Fiendish Friends

Fiendish Friends is an enjoyable read and a useful tool for spicing up campaigns or launching new and unusual ones. 

FF details 18 "fiends" in two-page spreads as playable classes for Old School Essentials (aka Dungeons & Dragons Basic and Expert sets, c. 1981). While the fiends are mostly familiar fodder, like goblins, trolls, skeletons, and lizardmen, the author breathes new life into each with captivating class abilities and level awards. During the read through I was anticipating the direction each new fiend would take, and was never disappointed. Some of my favorite bits were the domain cues at the end of each entry that told me a lot about what "success" looks like for one of these monsters and informed how I will play them in the future. 

Absolutely worth the money and I wish I had a hard copy.

The art is reportedly all taken from public domain. Specifically, it is work that appeared in the pulp magazine, Weird Tales. Some of the images have been altered, I believe. I'd like to know more about some of the pieces honestly. A caption indicating the issue in which each appeared would have been great. An artist credit (if one was available) would have been the icing! There is also no table of contents, though there is an index at the very end that would serve as one, and no author credit! Who wrote this awesome thing?