head-on, they are pacifists – only when they can see their opponent, I guess. If the opponent gets crushed by a falling log on the other side of the forest – well, it’s not like the Booka are around to hear it.

Booka are generally pretty relaxed creatures and don’t have much to do. They like flowers, they fly around, they are just… nice. Right up until they’re wronged. “If a booka is captured or harmed in any way, its companions take steps to revenge this insult. This usually involves tricks and traps being placed around the offender’s home, the severity of which is determined by the injury inflicted on their fellow. If the offence is minor, the bookas can be placated with a valuable offering of gold, jewelry, or magic, placed in a spot frequented by the bookas. If the injury was severe or even fatal to the booka in question, no bribes are accepted and the traps are lethal and quite ingenious. It is for this reason that many assassins use the term “booka bait” to describe someone who has been set up for execution with an unusually insidious trap”.

I just like this fusion of relaxed fairies who also have the capacity and drive to create deathtraps. I could see myself using them a few times – a side quest where you have to protect a person marked for death by Bookas could be tremendous fun.

Brownie, Buckawn

★★☆☆☆
The Buckawn Brownie are like evil brownies. Well, maybe not evil – just antisocial. They don’t like other species and just kind of hang around by themselves, sometimes causing mischief. Apparently Buckawn Brownies and regular Brownies just hate each other’s accents? Like?? Okay???

Buckawns are natural rogues and thieves, and are very flighty in combat. They’re kinda like little fairy assassins, I guess. But the Booka fill their role in a much more unique way, whereas Buckawns are just like little spellcasting guys with knives. Fine, but I feel like spellcasting guys with knives is a niche that didn’t necessarily have to be filled again. Even if you make the argument that they’re small and reclusive, they’re just kind of not that interesting on the face of it. Hard to spin an adventure out of them that you couldn’t just have with others. Unless you really like Brownies. In which case, have at it.

Oh, but I do like the detail about where they live. “A buckawn clan lives in a single home carved into the bowels of a great tree. More often than not, this is the largest tree in the forest. One third of the clan is charged with hunting the small animals the buckawn like to eat, while the rest of the band is split evenly between domestic upkeep and gathering the fruits and nuts that round out their diet. On rare occasions, a buckawn clan may keep a herd of chipmunks or squirrels as livestock, thus eliminating the need to hunt.”

It’s just neat to imagine the little chipmunk ranches.

Brownie, Quickling

★★★☆☆
Oh, you have to be joking. So we have the little rogue Brownies, and now we have little Flash Brownies? Quickling Brownies are Brownies that once desired to control dark powers, but now the dark powers control them. They also run really fast.

They are 100% invisible when not moving. They are 90% invisible when moving. Is this invisibility consistent? When a Quickling starts moving, does the invisibility (or visibility) travel around their body? Like are their hands, then their arms, then their shoulders, then their head visible? I must know!

Quicklings seem legitimately really dangerous – they’re invisible, with poisonous swords, and are super hard to hit because of how fast they move – but I also have a hard time conceptualizing a campaign villain Quickling. I guess it might be a nice reveal to have the players’ ultimate antagonists be a bunch of little Brownies on evil drugs, but I’m not really convinced by how a player actually fights them. I am now visualizing a character swinging their sword around while a Quickling runs up the sword towards their face, yelling a battle cry while it does so.

Okay, that’s kinda cool, actually.

Crypt Thing

★★★★★
I love undead as enemies (mainly because I’m interested in death as a storytelling tool, as well as in how it is perceived), so they function great as monsters in my mind. I also love the name Crypt Thing. It’s delightfully evocative of the period of fantasy it comes from, where monsters could have these simple, delightful names. Crypt Thing. The Thing makes it unknowable, something truly awful. They look sort of like a more powerful skeleton with glowing eyes according to the illustration, which is a look I’m always keen for.

Crypt Things can either be ancestral – seemingly like a natural occurrence to guard a family tomb – or summoned by a powerful wizard. The book even supplies a spell to summon your own crypt thing. Crypt Things open combat with a teleportation spell that can warp people up or down levels in the dungeon, disorienting players and leaving those who weren’t affected by the spell in some serious trouble. The book says that “clever crypt things have been known to transport victims several hundred feet into the air or atop a vast chasm, leaving them to fall to their deaths”. Not sure if I’d be mean enough to do that to my players in a regular scenario, but as a one-shot, or a meat-grinder dungeon, Crypt Things would be great enemies.

Crypt Things then just try to maul things to death with their claws. “Crypt things are not a natural part of our world”, the book informs us. I like this detail. I like it a lot. The idea of the undead as perverse, powerful, threatening creatures that can warp reality around you – and then maul you to death if that doesn’t work – is awesome. It is how I like undead to be presented – powerful and malicious, and perhaps even without any real reason for doing what they do beyond instinct. And I also do like the idea of just some dedicated ancestor spirit – or maybe conglomeration of ancestor spirit fragments – coming together to defend an ancient barrow. Thinking about it more, I really like it, actually. I would definitely use a Crypt Thing. I might even try to adapt a Crypt Thing style creature for the RPG. At least even just in how it looks.

Crystalmist

★★★★☆
As a short aside, I really like the person’s face in the image. An expression that can only be described as completely inexplicable. “What is this?” I can hear them say, shortly before they are fried to death.

Crystalmists are another hive-mind, but much more interesting than the Aspis on a conceptual level. They are like floating motes of light about the size of snowflakes that, when threatened, conglomerate together into a swarm. The swarm can then shoot beams of light, which I’m also pretty fond of as an idea. It can set things on fire or cause serious burns, so it’s pretty lethal. If the beam doesn’t hit something it is aiming for but it was still a high enough roll, the book asks that you determine what bit of clothing or surface it reflected off of, so it can hit something else. Which makes sense – it is a beam of light, after all. 

Crystalmists aren’t really animals, either. They’re more just particles that have a communal function. They stay together and merge in dangerous situations when threatened. To fight them, you have to break up their elements and shatter the light. But I think what Crystalmists do best as a concept is provoke thought about what fantasy is.

I enjoy low fantasy very often. I enjoy sword and sorcery stuff; the aesthetics of early Conan books, or the works of David Gemmell, are very dear to my heart. I also like the hard-won fantasy of Darkest Dungeon or Torchbearer, for instance. But then I read about something super cool like the Crystalmist, which feels deliberately high-fantasy and kind of whimsical in how dangerous it is. Like a natural magnifying glass that can actively set things on fire. I can imagine making a fantasy world where there were Crystalmists floating around up high, providing gorgeous spectrums of colour in regions of the world – but that they also had to be managed somehow.

I really like the idea of the creature as even just something players might observe in the distance; set dressing for the world that gives it an extra delightful feeling of the fantastical. They’re tough to imagine fighting, given their huge array of magical resistances, and they also seem like they’d be hard to piss off in the first place, given they probably spend most of the time up in the clouds sucking up the sunlight. I wouldn’t use them as readily as I would the Crypt Thing, but I think they’re still an excellent fantasy concept that deserves use.

Well, that’s it for today. See you next time when we go through D – G. A lot of dragons coming up next.