A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Monster Menagerie: A Council of Genies

Monster Menagerie: A Council of Genies by Sam Hing is a role playing game supplement published by Rogue Genius Games for use with the Pathfinder Role Playing Game. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result. This is part of the Monster Menagerie series of themed bestiaries.

The supplement is available from DriveThruRPG as a 27-page PDF for $3.95, as a softcover print on demand book for $9.95 or as both PDF and softcover for $11.95. The PDF is the version reviewed although it was purchased at a greatly reduced price as part of a special bundle. Two pages are the front and rear covers, one page is the Credits and Table of Contents and one page is the Open Game License.

The single page Introduction explains that genies have a long association with role playing games, especially with the wish spell, and moreover have a notable presence in mythology and religion. They also have a history in RPGs of being threats for varied character levels, unlike some creatures, have built-in magic powers, decent combat and a habit of working with others.

The Afara is a genie from the borders of Air and Fire, and is an ashy sadist who nevertheless prefers company to being alone and will restrain their urges in such a case.

The Electricusor is an Air genie that has little contact with creatures other than the djinn and tend to react with violent fear to many other beings.

The Guayota is a dangerous genie from the Negative Energy Plane that enjoys draining energy and barely notices the existence of other genies apart from the Yazata, their foes.

The Hrimthur is a genie of cold believed to originate from marids trapped in the chilly intersection of the planes of Air and Water.

The Inhabitor is a craftsman genie from the Plane of Earth and creates items for genies and others, and can also possess constructs.

The Miremeir is a muddy genie and one of the lowest castes, usually pressed into service by more powerful genies.

The Obscurial is a type of genie that seems to have been trapped and corrupted by the Plane of Shadow.

The Prince-of-Beasts is a genie that inhabits the material plane and can shapeshift into different beasts.

The Spell Fetch is a minor genie that is thought to have been created, given that they need to serve others.

The Tephran live at the boundaries of the planes of Earth and Fire and are looked down upon by most genies, but are skilled engineers and craftsmen.

The Yazata are genies of the Positive Energy Plane that oppose the Guayota and other beings of negative energy.

Monster Menagerie: A Council of Genies in Review

The PDF is well bookmarked with all the sections linked. The Table of Contents is to a similar level of depth. Navigation is good. The text maintains a two-column full colour format and was not free of errors. Each genie has its own, full colour illustration. Presentation is excellent.

Most of the genies also have details on how to have noble versions of them, for more powerful genies to encounter. Many of the non-noble variants are already pretty dangerous. The text, when it comes to the rules, doesn’t always seem to be as clear as it could be; “similar magic” is not very precise, for example, and some bits seem to be missing the actual rules.

In terms of genies, there is a fairly wide range. There are new types of elementally-based, which are positive, negative, mud, magma, ice and ash – which fit in with some variants of how the Inner Planes are laid out – as well as material, Astral and Shadow genies. This covers most of the new creatures, fleshing out the planes where genies can be encountered. None of the genies are good. There are some nice ideas here, and some that are more of a re-tread of concepts from older games, but some of the execution is a little shaky. Monster Menagerie: A Council of Genies is an okay collection of genies and it can be found by clicking here.