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Critter Cache 1: Big Bugs $3.99
Publisher: Goodman Games
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by Peter I. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 11/11/2008 06:19:23

The core monster manual for the new edition of the 4e GSL game is a bit like marmite - you either love it or you hate it. Some people complain that it doesn't contain enough fluff and background information, others that it leaves out core and staple monsters from previous editions, and yet others that it doesn't contain enough details on the individual races, and too many monsters of a similar kind. On the other hand, many people like this kind of 'streamlined' manual of monsters as it allows them to sculpt the monsters from there onward without being constrained by 'needless' fluff that doesn't fit their tastes. The potential for 'skinning' monsters in the new edition is also high, and the raw monsters can easily be changed from one creature to another. Whatever the flavor of your tastes, the new edition was bound to see new books of monsters come out, covering both old and new ground.

Critter Cache 1: Big Bugs is the first such product from the wonderful partnership between Goodman Games and Blackdirge Publishing. This 17 page products brings you 20 different kinds of bugs and insects for the 4e GSL game. It updates older creatures excluded from the core material, and brings a new flavor of creature to a variety of different species. All these insects are beautifully illustrated by Jesse Mohn, a well-known artist for those familiar with Blackdirge Publishing's products. As you would come to expect from Blackdirge Publishing, the quality of the presentation is high, although one or two editing errors did slip through.

This product presents 20 new insects and bugs, classified into seven different species or groups - ants, beetles, centipedes, crustaceans, mantises, slugs, and wasps. Each species gets a few different creatures or sub-species, providing a good variety of creeping and crawling critters for the 4e GSL game. Ants, for example, include workers, soldiers and queen; Beetles include the butcher beetle and the pincer beetle, while slugs presents the corpse slug, and the giant slug. The creatures all come with complete 4e GSL statistics, and the levels range from 1 to 15, with most roles covered by the different types of insects. A very useful table of levels and roles is provided at the end of the product, complementing the bookmarks already contained in the product.

There's no doubt that this cache of monsters contains a good selection of useful creatures and those almost basic creatures that most games see in their lifetime. The format of the product very closely follows that of the core monster manual, and as such beyond the descriptions and brief lore and tactics descriptions, details on these monsters are fairly sparse. Then again, when you're dealing with mostly mindless insects, there's not a lot to write about them that's particularly relevant to combat gaming. On the same front, when you're dealing with insects, they're not that interesting in most cases either, particularly with the standard fare of abilities including bites, stings, and grabs with mandibles or pincers. In essence, the product's appeal is not so much in its interesting material or good fluff, but rather in its selection of creatures that fill a needed and useful niche of creatures left out from the core 4e GSL.

Critter Cache 1: Big Bugs is a good product that presents several new insects and other creepy crawlies for the 4e GSL game. The creatures are mostly standard fare, with one or two interesting abilities or tactics, but for the most part these are just insects like those contained in previous edition. There's nothing magical about most of these creatures - essentially they're just larger versions of what one would expect in our world. The product is not something you'd really pick up for interesting or exiting creatures, but more something you'd pick up to fill a need for a basic creature. Overall, though, I think the series is off to a good and solid start, and I look forward to the next release containing dinosaurs, and the third which I believe will be animals and beasts.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Critter Cache 1: Big Bugs
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