Monday, February 18, 2019

Monstrous Monday: Fiend Folio POD

More Old-School mail call from the weekend.  Two boxes from different printers for some Old School joy.


I will admit it, it's not a popular opinion, but I love the Fiend Folio.  I goes back to the time when I was just getting into AD&D and I equated everything British/English as being better than American. (In many ways I still think that!)

So imagine my delight when I saw that the Fiend Folio on DriveThruRPG was now offering a Print on Demand option.  So, of course, I had to get it.  It was soft cover only, but I thought it would work nicely next to my Games Workshop printing softcover Monster Manual.
I was not wrong.



Other than one is a hardcover and the other is a softcover it is very difficult to tell them apart.


Even the interiors compare well.



Compares well to the mini version out a few years back (I guess a "few" now means 20).

Around the same time I ordered this I found a mock-up of an "orange spine" version of the Fiend Folio made by R Nelson Bailey.

A little bit of Lulu legerdemain and I now have something from a parallel universe.


I didn't get the cover perfect, but that is fine really.




The interior of this one looks pretty good too.

My next project needs to be a Fiend Folio II.

20 comments:

JB said...

You're not the only one who loves the Fiend Folio. I certainly do, and I've known folks who use its monsters EXCLUSIVELY to give their games an otherworldly feel.
: )

Frylock said...

I'm a fan as well. Several years ago I reviewed it a few fiends at a time via Twitter. Sure, there were some losers in there, but no book is perfect. They're all "use what you want and not what you don't want."

Peter D said...

I adore that book. I'm glad the POD looks so good.

Anonymous said...

"I found a mock-up of an "orange spine" version of the Fiend Folio made by R Nelson Bailey."

No. I made that.
--Dodger

Unknown said...

Fiend Folio fan here as well. The orange spine version looks great

Unknown said...

You can print on demand the orange cover version? how much? and from who?

Charles A. Wright said...

Fiend Folio Fans - We are out here.

Cross Planes said...

That orange-spine artifact is drool-worthy!

Count me as another Fiend Folio lover. Great minds and all that :)

Timothy S. Brannan said...

The one I found he claimed he made so I don't know who did what.

Timothy S. Brannan said...

Made it myself.

Timothy S. Brannan said...

Well. Now three different people are claiming to have made this cover file. Not sure who actually did what.

Brutorz Bill said...

I loved the Fiend Folio, have used it in my games for years and years! Great orange cover!

Needles said...

I love the absolute evil out of the Fiend Folio & all things Brit are fantastic for old school gaming from the TSR classic era. I hope you enjoy them all.

Jay Neale III said...

I loved that book when I was running AD&D. There were some clunkers in there, but on the whole it was worth having around.

That orange cover is very cool!!!

Gwythaint said...

Love the FF

Tom said...

Another fan, right here. A great resource that I'm still using in games today.

Tamás Kisbali said...

Thanks for this post! The Fiend Folio is awesome!!

Just a quick question: how readable / usable is the mini version?

Timothy S. Brannan said...

At my age I find it difficult since the font is 1/4 the normal size. But it is rather legible for someone with younger eyes.

Tamás Kisbali said...

It would be great to have a 1/2 size Folio (and other books), I find that format easy to handle (e.g. the size of the LotFP books).

Vampire Rabbit said...

Want. Wan0t. Want!