The Bestiary (Atlantis)
The Bestiary, subtitled A Compendium of Creatures and Beings from the Lost World of Atlantis, is a supplement published by Bard Games in 1986 for The Atlantean Trilogy fantasy role-playing game, later known simply as Atlantis.
Contents
The Bestiary is a supplement which describes many fantastical creatures that can be used in the Atlantis role-playing game. The book is divided into two sections:- Descriptions and illustrations of the creatures, which are grouped together as:
- *Sidhe
- *goblin races
- *sylvan races
- *giants
- *humanoids
- *wereos
- *hybrids and magical constructs
- *monstrosities
- *dragons
- *living dead
- *demons and devils
- *spirits and elementals
- *gods, as well as details of cults and secret societies
- The technical details and statistics of each creature necessary for the role-playing game.
Publication history
In the 1980s a group of friends who played a customized version of Dungeons & Dragons — Vernie Taylor, Steven Cordovano, and Stephan Michael Sechi — decided to publish details of their home campaign and each put up $600 to form Bard Games. In 1983 the new company published three books known as the "Compleat Series": The Compleat Adventurer by Sechi, The Compleat Spell Caster by Taylor and Sechi, and The Compleat Alchemist by Cordovano and Sechi. No specific role-playing system rules were credited, the assumption being that players would use the popular Dungeons & Dragons rules.The following year, these books were combined with a new role-playing system into one central rulebook, The Arcanum. This was followed by The Lexicon in 1985, which provided the setting, and The Bestiary in 1986, which provided the creatures. As a result, the role-playing game became known as The Atlantean Trilogy; later versions were titled simply Atlantis.
The Bestiary, a 132-page softcover book, was written by Sechi and J. Andrew Keith, with illustrations by Bill Sienkiewicz, and cover art by P.D. Breeding.
In 1988, following the publication of a second edition of The Arcanum, Bard Press combined The Lexicon and The Bestiary into a single book, Atlantis: The Lost World.
Sechi would go on to produce the role-playing game Talislanta, also published by Bard Games in 1987.
In the 2014 book Designer & Dragons: The '80s, game historian Shannon Appelcline wrote that "Because of the success of their Compleat books, Bard Games decided to combine the best information from those supplements within a game system and a setting. The result — which would become known as "The Atlantis Trilogy" — would really put Bard on the map. Stephan Michael Sechi oversaw this new and daunting project — which took three years to complete. Eventually he produced three books: The Arcanum, The Lexicon, and The Bestiary. The system was clearly derivative of D&D, but it also introduced character skills and point-based character creation. The setting was a bit more unique, as it portrayed an antediluvian world of myth. Some players embraced the new game as a more complex D&D with a uniquely textured setting."
Appelcline also noted that Morrigan Press later "licensed the Talislanta setting from Stephan Michael Sechi and also bought the rights to two of his Atlantis rules books — The Lexicon and The Bestiary."