Ecology of... Column
Hey, how about you list the book from which a monster is drawn, so we don't have to flip through four Monster Manuals and whatever odd supplement that has monsters just to get the basics..?
BTW, as a D&D player for 27 years, and a Dragon reader for 26, I think that Ecology of, Class Acts and Bazaar of the Bizarre, whatever their incarnations, are the best.
And, as long as I'm on it, I agree with those folks who hate the illegible print/funky backgrounds - I read this while I exercise, so legibility is important!
Ecology of... Column
Hey, how about you list the book from which a monster is drawn, so we don't have to flip through four Monster Manuals and whatever odd supplement that has monsters just to get the basics..?
It would be nice if the monster's source was referenced on the first page of the ecology. In lieu of that, they do list the source in the sample stat block presented, near the top. Most of the recent non-core ecologies have been drawn from the Monster Manual II and the Fiend Folio.
I'll second going for easier to read text-background color combinations. In particular articles which are likely regular reference type content, like a list of new feats from a Class Acts article do best with black on white to make it easy to photocopy/scan that for personal use.
I'll third the call for increased legibility. I'll also repeat my desire to, in place of a frivolous "advanced" example of the species in question, instead see a reprint of the monster's entry. This:
* Makes the article infinitely more useful to people who don't have the book in question.
* Would allow for Ecology coverage of monsters that appear in more obscure books which aren't entirely, 100% about monsters, such as the Miniatures Handbook.
* Serves as advertising for the book in question - "Hey, look at the cool stuff you can find in the book."
Just a thought.
* Would allow for Ecology coverage of monsters that appear in more obscure books which aren't entirely, 100% about monsters, such as the Miniatures Handbook.
Why does the current format make it impossible to cover a creature from, say, the Miniatures Handbook? Maybe I need more coffee, but I'm not seeing it...
i think what he was suggesting was that all the Ecology Of articles from the recent past feature monsters from "monster books", i.e., Monster Manual, MMII, Fiend Folio, etc.
since there hasn't been any inclusion of creatures that appear in books where the main focus is not monsters, it seems "impossible" that it will happen. i say it's more improbable than impossible, but we shall see. :)