Yesterday, I learned from the comments section on this very blog that Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons & Dragons, passed away at age 69, and this on the same day I announced an RPG-themed week. At once creepy and fortuitous. Anyway, the man did spawn a hobby I have enjoyed for over 20 years, and though I could say the hey-day of AD&D is long over for me, I'm still in the middle of a Planescape campaign using the old AD&D 2nd rules. So as a hommage to the man who started it all... Would you believe a comics review?
In the late 80s and early 90s, DC Comics teamed up with TSR to publish a number of AD&D-related series. There was Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance and Spelljammer, but the first and the one I bought the most issues of was simply titled Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Let's just grab a sample issue:
ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS #2, DC Comics, January 1989
Why not start with #1? Because you already know the story. Let's not linger on Fellowship and dig right into the action in The Two Towers, if you get my meaning. Let's meet the party, who apparently meet not unlike the Justice League of America:
There they are, being attacked by a Sarlacc... I mean a "Dustdigger" (TM TSR Inc.). From left to right, Onyx the Invincible, a dual-classed 4th level Fighter/Thief; Timoth the centaur, a 4th level Fighter; Priam Agrivar, a 6th level Paladin; Cyriana the half-elf, a 1st level Magic-User; and Vajra Valmeyjar, a 7th level Fighter with 18(23) Strength. Not the most balanced of parties, with 4 our of 5 being warriors, and the Magic-User being pretty much a one-shot magic item (don't worry, she knows the Bloom spell). And the GM's let his players get creative. A centaur? That's not a regulation race! As for the little mage, I hope I don't ruin the first five issues for you, but she's been split into a weak good elf and powerful bad elf, and will settle at level 5 when integrated. So as far as the party goes, it's not a believable AD&D group.
What about the story though? Is GM Michael Fleisher doing a good job? Well, I like that he's weaving subplots that are all heading towards the characters like freight trains, and there's a cross-dimensional war in the offing, so the stakes are high. But you know, it's chapter two in the scenario, so it's basically just a time for you to get used to your character and the game system as you traipse through the Forgotten Realms (yes, despite the title on that other comic) and grind through some random encounters.
And random encounters there are. The characters have to get their asses saved by the monster's master, a fire elemental disguised as a surly dwarf, who then guides them to a pack of ghouls, and then a Greater Basilisk. You know, I don't think Priam's player is getting him right:
I can't find an emo stat on the character sheet, so I guess that's all "role-playing". Aw geez. And he does this all issue, and then leaves the group, until they eventually beg for him to come back. Wait, wait, I know this player. Ok, yeah, he's THAT guy. We've all had them in our role-playing groups.
Anyway, the characters get a little bit of XP and some magic treasure, and that's all that's really important, right? To be fair, AD&D was a perfectly fine fantasy series. The stories had a fair amount of variety to them and the characters had distinct personalities. Jan Duursema always struck me as a solid sword & sorcery artist, though the coloring often lets her down. One of the fun things about these comics for gamers is that the text pages at the end included game stats for items, monsters and characters. And now you know how I knew everyone's level.
So does it pass the AD&D test?
In the late 80s and early 90s, DC Comics teamed up with TSR to publish a number of AD&D-related series. There was Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance and Spelljammer, but the first and the one I bought the most issues of was simply titled Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Let's just grab a sample issue:
ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS #2, DC Comics, January 1989
Why not start with #1? Because you already know the story. Let's not linger on Fellowship and dig right into the action in The Two Towers, if you get my meaning. Let's meet the party, who apparently meet not unlike the Justice League of America:
There they are, being attacked by a Sarlacc... I mean a "Dustdigger" (TM TSR Inc.). From left to right, Onyx the Invincible, a dual-classed 4th level Fighter/Thief; Timoth the centaur, a 4th level Fighter; Priam Agrivar, a 6th level Paladin; Cyriana the half-elf, a 1st level Magic-User; and Vajra Valmeyjar, a 7th level Fighter with 18(23) Strength. Not the most balanced of parties, with 4 our of 5 being warriors, and the Magic-User being pretty much a one-shot magic item (don't worry, she knows the Bloom spell). And the GM's let his players get creative. A centaur? That's not a regulation race! As for the little mage, I hope I don't ruin the first five issues for you, but she's been split into a weak good elf and powerful bad elf, and will settle at level 5 when integrated. So as far as the party goes, it's not a believable AD&D group.What about the story though? Is GM Michael Fleisher doing a good job? Well, I like that he's weaving subplots that are all heading towards the characters like freight trains, and there's a cross-dimensional war in the offing, so the stakes are high. But you know, it's chapter two in the scenario, so it's basically just a time for you to get used to your character and the game system as you traipse through the Forgotten Realms (yes, despite the title on that other comic) and grind through some random encounters.
And random encounters there are. The characters have to get their asses saved by the monster's master, a fire elemental disguised as a surly dwarf, who then guides them to a pack of ghouls, and then a Greater Basilisk. You know, I don't think Priam's player is getting him right:
I can't find an emo stat on the character sheet, so I guess that's all "role-playing". Aw geez. And he does this all issue, and then leaves the group, until they eventually beg for him to come back. Wait, wait, I know this player. Ok, yeah, he's THAT guy. We've all had them in our role-playing groups.Anyway, the characters get a little bit of XP and some magic treasure, and that's all that's really important, right? To be fair, AD&D was a perfectly fine fantasy series. The stories had a fair amount of variety to them and the characters had distinct personalities. Jan Duursema always struck me as a solid sword & sorcery artist, though the coloring often lets her down. One of the fun things about these comics for gamers is that the text pages at the end included game stats for items, monsters and characters. And now you know how I knew everyone's level.
So does it pass the AD&D test?
Comments
Great job. I had completely forgotten about the end-of-issue stats on these books. Nice touch by them, really. The fans (like me) really dug that.
*sigh*
I may re-install some old computer D&D games tomorrow...
Actually, I remember my original group have a centaur, but we did anything we damned well pleased in those days.
You're playing with the wrong people ;).
Wonder if I can convince Soup to start playing again? Course, we need to find a few other aging geeks like ourselves...
Great post Siskoid.
Move out of the sticks and into Atlantic Canada and I'll take you on.
Now that I've typed that, it seems like a pretty ridiculous statement.