Malleus Monstrorum: Creatures, Gods, & Forbidden Knowledge: Roleplaying Game Guide (Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game) Paperback – December 30, 2006

When creating scenarios for my CoC game I inevitably reach a point where I need to select the creature that is waiting for them at the end of those clues and plot twists. That's when I turn to the Malleus Monstrorum to find what is exactly lurking in that dark basement at night or the cult is trying to summon with their ritual. This guide includes Mythos beasts, Gods, independent races, servitor races and unique entities as well as a few creatures of mythology that could find themselves in a CoC game and a smattering common but deadly creatures, such as wolves. Each entry has statistics and how to "run" each of these deadly Mythos beasts, some background and flavor and in most cases artwork. Each monster averages nearly a full page of space (to be exact, I'd say each one gets about 80% of a single page devoted to them unless they're something central to Lovecraftian lore such as an Elder God, etc. in which case they have more than a page devoted to them)There's a nice complete index in the back of the book, and also an index right in the middle of the book that separates out the many gods and categorizes them by deity type and another index in the front that categorizes by types of beings/monsters/. If I've needed to lookup a creature, I generally rely on the complete index in the back and am able to locate what I'm looking for quickly. Much of the art is "historic" plates such as pages from medieval manuscripts, vintage advertisements, the occasional document such as a diary entry or report of some kind. I've found myself flipping through this book, getting completely pulled in reading about the various Mythos creatures or random tidbits of lure and lost track of time. That's a good sign that not only is the book functional and useful, but entertaining.If you're a practicing Keeper (GM for CoC) and you're going to be running regular or semi-regular games of your own creation, I would recommend this book. If you're just starting out down the path of being a Keeper and not sure if you'll stick with it, perhaps run a few sessions and if you find yourself hooked, buy it. Also, if you're only running published scenarios and don't do much of your own adventure creation, you can get by without this book. Bottom line, the price I paid for this book, it has been a good value and an asset to my scenario/campaign creations.

I was very happy to get the Malleus. 7th edition Call of Cthulhu may be just around the corner, but the Malleus is filled with a lot of great horrors (such as the King in Yellow and a host of Nyarlathotep's many Masks) that are an awesome resource for Keepers. A few stat conversions may be necessary to keep using the Malleus when 7th edition arrives, but from what I know the conversions are easy, and well worth it.

There are a bunch of bone-headed wannabe literary scholars out there that complain about anything made about the Cthulhu mythos that does not match their expectations. Those people will undoubtedly be unhappy about this publication and think they have some right to knock it based upon their expectations. Their expectations are an unfair evaluation of the material and their blathering only serves to pump up their perception of themselves. Ignore them.This book was definitely made for CoC RPG players. It serves really well that function of a "Monster Manual", helping to flesh out the games and give some basis for Keepers to work with the mythos creatures. You may or may not be able to find links to these creatures in Lovecraft's writing. You will find this a helpful source for adding to campaigns. I know I also find ideas to start adventures just by flipping through the pages.And, yes, I am a Lovecraft fan. I read his work long before I became involved in the CoC game. In fact, Lovecraft was the basis of at least 2 thesis papers I wrote (and aced) while getting my graduate degree. I'm just the reasonable sort that knows we all have the freedom to create and imagine what we want.

The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythos that even when you think you've learned what there is to know, a new book comes out to change that view. The 'Malleus Monstrorum' provides more than a few eerie entities, deities and beings that if they were in our world...well, madness and fear would be good words to describe the resulting chaos.Unlike other rpg 'deities and entities' books, the "Monstrorum' is an easy to read, and more importantly, easy to understand book. DM's will have a clear idea of what the entity looks like, acts like (in theory) and how to possibly play the creature without having to constantly check saving throws, charisma, bonus rolls and the like, which can complicate other rpgs, such as the D&D ones. Stats and information are easy to read and understand.What stops this from a five star review? As this is a rpg, a DM doesn't want to overwhelm players with too much info but entities/deities like Nyarlathotep or Cthulhu and his spawn do need a bit more information than what's provided. But overall a good book to have in one's 'Cthulhu Mythos' rpg collection.

This is basically an encyclopedia of races, monsters, & other entities of the Cthulhu Mythos designed as a guidebook for the CALL OF CTHULHU Horror Role-Playing Game. The price was a bit hefty for the condition my received copy was in, but this thing is a must-have!! It literally abounds w/illustrations; some of them garnished from actual historical sources & others invented for this tome but they blend them so well, sometimes you find yourself questioning whether an insane picture you're looking @ is for real or not! You don't need to be into the CALL OF CTHULHU Game @ all to love this book. Any fan or scholar of Lovecraftiana or the Cthulhu Mythos must break down & buy this magnificent beast!