Being a Mystaraphile, it should come as no surprise to any of my readers that, in my opinion, one of the BEST Monstrous Compendiums to ever come out of the 2nd Edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons was the Mystara Appendix. Wizards has finally released the PDF on DriveThruRPG. Being designed for 2E, it is readily compatible with Labyrinth Lord and Castles & Crusades, so you should definitely check it out if you want a collection of weird and interesting monsters!
I've included the info from the DTRPG listing below. I gotta say that I really enjoy the historical info on all the new PDF releases from Wizards.
Rare dragons, wondrous giants, bizarre humanoids... For
years such creatures have filled classic D&D campaigns set in the world of
Mystara, along with the exotic hivebrood, rakasta, thoul, and many more.
Now, for the first time ever, more than 100 of Mystara's
unique and most popular creatures have been developed and defined in AD&D
game terms! This must-have volume will delight and horrify players of the new
AD&D Mystara campaign as well as any fan of the all-time favorites within.
Product History
The Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix (1994) was
produced by John Nephew, Teeuwynn Woodruff, John Terra, and Skip Williams. It
was published in August 1994.
Moving Mystara. In Dragon #197 (September 1993), Bruce A.
Heard announced that the Known World of Mystara would "be granted much
greater attention and support as a major TSR line." To allow for this,
Heard said that the Known World was "graduating" to the AD&D
game. According to TSR's original plans, the new line was to kick off with a
Monstrous Compendium, a dungeon adventure, a Castle Amberville Gazetteer, an
almanac, new novels, and a new accessory about the Savage Coast
Fans were a bit shocked, and some protested that AD&D
didn't need another game world - and they were right there, as TSR's
proliferation of game worlds was probably already causing them economic
problems. What they didn't realize was that Basic D&D had been losing
ground to AD&D for over a decade, and that TSR had been flailing about
trying to find some way to support Basic D&D since 1990 - without success.
The Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game (1994) would end up being the last
release for TSR's introductory gaming system. If Mystara hadn't transferred
over to AD&D, the world would have died.
Although TSR supported Mystara for only three years as an
AD&D game world, from 1994-96, along the way they produced some handsome
boxed sets and largely fulfilled their original plans. It all kicked off in
August 1994 with two releases - Karameikos Campaign Setting and Mystara
Monstrous Compendium Appendix.
Sources. The Mystara Monstrous Compendium is a rather
impressive collection of almost 15 years of Known World material. It contains
numerous monsters from the core sources that you'd expect, including the first
four BECMI boxes (1983-84), six B-series Basic adventures, almost every
X-series Expert adventure, three CM (Companion) adventures, and two M (or
Master) adventures.
It also goes further afield, reprinting monsters that
appeared in the DA (Blackmoor), XL (Licensed), XS (Solo), and O (One-on-One)
series, as well as monsters from some later releases like Wrath of the
Immortals (1992), Champions of Mystara: Heroes of the Princess Ark (1993), and
"Rage of the Rakasta" (1993).
Prior to the publication of the Mystara Monstrous
Compendium, Known World monsters had largely been collected in three volumes.
Monsters from the rulebooks had been compiled in the D&D Rules Cyclopedia
(1991) while monsters from adventures were compiled in AC9: Creature Catalogue
(1986), which was later revamped as DMR2: Creature Catalog (1993). The Mystara
Monstrous Compendium largely supersedes those previously compilations, though
it of course updates everything to AD&D.
Because the Mystara Monstrous Compendium is such a
comprehensive sourcebook, it also brings together some previously separated
classes of critters, such as the living statues, the spider-kin, and the worms.
(Yes, for some reason the Known World has tons of worms.)
Monsters of Note. This compilation is most notable for the
deeply Mystaran creatures that it brings over to AD&D, among them the
hutaakans of the Hollow World, the tentacular kopru, a variety of lizard-kin
and spider-kin (the latter including the popular aranea), the lupin of the
Savage Coast, pegataurs, the racoon-like phanaton, and the cat-like rakasta.
The Mystara Monstrous Compendium also includes several
interesting typed creatures, most notably the unique drakes and crystalline
dragons of Mystara - though the sapphire dragon was sadly misplaced. There are
also some new inhabitants for the elemental planes, including Mystara's
sentient answer to the quasi-elementals, which mix Law and Chaos with the
standard elements, and a set of weaker elemental fundamentals.
The most infamous monster in this book is doubtless the
decapus, which caused some problems in its original appearance in B3:
"Palace of the Silver Princess" (1983).
Sadly, very few of the monsters from Mystara have influenced
more recent editions of D&D. The bhut, the Neh-Tallgu brain collector, the
choker, the frost salamander, the athach giant, the mud golem, the kopru, the
nightshade, and the aranea spider-kin are the only monsters to appear in major
Wizards of the Coast supplements for third edition. Several more iconic monsters
like the lupin and the phanton showed up in Dragon or Dungeon magazine thanks
to interest at Paizo.
About the Creators. This creatures in this book were
originally created by a variety of authors over a 13-year period, then revamped
and edited by freelancers and TSR staff alike. No doubt this overhaul was a
major internal effort at Wizards!
About the Product Historian
The history of this product was researched and written by
Shannon Appelcline, the author of Designers & Dragons - a history of the
roleplaying industry told one company at a time. Please feel free to mail
corrections, comments, and additions to shannon.appelcline@gmail.com.
Devil swine and old dnd salamanders and bronze golems always my favorite
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