Last Updated on February 1, 2023
Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship – wait a second. We don’t have starships in D&D; we have spelljammers. Today, we’re diving into Boo’s Astral Menagerie, a collection of creatures that call wildspace their home.
Key Takeaways:
- This book is dedicated to creatures with a strong connection to wildspace or the astral plane.
- Boo’s Astral Menagerie is straight to the point and rather small.
- The book cannot be purchased on its own, only as part of the Spelljammer: Adventures in Space bundle.
What Is Boo’s Astral Menagerie?
Boo’s Astral Menagerie is a brief little bestiary that provides stat blocks and lore for around 80 different creatures that have something to do with wild space or the astral plane. This book was published as part of the Spelljammer: Adventures in Space bundle and can only be purchased as part of the whole.
The whole publication for this begs the question, “Why not make them just one book in the first place?” A 64-page book with nothing more than a bestiary and a page or two about astral encounters is hardly what one imagines when one pictures a 5e hardcover.
Oh well, I’m not here to say that printing Spelljammer: Adventures in Space as a single book would’ve saved trees instead of creating a gimmicky deal where there is one. I’m here to review BAM, which is probably the best acronym we’ve gotten for a 5e book since HotDQ (Hot Dairy Queen, or Hoard of the Dragon Queen).
BAM is by no means a marvelous piece of literature, but I really think it excels at doing something rarely seen in 5e. This is a book with one, singular focus done well.
Often, we see a lot of “compendium” type books that try to jam in so much information it can be hard to figure out what’s going on. Xanathar’s Guide to Everything and Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything are both great books, but their titles alone make it pretty clear there is too much content being slapped within their pages.
Boo’s Astral Menagerie takes us in the other direction. The book doesn’t go off on unnecessary tangents; it only tells us what we need to know. The best part about this is that there’s plenty of space for the writers to include little pieces of lore that might otherwise be overlooked (ahem, Monsters of the Multiverse).
Should You Buy Boo’s Astral Menagerie?
If you could buy Boo’s Astral Menagerie on its own, there would be no question. You might even be able to at your local game store; in which case, have at it. This is a marvelous little creature guide that’s an excellent resource for DMs of any skill level.
If you can’t purchase it on its own, you’ll have to consider whether you want to buy the whole package. If you’re interested in Light of Xaryxis, a spelljammer adventure, and Astral Adventurer’s Guide, a setting overview of wildspace and the astral plane, then go for it. If those don’t sound up your alley, wait until you can pick up BAM on eBay for cheap.
Don’t miss our full guide to 5e books here.
As a kid, I was often told to get my head out of the clouds and to stop living in a fantasy world. That never really jived with me, so I decided to make a living out of games, stories, and all sorts of fantastical works. Now, as an adult, I aspire to remind people that sometimes a little bit of fantasy is all you need when life gets to be too much.
