Dungeon Mastering made easy: The Monster & Treasure Assortment and the Dungeon Masters Adventure Log

Greetings & Salutations fellow Old School gamers! Time for another installment of 1980's after school geekdom: Good 'ol D&D!
Now, I'll admit, I never owned these two old gems "....back in the day." I picked them both up off Ebay....and glad that I did! Both would have been a big help to a "DM in training"....and both contain some pretty damn cool art as well! Let's jump into the deep end, shall we?
The Dungeons & Dragons: Monster & Treasure Assortment (Sets One-three: Levels One-Nine

Now this beauty would have been a big help in adding the monsters to those gigantic dungeons we used to draw up when we were playing in the early 80's. Room after room....it does get a bit tedious after a while trying to dream up what's waiting around the next corner! 
Notice too that this is for "DUNGEONS & DRAGONS"....not AD&D...this was first published as 3 separate books....then compiled into one book in 1980....still has the old school Wizard TSR logo...

It gives the DM tables for generating monsters to inhabit a dungeon....from level 1 to level 9....if you were that ambitious to draw up 9 different levels!
It also has some killer art....mostly by that David Trampier genius! Such as the excellent cover with the giant snake guarding the treasure chest! 
David C. Sutherland III gets things started off with a dragon....definitely his style(no sig included).

Next up is a manticore...one of Tramp's signature subjects!

 One of his earlier works...notice the "Tramp" signature instead of the later used DAT. Another mythical monster guarding the treasure room....and no doubt spoiling for a fight!
Next up are a couple more of Tramp's works: A Harpy & a Giant Spider killing a Giant Frog!

You can see how every level had a 1-100 random monster generation...and the degree of toughness & difficulty increased exponentially with the level of the dungeon!
     Next are two drawings by DCS III: One showing 2 Ogre Magi & an evil fighter, the next showing two "fighting man" engaged with an Umber Hulk!

That guy is NOT fairing well with that Umber Hulk! And his friend needs to stop gawking & lend a hand...or spear!
      Then we are treated to a work of the "Clown Prince" of D&D art himself...the amazing Tom Wham! Seems to show a wizard and a fighter(maybe cleric?!?) talking to a dragon....while a thief is readying a misguided "Back-stab" attack! Somehow I don't see things going well for those three!

And then there is a piece by Bill Willingham...another personal favorite early D&D artist. I'll always be flabbergasted that he was "fired: from TSR! Brilliant artist! The Medusa face on the vase is cool...as is the spider & snake!

And as an extra bonus...the back cover as a drawing by Jeff Dee...another guy TSR should have never let go! This shows 2 adventurers battling an Owlbear...while a thief treats himself to the treasure at their expense!

Very cool little book....I can see it saving a bunch of time when I need to randomly throw some monsters in an adventure!
      Now we turn our collective attention to the "Advanced D&D Dungeon Masters Adventure Log".

Now this beauty is a bit of a "grab-bag" for a DM. It has charts for encounters & combat...drawings of the different types of armor...and charts to record all the pertinent information needed to track the character players in a campaign!
     Let's start with that awesome cover by the legendary Erol Otus! Looks like a dwarf fighter, a mage & a human fighter have run across a very large & surly Gnoll in a dungeon...with various baddies above and below!

And then the armor & helmet drawings! Looks like the work of DCS III to me....again no sig with the drawings! Very cool to give a DM (And players as well!) exact renderings of the various types of armor!

They even throw in armor for horses....just in case you were wondering! I know that somebody I knew had this book...I can remember seeing the drawings of the various armor & thinking it was very cool back then!
      A number of weapons get the treatment as well....just in case you couldn't visualize what a guisarme really looked like...or how a lucern hammer differed from a normal hammer!Fails, darts & even a bo stick!

They even threw in a "Sample Adventure Log Page" just to give the novice DM an idea of how to record all that info!

I could have gone thru a number of this books recording our adventures...but I'd have probably xeroxed the various pages so I wouldn't have gone bankrupt from having to purchase the same book over & over again! Great stuff....TSR never failed to deliver!