Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Monstrous Compendium Volume One by David Zeb Cook Monstrous Compendium: Volume One by David Zeb Cook. I had someone drop me an e-mail requesting a quick overview of the various editions of D&D. In the context of the Reactions to OD&D essays, I thought it might be a useful reference for people who are a little less familiar with the history of the game. If you want more details on the history of D&D, the "Editions of Dungeons & Dragons" article at Wikipedia is a pretty solid resource. If you want an exhaustive detailing of every single change made between each printing of the early rulebooks, then the Acaeum is an excellent resource. The only important thing you need to remember here is that D&D split into two separate games in 1977: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Dungeons & Dragons (with the latter often being referred to as Basic D&D or BD&D). The terms used below are not official, but they are the most commonly used nomenclature in the fan community. With the exception of the Rules Cyclopedia , all of these games were sold as boxed sets. OD&D (Original Dungeons & Dragons, White Box): The original edition of the game designed by Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax, first published in 1974 as a boxed set comprising three volumes -- Men & Magic , Monsters & Treasure , and Underworld & Wilderness Adventures . These books would receive various errata in subsequent printings (with the most notable change being the purging of references to Tolkien's works following a lawsuit from the Tolkien Estate), but remained substantially unaltered. Holmes Edition (1977): Published as the Basic Set in 1977. Eric Holmes is credited as having "edited" the book, but it's actually a complete re- design and re-edit of the original game. Moldvay Edition (1981): A completely revised Basic Rulebook and a brand new Expert Rulebook published in 1981. Tom Moldvay is credited for "editing" the Basic Set . David Cook and Steven Marsh are credited for "editing" the Expert Set . (I'm not clear on why Tom Moldvay is usually the only guy who gets credit for this version of the game. But he is.) BECMI (1983 - 1985): Comprising the Basic Rules , Expert Rules Companion Rules , Master Rules , and Immortal Rules . (With the exception of the Expert Rules , these boxed sets each contained two volumes -- one for players and one for the DM. The first two sets are, once again, completely revised.) These sets are variously credited as being "edited", "compiled", or simply "by" Frank Mentzer. Rules Cyclopedia (1991): A single-volume hardback which collected the BECMI rules with minimal alteration (basically just applying errata). However, the Rules Cyclopedia lacked the rules for Immortals (which were published separately as the Wrath of the Immortals ruleset). In addition to these rules, a total of five different Basic Sets were produced between 1991 and 1999 under the names The Dungeons & Dragons Game or The Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game . These all differed from each other in various ways, but all of them were designed to serve as "teasers" or "primers" for the Rules Cyclopedia edition of the game. So if you're considering distinct iterations of the rules, they can be ignored. All of these editions were published as three separate core rulebooks: A Player's Handbook , a Dungeon Master's Guide , and a Monster Manual (the last of these under various titles, as described below). AD&D 1st Edition (1977 - 1979): Designed by Gary Gygax. The original Monster Manual was published in 1977, followed by the Player's Handbook in 1978 and the Dungeon Master's Guide in 1979. These books were re-issued with new covers in 1983 (which are easily recognizable due to their orange spines), but were not revised. Also referred to as AD&D1. Unearthed Arcana (1985): TSR officially identified Unearthed Arcana as a core rulebook. Since it included not only expansions but also alterations in the game, it is sometimes referred to as the Edition 1.5. AD&D 2nd Edition (1989): The 2nd Edition was published in 1989 as the Player's Handbook , Dungeon Master's Guide , and Monstrous Compendium . The re-design is primarily credited to David "Zeb" Cook. In 1993 the Monstrous Compendium was replaced with the Monstrous Manual . In 1995, these books were re-issued with new covers and a new layout (but no meaningful change to the rules). Also referred to as AD&D2. Player's Options (1995): Also referred to as Edition 2.5. Three optional core rulebooks known as the Player's Options released in 1995: Combat & Tactics , Skills & Powers , and Spells & Magic . There was also the DM's Option: High Level Campaigns . D&D 3rd Edition (2000): Released as the Player's Handbook , Dungeon Master's Guide , and Monster Manual . This edition was designed by Monte Cook, Jonathan Tweet, and Skip Williams. Also referred to as D&D3 or 3rd Edition. D&D 3.5 (2003): Revised versions of the 3rd Edition core rulebooks. The revision team was Rich Baker, Andy Collins, David Noonan, Rich Redman, and Skip Williams. So, if you count the Unearthed Arcana and Player's Options as distinct edition, then there have been 10 editions of D&D: OD&D (1974) Holmes D&D (1977) Moldvay D&D (1981) BECMI / Rules Cyclopedia (1983) AD&D 1st Edition (1977) AD&D 1st Edition + Unearthed Arcana (1985) AD&D 2nd Edition (1989) AD&D 2nd Edition + Player's Options (1995) D&D 3rd Edition (2000) D&D 3.5 (2003) Gelatinous cube. A gelatinous cube is a fictional monster from the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It is described as a ten-foot cube of transparent gelatinous ooze, which is able to absorb and digest organic matter. Contents. Creative origins. Oozes are relatively common antagonists in fantasy fiction; in addition to the oozes of Dungeons & Dragons , examples include the monster from the film The Blob , [1] slime in Dragon Quest , and flan in Final Fantasy . These