Editing Monster Manual (section)

== ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition'' ==
The ''[[Monstrous Compendium]]'' superseded the ''Monster Manual'' with the release of ''AD&D'' 2nd edition.<ref name="HW"/>  The ''Compendium'' was a binder of looseleaf sheets, rather than a hardback book. The first two volumes contained the core monsters of the game. These were followed by many appendices that contained extra monsters for particular [[campaign settings]].

The format was intended to help [[Dungeon Master]]s (DM) keep handy only the monster statistics needed for a particular game session, as well as to greatly expand the information about each monster, as each was given at least one full page. It would also mean they would only need to purchase core volumes and appendix volumes for the campaigns they wanted, rather than getting a mix of monsters in books. However, the binder format ultimately proved impractical for two main reasons. First, looseleaf pages were not as durable as the hardcover format. As it was a frequently used game aid this was a serious concern. Second, TSR routinely printed different monsters on each side of a sheet, making it impossible to keep monsters in strict alphabetical order.

In 1993, the ''Monstrous Manual'' was released,<ref name="history"/> compiling all monsters from the first two volumes of the ''Monstrous Compendium'' plus many monsters from other sources into a 384-page hardcover book edited by [[Doug Stewart (game designer)|Doug Stewart]].  More ''Monstrous Compendium'' appendices were released as a supplements to the ''Monstrous Manual'' in the form of [[paperback]] books. They included updated reprints of loose leaf ''Monstrous Compendium Appendices'' and new volumes.