 First edition Monster Manual II | |
| Author | Gary Gygax |
|---|---|
| Genre | Role-playing game |
| Publisher | TSR |
Publication date | 1983 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
Monster Manual II is the title shared by two hardback rulebooks published for different versions of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy roleplaying game.
Monster Manual II was a 160-page hardcover book published in 1983, credited solely to Gary Gygax, which featured cover art by Jeff Easley. [1] The book was a supplement describing over 250 monsters, most with illustrations. Many of the monsters were drawn from scenario modules, [1] in particular from S4: Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth .[ citation needed ] The book included random encounter tables for dungeon and wilderness settings built from the Monster Manual , Fiend Folio , and Monster Manual II, [1] and a dozen new devils that had been first published in the pages of Dragon magazine. Like the Fiend Folio before it, the monsters in Monster Manual II listed the experience point value for each monster within the entry. The Monster Manual II along with the First Edition Unearthed Arcana book featured quite a number of monsters, races, and places from Gary Gygax's Greyhawk Campaign world. The book featured interior illustrations by Jim Holloway, Harry Quinn, Dave Sutherland, and Larry Elmore.
In 1999, a paperback reprint of the first edition was released. [2]
Monster Manual II garnered positive reviews, receiving a score of 7 out of 10 in a review in White Dwarf magazine. [3] The reviewer praised the book's standard of clear presentation, and felt that the artwork was of a higher quality than that in the previous monster books. However, the reviewer felt that there were too many high level and overly deadly monsters, and that most of the monsters in the book were inimical to adventures. The reviewer did make note of the fact that there were "many interesting ideas and several well-developed tribes and hierarchies", and felt that, overall, the book is "a good, well presented addition to the AD&D series, with some very useful creatures". The reviewer recommended the book to anyone who likes a wide range of monsters in the game. [3]
Doug Cowie reviewed Monster Manual II quite favorably for Imagine magazine. [4] He noted that the cover was good, and contrasted it with the first edition Monster Manual, whose cover was "universally held to be appalling" and whose "childish style" may have "seriously hampered the development of RPGs as adult games". [4] As for Monster Manual II, Cowie suggested: "If you like the AD&D game, go and buy it immediately." [4] Although he found some monsters "to be just plain silly", they are all "well presented, properly thought out and adequately described". [4]
Lawrence Schick also commented on the Monster Manual II in Heroic Worlds, stating "Some of the monsters are less than inspired, and some are quite silly; this author's favorites are the stegocentipede, a giant arthropod notable for its twin row of back plates (wow!), and the stench kow, a monstrous bison that smells real bad." [1]
Scott Taylor for Black Gate in 2014 listed Monster Manual II by Jeff Easley as #3 in The Top 10 TSR Cover Paintings of All Time. [5]
Scott Taylor of Black Gate listed the Monster Manual II as #1 on the list of "Top 10 'Orange Spine' AD&D Hardcovers By Jeff Easley, saying "Jeff's first 'Orange Spine' and first hardcover AD&D work, and it absolutely takes it to church. If you haven't sat around wondering A: if this [is] a hill giant or and ogre lord and B: if this poor bastard fighter is going to live, then you aren't a D&D player. Truly, one of the greatest masterworks to ever grace a gaming product." [6]
 | |
| Author | Ed Bonny, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, Skip Williams, and Steve Winter |
|---|---|
| Genre | Role-playing game |
| Publisher | Wizards of the Coast |
Publication date | September 2002 [7] |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
Monster Manual II was a new monster-specific rulebook that contained mostly updated monsters from the sourcebooks of earlier editions, though some monsters have almost no overlap with those of their first edition namesakes. Monster Manual II also included a discussion of monster design. [8] Monster Manual II was designed by Ed Bonny, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, Skip Williams, and Steve Winter. Cover art was by Henry Higginbotham, with interior art by Glen Angus, Daren Bader, Thomas Baxa, Matt Cavotta, Dennis Cramer, David Day, Brian Despain, Tony DiTerlizzi, Michael Dutton, Jeff Easley, Emily Fiegenschuh, Donato Giancola, Lars Grant-West, Rebecca Guay, Quinton Hoover, Jeremy Jarvis, Alton Lawson, Todd Lockwood, Raven Mimura, Matthew Mitchell, Vinod Rams, Wayne Reynolds, David Roach, Scott Roller, Richard Sardinha, Marc Sasso, Brian Snoddy, Anthony Waters, and Sam Wood. [9]
According to Jeff Grubb for Monster Manual II, "The original plan was about 50 percent completely new, about 50 percent revisions of classic beasts that were not in the first Monster Manual. Right now, it's hard to tell because a lot of "classics" have been stripped down to their core concepts and names and rebuilt from the ground up." [10] There was no new version of Monster Manual II for the 3.5 edition of D&D, although update errata was made available for download from the publisher's website. [11]
Alan D. Kohler, a reviewer from Pyramid , commented: "The third edition of the game moved forward the "art" of monsters, providing them with more detailed statistics and methods for advancing creatures. It is in these footsteps that the Monster Manual II must follow." [8]
The Monster Manual is the primary bestiary sourcebook for monsters in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, first published in 1977 by TSR. The Monster Manual was the first hardcover D&D book and includes monsters derived from mythology and folklore, as well as creatures created specifically for D&D. Creature descriptions include game-specific statistics, a brief description of its habits and habitats, and typically an image of the creature. Along with the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide, the Monster Manual is one of the three "core rulebooks" in most editions of the D&D game. As such, new editions of the Monster Manual have been released for each edition of D&D. Due to the level of detail and illustration included in the 1977 release, the book was cited as a pivotal example of a new style of wargame books. Future editions would draw on various sources and act as a compendium of published monsters.
