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thecreaturecodex · 2 years

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If I Ran the Zoo: Monster Manual Minis, pt. 1

As you may be aware, WizKids is releasing a set of miniatures called Dungeons & Dragons Classic Collection: Monsters A-C, that contains eight minis based on creature designs from the original AD&D Monster Manual. A-C is an odd place to divide, and that suggests that they’re planning a lot more of these, assuming that the first set sells well enough (and at $100 a box, it’s clearly a bit of a gamble). So, because I have Thoughts about what monsters they should make (and love talking about old monster art in general), I have compiled some ideas for what WizKids should include in future sets.

Monsters D-F

Sort of cheating with the title, because F is a very empty letter in the original AD&D Monster Manual. They could do a Frog, Giant. Or a Fungus, Violet. But that’s about it.

Demogorgon, Prince of Demons

Type III Demon (Glabrezu)

Bone Devil

Devil, Geryon I am limiting myself with demons and devils here; you could theoretically do a set with just these. Demogorgon is an obvious shoo-in; with Stranger Things, Demogorgon is more high profile than ever. Geryon I picked because he actually has stats in D&D 5e, unlike the other MMI arch-devils, and his design has changed a little, but remains basically the same. The Type III Demon and Bone Devil are the most striking of the non-unique demon and devil images, respectively.

Displacer Beast Another shoo-in. The presence of the beholder and carrion crawler in the A-C set suggest to me that they’re going to make a mini for each “product identity” monster from the MMI.

Doppelganger A bit of a weird pull, but look at his stride! Look at his panache! Look at his oddly shaped skull!

Dragon, Red The name of the game is Dungeons & Dragons, so they gotta include one. The Red Dragon is the most iconic of the colored dragon designs, and has often been used as a sort of “mascot” for D&D in general. The problem is, the MMI illustration is kind of doofy. I suspect that they’re going to use the design from the MMI cover instead:

Efreet Another case where there’s a more memorable image in the same edition to pull from. The cover of the Dungeon Master’s Guide has a great efreet on it, and that’s what I think will be the basis for the miniature:

Monsters G-L

Stone Giant There has to be a giant, especially since WoTC is planning a giant-themed book to come out soon. Of the MMI giants, the stone giant has the best look.

Stone Golem Same as the stone giant; a classic category of monsters with this as the coolest looking one. Alternatively, if having so many “stone” themed monsters seems redundant, an iron golem would be my runner up choice.

Gorgon A surprisingly iconic D&D monster; gorgons show up everywhere in AD&D 1st and 2nd edition. Like the basilisk and cockatrice, they’re based on a bestiary monster (in this case, Topsell’s History of Four-Footed Beasts).

Griffon This one is really for the compare and contrast. The 5e griffon looks like a more naturalistic hybrid of lion and eagle; the AD&D griffon is straight out of heraldry. Plus it’s another classical bestiary monster.

Intellect Devourer The spookiest piece of art in the Monster Manual. Plus, WizKids would save some plastic by making a Small mini.

Ki-Rin The art is striking, and the ki-rin is the cover model of Mordenkainen’s Monsters of the Multiverse. This is another one where the compare/contrast aspect might be fun; WizKids already has a miniature of the 5e ki-rin design.

Lamia Of the “sexy lady who is also a monster” monsters in the MMI (and there’s a lot of them), this is the one I think has the best shot of being turned into a miniature. Unlike the dryad, nymph or sylph, she actually looks monstrous. Unlike the succubus and the gynosphinx, her hair in the original pose can easily cover nipples. The hind legs, with their scales and hooves, are different enough from the 5e design to make a miniature interesting

Lich Of all of the undead, this is the one that’s the most specifically D&D, the one least likely to be encountered in groups, and has some of the coolest art. Skeletons, zombies and ghouls can be found en masse from a dozen different companies. David A Trampier’s lich is distinct.

#if i ran the zoo #monster manual #AD&D #D&D #dungeons and dragons #miniatures #creature design #david a trampier #david sutherland #two guys named david #deciding what fantasy would look like for the next 45 years #long post

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forlath · 8 months

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Wormy tribute. David A. Trampier, gone too soon...

#wormy #david trampier #webcomic #dragon magazine #d&d #fanart #dwarves

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deepdreamnights · 7 months

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Tessellating Beautiful Decay

Each tiles infinitely, for use in wallpapers and the like.

The images above in this post were made using an autogenerated prompt and/or have not been modified/iterated extensively. As such, they do not meet the minimum expression threshold, and are in the public domain.

