D&D Classic Collection: Monsters K-N

[Brophy]

D&D Classic Collection: Monsters K-N
Feb 2024

K-N.JPG (19.75 KiB) Viewed 881 times

I'm seeing a Naga and Minotaur for sure.

[MyriadTabletop]

Merfolks and Mummy, I believe.

[Mattnuke]

Time to go look at the MM….

Looks like:
Kobold
Lich
Lizardman
Merman
Mind Flayer
Minotaur
Mummy
and
Naga

[English Wizard]

Great find!!!

I was about to post my thoughts but got beaten to it.

Good calls everyone!

[Mattnuke]

Based on what we’ve gotten so far, im guessing three more sets after this one. None of these have duplicated things from the first classic monsters set, so here’s my prediction. It’ll be fun to go back and see how correct I was!

O-R
Ogre, Otyugh, Peryton, Pseudo-Dragon, Quasit, Rakshasa, Roper, Rust Monster.

S-T
Salamander, Sea Hag, Shambling Mound, Skeleton, Sphinx, Stirge, Sylph, Troglodyte

U-Z
Umber Hulk, Unicorn, Vampire, Wight, Wraith, Xorn, Yeti, Zombie

If the sets do well enough, as I suspect they do, hopefully there’s a chance of getting a pack of all six main giant types. I’d also love to see a five pack of chromatic dragons and a five pack of metallic dragons (all on huge bases). WizKids could definitely get my nostalgic butt to drop $120 on each of those no problem…

An A-Z series of Fiend Folio would also be great!

[berk the black]

Time to go look at the MM….

Looks like:
Kobold
Lich
Lizardman
Merman
Mind Flayer
Minotaur
Mummy
and
Naga

Something we haven’t seen the likes of since first edition…
Neo-Otyugh

[Kor]

Gallery is up:
https://www.minisgallery.com/index.php? ... ection-k-n

[vfults]

That Lizard Man is sweet! I like every one of these minis. I hope WizKids will give consideration to doing war bands of old-school lizard men, pig-faced orcs and dog-faced kobolds someday.

[vfults]

Based on what we’ve gotten so far, im guessing three more sets after this one. None of these have duplicated things from the first classic monsters set, so here’s my prediction. It’ll be fun to go back and see how correct I was!

O-R
Ogre, Otyugh, Peryton, Pseudo-Dragon, Quasit, Rakshasa, Roper, Rust Monster.

S-T
Salamander, Sea Hag, Shambling Mound, Skeleton, Sphinx, Stirge, Sylph, Troglodyte

U-Z
Umber Hulk, Unicorn, Vampire, Wight, Wraith, Xorn, Yeti, Zombie

If the sets do well enough, as I suspect they do, hopefully there’s a chance of getting a pack of all six main giant types. I’d also love to see a five pack of chromatic dragons and a five pack of metallic dragons (all on huge bases). WizKids could definitely get my nostalgic butt to drop $120 on each of those no problem…

An A-Z series of Fiend Folio would also be great!

Not a bad list! I don't, however, think they will do a two-letter box for S-T. My take for their next releases:

O-R
Ogre, Otyugh, Pegasus, Quasit, Rakshasa, Remorhaz, Roper, Rust Monster.

S-U
Salamander, Shambling Mound, Spectre, Strige, Treant, Troll, Umber Hulk, Unicorn.

V-Z

Vampire, Water Weird, Wight, Wraith, Wyvern, Xorn, Yeti, Zombie.

[Guyra]

Man, not a big fan of the kobold sculpt! And also the mummy, that has the entire sarcophagus there. But these are both creatures that there are so many other sculpts of, having these as extra variation is a positive, at the end of the day.

The lich, lizardfolk, and naga are probably my favourites in this set.

[MonsterEnvy]

Man, not a big fan of the kobold sculpt! And also the mummy, that has the entire sarcophagus there. But these are both creatures that there are so many other sculpts of, having these as extra variation is a positive, at the end of the day.

The lich, lizardfolk, and naga are probably my favourites in this set.

Have you seen larger images?

Edit: found them. https://www.minisgallery.com/index.php? ... ection-k-n

[Mattnuke]

Man, all of them are great, once again!

The kobold should fit in with my Reaper ones!

I’m not sure if the Naga is correctly labeled (size wise) in the gallery, but medium would check out because it appears to be painted to be a water naga (it could possibly be the guardian naga too).

