If you enjoyed this post make sure to check out our weekly podcast, Roll For Combat, where a group of old-school gamers play Paizo’s new Starfinder RPG.
Also, make sure to check out Part 1 and Part 3 of this series.
Last week we explored some of my Dungeons & Dragons treasures when I was a kid growing up in the 80s. This week friend of the show Rob Trimarco shared some D&D artwork he did when he was a kid in the 80s as well … and I simply love it! I felt this needed to be shared with the world.
Ladies and gentlemen … I present to you “Fighters and Wizards, Good & Evil Book I” and “Book II, Evil Monsters of the Dungeon”. Enjoy!
From Rob, “I, apparently, made my own D&D type monster manual/campaign book when I was, maybe 10? 12? I dunno but please enjoy it whilst I cringe.”
“Facts not Story!”
“TEEMA EVIL HOBGOBLIN LEADER – Teema is kind of a dick leader to wear nice boots while his warriors are shoeless…”
“…500,000 warriors all without shoes. Truly a tyrant. Also, mixed occurrences of cursive writing is a little unprofesh.”
“EELO GOOD DWARF FIGHTER – Sorry, he definitely looks like an elf. What the hell, 12-year-old Rob? I like his 1970’s disco chain and poofy Aladdin pants, though.”
“GOOD WIZARD OLIN – Fuck yeah, Chain Lightning. Still the coolest spell. Cool sandals.”
“ERGON, EVIL WIZARD – I had to hold up the spine of this poorly assembled ‘book’ to get the full effect of the evil staff. Cool evil sandals.”
“ATHAMEUS GOOD BARBARIAN – Li’l-too-big winged helm, runic axe, longsword in a back scabbard, charging tiger on a shield, furry spiked onesie. And the sandals … again.”
“VIL PALADIN EEMON – Ok, wow. A lot to unpack here. Let’s start from the top:
- 80’s porn ‘stache on a school principal.
- MASSIVE SPIKED SHOULDERS!
- Tae kwon do gi top and short shorts.
- Evil bat shield WITH STRAP.
- The greatest belt ever.
- Booties.”
“Book 2! Buckle up!”
“EVIL MONSTERS OF THE DUNGEON!!! Not the good ones.”
“DUNGEON DWELLING GHOUL – Standard. C’mon, 12-year-old Rob, you can do better.”
“VAMPIRE – Screw you, White Wolf!”
“WHO DID THIS?!?! MOOOOOOOOOM!!!!”
“SKELETON – Influenced heavily by Ed Emberly’s drawing techniques.”
“OGRE – Often mistaken for a human? Not with those nipples.”
“GIANT BAT – I know I titled the book ‘Monsters of the Dungeon’ but I seem to have been compelled to remind everyone that these monsters live in one on every page.”
“THE TOMMLAMA!”
“I definitely fear this monster but for different reasons than I originally thought.”
“ENERGY DRAGON – Conjoured up by Wizardry to … blast walls? Bad. Ass.”
“GIANT SPIDER – It sure is giant … and striped!”
“PLANT MONSTERS (various) – Are those coconut feet?”
“I vaguely remember being proud of almost getting the perspective right on the top vs. underbelly of this beast.”
“Also, it seems I looked up what carrion meant and put it in the book so you all could learn definitions.”
“GREEN SLIME –Heyyyyy wait a minute, look at those eyes… This is the Hedora, the Smog Monster!”
“THE WAMIA– I am definitely sure I saw a picture of a Neo-Otyugh and forgot what it was called but that didn’t stop me!!”
“GIANT RAT – I definitely phoned this one in. BE CAREFUL, ADVENTURERS!!!! The End.”
If you have some D&D treasures from your childhood please send them along! We love unearthing these classic treasures when D&D was mysterious and only shared between friends at school.
If you enjoyed this post make sure to check out our weekly podcast, Roll For Combat, where a group of old-school gamers play Paizo’s new Starfinder RPG.
Also, make sure to check out Part 1 and Part 3 of this series.
First, there’s the sheer variety of the creatures. Yes, you do have some holdovers from the world of Pathfinder (elementals make an appearance, as do dragons), but most of the stuff in here is totally new. On one end of the spectrum, you have the Skittermanders, little technicolor furballs that could give the Porg from the new Star Wars a run for their money on the cuteness scale. On the other end of the spectrum, there’s the Novaspawn, which only has rules for starship combat because it’s so large (and yes… you’ll be happy to hear it has tentacles). The gelatinous cube of your youth gets a high-tech facelift as the Assembly Ooze, and now it can assemble and disassemble technology devices. One of the most intriguing might be the Hesper, a radioactive creature whose radiation attack can cause random mutations – because who doesn’t want to grow a few extra eyes in the middle of a battle?
In addition to the creatures themselves, you also get a small armory of treasure items that can be included as loot for the party. Sometimes it’s the loot carried by the creatures themselves – the Sarcesian are a race of mostly mercenaries that happen to carry really good sniper rifles. Sometimes it’s gear that can be harvested from the remains – you can take the remains of a scavenger slime and make sticky bombs out of it. Sometimes it’s more of a similarly themed item – the Bryrvath is a creature that manipulates light to fuel its powers; in studying it, scientists invented the “Aura Goggles” which protect against any effects that target vision.
But I thought about it a little further and I think it works because it serves the premise well. I think fantasy tends to come back to familiar tropes while sci-fi is expansive. When you look at sci-fi, a lot of the fun is this idea that you have a whole galaxy/universe as your playground. Think Star Trek or Doctor Who where… yes, they have a few core races that reappear, but they also have a lot of fun with Alien of the Week. Some people are going to want the comfort of adventure paths, but some people are going to want that more expansive feel, and what the Starfinder system DOES offer out the wazoo is flexibility. If your players decide they want to take a detour to a moon you weren’t planning on visiting, you can have a new race for them to meet in a matter of minutes.
