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 To bring a character like Omni-Man into a superpowered RPG, you need to balance his overwhelming physical dominance with his role as a relentless, high-stakes antagonist or a complex, "nuclear-option" anti-hero.Here is a breakdown of his profile for a tabletop supplement:Character Profile: Omni-ManArchetype: The Paragon/ConquerorPower Source: Alien Physiology (Viltrumite)Role: World-Class Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

The post Video of the Day – Radio Times, 2025 appeared first on Blogtor Who.

Official synopsis: After decades of being blown to bits by bombs, demolished by dynamite, mangled by magnets, battered by boulders, trampled by trains, tricked by tunnels, sprung by springs, steamrolled…

The post First Look At “Coyote vs Acme” appeared first on First Comics News.

This Wrap Stitch Crochet Hat Tutorial walks you through every step of creating this beautifully textured design, from the crown to brim! A textured 5 stitch repeat allows you to make this pattern in almost any size! Crochet along with the right and left-handed video tutorials below! Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links. Be sure […]

The post Wrap Stitch Crochet Hat Tutorial appeared first on moogly. Please visit www.mooglyblog.com for this post.

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The Wrap Stitch Crochet Hat is a joy to stitch! The shifting colors of Mary Maxim Prism yarn add beautiful depth to the textured stitches, but this design is just as lovely in any yarn you have on hand. Even better, you can make it in any size, using the babé Crochet Hat Templates! Whether […]

The post Wrap Stitch Crochet Hat appeared first on moogly. Please visit www.mooglyblog.com for this post.

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PORTLAND, Ore. 04/22/2026 — The highly-anticipated, upcoming The Author Immortalgraphic novel by critically acclaimed writerFrank J. Barbiere (Five Ghosts, Violent Love) and rising-star watercolor artist Morgan Beem (Swamp Thing: Twin Branches, You…

The post QUEER PORTAL FANTASY GRAPHIC NOVEL THE AUTHOR IMMORTAL TO HIT SHELVES THIS SPRING appeared first on First Comics News.

PORTLAND, Ore. 04/22/2026 — The New York Times bestselling, award winning creative team Brian K. Vaughan (Saga, We Stand on Guard, Paper Girls) and Niko Henrichon(Spectators) will bring their beloved,…

The post IMAGE COMICS CELEBRATES 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF BRIAN K. VAUGHAN & NIKO HENRICHON MASTERPIECE PRIDE OF BAGHDAD THIS FALL WITH BREATHTAKING HARDCOVER EDITION FEATURING NEW COVER ART appeared first on First Comics News.

A look at some of the newest TwoMorrows releases, plus a preview of the upcoming books and mags I’m most excited to get my hands on.

The post FANTASTIC COMIC FAN: TwoMorrows appeared first on First Comics News.

Though readers didn’t know it at the time, the pages of Detective Comics 326 (April 1964) contained two tombstones. One of them belonged to John Jones, the police detective who’d…

The post JUST IMAGINE! April 1964: The Dying Detective appeared first on First Comics News.

Shout Kill RevelBy Jarret HartnellPublished 2024 by Renegade Arts Entertainment Graphic novels tend to catch attention initially through the art. You walk into a shop and flip through a book…

The post REVIEW: Shout Kill Revel appeared first on First Comics News.

The post TRUMPY 2.0 #58 appeared first on First Comics News.

MILWAUKIE, Ore., (April 21, 2026)— Dark Horse and BioWare are bringing two more fan-favorite characters to their popular line of Mass Effect collectible figures with Miranda Lawson and Mordin Solus! Mass…

The post DARK HORSE PRESENTS MIRANDA LAWSON AND MORDIN SOLUS FIGURES AS THE LATEST MASS EFFECT SQUAD MATES READY TO JOIN YOUR COLLECTION appeared first on First Comics News.

