Slapstick Humor And DnD

I'm cheating just a bit here, putting the above image and the magic user spell, Fumble, together.  The preceding Sutherland illustration appears on page 11 of the ADnD Players Handbook, while the Fumble spell description appears on page 77.  Combining them in this post helps highlight an important feature of early versions of Dungeons and Dragons: humor.

I've already spent some time on this blog discussing the illustrations of Will McLean.  Will McLean's cartoons graced the pages of the 1979 Dungeon Masters Guide and early Dragon Magazines.  His style of humor was welcome tonic to the too-serious arguments over rules minutia that occurred during Dungeons and Dragon's early development.

What I like most about the preceding Sutherland illustration is the great contradiction inherent in the barbarian's fall: did he truly slip on a banana-peel, and if so, what is the point of the spell-casting wizard's inclusion in the cartoon?  Or did the spell-caster just recently summon the monkey which ate the banana and dropped the peel, which the barbarian then slipped on?

Arthurian Heroes In Deities and Demigods

I am confident that the first and last illustrations are by Jeff Dee. Anyone care to hazard a guess as to the identity of the illustrator for the 1980 Deities and Demigods Arthurian Heroes?

  

Module B4: The Lost City

I was never a huge fan of Jim Holloway, but I do love the artwork from module B4, The Lost City.

The Lost City provides both story-based adventures and a sand-box setting. It includes foreshadowing, humour, opportunities for pitting competing factions within The Lost City, kooky NPCs, a Big Bad End Guy, tricks and traps, and hooks for additional adventures.

B4, The Lost City, along with B1, In Search Of The Unknown, and B2, Keep On The Borderlands, are excellent examples of good adventure design.

Orgies Inc.

Others have provided their own observations and critiques of this article, appearing in Dragon Magazine #10, October 1977.

I, likewise, applaud the proposed DnD variant for experience point acquisition.

My purpose in posting this old Dragon article is two-fold: to once again highlight the delicious whimsy of old school Dungeons and Dragons art (the above orgy scene is by the incomparable David Trampier), and demonstrate the inclusiveness and tolerance apportioned to different gameplay approaches during the early years of the hobby.

The idea of rules variants is a big-tent approach to Dungeons and Dragons. The big-tent approach was thrown under the bus as DnD transitioned from game to property (and this happened a lot earlier than some of us would like to admit) and the DnD community was impoverished by it.


Here's the first page from the Dragon article on alternative experience point acquisition. For those of you who are not already familiar with its contents ... enjoy.

Dungeon Crawl Classics: Charisma

The Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG renames three of the six traditional Dungeons and Dragons attributes, keeps two, and jettisons one, replacing it with a new attribute, Luck.

The jettisoned attribute? Charisma.

I understand that DCCRPG is its' own game, and I can't expect everything I like about Dungeons and Dragons to appear in that new game, but there's something about the absence of a Charisma that is unsettling me.

Wisdom is one of the renamed attributes, and has been called Personality. Perhaps Goodman's intention is to merge Wisdom and Charisma into that new Personality attribute. However, there are no rules in the DCCRPG beta for the effects of Personality on encounter checks or the retention of henchmen or hirelings.

The only effect that Personality has is that it modifies the spell-casting power of Clerics and improves Willpower checks.

Perhaps i'm one of the few old-schoolers who promotes the use of henchmen and hirelings. To me, the inclusion of henchmen, hirelings and followers is an integral part of emulating the tales of Conan, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, and other classic sword and sorcery tales.

Dungeon Crawl Classics: Cartoons

One of my favorite things about the original ADnD rulebooks and Dragon magazines was the inclusion of humorous cartoons (mostly by Will McLean) poking fun at the tropes and conventions of the game.

Chuck Whelon is credited with the cartoons in the beta version of Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. His cartoons are every bit as much fun as those of Will McLean. You can find Chuck Whelon's blog, where he publishes the cartoons that are to be included in DCC RPG, here.

I'm glad the Goodman Games has decided to include some cartoon humor in their DCC rulebook.

Sex In Dungeons And Dragons

One of the longest running gags in the early days of Dragon Magazine was the highly anticipated, never consummated episode of Sex In DnD, in the What's New cartoon, featuring the droll Phil Foglio and the randy and sexually-frustrated Dixie Null.

For dozens of issues of Dragon magazine, What's New promised a Sex in DnD strip, but the episode was delayed for various increasingly-absurd reasons.

Early on, due to delays in the arrival of some "equipment" for the Sex in DnD episode, Phil and Dixie instead report on a new approach to miniature warfare, using your bed rather than a sandtable.

There are some distinct disadvantages to this wargaming approach, not the least of which is the combination of miniatures with pointed weapons and a waterbed.

The introduction of color to the What's New cartoon precipitated a further delay in the Sex In DnD episode, for fear of overloading the colour generator. Instead, we are treated to a review of a new role-playing game, entitled "Price Wars" where you take the roles of competing FLG stores, trying to drive the other stores out of business. This can only end badly!

Dixie's suggestion that they spice up their private lives with a little cosplay, provides Phil with the inspiration for an episode on costumes for female characters.

Dixie gets her revenge at the end of the cartoon with a little costume-reversal.

In observance of Valentine's Day, Phil and Dixie take a lover's stroll through the Dungeon. Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

The omnipresent Dragon Magazine editors kibosh several attempts to deliver on the Sex In DnD strip.

When the editors are not objecting to the fact that the nude models are wearing hats that are too small, they are ringing Phil and Dixie to remind them of their responsibilities to report on the newest games releases. Thanks Kim, way to ruin an anniversary!

All those out-of-shape role-players provide the inspiration for the next episode, on how to keep in shape when your principal form of exercize is reaching for the dice.

Robot cartoonists threaten the livelihood of Phil and Dixie, but Phil is more concerned about the possibility that he and Dixie will be unable to deliver on their promise to do a Sex In DnD episode than he is about the loss of his job.

The What's New cartoon is supposed to highlight more than just Sex In DnD, it is also a forum for reporting on the latest games releases and role-playing controversies. But sometimes Phil fails to take his responsibility seriously.

Finally! All of the impediments to a Sex In DnD strip have been overcome! After years of frustration, we finally get to the actual Sex In DnD episode, complete with gymnastic and other equipment.

A salesman from the local Minigame company spoils the fun of course, with the promise of a big fat paycheck in exchange for reviewing his latest game. His comeuppance, drawn and quartered by four draft horses, is too lenient, in my opinion.

Several April Fool's Sex In DnD pranks are played on the What's New readers, such that even Dixie sees them coming a mile away. But what happens when the April Fool's prank IS the Sex In DnD episode?

Like poor Dixie wasn't frustrated enough: Phil accidentally switches the minds of Dixie and their pet dragon. He offers to hook her up with a cute dragon so that she can get some satisfaction. She doesn't take to kindly to his jest!

The mind switcheroo finally wears off, and Dixie gets some satisfaction. We never get our promised Sex In DnD episode though!