Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/03/monstrous-mondays-ad-2nd-ed-monstrous_28.html

The Monstrous Compendiums would eventually move over to an annual format of perfect-bound soft-cover books. These followed on the footsteps of the combined, hardcover Monstrous Manual, which people liked much better. The idea was to publish a collection of all the published monsters from other products in a Monstrous Compendium style format. But the days of perforated and loose-leaf pages was over and the Annuals and the other books that followed were all bound collections.

To my knowledge, there were four of these in total. I never owned the print copies, at this time I was getting married and moving into a new house, though I have been able to get the PDFs from DriveThruRPG. Curiously, Annual Vol. 2 has not made it to PDF yet.

Monstrous Compendium Annual - Volume 4

PDF 98 pages, Color cover art, color interior art, $4.95. 104 monsters, Ammonite to Zombie, Mud.

This fourth and last Monstrous Compendium Annual was published in 1998 by Wizards of the Coast, though the TSR brand is still on the books. Additionally, this book also indicated where each monster came from whether Forgotten Realms or the pages of Dragon Magazine. There are some that I think are original to this volume. There is even a monster from Alternity here, which is a big surprise!

I would also like to point out that this is the first of these Annuals that acknowledges that it is based on the original D&D rules created by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

There are quite a few new-to-me monsters here and few I have seen in other places before. It is nice to get them all into one place.

These annuals certainly represent the widest variety in monsters I have sen in any of the other compendiums. If I were to play AD&D 2nd Ed again, I think I would start with these as my sources for new and different sorts of creatures. I am sure that people that were still playing at this time (I had gone on an AD&D sabbatical from 1996/7 to 2000) might be more familiar with these books and these monsters, but it is a joy to open a book, even one 20-25 years old, and see something new.

I am now at the point if I print these out I am going to need a third 3-Ring binder.