# Happy memories (AD+D 1st Edition) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** rpg-dnd-wargames\ **Created:** [June 9, 2021, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-memories-ad-d-1st-edition/943927 "2021-06-09T21:20:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-memories-ad-d-1st-edition/943927/81 "2021-06-17T16:24:24Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Was there much new about the 2e artwork? Serious question: I thought it was mainly a continuation of the Elmore/Easley/Caldwell/Parkinson/etc style you saw in “established” 1e (once they got out of “I know a guy who’ll draw a picture for $15” stage combined with artists like Otus and Trampier) 2nd ed. didn’t introduce a new aesthetic overall, but a lot of the settings had strong aesthetics driven largely by individual artists, like [Tony DiTerlizzi](https://diterlizzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1996_tieflings.jpg) with Planescape, and [Tom Baxa](https://64.media.tumblr.com/8076a309e22ea1aec4388be303de820e/tumblr_p2s563IaiD1wo6q1so7_1280.jpg) with Dark Sun. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-memories-ad-d-1st-edition/943927/82 "2021-06-17T16:29:05Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > a lot of the individual settings had strong aesthetics driven largely by individual artists, like [Tony DiTerlizzi](https://diterlizzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1996_tieflings.jpg) with Planescape, and [Tom Baxa](https://64.media.tumblr.com/8076a309e22ea1aec4388be303de820e/tumblr_p2s563IaiD1wo6q1so7_1280.jpg) with Dark Sun. Thanks. I think I wasn’t playing by then (or not enough to get into those settings) but I like both of those pieces. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-memories-ad-d-1st-edition/943927/83 "2021-06-17T16:30:33Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > I started disliking a lot of the D&D art in 3rd edition and I’d rather look at some of the janky-ass illustrations for 1st edition as well because at least those have a nostalgic appeal to me. A lot of the early AD&D art was definitely janky, but at the same time, I actually prefer a lot of it to a lot of the more modern D&D art. Part of it is that sense of mystery I wrote about above. A lot of early D&D art was just kind of weird, and it was hard to figure out exactly what you were looking at, which (I think accidentally) created an interesting aesthetic. This was before I encountered Lovecraft and his indescribable babble, but it created a similar sort of effect. Another part of it was just that the artwork often seemed more imaginative. Take the owlbear: [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/17/Owlbear.JPG/200px-Owlbear.JPG) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/17/Owlbear.JPG/200px-Owlbear.JPG) Now, I know in 2021 that’s based on some weird, cheap random toy Gary Gygax found in a bargain bin, but at the time, when I first encountered it, it was just a weird looking critter. It created a sense that there’s weird, indescribable stuff in the world, and the best anyone can come up with is a half-description, like “owlbear”, and the best depiction anyone can make is a crude rendering that doesn’t look like anything in particular. Then there’s the modern interpretations, which are all pretty literal: [![](https://media-waterdeep.cursecdn.com/avatars/thumbnails/0/315/256/315/636252772225295187.jpeg) ](https://media-waterdeep.cursecdn.com/avatars/thumbnails/0/315/256/315/636252772225295187.jpeg) It’s a cross between an owl and a bear. Which, ok, but…it just seems like something from _Avatar: The Last Airbender_, rather than a weirdly evocative image of monstrous otherness. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-memories-ad-d-1st-edition/943927/84 "2021-06-17T16:36:09Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > It created a sense that there’s weird, indescribable stuff in the world, and the best anyone can come up with is a half-description, like “owlbear”, and the best depiction anyone can make is a crude rendering that doesn’t look like anything in particular. Evocative of early European drawings of the beasts of Africa or something. Of course, Otus’ stuff was deliberately weird and Lovecraftian and tripped out 😄 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-memories-ad-d-1st-edition/943927/85 "2021-06-17T16:42:54Z")
There’s sort of an “outsider art” appeal to those early illustrations. The weirdness was highlighted in 1st edition, because they had enough money to put out these nice, quality hardcover books with [professional quality illustrations](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91NWoZ+5xaL.jpg), and then inside it looks like a [bad acid trip](https://dungeoneersjournal.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/otyugh-1e.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-memories-ad-d-1st-edition/943927/86 "2021-06-17T17:08:03Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > It was, though that also turned out to be part of TSR’s downfall. They plowed a ton of money into publishing settings (and supporting material), many of which were only used by a small fraction of the player base. As a result, when they finally went out of business in '97, from what I’ve read, their warehouse still had a large stock of a lot of those setting-specific materials. I’ve read that TSR still had quite a bit of unsold 1st edition material lying around in their warehouse at the time they went out of business in 1997. As much as I love many of 2nd edition settings, they produced too many of them and even I couldn’t keep up. And the more I’ve read about TSR, the more amazed I am that they were able to stay in business as long as they did. They’re a textbook example of how a company with a hot product can make money hand over first to the point where it mitigates bad business decisions on their part. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-memories-ad-d-1st-edition/943927/87 "2021-06-17T17:11:24Z")
