Dungeons and Drawings: An Illustrated Compendium of Creatures

This was a gift for a dear friend and she loved it! I have been following these artists for some time (check out the Dungeons & Drawings Blog!) and thought this was the perfect way to share the work of these gifted and creative people with someone who I knew would appreciate it as much as I do. Perhaps even more!

‘Dungeons and Drawings: An Illustrated Compendium of Creatures’ by Blanca Martínez de Rituerto and Joe Sparrow is an illustrated bestiary of creatures that one might encounter in role playing games.

In alphabetical entries from Ahuizotl to Zombie, the reader learns on one page about the stats and dangers of every creature. A system of icons gives alignment, element, and type. An infographic ranks each monster on a scale of 1 to 5 for things like combat, magic and loot. There is a description of what an encounter with the creature might be like and some interesting text noting where in the real world the origins might have come from.

The second page is a full page drawing of the creature. There are some nice variations of drawings for things like vampires or a colossus. The drawings are colorful and some are kind of funny. The book ends with sources for further reading.

What could be more fun than an encyclopedia of monsters? I had a fun time reading this.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

Even better than I expected.

So the authors/artists, Blanca Martinez de Rituerto and Joe Sparrow, evidently had been releasing this sort of content on their website since the early 2010’s, and eventually then self-published three small volumes of selections from what they had done via Etsy.

I stumbled across this current release when I was poking around looking for various system-neutral books, and one of the things that I got to wondering was, “Hey, has anyone made a more-or-less system free bestiary?” Some Googling later I saw the cover for this, and was quickly enchanted.

I’ve done a fair amount of fantasy gaming in the past; at this point, I believe that I can probably say the majority of any gaming I have done is some variety of Dungeons & Dragons. From back in HS when we ran 2E with a party of up to eight for literally hours on end, to now today when I am running a 5E Eberron campaign for our group of five regulars, the variety of fantasy gaming I’ve personally experienced would probably be best described as “just a shade above murderhobos.”

Over the past several years I have really come to enjoy some of the more absurd animated shows that have been released – Regular Show, Bravest Warriors, and Steven Universe are the big ones. In enjoying those shows, it has made me come to realize that I’d probably like a little more whimsy in my fantasy gaming, where conflict might not devolve into fests of the hacking and slashing, but goofier means of resolution – cooking competitions, rap battles, using the power of friendship to help instead of harm, etc.

Through that lens, this book really grabbed my attention.

The physical book is quite nice, a sturdy-feeling hardbound affair with some sort of gilding on the edges and an included ribbon-marker.

Each entry is a two page spread, with the left hand page providing information about the creature and the right being artwork.

The book describes the way it classifies the creatures shown, providing icons that then allow for quick designation of Alignment, Element, and Type.

Along with this, it provides “Stats” for the creatures, a 1 to 5 ranking of capabilities like Combat, Magic, Smarts, Loot, and Danger.

Make no mistake, there are a fair number of creatures in Dungeons & Drawings that have been culled from various D&D releases (which in turn had been liberally borrowed/appropriated from various mythologies); having said that, the accompanying illustration can often provide a fresh way of seeing the entity.

The artwork is very similar in style across the book, which is to be expected given just two artists are responsible. The description is essentially a large paragraph, and then below are “Adventurer’s Tips” for dealing with said creature, as well as contextual information from IRL history sources in italics below that.

I like just about everything for this presentation: a potential GM has access to quick information about the creature, and a picture they can show to the party without giving away much else.

I will say that I think I wouldn’t have minded if the Stats/classification symbols were made a little smaller per entry so that slightly more information could have been given about ecology, tactics, those sorts of things; that would definitely up the utility of some of the entries that aren’t quite as recognizable to the general gaming public – like say the Bad Clown that can be seen in the preview.

Overall, there isn’t much here I wouldn’t recommend. I will say that obviously the very “stat-lite” approach will make the utility of this less immediately helpful for systems that make use of more mechanical crunch, but to be honest, that seems at odds with the vibe this is going for.

You won’t be running any campaigns with the monsters in this book really. But I love it and the art alone gives me fun ideas. I just like showing to people if I’m honest. It’s a book you keep out for show and tell.

This books seems great. I got it for my brother for Xmas and im sure he’ll love it. I wasn’t sure what to get for someone who’s into D&D and came across this. The illustrations are rad no matter what you’re into. Thanks!

Bought this as a gift for my sister and I think she will love it! The illustrations are great and the descriptions interesting. The ribbon bookmark is a nice touch! Great gift for anyone that likes dungeons and dragons.