fictional oozes may have been inspired by microscopic organisms such as amoebae, which, like oozes, can consume organic matter by engulfing it (phagocytosis). [2] The gelatinous cube is an invention of Gary Gygax, rather than being lifted from outside sources and adapted to a roleplaying setting, as were many mythological monsters like the minotaur and dryad, [1] all of which appeared in the 1974 Monsters & Treasure book of the original boxed set. Being a cube that is a perfect ten feet on each side, it is specifically and perfectly "adapted" to its native environment, the standard, by dungeon corridors which were ubiquitous in the earliest Dungeons & Dragons modules. [1] Publication history. The gelatinous cube first appeared in the original Dungeons & Dragons "white box" set (1974), [3] and its first supplement, Greyhawk (1975). [4] The gelatinous cube appeared in the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1977, 1981, 1983). The gelatinous cube also appeared in the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia (1991). [5] The gelatinous cube appeared in first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in the original Monster Manual (1977). [6] The creature was further developed in Dragon #124 (August 1987). [7] Published first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons adventures which included gelatinous cubes as adversaries that the player characters encounter included "The Ruins of Andril", published in Dragon #81. [8] The gelatinous cube appeared in second edition in Monstrous Compendium Volume One (1989), [9] and the Monstrous Manual (1993) under the "ooze/slime/jelly" heading. [10] Under the ooze entry, the gelatinous cube appears in the third edition Monster Manual (2000), [11] the 3.5 revised Monster Manual (2003), [12] the fourth edition Monster Manual (2008), [13] the Monster Vault (2010), [14] and the fifth edition Monster Manual (2014). [15] Other publishers. The gelatinous cube is fully detailed in Paizo Publishing's book Dungeon Denizens Revisited (2009), on pages 16–21. [16] Ecology. A gelatinous cube looks like a transparent ooze of mindless, gelatinous matter in the shape of a cube. The cube's transparency coupled with a dimly-lit dungeon gives it the element of surprise to engulf unsuspecting beings, and only an alert adventurer will notice the cube. The cube slides through dungeon corridors, being able to mold its body to flow around objects and fit through narrow passages and then returning to its original shape once enough space is available. A cube will absorb everything in its path, with its acidic digestive juices dissolving everything organic and secreting non-digestible matter in its wake. David M. Ewalt, in his book Of Dice and Men , describes the gelatinous cube as "a dungeon scavenger, a living mound of transparent jelly", [17] The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters called it a "dungeon clean up crew", well adapted to this unique fictious ecosystem. [1] Reception. Tyler Linn of Cracked.com identified the gelatinous cube as one of "15 Idiotic Dungeons and Dragons Monsters" in 2009, stating: "Unless an encounter plays out exactly like the steamroller scene in Austin Powers , we fail to see how the Gelatinous Cube ever kills anybody who's not either glued to the floor or fast asleep. In fact, we're pretty sure the Dungeon Master's Guide reads: The first player to ask "Can't I just get out of the way?" automatically defeats the Gelatinous Cube ." [18] Rob Bricken from io9 named the gelatinous cube as the 5th most memorable D&D monster. [19] Chris Sims of the on-line magazine Comics Alliance stated of the gelatinous cube that "there can be no question of what is the greatest monster" in D&D , calling the gelatinous cube "amazing". [20] The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters called the gelatinous cube one of the "iconic monsters" of the D&D game. [21] In other media. The gelatinous cube appeared in the television series Adventure Time by Pendleton Ward. [21] References. ↑ 1.01.11.21.3 ↑ ↑Gygax, Gary, and Dave Arneson. Dungeons & Dragons (3-Volume Set) (TSR, 1974) ↑Gygax, Gary and Robert Kuntz. Supplement I: Greyhawk (TSR, 1975) ↑Allston, Aaron, Steven E. Schend, Jon Pickens, and Dori Watry. Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia (TSR, 1991) ↑Gygax, Gary. Monster Manual (TSR, 1977) ↑Greenwood, Ed. "The Ecology of the Gelatinous Cube." Dragon Magazine #124 (TSR, 1987) ↑ The Ruins of Andril: An AD&D adventure for 4-8 characters, levels 8-11, Dragon, p.41–56. January 1984. (Temporary fix for >, please update to use > and similar templates.) ↑Cook, David "Zeb", et al. Monstrous Compendium Volume One (TSR, 1989) ↑Stewart, Doug, ed. Monstrous Manual (TSR, 1994) ↑Williams, Skip, Jonathan Tweet, and Monte Cook. Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast, 2000) ↑Cook, Monte, Jonathan Tweet, and Skip Williams. Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast, 2003) ↑Mearls, Mike, Stephen Schubert, and James Wyatt. Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast, 2008) ↑Thompson, Rodney, Bonner Logan, and Sernett, Matthew. Monster Vault (Wizards of the Coast, 2010) ↑Mearls, Mike, Crawford, Jeremy, and Perkins, Christopher. Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast, 2014) ↑ Clinton Boomer, Jason Bulmahn, Joshua J. Frost, Nicolas Logue, Robert McCreary, Jason Nelson, Richard Pett, Sean K Reynolds, James L. Sutter, and Greg A. Vaughan. Dungeon Denizens Revisited (Paizo, 2009) ↑ ↑15 Idiotic Dungeons and Dragons Monsters ↑ The 10 Most Memorable Dungeons & Dragons Monsters, , p.. September 16, 2013. (Temporary fix for >, please update to use > and similar templates.) ↑ Ask Chris #125: The Greatest Monsters in 'Dungeons & Dragons', , p.. October 19, 2012. (Temporary fix for >, please update to use > and similar templates.) ↑ 21.021.1. Cite error: tag defined in
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