Prompt: colorful splashes of color in an image, in the style of photorealistic pastiche, wlop, bio-art, majestic composition, high speed sync, poured, gutai :: an illustration of Cookie Monster, full body, pen-and-ink illustration, etching, by Russ Nicholson, DAvid A Trampier, larry elmore, 1981, HQ scan, intricate details --ar 3:4 --s 50 --v 5.2 --tile

#abstract blobs #wallpaper #i artwork #deepSCREAM nights #halloween #unreality #midjourney v5 #generative art #public domain #public domain images #free art

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chronotsr · 8 days

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No. 3 - G3, Hall of the Fire Giant King (July 1978)

Author(s): Gary Gygax Artist(s): Erol Otus, Dave C. Sutherland III (cover), David A. Trampier Level range: Average of 9, preferably 5+ players Theme: Standard Swords and Sorcery Major re-releases: G1-3 Against the Giants, GDQ1-7 Queen of the Spiders, Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff, Dungeon #200, Tales from the Yawning Portal

So that was a little disappointing. But maybe it just middles in the middle? C'mon Gary, let's see that special skill I've heard so much about.

G3 begins how G2 ended: teleporting conveniently on the outskirts of the fortress in such a way as to skip a trek without surprising the players. Meh. Our big bad this time is King Snurre -- I haven't mentioned the Chieftains yet because they're all just midbosses compared to the this guy. And, he's kind of famous isn't he?

For a guy who is functionally a one-off NPC that the party presumably kills, he ends up in a lot of paintings. Not that I'm complaining, that 4e art is amazing. In fact, broadly, 4e's art is a little underrated, it benefits from being less restrained than 5e. I don't think that's a knock on 5e's artists, more like…the art direction seems to be intentionally tamer. Anyway, thank you 4e art, I never realized there was a dog in the background of the 5e PHB until now. Neat.

Yada yada yada the setup is exactly the same as before, but now it's got ~mordor vibes~. As far as changes change, these fire giants (even the children) expressly do not do morale checks because apparently Snurre is such a motherfucker. Scary!

Anyway, we're already in the room-by-room, so let's begin the juicy part:

There's a scooby doo trap with a tapestry in the doorway having holes for eyes so a giant guard can alert the entire building if the players don't catch it. That's evil! But not unfair, which is a good balance. Naturally, there is a ballista tripwire on revisit that does some nasty damage, so this hallway is just The Troll Zone

Snurre has two pet hellhounds leashed to his throne, but also he's wearing a white dragonskin as a cloak at all times, which overcomes his natural aversion to cold with MAGIC. What an asshole! Also, as you look at that picture from the 5e cover, there's a bevy of (unimportant) changes from the original, like Snurre is no longer in his signature pitch-black platemail, but I think special mention should go to the fact that in the original he has literally 60k worth of precious stones on his person and scattered throughout the architecture of the throne room. This room should be GLEAMING.

A Gygaxism: Queen Frupy is a 'haradin', which roughly means 'scold', which. Ok. So, so much attention is given to how uggo she is (to Gary). Actually, I think the description of her armor is kinda cool, she wears black dragonskin, studded with iron (so by Runescape logic I guess she's good with a bow?). Reaper Minis did a character that sort-of resembles the description, but their Vanja has a spear where Frupy uses a scepter:

You can actually negotiate with her, the implication of the text is that she's unreasonable but…just ignore that. Lol.

She also has a magic mirror (implied to be a furniture mirror, not a hand mirror) that reveals invisible creatures in the reflection, which is kind of awesome. Good way to catch assassins! Somehow the drow are using a gifted necklace to spy on them, but I feel like the mirror probably should've revealed in some way (maybe the mirror was also a drow gift?) She's more astute than she lets on, because she has a huge stash of mind control crap in her dresser drawers for emergencies.

????????????????????????????

Keeping with the "giant leader's treasure sucks" tradition, Snurre's treasure is genuinely crazy. It occupies a FULL PAGE, and each INDIVIDUAL TRUNK has a listing and an explicit mention of the traps. Traps range from a standard scything trap to secret snakes to the treasure being invisible to contact poison. How the hell does Snurre use this room? You're telling me he never fucked up remembering which of the 13 chests were trapped in which way? Oh, also, they're pick-proof, because fuck you thief. Naturally, the loot itself is also a fucking trap, because while there is some truly amazing stuff in there (20 randomized magic items, a decent amount of valuables, a +3 ring of protection, and a ring of 3 wishes), there is also lots of troll items (statues with a stacking curse of -1 to all tests, ring of contrariness, ring of delusion). On the whole, a big fuck you to the party. Oh, and while the locks are unpickable, you can shoot them off with magic missile, which is…why?

