Dragons (1986)

This is Dragons (1986 second edition, originally 1984), part of Mayfair’s Role Aids line for Dungeons & Dragons. I am sure its existence has nothing to do with Dragonlance, right? RIGHT? Oh, wait, no, there is a dragonlance right there on the cover. And “Dragonlord” is giving off some big “legally distinct from Dragon Highlord” energy. I dig the tie-in with Grenadier’s Dragonlords (which was what they renamed their D&D line after TSR dickishly pulled the license in order to fail at producing their own miniatures) and the dragon of the month club.

The sourcebook section is great. It takes a monster everyone loves but about which not a lot is definitively known, and just fleshes out all the details. This is the best book on D&D dragons until 3.5E’s Draconomicon. You have social structures, connections to the gods, detailed aging processes, diseases, physiology, parasites, pets, creatures that live in symbiosis, magic, specific plant and geological lore known by dragons. It’s shockingly exhaustive and there is still room for detail on setting, the dragonlord sub-class and three adventures. Solid art throughout, too — Dawn Wilson on the cover, Jeff Busch and Robin Wood inside.

I can’t help but read the adventures as a direct knock-off of Dragonlance. The first one incorporates “board game” elements, there’s a civil war, someone is using magic to coerce dragon support and the whole thing culminates in a temple. It’s just the broad strokes, but it makes me laugh that they got it done in one.

Monsters of Myth & Legend (1984)

Love a monster book. This is Monsters of Myth & Legend (1984) for Mayfair’s Role Aids line of D&D sourcebooks. As the title tells you, this is a collection of monsters drawn from mythology. Four groupings of them are tied to specific cultures: Norse, Irish, Greek, Chinese. Two other draw broadly from the myths of people living in large regions but which belong to many distinct cultures: native American and Aboriginal Australians.

The mix is pretty solid. I particularly appreciate the monsters from Australia, which are often overlooked in this sort of thing — and even here, I can think of a couple more I would have liked to have seen, like the Pangkarlangu (neolithic cannibals), though it is nice to get attributes for Malingee (shadow spirits with burning eyes) and Murgah Muggulu (a kind of dream spider). Weird that there are still some deep cuts from Greece — maenads, mares of Thrace, even Scylla — who don’t have D&D attributes. The China chapter is probably the most robust, providing a variety of spirits and monsters that have multiple potential applications in the game. China also has a giant with no head, which is maybe the most delightful monster in the whole book.

This is maybe one of my favorite Boris Vallejo paintings that were recycled for Role Aids covers. It downplays physique and features a rad monster, both of which seem unusual for Boris. Its more atmospheric, too, a bit more in line with Frazetta, honestly. The interiors are by Teanna Byerts and Robin Wood. I don’t dislike them, but they do seem diminished by tight deadlines, if I had to guess.

Fantastic Treasures II (1985)

Oh hey, Fantastic Treasures II (1985)! I didn’t see that coming (I totally saw that coming).

This one runs from M to Z. The layout seems slightly more spacious and the art throughout (by Teanna Lee Byerts) is way more consistent and of higher quality than the previous volume, which is a little jarring. Also jarring is the shade of pinkish/peach that stat boxes and design accents are printed in. It is just slightly uncomfortable to my eye. That’s probably a nitpick though.

As for the treasures themselves, it’s once again a collection of items from myth and legend. This set seems routinely more interesting (I say “seems” because I have an irrational bias for the latter half of the alphabet and will usually read a book arranged alphabetically backwards, starting from Z, because of this). I didn’t expect to see Rumplestiltskin’s spinning wheel or Ragnar Lothbrook’s armor in the mix.

Still, no real surprises; the biggest mystery for me is whether that is supposed to be Red Sonja on the cover.

Undead (1986)

This is Undead (1986), a sourcebook for Mayfair’s Role Aids line of Dungeons & Dragons supplements. That cover is a classic by Michael Whelan, recycled for this book from The Year’s Best Horror V (1978). There is a pool of artists on the interiors for the first time, all of which are serviceable if rather cartoony (and I’m unclear who is doing what). Several images are re-used, which feels cheap and is easy to notice given the relatively small number of illustrations in the book. This is offset somewhat by the way the book leans into the use of a single spot color (a rich yellow) throughout to accent the art and design elements. They’d been doing this for a while, but it seems extra emphasized now and I’m a big fan; it doesn’t stick around in the line nearly long enough.

The substance here is rather good, I think! We get a land of the undead situated in a caldera, governed by four lichlords who are in turn presided over by the great lich Nightbay. I really want his name to be Nightboy, though. Anyway, undead gonna undead, and there is an ever-growing undead army. There are dwarves who stand against the undead, too, in hopes of regaining the caldera that was once their home. There is a lengthy adventure that has the players going into the caldera to rescue a captured dwarf and an important magic item. Does this adventure set the stage for the Lichlords adventure module? No! Lichlords has nothing to do with this book!

I like the fact that, despite no indication of co-branding or partnership, there is still some kind of collaboration going between Mayfair and Grenadier Miniatures, as undead war mammoths and death dragons figure large in the sourcebook and match the Grenadier sculpts of each. Heck, I even painted a death dragon of my own a couple years ago!

Giants (1987)

This is Giants (1987), another Role Aids sourcebook for D&D. The accent color is a sickly sort of yellow. Aficionados of miniatures might recognize that cover painting as being by Ray Rubin and previously adorning the box containing Grenadier’s Two Headed Giant from the Dragonlords line. A bunch of the interior illustrations also come from Grenadier boxes. Like Undead, though, I don’t see any obvious reference to Grenadier products in the book.

The taxonomy of giants matches the Grenadier line as well: chaos, dwarven (?!), fire, forest, frost, hill, sea, stone, storm, two-headed and death giants, as well as titans. The book provides some cultural details for each type, as well as example homes. The death giant’s “necromanor” is one of the stupidest lairs I’ve ever seen. I love it. I do wish there was more information on the dwellings though. Some of the odder ones, like the massive pyramid of the titans, are hard to conceptualize (something further complicated by the cryptic and possibly sloppy map insets). There are even some ill-advised rules for giant player characters.

This is the last Role Aids sourcebook before the line went on hiatus for a few years (plenty more adventures to go through, though). Both here, and in Undead, there is a sense of chaos. Not that anything goes, but maybe that nothing really matters? A rueful futility? I dunno, they’re definitely odd, slapdash, a little frantic and unconcerned with details or consistency. This, strangely, makes them better rather than worse, I think. I enjoy how erratic they are.

So check this out: Grimrock Isle (1992), from Triad Entertainments, the second in their line of licensed Call of Cthulhu scenarios. How wild is this format? An elaborate solo spread across six (gorgeous) location-based booklets and the same scenario presented for group play in a seventh, all in a neat folio folder. I love unusual formats, and this is one of the neatest I've come across. Those cover illustrations are straight up masterpieces of landscape atmosphere. Rodell D. Sanford Jr. did art for the first Triad book, Lurking Fears, and it was good, but damn, these are tremendous. How is this guy not a top tier RPG talent?

I've weeded some 900+ items from my collection and have them listed for sale in this meticulously compiled spreadsheet. To prove they came from my collection, I had an ex libris stamp and a "discarded" stamp made - I am happy stamp all you purchases as I am able if you like (and if you'd rather I not diminish the collectability of your treasure, that's cool, too). All prices are negotiable and all funds go directly to me, so I can keep on doing this silly stuff.