UNLEASH THE HORDE! Ultimate Bestiary: Revenge of the Horde is not another A-Z of monsters. Instead, we have focused on some of the commonly encountered monstrous races like goblins, gnolls, and orcs. Detailing their cultures, environments, and attitudes; as well as introducing a wide variety of stat blocks to suit a range of challenge levels, each with their own unique artwork.
ISBN: 978-1-946669-01-8 / SMC: NRG2001
William Hart (verified owner) –
I love this book, it will assist every busy Dungeon Master out there. So I’ve been DMing for 30 years now and I’m always looking for products that will assist me with game prep and inspiration. The Revenge of the Horde delivers on both.
First I love the multiple stat builds on each of the monsters. This is so helpful & it gives you a variety of troops to use against your players, this isn’t your Monster Manual Ogre!!!
Each monster has a section about environment, role playing, & tactics. Also there are Creature Rating charts to assist in building encounters for your characters. There are maps to use and Horde beasts as well.
I know as I move to my new campaign I will be using the Revenge of the Horde a great deal.
Chris (verified owner) –
This book is great.
I hate having to drop vanilla monsters into a game, especially when they are meant to be of a sentient race. This book means that I won’t have to. I now have a decent variety for each setting to pick from as well as pre set encounters of different levels.
I find that when players start finding that the enemy they thought they knew is suddenly a bit more interesting and potentially threatening, they get more engaged with the game and more respectful /cautious of the next encounter. As a GM this is a great resource to keep any scenario fresh.
hewhodwellsinthedarkness –
A damn fine book that gives exactly what you’d expect and a little more. With this fine book you can make the mook races hang around in higher level play instead of having them just become minor speed bumps.
The Player options while not a main selling point are a great bonus and surpass some of the offical 5e versions of them, not to mention that some of the items in the book can add great flavor and make the horde races even deadly and even lucrative to fight if you take them out before they can use some of the items.
Even the weakest of races (In flavor that is) the hobgoblins are pretty fun and the best race in the book has to be the gnolls to me (which is rather surprising). Since they’ve got damn good stats and make excellent hit and run barbs (Eagle totem+Mobile+Plains gnoll=melee fighter jet)
The only issue i have with the book is that there isn’t another, or a Yuan-ti or Lizardfolk section. I’m not saying it was short, but I’m saying is that if another book like this shows up on kickstarter or online I’ll buy it in a heartbeat.
Marc (verified owner) –
Such a fantastic book. It appears to be written with actual play in mind. It is organized in such a way to make it easy to pull the book out onto the table and run a combat in short order. The key to this is that each monster is given its own page. On that page you will find everything you need to run that monster in combat.
I have read other books (Volo’s guide I am looking at you) where a monster’s images, stats and descriptions crossed pages. I know you can squeeze in more monsters that way, but ease of use at the table is more important to me.
As for other considerations such as artwork, theme, novelty of the monsters etc.. This book does well on all of those fronts.
dakrone107 (verified owner) –
I mean another great product from nord games. What can I say, more variety of monsters so they become way more interesting. Additional Lore helps bring the monsters to life in any world of your creation.
The artwork is very nice and the monster designs are unique and interesting. The book also helps these group of monster be interesting for high level encounters which helps a lot for on the fly encounters.
All in all a very worth while product, I have the pdf version and I’m very happy with the purchase of this product !
azuhlsdorf (verified owner) –
Really enjoy this addition to the Monster Manual. Makes the beasts a lot easier to flavor in battle, instead of Goblin A with shortsword and Goblin B with bow.
Great product, and keep them coming!!
rawillis513 (verified owner) –
I ordered this book for my newly started campaign because I felt that many early monsters tend to disappear as the early adventuring continues and the party tends to get bored with just seeing more of the same monsters in a battle just for the extra difficulty. The extra monster options in this book have taken a lot of stress and work off of me to be able to add in new variations of recognizable enemies that have added additional challenge without straying too far from what is to be expected. So far my players have loved the variation and I have enjoyed not having to make up new variant monsters and instead focus on more of the story of the world my players are adventuring in. Thanks for a great product!
jpiekoszewski (verified owner) –
Some great depth about some really interesting races that make them truly versatile for any campaign. I can’t wait to use the hobgoblins in here for my current game! Would love to see more of this for other races like lizardfolk or even giants!
dylanchamb (verified owner) –
I love the book but the pdf’s could be improved they hardly work its the same for skullduggery’s pdf. The books are awesome.
kjpatterson5 (verified owner) –
TL;DR: This book is amazing. Well worth the money.
