Monsters & Treasure is the dedicated bestiary and treasure compendium for Castles & Crusades (C&C), intended as one of the three core volumes that support the SIEGE Engine game (alongside the Player’s Handbook and the Castle Keepers Guide). Over multiple printings the book has evolved from the original 176-page bestiary into larger collected editions; recent bundled/complete printings collect monsters, treasure tables, and expanded resources into a single volume suitable for Castle Keepers running campaigns of any length. It’s a practical, GM-focused book: meant to populate dungeons, seed wilderness encounters, and provide ready treasure and ecology notes so a Keeper can run sessions with minimal prep.
🐾 What’s inside (the essentials)
At its heart, Monsters & Treasure contains:
- A large bestiary: dozens (and in later printings, hundreds) of monster entries ranging from classic goblinoids and giant types through to rarer fiends, elementals, and unique campaign beasts. Entries provide challenge values, ecology notes, treasure types, and suggested tactics.
- Treasure & magic item tables: systematic treasure generation tables (by monster type and CR equivalents), equipment lists, and magic items with descriptive text and suggested rarity. These are designed to plug directly into loot adjudication after encounters.
- Encounter & ecology guidance: short essays on placing monsters in meaningful environments (dungeon ecology, lairs, wandering bands) plus experience charts and conversion guidance for new monsters.
- Appendices & tools: experience point tables, quick-reference charts, and (in modern consolidated printings) cross-references to the Player’s Handbook and Castle Keepers Guide so the Keeper doesn’t have to flip pages during play.
The book’s structure deliberately mirrors the needs of a running Keeper: a readable monster entry, quick treasure adjudication, and a few paragraphs of GM advice for each creature so they can be used as more than damage dumps.
🎯 How it plays at the table
If the Players Handbook gives your table the rules to act, Monsters & Treasure supplies the world’s opposition and rewards. Practically:
- Speed of use: Monster blocks are compact and keyed to the SIEGE Engine’s Challenge Class approach, so you can determine difficulty and XP quickly and move on to the scene. This keeps combat and exploration flowing instead of stalling for stat lookups.
- GMs save prep time: The ecology notes and lair descriptions mean you don’t have to invent why a troll is hoarding silver in a river cave — the book gives motivations and roleplay hooks to make encounters memorable.
- Treasure tuning: The included treasure tables can be used as-is for random hoards or tailored to campaign tone; the Keeper can choose to inflate or starve treasure to match campaign pacing. The suggested magic items are intentionally evocative rather than mechanical showpieces, which helps keep magic mysterious and campaign-focused.
For long campaigns, the book’s later consolidated printings (which gather more content and cross-refs) make it a single-volume resource that reduces table clutter. If you use the free PDF offered on Troll Lord’s site, you also have searchable text for faster lookups.
✨ Highlights — what it does best
- Old-school feel with modern organization: The entries evoke classic fantasy bestiaries but are organized and edited for fast, modern play. Monster descriptions are punchy and focused on play (tactics, lair, treasure) instead of long mythological essays.
- Utility for different Keeper styles: Whether you run hex crawls, dungeon delves, or city encounters, the book’s mix of wandering monster tables, lair variants, and treasure charts makes it easy to generate scenes on the fly.
- Value in consolidated printings: Recent “Complete” or re-collected editions expand page counts and bring more material into one binding — handy for GMs who want fewer books at the table. Listings show modern reprints with expanded page counts (up to the larger bundled volumes).
⚠ Things to watch — tradeoffs & caveats
- Edition/printing variety: Over the years Monsters & Treasure has seen multiple printings and aggregated “Complete” editions; page counts and included material can differ between printings. If you buy used, double-check which printing you’re getting to ensure it contains the material you expect. (Troll Lord’s site and DriveThru listings show different page counts and ISBNs.)
- Not a lore compendium: The book’s monster writeups prioritize mechanics and play advice over long lore essays. That’s perfect for busy Keepers but means you won’t find long narrative background for every creature—if you want sprawling origin myths, you’ll supplement with setting books.
- Tone-level control is on the Keeper: Because treasure tables and monster tactics are modular, a novice Keeper may need guidance on pacing and reward scaling; the book arms you to tweak those knobs, but it doesn’t prescribe one “correct” balance.
🧭 Who should buy it?
- Active Castle Keepers running regular campaigns: this is essential toolkit material — if you’re orchestrating dungeons and wilderness adventures, you’ll use it every session.
- Referees who prefer modular prep: Keepers who improvise at the table will appreciate the ecology hooks and compact monster blocks.
- Collectors & completists of C&C: If you want the consolidated “Complete” volumes (monsters, treasure, appendices in one binding), look for the larger reprint/complete ISBNs listed on retailer pages.
Less essential if you only run one-shots and rely on pregenerated antagonists from starter adventures — but even then, the book is a fertile source of new beasts and loot hooks.
🗡 Final verdict
Castles & Crusades: Monsters & Treasure is exactly what a GM needs when running a SIEGE-Engine campaign: practical, well-edited monster entries, modular treasure adjudication, and table-ready ecology notes that turn encounters from mere HP trackers into scenes with motive and consequence. The book preserves the quick, old-school punch C&C aims for while modernizing layout and cross-referencing to reduce time spent flipping pages.
If you run C&C regularly, it’s a must-own; if you’re considering the system and want a feel for its play style, the bestiary gives a clear picture of how encounters land in the SIEGE Engine: fast, dangerous, and story-ready. Buy the latest consolidated printing if possible—page counts and content differ between editions—otherwise the free PDF on Troll Lord’s site is an excellent searchable companion.