A Bestiary of Sundry Creatures (PDF)

THE ANIMALS OF THE MEDIEVAL IMAGINATION

Bees emerge as blind worms from the rotting flesh of cattle.

The cockatrice hatches from the eggs of black hens corrupted by sorcerers.

Kittens born during May bring misfortune and should be killed immediately.

The caladrius dwells in royal palaces and can reveal, merely by looking at a sick person, whether they will recover or die.

These were not invented as fantasy monsters.

They were recorded as natural history.

A Bestiary of Sundry Creatures gathers the strange, contradictory and frequently wonderful beliefs found in medieval bestiaries, scholarly texts and rustic folklore, then adapts them for use in tabletop roleplaying games.

The animals described by pre-modern writers possessed qualities far beyond their physical appearance. Their habits could provide moral lessons or warnings. Their arrival might serve as an omen. Their flesh, blood, bones and other remains might be used in medicine, magic or alchemy.

Even familiar creatures become strange when understood according to the beliefs of another age.

INSIDE YOU’LL FIND

• Creatures drawn from medieval bestiaries and related sources.

• Pre-modern beliefs about their origins, habits and behaviour.

• Scholarly opinions and rustic folklore.

• Medicinal properties attributed to animals and their remains.

• Magical qualities and supernatural associations.

• Statistics for OSR games.

• Alternative statistics for Mörk Borg.

• Historical illustrations drawn from the bestiary tradition.

• Material for enriching medieval and Early Modern fantasy settings.

The book can be used as a conventional collection of creatures, but its principal value lies in the beliefs surrounding them.

An animal may provide a rare medicine, an alchemical ingredient or a protective charm. Its behaviour may be interpreted as a divine warning. Its appearance may inspire a local superstition, religious practice or dangerous hunt.

This gives Games Masters material for encounters, treasures, rumours, customs, mysteries and adventures rooted in the peculiar logic of the medieval world.

An ordinary animal need not acquire additional heads or breathe fire to become interesting. It merely has to behave according to rules the player characters do not yet understand.

PDF EDITION

• 149-page digital PDF.

• Compatible with OSR games and Mörk Borg.

• Written by Neil Coates.

• Edited by James “Grim” Desborough.

• Published by Postmortem Studios.

• Originally released in August 2021.

A Bestiary of Sundry Creatures is intended as both a game resource and a guide to the strange natural world imagined by pre-modern people.