AVENGERS: ARMAGEDDON #1 by Chip Zdarsky, Delio Diaz & Frank Alpizar arrives on June 10. Check out all the covers and a first look now!   New York, NY— April 21,…

The post THE NEXT ERA OF EARTH’S MIGHTIEST HEROES BEGINS IN AVENGERS: ARMAGEDDON #1! appeared first on First Comics News.

For the 250th episode, I’m joined by Bobby Nash and Joe for a fun, free‑flowing conversation about comics. As for how Bobby Nash Ruins the Show—listen to find out!

The post FANTASTIC COMIC FAN: Bobby Nash Ruins the Show! appeared first on First Comics News.

By G. Hawkins
Mythmere Games
OSRIC
Levels 9-12

At Grathen Rift, the Ice Lich Vathudnar built a great fortress-tomb, populating the frozen ice-halls with his servants before sending his spirit out into the planes and strange dimensions beyond the material world. Thus far, no adventurers have dared to assault this legendary fortress … until now.

Hawk & Finch? What’s next, Calithena and Sham? 

This 44 page adventure describes an ice fortress of eighty or so keyed entries that is full of cold-themed undead. And a lich. I hope you earned those twelve levels cause you’re gonna need all of your skill to get through this hack with your lives somewhat intact. Great map, a dangerous backdoor, and a soul gem only a lich mother could love. 

G1 was a hack. But it wasn’t a BORING hack. It had the sleeping guards, the battle royale, the lothario, the orc rebellion and general weirdness in the basement, not to mention the inside.outside vibes. It’s a hack but it did present other elements to bring life to the hack. And this is doing that in much the same way. No, it’s not G1, but for being a high level hack it’s doing a decent job.

The background crap here is short and focused. Just what you need. After a short “historical background section”” it ends with “To this day the snow barbarian tribes still pay homage to the spirit and malice of Vathudnar, invoking his name for strength and favour” That’s a fun thing to work in! And, then, the rumor table is combined with a kind of hook table of a couple of entries, all motivated to get the party interested. Something like “The bands of snow barbarians that still worship the dreadful Lich King Vathudnar are rumoured to be active again, raiding the warm lands to the south. Some say that Vathudnar the Ice Lich has returned and stirred up his ancient followers, while others say that this is all a lie, and the lich’s fortress is ripe for pillaging, his followers hunting wide in search of a band of raiders that defiled his tomb.” Again, this is both clearly focused on working in to your game (war, and rumors of war …” as well as providing some colour to help bring things alive. We’re not gimping the party too much, and what there is makes sense. None of this “he cast 327 wish spells” shit. The place is made up of ice so there are slime cold effects and “how to handle fire/magical fire” is covered (which, should almost be a requirement for VERY adventure, honestly, based on adventurers proclivity to use mans oldest ally.) 

The map here is a good one. Sufficiently large. Balconies, rifts and chasms, same level stairs and shafts. We get a few small water features and some nearby caverns that, ideally, a party could use to bypass the front door and maybe even shortcut to the lich lair. That way is not without its own dangers and annoyances (fucking fey …) but making friends and not mudering the little shits for their jokes can get you a decent way. I am absolutely THRILLED to see an adventure with a real map. 

As with the Great Hall in G1, there are a couple of set pieces in this. The front door, main hall, and lich sanctum hall are all multi-level battles with interesting elevation features and challenges to overcome to turn them in to more interesting battles, again, thanks to the map. 

There’s read-aloud, that’s kept to just a couple of sentences. It’s in second-person, with some “you’s” thrown in, but, it looks like some care has been taken and it is not generally railroady or prescriptive to how the party has entered, just a casual. It’s not common and is just the occasional “you can see …” type of phrase here and there. It’s walking the line well. It’s also pretty fact based, with entries like “Two dragon skeletons, encased in ice and snow, are entwined around each other, curling around the walls of this room. The ceiling is carved with a basrelief depicting a robed giant petting two dragons.” Pretty straight forward and committing no sins or over-revealing. It’s a spartan description, in terms of evocative writing, and I would prefer a word or two more of embellishment, but I also recognize that this is one of the harder parts of adventure writing and I’ll take a decent description like this adventure has over a more long-winded or poorer one. 

