I was checking Kijiji a while back and found a guy in Quebec was selling a 1st ed orange stripe FRENCH Monster Manual. He sold it to me for 25 bucks...it's in really good shape.
The interesting thing about it is that not only is it in French, but that the layout of the pages has changed. Also,the order of the monsters has moved around, and in some cases the pictures have changed position, too.
An interesting curio and a neat addition to the collection...does anyone else have one?


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I think $25 is probably about right.  I picked up DMG and PH in French on Ebay for $10 each but they are in a bit worse shape.

French MM is rarer than PHB and DMG. They sold for good money in France, if you want them in EX condition. They sell for at least 20€ here, and can go for more.
However, the translation is very very very poor..... Most of French players use English books :/ (like me)

lokiwookie wrote:French MM is rarer than PHB and DMG.
However, the translation is very very very poor..... Most of French players use English books :/ (like me)

I would have nuances. French translation of the core AD&D core rulebooks were most than wanted by most players. Even by the first hour players like me. We were both apprehensive about it and happy. We did not know if we were going to change game terms or not and we hoped for a good translation. It was quite similar for the Lords of the Rings movies by Peter Jackson, all fans of Tolkien worried about a poor adaptation. When the first AD&D book was published in French, the Players Handbook in 1986 IIRC (Manuel des Joueurs), my group and me were very satisfied. It was in my opinion a rather good translation, that is to say written in good French, not like a later translation for the second edition where many sentences have no sense. I think your judgment "very very poor" corresponds more to the difficulty we had to choose between French and English terms and some French terms could appear "ridiculous" after using the original for so long years. Yes some words seemed difficult to use but overall, I think it was a good job. We were so used to English in our play, that we were still using English spells, armors, and technical terms for a long time. When the fist modules were translated into French soon after the rulebooks and new players came to play, it was easier to use French in playing and gradually we appreciated to do so. But for the elder, there was still a strange feeling.  Even if I was not involved into the French translation and I do not personally know the contributors, I have a great respect for their job. I think they took part of the AD&D history. If 1986 was a crucial period for TSR in USA, in France we were still in the "gold" era.

Hi dwarf, nice to see you there!  

dwarf wrote:
I would have nuances. French translation of the core AD&D core rulebooks were most than wanted by most players. Even by the first hour players like me.

I agree with this. However, I think that most of players who read fluently English, choose to use the English books for play. The French books are sought after by English "non-readers" most of time, and by collectors as well.
Actually, I am currently running a game with French AD&D translations because my nephew doesn't read English (he understands only some terms since he is 10yo). Honestly, we encounter a lot of problem with this translation... and I frequently have to look in my English version to be able to answer questions... However, I am ok that the translators were a real part of the RPG history and I have a great respect to them too. Most of time they were only students, or players like us, and they translated these books just because they want to contribute in some manner.

And the problem of equivalence between French and English terms was (and is) an important matter too.

nn wrote:
i wonder what french succubi do to drain a level?

What don't they do?

*rimshot*