New acquisition for my OD&D collection! TSR's Monster & Treasure Assortment, Set One: Levels One-Three (1977). These are all loose pages. Love the DCSIII artwork!
The original M&TAs are neat. Set 1, which Andy has posted here, was included in the first three printings of the Holmes Basic Set. It has monsters not included in the rulebook, so in some ways is an expansion.
The monsters were revised in the compilation to fit B/X. The earlier versions are OD&D and include many that had not been fully published in a rulebook. Lots of random paladins wandering around too
Other trivia about the M&TA sets: Monsters have no HD listed, just an AL ("Attack Level"), which is the monsters score to hit AC9. Basically, THAC9. Kind of frustrating to not have an actual HD, especially when trying to figure out stats for some of the otherwise undescribed pre-Monster Manual monsters.
There were a lot of thaumaturgists, evil high priests & acolytes also wandering about! ;)
Reverse engineering HD isn't always accurate via THAC9, since a range of HD may use the same line of attack numbers on the To Hit chart for monsters. I simply look up the monster in the book... either the Holmes book or the LBBs, or even the Monster Manual!
Its not like when using randomly rolled monsters for one-shot encounters that the HD was actually something that anyone needed to know, since the main use for it was to find the right row on the Monster To-Hit chart, but I'd have to look at my M&TA to see how well the Attack Level corresponded with HD.
The M&TA were presented with a few different styles of stat blocks, as Zach has pointed out. I think everyone at the time was trying their own kind of short-hand to help speed up combat, and AL and THAC9 were just two of those ideas that never coagulated with any other TSR publications that I know of.
I toyed with the idea of THAC9 before I ever knew that M&TA did it first. I found that it was no more or less clunky than THAC0, but it helped to remind me that it was D&D & not AD&D, or it'd be THAC10. ;)
Nice find! 😁
ReplyDeleteNice. I just have the combo book.
ReplyDeleteRock-n-Roll!
ReplyDeleteOh, wow! I forgot that I actually had one of those until I saw this. One of the many items lost due to a water pipe leak....
ReplyDeleteThe original M&TAs are neat. Set 1, which Andy has posted here, was included in the first three printings of the Holmes Basic Set. It has monsters not included in the rulebook, so in some ways is an expansion.
ReplyDeleteI did not realize it had monsters not in the rulebook... Are they still there in the compilation that came later?
ReplyDeleteThe monsters were revised in the compilation to fit B/X. The earlier versions are OD&D and include many that had not been fully published in a rulebook. Lots of random paladins wandering around too
ReplyDeleteAlrighty then.. I guess I need to add that back onto my wishlist...
ReplyDeleteDid Volume 2 offer any such 'newness'?
Oh, and thanks, Zach.
ReplyDeleteAndy or Zach (or anyone else that knows): How many pages does it have? The Acaeum doesn't say...
ReplyDeleteJon Wilson - my copy has 6 double-sided (loose) pages, so 12!
ReplyDeleteAwesome, thanks!
ReplyDeleteOther trivia about the M&TA sets: Monsters have no HD listed, just an AL ("Attack Level"), which is the monsters score to hit AC9. Basically, THAC9. Kind of frustrating to not have an actual HD, especially when trying to figure out stats for some of the otherwise undescribed pre-Monster Manual monsters.
ReplyDeleteIf they don't have HD listed, do they have hp? Can HD be reverse engineered...?
ReplyDeleteThere were a lot of thaumaturgists, evil high priests & acolytes also wandering about! ;)
ReplyDeleteReverse engineering HD isn't always accurate via THAC9, since a range of HD may use the same line of attack numbers on the To Hit chart for monsters. I simply look up the monster in the book... either the Holmes book or the LBBs, or even the Monster Manual!
Its not like when using randomly rolled monsters for one-shot encounters that the HD was actually something that anyone needed to know, since the main use for it was to find the right row on the Monster To-Hit chart, but I'd have to look at my M&TA to see how well the Attack Level corresponded with HD.
The M&TA were presented with a few different styles of stat blocks, as Zach has pointed out. I think everyone at the time was trying their own kind of short-hand to help speed up combat, and AL and THAC9 were just two of those ideas that never coagulated with any other TSR publications that I know of.
I toyed with the idea of THAC9 before I ever knew that M&TA did it first. I found that it was no more or less clunky than THAC0, but it helped to remind me that it was D&D & not AD&D, or it'd be THAC10. ;)