I enjoy a lot of the Sly Flourish books, mailing list, YouTube channel and blog.
This book is dynamite for new and experienced Game Masters. It was written by Teos Abadia, Scott Fitzgerald Gray, and Michael E. “Sly Flourish” Shea. There is a wealth of advice for building and running monsters within its pages.
My main interest in this book besides expanding my already vast knowledge of monster building was to generate some new ideas for Shadowdark RPG. While Forge of Foes is written for 5E Dungeons & Dragons (Because what major TTRPG release isn’t?) it does carry over quite well to OSR and adjacent d20 fantasy games. I’ll overlook the Wizards of the Coast shill factor on this one because the book is exceptionally well written.
Disclaimer: Statements expressed in this article are strictly my opinion. If you disagree or have a different opinion, that’s okay. I’m not an expert on everything. I’m not always right. I’m just writing from my experience as I know it. Your mileage may vary.
Disclaimer: I purchased Forge of Foes from the Sly Flourish website. I have not been paid for this review in any way. As always, I highly recommend checking out the product and using one’s own discernment in relation to any review.
And we’re back. Last week we had a major blow up about Page 119 of this book. It centered on Anti-Colonialism in D&D. Why is this a thing in 2025 suddenly after the book has been on shelves for over a year? I have no idea other than maybe someone got it for Christmas and freaked out when they made it all the way to the end.
One table rules this whole book.
Page 6 contains one of the most useful tables I’ve ever seen in any GM’s guide or monster book in my long history of being in the hobby. It’s got the most basic information someone would ever want to run a monster on the fly. I might very well slide a copy of this table right into my GM screen the next time I run a d20 fantasy game of any kind.
After the most glorious of tables there is a lot of common monster template information that can also prove invaluable to the GM of any game. Need some sweet powers to tack onto something to define it as an ooze? Here you go. Common monster powers follow in the same chapter. Again, this few pages of text are incredibly useful for creating monsters on the fly.
Then we come to one of the more fascinating parts of the book to me.
See, I was a big fan of D&D 4E monster stat blocks. That is exactly what the sections from pages 13-26 really resemble for me. The specific monster roles and powers are very 4E in a good way. If nothing else, it makes the GM ask, “How am I planning to use this monster?”
Good monster builds are at the center of many fantasy RPGs. It doesn’t have to just be combat although the opening sections of Forge of Foes do deal a lot with such matters. I mean, there’s no sense building a big tactical stat block for a creature the group is never going to end up fighting, right? Most of us can sum up a noncombatant in a few lines of text.
The sections on Legendary and Boss monsters swing the book closer to 5E again but offer up a lot of solid GM advice on how to deal with these bigger baddies. The idea of dials has come up in more than one game in recent years. Do I adjust the HP of a creature? Do I add more creatures of the same type? Do I crank the monster’s AC and damage values? It’s a great tool to make the GM stop and think for a second.
All of that, and we’re not even a third of the way in.
I take some issue with the spellcasting portion of the book both early on and throughout the entire book. I know WotC talked early on in the One D&D process about streamlining spellcasting monsters. As a GM, I’m a little burned out on trying to remember all of the 5th level Cleric spells some creature should have. Personally, I want no more than three spells on any given stat block because that’s probably the most the poor creature will ever get to cast in combat, anyway. I seem to recall WotC saying they were going to do that in the next iteration of the Monster Manual. Paizo might be doing the same in Pathfinder 2E Remastered Monster Core, too.
Spell related nonsense aside, the Sly Flourish Lazy DM style really becomes apparent for a big chunk of the book with quick monsters, reskinning monsters, as well as minions and hordes. It really warmed my heart to see the page on Theatre of the Mind. Thank you whoever wrote that!
Without spoiling the whole book, there’s so much goodness here.
I highly recommend checking out the free preview at this link here. I’d seen a few reviews that were very positive toward this book on YouTube and the preview sold me on it. I read a lot of monster books and am constantly expanding my list. It’s a weird addiction I picked up with the AD&D Monster Manual.
