#trampier

[manyworldspress]

Game night! David A. Trampier, “Magic Mouth.” Illustration for AD&D 1st Edition Player’s Handbook (TSR, 1978).

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[vintagerpg]

Dragon 40 (August, 1980). I’ve always liked this cover, even though it is an extremely odd choice for Dragon. Only learned just right this moment that it is by Dave Trampier. ¶ #RPG #TTRPG #TabletopRPG #roleplayinggame #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #DragonMagazine #Trampier

[vintagerpg]

A Vintage RPG Podcast re-run? Yep, first time for everything. Sometimes you just gotta rest the brains. So have a Players Handbook! Originally aired to a whole different world, on December 23, 2019.

[vintagerpg]

The Dragon 15 (June, 1978). The cover is by Dave Trampier and is one of very few wrap-around covers.

[vintagerpg]

Gamma World is the spiritual successor to James M. Ward’s previous game, Metamorphosis Alpha. Like its predecessor, it involves mutants and salvaged technology and the mixing of fantasy and science fiction, but instead of the societal breakdown happening on a massive colony ship in space, Gamma World is set on our own planet, hundreds of years after a nuclear incident. That makes it the first post-apocalyptic RPG. That move from ship to planet was at the behest of the players, who wrote many letters asking for a planet.

Much of Gamma World’s appeal is in the game’s mutations, adapted from the earlier Metamorphosis Alpha. There are human beings unaffected by the cascades of radiation in the environment, but also many new species of flora, fauna and intelligent humanoids. Basically, any regular animal of our world has a good chance of having mutated into a humanoid version with their own culture and a silly name. Like the Hoops, which are eight and a half foot tall technology-obsessed rabbit people who can, for reasons unclear, turn metal objects into rubber. Other animals remain beasts, just of a different sort, like Centisteeds, which are horses with elongated bodies supported by 16 legs (ew). Random mutation, both physical and mental (think Scanners), is also possible and rapidly leads to combinations that range from silly to terrifying to pitiful. The rulebook is full of lovingly rendered illustrations by Dave Trampier depicting mutants both hopeless and hilarious. Speaking of, how gorgeous is that cover?

The recovery of technology and other items from the old world justifies adventure and is also the method by which characters increase their prowess. Discovering old technology doesn’t mean a character will know how to use it, though, even if the player does, so the game uses elaborate flow charts to simulate the fiddling necessary to discern how a thing works. Players might spend weeks tinkering with an artifact and never figure it out. Or they might blow themselves up. Heh.

[vintagerpg]

This is Dragon Magazine 16, from July of 1978. It is the first of many Dean Morrissey covers. I love this guy’s work! Such a moody, almost monochromatic color palette. Looks like this warrior has been startled away and is going for his sword. I wonder what he’s looking at outside the frame?

As with most early Dragon Magazines, I find not much to latch on to here. There’s an article on ninjas which is all right. It affords us the chance to see a (weird) take on a ninja by Dave Trampier. His samurai is pretty rad tho.

[vintagerpg]

As promised, this week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we visit James M. Ward's Gamma World, a mutant-filled romp through the post-apocalypse! We talk about how Gamma World builds off Ward’s earlier game, Metamorphosis Alpha, the clever way it handles characters unearthing tech the players probably know about, the approach to world creation and the cryptic alliances that make me like there is a strong connection between GW and West End Games’ Paranoia a few years later. The secret ingredient is humor! ¶ Cover art by Dave Trampier. Link in my stories, or check it out at the top of VintageRPG.com! #RPG #TTRPG #TabletopRPG #roleplayinggame #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #Podcast #JamesMWard #GammaWorld #TSR #Trampier

[vintagerpg]

Let’s take a look at some of the B-series modules this week. B is for Basic and it doesn’t get any more basic than B1: In Search of the Unknown (1979, 1981), by Mike Carr.

This, obviously, is intended as an introduction scenario, for use with the 1977 Holmes D&D Basic Set (yellow cover) and then revised and reissued for the 1981 Moldvay Basic Set (brown cover). Until the release of the Mentzer Red Box in 1983, this was pretty much the gold standard learn-by-playing D&D module. Even now, I think it works as a solid introduction to both the pillars of play and the essentials of DMing.

The plot beats form the formula of many adventures to come. Players hear rumors of treasure in the Caverns of Quasqueton, where a number of monsters lurk, as well as a fighter and a mage who’ve made the upper reaches their stronghold. There are traps, there are magic pools, bars to be bent (I’ll be damned if that Sutherland illustration didn’t inspire the bending bars scene in Conan the Destroyer). There are forests of giant fungi. There are the lower reaches, which are left largely undetailed, so the DM can flesh them out on their own. As a classic dungeon, I am not sure I can think of one that so perfectly verges on archetypical.

Great early art throughout. I love the old monochrome covers (Tramp!), but Darlene’s full color paintings hold their own (I’ve always loved the posture on the slinking troglodyte). Interiors are all David Sutherland, and some of his best stuff. The one of the pools is a fave and I can see a lot of similarities between that and Peter Mullen’s style.