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It’s Not a Fantasy: Dungeons & Dragons Camp, 1981 – 1985

Published June 18, 2013 D&D , D&D Portraits , Summer Camp 33 Comments
Shippensburg 1981

1981

Shippensburg 1982

1982

Shippensburg 1983

1983

Shippensburg 1984, week 1

1984

Shippenburg 1985

1985

Shippenburg 1985

1985

Shippensburg Adventure Game Camp really existed. It was held during the summer at the Shippensburg College campus in southern Pennsylvania. Ben Robbins, who is currently developing an RPG called Kingdom, attended all five years. The photos come from his Flickr set, at this point an indispensable historical document.

In a must-read interview at Gaming Brouhaha, he boils down the experience: “Take the normal magic of summer camp and then ratchet it up a few notches for sharing a rare and misunderstood subculture.” I can only imagine.

He explains the structure of the camp and how the groups were broken up, talks about the campaigns, tells stories  (for instance: going to see Clash of the Titans with all the geeks in the group). Every morning there were lectures on gaming, he says:

One of the best sections (back each year by popular demand) was audience suggestions for improv roleplaying. The councilors would all act as players, and the audience would come up with situations and characters for them and they’d roleplay it out. There wasn’t any fighting or rules — if the situation started to devolve into combat they stopped and moved to a new one. It may seem unimpressive now, but demonstrating roleplaying as a game in itself was a powerful example back in the early 80′s.

This recalls Dirk Malcolm on the “leap of faith“ it took in the early days “to move from Monopoly to playing mind-games with dice.”

The first 1985 photo is my favorite. The Ratt t-shirt is a classic (what’s he holding?). I also see Rush and Dio shirts. Houston Oilers hat and check Vans in the second row (are those guys twins?). All the studs in their shades and feathered back hair. Sad kid sighting: front row, second from the right. Girl sighting: smack in the middle of the pile.

The camp was cruelly canceled before the 1986 season. I posted the letter last year.

Thanks, Ben.

Geekery in the UK: Games Workshop and the Early Selling of ‘Mind-Games with Dice’

Published June 12, 2013 Ads , D&D , Games Workshop , Magazines/Zines , TSR 7 Comments

Games Workshop Ad 1981

I’ve talked a little bit about TSR’s early marketing campaign in the U.S., and now, thanks to Dirk Malcolm of The Dirk Malcolm Alternative, we see how game makers won over the kids in Britain.

The ad above is from the December 1981 issue of Starburst, “the world’s longest-running magazine of sci-fi horror and fantasy.” I don’t remember seeing anything like it in the U.S. It’s very effective, the staid schoolboy quietly conjuring his inner barbarian. The message is a moral: reality comes with escape hatches, and it’s okay to use them. (For the low, low price of £7.95!)

Games Workshop was (and is, they’re still very successful) a British company that started to import D&D and other U.S.-produced RPGs in 1978. In a 2008 interview, Gary Gygax talks about granting GM, founded by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, “a license to produce TSR products in the UK, even print their own material unique to the UK.” The cost of importing was high, so the deal effectively unleashed the swelling nerd-thusiasm of the new market. (There was even talk of a TSR-Games Workshop merger at one point, but the parties couldn’t come to terms.)

RPG Article 1981

RPG Article 1981-2

In the same Starburst, there’s an article (above) written by Steve Jackson introducing the concept of role-playing games. In his post, Starburst Memories: Tired of Reality?, Dirk talks about the impact it had on him at the time.

When I read this article back in 1982, everything seemed to click into place, and those mysterious games that sat in the corner of Boydell’s Toy Shop in Bolton, became a tantalizing gateway into a new world.

He also nicely describes the stark novelty of the hobby when it first appeared:

It is difficult to appreciate now how much of a conceptual leap it was to play a game that didn’t have a board. This was before Fighting Fantasy (choose your own adventure books), before Zelda, before Warhammer, before Total Warcraft and before Second Life. Most people are used to hypertextual narrative games, they are part of everyday life, but back in the early 1980s it took a leap of faith to move from Monopoly to playing mind-games with dice.

STAY TUNED: Dirk (a.k.a. Chris) has kindly agreed to participate in my Interview with a Geek series. I’m super excited about getting a non-American perspective on living life “with funny-shaped dice,” among other things.

(All images are courtesy Dirk Malcolm/Chris Hart)

A Portrait of Young Geeks Playing D&D (1982)

Published May 29, 2013 '80s Decor/Design/Fashion , D&D , D&D Portraits , David Trampier 6 Comments

D&D geeks

No, you’re not mistaken. The dude sitting furthest back really is wearing a unicorn shirt with a rolled-brim Busch Beer hat. Got a problem?

And that’s the original 1978 Player’s Handbook with the David Trampier cover that scared the shit out of all the people who believed Satan was taking over the Earth one polyhedral die roll at a time.