I remember the first two monsters I ever built after reading the MM1 were the Uranium and Plutonium dragons. Of course, they were both completely unbalanced and did insane amounts of breath weapon damage, but 6th Grade me didn’t know any better. I think I still have those around here somewhere. LOL!
All three of the authors have had tons of GM experience and writing credits within the industry. I think most of what they present in Forge of Foes is solid golden advice. I like some of the checklists. Combined monsters was a good table. I agree that villains/boss monsters should evolve. I like that they look at the role of environment and building higher level encounters a great deal.
I think one of the most unique facets of the book is taking a look at published adventures. How many GM guides really get into this? I think for new GMs this advice was invaluable. We need more GMs to look at pre-packaged adventures with a critical eye and adjust for their specific party. I’m not saying every encounter need be perfectly balanced but adjusted according to the group’s abilities. If something is supposed to be a tough fight and the GM knows the party will knock the encounter out in two rounds, it’s okay to adjust. Likewise, not every encounter with a handful of Kobolds should flatline the party.
This third party sourcebook covers things that should be in the Dungeon Master’s Guide.
It constantly amazes me how disappointed I was with the encounter building and monster creation sections of the 5E DMG. The advice in that thing is so bad, WotC designers don’t even follow it. They have their own in-house monster design rules.
Forge of Foes fixes what WotC should have done in the official books. I don’t think this is a coincidence. The anatomy of challenges and high level encounters are covered so well here. Having monsters escape, negotiate, and fitting monsters to the story are so important for new GMs/DMs especially. I would tell a new DM to look the official DMG over once and then hand him Forge of Foes to read in depth instead.
I have a couple of minor issues with Forge of Foes, but they don’t diminish it too much.
I can already hear certain factions of the OSR and conservative 5E DMs grumbling over the sections titled “Romancing Monsters” and “Anticolonialism.” I’m sure the running criticism is that the authors’ politics and moral concerns flowed over into the book. In this rare case I agree with those concerns, and I think that space could have been devoted to other advice.
[Please note: I said that over a year ago. I knew this was coming. Not sure why it took this long. And they haven’t even mentioned the monster humping thing, which I thought would be a much bigger issue.]
I think discussions of monster humping and bioessentialism in gaming are better left for blogs such as this one and online/social media forums. I’m uncertain why the authors felt the need to include these sections in a 128 page book with really great monster content, but it’s not my call to make.
Forge of Foes almost commits a self hating fallacy to a slight extent when talking about romancing monsters and anticolonialism. Are these conversations we should really be having in that particular space? Sorry, I just don’t agree in this case. There’s a half dozen pages that could have been easily devoted to other topics. Why did they have to tack it on at the back of the book. It’s not like Mike Shea and Teos Abadia don’t have blogs and/or YouTube channels. Why here?
I will give the same advice the authors should have taken when writing the brief questionable parts of the book: put the information out there that GMs and players will use and let them decide on how best to use it. If something in Forge of Foes doesn’t work, ignore it. I kinda suspect I know who wrote those two sections and I have disagreed on things elsewhere and I won’t get into the specifics. Let’s just say if it’s a morally gray area, it might be better to focus on the concrete, mechanical monster-related stuff and let the intelligent adult readers sort the rest out on their own. In other words, learn when to leave well enough alone.
**Disclaimer** Just because I would have done it differently doesn’t mean the authors did anything wrong. Please read those pages for yourself and discern whether or not you find the information valuable. I feel there’s a time and a place for these discussions, just not in this particular book.
Final thoughts about Forge of Foes.
I should mention the art in this book is very tasteful and well done minus the last chapter. The layout is clean and very easy to read. The sidebars are full of useful information. Most of the time the various authors mesh seamlessly, making it not seem like a collection of random articles.
It’s a great book! I think it was well worth the price tag for a 128 page book on creating and running monsters. I think every GM or DM should have this book or something similar in their arsenal. I love building and running monsters and this book meshed very well with my style overall. I give it an A- only because of a few minor changes I would have personally made regarding the spellcasting stuff.
Thank you for being here with me today. I appreciate you. Keep it real, but please strive for positivity, too. Please embrace the things that bring you the most joy in your life.
Jeff's Game Box 