[Preview] Big Hexyland. Done.

An entire fantasy subcontinent. Nine modular mega-hexes. Full color. System-neutral. Packed with mind-boggling wonders that will feed your thirst for adventure. Coming soon as a PDF through drivethrurpg.com.

[Old School Swipe] Adventure Party

Thanks to Perpetual Role for helping me solve the mystery origins of this Darlene illustration:

For the longest time I thought it was from an Edward Burne Jones original when in fact it's based on a drawing from a Burne Jones protégé, the brilliant and short-lived Aubrey Beardsley:

[Old School Swipe] Darlene Succubus

If you played AD&D with the original hardcovers, you probably remember this illustration of a succubus by Darlene:

But you probably don't know that the source illustration is undoubtedly Gustav Dore's engraving of Myrrha from Dante's Inferno:

Just add wings and horns, and hey presto!

"Big Hexy Land" Fantasy Map nearly done

So many pieces...
Here's a master view of the 7 hexes I've created so far for the dungeonteller atlas. Two more to go. They look AMAZING when you print each hex on 8.5 x 14 paper and tile them together. (This was tiled digitally). Enjoy!

Doug Anderson, 2014.

Fantasy World Map Made with MacPaint c. 1994

From out of a huge poster tube in my basement comes the map I used for my D&D game world in the 90s. It was printed on dozens of individual sheets taped together, and colored by hand. Cutting edge technology in 1993!

Huge world map with cat for scale.

Detail of island in upper left corner.

Big Hexy Land

The dungeonteller atlas is coming together quickly!

David Trampier, 1954-2014

The gaming world has lost the illustrator who, along with David Sutherland, defined the look of Dungeons & Dragons for a generation of gamers, including me. Cruelly, Mr. Trampier's death comes as he was apparently testing the waters for a return to the public eye via convention appearances. Now his artwork is "all" we've got.

I while back I sang his praises here and I don't have much more to add except that I'm sorry for any hardship and sorrow this brings upon his family. He had been out of the public sphere so long that I feel I've been mourning his loss for years already, as so often happens when the art stops and the man goes on. We all hoped he would jump back in the ring but there are far worse legacies for a man to leave the world than a meteoric streak of creativity followed by a long silence. I hope he knew how beloved his work was and that he had found a measure of peace and comfort since leaving the gaming world.

I would love to see his work collected in a hardcover volume, with the proceeds going to his family. Also would love to see a benefit auction with some big names in illustration donating original works in homage to DAT's style.

I'm going to end with a post of one of my favorite DAT illustrations. It's a universe of invented textural marks and masterful use of negative space as light source and reflected light  I always imagined that the skeleton would come to life as soon as that sword is pulled from its ribs by one of those greedy adventurers!