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Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dragonlance Miniatures (Set 1) (TSR, 1984)

Published May 22, 2015 D&D , D&D Art , D&D Miniatures , Dragonlance , TSR 3 Comments

Dragonlance-1

Dragonlance-2

I first talked about Dragonlance way back here. I was obsessed with the books when they came out, although I reread Dragons of Autumn Twilight a couple of years ago and it didn’t really hold up. Not all that surprising.

I never got into the minis. I always found them interesting and would have liked to try my hand at painting a few, but they were too expensive. Making the sculpts is certainly an art form. The art on the box cover is by Jeff Easley from the Dragons of Flame module (1984).

Somebody give Toede a flame-throwing guitar!

Dungeons & Dragons Lite-Brite Picture Refill (Hasbro, 1984)

Published May 19, 2015 D&D , D&D Non-Gaming Merchandise 7 Comments

D&D Lite 1984

D&D Lite 1984-2

The good: Warduke, Warduke’s Shield, Strongheart’s mustache. The bad: Castle. The stupid: Charmay (I don’t want to know what she’s holding). I like Garn too, but I think it’s because he reminds me of the zombies in Ghosts ‘n Goblins.

Item sold on eBay for $26.00.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Coloring Book: The Crown of Rulership (1983) (Part One)

Published May 18, 2015 Coloring/Activity Books , D&D , D&D Art , D&D Non-Gaming Merchandise , Earl Norem , TSR 2 Comments

Crown001

Crown002

Crown003

Crown004

Crown005

Crown006

Crown007

Crown008

Crown009

Crown010

Crown011

Crown012

Crown013

Crown014

A new adventure begins, this time with the creative team of David Anthony Kraft (writer) and Pablo Marcos (artist). The cover is by Earl Norem.

Kraft started at Marvel as the editor of FOOM in 1978 and had a memorable run on The Defenders. Throughout the ’80s he worked on promotional materials, coloring/activity books, and the Marvel Books imprint. He went on to found the influential Comics Interview, which ran from 1983 to 1995.

Peruvian Pablo Marcos emigrated to the U.S. in the early 1970s and got his first American comics work with Warren and Skywald publications before moving to Marvel. He is best known for penciling Tales of the Zombie and inking John Buscema’s Conan the Barbarian.

As for the story thus far in The Crown of Rulership, my only question is, why the hell is the map to the all-powerful Crown shoved in willy-nilly with all the other scrolls, and very much out in the open? Better yet, why hasn’t someone of lawful good alignment already secured the Crown, to prevent evildoers from doing the same?

More to come. The AD&D Characters Coloring Book, if you haven’t seen it, is here.

Hand Drawn Zork I `Dungeon Map’, 1979 – 1982

Published May 13, 2015 D&D , DIY 6 Comments

Dungeon 1981

Take your time. There’s lots to see, including the “Bank of Zork” (a D&D-universe bank is here), “Atlantis” and “Grail” rooms, a “Smelly” room, lots of pre-Goonies slides, a Coal Mine, a Pengo-esque slide-the-blocks maze, a “Cryptt,” a “Tombb,” a “Foreest”—click to enlarge and get started.

The master cartographer is Stephen Roy, who worked on it over the course of three years, and the map is via Cluster 8’s Flickr.

UPDATE: This is actually a map (see below) of Zork I, a text adventure originally released in 1977. The original DOS version did not come with a map, hence the incredible work you see above. Thanks for the heads up, David Augustyn.

Zork

Dungeon of the Algebra Dragons (Timeworks, 1983)

Published May 13, 2015 Commodore Computers , D&D , Personal Computers , Video Games 1 Comment

Timeworks / Commodore 64 - DUNGEON OF THE ALGEBRA DRAGONS

Timeworks / Commodore 64 - DUNGEON OF THE ALGEBRA DRAGONS

There’s a demo on YouTube of Algebra Dragons from 1985 that appears to be a sequel to this game. “Press -C- to continue” brought back some memories.

