I sometimes forget that the late, great Dave Trampier did illustration work for non-Dungeons & Dragons products. While looking into another Tramp-related matter, I came across this piece from the 1985 Star Frontiers module, The War Machine (by Ken Rolston). I owned the module at the time, but I don't know that I ever recognized that Trampier had provided artwork for it.
It's a strong illustration that demonstrates considerable technical improvement over Trampier's earlier work on D&D and AD&D (which, I should add, I adore). I wonder how much more improvement he would have shown had he continued doing professional illustration work rather than abandoning it, as he did. Such a shame!
Can't recall the monkey doodz species name- but the eyes give it away- Looks like something from Wormy.
ReplyDeleteYazirians, if it matters. And you're right: the eyes do remind me of characters from Wormy.
DeleteHe got the very alien hands on the vrusk right. That's pretty impressive in and of itself.
DeleteGanesha Games makes a lovely set of minis that proxy flawlessly for yazirians, and somewhat less so for other SF races. I believe they've hung a fig leaf on their complete lack of a license by using "gliding apes" in one of their minis rules, but the inspiration for the designs is obvious.
https://www.alternative-armies.com/collections/ganesha-games-scifi
Yeah, these minis are definitely a backdoor set of Star Frontiers figures: the ape sniper might even have been based on a picture from the rulebook. The "plasmoid" is a pretty good Dralasite, too.
DeleteJames- yes, thank you! I could not recall the name. I owned some SF stuff upon release, and later in my collecting years, but never was a player.
DeleteThat's a beautiful piece. Trampier is just the best.
ReplyDeleteYes, the pictures for The War Machine and Mutiny on the Eleanor Moraes are amazing.
DeleteSuch a waste of talent, yes ! Indeed. Do we know why he stopped his work as an artist ? I only know that he got a job as a taxi driver later. I always thought – but I may be wrong – that he was disgusted by the “TSR hodge podge” and other strifes for the power inside the firm? Just a guess…
ReplyDeleteI could be wrong, but I don't think Trampier was a TSR employee at the time of his abrupt departure from art work. I'm pretty sure he was doing Wormy as a freelancer, and I can't think of any of his art appearing in TSR game products between Deities & Demigods and the two SF modules in 1985. So he wasn't exposed to day-to-day power struggles, though he could have been badly treated while doing the art for the SF modules (I have no knowledge one way or the other). Besides, if it was TSR business strife that bothered him, you'd think he'd quit working for them, not quit all work as an artist.
DeleteThe reports I've heard don't say much about the reason for his departure, but he was apparently returning his royalty checks from TSR unopened, which contributed to rumors of his death. When he did finally resurface after being tracked down after an interview (as a cabbie, not an artist) he was adamant that any reprints of his work wouldn't be connected in any way with TSR, and extended that to WotC when he discovered the former had long since gone out of business.
DeletePretty clear that there was some kind of bad blood there, but whether it was reciprocal or unilateral I doubt we'll ever know.
As much as I love Tramp, from what I've gathered from all the old guard banter, he was slow to get things done and had a tough time with deadlines- DCS had to do a lot of rushed last minute pieces for the Monster Manual is just one example. I'm going to guess that sort of work ethic was probably tolerated much better in the 70s when the company was smaller and taking off than it would in the early 1980s as TSR became "MEGACORP" with hundreds of employees.
ReplyDelete