Forge of Forest is a 5e Kickstarter project by experience 5e designers and editors Mike Shea (Lazy Dungeon Master), Teos Abadia, and Scott Fitzgerald Gray.
For many these authors don’t require introduction, but for those that do:
- Mike (Michael) Shea – often publishes under the pen name Sly Flourish is a former Wizards of the Coast designer who currently works as a computer programmer and is the brain behind the Lazy Dungeon Master series of Books, and The Lazy RPG podcast. Michael also maintains the Sly Flourish website which contains more than a decade of useful tips and insights into the hobby.
- Teos Abadi – one of two hosts of the excellent Mastering Dungeons podcast a prolific 5e design and thinker with many design credits. including co-authoring the 5e Wizards of the Coast product Inquisitions Incorporated.
- Scott Fitzgerald Gray – the name that has been everywhere. Look inside the cover of most 5e, or 4e, books and there is a good chance that Scott will be listed as either the or one of the editors of the book. Scott is also the owner of Insane Angel Studios which publishes under its own name.
Well known RPG names do not automatically make for a good book – though it will often procure an easy sale so what is the purpose of Forge of Foes and who is it for?
At its core Forge of Foes is a book designed to simply help game masters of the Dungeons and Dragons or 5e system understand how to build combat encounters for their players, how to run monsters to provide an interesting game experience and how to simply create or modify monsters to provide an experience that will excite you as a game master and your players.
This will excite those who have tried to build monsters using the information in the 2014 Dungeons Masters Guide (DMG). The 2014 DMG monster building toolkit was not complete and naturally lacked the perspective that only comes with 8+year of experience of running monsters and encounters using the 5e system. The 2024 DMG is expected to improve but it is unlikely surpass the excellently written material contained within Forge of Foes as the page count that can be allowed for this topic will be fewer.
Information is presently sequentially and clearly and where appropriate in table format allowing a Game Master to simply understand what needs to be done and the range in which they can comfortably work or at least be aware when they are proposing to operate outside the bounded accuracy that 5e and Dungeons and Dragons has.
On the whole it is an easy buy recommendation for any Game Master wishing to understand the mechanics of the game or wishes to home brew their own material.
Notably this is a book that you should consider purchasing a printed copy as it is the type of book that you will like open on your desk as you work through your project.
Experience has its plus and these three experienced 5e designer/authors have really provided game masters with an excellent and affordable resource to help build better monsters, better encounters, and better experiences which is what everyone wants at their table.
Bravo!
