Review: The Monsters Know What They're Doing by Keith Ammann

The Monsters Know What They’re Doing by Keith Ammann

This is a revolutionary book about the creatures encountered in the game Dungeons and Dragons and it will appeal to two kinds of people. The first—that includes myself—are people who have years of playing the game under their belt (for many of us mostly in the distant pass) and enjoy nostalgically wandering through key events (like the creatures of the game). For those people, the audiobook may be the ideal method of absorbing the information.

 

The other group are active Dungeon Masters trying to improve their games by making their monsters more interesting. They are going to want a paper or electronic copy as this volume will serve as a valuable resource to them in planning their next adventures.

 

What Ammann has done here is analyze key groups of monsters and created rational tactics for them given their strengths, weaknesses, and known proclivities. It makes for fascinating reading. I was shocked by how many times he suggests the creatures would break and flee after taking a certain amount of damage. When I was gaming, monsters rarely ran, which was convenient as they take their experience and treasure with them when they depart.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed getting into the mindset of creatures as disparate as a bugbear, a displacer beast, a dragon, and a common bandit. The book is conveniently organized by type of creature and just fascinating to read. D&D games are going to get a lot better if Dungeon Masters take advantage of this valuable resource.