The title of the comic is called "Jeff & Ernie presents ... Dungeon Hobby Shop." Ernie is clearly Ernie Gygax, who managed the shop, but I'm not certain who Jeff is, though there are several possibilities who come to mind. Anyone know for certain? I also discovered that the artist "L.R." is Laura Roslof, wife of TSR artist Jim Roslof.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Yet More DHS Art
Nick from Castle Dragonscar pointed out that issue 49 of Dragon included a full-page ad from the Dungeon Hobby Shop done in the same style as those mailing envelopes, but this time with speech baloons.
The title of the comic is called "Jeff & Ernie presents ... Dungeon Hobby Shop." Ernie is clearly Ernie Gygax, who managed the shop, but I'm not certain who Jeff is, though there are several possibilities who come to mind. Anyone know for certain? I also discovered that the artist "L.R." is Laura Roslof, wife of TSR artist Jim Roslof.
The title of the comic is called "Jeff & Ernie presents ... Dungeon Hobby Shop." Ernie is clearly Ernie Gygax, who managed the shop, but I'm not certain who Jeff is, though there are several possibilities who come to mind. Anyone know for certain? I also discovered that the artist "L.R." is Laura Roslof, wife of TSR artist Jim Roslof.
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First issue of the Dragon I ever bought.
ReplyDeleteMine too, although I bought 48 after.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, the amateurish art along with the typed speech balloons give it a strange, stylized look. It almost reminds me of the type of art the Editorial Cartoons of the 19th century looked like.
Jeff Easley?
ReplyDeleteI remember that ad! Dragon #49 was one of the few issues I had back in the day. I especially liked the Wormy comic; once I got on ebay, I set about collecting all the issues with Wormy.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in northern Illinois, less than an hour from Lake Geneva. My friends and I bought a lot of our early gaming stuff at the DHS. I bought our first rpg there - the "Original Collector's Edition" white box.
One day, a friend and I drove up there only to find that the shop had gone out of business; the signs advertising the going-out-of-business sale where still up.
There was a diorama in the shop depicting an adventuring party making its way through a castle/dungeon. I remember at one point they were being attacked by trolls; at another, they were descending by rope to a lower level through a hole in the floor. You can see a picture of it here: http://community.wizards.com/wotc_huscarl/blog/2009/10/02/lake_geneva_and_the_dungeon
While at a game convention held in Lake Geneva, I remember playing a game in the basement of the shop in which I was in command of one of the dwarf-manned dirigibles which travelled toward the defending fortress(?) along strings running from the walls. This is what I remember, anyway; maybe I dreamed it.
Jeff Perrin, I believe.
ReplyDeleteJeff Perrin & Ernie Gygax ran the Dungeon Hobby Shop
ReplyDelete"LR" (Laura Roslof) also created some of the "Banned!" artwork from the original orange B3 module:
ReplyDelete-"The Illusion of the Decapus" on page 10 (woman tied up with her own hair; deleted from the green B3)
-The statue in the garden on page 20
(altered in the green B3 to change to the statue from a woman to a dragon)
-The cleric, dwarves and werewolf on page 24
(altered in the green B3 to change the dwarf faces to orcs, and to remove the windows)
Laura did no other TSR module art that I'm aware of. She made only a few contributions to the art of TSR but they were interesting.
Dan wrote:
ReplyDelete"While at a game convention held in Lake Geneva, I remember playing a game in the basement of the shop in which I was in command of one of the dwarf-manned dirigibles which travelled toward the defending fortress(?) along strings running from the walls. This is what I remember, anyway; maybe I dreamed it."
Dan, this sounds a little like a tournament that Tom Moldvay ran at GenCon in 1982. Even if it's not the same scenario, perhaps it used the same the same dirigibles/zeppelins + miniatures setup. Here's the description from the program booklet:
Gencon XV, August 19-22 1982, U.W. Parkside
The Island of Death, 4074. Four teams compete against each other and a team of monsters to win a fabulous treasure in this variant D&D game. Each player team will control a zeppelin-type airship and a sailing ship, plus a number of heroes. The event combines miniatures play and role-playing. The first team to win the treasure and return to base wins. The monster team wins if no player team is successful. Judge: Tom Moldvay. 8 Hours. Friday 10:00 A.M. Experience Level 5. 12 Players. Wyllie Main Place.
That pic of the ladies sitting in front of the wall covered with all those classic games is just the best.
ReplyDeleteFont? What is this "Font" you speak of? Do you mean to ask which typewriter we use?
ReplyDeleteMan, I miss those days.
I think this was also the first Dragon I bought, or maybe in the second. Good times, good times.
ReplyDeleteZenopus wrote:
ReplyDelete"Dan, this sounds a little like a tournament that Tom Moldvay ran at GenCon in 1982. Even if it's not the same scenario, perhaps it used the same the same dirigibles/zeppelins + miniatures setup. "
My memory is that it was in the basement of the DHS, though I believe GenCon '82 was the first one I went to. (We stayed a campsite near UW-Parkside. My dad's waterproof tent wasn't waterproof enough to keep out the deluge of rain that struck.) I don't remember having a sailing ship, but it was a long time ago. I didn't mention that my memory is that the game was run by Moldvay, though I wouldn't have sworn to it. It was also the first time I heard of something called a "thayko." After I made a bunch of attack rolls, the judge commented to someone else there, "We finally found someone who rolls worse than you do."
At (what I remember as being) the same convention (I think it was a Winter Revel), but at a different location than the hobby shop, I played in a Villains & Vigilantes game that I believe was run by Jack Herman. Jeff Dee showed up briefly, and they made plans to "discuss" some aspect of the rules. At a nearby table, there was a very noisy Empire of the Petal Throne game going. It seemed to be some kind of miniatures battle on a large temple or palace set-up. As I was leaving the V&V game, I looked over and saw a lot of figures lying down; apparently there were a lot of casualties in that EPT game.
There was also a jousting tournament using the jousting rules in Chainmail (I didn't win).
The Jeff referred to is definitely Jeff Perrin; the figure in the tricorne hat is a fair caricature of him. The EPT game referred to above would have been one of Dave Sutherland's events. Dave had an impressive EPT miniatures setup and ran it quite a few times at the small local cons.
ReplyDeleteJeff Perrin, I believe.
ReplyDeleteThat was my first guess, but I wasn't certain since I could find no clear references to his having worked there.