Formatting is good, with the occasional use of a bolded word or two to call the DMs attention to it followed by a sentence or two. It’s easy to scan at the table, and thus easy to locate the information you need in the moment. Creatures, secret doors, major features are all highlighted appropriately. 

There can be a decent amount of hacking in this. I hope you brought a cleric or three, the numbers are high. 11 HD undead giants are all over the place. But it’s not just a straight hack. There’s some nuance going on here. I want to call out a specific encounter earlier on that I think communicates the meat of the adventure. This is one of the longest read-alouds in the adventure “The interior of the building is frigidly cold. The high ceiling is covered in icicles, and drifts of snow collect at the base of the walls. In the centre of the chamber stands an altar of solid ice. Some dark substance stains the top and sides (dried blood). Behind the altar rises a frosted black obsidian idol of a regal skeletal figure with red gemstone eyeWs. Its hands clasp the sides of an old woman’s head, a living person whose emaciated body is held to the statue in encasing ice. Her pupilless eyes burn with a low blue light, but her gaze darts around blindly. A reeking stench flows out from a gaping pit at the back of the shrine. “ [That eyeWs type is a part of the adventure, not my usual carelessness. It’s the only type that stood out.] So, old crone encased mostly in ice with state hands clasping (great word choice!)  each side of her head. She’s an oracle, and, yes, if you stab her then she has a couple of powers. But this doesn’t HAVE to be a hack. But, also, in particular, did you catch the reeking stench? There’s a frozen pit behind her with a lot of frozen crones bodies in it, previous oracles. That’s a nice touch, great Verisimilitude. But, also, the reeking. Ghasts. Twenty of them. YOU WERE TOLD THERE WERE GHASTS. It’s reeking bodies that are frozen, what did you expect? There is absolutely nothing better than telling the party straight up what is going to happen, hinting to them, and watching them fumble it and realize in retrospect that it was obvious. THATS fucking good. A blood sacrifice on the altar gets you a free pass here, one of a couple of places that can happen. It doesn’t clarify if it’s a cut palm or a full on Death of a Living Being thin. I’d maybe lean to full on living sacrifice, or hint at it, and then let the party do a palm cut, etc, to get by. Great little set of rooms here, working together, and a high point of the adventure.

There’s another section that I really like also, near the lich lair, proper. A series of kind of trophy rooms or his vanquished foes. A skeleton with a gold crown beaten in to an collar around the neck. Yup, that’s the kind of shit that an evil lich conquerer does. And, then, a captured demon that MIGHT be helpful, although, it is a demon after all. Or the bodies of a half dozen vanquished giant foes, kept as trophies that whisper to you when you enter. They want revenge and a clever party can turn them to their side for help in the final battle. 

If I zoned this out I might mention the front door and palace/fortress sections, which is a fucking hack-a-thon, as one would expect a front door to be. And then the back door/passage that is dangerous in its own right and more similar to a classic exploratory dungeon section. And then the area near the sanctum, trophies, potential allies, and the like, with lots to ‘play with.’ 

On the down side, I wish the writing were just a bit more evocative. I understand there is some personal preference involved, and that this is one of the harder parts of writing. Just a little beefing up of this area would do wonders and still, I think, not interfere too much with personal preferences and the like. There’s also an area or two that is cumbersome. From the top of my head, there’s a set of stairs you have to go up, and you get shot at from the top. SOme notations on the map, or otherwise, to call this out would be helpful. Also, the lich will call in reinforcements from certain areas when his sanctum is breached. A play aid here would have been useful, to keep track of those areas specifically and who’s ‘alive.’ “Eight ghoul wolves from area 44.” Fuck! Are they still alive?! Did I take notes? Finally, I suspect this is not a single foray in to the fortress. A short paragraph about camping, returning, dangers, etc, ala G1, maybe mentioning a few complications also.

