Monday, June 8, 2020

What? More Demons and Devils?

"The Encyclopedia of Demons and Devils 2" by Various Published and Distributed by Fast Forward Entertainment ISBN-10: 0-971-9598-5-4 -- 224 Pages Just as the title suggests, this is the second book containing Demons and Devils for your campaign! Fast Forward's fourth book, the Encyclopedia of Demons and Devils (Volume One) had sold well enough that Fast Forward decided to follow up with this volume, which also contains Demons and Devils from many cultures. As if there wasn't enough Demons and Devils in the first volume, FFE has 136 =more= Demons and Devils to think about! There is a one page preface and a three page introduction before diving right into the second collection of Demons and Devils. There is a different format for the pictures of the assorted demons - each is in a box that reminds me a bit of Magic the Gathering cards. The good news about this is that it standardizes the renditions of the Demons and Devils, but the bad news about this is that it limits the art to be contained into each square, making all the same basic size, regardless of the size of the creature. Each is in a rectangular frame accented by stars at all four corners, and places the name at the bottom of the box, but I believe that this allows for more text about the creature. Starting with "Aamon" and ending at "Zu", each has one or more pages of descriptions. Some are minor Demons or Devils, and only have one page of info. Some are Major Demons and Devils, and have two - or more - pages of info. Only one being has five pages of material, several have four pages, a few have three pages, many have two pages, and many have only one page. This creates a hierarchy of beings from low level one page "deities" to one of the higher level demons - who control many creatures. Also, in many of the descriptions are magic items, new spells, new Prestige Classes, and more. Each of these 136 characters has an agenda, or more than one agenda, which is found in the Introduction. The 13 (Lucky or Unlucky) agendas given allows a crafty GM to use that creature over and over again! Remember, these beings cannot truly be killed while in the Prime Material Plane! At best, they take enough damage to be forced to retreat to their home plane, causing the Demon or Devil to remain there for one year and one day, and then, they will probably return seeking vengeance! Although there are many books that contain Demons and Devil now, I still feel as though Fast Forward has really hit the mark! Although this is for D&D 3rd Edition, good GMs could still get a great idea of good info for their campaign here. Recommended!

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