Snurre's dwarf-slave-advisor is bizarrely well equipped and loyal, and given the opportunity to escape he will…backstab the party. As much as people complain about how early DND has too many save or die traps, I genuinely think the regularity with which rescued npcs betray the party is a waaaaaay dumber and more ridiculous trend. I simply cannot fathom why someone as smart as Obmi would choose to keep being a slave to Snurre when adventurers showed up with the ability to free him. Honestly? Take his big lie and make it true. The lie makes sense because it makes more sense than the canon character.

The scroll that finally tips at the motivation of the giants is, no kidding, scroll #68 of almost 450 paper items, none of which are mentioned. The weird need for a number baffles me.

The kitchen is doing some lateral thinking and using one of the gas vents as a gas stove, which is hilarious.

Oh, we're only now to level 2?

All of the former kings are entombed in a Giant Tomb, which, that is entirely too cool of a visual for them to have not included a visual. In a fucking grave mistake, this room is cut from the 4e remake, so there is no incredible art of it. There is no justice.

If you somehow didn't kill the hill giant chieftain AND you didn't get him in G2, he's here in G3. And he brought the pet bears!

Gary, you're such an asshole. No one would ever think to throw their cool mace into the lava pit mid combat. This is just trolling.

🤷 Guess I'll die

"The were-rats, if losing, will turn into rats and flee down the drain" That is, actually an incredible escape plan, except that we have pre-established that this Hall is founded upon LAVA AND COOKING-HOT GAS.

Fuck the party I guess

You often hear people who got into ADND in the late 1e/2e era talk about how people speculated that Hommlet must lead to Temple of Elemental Evil because of hints about the Elemental Eye and, honestly it just kind of feels like Gary defaults to the Eye. It has come up in every scenario he has written so far (which admittedly is 2 so far), but with the power of Knowing What Comes Next I can assure you that this is going to keep happening. Anyway, there is a temple to the Eye here, complete with human sacrifice, and the allusion to tentacles eating people is already starting to signpost what we now know is true: It's Tharizdun. The Eye is Tharizdun. It always comes back to Cthulhus!

A lot of early players clearly enjoyed Poking Random Shit because if you decide to touch the Elemental Eye's altar and also play every musical instrument in the room, you get to make every person in the room roll on this table, AND also execute whichever player is nearest to the altar (no save). But, hey, you will suddenly get whatever you want most on the altar. If you are somehow dumb enough to do it again, there's a 1 in 12 chance you get a +1 in all stats, a 2 in 12 chance of something extremely bad happening, and a 9 in 12 chance nothing happens.

Would genuinely like to know how many GMs bothered following this instruction. It does teleport you towards the final encounter, so that's something.

An entire page is dedicated to disarming the tentacle wall magic trap, which to be honest looks like it'd repel a significant percentage of players because you either need an evil cleric or some good magic to dispel the wall, and the wall punishes the shit out of you for trying to disarm it. To be a mild devil's advocate, the tentacle wall IS super suspiciously placed (the shape of the room implies it's going somewhere), so at least it's not also super esoteric. If you DO bypass it, you are now the proud winner of the "discover the drow" award! Woah, elves but they're ontologically evil??????????????????????????????????? Truly novel! Eclavdra, head of the drow here, hangs out doing nothing in particular, and you may unceremoniously execute her if you want to bring her storyline to an unceremonious end.

The frost giants are here from last module, if they survived. They really want you to kill these kings!

No really why did they used to draw trolls like that

This adventure just won't end. There's a surprising amount to say about this module given that it's only 22 pages of monster murder and motherfucker traps. Anyway, welcome to level 3!

There are fake dragons here to troll you into getting excited for loot

The fire giants also have a panic room? Every giant has a panic room. Why are panic rooms so normal in the G series?

A SECOND fake dragon that is actually a gorgon, which is almost funny

Finally, a REAL red dragon, which is frankly cruelty to fool me three times

After many, many drow are fought, you eventually run into a magic-fighter drow noble who has a wand of "viscid globs", which despite the suggestive name, is actually a superglue gun? You can literally rip yourself apart trying to separate yourself from a glued object. It's a really, really bizarre item. And it has a LOT of charges -- 79.

Mercifully, finally, something that could be potentially interesting: Eclavdra's rival is hanging out in the basement and can be sweetalked into helping the party screw over Eclavdra, which. FINALLY. However, if you displease her, it's demon time.

For reasons I cannot fathom, there are mind flayers here observing the drow, and the drow are not super bothered by that.

