Monsters & Magic of Lankhmar Review

Monsters & Magic of Lankhmar is an officially licensed 5e product released by Goodman Games. It was written by their resident expert, Michael Curtis. The book begins with a forward about Nehwon and it's history (particularly with gaming). It's then followed by a curated bibliography. 

This is followed by Newhonian Nasties, part one of the stories. Monsters are presented in a two column format. The stat blocks and backgrounds are presented in a clean and easy to read manner. Some stat blocks have side bars and artwork, but not all. There's a great side bar that lists other MM monsters that are appropriate for Newhon. Here's what we get (with descriptions):

• Behemoth (Challenge 7) - elephant-like creatures with echolocation... could be elephants in the original source material
• Beloved of Tyaa (Challenge 1/8) - intelligent black birds that serve the goddess, Winged Tyaa
• Bleak Shore Executioner (Challenge 2) a weird mix of reptile, bird, and crustacean that's tied strange creature incased in an egg on Bleak Shore
• Dragon of Newhon (Challenge 7) - these sea serpents vary in temperament and appearance (there's a table to help you customize them)
• Fish-of-the-Air (Challenge 1/4) - large invisible and furred flying fish
• Ghost Hound (1/4) - these are undead are spiritual echoes of once-faithful dogs that died of neglect or starvation
• Gods of Lankmar (Challenge 15 ) - strange mummy creatures that dwell in a strange temple in Lankhmar, statistically they are Mummy Lords with an additional Black Staff attack.
• Ice Gnomes (1/4) - small brutish humanoids that live in clans in the frozen wastes
• Invisibles of Stardock (Challenge 1/8) - an ancient but dying race of evil invisible humanoids, duelist (Challenge 1/2) and Noble Wizard (2) variants are also presented
• Kleshite Ghoul (Challenge 1/4) - shovel-handed savage humanoids that dwell near jungle burial grounds
• Leviathan (Challenge 7) whale-like see creatures with razor sharp teeth, like behemoths these may simply be whales in the original fiction
• Newhon Ghouls (Challenge 1) - these humanoids have visible skeletons (and invisible everything else), they feel it is their sacred duty to end the opaque flesh. Raid Captain (Challenge 2) variant is also presented
• Rats of the Lankhmar Below - Rat-Sized (Challenge 1/8) and Man-Sized (Challenge 1/2) humanoid rat hybrids tied to the priest of Ilthmar's Rat God
• Simorgyans (Challenge 1/2) - an ancient race of wizards turned aquatic shapeshifters when their kingdom sank, a Noble (Challenge 1) variant is also presented
• Simorgyan Manta (Challenge 1) - monstrous mantas that can disguise themselves as cloaks
• Snow Serpent (Challenge 2) - 45 foot long furred serpents with poison breath
• Statue of the Devourers (Challenge 4) - statues are are either servants or shells of an invading race call the Devourers, they are magically cloaked to appear as common races
• War Cat (Challenge 2) - these intelligent fey are ascended cats that govern the others, there are always 13

The second part of the book includes spells and magic items of Nehwon.

Spells

• Elude (Ranger 1, Sorcerer 1, Wizard 1) - obscures scent and signs of passage
• Mouse's Contagion (Sorcerer 1, Warlock 1) - afflict a creature with 24 hours of sickness
• The Snow Woman's Icy Restraint (Sorcerer 2)  - blasts a 20-foot cube with ice that damages and restrains
• Mouse's Pain Transference (Warlock 2, Wizard 2) - caster endures pain and suffering and can unleash it on another
• Hristromilo's Strangling Fog (Sorceror 3, Wizard 3) - summons magical inky black smoke to restrain and damage targets
• Sheelba's of the Eyeless Face's Great Spell (Warlock 9, Wizard 9) - starting with lowest current HP, this spell outright slays 100 hit points of affected creatures with a 20 feet point

Magic Items

• Blindfold of True Seeing - Tied to Sheelba of the Eyeless Face this tattered strand of cloth allows the wearer to gain truesight 1d3 times
• Cloak of Invisibility - same as DMG
• Cuirass of Mingsward - can be worn under clothing, acts as breast plate and grants an additional +2 bonus to AC
• Darts of Emotion - hand thrown dart/crossbow ammunition that can charm those pierced by it
• Elixir of Ghosts - allows the imbiber's soul to leave their body
• Groin-Piece of Gortch - can be worn under clothing without being noticed and provides a +3 bonus to AC
• Hisvin's Potions - white potion is potion of growth, black potion is potion of diminish, act as presented in DMG
• Hristomilo's Ring - allows caster to expend spell slots to increase connection between caster and their familiar
• War Cat's Whistle - can summon War Cat (as mentioned above)

Finally the author discusses Scalpel, Cat's Claw, and Graywand: the weapons of Fafhrd and Gray Mouser. He proposes that these items are non-magical and its their wielders that are responsible for the feats they've accomplished. That being said he does stat magical variants.

• Cat's Claw - dagger that grants +1 to attack and damage, one per day gain advantage on a single attack roll
• Graywand - longsword that grants +1 to attack and damage, when it scores a critical hit wielder can reroll one damage die and take the best result
• Scalpel - light longsword that acts as a finesse weapon and grants +1 to attack and damage

This is an inexpensive way for you to interject some classic swords and sorcery into their regular 5e games. Personally I think I might use it to add to the 5e Punjar game I eventually want to run. You can get the print and pdf combo from the Goodman Games store. Also if you want more monsters from Goodman Games, check out their current Kickstarter.