Dr Simon Reads...

 I ssue 30 Stirge Demon The Fiend Factory this issue is titled “ In Good(?) Company ”, and is loosely themed around creatures that are either companion beasts, or have companion beasts. But before that, there’s a scenario by Phil Masters called “ The Curse of the Wildland ”, which is a compact little low-level wilderness quest based around seven or so encounter areas with a mix of combat, roleplaying and exploration. It also features a phung, so you can use the one that I statted up for Issue 18 (you’re welcome), and one unique monster, the Hsiao. I did a quick search, and it looks like there is a Hsiao for 5 th Edition, but it’s an intelligent owl, rather than this hybrid creature. It’s a fun little monster, though, and one I may come back to as a bonus. Onto the Fiend Factory proper, and first up we have the Weresnake , by Cas Liber. (Actually, second. The first monster is the one I’m going to convert in this instalment). It’s a pretty simple addition to the ranks of lyc...

Issue 29 The Argorian Wormkin T his issue features another “mini-scenario”, titled The Desert Light. A tower rises out of the desert sands, from which shines a light. Exploring further, the party discover the tower is the top of a buried building, and the light comes from a shaft surmounted by spiral stairs that lead down into the building proper. Here they discover most of the denizens, and the light source, an orb of continual light . It’s a neat little setting, and I realised that I, in fact, nicked it as an adventure setting, the very same adventure where I used the shadow goblins back from Issue 26. Outside the tower, the party may encounter a Giant Sandcrab . This is a pretty straightforward monster from Roger E Moore. Monsters that burst out of the ground are common ideas, and why not a crab with an extra poisonous claw? But, of course, you could just use Giant Crab statistics, so not much point in statting this one. The middle floors of the tower are inhabited by An...

Issue 28 The Birch Spirit The Fiend Factory for Issue 28 is entitled:   and is a loose collection of forest-based creatures, with some gorgeous illustrations that I’ve given at a larger than usual size to show off the level of background detail. I think the artist is Ian McCaig, judging from what I can make of the signature and who is listed in the art credits. It’s not Russ Nicholson or Emmanuel, I know that much. And as I recall, Ian McCaig was the artist for the Fighting Fantasy book Forest of Doom: How appropriate, then, that he should be illustrating a “forest”-themed Fiend Factory. The first couple of entries aren’t “monsters” as such. The Whispering Tongues by Simon Miller are a type of spy plant, although the entry suggests some form of intelligence to go with their psionic powers, because they can be bribed with the right kind of soil. A fun little tool. Similarly, Albie Fiore’s Driver Ant army is more of a natural hazard than a monster – even using swarm-style...

Issue 27  The Cold Beast   This issue’s Fiend Factory is titled “Near Misses”, and is another selection of creatures that didn’t quite make it into the Fiend Folio. For at least three of the ones featured here it’s because they’re clearly borrowed from other works. The remaining two are okay, but nothing that really makes them stand out. And so it was quite hard to pick one to convert. The Spikehead (by an anonymous author) is okay, but really it’s just an ape with a gore/charge attack, so you could easily create one of these by just mashing a couple of existing stats together. I’m not sure if this one is from any work of fiction, but they look like quite common “servitor” beasts. They’d be good as hunting animals of the evil forces in a campaign. Ian Beckinham’s Wirrn come from the Doctor Who story The Ark In Space, featuring Tom Baker (not to be confused with The Space Ark featuring William Hartnell!). This version is somewhat different, being more like the grub-l...