Early Chaosium Monster Manual • Collecting General

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Early Chaosium Monster Manual
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Keith the Thief
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Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:18 pm

Do any of you have this monster manual?
The ad is from the Sept 1977 issue of The Dragon.

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Mars
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:19 am

Yep, there are actually 3 volumes that were published. These were reprinted a few times too.

Scathaigh
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:56 am

Mars wrote:Yep, there are actually 3 volumes that were published. These were reprinted a few times too.

Been quite a few of these in various conditions on ebay all throughout 2011.

Couple of people had excellent or better copies of all 3 available.

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Keith the Thief
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 2:16 am

Is "All the Worlds' Monsters" the title of the book?
Is it written for D&D?

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dbartman
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 8:19 am

Yes, that's the title for all three volumes.

They are primarily written to D&D/AD&D standards but would work for any system that is similar. Volume II has a conversion for T&T. Volume III has a conversion for Runequest.

Keith the Thief
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 5:35 pm

dbartman wrote:Yes, that's the title for all three volumes.

They are primarily written to D&D/AD&D standards but would work for any system that is similar. Volume II has a conversion for T&T. Volume III has a conversion for Runequest.

Are these any good as a monster manuals?
Usable for an OD&D or 1E game?
Good art?

I'm trying to decide whether I want to shell out the $$$ for it.

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Gnat the Beggar
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 7:33 pm

Thief.. see the thread below.
http://www.acaeum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11357&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=
Printing data...

FWIW: I have some extra copies of later printings that could be for sale, or trade.
PM me if interested.

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Keith the Thief
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 10:08 pm

Gnat the Beggar wrote:Thief.. see the thread below.
http://www.acaeum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11357&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=
Printing data...

FWIW: I have some extra copies of later printings that could be for sale, or trade.
PM me if interested. 8)

Excellent. I will.

Is Volume III exclusively for Runequest?

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Gnat the Beggar
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 11:51 pm

No the books each have conversion tables to hep you convert from one system to another.

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FormCritic
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Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 7:48 pm

Interesting reads. All the Worlds' Monsters I-III should be part of any hardcore collection.

The stats are AD&D, sort of. Some good monsters appear here. Some really dumb monsters as well.

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Zenopus
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Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 9:09 pm

Keith, if you go to RPGnow you can look at a free preview of the pdfs for each volume. The Vol 1 preview has enough pages that you can see the first two pages of monster entries. Including the Air Squid on the first page, which has a nice illustration. It's a giant squid that flies among the clouds. Your opinion of the Air Squid will probably tell you whether its a product for you.

IIRC, the first two volumes came out in 1977, so they actually predate the Monster Manual (late Dec 77). So some historical signficance. Was the first volume the first ever published D&D beastiary (rulebook focusing exclusively on monsters)?

Lots of Dave Hargrave monsters in Vol 1, so if you like Arduin you might like them. The monsters all have Dexterity ranges. Like Holmes Basic, Arduin and the Perrin conventions (alternate D&D initiative rules from Jeff Perrin) used dexterity for initiative in combat (it seems to have been favored on the West Coast). Vol 2 includes the Perrin conventions.

Zenopus Archives website & blog: Exploring the Underworld of Holmes Basic D&D. Holmes Ref: Reference Sheets for Holmes Basic Referees, also compatible with OD&D plus the Greyhawk supplement

faro
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Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 12:23 am

Zenopus wrote:IIRC, the first two volumes came out in 1977, so they actually predate the Monster Manual (late Dec 77). So some historical signficance. Was the first volume the first ever published D&D beastiary (rulebook focusing exclusively on monsters)?

Phil Edgren's book fills that definition more traditionally.

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