But, a decent high level adventure! Yeah! ‘Experienced players’ with experienced characters should prevail, but it’s going to be a real challenge. Which is exactly what you want in a high level adventure.

This is $10 at DriveThru. No preview. Boo! Boo! I wonder what the thinking was there? They should both know that a few encounters would go a long way. 

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/554810/fortress-tomb-of-the-ice-lich?1892600

I wonder what you have to do to become THE ice lich instead of just ‘an’ ice lich?

The AI-generated image I used to illustrate this post is pretty much the feeling I am in all the time. Since I started running games as a GM so many years ago, I always felt at least a bit overwhelmed. I always felt like I wasn’t really at the top of my game. But for the longest time things worked out quite well. My players had fun and didn’t even notice that I was panicking and improvising like a madman. Eventually I learned to really rely on my improvisational skills and preparing a session just minutes before meeting the players became like second nature. The feeling of being overwhelmed cropped up from time to time, but for most of the time running games for my players was fun for everyone at the table.

Unfortunately things didn’t stay the same. My roster of players regularly changed as people moved away or lost interest in the hobby. At the same time work got more and more into the way of my hobby. In most cases it’s a time issue. One just doesn’t have as much time as before to run, play, or prepare games. In my case it was different: I had major conflicts with superiors which led me down a dark path into depression.

Many years of therapy followed and eventually I emerged stronger and more confident than before. I took on new responsibilities at work, changed into a new position and ran for the staff council and was eventually elected deputy chair. Confidence in my skills and my work is better than ever and I am respected by coworkers and superiors.

BUT when it comes to gaming, my confidence issues are worse than ever. I feel totally overwhelmed all the time, even when trying to prepare something as simple as a one-shot. I have constant doubts that cause me to change my mind often. Sometimes I feel that I don’t even know what I want anymore. The only thing still burning bright inside of me is the wish to get back into the GM’s chair. It’s something I love(d) and which I am quite good at.

So what caused this? One reason is that I had a pretty serious falling out with a particular player who I considered a friend but who turned out to be quite toxic. Our relationship started to deteriorate when he began attacking my style of running games. He didn’t just discuss his criticisms with me after our gaming sessions but usually muttered things under his breath during the game or actively sabotaged the campaign by acting like the proverbial “that guy”. Unfortunately I tolerated this behaviour far too long and it let it affect my confidence as a GM. Probably because I still was struggling with depression and anxiety I fell into the trap of believing that it was to blame, my lack of skill as a GM was the cause of his behaviour. Instead of setting boundaries I became more vulnerable to the whims of my players. Usually I try to limit the players’ options to what I can handle. Back then I threw all of this out of the window and let them run wild. It ended in desaster. The campaign basically derailed as soon as it left the station.

The second problem I’ve been facing for years is that I own way too many cool TTRPGs and deciding what to play becomes increasingly hard. I would love to try out as many games I can, but that isn’t compatible with the interests of my RPG-playing friends and our schedules. At this point I am feeling like I am pretty much burned out as a GM. I am still playing in a Pathfinder and a Shadowrun game. But putting on the GM’s mantle is still something I’d love to do but I feel I can’t. My fear of messing things up is still pretty strong.

Why am I telling you all of this? There are a few reasons. Writing about these issues help me deal with them. I also hope that some day I get helpful advice I can use to get out of that hole I’ve dug myself into. Perhaps this post can also help others not to make the same mistakes or show them that they are not the only ones having these issues. I’ve also thought about how I could try to get back on my feet.

Planning and running a whole campaign is pretty much out of the question. I don’t want to set myself up for failure again. It’s probably best to stick to one-shot adventures with pre-generated characters. I might have to do some convincing to do with my regular players but this could help me get my feet wet again while also trying some of these fancy games which have been sitting on my shelf all these years.

