Monday, August 15, 2022

Who's This?

For a long time, Dragon ran an advertisement that featured the following image:

Since the ad was for subscriptions to Dragon, I've always assumed, perhaps falsely, that the fellow in the photo was a staff member of either the magazine or TSR, but I have no firm basis for that assumption. In any case, I'm prevailing upon readers more knowledgeable than I to help me determine the would-be jumper's identity. Is he perhaps Tom Wham, creator of Snit's Revenge? Or is he someone else?

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Posted by James Maliszewski at 10:00 AM
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9 comments:

  1. John LAugust 15, 2022 at 11:07 AM

    I had to go through the PDFs of the old Dragon magazine archive because I couldn't believe this was an advert for TSR. Turns out yes it was. This was an attempt to get people to subscribe to the magazine, with the above photo an example of how non-subscribed readers might feel if Dragon magazine had sold out from the shelves of their local shops. I would say the past is a foreign country, but I'm not sure how well received the advert was back then.

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    Replies
    1. quantumfluxAugust 16, 2022 at 1:29 AM

      That ad ran for years I feel like. I never gave it a second thought. I also never subscribed to Dragon!

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  2. John BrinegarAugust 15, 2022 at 1:06 PM

    I'm certain it's Tom Wham, though I don't remember how I know.

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  3. John E. BoyleAugust 15, 2022 at 3:38 PM

    I thought that was Tom Wham at first glance, but like John, I can't remember how I know. It's been too long.

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  4. ligeAugust 15, 2022 at 7:09 PM

    Looks like him (I've only seen his more recent gray bearded engineers cap look) but stocky guys with big beards were not exactly thin on the ground in those days at TSR.

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  5. JEFFBAugust 15, 2022 at 8:39 PM

    Tim or Frank would know- I'd shoot either of them a message. But I also recall reading somewhere this was Tom Wham.

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  6. James MishlerAugust 15, 2022 at 10:59 PM

    It is indeed Tom Wham. I read a story once about that photo shoot, and it is definitely Tom.

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  7. Dave ConantAugust 16, 2022 at 1:55 PM

    Yes, that is Tom Wham (I verified all the following with him). That picture was taken in the summer of 1980 out on Sheridan Springs Road where it crosses the White River. It was used in an ad in The Dragon Magazine - running the first time in September, 1980 - promoting yearly subscriptions for the the magazine. Tom was wearing his Snit's Revenge t-shirt that TSR made back then. Tom wore many hats at TSR in those days - artist, game designer, games editor, and even shipping, maintenance, and night watchman for a bit.

    Tom and I are now partners of Tom Wham Games (https://tomwham.games) where I'm helping him to publish some of his unpublished games and artwork (prints, t-shirts, etc.). Also, including a Patreon-style subscription option for supporters/fans to help us afford to get more of them out (and other benefits too).

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