The first Monstrous Compendium binder was pretty much full-to-brimming with the pages from the first three volumes, so in 1990, a second binder was released, confusingly called Volume Two despite Volume Two already existing. More confusing: the back cover text mentions Krynn but the word (or logo) Dragonlance is nowhere to be seen. I suppose it might have been on the cheap cardboard sleeve the binder came in, but I’ve long since had that fall to pieces.

Anywho, this is indeed the Dragonlance appendix, as the logo is atop every page. It also refers to itself inside as Monstrous Compendium 4, which is correct. Unlike Volume Three, which feels only vaguely like a collection of monsters pulled from the Forgotten Realms, this batch of beasts definitely feels primarily specialized for Dragonlance. There’s all the draconians, the death knight, the dream creatures, the demi-human variants, fucking kender ugh, the wyndlass, the walrus people. There are others that are generic, but seem well-suited to Krynn, like the skeleton warrior and the fetch.

Mark Nelson and his zipatone are probably responsible for me liking a lot more of these monsters than I might otherwise. He’s the only credited artist, but some of the illustrations look like the stock stuff Elmore drew up. The dwarf for sure. Maybe the draconians? Hard to tell. A pretty muscular Easley cover here, too. Can’t go wrong with a red dragon, that’s a great death knight and the generic quality of the draconian is countered by his thuggish look. Good stuff.