Brandon Here from the Captains Blog.
Let’s talk D&D shall we…and not just D&D, but TSR’s D&D, The originals.
I grew up playing TSR's D&D in the early 80's. It was a way for me and my friends to get together and escape reality and live another life in a fantasy world….lets be honest, I still live there. Dungeons & Dragons influenced me so much growing up with the art and adventures, my mind never stopped creating and dreaming. I would even say that playing D&D opened up my imagination so much that it contributed to where I am today. I remember going to the Glendale Galelria to a store called the Game Keeper which was featured in the film Cloak and Dagger, and had every D&D game imaginable. It was my Library.
One thing that I used to think was so cool back then about Dungeons & Dragons was that you could make up your own adventure. Yes, I know you can still do that now, but when I was a kid….we had no computers to look up what other people were doing, the most tech we had was my Atari lol. The point is, if you wanted to go on an adventure….you let your mind take you…the possibilities seemed endless and the rules didn’t seem to exist.
I have to say that my favorite TSR Book was Fiend Folio because I just was so blown away by the Cover, especially the back cover where Githyanki is invisible but also not in his jeweled armor. I would take in every page of characters, and read them over and over for what felt like a thousand times to know everything about them…to me, these were REAL THINGS that I could imagine and see in my mind. I would even color them in to my liking…its kinda cool to think that someone out there might have my old editions, all colored in.
Side note, did you know that the Githyanki were an ancient alien race? SO TITE.
Check out the artwork for the cover of the Players Handbook. Honestly, as a kid, I thought all the art was mind-blowing, and as an adult I still do too, but this cover always got me thinking. This cover has so much to it, but the 2 guys taking the stone out of the eye always made me want to make bring this exact image to life, not to mention the other guy wiping his blade after defeating some kind of serpent creatures. Its all too good.
Below is my favorite module, The Lost City. All I remember was that It took forever for us to get through this one…I don’t even know if we even played right back then. It was just for fun, and Im happy that I still get to play and have as much fun as I did then.
Here are some of my favorite D&D artist; Erol Otus, Larry Elmore ,Jeff Easley, Dave Arneson ,Keith Parkinson and Timothy Truman just to name a few. I think I will do a whole separate post about them because I have too much to say!
I come in Peace,
Brandon Schoolhouse