Saturday, August 7, 2010

Dungeon Hobby Shop Art

I never ordered anything from Lake Geneva's Dungeon Hobby Shop, although I did have several of its catalogs at various points (all long lost, alas). Reader Todd A. Gibson has managed to hold on to a manila envelope in which a 1981 catalog was sent to him. He scanned its front and back, because they're covered with some artwork I've never seen before by an unknown artist whose initials seem to have been "L.R." (or perhaps "L.K."). Todd graciously allowed me to post the images here for everyone to enjoy.

This is the front of the envelope. You can see a D&D-style troll menacing a party of adventurers, consisting of a magic-user and elf (notice the latter's Keebler-esque rather than Tolkien-esque appearance), an armored fighter, a monk-like cleric, and a Viking (or a very tall dwarf). Notice that the MU is employing a torch to hold the troll at bay, while his companions prepare to use a hose connected to a canister of sulfuric acid to deal with the foul beast.

Here's the back, with the victorious adventurers celebrating by using the troll's burning corpse to roast sausages.

Thanks, Todd!
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Posted by James Maliszewski at 4:09 PM
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10 comments:

  1. nextautumnAugust 7, 2010 at 5:13 PM

    Too cool. I really miss that sense of whimsy these days. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. E.G.PalmerAugust 7, 2010 at 5:27 PM

    Little known fact, troll bone imparts a smokey, mesquite-like flavor to campfire cooking.

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  3. grodogAugust 7, 2010 at 5:32 PM

    There were a number of different pieces of art used on the old Dungeon Hobby Shop envelopes, some were done by DCS and Tom Wham IIRC. I have one, will have to check it against this one (and I think I saved images of the art from a few others sold on eBay).

    Allan.

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  4. Keith SloanAugust 7, 2010 at 5:36 PM

    You can sell those on eBay?!? Wow - I have DOZENS of them! I used the Dragon mailing envelopes as covers for my modules back and the day - they're still on them!

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  5. Dan of EarthAugust 7, 2010 at 6:41 PM

    Very nice, thanks for sharing!

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  6. James MaliszewskiAugust 7, 2010 at 8:16 PM

    There were a number of different pieces of art used on the old Dungeon Hobby Shop envelopes, some were done by DCS and Tom Wham IIRC. I have one, will have to check it against this one (and I think I saved images of the art from a few others sold on eBay).

    I'd love to see the DCS and Wham illustrations!

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  7. NickAugust 8, 2010 at 2:45 AM

    Whoever this artist is they also did an ad for the Dungeon Hobby Shop in Dragon #49 pg. 78 (which was the first issue I ever bought).

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  8. James McCannAugust 8, 2010 at 2:51 PM

    The font of the heading "The Dungeon Hobby Shop" is Thalia, which is the same font used for the game Swords and Sorcery by SPI from about the same time. I wonder which way the idea for using this font went or if it was "discovered" independently.

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  9. James McCannAugust 8, 2010 at 2:54 PM

    Oh and it is used in DragonQuest as well. It seems that Redmond liked this font.

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  10. John BrinegarJuly 8, 2024 at 8:10 PM

    The "L.R." here is probably Laura Roslof, Jim Roslof's wife.

    ReplyDelete

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