A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Monster Menagerie: The Kingdom of Graves

Monster Menagerie: The Kingdom of Graves 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 that are themed collections of monsters.

This is a 13-page PDF that is available from DriveThruRPG 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 Credits and Open Game License.

The single-page Foreword explains that this is a collection of undead that are all tied to the concept of a fantasy kingdom.

The Bean Chaointe is the undead spirit of a woman that is presumably related to the banshee (bean sidhe) that haunt their line.

The Bloodknight is a vampire variant that often control their own lands or work for a more powerful undead.

The Dark Messenger is an independent undead that is used to deliver messages.

The Lich Tyrant is a lesser form of lich that is an undead ruler, rather than spellcaster.

The Masque Ghul is an undead that, during daylight, has its original living form.

The Night Dragon is a conglomeration of different dragon parts into a whole that is formed when a land is ravaged by the undead or fiends.

The Rot Giant is usually created as a living siege engine.

The Soul Harvester is usually born from such as judges and tax collectors, but now drain souls.

Monster Menagerie: The Kingdom of Graves in Review

The PDF lacks bookmarks and, although comparatively short, these would have been useful. Navigation is poor. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of error. Each monster has its own black and white illustration, which is nice. Presentation is good. Unlike in other, later supplements in the series, each monster is not on its own page or pair of pages; some descriptions overlap, which is slightly less convenient.

This supplement has a nice collection of new undead of different CRs. All but one – the night dragon – are evil, but that is typical for undead; they are rarely not. Still, it would make a nice change to have some that aren’t. As suggested in the Foreword, these undead could be used to create an actual undead kingdom, with the addition of some of the standard types, especially the lower-CR types. Monster Menagerie: The Kingdom of Graves is an interesting collection of new udnead and it can be found by clicking here.