Dungeons & Dragons Ebay treasures: 4 great items from "The_Collectors_Trove" auction

 

Holiday greetings to my faithful readers! Just a quick entry on a otherwise gloomy Sunday afternoon!

An auction on Ebay ended last Sunday..."The_Collectors_Trove" had an auction of some old D&D related items...from some of the most illustrious names from TSR! Long story short...I won 4 on them!

A print from Darlene's collection of a fantasy map she did for "The Domains of Ancient Stuard" from 1980. The original hand drawn map is what made Gary Gygax decide that Darlene would be the artist to design the "Greyhawk" maps!

Next up is a fantasy art print of "Waterfall Castle" by the late great David C. Sutherland III...from the artist personal collection! Dave was perhaps the most prolific artist from the golden age of D&D art.

And lastly...2 items from the TITAN board game created by Jason B. McAllister & my personal fav artist...Dave Trampier! Grogonstar Titan board game notes & Newsletter with multiboard rules from 1980...and the TITAN War I button, created by TRAMP for Gen Con XIII in 1980! This  button for Titan's debut at 1980's Gen Con convention in Lake Geneva! Always stoked to pick up any piece of TRAMP's art!

Hope I didn't outbid any of you! Did anybody else pick up some treasures from that auction? There was some incredible stuff for sale!

Anywhoo...hope you all have a safe & incredible Christmas! Happy Holidays & see you all again soon!

EXCELSIOR 

Ps...I almost forgot...all 4 items came with certificates of authenticity! Bonus!

Dungeons & Dragons Postcards : Just in time for the holidays!

 Two blog post in as many days! 

Greetings again...just a brief entry to pass some time on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

I don't know where I came across these new D&D postcards (they were just released this month)...but I'm a sucker for the early artist of TSR.

"Archival Art From Every Edition" the box proclaims. You can find these for $16+ on the net all day...they'd make a great Christmas gift to any old grognard!

100 cards...doubles, so 50 images. Lots of newer art...but plenty of the ancient masters like TRAMP, Sutherland, Otus & Dee.

I have to say its beautifully done...very snazzy box...all art crisp & clear. Just in case you need an idea for gift...or, you might request that some kind soul buy it as a "stocking stuffer". 

Lots of great images...I did see a guy online who had framed a bunch for his office. Grand idea!

Excelsior!

Chainmail reprint by DriveThruRpg

 

Back after a long absence...a quick blog entry on a Saturday night.

Don't know if many of you are aware of such sites as DrivethruRPG.com...

They create "on demand" reprints of many old RPG modules & supplements. I'm interested in the D&D material...primarily such old modules that I never actually played...such as "Ravenloft" or "Temple of  Elemental Evil"...

I noticed the other day that they have "Chainmail" as one of their "Print on demand" books...some titles are only available as downloadable PDFs...

I got the Chainmail in the post and was pretty jazzed. I never actually gazed upon the original "back in the day"...but one of our gaming group had an older brother who owned one & hand copied it to use in our D&D campaign. 

What I remember was that early in our D&D careers we were gaining troops...henchmen & followers...armies that we would lead into battle. This is where Chainmail came into play. I can vividly remember the charts used for troop combat...as well as the charts for jousting combat! Good times!

And for an added bonus...a TSR price chart circa 1979!

At $27.50 "The Empire of the Pedal Throne" was serious business! Way too rich for our blood!

Hope you enjoyed this "blast from the past"! 

Stay tuned...another blog coming your way in a matter of hours!

Excelsior! 

1980 "Caverns of Doom" Dragon miniature Restoration

 

I recently purchased a 1980 Dragon mini that is from the "Caverns of Doom" board game/Dungeon crawl boxset. 

My best friend owned that box set...that dungeon map was the setting for my very 1st D&D adventure. Years later, when he had lost interest in the game, said friend gifted me that dungeon & many of the minis from that box set. Except...the dragon wasn't part of the deal!

I'd been kicking around the idea of picking one up recently...just had to keep an eye on Ebay and see what came along. Couple of weeks ago one came up for sale...& I pulled the trigger. This is the condition the old boy showed up in...

Very similar to how my friend had painted his...except my buddy did his in all red...both looked like they just dipped the mini in a can of paint! The original owner of this mini probably got his at a young age, too.

So...I decided to repaint this dragon as a red dragon. Using the art of Dave Sutherland as my inspiration. Both the Monster Manual cover & the box cover of the Holmes Basic boxset.

Here's the step by step process...

 I did kinda like this guy as a black dragon! Maybe I'll buy another one just to paint it differently!

A dark wash & some dry brush highlighting later...

I then decided to give this old boy the royal treatment...after 40+ years as a mono-color mini he was getting the major upgrade! He needed a base to really make him seem regal! It woud be my 1st attempt at creating a "dragon horde" base! I'm happy with the results.

A very fun project! Glad I was able to restore this guy to his proper regal state! I remember the fun we had playing D&D with the minis from "Caverns of Doom". Would have never have guessed that all these years later I'd be enjoying them again!

EXCELSIOR! 
A

White Plume Mountain: Dungeon Crawl funhouse

 

S2: White Plume Mountain. A dungeon crawl adventure full of traps, tricks, treasure, and of course monsters. Both a fan favorite & critically acclaimed. This installment I'm looking back at this classic TSR module. Let's get right to it...

Spoiler Alert: No spoilers here! Haha! I'm guessing if your reading & following this blog there's a good chance you've played the "classic" TSR modules. 

I have both a 1st print 1979 Mono copy and a 1980 (6th printing or later) Orange cover copy. Why? I wanted both, of course!

1979

1980?

First thing I noticed is that the olderversion has 3 artist listed: Dave Sutherland III, Erol Otus, and Darlene Pekul. The 1980 version adds art by Jeff Dee, Dave LaForce, Jim Roslof, and Bill Willingham.

Bill did the cool "Elric looking guy" on the back cover...more about that later.

Fun module to play! Classic "Dungeon Crawl" adventure...which is what I'm most comfortable with.

 The 3 treasures that you are after make for and adventure with purpose...which is something we, as young teens, often lacked in our own homebrew dungeons.

Great art in this module...from the before mentioned artist...

I know I had seen the works pf both Dee & Willingham before this....probably the new Basic & Advanced Box sets from around this time. This might be the 1st time I saw the works of Otus & LaForce...both stellar TSR artist!

Always loved this page by Erol Otus...love the visual of the mountain & surrounding area! Did any of you create an adventure based around Dragotha? I'd still like to myself!

 

And the Ogre Magi shapeshifter by Bill Willingham is another fav of mine!

And the last couple of works by Otus draw very different reactions from me. The 2 Efreeti make me really miss the art of Dave Trampier...his Efreeti in the Monster Manual is vastly superior to Otus'. The Kelpie is a different story. Erol is really a master of the feminine shape.

 The last page, lettered by the great Darlene, is a nice touch to end the module. Darlene's work is always excellent.

All in all WHITE PLUME MOUNTAIN is an excellent module for player & DM alike. Great tricks & traps that force a party to think. Enough monsters to keep the "hack & slash" crowd satisfied.

A great work by TSR. A module that still holds up after all these years.

Until next time.....EXCELSIOR!