Dungeonosophy
Legend
My friend gifted me with the regular version of A&A last week. (What a friend!)
A quick review:
First off, I want to say: the A&A Team (a crack commando unit sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit) did a great job. It is really a milestone in regard to D&D scholarship and loremastery - both visually and textually. I'm enjoying reading through it page by page. Even a grognard like me is seeing new stuff almost every page. If I listed off all the kewl stuff in this book, I'd be typing a long time. A book like this really helps coalesce and build a shared D&D culture across generations.
I happen to be writing a scholarly, comprehensive Reference Guide to the entire AD&D Action Figure story line of 1983-1984. I've done interviews with ex-TSR folk who worked on the Action Figure products such as Mike Gray (author of XL-1) and James Ward. And A&A filled out a few details even in regard to the Action Figure era, for which I'm grateful. (For example, I'd asked around but couldn't find out who had named the characters, and A&A affirms they were named by EGG.)
Now for a few niggles.
p.158 says "Game stats for all of them [the LJN action figures] are given in the 'Special Characters' section of the 1983 compendium The Shady Dragon Inn." This is a misstatement. AC1: The Shady Dragon Inn only gave stats for 6 Good and 7 Evil "Special Characters." That's only 13 characters; yet there are 35 "Special Characters" all together (not counting Mounts and Monsters). XL-1: Quest for the Heartstone (1984) is the other book which gave stats for the Special Characters. Yet several of the characters were *never* given stats, including Northlord, who is erroneously mentioned in A&A as having stats in AC1.
Stats for Good characters:
ELKHORN Dwarf Fighter: AC1, XL-1
MERCION Cleric Female: AC1, XL-1
RINGLERUN Wizard: AC1, XL-1
PERALAY Fighter Mage Elf (aka MELF): AC1, XL-1
FIGGEN Halfling Thief: AC1, XL-1
MOLLIVER Thief: XL-1
HAWKLER Ranger (aka FALKEN): XL-1
DEETH Fighter: XL-1
BOWMARC Crusader: XL-1
VALKEER Norseman: XL-1
No stats:
MERRYGOLD Halfling Thief Fighter
GARN GRAYGAZE Gnome Illusionist-Thief
CHARMAY Enchantress
SILVERAIN Fighter Elf
CARUSO Half-Elf Bard
AURELIA Ranger
FILAREE Half-Elf Druid
YOUNG MALE TITAN
NORTHLORD Great Barbarian
MANDOOM Magical Warrior
MERCIOUS Cleric Male
Stats for Evil characters:
GRIMSWORD Knight: XL-1
ZARGASH Cleric: AC1, XL-1
KELEK Sorcerer: AC1, XL-1
WARDUKE Fighter: AC1, XL-1 (3e stats in DUNGEON #105, DDM stats in War Drums)
SKYLLA Magic-User: AC1, XL-1
ZORGAR Barbarian: XL-1
DREX Warrior: XL-1
ZARAK Half-Orc Assassin: AC1, XL-1
RAVEN Cleric: AC1
FOXFINGERS Thief: AC1
No stats:
HELAYNE Illusionist
OGRE KING Ogre Leader
METTAFLAME Fire Giant
PULVEREYE Orc High Chief
p.158 says "TSR complemented the LJN line with its own rubber action figures of monsters, sometimes called 'bendies'" - Which is partly true, but the "bendies" ("BENDABLE MONSTER Adventure Figures") were only 6 out of 24 in the TSR "Fantasy Adventure Figures" line. The other 18 Fantasy Adventure Figures were non-bendable polyvinylchloride (PVC).
p.163: caption says the D&D dungeon beach towel was from 1983, but it was from 1982. See the copyright date at the bottom of this photo: https://2warpstoneptune.com/2014/01/24/advanced-dungeons-dragons-beach-towels-1982/
It definitely has the 1982-style AD&D font. If it had been made in 1983 it would've had the new AD&D font (and probably the LJN "Special Characters" or Cartoon Show Kids). But though one of the characters on the towel appears to be a sort of aesthetic predecessor to "CHARMAY: Good Enchantress" they still appear to be the "generic", "nameless" pre-1983 style of iconics.
Typos p183: "elf warrior Caramon" (who knew? brawny elf); "pure-elf maiden Laurana" (unnecessary hyphen: "pure-elf")
Anyway, great book - I'd recommend it to any D&D aficionado.
