I'm really bad about
procrastination- so I'm just now going to talk about a panel I went to...
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| Art & Arcana: Standard and deluxe editions. |
Dungeons and Dragons:
Art & Arcana is a book about the art
and assorted paraphernalia that has been crafted throughout the history of the
world's greatest roleplaying game. It's available now for pre-order and
I hope a copy of the premium edition will find its way into my
hands this October.
The authors and panelists giving the presentation:
- John Peterson - tabletop RPG historian and author
of Playing at the World
- Michael Witwer - author of Empire of
Imagination: Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons & Dragons
- Sam Witwer - screen and voice actor for Smallville and
a myriad of Star Wars projects
- Kyle Newman - director of Fanboys
From
the previews that the panel shared it seems that this book is going to be a
very comprehensive account of the visual history of the game- including scans
of the originals of many iconic art pieces, pictures of various toys and
merchandise, and a discussion of how these items influenced and were influenced
by the development of the game from its earliest days to present.
Kyle Newman and Michael Witwer made an interesting point in that the earliest art was informative about the world of D&D and instructive about how a RPG could be played. It showed that you can stab someone in the back and pick a pocket. It showed what a Beholder actually looks like.
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| The original White Box. |
The panel also explained that TSR had no art budget back in the day. The three pamphlets that were included in the original White Box had illustrations done by a Lake Geneva teen. The original Origins run of Tomb of Horrors was illustrated by 14 year-old Tracy Lesh. Lesh was just a classmate in Gyax's daughter's class at the time.
Actually, a facsimile of this original version of Tomb is included in the deluxe edition of Art & Arcana featuring a map in Gygax's own hand and the 24 panels of Lesh's art. The panel unveiled this and waved a copy around to oohs and ahhs from the assembled crowd.
The panel also gave a brief overview of the history of shall we say appropriating artwork from other sources (typically directly, but occasionally perhaps indirectly) by showing how several pieces of original D&D art very closely resembled panels from contemporaneous Marvel comics.
The team of authors enjoyed access to a vast network of resources to attain scans of the original paintings that became the covers we all know well. It was striking to see these visuals without text, binding, or barcode. The PHB cover that we all know and love was faithfully preserved it seems by Ian Livingstone (the founder of Games Workshop)- and looking at what they've included in Art & Arcana shows more details than we might have seen before.
The panel also brought many things to my attention that I had not realized. I did not know that there was a concerted effort to soften the image of the game in 1980-81 by introducing Morley the Wizard (I'll be looking him up now). Apparently, the artists of the day HATED Morley and what he represented and wanted to keep producing the fantasy monstrosities and violence they had before this robed Jar Jar Binks came along.
I was eager to pose a question to the panel, and so when I was called on I offered one in keeping with a major theme of the presentation: controversy. I asked about B-3 The Palace of the Silver Princess and wondered if they dug up copies from some landfill like the fabled Atari E.T. cartridges of yesteryear. (If you're not familiar with this module read about it here or just check out the image below).
Peterson took the lead in answering and made reference to the infamous art in question without specifics, but did say that there were allusions to this moment in the visual history and other works by Erol Otus- they just don't address this directly in this book.
Ironically, a few minutes later David Ewalt (author of Of Dice and Men) asked what "the most controversial art" in the history of D&D was in the panel's opinion... and they seemed to agree that dishonorific belonged to Palace.
All in all it was a great panel, a great con, and I'm sure it will make for a great read come October.
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| Striking similarities between old D&D art and old Marvel comics. |
The team of authors enjoyed access to a vast network of resources to attain scans of the original paintings that became the covers we all know well. It was striking to see these visuals without text, binding, or barcode. The PHB cover that we all know and love was faithfully preserved it seems by Ian Livingstone (the founder of Games Workshop)- and looking at what they've included in Art & Arcana shows more details than we might have seen before.
 |
| AD&D Player's Handbook full art. |
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| Fiend Folio full art. |
The panel also brought many things to my attention that I had not realized. I did not know that there was a concerted effort to soften the image of the game in 1980-81 by introducing Morley the Wizard (I'll be looking him up now). Apparently, the artists of the day HATED Morley and what he represented and wanted to keep producing the fantasy monstrosities and violence they had before this robed Jar Jar Binks came along.
I was eager to pose a question to the panel, and so when I was called on I offered one in keeping with a major theme of the presentation: controversy. I asked about B-3 The Palace of the Silver Princess and wondered if they dug up copies from some landfill like the fabled Atari E.T. cartridges of yesteryear. (If you're not familiar with this module read about it here or just check out the image below).
 |
| B-3 Palace of the Silver Princess. |
Peterson took the lead in answering and made reference to the infamous art in question without specifics, but did say that there were allusions to this moment in the visual history and other works by Erol Otus- they just don't address this directly in this book.
Ironically, a few minutes later David Ewalt (author of Of Dice and Men) asked what "the most controversial art" in the history of D&D was in the panel's opinion... and they seemed to agree that dishonorific belonged to Palace.
All in all it was a great panel, a great con, and I'm sure it will make for a great read come October.
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