oldschool-rpg-pride

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Richard Hescox

🗡𝐹𝑜𝓁𝓁𝑜𝓌 𝔇𝔲𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔬𝔫𝔩𝔲𝔰𝔱 𝑜𝓃 𝒯𝓌𝒾𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇 & 𝐼𝓃𝓈𝓉𝒶𝑔𝓇𝒶𝓂

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[oldschool-rpg-pride]

Eveyd, a 315 year-old half-elf druid, blocks your path. (Keith Parkinson cover for AD&D adventure To Find a King by Bob Blake, including four first round tournament adventures run at Gen Con XVI, TSR, 1985)

"Two centuries ago, the last king of the celtic kingdom of Pelham was deposed in favor of a High Council. Now, however, things are going badly, and a restless populace longs for the days of the ancient kingship. The High Council is floundering -- and the political situation is turning ugly." This teaser text from the back cover has an unusual use of lower case "celtic" as a thematic description of one realm in a fantasy world without Celts.

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Dwarven Kingdoms of Krynn Cover Art by Larry Elmore

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Bargle the chaotic magic-user casts magic missile at Aleena the lawful cleric (Larry Elmore, from Frank Mentzer's Basic D&D Players Manual, TSR, 1983) In the "Learning to Play" section Mentzer describes Bargle giving orders to monster minions and magically charming the PC, traits Aaron Allston emphasized when he included the same character in the 1987 Karameikos gazetteer.

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“There was a blow on the door that made it quiver; and then it began to grind slowly open, driving back the wedges.”  (Angus McBride cover for Moria, Middle Earth Citadel supplement for MERP, Rolemaster, and the Lord of the Rings Adventure Game, 2nd ed, 1994)

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The Larry Elmore Dungeons & Dragons “other Red Box” cover

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The Gods in Darkness Cover Art by Ken Kelly

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David Natale

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“Ropers live in caverns preying on all types of creatures, but preferring humans.  They are gray and cigar-shaped and look like a stalagmite when standing up and resemble a boulder when lying down.”  (Erol Otus illustration from AD&D Monster Cards 2, TSR, 1982)  Otus stays true to his own style in his illustration but also seems to be referencing the AD&D Monster Manual text: “This yellowish gray monster appears to be a mass of foul, festering corruption.”  Most descriptions emphasize that ropers can change shapes, resembling stalagmites only when it fits the environment as camouflage.  In that form they may resemble inverted piercers, but the two creatures weren’t related officially until 5th edition.

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[oldschool-rpg-pride]

– Richard Hescox

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[oldschool-rpg-pride]

Githyanki Fiend Folio, 1981 Illustration by Russ Nicholson