#john eric holmes

[oldschoolfrp]

Two against a purple worm -- By Fangorn, aka Chris Baker, originally drawn for the UK publication of Holmes’ Basic D&D (Games Workshop, 1977) then reprinted in White Dwarf 6, April/May 1978. Like all of Fangorn's interior illustrations for Holmes, it was a reinterpretation of one of David Sutherland's images in the original US printings.

[vintagerpg]

This is one of the oldest of the relatively small niche of books about RPGs: Fantasy Role Playing Games (1981), by J. Eric Holmes, the same Holmes who shepherded the original Basic Set Dungeons & Dragons into existence.

In the early 80s, a bunch of these types of books came out; they were sort of introductions to the idea of RPGs, mixed with brief how-tos and overviews of the market. This is probably my favorite of the ones I have read. The first third or so of the book is an overview of the key concepts of how to play, complete with transcripts of game sessions and a sort of read-along dungeon. Holmes shines, though, when he gets to the history of Dungeons & Dragons, in which he was a firsthand eye witness for a time. The immediacy of his account is engrossing, even if he is an unabashed Gygax cheerleader.

He follows this with a look at other games on the market (including big ones like RuneQuest and Traveller, as well as odd ones like Bunnies & Burrows and Superhero 44), miniatures and the magazines (both the semi-pro stuff like Dragon and the zines like Alarums & Excursions). The brief chapter on computer games is a hoot and rightly spends a chunk of time on Zork. I quite like the photographs that use miniatures and simple FX to great effect.

I also particularly like the penultimate chapter, which discusses the supposed perils of roleplaying. It makes a spirited defense of the hobby and also muses on the sorts of people who are attracted to it. It is one of the earliest acknowledgments I’ve seen of the hobby’s gender disparity and Holmes has some thoughtful ideas on why that is. It is his hope, back in 1981, that parity will be attained when RPGs are more popular and socially accepted. Nearly 40 years later, I like to think it is moving in that direction.

(Repost from April 27, 2020; lightly revised)

[zenopusarchives]

This is a 5E conversion of the original Zenopus dungeon that I wrote and is now up on DMsGuild. Read more on the blog: 

https://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-ruined-tower-of-zenopus-5e-on.html

[the25centpaperback]

Mordred by John Eric Holmes, cover by Enric (Enric Torres-Pratt) (1980)

[vintagerpg]

Down we go into the depths again! This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we descent into The Maze of Peril (1986), a fantasy novel by Dr. John Eric Holmes. Holmes is best know for creating the first D&D Basic Rules box set (1977), but he also wrote fantasy fiction (in addition to his day job as a neurologist). At a glance, Maze of Peril doesn’t inspire much confidence as to its quality, but it winds up being a fun adventure that captures something of the spirit of the early days of Dungeons & Dragons — something countless other hard-trying fantasy novels have failed to do.

[zenopusarchives]

The earliest ad for the Holmes Basic D&D Set? From the Gen Con X Souvenir Program, August 1977. Read more here --- https://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2018/12/1977-gen-con-x-souvenir-program.html