I am also considering offering to run games online. Since it has been very hard to schedule meetings with my regular gaming group, perhaps looking for new people to play games with online sounds like a viable alternative. I am pretty hesitant though since I have mostly run games for people I know. The last time I introduced new players into one of my games things didn’t turn out that great.

Last but not least I could offer to run something for the groups I’ve been playing with. We’re still in the middle of the respective campaigns, but perhaps we could squeeze in a one-shot adventure when the regular GM or one of the players can’t make it to a session.

I don’t know if this approach might help me in any way, but I have to try. Roleplaying games are my favorite hobby and I am a pretty good GM (at least when I can get my depressive thoughts in check). At the moment I am reading both the fan-translation of Group SNE’s Sword World 2.5 TTRPG and TSR’s Alternity RPG. I haven’t run those before but I’d love to. As of time of this writing I haven’t really approached my gaming groups if they were interested in giving these games I try. What do you think? Does my approach make any sense at all or are you in danger of repeating the same mistakes I did before? Have you been in my shoes before? How did you deal with these issues? Please post your thoughts in the comments below. Any advice is highly appreciated.

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis! This week, I read the comics on sale on April 25, 1985.

Tales of the Legion #325: Levitz/Newell and Jurgens/Kesel deliver what feels a bit like a cable TV season finale in that things with the Dark Circle reach a fairly abrupt (but pat) conclusion. The Legionnaires storm their base and discover that the Dark Circle leaders have cloned themselves (also that Ontarr is one of them). The leaders seem to commit mass suicide, killing their clones as well. Afterward, Gigi and Dev-Em get flirty, and White Witch and Blok fall asleep together watching future-TV.
Then we have a coda where Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl explain that Tales is going all reprint form this point on, so this will likely be the last I talk about it here. It feels like they left some plot threads dangling (with the Dark Circle and the stuff with Dawnstar and her new love) that just sort of get dropped.

Action Comics #568: In the first story by Yee/Kupperberg and Norvick/Rodriguez, a bullied schoolgirl is a conduit for a demon ("Ravenjh") to attack her classmates. When Superman gets involved, the demon briefly possesses Lois, leading in the aftermath, to the two of them having a discussion of why their relationship failed.
The second story by Wolff and Bender/Marcos gets the cover and is more humorous. An alien filmmaker comes to Earth and asks for Superman's help in choosing an actor to portray him in a movie. It seems that all humanoids look alike to the alien, which is proven by their choice of a rather un-super would-be actor to portray the Man of Steel.

Ambush Bug #2: Giffen, Fleming, and Oksner keep up the funny this issue. We're first introduced by Jonni DC, keeper of continuity of the DC Universe, a topical character given what's going on over in Crisis. Most of the issue though, deals with Ambush Bug dealing with the threat of Quantis, once a scientist working on a cuteness formula, now a giant, man-koala. Jonni DC's powers prove insufficient to deal with the menace, so it's up to Ambush Bug to save the day with an antidote.

Arion Lord of Atlantis #33: Kupperberg and Duursema/Mandrake conclude "The Magic Odyssey." Jhy and Jheryl work to free Arion from his mother, Majistra. They enlist the aid of the entity known as the Weaver, who ultimately restores Arion's magical powers, so the sorcerer can battle his mother, himself. Meanwhile, Chian discovers Tokomata's treachery and gets into a fight with him. He's caught in the blast of the evil released with Majistra's defeat and injured, then Chian finishes him off. 
Arion returns, to the physical world and is reunited with Chian who is really sorry (again) about being duped by somebody who wanted to kill him. Arion uses his power to restore Wyynde to normal. Next, they're headed to Atlantis and a new arc.

All-Star Squadron #47: McFarlane provides the pencils for most of this issue retelling the origin of Dr. Fate and his first encounter with Wotan. McFarlane's stylization is already starting to be evident, but his work here still has an amateurish look. After Fate finishes, the Squadron gets word that Winston Churchill requests their presence in Britain.

