This is easily one of the better ideas floated by the company.

The ecologies section has been a mainstay of many DM's for a long time - with maybe the Bazaar of the Bizarre having a longer run. Many folks running games appreciate that someone else has already put in the work to flesh out these iconic mosters as this frees them up to put that work into action.

It also encourages readers to submit more material, in the hopes that their work might not only be published in the world famous pages of Dragon, but that it might also be up to snuff enough to be published in a book like this.

Bully for you & Congradutations, Paizo,

ChaosIndustries

I ordered this and am waiting with great anticipation. Just one question tho. When is it going to ship?

Paizo is loyal. Paizo is considerate. Paizo rocks!

So, is it actually a magazine or more a soft-cover book? Also, has a more specific release date been set?

- Chris Shadowens

So, is it actually a magazine or more a soft-cover book? Also, has a more specific release date been set?

It's a softcover book, as it has no ads, and is printed on a higher-quality paper stock with heavier cover stock than the magazines.

Any hope of seeing an index so I know what critters are in it?

I've just added a ton of additional info to the product description.

I've just added a ton of additional info to the product description.

I'd meant if we could get an index here on these boards telling us what ecology articles were included in the book.

I truly can't wait for this book to come out- it's one of the things I loved reading the most in Dragon, and even when I wasn't too interested in the creature displayed, I was always sucked in by the way the ecology was presented.

I...worded my wish wrong. That is tricky.

I'd meant if we could get an index here on these boards telling us what ecology articles were included in the book.

"Dragon: Monster Ecologies contains ecologies of the choker, chuul, dracolich, draconian, ettercap, inevitable, kenku, kobold, kraken, lizardfolk, mooncalf, night hag, rakshasa, rust monster, shadar-kai, spawn of Kyuss, spell weaver, and will-o'-wisp. But that's not all...."

Perhaps I'm confused by what you mean by "index." I added a list of the ecologies included:

"Dragon: Monster Ecologies contains ecologies of the choker, chuul, dracolich, draconian, ettercap, inevitable, kenku, kobold, kraken, lizardfolk, mooncalf, night hag, rakshasa, rust monster, shadar-kai, spawn of Kyuss, spell weaver, and will-o'-wisp. But that's not all...."

Thanks.

Ooooh..."Monsters of Suck". Me likey.

Will that be about flumphs, tiraphegs, and the like...or is it something else entirely?

Ooooh..."Monsters of Suck". Me likey.

Will that be about flumphs, tiraphegs, and the like...or is it something else entirely?

Well I received a couple of pre-hit-the-shelf comp copies of this due my minute quote about the Beholder's history being included therein and I must say that this is a *great product*. Very well presented with neat side treks as well into many of their histories in other product lines from TSR on up to present; and as well, Erik's "Monsters of Suck," had me laughing. :)

Way to go Paizo!

RJK

Is there any new material? Or is it just reprints from the articles?

Just got mine in the mail yesterday, and it looks great! The quality of the paper and binding makes it feel really solid, and I love the extra articles like Monstrous Evolution and Monsters of Suck.

Just got mine in the mail yesterday, and it looks great! The quality of the paper and binding makes it feel really solid, and I love the extra articles like Monstrous Evolution and Monsters of Suck.

Does it have ecology of the Ogre Mage?
(Somebody I know said the original article had Psionic variant of the Ogre Mage, which sounds really nice variety to old favorite.)

Does it have ecology of the Kopru?
(I have heard this would come handy in campaign mixing Cthulhuesque elements with D&D.)

Is there any new material? Or is it just reprints from the articles?

Ooooh..."Monsters of Suck". Me likey.

Will that be about flumphs, tiraphegs, and the like...or is it something else entirely?

On the less sucky monsters side, there's also several art galleries/time lines of some of the most popular monsters in D&D, like the beholder and the mind flayer. These Monstrous Evolutions show how the creatures have changed in the past 35 years, from early and often ugly line drawings (or even earlier) to the fully-painted masterpieces of the modern Monster Manual and beyond.

grrtigger wrote:

Just got mine in the mail yesterday, and it looks great! The quality of the paper and binding makes it feel really solid, and I love the extra articles like Monstrous Evolution and Monsters of Suck.

I have two questions:

Does it have ecology of the Ogre Mage?
(Somebody I know said the original article had Psionic variant of the Ogre Mage, which sounds really nice variety to old favorite.)

Does it have ecology of the Kopru?
(I have heard this would come handy in campaign mixing Cthulhuesque elements with D&D.)

Just got mine in the mail yesterday, and it looks great! The quality of the paper and binding makes it feel really solid, and I love the extra articles like Monstrous Evolution and Monsters of Suck.

As a side note, if you like how this feels, this is pretty close (not exactly, but close) to what Pathfinder's going to be like in terms of quality, paper stock, durability, and size.

Still sad to see this quality of presentation and orginal D&D content vanish.

Greetings,
Günther

Sadly it does not, the ogre mage just didn't make the cut and the kopru was too recent to make it into the book. However, if you want a touch of the Cthulhuesque, there's more than a little of that with the kraken cults, moon calves, and new night hag larvae.

Kraken cults just sound great.

Still sad to see this quality of presentation and orginal D&D content vanish.

As a side note, if you like how this feels, this is pretty close (not exactly, but close) to what Pathfinder's going to be like in terms of quality, paper stock, durability, and size.

I have a question. What are the last few ecologies going to be for Dragon?

I have a question. What are the last few ecologies going to be for Dragon?

Or, at least, go to your friendly local game store and dare the wrath of the store manager for peeking.

I just got mine! Even though I already have all the issues these ecologies are from, this is a great book!

I know Paizo can't, and I know they won't, but I wish ALL the ecologies could be collected in tomes like this!

