Mordenkainen’s Tome Of Foes, by Wizards of the Coast

One of the best things about this book is that it does a good job at explaining the eternal foes of various conflicts, why and how long they have fought, and what sort of ways characters can involve themselves in these conflicts if they so choose.  Even better, not all of the various parties involved here need to be enemies of the party.  Indeed, in reading this book I thought of a good hook to use to provide one of my Lizardmen characters with a powerful if somewhat chaotic ally for massive destruction as well as friendliness, which made this book all the more enjoyable to read for me.  Not everyone will find this book to be enjoyable, because even for those who enjoy D&D this book gets into some pretty unusual and troublesome areas, but if you want an examination of some of the more eternal conflicts in the game as it has been designed this book provides a great deal of insight.  I had some clear sympathies in some of the conflicts, but not in all of them, and thought that the book began in the way that is most likely to provide puzzlement for some readers though it gets much more clear as one continues to read.

This book is about 250 pages long and is divided into six chapters with an appendix that provide detailed information on various eternal conflicts.  After a short preface the book begins with a discussion of the blood war between demons (who normally inhabit the abyss) and the devils of the nine hells (frequently referred to by people like Mark from Spectrum Pulse) that is fought in the way it is to avoid expanding the front to include other planes that are hostile to both (1).  After that the author talks about the division among the elves and not only comments about the hostility between elves and drow but also the way that elves in different areas (like sea elves) have their own eternal conflicts with enemies like the sahuagin (2).  After that there is a discussion of the guerrilla conflict between the much more numerous dwarves and their duergar kindred (3).  Then there is a somewhat brief chapter on the conflict between githyanki and githzerai (4) as well as a chapter on the much less conflict-ridden existence of the halflings and gnomes (5) before the final chapter, which takes up more than half of the book, gives a detailed bestiary organized in alphabetical order (6), after which an appendix provides monster lists.

What sort of eternal conflicts does this book present?  While a contemporary book might look at India and Pakistan or Israel and Palestine or Protestants and Catholics as examples of long-running and seemingly insoluble conflicts in the contemporary world, this book of course deals with conflicts in a game.  That said, the conflict between demons and devils is one that at least has an analogue in the real world between the more chaotic and more authoritarian among the world of fallen angels, which means that the book does have real life insight that is worth considering.  Beyond that, the book provides some insight as to the experiences that led elves and drow to swear to eternal conflict, as well as dwarves and duergar and the two races of the gith, all of whom have their own eternal conflicts that have wrecked havoc on their own lives and which may even excite some compassion on the part of the player.  Be that as it may, it does not appear as if any of these conflicts are going to end any time soon, which makes this book of foes an aptly titled book that is surprisingly insightful about the way that the game of D&D has been constructed in a way to provide for constant conflict in various planes.