Detective Comics #552: An assassin named Cutter is offering his services to the Gotham Underworld to get rid of Batman. Our hero here's about this and fakes his death to catch both the assassin and mob bosses off guard. It's a clever story, though Moench parallels it with Julia Pennyworth's first published story about a historic tree being cut down in the name of progress, which doesn't really add much.
Cavalieri and Moore/Patterson continue the "Green Arrow versus Immigration Enforcement" story. After arguing with the official running the detention facility, Ollie is thrown in detention himself. Dinah Lance helps him break out of detention, along with two Salvadoran refugees. They head for the next stop on the "underground railroad" and leave the refugees there. Apparently, that's that, and the government just let's Ollie get away with it! A night later, Green Arrow makes his way back to Oliver Queen's apartment, unaware that Onyx is watching him.

World's Finest Comics #317: Cavalieri's and Stroman/Aiken/Garvey finish up the Cheapjack story. Batman's cover is blown, and he takes a beating from Cheapjack's thugs, but he rallies as Superman arrives. Cheapjack has built a giant machine that is part shack, part construction equipment, and he threatens to kill Massimo's daughter in its back-hoe claw grasp, but the heroes use smarts to save her, and Cheapjack is defeat, then consigned to the comics limbo he deserves.

Here we are again, with my renewed effort to get a blog going ... This third essay is about how AI will impact publishing in general and what we can do about that. Even got a comment and all that good stuff!

Gotta say, I'm happy with what Substack does. And I was surprised (just a little) to find so many familiar faces posting there. It seems to be a somewhat closed ecosystem, but that isn't a bad thing per se, as it allows bundling some different aspects of blogging that don't go together easily in other places. So far it's the closest to what g+ had been, imho. The UI is a bit fickle, but nothing that can't be handled.

This newest essay is also free, and you'll find a link to it just below the picture:

Find it here!

Needless to say, I'd be happy to have you over there, reading what I wrote. Maybe following. Maybe even subscribing. Would mean the world to me.

I'll keep posting the free stuff here for some more time. Subscribers will soon find some more (also free) essays on the site as that's a thing we do. Paying subscribers will find even more content, once that's a thing. Either way, I'm putting in the work AND some more Notes on a regular basis.

 

 

 The Codex Exaltum is a sourcebook for the Castles & Crusades tabletop RPG (published by Troll Lord Games) that bridges the gap between mortal adventuring and divine or cosmic play. It is designed for players and Castle Keepers who want to explore high-level campaigns involving demigods, celestial beings, and planar travel.Here is a breakdown of what the Codex provides:1. Ascension and Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

After looking at two artists I discovered in the early 90s—between what I had termed the Early-Years and the Middle-Years—let’s travel back to the Proto-History. Let’s look at the art that inspired me before 1986, long before I even considered myself a gamer.

I discovered some of this art through a large coffee-table book my mother bought for me:

National Geographic Picture Atlas of Our Universe

Published in 1980, the book was honestly too long for me to read on my own. My mom and uncle read it to me, and I managed some of the smaller captions myself, but my English was limited back then. The illustrations, however, completely captured my imagination. Throughout the early 80s, I kept returning to that book, reading more of it as I got older.

There was a “What if?” section early on about what life on other planets might look like. I absolutely loved this part. I had no idea the art was by Michael Whelan until I started writing this post!

Each celestial body also featured an illustration of the mythological figure that gave it its name, also painted by Michael Whelan. I was completely unaware of how much his art influenced me so early on!

(You can borrow the book on the Internet Archive at this link: https://archive.org/details/nationalgeograph00gall)

Another large book in that same style was:

The Dawn of Man

Published in 1978, this one belonged to my uncle, and I would peruse it every single time I visited him. He eventually gifted it to me, and I kept it for years.

