Publisher: Wizards of the CoastLook to your weapons! Here comes a horde of the strangest creatures ever to inhabit the worlds of the AD and amp;D game. The denizens of the original FIEND FOLIO tome are back, updated and expanded for the AD and amp;D 2nd edition game.
Treat yourself to an in-depth look at the peculiar achaierai, vicious stilt-legged birds that roam the infernal planes - and they also hunt closer to civilization. Find out what xvarts do for fun, but don't expect them to play fair! The menagerie inside includes leaping gambados, grenzied gorbels, and other old favorites. Several brand new creatures, such as the beautiful but haughty gem dragons join them. Don't pass up your cance to get to know these astonishing creatures.
Product History
MC14: and quot;Monstrous Compendium Fiend Folio Appendix and quot; (1992) is the fourteenth monster manual for AD and amp;D 2e. It was published in April 1992.
Origins (I): Binders of Monsters. In early 1992, it had been two and a half years since TSR had published a totally generic Monster Manual. The closest had been MC8: and quot;Monstrous Compendium Outer Planes Appendix and quot; (1991), since Planescape had not yet become a setting, but other than that, every single Monstrous Compendium from MC3: and quot;Monstrous Compendium Volume Three: Forgotten Realms Appendix and quot; (1989) to MC13: and quot;Monstrous Compendium Al-Qadim Appendix and quot; (1992) had been closely to a D and amp;D world.
The and quot;Fiend Folio Appendix and quot; was something else: a book of the wackier, stranger, and more alien D and amp;D monsters, with a focus on those found in the original Fiend Folio (1981).
Origins (II): Another Fiend Folio. The original Fiend Folio was the Monster Manual's weird cousin during the AD and amp;D 1e era (1977-1989). Still, some of the monsters were iconic enough that they'd already become a part of the D and amp;D core: the Fiend Folio's aarakocra, blood hawk, bullywug, death dog, dragonfish, ettercap, fire toad, flind, giant hornet, guardian daemon, heucuva, jermlaine, kelpie, kenku, killmoulis, kuo-Toa, lamia noble, osquip, poltergiest, throat leech, two-headed troll, and vodyanoi each appeared in one of the first two Monstrous Compendiums (1989) for AD and amp;D 2e. Surprisingly, the MC5: and quot;Monstrous Compendium Greyhawk Appendix and quot; (1990) was the AD and amp;D 2e book with the most Fiend Folio monsters, covering everything from the bonesnapper to the tentamort.
Still, there were many Fiend Folio monsters that had not yet appeared in AD and amp;D 2e (1989-2000), and they'd be the foundation of this new Monstrous Compendium.
Origins (III): It Came from the RPGA. This fourteenth Monstrous Compendium was not actually the work of TSR. Instead it was created by TSR's organized play network, the RPGA. They'd come into their own as producers of AD and amp;D material in the '90s thanks to their development of the and quot;LC and quot; series of adventures (1989-1991). Now Don Bingle, John Terra, Wes Nicholson, Tim Beach, Steve and Kris Hardinger, Rob Nicholls, Greg Swedberg, Al Boyce, Vince Garcia, and Norm Ritchie were producing a different sort of book.
Since the and quot;LC and quot; adventures had come to an end the previous year, the and quot;Fiend Folio Appendix and quot; would be the last major RPGA production until the late '90s and the appearance of books like The City of Ravens Bluff (1998) and Kidnapped (1998).
Monsters of Note. The and quot;Fiend Folio Appendix and quot; revisits many Fiend Folio classics, including favorites like the adherer, the coffer corpse, the firedrake, the iron cobra, the mephits, the sheet phantom, the volt, and the xvart. It's by no means a complete collection of the original Fiend Folio's monsters, but it's a nice compilation of many fiendish monsters that had not yet appeared for AD and amp;D 2e.
There are also new monsters, the most notable of which are the gem dragons. The idea of neutral gem dragons had first appeared in The Dragon #37 (May 1980) in an article by Arthur W. Collins. Now Tim Beach offered his own take, introducing amethyst, sapphire, topaz, crystal, and emerald dragons to the AD and amp;D game.
About the Creators. The RPGA's main creative conduit in the '90s was the Polyhedron newszine. The and quot;Fiend Folio Appendix and quot; offered a rare opportunity to share their creative fruits with a larger D and amp;D audience.
About the Product Historian
The history of this product was researched and written by Shannon Appelcline, the editor-in-chief of RPGnet and the author of and nbsp;Designers and amp; Dragons and nbsp;- 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.