Monster Cards is an accessory for the Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...

fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 role-playing game

Role-playing game

A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...

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Contents

The Monster Cards were a DM

Dungeon Master

In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, the Dungeon Master is the game organizer and participant in charge of creating the details and challenges of a given adventure, while maintaining a realistic continuity of events...

's aid, with each set containing twenty 3" by 5" cards, each with a color monster illustration on one side and statistics on the other side. The DM could show the monster's picture to the players, while keeping the statistics hidden.

Publication history

The Monster Cards Sets 1 through 4 were designed by the TSR Design Staff, with art by Jeff Dee

Jeff Dee

Jeff Dee is an American artist and game designer. Based in Austin, Texas, he is a recognized figure in the role-playing game community and game industry...

, Erol Otus

Erol Otus

Erol Otus is an American artist and game designer, known internationally for his contributions to the fantasy RPG genre, most notably for the early Dungeons & Dragons franchise...

, Jim Roslof

Jim Roslof

James Paul "Jim" Roslof was an American artist and graphic designer particularly well known for cover art and interior illustrations of fantasy role-playing games published by TSR, Inc. during the "golden age" of Dungeons & Dragons...

, Darlene Pekul

Darlene Pekul

-Biography:Pekul graduated from Beloit College in 1976.After college Pekul dated Mike Carr, who was working as an editor at TSR Inc., the publisher of Dungeons & Dragons. As a result of this connection Pekul started to do freelance work for TSR...

, and Bill Willingham

Bill Willingham

Bill Willingham is an American writer and artist of comics.-Career:Willingham got his start in the late 1970s to early 1980s as a staff artist for TSR, Inc., where he illustrated a number of their role-playing game products...

, and were published by TSR in 1981 as sets of 20 color cards in a small clear plastic box. Additional contributing artists included Jim Holloway

Jim Holloway (artist)

-Background:Jim Holloway was self taught in illustration, although he was able to study some oil paintings by his father.-Works:Jim Holloway has continued to produce interior illustrations for many Dungeons & Dragons books and Dragon magazine since 1981, as well as cover art for The Land Beyond the...

, Harry Quinn, Steve Sullivan

Stephen D. Sullivan

Stephen D. Sullivan is an American author, artist, editor, publisher, and radio host. Sullivan is well known in the gaming community for his work with TSR, the publishers of Dungeons and Dragons.-Career:...

, and Dave LaForce

David S. LaForce

David S. LaForce is an artist, noted for his artwork in fantasy role-playing games.-Career:Along with Jeff Dee, Erol Otus, Jim Roslof, David C. Sutherland III and David A...

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A second group of four sets was tentatively scheduled for release in 1983, according to Harold Johnson

Harold Johnson (game designer)

Harold Johnson is a game designer and editor, and an author of several products and articles for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game from TSR.-Early life and education:...

, and those sets would have included several monsters from the Fiend Folio

Fiend Folio

Fiend Folio is the title shared by three products published for successive editions of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons...

book.