#D&D MAKING A MONSTER MANUAL#

Instead of XP, the experience earned for defeating a monster was based on its hit dice.

One bit of info, however, was not to be found - XP. Details about magic and special abilities would be found in the text description. Monsters did not have the six Ability Scores (Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha) but the stats column did provide help for DMs by providing details such as Treasure Type (a letter that corresponded to a table in the back of the MM that provided gold/silver/magic item distributions), AC, damage per attack, and aВ number stating how many of a creature would typically appear together. Some creatures were extremely intricate (such as the Lizard Man, page 62) while others were almost too cartoonish (such as Larva, page 59) to take seriously.ДЄll monsters came with a statistics column followed by a paragraph or two of descriptive text - a few monsters, such as dragons and giants, came with lengthier details while others such as the Axe Beak consisted of 2-3 sentences. (Yes, the possessive apostrophes were missing in both books.)В The bookвЂ™s interior content was black-and-white only and consisted of a mix of creature images fromВ a smallВ group of artists with varying styles. There may have been earlier advertisements for the MM, but the earliest I can find is thisВ December 1977 advertisement from Dragon magazine shown below.ДЄt $9.95, it was considered a supplement to the D&D rules and the first book released in the AD&D trilogy that included the Players Handbook (1978)В and the Dungeon Masters Guide (1979). Unfortunately, most players I knew owned a copy, and it made it sometimes difficult to pull surprises - as a DM, IвЂ™d oftenВ describe a creatureвЂ™s appearanceВ if I didnвЂ™t expect the low level characters had encountered one, but sometimes a player would stillВ recognize it.

With over 350 monsters to choose from, there was always an opportunity to introduce players to a new nasty. My players usually dreadedВ seeing me pull the thin bookВ out because it usually signified a special monster encounter versus one of the more common types (skeleton, orc, kobold, etc.) with easy to remember statistics.

#D&D MAKING A MONSTER MANUAL#

Released in 1977, the AD&D Monster Manual was one of the most recognizable RPG books with two-thirds of its front coverВ filled with a red dragon, a unicorn and centaurвЂ¦ and even stranger creatures in the subterranean realm making up the lower third of the front cover.

D&d making a monster