Clever concept for a game. Still, I wouldn’t have made it past the first dragon.

Images are via Flickr. Click through for a bigger view.

The Art of the Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Game (TSR, 1985) (Part Two)

Published May 7, 2015 Clyde Caldwell , D&D , D&D Art , Denis Beauvais , Keith Parkinson , Larry Elmore , Robin Wood 8 Comments
Art of D&D078

Art of D&D079

“Death to Intruders!” acrylics, by Keith Parkinson

Art of D&D080

Music Lover,” oils, by Robin Wood

Art of D&D081

Art of D&D082

Art of D&D083

“Motherhood,” acrylic, wash, and color pencils, by Denis Beauvais

Art of D&D084

Art of D&D085

“Teamwork,” oils, by Larry Elmore

Art of D&D086

“Castle Caldwell,” oils, by Clyde Caldwell

Sources, from top to bottom:

Dragons of Doom (front cover) Endless Quest Book #13 by Rose Estes (1983)
Sabre River (front cover) Adventure Module CM3 by Douglas Niles and Bruce Nesmith (1984)
Dragon #97 (front cover) (May, 1985)
Dragon #98 (front cover) (June, 1985)
Dragon #92 (front cover) (December, 1984)
Dragon #78 (front cover) (October, 1983)
Poster designed exclusively for Sears (1984)
Castle Caldwell and Beyond (front cover) Adventure Module B9 by Harry Nuckols (1985)

The Robin Wood painting is my favorite by far. It’s the first cover she did for Dragon magazine. In the book she says:

I’ll tell you the reason I don’t like to paint dragons—all those scales! I thought I’d never finish! There are five layers of paint on each scale…

She has more to say here.

Beauvais is another favorite of mine. His color schemes and more abstract style set him apart from the reigning realism of the day.

Part one is here.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Ad, 1980

Published May 5, 2015 Ads , D&D , TSR 4 Comments

FF #17 1980-5061

The back cover of Fantastic Films #17.

Kid Art (Circa 1980 – 1985): Dungeons & Dragons

Published April 27, 2015 D&D , D&D Art , Kid Art 3 Comments

D&D Sinclair-1

D&D Sinclair-3

D&D Sinclair-7

D&D Sinclair-6

D&D Sinclair-12

D&D Sinclair-2

D&D Sinclair-8

D&D Sinclair-11

D&D Sinclair-10

D&D Sinclair-9

I’m going to go ahead and call these drawings masterpieces on par with the Orvis’s illustrations of Disney’s The Black Hole. They’re from Stefan’s Flickr, and there are 91 glorious pieces, all of them perfectly captioned, in his D&D Pencil Art album.

Note the soda machine that has fallen through a “dimensional rift” into D&D world, as well as the bank robbery (“we were low on GP,” says Stefan). Other art not featured here includes a decapitating ninja, a “giant robot warrior machine” shooting down an X-Wing Fighter, an “Apocalypse Arena,” an arm-wrestling dragon, a Sumo warrior, a wizard on a magic carpet dueling a giant eagle, and a bitch-slapping grizzly bear.

The set belongs in a museum.

Kid Art (1981): Dungeons & Dragons ‘Knight’

Published April 27, 2015 D&D Art , Fantasy Art , Kid Art 2 Comments

D&D 1981

Beautiful D&D-inspired piece artist Joe Linton did when he was in high school. Saved by mom, naturally. I found it on his blog, Homemade Ransom Notes.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Flyer (Larami, 1984)

Published April 16, 2015 D&D , D&D Non-Gaming Merchandise , Frisbees , Larami Toys Leave a Comment

AD&D FF 1984

Image is via Cyclopeatron. Check out the red version, in package, at Tome of Treasures. With the exception of Strongheart, all of the art used is by Timothy Truman, as seen in The Art of the Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Game.

The smaller Fantasy Flyers are here.

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