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!
. . . . .

Comments

  1. Those were great, even when the art was sub-par for in comparison to the game artwork. :)

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    1. As an ex-illustrator, in comics & games, I agree.

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  2. Awesome. I had forgotten about those ads. I still have a bunch of the comic books where those were found somewhere around Villa Sham.

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  3. 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.

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  4. In particular, I recall this one fondly:

    Ad

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  5. 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 :)

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  6. @Chawunky: IIRC, that was the first one I ever saw - but it was the green slime ones that really sparked my teen imagination. :D

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  7. 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.

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  8. @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

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  9. @Chris - I do indeed - which would be half the fun of it! (with the right group and in the right game, of course...)

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  10. 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 :-)

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  11. ^^^ 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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