Old Dungeons and Dragons modules are a great source for interesting art. And while I haven’t been exposed to a lot of them, the cover of The Endless Stair by Ed Greenwood is easily my favorite. The art is by a fellow named Jack Fred, who I’d not heard of before, and who I can’t find any information about. If you know something, let me know so proper credit can be given!

I’ll be the first to admit that the ladies depicted here are stupidly sexualized. If it was just the magic user I could maybe give it a pass, but the thief on the left is simply preposterous. Normally I would pass on a piece of art that has this level of ‘cheesecake’ bullshit in it. But I just fucking love everything else about it.

First, the piece has that great “every-adventurer” thing going on. These characters are nobody you know, and yet they’re every character you’ve ever played. You can put yourself into their shoes instantly. Second, the two men are beautifully equipped. Their gear is mundane and worn. More brightly colored art with cleaner lines is never able to look quite so real as this. Plus you have to love the 1970s style hair.

I also love the poses. Even the women have pretty great poses here, but my favorite is the dark haired man in the center. He’s drawn midway through pulling his axe from his belt, and that’s something you so rarely see in fantasy art. It doesn’t look ‘cool,’ or ‘badass,’ and because of that it seems more real, and thus draws me into the scene all the more.

And on top of all that, there’s the environment. I’m a native of the pacific northwest of the U.S., and this is exactly what this area looks like. The trees and the mountains and the sky and the grass all evoke memories of camping trips I’ve taken. It’s glorious.

I do apologize for the quality of the image. The only ones I could find online were very low resolution, so I opted to scan my own copy of the module instead. Unfortunately it has some minor damage which obscures some of the art.

I really have nothing to say about this piece which it does not say itself. A majestic landscape, a threatening beast, and a party who looks small and terrified in the face of this great danger. (But none the less resolute to find themselves some god damned treasure)!

Jon Hodgson is a talented artist who does a lot of work with this kind of composition. Large, dynamic pieces with a lot going on. It’s no surprise his work has appeared in The One Ring RPG. I’m very grateful he allowed me to share this piece with you, and I encourage you to browse through his Deviant Art gallery. There are dozens of gems to be found there!

EDIT: Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

This was probably the most verbose entry in the Picture Thursday series I’ve ever written. Most of the time I just put up a 200-300 word assessment of the art. For this piece I had written some 600+ words on why it’s not a cliche, what the piece means to me, and the history of the character. Everything was fine last night, and I checked the post several times. Yet somehow when the post went online this morning, everything but the art itself was gone.

I honestly can’t rewrite what was here. I could try, but by the time I was off of work and free to do so, this post would be 10 hours old, and it’s doubtful anyone would see the revisions. Plus it would make it more difficult for me to get Tomorrow’s post written.

I’m sorry about this. Perhaps I can share Sandwich’s story some other time; for now you can explore her origins on her 1d4Chan entry.

If I can find the missing info, I’ll update this post again.

The best monster artwork is an inspiration to GMs. When we look through the monster manuals and bestiaries, we instantly know which monstrosities we want to feast on our player’s corpses. And for me, the Worm that Walks from the Epic Level Handbook has always been inspiring. It’s a fresh take on the physical corruption of magical pursuits. One distinct from the lich. If the monster has origins outside of D&D, I don’t know them. All I know is that they haunt my dreams, and I want them to haunt the dreams of my players as well.

I’ve actually repeatedly found the D&D 3.0 Epic Level Handbook to be one of the best supplements ever produced for 3.X. It is one of the very few supplements which focuses less on player options, and more on helping GMs to run their games better. The generator of 100 quest hooks, for example, is very good! The monsters presented are top notch, even if many of them are more powerful iterations of lower level monsters.

I’m kinda surprised I made it 13 weeks without posting anything from Wayne Reynolds before. That dude is prolific, and influential. Pathfinder goblins are his bath sponge.

No, really, they are.

Okay, so, I realize that this edition of Picture Thursday is, in fact, going up on Wednesday. That’s my bad. But I have a super good excuse, I swear.

See, as you may have heard, Wizards of the Coast recently released a massive amount of their back-catalog in PDF form. Which includes many (or all, I’m not sure) of the modules produced by TSR in the ’70s and ’80s. Which means I finally had a simple means of acquiring modules G 1-2-3, D 1-2-3, and Q1, which have always sounded like a blast to me. Upon purchasing them, I promptly spent the entire evening reading them. Leaving me no time to compose a post for you all.

This piece, “Webbed” by Jeff Dee is on the back cover of Q1, “Queen of the Demonweb Pits.” And while the character’s pose is a little ridiculous (as my ladyfriend commented, he’s drawn in the kind of spine twisting ass-boob pose often used in sexualized art), I still have no end of love for the piece. I feel the character’s peril. Not only is he trapped on the web, but those tiny red spiders are terrifying, and he’s no doubt moments away from his doom.

Interestingly, about a year ago, Jeff Dee ran a relevant kickstarter. Apparently all of his original art from “Queen of the Demonweb Pits” had been destroyed, and he needed funds to re-create the originals. In the year since he’s completed a lot, including a reproduction of this very piece. Though I find I like this older print better. It seems less…shiny?

Also relevant, Jeff Dee has another kickstarter going, which you may want to check out if you’re a fan of Empire of the Petal Throne.

Me? I’m going back to reading about the giants. I can’t wait to run some players through this thing.

 I first encountered this piece while browsing DeviantArt at random. I felt compelled to find an image which presented a fantastical world for the viewer to explore. And that’s precisely what this piece by eeliskyttanen, titled “Inheritance,” does.

I don’t really have a lot to say about it. I, like the tiny warrior, merely stare at it and wonder what awaits me in these pristine edifices of forgotten kingdoms.