AAAARRRRRGGGGG!!! I want this.

Got it Friday -- it's pretty good though it could have, I think, been significantly better with more total monsters at the cost of a page or two detail each. Averaging 7-1/2 pages per monster is a bit much considering there's only, what, 18 total (10 pages for the Kobold?). They could have done 2-4 pages each and added another 10 monsters -- still with good, well developed material.

And, OH MY GOD why did they include the Inevitable!?

But the articles by Gygax and Kuntz are quite nice and the comprehensive index of the Dragon ecologies, from the Catoblepas in #73 to the Tarrasque (coming) in 359 is very much appreciated.

The Rakshasa and Will-O-Wisp are perhaps the best entries.

-W. E. Ray

Got it Friday -- it's pretty good though it could have, I think, been significantly better with more total monsters at the cost of a page or two detail each. Averaging 7-1/2 pages per monster is a bit much considering there's only, what, 18 total (10 pages for the Kobold?). They could have done 2-4 pages each and added another 10 monsters -- still with good, well developed material.

As the book is meant to be a compilation of articles from Dragon, any changes we made to the originals are additions. That way, even if you have the issues where these ecologies first appeared, there's new rules, art, adventure ideas, characters, and other stuff expanding upon the originals—not truncating from them.

And, OH MY GOD why did they include the Inevitable!?

That and, being that there hasn't been much on inevitables in the way of details, they're exactly the kind of creatures I love to do ecologies on. Hopefully the article gives you a few ideas on how these creatures might play a part in your game, especially with their new plot hooks section that offers a few suggestions for inevitable-based adventures that don't need to take your players onto the planes.

But the articles by Gygax and Kuntz are quite nice and the comprehensive index of the Dragon ecologies, from the Catoblepas in #73 to the Tarrasque (coming) in 359 is very much appreciated.

(P.S. Darth Vader is Luke's father.)

The Rakshasa and Will-O-Wisp are perhaps the best entries.

I'll definitely purchase it, too.

Thinking about the book, this was likely to be the last chance to portray monsters (c) WotC in such detail, wasn't it?

Too bad that beholder, mindflayer and the other copyrighted critters didn't make it into the book.

But even so the list of monsters included reads like a best of. :-)

Greetings,
Günther

Too bad that beholder, mindflayer and the other copyrighted critters didn't make it into the book.

I bought the book, even though I have all the magazines that the Ecology Articles came from. It's nice to have them all together, plus the bonus material. I think I most liked see in the list of all Ecology articles starting with the Piercer (and yes, I bought that issue of Dragon when it came out so very long ago) and ended with the last one to be printed in the near future. Excellent choice for the finale, the last issue of Dragon will be the biggest ever!

And, OH MY GOD why did they include the Inevitable!?

I bought Monster Ecologies today.

1. I love the layout! If PF is supposed to be a combination of the looks of GMM and this one, then it will be great, indeed!

2. I felt slightly disappointed by the amount of new material. Also I realized that all articles stem from the 3.0/ 3.5 era. I had hoped that some of the old edition classics made it into the Ecologies.

Resume:
A nice book, 100%ly recommendable for those people who don't own the original articles yet. People who already own the articles should check it out first.

Greetings,
Günther

While I have most or all of the Dragon's involved in this product, having them all in one place has been invaluable over the past month. Though I have loved them as individual articles I never seem to take the trouble to use them. That said, I have had the book for about 30 days and have used 4 of the ecologies and advanced creatures that come with them in game already. Very nice!

I bought Monster Ecologies today.

1. I love the layout! If PF is supposed to be a combination of the looks of GMM and this one, then it will be great, indeed!

2. I felt slightly disappointed by the amount of new material. Also I realized that all articles stem from the 3.0/ 3.5 era. I had hoped that some of the old edition classics made it into the Ecologies.

Resume:
A nice book, 100%ly recommendable for those people who don't own the original articles yet. People who already own the articles should check it out first.

Greetings,
Günther

Thanks,

Mark

i was also wondering if any of the ecologies were going to be released

We no longer have a license to do anything with that material. You'll have to ask Wizards of the Coast.

Any hope of seeing an index so I know what critters are in it?

Dragon: Monster Ecologies contains ecologies of the choker, chuul, dracolich, draconian, ettercap, inevitable, kenku, kobold, kraken, lizardfolk, mooncalf, night hag, rakshasa, rust monster, shadar-kai, spawn of Kyuss, spell weaver, and will-o'-wisp.

Plus some retrospectives about other monsters like the beholder and mind flayer.

i was also wondering if any of the ecologies were going to be released

you might be interested in having a closer look at Pathfinder Chronicles: Classic Monsters Revisited. It is not the same as Ecologies, but it has its own merits and offers in my opinion even more information immediately usable for playing.

Of course inevitably the pointer to Wolfgang Baur's Kobold Quarterly , Dragon Magazine's spiritual successor. Ecology articles are a regular feature of this magazine.

Then there are the following products by other companies:
- The "Slayer's Guide" series by Mongoose Publishing
- The "Races of Renown" series by Green Ronin Publishing (rather concentrating on races, though)
- The "Complete Guide to..." series by Goodman Games

Btw. Goodman Games somehow managed to publish an official "Complete Guide to Beholders", even though this monster is not OGL and IP of WotC. Quality of the books in these series vary strongly, but having a look at reviews on other d20 review sites usually is a good starting point.

Cheers,
Günther

Hey, all of you who bought this book, take a close look at some of the books on the cover. ;)

Following the footsteps of a great Paizo book is a small but fierce Kobold book.

If you love ecologies, please take a look at Kobold Ecologies, right here on the Paizo store. It's quite a collection.