Old time religion: Seker, god of light, is cousin to Shu, god of the sky. He appears as an ordinary man but he can change shape at will. He casts shafts of light from his hands that kill any undead they touch. (Jeff Dee, "Egyptian Mythos" section of AD&D Deities & Demigods, TSR, 1980)
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Another classic AD&D adventure module by the man himself -- Gary Gygax. Tomb of Horrors is a beast (in the best sense of the word) and challenges players even to this day. Originally released as a tournament module in 1975, Tomb of Horrors is most likely the first TPK (Total Party Kill) adventure for the game we know and love.
The module came with a 20 page "illustration booklet" that Dungeon Masters could share with players to help the party visualize their surroundings. This inclusion was novel at the time, and TSR only did this twice again (The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan and Expedition to the Barrier Peaks).
The creepy front cover art by Jeff Dee always reminded me of the Ral Partha Giant Skeleton miniature from back in the day. Back cover by Erol Otus.
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OK, so not an RPG. Space Marines (1980) is a set of rules for military science fiction wargaming from Fantasy Games Unlimited. It is exactly as complex and kind of tedious as youâre imaging. Well, not entirely â it has a pretty good sense of humor actually, judging from the wide array of silly aliens you can play. Thereâs lots of human factions, reptile aliens, giant bugs. Thereâs bear people who have a constitutional monarchy and dog people who have a representative democracy. The bird people are oligarchs, the cat people have a feudal system. Kind of love all them.
Two reasons I trot this out. First, the cover art is by Jeff Dee and all the interiors are by Dave Sutherland, two early, classic D&D illustrators. Itâs particularly unusual to see Sutherland straying out of the TSR offices.
Second is that this is clear proof that there were space marines in RPGs and wargames long before 40k. Thatâs pretty obvious (the term has actually been around since at least the 1940s) but bears reiterating, since some Games Workshop cease-and-desist always seems to be claiming the contrary.
David C Sutherland III, âA Paladin in Hellâ, AD&D 1st edition Players Handbook
David Trampier, âEmirikol the Chaoticâ, AD&D 1st edition Dungeon Masters Guide
Explanation below the cut.
Obviously a list like this is highly subjective, and I should probably make it clear that by âiconicâ I mean âiconic to meâ, as these were a handful of the AD&D 1st edition illustrations that had a big impact on my experience with the game, and by extension, how I design characters and write adventures (for Dungeons & Dragons and beyond) to this day.
Some of my admittedly arbitrary criteria:
I made my picks from the books, modules and supplements that were on my shelves back in the day. Which isnât a comprehensive list by any means. To me, the canon is the core three hardbacks (to this day, I think of Unearthed Arcana as new-fangled and the Survival Guides as niche products we didnât use) plus Fiend Folio and Deities & Demigods; that run of modules that included the A, B, D, G, and S-series, plus a few others like C1 and Q1; and accessories including Rogues Gallery and the booklet of character sheets. That list is as arbitrary as it is inexhaustive.
I limited myself to black & white interior illustrations, meaning David Trampierâs superb cover for the Players Handbook was disqualified. I did it this way mostly because I felt it would be unfair to compare color paintings to ink drawings. Iâm not sure if thatâs true or not, but thatâs how I did it. That said, had I allowed Trampâs PH Iâm actually thinking it might be the only color piece in there⌠The original Dungeon Masters Guide and Monster Manual covers never resonated with me to the same degree. Of the modules I included, there are three covers I really like, and theyâre all by Erol Otus: A4, âIn the Dungeons of the Slave Lordsâ; C1, âHidden Shrine of Tamoachanâ; and S3, âExpedition to the Barrier Peaksâ. But theyâre not quite iconic, somehow, in the sense that theyâre too specific to the adventures they illustrate. In contract, the Players Handbook cover doesnât tell you about someone elseâs adventure, it inspires yours.
In the interest of a varied selection, I decided no one artist could be chosen more than once. This was basically to make sure Trampier and Jeff Dee didnât crowd out other worthy illustrators.
