The Invasion Starts Now! may ae A Oe a a fad ieFrom Fiend Folio to Incursion The Fiend Foliois probably my favorite original monster book. Long- time readers might remember our tribute to the “less inspiring” treasures of that tome way back in Potvae EON #143, which kicked off a contest to determine the “sucki est” monster from a book that contained such gems as the tirapheg (a “tripedal hermaphro- dite”), the enveloper (picture a really fat doughman ‘with no fingers who just wants a hug), and the adherer (a sticky mummy). Our winner? The CLEAL (Colonial Insect-Formed Artificial Life). But the Fiend Folio had more than just lovable losers, like the al-mi'raj, earbuncle,caterwaul, clubnek, denzelian, dire corby, isenchanter, Yan-C-Bin, flail snail, ‘lumph, gorbel, imorph, lava child, phantom stalker, pro- tien polymorph, sheet phantom, thork, umpleby, volt, and xvart. The book also included a handful of creatures that have gone on to become icons in the 22 years since the Fiend Folio’s publication. Most D&D players would recognize the grell, grimlock, hook horror, kenku, ‘mephit, retriever, revenant, shadow demon, son of Ikyuss, and xill. But four of the most remarkable Fiend Folio creatures, the githyank, githzerai, slaads, and death knight, are noteworthy not just because they've withstood the test of time to become undeniable “classic” D&D monsters, but because they were designed by one man. Charlie Stross, a young British D&D fan, had contributed a handful of creatures to editor Don Tumbull’s “Fiend Factory” monster column in White Dwarf magazine, then a general-interest gaming periodi- cal, When Turnbull joined TSR UK and began work on the monster book that would become the Fiend Folio, Stzoss polished up his original creations, added a couple more, and forwarded his submissions to Turnbull, who later published them in their final form, Trecently caught up with Charlie Stross, who left D&D about the time he went to university, totally unaware of ‘the impact his creatures would have on D&D fans and writers, e's now a full-time science fiction novelist with two Hugo nominations and a Nebula Award nomination tohis credit. Stross newest novel, Singularity Sky, will be published as an Ace hardcover in August, and he has four Additional novels under contract with Ace, Tor, and Golden Gryphon. Charlie Stross has come a long way since his Fiend Folio days, and so have his monsters, Lasked Stross about his most impactful creation, the githyank who serve a the focus for this month's Dracon/Dunozon/PozvieDRoN crossover, Incursion “With the githyanki wanted a whole civ lization that made some sort of sense This was around the time thatthe original AD&D manuals were coming out, along with the first dungeon modules from TSR. ‘was very impressed by the treatment of dark elves in the early modules, and thought having a full-blown under. ground civilization was alot more useful for your campaign than a boring standard dungeon. 1 was getting interested in the psionics rules at the time, and designing 3 monster type suitable‘ forthat kindof campaign rade sense,” ‘Alot has been added to the lore of the githyanki since the Fiend Folio, but the idea kernel that make the giths so compelling came from Charlie Stross, the teenaged D&D fan who, quite by accident, created one of the most, compelling D&D creatures of alltime. Thanks, Charlie! This one's for you Enix Mowa © July 03 Dungeon/Polyhedron 3Global Positioning ® Fast Food Restaurant Re! Peo) eateries ras Perreaety Om me oc 4 Dungeon/Polyhedron July 03 11) Walkctd Freezer eprint eRe Peers a UR 20) Parking Lot Cartography by Christopher West