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Monstrous Compendium - Al-Qadim Appendix $4.95
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Monstrous Compendium - Al-Qadim Appendix
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Monstrous Compendium - Al-Qadim Appendix
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 02/28/2022 11:45:45

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/02/monstrous-mondays-ad-2nd-ed-monstrous_28.html

There is no doubt that the biggest game world for AD&D 2nd Edition was the Forgotten Realms. I was fairly anti-Realms back then. I felt it was a cheap imitation of Greyhawk and I was a little irritated that Greyhawk got pushed to the side. The 3rd Edition Forgotten Realms setting book did a lot to change that for me and now, especially with my investigations around my This Old Dragon posts, I have come to better appreciate the Realms for what they really are, not for what I thought they were.

That all being said I still bought Realms-related products like these because, well, I love monsters.

MC13 Monstrous Compendium Al-Qadim Appendix (1992)

The Al-Qadim Monstrous Compendium had been the only product I ever purchased for the Al-Qadim setting back when it was new. Again the reasoning was I loved monsters. But while reading it over I discovered there was a very interesting setting here.

Like the Kara-Tur setting, Al-Qadim was pulled into the Realms. It was added to the Realms quickly after its release but the campaign setting box was designed a bit more for a general placement anywhere.

This PDF is listed at 74 pages and has a $4.95 price tag. The art is typical for the time color covers and color dividers with black & white pages. Interestingly the accent color here is gold and not blue. Ravenloft used red so I wonder how it would have been if all the settings had a different accent color to help separate them. A dark-gray for Greyhawk, burnt orange for Dark Sun, and so on.

There are 58 monsters from Ammut to Zin. This includes a large number of various Genie/Gin types.

Divorced from their setting the monsters certainly lose some of their best flavor, but I do plan on using these in a desert-based campaign I have coming up and I think they will work fine.

We are at a point with the Monstrous Compendiums where we get a bit of overlap. For example, the Ashira (MC13) has a lot in common with the Hamadryad (MC11). And the Black Cloud of Vengeance (MC13) is very much a larger, more evil version of the Tempest (MC11). This is not a surprise, there are over 2100 monsters created for AD&D 2nd Edition, there are bound to be places where they overlap.

The scans for all are pretty crisp and clear. I certainly can see printed out a couple of pages and using them in a smaller binder for a specific AD&D 2nd Ed campaign. Like I have said before, these PDF are fulfilling the promises made by the Monstrous Compendiums in the 1990s.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Monstrous Compendium - Al-Qadim Appendix
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Simon B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/08/2006 00:00:00

The second essential for the Al-Qadim setting. You can use many monsters from the Monstrous Manual but this additional book is needed to give a good variety of monsters for the setting.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Monstrous Compendium - Al-Qadim Appendix
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Jason L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/16/2003 00:00:00

A must have for the Al-Qadim setting, but I thought they could have included a bit more in the way of useful monsters in the original. The Living Idol, however, is very nice to have around most of the time.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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