2011/05/02

From cover to cover: Inside the front cover

Next on my list is the inside cover of volume I: Men & Magic. While it does not present many surprises there are a couple of interesting details I today noticed for the first time:

  • First of all the is a dedication to the many fantasy wargamers that played Chainmail and expanded its rules. I never had read this part before... does anyone know about collections of Chainmail material readable today? Has anything survived from those times? I'd be happy for any pointers.
  • Among the illustrators it mentions Keenan Powell, Greg Bell, C. Corey, D. Arneson, Tom Keogh and David Sutherland. David Sutherland is well known even among younger gamers (young being relative here ;-) ). Tom Keogh already is mentioned as having died at the time of the printing of the rules but there is not much other detail available on him. I will page through my various RPG history books (to be listed at some point here) to find more about him, but except for Keoghtoms ointment I don't remember ever reading about him before. Maybe in the Crusaders magazine. About Keenan Powell I also found very little (here and here - according to rumors she now is practicing as a lawyer). Greg Bell seems to have done a few other pieces but then also disappeared.  About C. Corey I did not find anything. Which leaves: D(ave) Arneson :-) Is there any listing of the images he did for the OD&D box? I love the thought of the inventors themselves scribbling pictures at kitchen tables in order to have some artwork.
That's about it. Not very exciting. TFG thus will have a similar inside cover page with different text, naturally. We'll see. I'll design it for the first upcoming rules release.

1 comment:

  1. Would like to know which ilios are Arnesons too. I suspect a few of them, especially the Hydra on UWA and the dragon on p32. Definetly look like Dave's style but the Handwriting of "Hydra" isn't easy to tell if its his. OTOH if you look at castle construction pics on an 1-3rd print, the handwritng there looks very much like Arnesons.

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