Uncle Boggle’s Bestiary: The Monster Library for 5E

A WORD FROM UNCLE BOGGLE

Come in and put the door properly to. I have had these books spread across the house for long enough, and at last they are all in one place.

There are twenty volumes here, each concerned with a different kind of trouble. Some drink blood. Some wait in fields, tombs, midway tents or derelict ships. A few have the decency to look monstrous before they begin. Every book was made to stand on its own at the table, but together they make a rather larger catalogue than I intended when I first wrote down thirteen vampires and thought that might settle the matter.

It did not settle the matter.

THE MONSTER LIBRARY

Twenty books. Twenty different problems.

One bestiary would have been manageable. Twenty has turned out to be rather more useful.

Each volume in The Monster Library is built around a different kind of creature and a different style of horror. Bloodlines begins with vampires. Wolfsbane follows lycanthropes. From there the collection wanders through restless dead, clockwork automatons, cosmic horrors, things from very deep water, haunted frontiers, tombs, ruined machines, bad carnivals, irradiated wastelands, derelict ships, celestial terrors and eventually the sort of fae that make ordinary woodland problems seem quite reasonable.

Across the full collection you will find vampires, lycanthropes, restless dead, clockwork automatons, cosmic horrors, abyssal horrors, xenoforms, folk horrors, fiends, frontier horrors, tomb-horrors, rogue machines, Shadowfell stalkers, carnival horrors, irradiated horrors, hags and witches, elemental furies, derelict-ship horrors, celestial terrors and Unseelie fae.

The subject changes from book to book, but the idea does not: give the Game Master enough material to make a theme last longer than a single encounter.

SHARED RULES, DIFFERENT MONSTERS

Each book has its own rules.

Every kind of monster has its habits, and I have found it useful to write those habits down before introducing the individuals.

In Bloodlines, vampires follow the Laws of the Blood. Wormwood has the Laws of the Outer Dark, Gloaming has the Laws of the Shadowfell, Calliope keeps to the Rules of the Midway, and Harrowing has its Old Ways.

These rules give each book its own logic. They tell you what the creatures in that volume tend to have in common, what sort of behaviour or weakness belongs to the whole family, and what the Game Master should understand before using them at the table.

Then the individual monsters take those rules and do something slightly different with them. Some follow them closely. Some bend them. A few are troublesome enough to make the rules feel more like a warning than a promise.

It means that once you understand a book, its creatures begin to feel connected rather than randomly collected. That matters when you want a theme to last for more than one encounter.

INSIDE A BOGGLE BESTIARY

I have never found a monster terribly useful if all I know about it is its Armor Class.

Each volume is built to give you the whole picture:

• Original creatures
  Every book contains its own roster of creatures built around a single theme, from vampires and machines to carnival horrors, fae and things that should probably have stayed much farther away.
• Lore and behaviour
  You get more than a name and a stat block. The entries explain what the creature is, how it behaves, where it belongs and what sort of trouble it is likely to cause.
• Fifth Edition stat blocks
  When initiative is rolled, the mechanics are ready. Each creature comes with the rules needed to use it at the table without turning the session into an archaeological dig through three other books.
• Shared thematic rules
  Each volume also has its own rules that tie the creatures together and give that particular family of monsters a consistent identity.

The threats grow as the book goes on, so you can take a single creature for tonight’s session or let the theme follow the party for much longer than they would probably prefer.

That was always the point: not simply more monsters, but monsters you can actually build something around.

BUILT TO STAY USEFUL

More than one encounter.

A good bestiary should still be useful after the first monster is dead.

Across The Monster Library, the threats are spread widely enough that a Game Master can introduce a theme early, return to it later, and keep finding something appropriate as the campaign grows.

Some creatures work as strange first warnings. Others are better suited to recurring enemies, major encounters or the sort of problem that starts affecting an entire region. Many of the later volumes reach all the way to CR 30, so the books are not tied to one narrow band of play.

That means you can open a volume for one creature tonight, or let its theme stay with the party for months. Both were always part of the plan.

THE TWENTY VOLUMES

The whole shelf, properly accounted for.

THE COMPLETE MONSTER LIBRARY

Keep twenty different kinds of trouble within reach.

Each volume was written to stand on its own, but the collection becomes much more useful once the whole shelf is within reach.

A vampire campaign may eventually need something from the Shadowfell. A ruined machine may lead somewhere stranger. A frontier game can survive perfectly well without cosmic horror right up until the evening when it very suddenly cannot.

The Monster Library keeps those twenty themes separate enough to have their own identity, while giving the Game Master a single collection to draw from whenever the campaign changes direction.

You can keep the full library digitally, or build the complete twenty-volume shelf in print format.

CHOOSE YOUR LIBRARY

Keep the Monster Library the way that suits you best.

The complete collection is available as a full PDF set, or as the full digital library with print-at-cost access through DriveThruRPG.

ALREADY WRITTEN. ALREADY A LIBRARY.

20 finished books

I have already done the writing, which saves us both a considerable amount of suspense.

These are not twenty concepts waiting to be completed after funding. All twenty volumes already exist as finished Fifth Edition bestiaries, so the creative side of the collection is already in place.

Print when you choose

The physical books are handled through DriveThruRPG rather than being stored in a warehouse and shipped as one enormous box.

If you choose print-at-cost access, you decide when you want to order the books and which address DriveThruRPG should send them to.

HOW DELIVERY WORKS

Nothing mysterious here.

If you choose a PDF reward, you will receive an email from DriveThruRPG with links to claim your copies within two weeks after the campaign ends.

If you choose the Complete Collection + Print-at-Cost reward, you will receive the same digital collection, along with access to order all twenty physical volumes at production cost. Preparing the print files and setting up the full collection for print takes a little longer, so print-at-cost access will be sent within one month after the campaign ends.

You can place your print order whenever it suits you. DriveThruRPG handles the printing and delivery, and you pay the printing and shipping costs directly to them when placing the order.

All twenty books are already complete. These fulfilment windows simply allow time for final file preparation, checks, and the practical setup needed to deliver everything properly.

A LAST WORD FROM UNCLE BOGGLE

Put it back on the correct shelf.
Well, that is the lot.

Twenty books is an unreasonable number to leave scattered around a house, although I admit they have made themselves useful from time to time. If your table needs vampires, machines, witches, things from the stars, things from below the water, or something you cannot yet put a sensible name to, there should be a volume here worth opening.

Just put it back when you are finished. Preferably on the correct shelf.

Some of them become difficult when misfiled.