News — Jeff Easley

You know what amazes me? That I can only be halfway through the Players Manual when I’m already on Part Three of the Red Box art series! Seriously, how many pieces of art are in this baby? No, I’m not going to count, but when all is said and done it is a boatload.So, when we last left off, I was talking about characters, the first of which was the Cleric, and in this section the art details basically all of the Human class characters for Basic D&D.I well remember enjoying these a great deal when I attempted to play...

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...

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...

The I series of modules from TSR are certainly an interesting line, and one known primarily for Hickman’s Pharaoh trilogy, but that isn’t to say those venerable classics are all the line has to offer.The initial offering, I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City is pure old school art, featuring the talents of ‘The First Four’, and I3 Pharaoh has entered the full 1980s recast of the TSR pit with all Jim Holloway art, but I2 Tomb of the Lizard King was produced fully in the transition.It still features the new cast, Holloway, Quinn, and Easley, but they are raw here...

First things first, if any of my readers missed my 'Top 10 RPG Artists of the Past 40 Years' over on Black Gate, please have a look here and tell me what you think!  Now, on to this outstanding boxed set. Kata-Tur is certainly an interesting concept, let’s add a bit of non-Euro flavor to the world, and one that came into practice several times with the Forgotten Realms setting. The creation of ‘other lands’ beyond Greenwood’s initial setting can certainly do no harm and gives DMs a great ‘aside’ if they so choose. And for Kara-Tur itself, it was...