Sep 16, 2024
Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma as illustrated by Bob Maurus, from "The six main skills: What AD&D game abilities mean in real terms" by Jefferson P Swycaffer, Dragon 107, March 1986
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Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma as illustrated by Bob Maurus, from "The six main skills: What AD&D game abilities mean in real terms" by Jefferson P Swycaffer, Dragon 107, March 1986
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BSOLO — Ghost of Lion Castle (1984) is a pretty great solo adventure by Merle Rasmussen (Top Secret). The concept is simple: explore the castle (which is shaped like a lion), navigate its hazards and impress its builder, Sargon the Wizard, now a ghost (and probably inspired by the DC comics character Sargon the Sorcerer — they look a bit similar). Despite the straightforward premise, BSOLO is HARD. Which allows for a neat feature.
The module expects you to keep notes in the margins (the “magic journal”), logging when you remove objects from a room, defeat monsters, drink potions and, especially, the location of your corpse if you die — so you can loot it in your next run through. I love this. And the fact that the idea turns up again in MMORPGs a couple decades later is also pretty great.
Special note must be made of Bob Maurus’ artwork. He only did stuff for a couple modules, but man, his stuff here is solid gold classic. The strong POV perspective in the view of the castle exterior and the illustration in the dungeon is just absolutely fantastic and unlike anything else around at the time (adventure gamebooks like Fighting Fantasy often have an implied POV, but I can’t recall any that stick “your” hands into the view). Strong anticipation of FPS videogames (which were already starting to emerge in ‘84). Dungeonsynth fans might note that the dungeon illustration has shown up in modified form fronting several Kobold albums. Finally, Maurus seems to primarily be a sculptor. I actually have a Cthulhu idol he did — never knew who the artist was until I looked him up to write this entry!
Constellations of Krynn (Bob Maurus, AD&D DragonLance module DL5: Dragons of Mystery, TSR, 1984)
"A positive attitude may be a strong part of appearing intelligent" -- But it can't hurt to accessorize with the hat and the skulls and a bird looming over your work (Bob Maurus, for an article on "The six main skills" in AD&D, Dragon 107, March 1986)
Even a man who is pure in heart, and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright. (Bob Maurus, Dragon 93, January 1985)
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The greater devil Dagon was summoned by mortals so often that he began conspiring with them until Asmodeus changed his name and banished him to Avernus. He appears as a slyly handsome satyr with red skin and green eyes. (Bob Maurus illus from “Nine Hells revisited” by Ed Greenwood, Dragon 91, November 1984)
Dungeon encounter. (Bob Maurus, from D&D module BSOLO: Ghost of Lion Castle, TSR, 1984.)
Preparing for the weekend. (Bob Maurus, The Art of Dragon Magazine, TSR, 1988.)