A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Monster Menagerie: Faeries of the Fringe

Monster Menagerie: Faeries of the Fringe by Sam Hing is a role playing game supplement published by Rogue Genius Games for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying 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, in this case covering fey.

This is available from DriveThruRPG as a 15-page PDF for $3.99 but was purchased at a greatly reduced price as part of a special bundle. One page is the front cover and one the Open Game License and Credits.

The single page Foreword explains that the theme of this supplement is fey that live away from the mainstream and also includes magic items, spells and feats.

The first monster is the Charnel-kin, a fey that lives in graveyards and really likes the company of the undead, although it isn’t actually such, and can raise them.

Cait Sith is a humanoid cat that causes disease and is affected by catnip.

The Gahonga is a stone humanoid that is tied to a stone.

The Glade Maiden is tied to glades like dryads are to trees, and will shelter any creature that doesn’t act violently.

The Night Swan is an undead-like fey that can charm waterfowl.

The River Mother is a huge snake topped with the upper body of a woman that guards a specific river and kills humanoids to act as their husband.

The Waterbaby is a combination of human infant and weedy sea dragon that thinks the world exists for its entertainment.

Next are Fey Magic Items; a living beetle arrow head that flies back if it misses, a shortsword that acts as a bane weapon against creatures with certain abilities and spells and a thick rope of woven metal used as a weapon.

Fey Feats has six feats, three of which are related to the rope weapon.

Finally, Fey Spells has two spells, one that creates a creature from a tooth and another that summons a flock of razor-sharp birds.

Monster Menagerie: Faeries of the Fringe in Review

The PDF is well bookmarked with major and minor sections linked. Navigation is good for the length. The text follows a two-column format and appeared to be free of errors. Each monster has a black and white image, which is nice, although that of the Waterbaby looks far creepier than the creature itself. One of the magic items and one of the spells also have their own images. Presentation is good.

Some of the fey seem distinctly fey in nature whilst others do not. The River Mother is another snake-humanoid hybrid, and there are already a few of those, but it has some interesting abilities. Two of the monsters are not exactly undead but sort of work like undead. Which is a bit less interesting. The items and feats have some more interest. Monster Menagerie: Faeries of the Fringe is an okay collection of fey monsters but it could perhaps have been better and it can be found by clicking here.