The cultures and sample groups for the beasties are outstanding. Fully fleshed but flexible enough to plop into most campaigns where they are required. There are even ways for you to interweave the groups provided together. The sidebars posted are great little flavour to the races included.
The statblocks are simple yet they are different enough so it each rendition of a race feels the same. The random loot packs table are pretty cool as well to give some variety to when the PCs win. The Beasts of the Horde section is great to round out clans and other groups.
I’m not much of an art person but I was impressed with what was within this book. They capture the spirit and give a great impression of creatures presented.
While I have no idea how balanced they are the PC options are great to put a little wild and brutality into the party.
Awesome buy couldn’t be happier with the purchase.
Request: If you do another volume please include a section on Centaurs. Would love to see those fleshed out a bit.
stew1416 (verified owner) –
It’s hard for me to describe just how great of a resource this book is. To provide an example, Goblin are one of my favourite creature in fantasy, however they come with the obvious downfall that they’re weak. For most the gm’s solution is just “I’ll have the players fight more of them”. Which works pretty well sometimes. I mean just last week our party killed 200 goblins.
But this book. Sir this book is gold. It has Goblins with Bombs, warlord goblins, goblin shamans, goblin with traps, it’s got every goblin you could want! And this is just the goblins! This level of quality is all throughout the book. Every monster has a list of items it might have, and tables for you to roll on to make every monster with loot feel like it’s unique (maybe roll ahead of time to speed up your game though).
This book is a 5/5. Not only that, but Nord Games has a stellar support team, who wants You the customer to feel like you’re cared for.
alegrand12 (verified owner) –
This book is a must have for every DM for 5th edition. I’m running an orc and ogre centered campaign and it is so helpful to have all the different stat blocks of unique variations of these creatures ready to go. Not only that but the added culture and behaviors of both creatures really allows me to add depth to them when roleplaying in and out of combat.
Vrees (verified owner) –
I wasn’t impressed with this book. They basically just made some racial variants. I was hoping for some low to mid level variants for spell casters.
The art was amazing and the culture stuff was interesting.
Dukeofvandals87 –
Excellent resource for DMs everywhere. It adds much needed variety to common races used as foe fodder. It also suggests interesting options for special abilities that make perfect thematic sense, and change gameplay in surprising ways. My favorite is “monumentally stupid” for Ogres, giving them somewhat of a buff to resist certain mind-altering magics. That rule has been implemented for a wide variety of really friggin dumb enemies (and even a few NPCs) at my table, other than just Ogres!
The book is an invaluable resource, not just for stat blocks and options, but to really inspire the creative process for inexperienced DMs, like myself. Highly recommended.
Spudly (verified owner) –
Absolutely fantastic. The sheer amount of statblocks and lore in this book make it well worth the price
Howlprincely (verified owner) –
This book has lots of helpful, useable content. There’s a large variety of well-balanced stat blocks for monsters and a wealth of information about them.
My only complaint is with the quality of the physical copy of the book. It has some very nice large and easy to read pges, but at best the pages are the quality of a pricier magazine. I can already tell these pages are far too delicate and will tear easily if not carefully cared for. They’re flimsy, loaded with too much ink for their weight, and frequently stick together. After flipping through maybe ten pages one stuck to my finger horribly and the page immediately tore. I’m glad I got the pdf too so I can print it on some proper cardstock paper later. Just hate that I have to waste ink to print a book I already own because of how fragile it is.
hadoftw (verified owner) –
This book has all your classic go-to monsters, but with extra flavor text and context descriptions behind their actions. That mixed with the artwork really makes running them feel like they’re something new again!
jerelder (verified owner) –
What a fantastic book! The build quality is top notch – stitched binding, heavy, richly coloured pages – and it was delivered in perfect condition. I’m a stickler for these and this ticked all my boxes.
