Tuesday, December 24, 2019

The First Monster Manual

The contents and structure of medieval bestiaries are very similar to Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manuals. Sans stat blocks.  I know because I just looked at several at the Blanton Museum special exhibit Medieval Monsters.



It was extremely hard to get good photos (dark, no flash).  View full Medieval Monsters Picture Gallery.



I was most amazed at the age of the books. Firstly, I did not realize bound books "technology" was so old.  Secondly, how have these things survived 700-800 years! There was samples of three types of vellum, from thin and fine (I forget what animals, deer?) to the thick, robust, indestructible feeling goat hide. Pro tip, scribe your spell book on goat vellum!

Check out this multi-headed camel leopard thing.



The rest of the pictures I took are over on my friend or foe site, under medieval monsters.
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2 comments:

  1. Alex SchroederThu Dec 26, 05:55:00 AM CST

    Yeah, medieval bestiaries are the best. When I need more info on monsters, I sometimes search medieval bestiaries, e.g. http://bestiary.ca/

    ReplyDelete

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