If you haven’t already, check out my D&D Portrait series.

(Photo via Mojo Yugen/Flickr)

Dr. Joyce Brothers (1927 – 2013): Psychologist, Media Personality, Defender of Dungeons & Dragons

Published May 21, 2013 '70s Movies/TV , '80s Movies/TV , D&D , In Memoriam , TSR 3 Comments

Joyce Brothers 1980

I remember Dr. Brothers mostly for her witty cameos on various TV shows of the day, including The Love Boat, WKRP, and Happy Days, as well as her many appearances on The Tonight Show and several game shows.

But she was a real psychologist (with a Ph.D. from Columbia)—the first to use mass media to tackle everything from sex to suicide—and hosted several advice/discussion shows from the late 1950s through the ’70s. She died, at age 85, on May 13. (Read her obituary at the New York Times.)

The photo above, courtesy of Jon Peterson, shows Brothers in a 1980 TV appearance promoting the TSR board game Fantasy Forest.

Fantasy Forest

At a time when D&D and role-playing were decried as tools of Satan, Brothers defended the practice and D&D in particular. In a 1984 radio interview with Neil McKenty, Brothers describes herself as a “consultant for TSR” and applauds D&D for being a “cooperative game” in which “everybody works together to overcome obstacles.”

Playing the game, she says, is a mentally healthy activity that demands intelligence, expands the imagination, and promotes joy. She even mentions Gary Gygax by name!

Brothers gave serious advice about touchy subjects and was a brilliant woman (an expert on boxing, among other things) who realized that taking herself too seriously would put off the people who needed help the most.

Lawful good human clerics can’t do much better than that.

D&D Cover Art: Scourge of the Slave Lords (1980 – 1981)

Published May 14, 2013 Bill Willingham , D&D , D&D Art , D&D Modules , Erol Otus , Jeff Dee , Jeff Easley , Jim Roslof Leave a Comment

Slave Pits of the Undercity FC 1980

Slave Pits of the Undercity BC 1980

Secret of the Slavers Stockade FC 1981

Secret of the Slavers Stockade BC 1981

Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords FC 1981

Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords BC 1981

In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords FC 1981

In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords BC 1981

Scourge of the Slave Lords FC 1986

Scourge of the Slave Lords BC 1986

Slave Pits of the Undercity (1980): Both covers are by Jeff Dee. On the front, the wizard’s light spell saves the viewer and the party from utter darkness. (His non-casting hand is awkwardly placed, no?) Somehow, I don’t think the giant ant man’s two wooden shields are going to hold up against that hammer, but we have no idea how many of his friends are skittering to his aid, and that builds suspense.

I suspect the back cover was a rush job. The figures are finished (I like the bandaged arm of the bad guy), but the background is a blank.

Secret of the Slavers Stockade (1981): Jim Roslof did the front cover. The torch light and ensuing shadows set the mood, but the scene doesn’t sell the threat: the slaver and his Gollum-like pet are no match for the waiting heroes. The back cover is Erol Otus. The man is in absolute command of color and light, and his figures are the stuff of myth, something you might see on the vases and holy artifacts of an ancient civilization.

Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords (1981): Front cover is Jeff Dee again—substandard work, in my opinion: no motion, no life. The back cover, another Otus, is exactly the opposite: I can feel the pillars shaking, hear the cries of the warriors, the swooshing of the torch.

In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords (1981): This cover, one of Otus’s best, is a phantasmagoric, fantasy-art-meets-German-Expressionism masterpiece. It belongs in a museum. Bill Willingham goes for the throat on the lurid and bawdy back cover, a nice homage to Hammer Horror.

All of the modules (A1 – A4) were collected as Scourge of the Slave Lords in 1986. The cover painting here, a decent Frazetta emulation, is by Jeff Easley. (Is that Thundarr bursting his bonds in the background?)

Unfortunately, the series is not yet available on dndclassics.com.

Homemade D&D Modules: The Golden Scepter of the Troll Fens, The Maze of Death, and The Priest of Evil (1981)

Published April 24, 2013 D&D , D&D Modules , DIY , Kid Art 9 Comments
Walters D&D-1

Walters D&D-2

Walters D&D-4

Walters D&D-3

Walters D&D-5

Walters D&D-6

 

Hand-drawn, hand-typed, and hand-assembled by 13-year-old Mikey Walters in 1981, I present the first six pages of a fully realized, fully playable 28-page module. (Click the images for a bigger view.)

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to journey to the Troll Fens, retrieve the golden scepter (it “can cause Orcs to do any task, including suicide”), and bring it safely back to the Kingdom of Kala. The scepter is gold and exactly 5 ft. long, as you can see. If you find a golden scepter measuring 4 ft. or 6 ft., that’s totally cool, but it’s not the golden scepter we’re looking for.