The insides are great as well. It doesn’t cover a ton of monsters, but you do get a lot of great lore and behavioral information on the more common ones. I love lore, so again, this book ticked my boxes.
Great product, no regrets on my purchase.
James (verified owner) –
This is such a great book. The artwork is great and on par with official D&D products, which is really saying something.
Beyond the art, the Bestiary provides some great creatures and insights into their culture, environments and even combat tactics. It goes much deeper than I originally thought it would.
nchezrony (verified owner) –
This book has a ton of great information: New varieties of familiar monsters, organizational and roleplaying tips, loot tables, and encounter suggestions. I love using this book!
Chad Stevens (verified owner) –
This is the one that made me a fan of Nord Games. It really helps you keep those traditional opponents relevant and evergreen for your game. Plus ecology and tactics info that will be helpful for new DMs and still give veterans something new to work with.
Eleubner@gmail.com (verified owner) –
I have used this in two encounters and the details and options have elevated the player experience. Once my players got over the shock that there was depth to gnolls and orcs, they got into the experience. One suggestion to DMs, let your players know in advance that their core assumptions about these monsters will be challenged.
One of the best features is that I can pull one or two monster lore details and change the tone and experience.
I would highly recommend this book as a way to add lively detail to what might be a straightforward random encounter. It could be used to build out a whole campaign as well.
caelumira333 –
Not only does this provide a multitude of variations to what some would say, overused creatures. Combined with the lore found in this book it has been a great source of inspiration. I hope they continue with the bestiary series.
photodylan (verified owner) –
I found this book really useful on a lot of levels. it really brings the Humanoids to life as distinct species with their own personalities and tactics, as well as covering a much broader level range then the basic Monster Manual versions. I found the creatures to be well designed and challenging, and different from what the more experienced players expected which is always a bonus. The Goblin (or Orc) healing draught has proven immensely popular with my current group who really enjoy the randomness of the effects. Overall a well designed book, totally worth the cost.
galdran (verified owner) –
This book is well laid out and as a DM it is a very powerful tool for fleshing out one of the more common types of monsters, and not relying on just the vanilla ones in the monster manual.
It saves time for me not having to homebrew my own “variations”.
OliveProcessor (verified owner) –
I love this book. Im building a landlocked campaign soon with a ton of wildlands. This book has been huge in populating and developing those wild places to be something more than just scenery. Instrumental. I can’t praise it enough.
thegimper (verified owner) –
Lots of books can give you mechanics options for monsters (and this book definitely has that). But what’s really great about this book is it helps get you into the mindset: the personality, motives, in short, the ecology of the creatures it details. An invaluable resource for DMs who want to bring the monsters to life for their players, and for players who want to understand what makes these monsters tick, so they can more effectively deal with them when encountered.
damion101 (verified owner) –
This was the first Kickstarter I backed for a Nord games product, and I have backed every project they come out with since. I love the versatility this product adds to “staple” humanoid monsters. Adding small tweaks here and there can take an encounter from “ok…another goblin encounter” and make it fresh again. The tables to roll up random warbands (with CR breakdown) are excellent, and help minimizing prep time. The expanded archetypes, random trinket tables and lair detail tables are all excellent as well. My favorite part is the flavor inspiration for different tribes, warbands, or family groups; this is another feature that helps give each group encountered a distinct “flavor” and avoid repetitive encounters.
Heirjacob –
Great way to add more fun with goblins to a game
bvan (verified owner) –
A great book full of ideas and useful creatures. You can build a campaign around what’s contained in this book. It also allows for greater depth in the cultures and behaviors on the monsters that normally just hang out to guard loot.
KingCheops (verified owner) –
I really really like this book. It presents a good array of CR for each group of humanoids to keep them relevant for a wide range of levels and there are a lot of neat mechanics included.
sirzachthemaniac (verified owner) –
A fantastic addition to the library of any orc/goblinoid lovers out there.
Ahadfield (verified owner) –
I love this book. It gives a way to use what are normally stock, low-level monsters at a variety of levels. And if that weren’t enough, the addition of the CR charts to give suggestions for how to use multiple low-level monsters to create a challenge is a god-send.