My favorite is still the original [PHB cover](https://www.previewsworld.com/SiteImage/MainImage/STK463898). ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-memories-ad-d-1st-edition/943927/88 "2021-06-17T17:34:52Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > About 15 years ago, I bought a used copy of the old World of Greyhawk boxed set from Noble Knight Games (an online seller of used games). When I got it in the mail, I discovered that the front page of the main book had been signed by Gary Gygax! My Monster Manual is signed by Gygax – we managed to convince him to be GOH for PlatteCon Alpha (gaming convention at UW-Platteville) – he did it for $100 (it helps that he liked visiting the area). Later I had Tom Wham autograph his beholder pic. (GG showed up for PlatteCon Beta as well) Brian ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-memories-ad-d-1st-edition/943927/89 "2021-06-17T17:58:12Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Evocative of early European drawings of the beasts of Africa or something. Exactly! The original owlbear looks like something a survivor of an encounter sketched out based on their hazy recollections of the monster that dismembered their friends. > [@Jophiel](#): > > Of course, Otus’ stuff was deliberately weird and Lovecraftian and tripped out 😄 Yep. It was “stylized” art, quite different from the more photorealistic stuff that’s common today, but he was a genuinely talented artist. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-memories-ad-d-1st-edition/943927/90 "2021-06-17T18:00:10Z")
What is the story behind the replacement of that cover? Someone here must know it. (I know I can Google it.) The Deity and Demigod one was tied to legal reasons as I recall. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-memories-ad-d-1st-edition/943927/91 "2021-06-17T18:06:36Z")
Well, eventually they got the high-quality covers (the “orange binding” editions), but some of us grognards still recall the original cover art: [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ac/MonsterManual-1stEdAD%26D-Cover.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ac/MonsterManual-1stEdAD%26D-Cover.jpg) Which (to me) is less evocatively crude, and more just kind of cheap. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-memories-ad-d-1st-edition/943927/92 "2021-06-17T23:16:01Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > What is the story behind the replacement of that cover? Someone here must know it. (I know I can Google it.) I don’t think there really was one besides AD&D getting more popular and them being able to afford new, slicker, art with a more cohesive theme for the new printings. The original covers for the PHB, DMG, D&D and MM were sort of all over the place. I think they were good (except MM looks like something I would have drawn on my math notebook cover in 7th grade) but they were also all pretty different from one another and didn’t really look like a matched set. Deities & Demigods had some issues with the Lovecraft and Moorcock material inside but the cover didn’t reflect any of that. It was just part of the overall new printing changes. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-memories-ad-d-1st-edition/943927/93 "2021-06-18T12:56:26Z")
Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-memories-ad-d-1st-edition/943927/94 "2021-06-18T13:48:00Z")
To add to the discussion of AD&D covers, I agree the with @Mollie_Magill that the original PHB cover is a masterpiece: [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/09/PlayersHandbook8Cover.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/09/PlayersHandbook8Cover.jpg) One of my favorite game designers is Robin Laws, and he talks a lot about the “core activity” of a game. He frequently cites Dungeons & Dragons as an exemplar of the right way to do this - the core activity of the game is right there in the name. Similarly, I think the core activity is right there on the cover of the PHB. Adventurers, in a dungeon, cleaning up after a battle, looking at (presumably) a map of the dungeon and where they’ve explored so far and where they’re going next, and looting the room, with the defeated monsters piled in a heap. In terms of giving a succinct and evocative visual of the game’s core activity, giving players a literal illustration of what they’re expected to do with the handbook, it may well be the best cover in the history of RPGs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-memories-ad-d-1st-edition/943927.md?page=4)