Delver’s Guide to Beast World is an extremely well put together and thought out third party 5E book. While the main pitch is “D&D but with furries and wagons!” there is a lot more going under the cover than people might initially assume.
The cultures of Beast World are all immensely creative pulling on real world places with care. The schizo-tech combination of a furry Renaissance world mixed with an apocalyptic human world with 1990’s tech is wildly innovative. The game has great hooks from the idea of an inter-planar dungeon to various NPC’s in every major continent and interesting factions with distinct goals.
The book’s presentation gradually takes the reader through the setting, introducing key aspects before diving into the new race, background and wagon mechanics. The list of playable races is exhaustive, with some tips for players to create their own. The writing can be wonderfully witty, to reflective and empathetic; to surprisingly tense such as with a female lead paladin order which fights the undead with brutal efficiency or a true to life depiction of racism with a villainous supremacy group. The art direction is really solid as well, and is above official WoTC products art in terms of quality.
If you are a 5E Dungeon Master who wants a new setting to play with, this is a great one indeed. If your players are adverse to the idea of playing a furry setting file off the serial numbers and keep some of the core ideas and you still have a world that is as detailed as something like Matt Mercer’s Tal’Dorei. I really would love to see Beast World gain more recognition among general 5E players and beyond just being seen as the niche “furry D&D book” since it’s jam packed with cool ideas for D&D players.
An Innovative 5E Third Party Book that needs to be seen by more than Furries
Delver’s Guide to Beast World is an extremely well put together and thought out third party 5E book. While the main pitch is “D&D but with furries and wagons!” there is a lot more going under the cover than people might initially assume.
The cultures of Beast World are all immensely creative pulling on real world places with care. The schizo-tech combination of a furry Renaissance world mixed with an apocalyptic human world with 1990’s tech is wildly innovative. The game has great hooks from the idea of an inter-planar dungeon to various NPC’s in every major continent and interesting factions with distinct goals.
The book’s presentation gradually takes the reader through the setting, introducing key aspects before diving into the new race, background and wagon mechanics. The list of playable races is exhaustive, with some tips for players to create their own. The writing can be wonderfully witty, to reflective and empathetic; to surprisingly tense such as with a female lead paladin order which fights the undead with brutal efficiency or a true to life depiction of racism with a villainous supremacy group. The art direction is really solid as well, and is above official WoTC products art in terms of quality.
If you are a 5E Dungeon Master who wants a new setting to play with, this is a great one indeed. If your players are adverse to the idea of playing a furry setting file off the serial numbers and keep some of the core ideas and you still have a world that is as detailed as something like Matt Mercer’s Tal’Dorei. I really would love to see Beast World gain more recognition among general 5E players and beyond just being seen as the niche “furry D&D book” since it’s jam packed with cool ideas for D&D players.