Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds bestiary

[MacGyver]

After many more nights of staying up until 2 a.m., accumulating horrendously high dead monster body counts and small mountains of magical artifacts, I present to you my bestiary for Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds:

http://kramwartap.fortunecity.com/wizardry2_bestiary.html

http://www.angelfire.com/ult/ace/wizardry2_bestiary.html

This particular Wizardry game is still my favorite out of the four I've played. Not sure exactly why, but I really like the concept of searching down and taking out pieces of a legendary suit of animate armor, which your characters can then equip upon themselves (it's a more interesting foe than the typical demon lord or evil wizard at any rate.)

[Anyone00]

Ah, so that's how Mr. Smallwoood ends up.

Were Amoeba... Were Amoeba... I mean Were Amoeba

Mahaman... sounds like Manhattan... I wonder if this was an intentional way of saying 'Magical equivalent of a nuke'.

[ScutigeraColeoptrata]

Very nice work MacGyver. I really love the art style these games having going on, and I think the idea of the shadowy figures for unknown monsters is very clever.

I recall seeing a miniature for the Wizardy black dragon a number of months ago. I posted it on this page:

http://z3.invisionfree.com/bogleech/index....pic=1231&st=240

I really wish I could find out more about this figure.

[Jesus lizard]

I wish you could too!
I'd give my left nut to know where to get figures of these things, this is awesome!

[ScutigeraColeoptrata]

Using my limited knowledge of Japanese and Google translate, I was able to track down another page mentioning this miniature:

http://mguild.blog122.fc2.com/blog-entry-33.html

There were apparently other Wizardry miniatures made as well:

http://aguajourna.exblog.jp/9400578/

Pretty awesome.

[MacGyver]

Super sweet, me love you long time, Scutigera!!! Those are the first Wizardry figures I've ever seen, outside the two I've made myself--one would think there'd be more of them, especially from Japanese artists, as Wizardry was really big there (they've got all sorts of Wizardry spinoff games we never got.)

Let's see, the first one is Sidelle, the second one is probably T'ien Lung, the third is a Dragon Zombie (they're in Wizardry I: Proving Grounds of The Mad Overlord), the fourth and seventh ones are obviously Green and Blue Dragons, respectively, but I haven't seen those chromatic varieties in any of the Wizardry games I've played (just Black, Fire, Gold, Zombie, and Puppy, if I remember right), the fifth is a Greater Demon, and the sixth a Black Dragon as you already mentioned.

They look like original sculpts to me, not mass produced items, but I could be wrong. I'll ask me mates over at CoolMiniOrNot, they may know something.

[ScutigeraColeoptrata]

No problem! At first I thought they were custom as well, but there apparently was a whole line of Wizardry miniatures produced in Japan during the late 80s, similar in format and theme to the Ral Partha D&D miniatures in the west. I found some pictures of the figures in their original package:



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I think the art style transfers to miniature form very well. I have to say I think I like them even more than the Ral Parthas of the time.

[MacGyver]

The public computer I was on yesterday didn't have Japanese text support, so I saved the page, and when I got home checked it out again on my pc, which does. After deciphering the katakana, I found that the green dragon is a Gas Dragon--those are in Wizardry 1 too, but I had forgotten all about them. Less excusable is my failure to recognize the blue dragon as L'kbreth--especially as I spent a lot of time looking at her recently when I made the Wizardry III bestiary. I was correct on the identities of the other beasties.

Thanks for the new photos--man, I wants me a complete set of Wizardry miniatures now. I bet the Japanese had core rule books, modules, the whole shot--Americans lose out to Japanese awesomeness once more... I would REALLY be interested in finding a Japanese Monster Manual/Compendium or Fiend Folio for Wizardry if it exists.

The first set consists of a Giant Zombie, Succubus (can't decide if she's got real synthetic hair of if its just sparkly paint), and Manticore. The second set is a Were Panther, Were Bat, Were Lion, and either a Vorpal Bunny or a Rabid Rat. Boltac's is the weapon/armor/item shop usually found in the games, at least the initial trilogy at least (I think Boltac is supposed to be dwarf though, not a human.) The fact that the Manticore box is numbered #29 would seem to indicate that there are shitloads more of these to be discovered, perhaps every single monster in the original trilogy has been immortalized, that would rock.

[Jesus lizard]

MORE! MORE!
I CRAVE THE CARNAL AND ANCIENT KNOWLEDGE OF THESE FIGURES, THEY MUST BE MINE AND MINE ALONE!

[ScutigeraColeoptrata]

They seem to be fairly rare, as the last group of miniatures I posted pictures of were the only ones I could find for sale (on Yahoo Japan Auctions at least). I'm curious about the whole set too, so I'll keep looking.

In the meantime though, here is a better look at the L'kbreth miniature:

http://www.figualice.com/dora.html

[ScutigeraColeoptrata]

Here's another Japanese page showing a bunch more. They are listed under the "AOSHIMA" heading. Some are NSFW.

http://mini.asteroid.kakurezato.com/index.html

[MacGyver]

Cool find! I don't believe all of the Aoshima ones pictured are from Wizardry, I think it's a mix of figures from various RPG properties, but I recognized some more Wizardry critters like Lycurgus and the Iron Golem. I know some Japanese toy lines combine multiple licensed properties into a single line of figures--that may be what's going on here.

[ScutigeraColeoptrata]

I think all of the Fantastic Adventure ones are from the same line. Man, I wish more companies produced a range of figures for RPGs. I mean, there are of course the Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Monster Hunter, Xenosaga...okay, there are a fair number. Still, there is so much more potential there, especially since traditional RPG games seem more popular in Japan.

[Ebe]

http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A3...4/dp/4893662155

Wizardry Monster Manual

For about $7

[Ebe]

I found some excerpts from the Monster Manual and have been trying to figure out the Google Translate results.

Some of the entries are pretty normal, but there have been some interesting gems.

Gas Dragons only have a single female in their species who is something of a queen. The translation said something along the lines of her being "completely alien" but I'm not sure if that's what it was meant to mean.

Raver Lords aren't that interesting but I've always wondered what the heck they were since they have demonic traits. Apparently they're Lords (Wizardry Paladins) who went insane from the difficult burden of being a Lord.

Maelifics enjoy posing as God, and it's said that whenever divinity is depicted as evil or cruel, it was a Maelific.

If I bump into any more notable entries I'll make mention of it. Most of them are pretty bland like "Dragon Puppys can't use magic yet. They remain puppies until about the age of 30 and aren't considered full adults until 50." and that sort of thing that is mildly interesting but not eyebrow raise worthy.