News — TSR

Today at Art of the Genre I’ll be taking a look at Dragon #175 from November 1991. Published by James M. Ward and edited by Roger E. Moore, this probably long forgotten issue isn’t a blockbuster but it does contain a few seeds that can help players and DMs of 2nd Edition AD&D.I certainly don’t remember it, as I was in my 2nd year of college at the time and probably well into my encore comic collecting phase during the Marvel and DC ‘gold rush’ of that period. That being said, it is nice to be able to go and...

Planescape… certainly a setting that is seemingly filled with endless in possibility. I well remember the first time I saw it, way back in probably 1996 as I’d just gone to work at a B. Dalton Bookseller in Bradenton Florida and came upon these beautiful boxed sets in the gaming section.It didn’t take me long to use my employee discount on them, and today I’m going to take a look at The Factol’s Manifesto.Produced in 1995 and designed by Dori Jean Hein, Tim Beach, and J.M. Salsbury this book covers all the various Factions of the City of Doors and...

There are two gaming supplements that I adore more than most, and oddly enough they were both released by TSR in 1985. Each could be considered by the multitude of fans as anathema to the traditional mechanics of the games in which they appear, but I just never saw that. The first of these is of course the Unearthed Arcana for AD&D, and I’m not going to get into that here, but the second is going to be the focus of this particular article. Zebulon’s Guide to Frontier Space Volume 1 [and sadly there would never be another volume] was...

I’ve written a bit on Al-Qadim once before here on AotG, but I have to say the more I look at the rather substantial collection I have, the more I wish I’d actually played it. Today I’m going to take a look at Golden Voyages. Written by David ‘Zeb’ Cook in 1992, this campaign line mixes it up with TSR’s other settings of the time, Dark Sun and Planescape. I’m certainly reminded of Dark Sun as I look at it. A small boxed set, the contents include six detailed booklets, a series of maps by Dave Sutherland III, a few...

By 1989 the art department of TSR was in flux. It had shrunk and morphed into a much smaller version of itself from a decade earlier. Elmore and Parkinson were gone, Caldwell was on his way out, and only Easley remained of the core oil masters.In this period, TSR began the extensive use of freelance talent to help fill out supplements, but the effect on the game also helped fracture the cohesive nature of the common narrative. Sure, Easley was still doing the lion’s share of core covers, but other than that we were seeing a randomization of talent and...