Announcement: Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Monsters

There's been a lot of talk about Dolmenwood recently, but Old-School Essentials fans fear not! Today I have some exciting OSE-related news for you in the form of a product announcement. As I discussed on the Vintage RPG podcast yesterday...

The Advanced Fantasy: Monsters book is coming this summer!

What's the Book About?

In a nutshell: more monsters for your Old-School Essentials games! This book continues the Advanced Fantasy line of OSE books, joining the already published Advanced Fantasy: Genre Rules and Advanced Fantasy: Druid and Illusionist Spells. Like those other books, Advanced Fantasy: Monsters adds material inspired by the 1st edition Advanced game to Old-School Essentials. Naturally, the new monsters are all presented in the standard OSE format.

Current Status

Here's where things stand as of right now (mid April 2020):

• The writing and layout of the book are about 75% finished.
• The roster of monsters is looking like it's going to come in at 116. (See below for the full list.)
• Stefan Poag — who did the art for the first two Advanced Fantasy books —is on board for cover art once more.
• Interior illustration is under way. So far I have finished pieces in from Jerry Boucher, Chris Malec, and Frank Scacalossi.
• Layout and illustration are expected to be finished by June.
• Printing is a bit of an unknown right now, due to the ongoing pandemic. I'm pretty confident that the book will be ready to print in June. Whether the manufacturer will actually be able to accept jobs then is as yet unknown.

A Few Art Previews

Work on the cover hasn't started yet, so I can't give a preview of that. However, quite a fer interior pieces are ready for action. Here's a small selection...

Greater Efreeti by Chris Malec

Flail Snail by Jerry Boucher

Gullygug by Frank Scacalossi

The List of Monsters!

The truly final list of monsters won't exist until the book's published, of course, but the current roster is as follows:

Amphisbaena, Anhkheg, Banshee, Brown mould, Brownie, Bulette, Caryatid column, Catoblepas, Coffer Corpse, Couatl, Dark Creeper, Deep one, Disenchanter, Djinni, greater, Dog, hunting dog, Dog, War dog, Dog, Wild dog, Doom knight, Dragon, Chromatic, Dragonne, Drow, Duergar, Efreeti, greater, Ettin, Eye of terror, Eye of the deep, Fish, Giant, Electric eel, Fish, Giant, Pike, Fish, Giant, Swordfish, Flail Snail, Frog, Giant, Killer frog, Frog, Giant, Poisonous, Gas spore, Ghast, Ghost, Gibbering mouther, Golem, Clay golem, Golem, Flesh golem, Golem, Iron golem, Golem, Stone golem, Gorilla, Gullygug, Hag, Black hag, Hag, Sea hag, Hippocampus, Hippopotamus, Behemoth, Hippopotamus, Normal, Homunculus, Hook beast, Hulker, Jackalwere, Jellyfish, giant, Krell, Lamia, Lamprey, giant, Leprechaun, Leucrotta, Lich, Lizard, Giant, Flame lizard, Lizard, Giant, Monitor lizard, Lizard, Giant, Subterranean lizard, Locathah, Lurker above, Malfyr, Mantis man, Mantis, giant, Merrow (Aquatic Ogre), Mimic, Mind lasher, Mongrelman, Mycenoid, Necrophidius, Nightmare, Otyugh, Peryton, Phoenix, Piercer, Poltergeist, Pseudo-dragon, Rakshasa, Remorhaz, Revenant, Roper, Rot grub, Sahuagin, Satyr, Scorpion man, Seahorse, giant, Sea serpent, greater, Shambling mound, Skeleton lord, Slithering tracker, Slug, giant, Snakeman, Sphinx, Spider, Giant, Phase, Spider, Giant, water, Stag, giant, Strangle weed, Svirfneblin, Tarrasque, Titan, Toad, Giant, Frost, Toad, Giant, Poisonous, Trapper, Triton, Turtle, Giant, sea turtle, Turtle, Giant, snapping turtle, Violet fungi, Wasp, giant, Water weird, Will-o-(the)-wisp, Wolf, Winter wolf, Xorn, Yeti

A Note About Devils and Demons

The eagle-eyed may notice a distinct lack of devils and demons in the list above. A quote directly from the book itself:

"Despite their presence in the original Advanced monster books, devils and demons are not included here. They will be featured in a future supplement devoted entirely to the fiendish denizens of other planes."