Miscreated Creatures Review

Today is a review of Nick LS Whelan's Miscreated Creatures (of which I was graciously given a pdf copy) a monster book of some forty seven pages and twenty unique entities. 

How it shall go is that I'll give each entry an x out of five star rating then describe my thoughts...

★ 1 star - abysmal, I detest it

★★ 2 star - meh and lacking 

★★★ 3 star - decent enough but doesn't capture me personally

★★★★ 4 star - quite good but could use some tweaks

★★★★★ 5 star - perfect as is 

With that let's begin! 

Overall Thoughts

The book suffers most (in my opinion, I tend to value conciseness) from the often rather lengthy backstories filled with names that don't really matter or mean anything to the reader and which occasionally make it tricky to fit things into a world. However, the style still has its charms and broadly I found none of the entires to be terrible, at worst they were decently made and I personally just didn't find them inspiring. 

The 'mechanical' segments for each entity which describes its behaviors in various circumstances is one of the strongest elements I find and a readily pillagible template for anyone writing their own monster manual-esq construction.

Piece By Piece Breakdown

Voice of Despair

★★★★★

Starting off strong we've got a necromantic herald. I adore the aesthetics at play here of the slithering femur bone chain construct with stretched leather face flanked by skeletal minions. If one is not inclined to use the dark arbiter its a fairly easy matter of assigning the creature some other overlord. Combat wise things are excellently dynamic, with skeletal minions, and various unique ways the Voice acts (I particularly like that it will burrow and hide in soft soils if it can, emerging later). As well, while the Voice doesn't have too many motivations of its own, its got enough personality to make a decent and enticing social encounter. 

Tungle

★★★★☆

Another strong entry, a bit of a backstory (a running theme we'll see, not exactly superfluous as it lends to understanding the creature, but the players are unlikely it interacts or find out its exact origins) and a wonderfully soldi base. Strange pathetic little tangle of flesh that hates people and attacks them with shadow puppets. The behaviors it employs and the nature of the shadows make for delightfully dynamic combat. I quite like that it defaces corpses, funny, telling of its personality, and an excellent tell for its presence. 

Tribunal

★★★★☆

Aesthetically the Tribunal doesn't quite do it for me and its backstory is a bit convoluted. Normally I would fit a more cosmically strange/ethereal creature in for arbiter of ancient outdated cosmic laws, however my aesthetically predilections aside its well made. Presenting a strongly social encounter players must navigate. Its given a crap toon of abilities that make it a beast in combat because it's supposed to be a titanic lizard thing of death that serves god's will which I think has the pleasant effect of encouraging parley at low levels, much like a dragon. Once again minions are at play, always good those. And I quite enjoy the trio aspect of its personality, makes conversations more fun. Making the tribunal so incredibly hard to kill does feel a might bit overkill in some regards but I think since most of the 'overkill' bits would generate more opportunities for play (like servants of god coming to retrieve and revive its body) it works.

Sweaty Fingers

★★★☆☆

Well that illustration makes me visceral uncomfortable (in a good way) arrogant, self obsessed, greasy essentially just humans. Thematically strong though I would have liked some more social organizations or peculiarities to add some oomph. As it stands they feel like aesthetically/thematically reskinned humans. Good but not great. Needs just a bit more. 

(Minor sidenote: I think the language around 'narcissism' for the entry could change since in reality people with NPD aren't automatically evil terrible people and one does not need to posses empathy to behave like a good person. Some quick language changes should work like swapping empathy for compassion. Since narcissism is more colloquial known I don't think this is the big of showstopper, just a thought) 

Sprat

★★★★★

Now this is a wizard-did-it combination horror done right, I'd honestly put this right up there with owlbears and it fits delightfully in with them, filling a 'pack hunting magical abomination' where owlbears fill a 'giant brute' position. The list of diseases to be inflicted is a delight with each one being quite evocative and creative (though rather terminal at times) and their behavior is well fleshed out with several tantalizing hooks and implications that can be expounded upon in play.

Pacifist

★★★★☆

A good encounter but somewhat tricky to incorporate, I wonder if allowing them to be summoned by wizard types and like would prove more utilitous. Things get interesting looking at the list of potential weapons stuck in it, as it shows a hypocrisy in the creature. As well, I can see a good deal of fun coming out of players and their opponents arguing back and forth trying to convince the creature which side it should fight for.

Muldar

★★★☆☆

These otherworldly game pieces don't really do it for me as an entry, I think you could have fun with them in a game, perhaps as a weird encounter in some gonzo world, but I don't think there's enough interactivity or inspiration to justify a full padded out entry. Would work better as smaller one paragraph thing. That said it's not a bad entry, just not justifying itself in my opine.

