The Monster Manual II -- Mark Taormino's Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #0 Village of the Borderlands Kickstarter & The Hyperborea rpg

 The Monster Manual II remains a favorite of mine for a couple of reasons. Let's get the obvious history lesson out of the way first;" Monster Manual II (1983), largely by Gary Gygax, is TSR's sixth hardcover for the AD&D game, and its third book of monsters. Though Gygax prepared at least an initial version of the manuscript in September 1982, Monster Manual II wasn't published until GenCon XVI (1983), breaking the pattern of a new AD&D hardcover appearing every year, as had been the case from 1977 through 1981." 
Now this is from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual II Drivethrurpg entry but it's actually the MMI  Wiki entry that has the meat of today's research.

Here's the meat of the MMII wiki entry; "The book included random encounter tables for dungeon and wilderness settings built from the Monster Manual, Fiend Folio, and Monster Manual II,^[1] and a dozen new devils that had been first published in the pages of Dragon magazine. Like the Fiend Folio before it, the monsters in Monster Manual II listed the experience point value for each monster within the entry. The Monster Manual II along with the First Edition Unearthed Arcana book featured quite a number of monsters, races, and places from Gary Gygax's Greyhawk Campaign world. The book featured interior illustrations by Jim Holloway, Harry Quinn, Dave Sutherland, and Larry Elmore." 
Between the experience lists, the random encounter tables for dungeon and wilderness, and the expanded monsters, races, and places for Greyhawk make this an excellent resource for our Borderlands campaign. 

"Open Box: Dungeon Modules". White Dwarf  (January 1984) review of the Monster Manual II by Megan C Evens goes deeper into the relievant areas for game play and according to the Wiki entry; "Monster Manual II garnered positive reviews, receiving a score of 7 out of 10 in a review in White Dwarf magazine.^[3] The reviewer praised the book's standard of clear presentation, and felt that the artwork was of a higher quality than that in the previous monster books. However, the reviewer felt that there were too many high level and overly deadly monsters, and that most of the monsters in the book were inimical to adventures. The reviewer did make note of the fact that there were "many interesting ideas and several well-developed tribes and hierarchies", and felt that, overall, the book is "a good, well presented addition to the AD&D series, with some very useful creatures". The reviewer recommended the book to anyone who likes a wide range of monsters in the game."
For our own Borderlands campaign the Monster Manual II's take on humanoids, expanded races, etc. make this a no brainer to add to the mix. 

The Borderlands is a place under the purview of Chaos & evil. The MMII and it's monsters are not that well known today by the modern player. So this is a feature for us and not a bug. 

For our purposes the humanoids of B2 The Keep on the Borderlands could easily slide into the random tables of the Monster Manual II. And these tables can easily be used with the Hyperborea rpg. 
And this goes back into the fact that Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition monster books inspire as much as supplement  for our homebrew campaigns. 
There's something about the way that the humanoid monster races of the Monster Manual II align with the Pulpy sensibilities of the Hyperborea rpg to mind mind at least. 
Maybe it's the draw of evil that lurks within   Mark Taormino's Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #0 Village of the Borderlands's dungeons & ruins that give me that spin for this campaign. And this goes back to the sort of set up we've talked about," The village is another point take the campaign. These modules could be about a series of forts build along the edge of a fertile series of valleys that were carved or engineered out of volcanos to act as a sort of artificial paradise." 

The village of Hommlet is another part of this puzzle that has it's own secrets. Tunnels connecting to both the Village of the Borderlands & the Caves of Chaos. Could there be other forces of Chaos lurking just below the surface of this campaign that directly come from the Monster Manual II? The short answer is a resounding yes!