*It's a monster - not a hazard!. . . . .
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Thoughts on hit points and misplaced abstraction
11 minutes ago
Monday, August 3, 2009
Look Out! It's Dripping!
For some reason, I have a strange affection for green slime* - one that has been with me for as long as I've been playing Dungeons & Dragons. I'm fairly certain that these are to blame:
*It's a monster - not a hazard!
*It's a monster - not a hazard!
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Those were great, even when the art was sub-par for in comparison to the game artwork. :)
Awesome. I had forgotten about those ads. I still have a bunch of the comic books where those were found somewhere around Villa Sham.
The presumed purpose of these ads--to intrigue young readers with the potential and possibilities of the D&D game--worked on my 13-year-old self like a charm.
And the later ads, drawn by Bill Willingham, had great visual continuity with Moldvay B/X, I thought.
In particular, I recall this one fondly:
Ad
Yea, I remember those. I even sent away the coupon and was excited to receive the catalog in the mail.
Poor Indel always got the worst of it. I should play an Indel-like character and see how long he lives :)
@Chawunky: IIRC, that was the first one I ever saw - but it was the green slime ones that really sparked my teen imagination. :D
I think one of the main reasons I love this series (aside from the brilliant decision to use Willingham's wonderful talents, giving the ads a nice visual fusion with the game) is that it really shows, IMHO, what the game is all about. There was a lot of genre media floating around back in the day, but precious little of it reflected the concept of a troupe of multi-racial professional adventurers embarking on expeditions into monster- and trap-filled underground and wilderness environs. These ads were the only things I recall from that period that spoke directly to me as a D&D player.
@Chgowiz: As far as I'm concerned, Indels's a threat to the party - they're forever putting themselves in harms way and/or using valuable resources to pull his bacon from the fire. (From a meta-gaming standpoint, his player is probably just a terribly unlucky dice roller. :P) If I were playing in that game with you, he certainly wouldn't live long - if you know what I mean. ;D
@Chris - I do indeed - which would be half the fun of it! (with the right group and in the right game, of course...)
Funny how Grimslade got so much cooler looking in episode 2. Maybe the Shambling Mound leveled him up?
I love the unwritten, "slime's off you elf, get to work!" Very Nodwick :-)
^^^ Turned his hair white, too. :-)
I also like how listlessly deflated Valerius looks about his sword being consumed: "Aww...ain't that the always the way..."
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