#dave morris

[spilladabalia]

The Celibate Rifles - Sean O'Farrell

[artparks-sculpture]

A sculpture titled 'South American Trade 8 (Abstract Chilli and Boat sculpture)' by sculptor Dave Morris. In a medium of Bronze on Portland stone.

[vintagerpg]

All right. Here we go. The Eye of the Dragon, my favorite adventure gamebook of all time. Seriously, forget the kid in the toga and Keds, this is the high water mark of the series.

You’re exploring Thalios, a city that had until recently been submerged under the ocean. The city is the star of the book, a weird combination of Classical, Egyptian and Aztec influences brought to life by the oppressive atmosphere of ruin.

It is also very difficult. The optimal path is…well, I am not entirely sure there is one. And the combat is often hard. Unlike the previous books, though, there is a magic system that mitigates the challenge a bit.

What truly sets the book apart is that it is illustrated by Russ Nicholson at the top of his game. Like, tippy-top – this is probably my favorite collection of his drawings. Look at that gore covered alligator man! How creepy is that coral-like Kappa? And there is a freakin’ Nuckelavee in here. Nicholson’s art has always conveyed a palpable sense of mystery and danger to me, and that is firing on all cylinders here.

I could go on, but I won’t. I’ll just encourage you to find a copy and warn you: I have maps I have drawn to thread through this story. How many gamebooks have inspired that?

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[vintagerpg]

In the 80s, there were two main sorts of branching narrative books. The first stuck to the basic form of the novel, as in the Choose Your Own Adventure and Endless Quest series. The second contained their own light RPG systems that incorporated combat and chance into the stories. Of this second variety, the six-volume Golden Dragon series is one of my favorites, even if it is a bit uneven.

This is the first, Crypt of the Vampire, by Dave Morris, with Leo Hartas delivering some lovely illustrations. As these things go, Crypt is a solid start for the series, even if it is essentially a fairly straightforward dungeon crawl on a structural level.

It is super atmospheric though and more than a little weird, requiring a good deal of cleverness to overcome conflicts. And there are plenty of memorable moments, including the chess board battle, the skeleton orchestra and the vampire himself, who is a nice composite of several classic bloodsuckers.

Oh, I should mention, this is the American version of the book from 1986. The original British cover is much more traditional adventure gamebook fare. The American series made the questionable decision of signaling the books were for younger audiences by putting children with swords on the covers (despite the protagonists not being children), which, I think, ranges from comedic to disturbing as the series progresses.

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[vintagerpg]

This is the Temple of Flame, the second Golden Dragon gamebooks and the first collaboration between Dave Morris and Oliver Johnson, who would later go on to create Blood Sword and the Dragon Warriors RPG. Leo Hartas is once again on art duty, delivering work I think is superior to the previous book.

As you can guess from the cover, Temple of Flame takes many of its cues from Indiana Jones. You are a knight exploring a Meso-American-style pyramid and there is a lot to love here. The various paths, traps and enemies are always interesting, even when they kill the crap out of you. Again, atmosphere does a lot to make this book memorable and I think it does a nice job of blending the historical trappings of the temple with those of fantasy. The atmosphere and fairly short paths to the final confrontation also do a lot to mitigate frustration at how unforgiving many of the encounters are (actually, big secret: the point of the Golden Dragon books is not to finish the story, but to find the easiest path to the end).

What sets this book apart from many others is that you have a well-defined rival as the villain, your former adventuring partner, Damontir the Mad. The way the rivalry is defined, fleshed out and resolved throughout the story is unique among the adventure gamebooks I’ve read and definitely a strong selling point. One of my favorites in the series.

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[spilladabalia]

The Celibate Rifles - Darlinghurst Confidential

[spilladabalia]

Rockin' Roadrunners - Down (Florida 1968) Garage Rock

Garage rock band from Sanford, Florida. They released three singles. Members: Charlie Lytle, Dave Morris, Jack Lander, Russ Hamilton and Steve Greir.

[downthetubes]

The next issue of Time Bomb Comics anthology title Quantum, Issue 12, out soon, will be the last for a while, the independent British publisher reluctantly pausing publication for a few months

Time Bomb Comics pauses Quantum anthology