The art by Zdeněk Burian, a Czech illustrator and palaeoartist, fascinated me. I asked so many questions about evolution and the origins of humanity just by looking at those pages that I know my mom had to scramble to explain it all to me in terms my younger self could understand.

To this day, when I picture early humans and lost worlds in my TTRPG campaigns, these are the exact images I conjure up.

(You can see the book online here: https://archive.org/details/dawnofman00wolf/mode/2up)

I mentioned this next comic series in my post on comic books that inspired my worldbuilding, so I won’t rehash what I said there, but it is definitely worth mentioning that the art style inspired me greatly:

The Gods from Outer Space

Polish artist Bogusław Polch illustrated this. I found the art I originally shared in that post over on the We Are The Mutants site, which includes some great details about how the books were published in Britain: https://wearethemutants.com/2020/04/30/ancient-astronaut-comics-the-gods-from-outer-space-1978-1982/

Fantasy calendars were also a huge thing for me! I would frequently get one as a Christmas gift. Often, they were Tolkien-themed, even before I had read the books. But none were quite as influential as this one:

The Brothers Hildebrandt 1982 Atlantis calendar.

I’ve mentioned this wall calendar in posts throughout the year. Yes, it was genuinely that influential.

Here’s a video of one of the artists talking about the project, and another featuring some of the art from it:

Another calendar I vividly remember was this one:

Boris Vallejo’s 1983 Calendar

I remember this one distinctly, even though it wasn’t the only Vallejo wall calendar I got. The Atlantis calendar told a cohesive story through its art, so I remember the narrative more vividly, but this Boris calendar might have been the first time I ever read the name “Red Sonja” or saw “Doc Savage.”

Of course, Vallejo’s art was also prominent on the covers of the movies I rented at the local video club, even if I didn’t make the connection at the time.

Another influence I have mentioned often in many posts is perhaps my favorite fantasy movie:

Fire and Ice

I believe this was my true introduction to Frank Frazetta. I later explored his other work—his Conan, John Carter, and especially Death Dealer were awe-inspiring—but I first discovered his art right here in this movie. Outside of the original Star Wars trilogy, Fire and Ice might be the film I’ve rewatched the most in my life.

There were also some video game tie-in comics whose artists deeply impacted young me:

Yar’s Revenge

When I got the game cartridge for Yar’s Revenge, it came with a mini-comic that told the background story of the game. According to the internet, Atari’s in-house creative team of Frank Cirocco, Ray Garst, and Hiro Kimura created the art.

(You can read the comic here: https://atariage.com/comics/comic_thumbs.php?MagazineID=48)

Swordquest

I got the Swordquest: Fireworld Atari cartridge. I honestly don’t remember playing it much, but I do remember the included fantasy comic and how George Perez’s art completely blew my mind. I returned to that comic many times, long before I even knew what D&D was. I only ended up reading parts 1 and 3 years later via the links I’m sharing below.

• Swordquest Earthworld: https://atariage.com/comics/comic_thumbs.php?MagazineID=45
• Swordquest Fireworld: https://atariage.com/comics/comic_thumbs.php?MagazineID=46
• Swordquest Waterworld (no connection to Kevin Costner!): https://atariage.com/comics/comic_thumbs.php?MagazineID=47

And the final entry on this list of artists that inspired me before I played TTRPGs is cheating, because it’s actually a book featuring the work of multiple artists:

Aliens in Space

This was written by Stewart Cowley under the pseudonym Steven Caldwell, with art from various contributors. All the art seems to be reused from other sources, but despite the disparate styles, Cowley’s writing really ties it all together. (You can see the full list of artists if you follow this link.)

I borrowed this book from the school library, and along with the Terran Trade Authority Great Space Battles book, it fundamentally shaped how I conceived sci-fi beyond just Star Wars or Star Trek.

Now I want to ask you, dear reader, what art inspired you before you became a gamer?