Monster Manual

Eclectic Gaming
The publishing of the Monster Manual in 1977-78 marks a first in a number of ways. It is to my knowledge the first hardcover game book, all previous products aimed at the tabletop wargamer were softcover, amateurish affairs, many of the small digest size and indeed, this is the format in which the original version of the world's most popular (and first published) role-playing game saw print. The quality printing with a full color cover illustration (not an easily damaged dust jacket), durable paper and stitched binding moved the fledgling role-play hobby toward serious business.
The Advanced Game was released as three separate volumes over the course of as many years with the Monster Manual being the first to hit the shelves. The Monster Manual consists of 112 pages of game stats, descriptions and black and white illustrations of monsters, some familiar from myth, fable and fiction and some quite novel - many created by the designers of the new game and appearing for the first time.

The color illustrations to be found on the front and back covers give an example of the wonderful variety found within. As a college student barely a year into my exploration of this new hobby, I found the Monster Manual mesmerizing. Herein I found not only the statistical data I would use while running the game as referee, but also detailed descriptions and illustrations that allowed me to better imagine the monster and to describe it for my players - occasionally showing them a picture from the book just to make things more clear (and hopefully more frightening!).
The original little brown books which were my introduction to D&D contain very few illustrations and monsters are simply listed on a table along with brief game statistics and some are briefly described, often in very general terms. It was not until I looked inside the covers of the Advanced Monster Manual that many of the game's creatures took form in my mind. So vast are the number of different creatures to be found in the Monster Manual that it was some years before I was able to feature the last of them in an adventure.
Working diligently it still took Gary Gygax and the TSR staff two years more to complete the Advanced Game series with publication of the Game Masters Guide - necessary for play because it contained the combat "to hit" tables. In the meantime, those of us who desperately wanted to play combined elements of the Advanced system into our existing white box games. I continue to this day combining various aspects borrowed from one source or another into most every game of every system which I run. My referee style is eclectic and it likely started with combining the Monster Manual with my original white box materials.