Monstrous Manual (Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 2nd Edition) [ハードカバー]

This book is one of the core 3 books of the second edition AD&D, and as such it is required material for any dungeon master and very useful reading for beginning players. In the reviews below you can read about several good and bad things with this book, and they are summarized below:

a) content - the book contains the necessary basics for any game - orcs, goblins and the like. It also contains several offbeat monsters ( lammasu, giff) you could spinkle on top of your campaign if you like the sort of thing, and, finally, it contains a few useless super-powerful monsters that are there simply for the "wow factor" , such as the Tarrasque, tanar'ri, and other exotica. Of course by the time you can use those monstrosities you'll own many more volumes detailing the creatures of the multiverse. In any case, once you are past being interested in simple everyday kobolds, you should buy a different version of the manual or some of the annual compendiums.

b) format - I personally have nothing against book format. It's easier to use, it is more permanent in nature, and is much sturdier than the 3-ring binder pages, which were last released a long time ago and will never probably find their way into the mainstream again in the future.

c) usability - as far as I am concerned, the book is usable by the most of us. It could be better, but it is fine as it is, and the information is as expansive as could be published in the book's pages. Language is not too esoteric and the book by itself is fine reading.

Buy it as it is required. Move on later when you want more.

This product is a game necessity for a Dungeon Master(DM) of the Advanced Dundeons & Dragons (AD&D) Role-playing game. I would not recommend it for players whom never DM, it's not necessary, and it provides information players shouldn't have. For DMs the content of the book is excellent. More monsters and creatures than you'll ever need. Each beast is well discribed regarding appearance, habitat, life style, motivations, and several additional facts. I can not recomend this book enough. Anyone who is a DM or intends to be a DM, needs to have this book.

The only draw back of this book is the artwork. Most of it is quite good full color art, but I was hoping for excellence. The artwork isn't bad, but it does not live up to the excellence in the written context. That is the only reason this book receives a 4 star rating instead of a 5.

In summary, if you're a DM, get this book! If you just want read about weird and amazing ceatures, you'll enjoy this book. If you're an AD&D player who is looking to figure out how to beat the creature in your DM's latest adventure, stop trying to cheat.

Have fun and enjoy all the chaos AD&D has to offer. This book helps you do that!

After having played the newer 3rd Edition of Dungeons and Dragons for quite some time, I thought I'd take a little trek down memory lane and order an artifact from the past - the old AD&D Monstrous Manual. My, how things have changed in just over a decade! Every official D&D product coming out now is made by Wizards of the Coast , a company owned by Hasbro, maker of such childish wonders as Barbie and Ken. It goes without saying that due to it's parent company, Wizards only produces glitzy, "best foot forward" material that is much more family friendly and lot less "nude woman" oriented than what we enjoyed in times of old. Reading through this nigh on ancient volume reminds me both of how insanely cool Advanced Dungeons and Dragons was, and of how incredibly nerdy we must have all seemed.

The art throughout the book ranges the gamut from really great (See the "Gnoll" creature, which looks suspiciously like a DiTerlizzi work, the guy famous for doing all the Planescape artwork), to laughably cartoonish (see the "Bullywug" creature), to the outright bad (see the "Goblin" illustration. I get the feeling an artist was running too close to the deadline for publication, and had his pre-teen kid do a sketch, which he then submitted as his own). While some of the artwork has become considerably higher quality with the transition to 3rd Edition, most notably with the dragon illustrations, a lot of it actually took a step back. The Dryad, Elementals, and Hobgoblin all look a lot better here than in the newer editions. The whole book has an extremely nostalgic feel. Anyone who was fortunate enough to have played AD&D will be going through a minor rapture perusing the various pages. And fear not fans of the old school art, for large chested women with very little clothes on abound throughout!

A rather wide range of creatures exist in the Monstrous Manual, as this book was TSR's response to players demands for all the various monster books to be condensed into one tome which could be transported more easily. All the standard D&D creatures are here, along with various monsters from the Forgotten Realms, Al-Quadim, Planescape, and Dark Sun campaign settings. It certainly isn't entirely comprehensive, but it's pretty darn close. The format of the monster entries is far more readable in this book than in the 3rd Edition monster manuals. All the basic info you would need to use the creature in a campaign is listed at the top of the page. There is just enough information present to make the creature easily useable, but not enough so that you have to search for anything. I've noticed however that there are no "common" monsters. All creatures in this manual get a "Frequency" stat, describing how often they are found in their normal climate or terrain. Every monster is either uncommon, rare, or (most often) very rare. This doesn't make a whole lot of sense, considering how monster infested any D&D campaign world is. Even the races that players can use as characters, such as the dwarves and elves, are listed as "uncommon".

With how cheap this book is going for these days, any old school fan, or even someone who just wants to understand what we were all so obsessed about, should definitely pick this up.