If your starting out then get poser 4, upgrade to Poser 5 when your ready. Poser 5 has a steeper learning curve (wish I had done that I only have Poser 5). Both work in XP. poser comes with some people models, and there are a lot of freebies that are out there, many are not to be used in commercial works so make sure you check any freebie for your particular needs. Sixus1 sells many monster models here in the marketplace and they really work very well. Sixus1 also has a water dragon on his site for FREE, amazing little moster www.sixus1.com Rawnrr has some great textures at Daz3d, zombie and zombie addon with bandages as well as items here in the marketplace great stuff (Rawnrr ya can't toot your own horn so I will! haha!). you cannot go wrong with Vicki2 or mike 2 there is SO much out there for them. Daz3d Platinum Club helps with discounts and there is a bunch of fantasy scifi stuff in PClub, as well as the discounts on other creatures, addon packs etc.