News — Valerie Valusek

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...

In my continuing series of posts on old Dragon Magazine art, I’m going to be going over Dragon #136.  I’ve owned two copies of this Dragon, not because I particularly loved it, but because fate decided I should have two.  However, that isn’t to say there aren’t some very cool things in #136, as I found when rereading it for this article.  So before I get into the artwork, let me just give gamers a quick rundown of what resources they might enjoy inside. First, you get a great look at gaming cities, with a fantasy city builder by Thomas...