Tony DeZuniga

If you read Savage Sword of Conan in the 70's and 80's, and if you read this blog you probably did, then you marveled at the spectacular ink work of Tony DeZuniga. He is probably best known for his art on Jonah Hex. He was part of the "Philippine invasion" into comics back in the early 70's along with other great Filipino artists like Rudy Nebres and Alex Nino, among others.

I got to meet Tony at Comic Con a few years back. He was such a nice guy, he invited my wife and I to visit him at his family owned coffee shop in Stockton CA. We bought his sketchbook and had it signed. I still marvel at his tremendous draftsmanship.

I'd heard a few weeks ago that he was hospitalized, and just learned he passed away. I respect him for his talent and his kindness and wish his family well.

With the proverbial time machine - if I could go back in time and be involved in the art direction for D&D he is definitely an artist I would have commissioned.

Hind Legs of the Displacer Beast

Dave Trampier is my favorite of the early D&D artists. I always loved this illustration, but the hind legs confused me.

Dave Arneson's Game Collection Auction

Dave Arneson, the real wizard behind D&D, had an extensive game collection. It is now going up for auction.
http://www.thecollectorstrove.com/site-news/2012/4/29/the-big-announcement.html

5th Edition? Really?

While reading some discussions about which D&D game was the bestselling it occurred to me that the edition numbers are really misleading. In fact there have been at least 25 editions of D&D in the English language alone.

"Basic" D&D has gone through 19 iterations, while AD&D has had 6 iterations (1st edition, 2nd edition, a "2.5" edition - the black covers, a 3rd edition, a 3.5 edition and the misnamed 4th edition - the correct name being "D&D but we really want to be WoW".)

D&D was conceived by some incredibly creative guys: Gygax and Arneson. And this genre defining idea was mismanaged by a series of incompetent doofuses for decades until Wizards of the Coast got a hold of it (to be clear I am talking about the doofus execs who managed TSR, not the hardworking designers). The game was given to a brilliant team of game designers, but I think these designers looked down their noses at the original 3 booklet set. They couldn't see past it's crude presentation and terrible organization to the core of the game which had a unique and brilliant heart.

I can't blame these designers, while I've always enjoyed the original it took the release of Swords & Wizardry for me to truly -grok- the brilliance, elegance, and genius of the original white box set.
What we got in 3rd edition was an overly complicated permutation of 1st edition D&D with a hybrid of Runequest (quite understandable since the chief designer was a long time fan of Runequest). Still, it was a vast improvement over 2nd edition, and to a generation hungry for the game of their youth it was a hit.

Apparently the bestselling D&D set was the Basic D&D Black Box.

Yeah, I'm shocked too. As a geek and collector, this is one of the sets I've had zero interest in acquiring. Perhaps it was a quirk of history with the generation after the D&D cartoon era being influenced by their older brothers?

If "D&D Next" is really 26th edition return to the Original - then you can bet I'll be buying a copy and getting all my friends to play.

If it is another ill conceived piece of marketing dung in the vein of 4th you can bet I won't waste my time.

BTW. I don't think I've ever even seen this version anywhere, ever.

New Prometheus Trailer

This one is the most reminiscent of the original Alien. I'd love to play an RPG set in this universe.

Free RPG's

Chris's Compendium of Free Role Playing Games.

This has been around for a while, but I was just reminded what a great collection of links to free RPG's this is on 1KM1KT. Everything from Dungeon Squad to FUDGE, and a personal favorite Sorcerer.

Link

Surtr

Surtr art by Thomas Denmark for Legend of Badass by Ben Thompson

The original Gods, Dem-Gods & Heroes book is disappointing by almost every measure (except that it sneaks in several unlicensed intellectual properties such as Conan and Elric). And the AD&D version of Deities & Demigods is little better than a high level Monster Manual. On a side note I do like the revised name Legends & Lore quite a bit because it is evocative and far more generalized.

The first version of Surtr appears in Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes

Surtur:
Armor Class: 2
Magical Spell Ability: lst-4th Level
Move: 12"
Fighter Ability: 18th Level
Hit Points: 250
Surtur is King of the Fire Giants. As is Hyrm, he is gifted with protection from weapons up to +4 in hitting ability. Holy Swords are the only exception to the rule and they will score double
damage upon Surtur while Swords of Cold will inflict triple the damage done. Cold has the same effect on Surtur as fire has upon Hyrm. Surtur is armed with a normal iron sword of flame (a Flaming Sword) which burns continuously. Anyone struck by this blade will take 2-20 points of normal damage and 2-8 dice of fire damage. Frost giants are automatically slain if this blade hits them, and other creatures of Coldness, of the snows, etc., will flee in terror before this blade. Surtur is served by 3-18 Red Dragons and he may call upon six Class 6 fire demons a year to do his will.

The next version is in 1980's Deities & Demi-Gods

Surtur (lord of the fire giants)
Lesser God
Armor Class: -2
Move: 15"
Hit Points: 380
no. Of Attacks: 2
Damage/Attack: 6-60
Special Attacks: See below
Special Defenses: immune to fire, 1-3 or better weapon to hit
Magic Resistance: 60%
Size: 1 (20')
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Worshiper's Align: Lawful Evil (fire giants)
Symbol: Flaming Sword
Plane: Gladsheim (Jotunheim)
Cleric/Druid: 15th level cleric
Fighter: 20th level fighter
Magic-User/Illusionist: 5th level magic-user
Thief/Assassin: Nil
Monk/Bard: Nil
Psionic Ability: Nil
S: 25 (+7, +14) I: 19 W: 14 D: 12 C: 25 CH: 20
Most fire giants regard Sutur as their leader and their deity. Deep in Jotunheim, Sutur waits for the day when he can lead the fire giants to the great battle of Ragnorok.
Surtur looks like an immense fire giant, with the crackling flames for hair and eyebrows. He wears heavy iron armor which is hot to the touch (1-10 points of damage to any who contact it with exposed flesh), and wields a 15-foot flaming iron sword. He strikes with this twice per round, inflicting 6-60 points of damage on a hit. Surtur is immune to fire attacks of any kind.

Quite a power leap from the humble original edition version! Still, this is a god that a well equipped high level party of intrepid adventurers could hope to take out in a fair fight. And I'm sure many did back in the day.