[BBShockwave]

Wow, this is probably the first Classic Creatures set that has anything I actually like.
I always wanted a representation of the classic 1E Kobolds. Btw, when did they change them to be just Goblins with tails? Was that the first, black and white Monstrous Compendium of AD&D 2E? Or was it D&D 2E (which I know was also a thing but was soon forgotten) I mean this guy:

Kobold2e.jpg (50.17 KiB) Viewed 769 times

The Minotaur is badass, more bestial with those fangs but works well as a feral or fiendish version.
Merfolk is nice, fits well with the modern 5E designs. Weird, did not know the 1E art broke with tradition to make it a male in artwork!
Mummy works as well as an environmental piece as well as a creature. Reminds me of the Diablo II sarcophagi in Act II which spawned Mummies!
Lich is amazing, again, does not look out of place next to 5E designs. Reminds me of the Heroes of Might and Magic designs.
Curious, so 1E only had Nagas as one species? No Guardian, Spirit, Dark subspecies? Looks more human-headed but that goes well with the PFB Nagas.
Only one I don't care so much about is the Mind Flayer, he looks... pudgy and short? I guess we could say he was ceremorphozised from a Dwarf. Or a fat Halfling.

Man, not a big fan of the kobold sculpt! And also the mummy, that has the entire sarcophagus there. But these are both creatures that there are so many other sculpts of, having these as extra variation is a positive, at the end of the day.

The lich, lizardfolk, and naga are probably my favourites in this set.

Well this is what they looked like in 1E. And actually, when they made the first Classic Creatures set, designs for the Kobold surfaced there! Though that was less based on the old art and more of a hybrid of 1E and 5E.

1E Kobold.jpg (99.38 KiB) Viewed 769 times

[Yack]

Wow this set looks really sweet...

Like someone said if they came out with a classic warband set of orcs (pigface), kobolds (dog like) I would be all over it!

Buying 1 mini of a kobold is not worth it as would need to change to replace all.

The lich, merfolk, minotaur, lizardman and mind flayer are awesome... even the naga.

[Mattnuke]

Wow, this is probably the first Classic Creatures set that has anything I actually like.
I always wanted a representation of the classic 1E Kobolds. Btw, when did they change them to be just Goblins with tails? Was that the first, black and white Monstrous Compendium of AD&D 2E? Or was it D&D 2E (which I know was also a thing but was soon forgotten) I mean this guy:
Kobold2e.jpg

There’s no D&D 2E.

Original D&D (OD&D) was published in 1976. This is the original Gygax/Kuntz version with the three white booklets, which built off of Chainmail rules.

There are three revisions of basic D&D. They’re basically all cleanups and rewrites of the OD&D rules with additional rules from the Strategic Review included. Stuff like alignment, race as class vs. race and class, hit dove size, and fixed weapon damage (all d6s) vs. variable damage are major differences across the three. Core mechanics are pretty much the same.

There was the 1977 Holmes edition

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The 1981 Moldvay/Cook edition. This is also called B/X because it comprised of Basic and eXpert rules.

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And finally the Mentzer Edition. This is also called BECMI because it was comprised of Basic, Expert, Companion, Masters, and Immortals rules. The Rules Cyclopedia is based on BECMI with some minor fixes and expanded levels for some classes.

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Here’s a good series of articles on the minor differences in these editions.

https://leyline.press/blogs/leyline-pre ... rative-dnd

Back to the kobold thing, there’s no artwork for kobolds in any of those sets. As you shared above this is the AD&D (1E) kobold:

IMG_5256.jpeg (220.2 KiB) Viewed 749 times

It’s the classic reptile/dog man that’s described throughout all the above revisions of D&D and AD&D. Even 2E talks about them ‘smelling like wet dog and stagnant water’ and sounding like ‘small dogs yapping’. 2E is the first one to mention the rat-like tail.

The kobold in the 2E Monstrous Compendium was drawn by Jim Holloway, likely based on Jeff Easley’s art. Most of the art in this collection is a slightly more comic-bookesque version of the art from the 1E monster manual.

Later Tony DiTerlizzi would reimagine the kobold like this for the collected hardcover 2E Monster Manual (even though the text is identical):

IMG_5266.jpeg (88.77 KiB) Viewed 749 times

Like someone said if they came out with a classic warband set of orcs (pigface), kobolds (dog like) I would be all over it!

Buying 1 mini of a kobold is not worth it as would need to change to replace all. .

Pssst…look up Reaper Ratpelt Kobolds…I think that’s what you’re looking for!

There are also pig faced orcs out there. Otherworld has a line, although they are expensive. Warplocke did some as 3d prints. They’re a little cartoony, but you can find sets of them easy on EBay or Etsy.