AC10 - Bestiary of Dragons and Giants (1987) is another odd publication. It’s odd because A. It directly follows the Creature Catalogue, which is a bestiary and B. This is not a bestiary.
It has more in common with Book of Lairs than it does a monster manual (though this uses the module format with the unstapled cover folder). This is a collection of 14 short adventures accompanied by advice on how to effectively run the various sorts of giants and dragons. Interestingly for basic D&D, dragons seem a bit smarter than their AD&D brethren and more clearly motivated: their hoard is a necessary part of their ascension to immortality once they mature enough, so adding to it is a constant compulsion.
The adventures are fine. Most of them are intentionally generic, so DMs can pull them apart and use the pieces as they wish. Aside of James Ward, it is a who’s who of freelancers: Steve Perrin, Rick Swan, Ray Winninger, Bruce Heard and Warren Spector are among the contributors.
Oh, the neatest thing (aside of that very sweet size comparison chart) is the dragon spell generator. It’s a carboard folder with cut-out windows. An interior sheet contains a spell list, so you can move the sheet to the appropriate level and get the spells the dragon has memorized. It’s neat and I wish TSR produced more little toys like this.
Not a ton of art inside. I feel like that Elmore painting on the cover has fronted a million products, but this MIGHT be the first of them.
