OSR Commentary On Dangerous Monsters & Creatures - AC9: D&D Creature Catalogue (Basic) By Jim Bambra, Phil Gallagher, & Graeme Morris For BECMI D&D

 "Are you ready to face the horror of the Hivebrood, the gruesome Geonid, or the dread Dusanu? These and many other baleful beasts lurk within the pages of this manual, waiting to challenge even the mightiest adventurers!

The Creature Catalogue is the first major expansion to the range of D&D game monsters. Within its covers have been collected all the curious creatures first presented in the official D&D adventure modules, plus many more new nasties, designed to challenge and perplex the heartiest heroes. Also included is a comprehensive index of all D&D monsters found in the Basic, Expert, Companion, and Master rule sets.

Whether your players' characters are 1st, 21st, or 31st level, this tome contains many fantastic creatures with which to test their mettle. Armed with the Creature Catalogue, you will be able to find the right fearsome foe to confront even the most foolhardy fellow." 

So last night we my DM's & the players, we were discussing a tome of monsters that can't be beat & that's the  AC9: D&D Creature Catalogue (Basic) By Jim Bambra, Phil Gallagher, &  Graeme Morris. This is a ninety six page monster tome of lot of different monsters  that can cause havoc through out your BECMI D&D campaigns. Looking over the Amazon reviews for AC9 Crimson Bassist has one of the best reviews & break downs I've seen; "YES!!!

This is IT!!
A whole softcovered book dedicated to the monsters of Basic Dungeons & Dragons!! This book, along with Chapter 14 of the D&D Rules Cyclopedia is all that is needed to have a whole slew of beasts to pit against your players. The monsters in this book are both new, and some are collected from modules and accesories from the 80's. Great, great, book. The only flaw I see, is that the monsters are not listed as one per page like in AD&D. Sometimes you will have 2 or 3 monsters on one page and the description of one of them will bleed over to the next page. But since the book is setup like this .... there is a BUTTLOAD of monsters here!

Keep in mind, this is NOT Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. This is NOT 3.0/3.5/4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons.
This is BASIC Dungeons & Dragons. To use this book effectively, you'll need the Basic D&D Rules Cyclopedia book. This book like the Cyclopedia book may be quite expensive now, but both are worth each and every penny spent!" 
 What makes AC9: D&D Creature Catalogue (Basic) By Jim Bambra, Phil Gallagher, &  Graeme Morris For BECMI D&D worth it?! Simply put this book is essentially the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Fiend Folio for the D&D Rules Cyclopedia. 

There are well over 200 monsters that have been culled & included within the pages of AC9: D&D Creature Catalogue. And this means a Hell of a lot of creatures can be used with  the Basic D&D Rules Cyclopedia book. 
And it also means that many of these monsters are going to be unknown to the average modern gamer today. That as we found out last night is fact with Fifth edition players who are migrating away from Fifth edition into the OSR. 
 Jim Bambra, Phil Gallagher, &  Graeme Morris bring some excellent creepies & crawlies with a book with a singular U.K. TSR  art style & sensibility about them. Many of these monsters harken into the BECMI D&D focus on wilderness & beyond the dungeon adventures. Many of the monsters in the 'Conjurations' section are very deadly & powerful. Many of these horrors would not see the light of day again until the OSR kicked in '04. Because AC9 is made for BECMI D&D it's very easy to swing these monsters & races into an OSR game campaign such as Lamentations of the Flame Princess or other OSR retroclone systems. 

AC9: D&D Creature Catalogue is a joy to work with as a DM. The monsters here are new, and subtly different from the AD&D first edition style. Here the monsters have a far more hand crafted aspect. 

And each & everyone feels like it could easily be dropped into a weird historic or strange European campaign easily. 

Here the crossover with D&D's Mystara is in ernest with AC9: D&D Creature Catalogue having the vibe of Mystara without the heavy laden background & location mythological glut that comes with the venerable campaign settting. 

In my humble opinion AC9: D&D Creature Catalogue is a hidden gem from another age.
AC9: D&D Creature Catalogue could easily be used with many other retroclones today including the Hyperborea rpg & many others. And it's the attention to detail that makes the AC9: D&D Creature Catalogue so invaluable to DM's even today.