During the period between 1979 and 1982 when Grenadier Models held the license to produce official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons miniatures, the company ran lots of advertisements in the pages of Dragon magazine and elsewhere. Because they frequently made use of people dressed up in fantasy garb, I've always found them quite memorable (and silly – but in a good kind of way). Here's one I came across from issue #61 (May 1982) while preparing my earlier post from today.
I was in a Grenadier seminar ages ago st Gen Con when it was at Parkside, and I could swear that the presenter was Kim Mohan, and that he not only directed the production of the ads, but also "starred" in most of them.
ReplyDeleteI cannot find any reference to him working for Grenadier, so maybe it was a joint TSR/Grenadier effort or it was someone else also from TSR... My memory isn't what it used to be.
I bet it was Kim Eastland, who was a Grenadier publicist and editor of the Grenadier Bulletin. He also worked for TSR at some point.
DeleteYes, thank you, Kim Eastland! Dang this Swiss cheese mind of mine. Sadly, he passed away in 2020. Would have loved to have asked him questions about this series.
DeleteI find it interesting that you find this silliness “good” but April’s Fools silliness more annoying. Conversely, I find April Fools articles just harmless fun, but stuff like this always made me afraid someone would see me reading it and think that is how I dress to play D&D.
ReplyDeleteWait, you mean we’re NOT supposed to be dressing like that when we play?
Delete"While we're playing"?
DeleteI work from home.
Cool ad. I remember it well. Those miniatures had practical value for party play, but I never had the touch to paint them properly. I always felt I was missing out.
ReplyDeleteI remember spray-painting our miniatures en masse in a friend's back yard in hopes of not losing too many when we played D&D in the woods. We didn't have the touch, either. Or the patience. I never saw that advertisement in original form, but it simply looks like fun. Beats the (expletive) out of the heavy metal or purist jazz or oh EFF YOU vinyl record and turntable clowns who take everything way way too seriously. Jam Blues by Charlie Parker is killer in any format. Just smile and enjoy.
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