Kahaeron (verified owner) –
An excellent source to use in expanding your games. No more random dragons or mind-flayer colonies just to challenge your players. An orc warlord is now a viable late game threat, when at the center of his horde. CR levels under 10 might not sound threatening, but put fifty of them on the battle-field and see how your fighter handles that mess. Also, great player options. My only criticism is that the hob-goblins get the extra-long draw ability on their bows, and not the bug-bears who are famous for their ridiculously long arms. I just add the ability to to the bugbears though. 2d8 +Dex will give your party something to think about.
Jakob Tonkin –
This book was my first nord games product and got me well and truly hooked on them as a company. An excellent source book for all these horde monsters that have beenleft stale and feeling the same in 5th ed, One of my campaigns featured this book more than the official monster manual and since then it has remained a mainstay in all future games.
darktremere (verified owner) –
This is a great book. It really fleshes out and adds character to commonly seen creatures.
Using this information will help keep your player characters on their toes.
The descriptions and art work are extremely well done and really makes makes me want miniatures based on them.
FilthyPeasant (verified owner) –
Orcs, Goblins, and Gnolls often come off as bland and uninteresting; generic sword-fodder. This book fleshes them and others out a huge amount and makes them actually interesting again.
Patrick Wilson (verified owner) –
Ogres, Orcs, & Goblins, oh my! If you’re looking for a new way to add some depth and flavor to your standard D&D monsters, look no further! This books is a must in every DM’s arsenal. The Ultimate Bestiary: Revenge of the Horde provides lore, lair & loot tables, scaled CR monsters and their beasts for all the classics: orcs, ogres, goblins, kobolds, bugbears, hobgoblins, and trolls. A new personal favorite is Nord Games’ own Okiti (ratfolk)! Also provided are the “tools of the horde”: items and objects for additional flavor and lethality (Goblin Liquor anyone?). As an added bonus, the book also provides rules for making any of these monsters into playable character races. Another great 5E product from Nord Games!
Matt Oliver (verified owner) –
Over the years I’ve grown tired of the same old “bad orc/goblin/bugbears raid town/caravan and low level party must purge them from the land” story, and I know many others have too. What if these creatures had motivations that are more than just “me bad?” What if they can be found to be creatures to be parleyed with? Or different factions that have different goals and desires? Or have such a range of power levels that you could make an army of them the big bad of an entire campaign? This book gives you the resources to do just that. It provides lore, factions, stat blocks and even player character rules to make these staple fodder races into so much more. To me this is a must have DM resource, and one I’ve found myself turning to far more often than the standard Monster Manual. Nord has become my go to 3rd party publisher with their fantastic resources, and I can’t wait for more!
Jason paar –
This is great. I love that they include loot tables for rations & trinkets, awesome idea.
mastergentleman (verified owner) –
I am always a fan of new ways to incorporate monsters into my campaigns – and new twists on more introductory monsters makes this supplement a perfect addition to my cunning strategies to imperil and strike fear into my overconfident players!
James Coke (verified owner) –
It’s always handy to have yet another book available with yet more monsters to choose from, buy it!
Dwayne Hartin (verified owner) –
This is so awesome. Reminds of MM 1 & 2 from 4e when they would have a creature but then pair them up with a few different encounters to give flare to your fights. Nothing boring in this PDF at all. Everything is very useful. I have a nomadic Ogre tribe in my campaign that works with Chaos Goblins from kobold press tomb of beasts. I used so much from this PDF to make the Ogre tribe feel so real and unique. I use the scrofa as the Ogre’s herd source/battle pets (such a cool ideal from this PDF and my player’s fav). My players love it. I add Ogre Hodaw’s from Mordenkainen’s pg 221 and add regular goblins and the last 4 encounters in those scene’s have been so entertaining!! and there is so much more to diversity your encounters or main campaign settings with the info in this for the set groups!
bethinogarit (verified owner) –
After gaming for 40 years and playing D&D as my game of choice I found Nord and this book! What a great addition to your 3rd party goodies! It’s very well done and handy for quick mobs!