News
'Making your own way' on Black Gate
My Wednesday blog appears on Black Gate, and you can read it here.
Part Two: My visual journey through the looking glass of TSR's Red Box
Easley Elmore Jeff Easley Larry Elmore Red Box TSR
So we now hit Part Two of my continuing series on the art of the TSR Mentzer Edition Basic Red Box.Previously, I talked about my introduction to the source material, my journey through art and not the writing, and how that first adventure made me both exuberant and hollow. Once Easley and Elmore wrap up with the death of Aleena, your intrepid fighter semi-character goes back to town. Ah, is there anything better in all of D&D than ‘going back to town’? I doubt it, and here’s a primary reason why, because young gamers lack control in their lives and...
The Dawn of the Emperors is actually the end of the line for Gazetteers...
Clyde Caldwell Gazetteer Stephen Fabian TSR
When I first started dating my wife I was nineteen and I seemed to make an immediate impact on her family [yes, in a positive way!] Those early years were fun for sure, proving yourself to a family while they also did their best to prove themselves to you. I well remember my first Christmas as a ‘family guest’ and when asked what I wanted as a gift I told my would-be wife’s family that I want a D&D Gazetteer. Low and behold at the time I had no idea that by 1991 the TSR Gazetteer series had already been...
A walk with Monte & Tony through Planescape: The Planewalker's Handbook
Planescape Robh Ruppel Tony DiTerlizzi TSR
Today, I’m going to take a look at the artwork from the Planescape: The Planewalker’s Handbook supplement. Written by the newly sainted gaming genius Monte Cook, this 159 page book details a great deal of incredible little things concerning the planes as they appear in the Planescape Campaign Setting, but to me the artwork is always the most fun.With a cover done by Robh Ruppel the book starts off with a bang. Robh’s style is strong, and his muted colors blend well with the darkness of the setting. In this particular piece he draws on his inner M.C. Escher to...
My visual journey through the looking glass of TSR's Red Box [Part One]
Easley Elmore Jeff Easley Larry Elmore TSR
Where were you when the Red Box was released? I was in junior high, unable to read past a second grade level, and struggling with a newly formed weight problem. It was a tough time for many things in my life, but never my imagination. Nope, that always worked just fine, and by the time I could read at a level with my peers, had lost all the weight, and was in high school, the Red Box was a relic of the past, and yet it still remained entrenched in my mind even after I’d moved on to ‘Advanced’ D&D.I...