And that's basically it! at the very end they find a tube with a map and a wish leading to the D series, and a quick explainer on the then-new Drow. Well, not that quick, it's a page and a half, but the conceptualization of the drow is basically unchanged between then and now. Evil elves, forced underground, adapted to living there, dark skin, magic spidersilk clothes and adamantine weapons, sunlight sensitivity, drow spell list.

On the whole, G3 is, an adventure. While yes the Drow twist is kind of neat (but not special, since Drow are functionally Melniboneans and Elric was already decades old at this point), mostly this module lacks the fun of G1 and substitutes lots of murder traps for any genuine creativity with the scenario. On the whole, I consider it…crowd pleasingly boring? Your treasure goblins will love it for how much nice stuff they can find, if they survive.

We will end today with the back cover, which features some hippogriff mounts. People just don't give parties flying mounts anymore, it's honestly strange the tradition died. See you in the D series later. And if you're waiting for more obscure modules…I can only promise one in 1978.

#1e #chronotsr #dnd #dungeons and dragons #tsr #ttrpg #adnd

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dndhistory · 8 months

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42. Gary Gygax - Monster Manual (1977)

The first of what would become a DnD institution with every edition and also the first publication by TSR tagged as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, the First Edition Monster Manual is as would be expected a list of monster that can appear during D&D games and that you can use to populate your dungeons, now handily contained in a single volume, instead of spread around several magazines, brochures and supplements as was the case in Original D&D.

This is a lot heavier on the mechanics and general description of the monsters than on lore. There was actually little lore at the time, most of the unique creatures would come from the Greyhawk or Blackmoor settings that were the home games of Gygax and Arneson, that where the Demogorgon or Orcus are coming from, for example. So there's a general description as well as attack stats and so on.

By far the best thing about this edition, however, are the 350 illustrations included, which would have a life far longer than the edition itself. By the early 90s, the SSI D&D Gold Box video games would still be basing their graphics off many of the images that started out here, and this also gives us some of the first truly great D&D art. Other than the famously funny looking Beholder here you get a lot of art signed DAT, meaning David A. Trampier, and his stuff is amazing, his line drawings with thick black outlines would make for some great tattoos if anyone's interested. DAT also had a fascinating life, eventually disappearing without a trace for years. Really worth taking a look at.

#adnd #dnd #ttrpg #ad&d #d&d #dnd art #dungeons and dragons #dungeons & dragons #gary gygax

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therobotmonster · 2 years

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How big of a threat do you think AI Art is to the employment of concept artists? Given how artists like RJ Palmer and Bogleech are panicked about it, you've worked in fields adjacent to that, and you've worked extensively with AI art, I'd presume you'd have some perspective on that.

AI art is going to shake up the art field, any new art tool worth its salt can and will.

I was training as a graphic designer when InDesign was finally starting to hit its stride in the late 90s, but I learned on QuarkExpress and learned old-school techniques in high school Newspaper club. I'd been dealing with dot-matrix printers and photocopier work since I was 8 at my dad's office.

So I got to see the graphic design industry in a state of panic through my professors and our various industry guests. All the EM-dashes and the declaration that the " on the keyboard is the inches mark and not the quote were protective measures for the industry so that talented amateurs wouldn't know the secret handshakes and couldn't "fake" their way into being seen as real graphic designers. And they were PISSED that Adobe InDesign was easy to use and automatically converted the measure-marks into "proper" punctuation.

Yet there's still a graphic design industry.

That said, I'd be curious if the ones that are actually freaked out have ever actually used the products. Because I"ve been in a down slump and I'm prone to stim, I have done pretty much nothing but dig into Midjourney and Stable Diffusion's brains and my experience doesn't match the observations of the terrified.

I think part of it is because people only see the results and they don't see the work. And there is work involved.

Iteration and Curation: I've posted a couple hundred pics from Midjourney so far. What do you don't see is this:

Now, in Midjourney parlance "image" also includes 4-grid previews used while developing final images.

For each panel of "Glitch"/"The Bethesda Epoch", for instance, I generated at least eight options (usually more) and evolved several of them across many generations to get what I wound up with. The Bethesda Epoch took me days to put together and garners me feedback and response roughly equal to a 3d modeled piece I'd put together in the same time frame.

Truth of the matter is, you rarely get anything perfect first try, everything needs modification or massive amounts of reiteration to pass for final work.

Promptcraft: Spend even a little time on the discords and you can tell who is playing and who is trying to make art. Play is an entirely viable application of this technology (more on that later) but while this levels the technical skill barrier for a lot of people, it does not cover for a lack of vision or ideas, and it requires its own skill.