S.T. Henry
https://sites.google.com/site/dungeonsandragonsway/
A quick review:
First off, I want to say: the A&A Team (a crack commando unit sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit) did a great job. It is really a milestone in regard to D&D scholarship and loremastery - both visually and textually. I'm enjoying reading through it page by page. Even a grognard like me is seeing new stuff almost every page. If I listed off all the kewl stuff in this book, I'd be typing a long time. A book like this really helps coalesce and build a shared D&D culture across generations.
I happen to be writing a scholarly, comprehensive Reference Guide to the entire AD&D Action Figure story line of 1983-1984. I've done interviews with ex-TSR folk who worked on the Action Figure products such as Mike Gray (author of XL-1) and James Ward. And A&A filled out a few details even in regard to the Action Figure era, for which I'm grateful. (For example, I'd asked around but couldn't find out who had named the characters, and A&A affirms they were named by EGG.)
Now for a few niggles.
p.158 says "Game stats for all of them [the LJN action figures] are given in the 'Special Characters' section of the 1983 compendium The Shady Dragon Inn." This is a misstatement. AC1: The Shady Dragon Inn only gave stats for 6 Good and 7 Evil "Special Characters." That's only 13 characters; yet there are 35 "Special Characters" all together (not counting Mounts and Monsters). XL-1: Quest for the Heartstone (1984) is the other book which gave stats for the Special Characters. Yet several of the characters were *never* given stats, including Northlord, who is erroneously mentioned in A&A as having stats in AC1.
Stats for Good characters:
ELKHORN Dwarf Fighter: AC1, XL-1
MERCION Cleric Female: AC1, XL-1
RINGLERUN Wizard: AC1, XL-1
PERALAY Fighter Mage Elf (aka MELF): AC1, XL-1
FIGGEN Halfling Thief: AC1, XL-1
MOLLIVER Thief: XL-1
HAWKLER Ranger (aka FALKEN): XL-1
DEETH Fighter: XL-1
BOWMARC Crusader: XL-1
VALKEER Norseman: XL-1
No stats:
MERRYGOLD Halfling Thief Fighter
GARN GRAYGAZE Gnome Illusionist-Thief
CHARMAY Enchantress
SILVERAIN Fighter Elf
CARUSO Half-Elf Bard
AURELIA Ranger
FILAREE Half-Elf Druid
YOUNG MALE TITAN
NORTHLORD Great Barbarian
MANDOOM Magical Warrior
MERCIOUS Cleric Male
Stats for Evil characters:
GRIMSWORD Knight: XL-1
ZARGASH Cleric: AC1, XL-1
KELEK Sorcerer: AC1, XL-1
WARDUKE Fighter: AC1, XL-1 (3e stats in DUNGEON #105, DDM stats in War Drums)
SKYLLA Magic-User: AC1, XL-1
ZORGAR Barbarian: XL-1
DREX Warrior: XL-1
ZARAK Half-Orc Assassin: AC1, XL-1
RAVEN Cleric: AC1
FOXFINGERS Thief: AC1
No stats:
HELAYNE Illusionist
OGRE KING Ogre Leader
METTAFLAME Fire Giant
PULVEREYE Orc High Chief
p.158 says "TSR complemented the LJN line with its own rubber action figures of monsters, sometimes called 'bendies'" - Which is partly true, but the "bendies" ("BENDABLE MONSTER Adventure Figures") were only 6 out of 24 in the TSR "Fantasy Adventure Figures" line. The other 18 Fantasy Adventure Figures were non-bendable polyvinylchloride (PVC).
p.163: caption says the D&D dungeon beach towel was from 1983, but it was from 1982. See the copyright date at the bottom of this photo: https://2warpstoneptune.com/2014/01/24/advanced-dungeons-dragons-beach-towels-1982/
It definitely has the 1982-style AD&D font. If it had been made in 1983 it would've had the new AD&D font (and probably the LJN "Special Characters" or Cartoon Show Kids). But though one of the characters on the towel appears to be a sort of aesthetic predecessor to "CHARMAY: Good Enchantress" they still appear to be the "generic", "nameless" pre-1983 style of iconics.
Typos p183: "elf warrior Caramon" (who knew? brawny elf); "pure-elf maiden Laurana" (unnecessary hyphen: "pure-elf")
Anyway, great book - I'd recommend it to any D&D aficionado.
S.T. Henry
https://sites.google.com/site/dungeonsandragonsway/
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