The beholder is a fictional monster in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It is depicted as a floating orb of flesh with a large mouth, single central eye, and many smaller eyestalks on top with powerful magical abilities.
Fiend Folio is the name of three separate products published for successive editions of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). All three are collections of monsters.
The Player's Handbook is the name given to one of the core rulebooks in every edition of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). It does not contain the complete set of rules for the game, and only includes rules for use by players of the game. Additional rules, for use by Dungeon Masters (DMs), who referee the game, can be found in the Dungeon Master's Guide. Many optional rules, such as those governing extremely high-level players, and some of the more obscure spells, are found in other sources.
The Dungeon Master's Guide is a book of rules for the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. The Dungeon Master's Guide contains rules concerning the arbitration and administration of a game, and is intended for use by the game's Dungeon Master.
Deities & Demigods, alternatively known as Legends & Lore, is a reference book for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game (D&D). The book provides descriptions and game statistics of gods and legendary creatures from various sources in mythology and fiction, and allows dungeon masters to incorporate aspects of religions and mythos into their D&D campaigns.
Jeff Grubb is an author of novels, short stories, and comics, as well as a computer and role-playing game designer in the fantasy genre. Grubb worked on the Dragonlance campaign setting under Tracy Hickman, and the Forgotten Realms setting with Ed Greenwood. His written works include The Finder's Stone Trilogy, the Spelljammer and Jakandor campaign settings, and contributions to Dragonlance and the computer game Guild Wars Nightfall (2006).
Dungeonland (EX1) is a 1983 adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) roleplaying game, written by Gary Gygax for use with the First Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) rules. It is an adaptation of Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, with the various characters from the book translated into AD&D terms.
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Trolls are fictional monsters in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game.
Several different editions of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game have been produced since 1974. The current publisher of D&D, Wizards of the Coast, produces new materials only for the most current edition of the game. However, many D&D fans continue to play older versions of the game and some third-party companies continue to publish materials compatible with these older editions.
Jeff Easley is an oil painter who creates fantasy artwork for role-playing games, comics, and magazines, as well as non-fantasy commercial art.
In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, orcs are a primitive race of savage, bestial, barbaric humanoid.
Kobolds are a fictional race of humanoid creatures, featured in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game and other fantasy media. They are generally depicted as small reptilian humanoids with long tails, distantly related to dragons.
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, goblins are a common and fairly weak race of evil humanoid monsters. Goblins are non-human monsters that low-level player characters often face in combat.
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The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth is an adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It was written by Gary Gygax and published by TSR in 1982 for the first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) rules. The 64-page adventure bears the code "S4" and is set in the Greyhawk campaign setting. It is divided into two parts, a 32-page adventure, and a 32-page booklet of monsters and magic items. The plot involves the player characters investigating rumors of lost treasure. After traversing a wilderness and two levels of dungeons, the players face Drelnza, the vampiric daughter of long-deceased archmage Iggwilv.
The Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set is a set of rulebooks for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. First published in 1977, it saw a handful of revisions and reprintings. The first edition was written by J. Eric Holmes based on Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson's original work. Later editions were edited by Tom Moldvay, Frank Mentzer, Troy Denning, and Doug Stewart.
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the term monster refers to a variety of creatures, some adapted from folklore and legends and others invented specifically for the game. Included are traditional monsters such as dragons, supernatural creatures such as ghosts, and mundane or fantastic animals. A defining feature of the game, monsters are typically obstacles which players must overcome to progress through the game. Beginning with the first edition in 1974, a catalog of game monsters (bestiary) was included along other game manuals, first called Monsters & Treasure and now called the Monster Manual. As an essential part of Dungeons & Dragons, many of its monsters have become iconic and recognizable even outside D&D, becoming influential in video games, fiction, and popular culture.