Surveying the Gen X landscape and the origins of geek
Don’t let those spare gold pieces get away! This attractive money purse will fit snugly under any tunic and most suits of chainmail.
Check out Larami’s other AD&D offerings at Tome of Treasures, including the Umber Hulk Bubble Blower.
(Images via royalshowing/eBay)
The cover image is via Tome of Treasures. The ad is from Dragon #33 (January, 1980). I don’t have any of the interior art, unfortunately, but the art credits are as follows:
John Barnes: April and January (1981).
Dale Carlson: January (1980), May, September, and December.
Elladan Ellrohir (real name: Kenneth Rahman): February and November. Rahman, apart from artwork under several different guises, co-designed TSR’s Divine Right and Knights of Camelot games.
Phil Foglio: June.
Bill Hannan: front cover (from Dragon #1), July, and October.
Dean Morrisey: March and August.
The incomparable Darlene did the titles and title illustrations. With due respect to the other artists, that’s what I want to see most.
I thought the first Dragon calendar came out in ’79, but I can’t seem to find any evidence.
With Dragon Duel, we now have four AD&D handheld pinball games, all of them made by Larami. The packaging is different on these (cards instead of a box), and they appear to be smaller. Tome of Treasures suggests that there are at least five of the pinball handhelds. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more.
All of the art is by Larry Elmore. The card art, as well as the game art for Castle Maze, are from the 1983 Basic Set cover. The game art for Myths and Magic is from the Mountain of Mirrors (Endless Quest series) cover. I’d be much obliged if someone can identify the original source used for The Quest. I know I’ve seen it before, and I’m nearly positive it’s Elmore, but I can’t dig up a match.
The regulation D&D pinball machine, also featuring the Elmore painting from the Basic Set, didn’t come out until 1987.
Appearing in 1981, one year after Mattel’s Dungeons & Dragons Computer Labyrinth Game, the irresistible handheld actually caused fistfights during recess. I might have started one of them. Watching a demo now, I’m not sure what all the fuss was about. It’s a general indicator of how “in” the portable LCD games were, and how badly we wanted to be doing something D&D-related.
Gygax and co. understood the time constraints involved in role-playing, and they knew that getting a group together could be tough. Both of the Mattel games were quick and allowed solo play. Sometimes, clinging to the fringes of the D&D aura was the best we could do. In the first photo, as if to prove my point, you’ll see the first edition AD&D Monster Manual (1977) lurking in the closet, waiting for a game to show up. (I think the “Tempe North” on the kid’s hat refers to a Little League in Tempe, Arizona.)
See specs and details of the Computer Fantasy Game at the Handheld Games Museum. It appears on the first page of the 1982 Mattel Electronics toy fair catalog.
(Images via eBay and Handheld Games Museum)
The fourth and final installment of the AD&D Characters Coloring Book. My favorite page in this lot: “Mercion is a good cleric. Scary things like skeletons are afraid of her goodness.” I think Zarak looks appropriately sinister, but isn’t he a little short for a half-orc?
Parts one, two, and three of the book are here, here, and here, respectively.
According to French Wikipedia, the Dungeons & Dragons animated series premiered in France in 1984 (IMDb says 1987, as do other sources), and was rebroadcast starting in 1986. The series was called Le Sourire du Dragon (The Smile of the Dragon), as was the song used for the intro, sung by Dorothée. Listen to the full version here, and watch the actual intro here. It’s very sweet, but also kind of creepy, maybe because it reminds me of the Twin Peaks soundtrack.
The game was designed by François Marcela-Froideval, an influential figure in the introduction of RPGs in France. He came to the U.S. in 1982 to work for TSR, where he collaborated with Gary Gygax on Oriental Adventures (1985), among other projects.
Tignous is credited as the interior artist, and comics innovator Bill Sienkiewicz painted the cover. Sienkiewicz got his start on Moon Knight and The New Mutants, and went on to do mind-blowing art for Elektra: Assassin and the Daredevil: Love and War graphic novel, both of them written by Frank Miller.
See detailed views of all the game pieces and instructions at Dungeons & Dragons Cartoon Encyclopedia.
(Images via eBay and Dungeons & Dragons Cartoon Encyclopedia)
The Dungeons & Dragons animated series was released in Spain in 1985, and didn’t debut in France and the U.K. until 1987. Spain also released some rather strange PVC figures of all the major characters in the cartoon.
Has anyone else seen a D&D sweatsuit before?
DAS, still around today, had many licenses at the time, including the Smurfs. The D&D licensing boom of ’82-’83 was aimed at the younger kids who didn’t really understand role-playing yet, but who knew the brand from the older kids, from placement, and, in 1983, from the cartoon and action figures.
The clay figures here were not meant as a game supplement, in other words, like the hundreds of metal miniatures found in every hobby shop. The back of the box makes it very clear: “These kits depicting Advanced Dungeons & Dragons characters are a fun, colorful way to visualize the popular role-playing games’ [sic] adventures.”
And again: “The timeless adventures of powerful wizards, firebreathing dragons and fairy princesses are recreated in these clay modelling kits…”
Not a supplement, but a replacement.
DAS put out at least one more AD&D modelling clay kit, with a pink box, featuring “Goblins and Dragons.”
(Images via Vintage Odds N Ends/eBay)
Because if there’s two things that go together, it’s AD&D and the beach. And the towels must be used at the beach, because “beach towel” is printed right there at the top. Try not to lose your dice in the sand, gamers.
David Sutherland art appears on both towels. In fact, the two in the first photo belonged to Sutherland and appear at The Collector’s Trove. The second and third images are via eBay.
UPDATE: Zenopus (of Zenopus Archives) kindly sent in this photo of a third towel. (Thanks again, Z.)
It’s definitely from the same series, but I can’t tell who the artist is. I don’t recall seeing the design anywhere else. What monster do you think is guarding the treasure (‘X’ marks the spot), considering the adventurers are already tackling a red dragon?
Please contact me (2warpstoneptune@gmail.com) if you spot a different towel, or if you find close-ups of the giant centipede/dungeon towels.
UPDATE (6/30/14): The righteous “Mr. D.” sent in these detailed views of the dungeon crawl towel seen above. Great stuff.
Page one: Stine continues to play fast and loose with the spells. It gives the artists more freedom.
Page three: Thieves do not enter buildings through the front door.
Page four: Not really a revelation that evil sorcerers use magic for evil purposes.
Page five: A real druid spell.
Page six: The Amazing Spider-Mage!
Pages seven through ten: The druid is about as fearsome as the bard in part one.
Page eleven: Jazz hands!
Page twelve: My favorite from this bunch. Love the feather.
Page thirteen: Warduke does not look afraid to me, merely annoyed.
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Parts one and two of the coloring book are here and here.
2 Warps to Neptune 