Tuesday, May 31, 2011
The Ads of Dragon: Trollpak
When it comes to memorable RPG ads from the Golden Age, this one, from issue #65 (September 1982) of Dragon has got to be a top contender:
I've talked about Chaosium's Trollpak before -- twice, actually -- and my feelings about it, but, back in '82, before I had much direct experience with RuneQuest, ads like this one made me question my baseless prejudice against the game. I wondered what the heck this supplement was that it included an illustration of a dissected troll in its pages. It was certainly unlike anything I'd ever seen for D&D -- or any other RPG for that matter!
One of the great game supplements, ever, just for it's presentation of a non-human culture with real depth. (And, of course, the menu.)
ReplyDeleteIt's brilliant advertising, actually designed to stand out from, not to fit in with, work in the rest of its sector. Imaginative creatives - brave client!
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I hadn't noticed it before, but it's interesting to note that the advertisement describes it as "A Runequest™ experience ... all about Trolls" Which I find a particularly curious turn of phrase (especially the first part of it).
ReplyDelete[The use of adjectives to describe both Trolls and Trollpak reminds me why Runequest was eventually able to cross the old-school Simulationist and new-school Narrativist divide so well. Experiments with mechanisms to simulate the portrayal of these traits (as found in some issues of Wyrm's Footnotes was later refined to produce the excellent trait and passion system of Pendragon.]
Trollpak was one of those supplements that for some reason I never bought (probably because I couldn't really understand what I would use it for) but now I really wish I had - it looks intriguing. It usually best to go with your gut with this type of buying decision.
ReplyDeleteI loved that ad back in the day, and very much regret that I never purchased 'Trollpak'!
ReplyDeleteThe true brilliance of this ad lies in where the RPG demographic was back in 1982. Gamers were still largely high school and college students. Many of whom had recent experience with dissecting things in a biology class; making the dissection image one that had a personal impact.
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