My choices, in alphabetical order by last name:
Jeff Dee, Paladin and Black Dragon, Rogues Gallery, page 22. Paladins were always cool, and this drawing made them double extra cool. A lot of my peers complained that Deeâs characters all looked like super-heroes, and that they belonged in the pages of his Villains & Vigilantes. And thatâs arguably true. But as a life-long reader of comics and V&V gamemaster, I didnât mind at all. And that style is on display here: skintight plate and chain mail, aerodynamic helmet, and floppy fold-over Musketeer boots. But the pose is perfect, the dragon is superb, and the emotion of the paladinâs triumph shines. Jeff Dee did other illustrations that vied for his spot here: the âsci-fi Mind Flayerâ and the Intellect Devourer stalking the party (both from âExpedition to the Barrier Peaksâ), Icar holding flaming grease (frontispiece from Dungeon Module A2), and assorted entries in Deities & Demigods too numerous to mention.
Russ Nicholson, Githyanki fighting adventurers, Fiend Folio, page 45. Compared to the Monster Manual, which included so many creatures recognizable from myth and folklore, the Fiend Folio was weird. But the monsters that were cool immediately rivaled the classics, and the ones Russ Nicholson drew became my favorites. The Gith races were awesome from the get-go, and this illustration, supplementing the individual entries for the Githyanki and Githzerai, went a long way to inspiring us to put them in our dungeons. (I was so enamored of the Gith that I worked them into the origin story of a player character in the Villains & Vigilantes campaign I ran.) The adventurers here look outmatched, maybe, but they havenât given up. We wondered what spell the Magic User was casting.
Erol Otus, Lolth frontispiece, Dungeon Module Q1, âQueen of the Demonweb Pitsâ: I love Erol Otus, but compared to Trampier and David Sutherland, his drawings could get wonky. Intentionally, Iâm sure, but often his costumes and anatomy and such are a little far-fetched even for Dungeon & Dragons. (He loved horned helmets and loincloths, often on the same character.) This drawing of Lolth is great, in that it sets the stage for the adventure (in a way that Jim Rosloffâs cover doesnât, honestly) and depicts Lolth as vampy without being overtly âsexyâ like all the topless goddesses in Deities & Demigods. The demons here are especially good, with solid anatomy and dramatic lighting. This drawing is âso Erol Otusâ without being âtoo Erol Otusâ.
David C Sutherland III, âA Paladin in Hellâ, Players Handbook, page 23. Unlike Trampier, who rarely missed, DCS was uneven: some of his drawings are classics, and many of them were mediocre then and just as mediocre now. âA Paladin in Hellâ is a classic, for several reasons. Firstly, itâs just really well drawn. Absent is the scratchy hatching that mars some of Sutherlandâs work. Second, the paladin is perfect in the sense that he is believable; then and now I appreciate that fact that his armor is historically accurate and looks like suits Iâd seen in museums. And third, the collected devils are all drawn to scale, showing their size the way Monster Manual spot illustrations donât. Finally, the glow of the paladin, and what is surely a +5 Holy Avenger, is dazzling.
David Trampier, âEmirikol the Chaoticâ, Dungeon Masters Guide, page 193. Itâs difficult to see this drawing and not want to run a campaign set in the bustling capitol city of the Flanaessâ mightiest empire in which a villain Magic User is on a crime spree. (Itâs the same feeling you get when you read any of Fritz Leiberâs stories set in Lankhmar. In fact, you want to go get the map they made for the AD&D supplement, including those awesome city geomorphs.) If Emirikol is the errant NPC, maybe the PCs are the adventurers stumbling out of the tavern into the exquisitely rendered (that hatching!) street to protect the innocent townsfolk being Magic Missiled. So who is Emirikol? He looks enough like Trampier that he could be one of many self-portraits sneaked into his AD&D artwork. (Iâve always wondered if he was Trampâs PC in Gary Gygaxâs Greyhawk campaign, though Iâve never gotten any indication that they actually gamed together.) This really cements Trampierâs stature; the Dee and Sutherland illustrations on this list evoke a single character or moment, while âEmirikol the Chaoticâ evokes an entire campaign. You donât get more iconic than that.