My favorite Fiend Folio monsters were probably the undead. The Apparition, Coffer Corpse, Death Knight, Huecuva, Pennangalan, Revenant, Skeleton Warrior, and Sons of Kyuss all shared the evocative art of Russ Nicholson, and all seemed to be rotting, filthy and nasty. The Death Knights made great Big Bads, the Coffer Corpse and the Sons of Kyuss regular monsters of the day, and all the rest except for the Pennangalan and the Revenant showed up regularly in dungeons I wrote up.
Most of them had great atmosphere -- the Huecuva was an undead monster who could assume other shapes, the Skeleton Warriors and Death Knights with similar tragic histories, and the creepy worm-addled flesh of the Sons of Kyuss gave enough creepiness to fighting these undead to make them more exciting than having just some more zombies and skeletons.
Agreed. The MM undead seem pretty bland compared to these nasties.
ReplyDeleteNo one could draw undead like Russ Nicholson.
ReplyDeleteThe Sons of Kyuss!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Geoffrey.
ReplyDelete