There's a big difference between "in the style of D&D art" and "as a D&D monster, full body, pen-and-ink illustration, etching, by Russ Nicholson, David A Trampier, larry elmore, 1981, HQ scan, intricate details, inside stylized border" in terms of what you get.

Play: Most people are just having fun. It's real easy for artists to take the ability to express the ideas in our heads for granted. Most of what you're seeing is people playing with ideas they've been unable to express before. A lot of what I do with it is play, too.

Accessibility: My hands cramp when I draw these days, depression and other problems frequently knock my motivation and energy out of me, but I can use AI to put my ideas out there when the other parts of me aren't cooperating.

Limitations: The tech looks miraculous, but it can't do everything. In fact, it can't do a lot of things. The artist is still needed for the vision, for the ideas, to work the outputs into something meaningful, to supplement the outputs with human intention so a copyright can be involved, the list goes on.

Even Rembrandt used a camera obscura.;

#AI artwork #don't know why this needed to be anon TBH #midjourney #ludditism

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redacted-metallum · 1 year

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Image description: two scans from the 1980 edition of the TSR Advanced Dungeons and Dragons sourcebook Deities and Demigods. The first is of the text accompanying the entry for Hastur, a full transcript of which is under a readmore link. The second is a close-up of the illustration and depicts a lizard like creature covered in tentacles behind a castle. It is considerably larger than the castle and there is a bolt of lightning in the background. The upper right corner has a stylized signature of the letters E and O, indicating that Erol Otus is the illustrator of this particular image.

End image description.

My dad owns a copy of the Deities and Demigods book from before the copyright strike, and I haven’t seen any scans of Hastur from it around tumblr so. Here it is! The whole thing is very influenced by August Derleth’s interpretation of the Cthulhu Mythos, and I have Opinions about that, but this is specifically where the “don’t say Hastur’s name more than four times or he’ll come Get You” thing comes from, which I think is a very neat bit of history and trivia!

One other thing I find interesting is that there is no mention of The King in Yellow (the play) in this section. There is also no mention of the Yellow Sign, Cassilda, or Camilla, though Lake Hali and Carcosa are mentioned as part of an “alien planet”.

The book is credited to James M. Ward and Robert J. Kuntz, and edited by Lawrence Schick.

The illustrations are credited to the following: Jeff Dee, Erol Otus, Eymoth, Darlene Pekul, Paul Jaquays, Jim Roslof, David S. LaForce, David C. Sutherland III, Jeff Lanners, and D. A. Trampier.

Text transcript is as follows:

HASTUR THE UNSPEAKABLE (He Who Must Not Be Named) “Master of the Air” Greater God

ARMOR CLASS: -2 MOVE: 36″/36″ HIT POINTS: 400 NO. OF ATTACKS: 2 DAMAGE/ATTACK: 20-200/20-200 SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below MAGIC RESISTANCE: 50% SIZE: L (600′ TALL) ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil WORSHIPER’S ALIGN: Chaotic evil SYMBOL: Image of the god PLANE: Prime Material Plane (distant planet) CLERIC/DRUID: Nil FIGHTER: As 16+ HD monster MAGIC-USER/ILLUSIONIST: 23rd level in each THIEF/ASSASSIN: Nil MONK/BARD: Nil PSIONIC ABILITY: I S: 25 (+7. +14) I: 22 W: 23 D: 21 C: 23 CH: -4

This god has a scaled, elongated body, a lizard’s head and maw, and taloned lizard claws. It also has 200 tentacles projecting from its body that give it the ability to sense all things around it. It is able to strike twice per round and also attack magically.

At will, it can teleport anywhere in the Prime Material Plane. Hastur regenerates 5 hit points per melee round, and can summon 2-20 Byakhee to aid it in battle. It cannot be magically controlled. Creatures that are able to fly naturally will never attack Hastur, even if controlled. Any being trying to attack the god must make a saving throw against fear.

Hastur is half-brother to Cthulhu, and like him Hastur has been imprisoned by the star-shaped Elder Sign. He lies in a crypt at the bottom of Lake Hali near the alien city of Carcosa. Hastur exists partly on the Prime Material Plane (and this part is imprisoned in the crypt) and partly on the Elemental Plane of Air (thus he is immune to cold and the vacuum of space). Hastur is never more than partially on the Prime Material Plane and is therefore not completely solid. This accounts for much of his great size.

Any time the name “Hastur” is spoken, there is a 25% chance that Hastur will here and send 1-4 Byakhee to slay the speaker. If the Byakhee are defeated, there is a 25% chance that Hastur himself will appear to destroy the blasphemer.

#cthulhu mythos #hastur #the king in yellow #dnd #carcosa #advanced dungeons and dragons #deities and demigods

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