''Monster Manual 2'' is a supplement to the 4th edition of the ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...

''Monster Manual 2'' presents hundreds of monsters for ''D&D'' campaigns. Monsters such as

centaurs A centaur ( ; ; ), occasionally hippocentaur, also called Ixionidae (), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version o ...

and frost giants make their first 4th Edition appearance here. In addition, this book includes new monsters to challenge characters of heroic, paragon, and epic level.

Publication history

''Monster Manual 2'' was written by

Rob Heinsoo Rob Heinsoo (born 1964) is an American tabletop game designer. He has been designing and contributing to professional role-playing games, card games, and board games since 1994. Heinsoo was the lead designer on the Editions of Dungeons & Dragons ...

and Chris Sims, and published in 2009. The book features art by Dave Allsop, Zoltan Boros, Christopher Burdett,

Brian Despain Brian Despain is an artist whose work has appeared in galleries, in video games, on book covers and in role-playing games. Career Despain has worked as a graphic designer, 3D modeler, photo retoucher, and illustrator. He worked for ten years in ...

, Brian "Chippy" Dugan, Jesper Ejsing, Steve Ellis,

Wayne England Wayne England (d. 9 February 2016) was an English artist whose work regularly appeared in role-playing games, wargaming rulebooks and magazines and was used on cards for collectible card games such as '' Magic: The Gathering''. He died on 9 Feb ...

Jason Engle Jason A. Engle is an American artist, whose work has appeared in role-playing games and collectible card games. Early life Jason Engle was born in southern California in 1979. Career His ''Dungeons & Dragons'' work includes '' Shining South'' ...

, Adam Gillespie, Tomas Giorello,

Lars Grant-West Lars Grant-West is an American artist whose work has appeared in role-playing games. He currently teaches illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design. Early life and education Lars Grant-West was born in Brooklyn. He attended New York City ...

, Des Hanley,

Ralph Horsley Ralph Horsley is an artist whose work has appeared in role-playing games. Career His ''Dungeons & Dragons'' work includes cover art for the adventure '' The Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde'' (2006), and interior art for ''Monster Manual III'' ...

, Andrew Hou,

Jeremy Jarvis Jeremy Jarvis is an artist whose work has appeared in role-playing games. Early life and education Jeremy Jarvis grew up in a small town in Alabama, and moved to New York City right after high school just before his eighteenth birthday. There, h ...

, Bob Jordan,

Todd Lockwood Todd Wills Lockwood (born July 9, 1957) is an American artist specializing in fantasy and science fiction illustration. He is best known for his work on the role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'', and for his covers for the books of R. A. Salv ...

Warren Mahy Warren Mahy is an artist whose work has appeared in role-playing games and other fantasy works. Early life and education Warren was born in the small sea side town of Whakatāne Whakatāne ( , ) is a town located in the Bay of Plenty Regi ...

, James Nelson, William O'Connor, Steve Prescott,

Vinod Rams Vinod Rams is an American artist whose work has appeared in role-playing games. Early life and education Vinod Rams attended the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan. He did product design at the Franklin Mint in Philadelphia, Pen ...

, Chris Seaman, Gábor Szikszai, Mattias Tapia, Mark Tedin,

Francis Tsai Francis Tsai (April 14, 1967 – April 23, 2015) was an American comic book artist, illustrator, author and conceptual artist. He was of Taiwanese and Japanese people, Japanese ancestry. Early life Tsai was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and raise ...

, Brian Valenzuela,

Franz Vohwinkel Franz Vohwinkel (born 1964 in Munich, West Germany) is a German artist and illustrator whose artwork has been featured in role-playing games. Works Vohwinkel drew the cover art for the book ''Dataware'' (1998) for TSR's ''Alternity'' game, and ...

, Eva Widermann,

Eric Williams Eric Eustace Williams (25 September 1911 – 29 March 1981) was a Trinidad and Tobago politician. He has been dubbed as the " Father of the Nation", having led the then-British Colony of Trinidad and Tobago to majority rule on 28 October 1956, ...

Sam Wood Samuel Grosvenor Wood (July 10, 1883 – September 22, 1949) was an American film director and producer who is best known for having directed such Hollywood hits as ''A Night at the Opera (film), A Night at the Opera'', ''A Day at the Races (fi ...

, and Ben Wootten. Shannon Appelcline commented that with Fourth Edition ''Dungeons & Dragons'', Wizards intended to publish only three books for each setting, beginning with the poorly-received ''

Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide The ''Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide'' is a supplement to the Editions of Dungeons & Dragons#Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition, 4th edition of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game. Contents The ''Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide'' includes ...

'', ''

Forgotten Realms Player's Guide The ''Forgotten Realms Player's Guide'' is a supplement to the Editions of Dungeons & Dragons#Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition, 4th edition of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game. Contents The ''Forgotten Realms Player's Guide'' presents ...

'' and '' Scepter Tower of Spellgard'' in 2008, and "The next year saw the clockwork production of '' Dungeon Master's Guide 2'' (2009), ''Monster Manual 2'' (2009) and '' Player's Handbook 2'' (2009), as well as the reappearance of Eberron through the typical two books and an adventure – the latter released as part of Free RPG Day. These setting books were much better accepted, perhaps because the 4e nay-sayers had now moved on to other games."

Reception

References

{{D&D topics Dungeons & Dragons sourcebooks Role-playing game supplements introduced in 2009