Medimisiac

★★★★★

Possibly my favorite, a fucked up possessed corpse in a coffin that drags itself along murdering doctors by sinking them into the ground till they suffocate alive. Amazingly solid vibes, unique combat, I think the only improvement I would suggest is that the medimisiac should ask for doctors in a broken sort of way, to give players a hint of what it's after and generate some interaction (and give em a 'oh shit' moment if they pass the creature and later hear about healers being murdered) All together I love the creature.

Mechanoman

★★★★☆

An excellent one off encounter it does make, arriving in a blaze of chaos with a clear mission. But I have trouble imagining how to use it scenarios beyond showing up, wrecking shit, and then being defeated/leaving without getting rather creative and straying from the text. All together however I can see myself dropping this fellow into a game and just running with it. Chrononauts with missions are always a delight.

Marionetteer

★★★☆☆

A neat backstory (though it could be pared down to 'the lonely, purposeless construction of a wizard') with a strong aesthetic. Behavior is well defined though not particularly generative of hooks on its own (I think it would make for a good encounter when thrown into a dungeon however where its friendly nature would make it an excellent potential ally faction among others). Also I want to give the marionetteer a hug. Poor thing needs friends.

Lizunders

★★★☆☆

I really like the idea here, however it doesn't grab me. Much like with the Muldar the basic premise is good, but much of the entry feels like padding, it could easily be condensed down and maintain evocativeness. 

Giant Tiddy

★★★★☆

What it says on the tin :P Very strong personality and aesthetics. Minions are always great, and the method through which the tiddy tries to make the players dependents makes for some excellent roleplaying potential. Its death effects area nice capstone touch. Might be tricky to incorporate into a setting but if you're building things with the intent of putting this thing in your all good. Solid entry.

Gevono

★★★★☆

The backstory is rather overwrought with specific names and what not, but the premise is solid. A being invisible to god should play delightfully if you can work it into your world. Her interaction with her followers is also excellent, with many simply following her chaos to loot and kill at their whim. Aesthetically I don't quite vibe with her but the spiral of arms is an excellent start, and tearing enemies limb from limb is deliciously brutal. I like her death throes that turns her into a singularity. 

Flip-Face

★★★★☆

Combination personalities are always good fuel for games. The theme of abandoned art is delightful but I don't feel that flip-faces features tie into the subject too well. It would be cool if it like mustard unfinished works of art to attack or it followed its purpose and opened up before clamping onto peoples faces suffocating them. Funnily Flip-Face feels like a pokemon to me.

Faithful Progeny

★★★☆☆

It took me two read-throughs to grasp these fellows, and I do enjoy the premise but eh, feels like another case of a good idea padded out with not a lot of interaction. Funnily enough they feel a fit for UVG, retuning the wisps to be psychic ghosts of these ancient monuments and fitting the progeny's hatred for humans into UVG's whole diversity of peoples makes it work much better I think. 

Dynamite Lady

★★★★★

My favorite after the medimisiac, magically created assassin driven by a sulfurous heat who relentlessly hunts down target and explodes afterward is just such a solid package, and wonderfully easy to drop into a game world. The 'fan cult' that follows the dynamite lady around is also an excellent touch, I know exactly how to characterize those and they add further dynamism to dealing with this entity. Sole critique is that I personally don't particularly like the art for this entry. Otherwise fantastic.

Dave

★★★★☆

Always here for clones, the tables are useful, facilitating easy generation of a bunch of different Dave's. The entry does lack a bit of a coherent hook, leaving matters rather up to the reader but in this case I don't think its to bad since its presented as a more tangible mystery. (perhaps I am biased however, as I find a clone army of Daves funny).

Buzz Swarmington Esquire 

★★★★★

An excellent example of how juxtapositions makes for more memorable, unique, and dynamic entities. Rot, filth, and decay but with the sensibilities of aristocracy. Swarmington is well set up for easy placement as a faction, strong goals, methodology, and personality. It would be quite simple to toss him into a world prime for interaction with players. I particularly like that his goals are transformative, so properly played along he could have substantial impact in a game. (also he feels like a good fit for an electric bastion land game).

Baby Thief

★★★☆☆

A very evocative and rightly creepy creature, but even with the generous backstory I found myself having difficulty imagining using it in play without substantial effort into incorporating it. Theres not much intractability I find. I think that in the hands of someone who 'got' this entry it could make for some good game play, but alas I am not that. The entry is solid in its aesthetics, behavior, and theme however.

Automated People Pruner

★★★☆☆

This is one of the entries that is decently crafted, but rather odd to fit into a world. Its behavior provides for an interesting encounter (made further interesting by its malfunction) but the backstory is an odd fit since it implies much but there's little for players to find out. If one were doing a quite gonzo world it could work decently as a random encounter, but I think it needs some more hooks. Running it with a more alien morality system could be fun.

***

Overall my personal favorites were the Medimisiac, Tungle, Sprat, Dynamite Lady, Voice of Despair, and Buzz Swarmington Esquire. With several runners up. Its a solid book overall definitely worth a look.