RPGPundit Reviews:  Out of the Pit

This is a review of the "Out of the Pit" sourcebook for the Advanced Fighting Fantasy game; recently republished by Arion games in conjunction with Cubicle 7. It was originally written by Marc Gascoigne.

Out of the Pit is the "monster manual" for Advanced Fighting Fantasy.  Its format is not unlike that of D&D's Monster Manual, just lists and lists of monsters, with stats, illustrations and details.  These monsters were originally compiled from virtually all the monsters that ever appeared in the old "Fighting fantasy" gamebooks (the ones that were like Choose Your Own Adventure books, only much cooler because you could kill things).  If I'm remembering the hazy distant past correctly, I believe that Out of the Pit came out as a book before Advanced Fighting Fantasy, even before the "Fighting Fantasy" RPG.  So more accurately, it could be said to have been a compilation book from the original fighting fantasy gamebooks, and not technically an AFF sourcebook at all.  Even so, anyone who ever played AFF and had OotP would have used the latter as their monster manual.

I should note one important point here before proceeding. A short while ago, I reviewed the new 2nd edition of Advanced Fighting Fantasy, written by Graham Bottley.  That new edition provides a number of important rules changes meant to balance the AFF game to make it more effectively playable than the old AFF game was.  Unfortunately, it was explained to us that the license for Out of the Pit, unlike that of Advanced Fighting Fantasy, was for a straight reprint ONLY.  That means, on the one hand, that if you own the old Out of the Pit, this is the exact same book.  And likewise, the information in this book has NOT been re-done to suit the new rules system.  On the other hand, a full list of the modifications necessary has been provided in the new AFF book, so that's not really a major problem.

The book opens with a map and short description of Allansia, the main continent of the world of Titan, the fantasy world of Fighting Fantasy; it is on Allansia that the majority of the FF books were set. You also get a nice map of Kakhabad, another region of the world of Titan.   But after that, all the pleasantries are put aside, and we get to the monster descriptions.

Each monster is statted up with Skill, Stamina, Number of Attacks, Habitat, Number Encountered, Type (as in, type of monster class), Reaction (friendly, neutral, unfriendly or hostile) and Intelligence.

There are a total of 250 monster descriptions; as well as the stats listed, every single one of them has an illustration (done in the early-80s British fantasy style that we know so well from the FF books themselves, as well as other comics and games of the period), and also each one has a description of the creature and its nature.  We're told for example that the brutish Ape Men live in huts perched on tree-tops, that swing on vines, wear loincloths and use large bones as clubs.  If they fight from the trees any opponent must reduce their attack roll by -2 to hit them.  We are also given the hint that Ape Men are attracted to shiny objects that twinkle in the light.

The pictures, and the creativity of some of these monsters are truly wonderful.  You get some relatively mundane creatures like the aforementioned Ape Men, and copies of monsters by now common to fantasy games, like the tentacle-headed "Brain Slayers" (a Mind Flayer by any other name will still suck out your cerebellum); as well as demons, dragons, elves (in such varieties as black elf, dark elf, mountain elf, and wood elf), or even Gnomes (which are listed as only unfriendly; a serious error as anyone knows Gnomes should be hostile; but at least readers are quite rightfully warned to stay away from them!); but then you also get far less standard humanoid races, like the Hamakei, vulture-men of the desert wastelands who are powerful sorcerers, ancient remnants of a powerful magical empire, or the Red-Eyes, spindly humanoids distantly related to the elves, who are arrogant tricksters with a deadly beam-gaze.  You also get your standard monsters, giant worms, scorpions, spiders etc.; plus unusual combinations like the dreaded Skunkbear; and also truly original monsters like the Slime Sucker (a swamp creature with octopus-like tentacles and a huge toothy mouth), or the huge fat leathery cave-dwelling Tarrator, or the bizarre disk-shaped four-handed Wheelies.

The conclusion of the book provides some very basic treasure tables, superseded by the more complete treasure tables available in the AFF book; and also some encounter tables.

This book is very much a case of "what you see is what you get"; its pretty much a no-thrills monster manual, only with some wonderful illustrations and more than a few extremely creative entries.  Obviously, it will be primarily of use to those who intend to run an Advanced Fighting Fantasy game.  Even so, I can see it being useful to give some inspiration for anyone interested in a list of monsters for any fantasy game, particularly with a kind of slightly-dark sword & sorcery feel to it.  Its the kind of monster manual I like, inasmuch as I like those kind of things at all; in that it doesn't try to be fancy in ways that get in the way of being useful.  It focuses on the practical, while still providing a very attractive presentation.

The best point: Does what it says it does.  Also, the pictures kick ass.

The worst point: Too soft on Gnomes.

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