How far is the Troll Fens from Kala, you ask? Well, it’s 575 miles by the main road, or “250 miles as the bird flies.” Those birds have all the luck! If you happen to doubt the accuracy of the distances, you have but to consult the awesomely rendered map. (I thought it was very biblical/philosophical of Mikey to put the Island of Evil and the Island of Knowledge side by side.)

Wait, there’s more.

 

Walters D&D-8

Walters D&D-9

Walters D&D-7

 

I really could have used these “Mini Modules” back in the day, since only two of us were serious about playing (serious about wanting to play, anyway). The covers are made of construction paper. The “Basic” banner on top is pure genius.

The cover of The Priest of Evil is pretty creepy, isn’t it? What’s he doing in that chair? Is he commanding the fire? Why won’t he show himself? Oh my God he’s going to kill us all with his mind!

Okay, one more page. I can’t resist. This one is from Mikey’s new monsters stat pages.

 

Walters D&D-10

 

“A Mad Dog is simply a dog with Rabies.” And let me tell you, the Rabies is nasty. “Within four days the victim will have great difficulty swallowing water… and in twelve days they will die.” A constitution or strength of 18 or better will give you a mere 10% chance of survival. Note to party: steer clear of Mad Dogs.

“A Jinnis is a disgusting creature that lives in swamps and other dark places.” You know, despite its sandpaper-like texture and devil horns and fire breath, I feel like the Jinnis gets a bad rap. This thing has a mother that loves it. For all we know, the Jinnis thinks we’re disgusting creatures that live in kingdoms and other sickeningly well-lighted places.

You’ll find the entire modules and other gems at Mikey’s D&D Memories Set on Flickr.

Also, the modules appeared last year at Rended Press, where they were kindly made available as PDFs: The Golden Scepter of the Troll Fens, The Maze of Death, The Priest of Evil.

STAY TUNED: Mikey was kind enough to talk to me about his D&D creations and other childhood endeavors and experiences. The interview will run next week.

A Portrait of Young Geeks Playing D&D (1980)

Published April 16, 2013 D&D , D&D Clubs , D&D Portraits , Goonies Never Say Die , High School , High School Yearbooks 9 Comments

D&D portrait 1980

D&D portrait 1980-2

D&D portrait 1980-3

These are from the 1980 Libertyville (a northern suburb of Chicago) High School Yearbook, courtesy of edenpictures/Flickr. John Olson’s explanation of the game on the first page may be the best one I’ve ever heard.

Interesting how they’re referred to as the Dungeons and Dragons people. Why not players? Or fans? Maybe because no one really understood them. They were those people. They were Goonies.

And what about the crux of the blurb: “The game provides its participants with the action, battle, and adventure they may never find in real life”? Isn’t the act of pretending a real life event? If I imagine that I’m swinging a sword at a red dragon while rolling a d20, am I not finding adventure in real life? It’s a less physical experience than running between the tackles on a football field, but it’s no less real.

Look closely at these kids. They were themselves, and they probably took a lot of shit for it. They were geeks before geeks were cool.

TSR’s Escape from New York: The Game (1981)

Published April 12, 2013 '80s Movies/TV , Bill Willingham , Board Games/Tabletop Games , Erol Otus , Escape from New York , TSR 5 Comments

EFNY Cover

EFNY Back

EFNY Board

EFNY-4

EFNY-6

EFNY-7

EFNY-8

EFNY-9

EFNY Instr

Toshiba Digital Camera

EFNY-12

EFNY-11

Really? I must have seen this movie a hundred times when it first came out on video (it’s still one of my all-time faves), but I had no idea there was a game. The cool illustration on the instructions title page is by Bill Willingham. You can see his signature on the plane. The second drawing—the “crazies” coming out of the sewer—might be an Erol Otus. Isn’t that an “EO” in the top right corner?

I would love to play this baby.

(Images via Board Game Geek and eBay)

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Instant Rub-Down Picture Transfers (1981)

Published April 3, 2013 D&D , D&D Art , D&D Non-Gaming Merchandise , David C. Sutherland III , David Trampier , Presto Magix/Dry Transfers 4 Comments

D&D transfers

D&D transfers-3

D&D transfers-2

Wicked. These appear to be Trampier’s and Sutherland’s illustrations from the original Monster Manual (1977). And they’ve been marked down to 25 cents each!

Images are via the brilliant Monster Brains. Go there to see all of the transfers and other killer stuff.

Dungeons & Dragons Club, 1983

Published March 14, 2013 D&D , D&D Clubs , D&D Portraits , High School , High School Yearbooks 5 Comments

1983 Dungeons and Dragons club

Presumably this shot comes from the Menlo School Yearbook of 1983. Menlo is a middle and high school in Atherton, California. I love the dragon, but shouldn’t he be holding a polyhedral die?

What do we think is playing on that boombox (top left)? Thriller?

(Photo via Menlo Photo Bank/Flickr)

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