OLDSKULL GRAND BESTIARY – Imperious Overlord’s Codex

OSR Bestiary by Kent David Kelly

Celebrating over 50 years of fantasy adventure role-playing in the Gygaxian and Arnesonian tradition, the OLDSKULL GRAND BESTIARY: IMPERIOUS OVERLORD’S CODEX unifies the ultimate fantasy game’s Advanced, Basic, and Expert monster systems into a single concordance, perfect for your Advanced, B/X, Original, Shadow, Old School, or Fifth Edition campaign.

The Codex has been written for the classic Moldvay Basic / Expert and Old School systems (1974-1981), allowing for easy migration into your favorite rules set.

Kent David Kelly, researcher and author of over 100 old school fantasy books, has worked for four years to codify this ambitious unification system. Every aspect of monster design herein has been carefully researched, unified, expanded, annotated, and corrected.

Example monstrous systems corrected and expanded include alignment, attack accuracy, experience point values, gaze attacks, monster levels, morale, number appearing, psionics, saving throws, strength, treasure types, shamans, and witch doctors.

Example systems newly presented include cold-wrought iron weapons vs. monsters, faerie lore of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts, guardian beasts, heraldic beasts, incidental treasure, encounters in ruins, Undercity encounters, urban encounters, and denizens of the Underworld.

All of the over-arching systems in this tome will inform the release of individual monster stat templates, which will begin with Volume One, A is for Anhkheg.

The IMPERIOUS OVERLORD’S CODEX sets a new foundation that presages the release of future volumes in the OLDSKULL GRAND BESTIARY series, beginning with Volume One, A is for Anhkheg (2025). This tome will be supported by a full series of monstrous supplements, detailing deep classic lore for every 1977 monster, from Aerial Servant to Zombie.

So what are you waiting for? The old school spirit of the game is reaffirmed and celebrated grandly here. If you are weary of endless reiteration of the same barebones monster statistics with no meat upon the bone to speak of, this is the book series for you.

Another fine release from Kent David Kelly and Wonderland Imprints, Only the Finest Works of Fantasy.

265 pages, 77,400 words, 71 tables, 220 human-hand illustrations. No AI writing or art is included in this tome. Annotated with over 270 footnotes, with citations leading you to original Gygaxian and Draconian resources of additional interest.

OLDSKULL GRAND BESTIARY – Imperious Overlord’s Codex is available through DriveThruRPG in PDF.

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