D&D General One Piece of Art IX (Wildcard)- What NON-D&D Art Inspired You to Love D&D?

Snarf Zagyg · Sep 1, 2022

Welcome to part NINE in the art appreciation series- One Piece of Art! Prior columns can be found here:
Part I (Classes)
Part II (Monsters)
Part III (Magic Items)
Part IV (Races)
Part V (Places)
Part VI (Maps)
Part VII (Spells)
Part VIII (People)

Today's topic ... Wildcard!

What non-D&D Art Made You Love D&D?

This is a little weird ... basically, we are looking for a piece of art (probably fantasy art) that had nothing to do with TSR/WoTC/D&D that you loved, and somehow managed to worm its way into your head like the critters in Star Trek II ... so that you associate it with D&D. It could be anything from a Frazetta piece to a Dali painting to a cover on an old Conan book.

As always ... please note the following rules for the thread-

1. ONE piece of art. You shall count to one. If you do two, you've gone two ... um, too far. Three is just way out. And zero means you forgot to post something. Now, I know that everyone just ignores this ... but try your best!

2. It has to be art you love, and please explain why! Maybe you think it just looks cool. Whatever! It's your love, don't make me put a label on it.

3. Explain the art source (incl. artist if known), the spell (if known), and why you chose it. Please!

Now, as usual, I will start this thread off. Have to admit, there's a lot I could do. But I always go with the curveball ....

Artist: Unknown for the poster, but Ralph Bakshi did the art design (of course).
Source: Movie Poster for Wizards (1977)
Depicting: Necron 99 / Peace

Why this one? Well, along with books like Lord of Light (Zelazny), this image, and the movie (which ... yeah, does not age well) gave me the constant impetus to keep "crossin' the streams" when it comes to D&D. There was never a genre dividing line for me- fantasy, science fiction, westerns ... it just all went into the blender.

Also, a request. I really wanted to include this weird poster from, I think, the 70s. I can't locate it anywhere. It was a croll-type poster (much wider than tall). the foreground had a wall. On the left side was a jumping black cat. On the right side was a mysterious buddha-like figure with four or six arms. in the background was a city of some kind. If this sounds familiar, or you can source it ... please let me know and "at" me!

Voadam · Sep 1, 2022

Mercer Mayer's Professor Wormbog in Search for the Zipperump-a-Zoo.

This was a particular favorite book of mine as a young child.

Monsters. Lots of really visually cool monsters. Adventuring investigations with surprises and twists.

It laid a foundation.

billd91 · Sep 1, 2022

Just about any of the Michael Whelan book covers for the John Carter series. I've included the cover from Chessmen of Mars as an example. It also inspired me to run a chessboard duel for the players back when we were in middle school.

For those of you who are fans, check out: The Art of Michael Whelan |

billd91 · Sep 1, 2022

Snarf Zagyg said:
Also, a request. I really wanted to include this weird poster from, I think, the 70s. I can't locate it anywhere. It was a croll-type poster (much wider than tall). the foreground had a wall. On the left side was a jumping black cat. On the right side was a mysterious buddha-like figure with four or six arms. in the background was a city of some kind. If this sounds familiar, or you can source it ... please let me know and "at" me!

Could it have been for a book cover? The reason I ask is because they often have somewhat disconnected elements in them like cities in the background, statues, etc separate from the main focus of the cover, particularly for the back cover as the art wrapped around.

Snarf Zagyg · Sep 1, 2022

billd91 said:
Could it have been for a book cover? The reason I ask is because they often have somewhat disconnected elements in them like cities in the background, statues, etc separate from the main focus of the cover, particularly for the back cover as the art wrapped around.

It was an actual poster .... it could have been a book cover as well, but the version I saw was definitely used as a poster.

DND_Reborn · Sep 2, 2022

One of my top fantasy movies. The dragon is incredible for the technology they had IMO.

I was already playing D&D when I first saw it, but it was just different from other fantasy movies, it seems more gritty and "real" to me.

arakasi · Sep 2, 2022

I'm also going with a Michael Whelan cover. I have a full size framed print of this hanging in my living room
This one is a bit of a stretch for the rules: these days, it reminds me more of Lot5R than D&D. I'll count it, though, because when I first came across it, I was thinking Kara-Tur, not Rokugan.

BookTenTiger · Sep 2, 2022

Seven Samurai

A band of warriors, some noble, some scrappy, come together to save a village when no one else will. It inspired my first homemade adventure way back in early high school, and I still play D&D with some of those folks today.

CleverNickName · Sep 2, 2022

I'll see if I can find it...there was a poem in my middle school English Lit textbook. I can't remember the author or the title, so it might take me a minute to hunt it down.

But anyway, the author was sitting on the edge of a fjord in Newfoundland or Iceland or somewhere similar, listening to the fishermen below as they used bugles to communicate with each other. The sounds of their bugles echoing off of the castle-like cliffs of the fjords inspired him to write a really haunting and beautiful poem about loss. And it just so happened that I stumbled upon this poem while I was reading CM1: Test of the Warlords, a D&D module set in the imaginary kingdom of Norwold that resembles that same, real-world place. The two are now completely intertwined in my brain.

EDIT: Found it.

"The Splendor Falls" by Alfred Lord Tennyson

The splendor falls on castle walls

And snowy summits old in story;

The long light shakes across the lakes,

And the wild cataract leaps in glory.

Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.

O, hark, O, hear! how thin and clear,

And thinner, clearer, farther going!

O, sweet and far from cliff and scar

The horns of Elfland faintly blowing!

Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying,
Blow, bugles; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.

O love, they die in yon rich sky,

They faint on hill or field or river;

Our echoes roll from soul to soul,

And grow forever and forever.

Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,
And answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying.

J.Quondam · Sep 2, 2022

Artist: unknown
Source: Time Bandits (1981, dir. Terry Gilliam)
Oeuvre: Map of the Universe prop (and the film itself, of course!)

Rationale: The Map is the ultimate macguffin in a movie that is, to little-boy me, the most gonzo D&D thing that's not actually D&D.

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