One of my favorites was the cartoon of the knight jumping into the wizards arms when coming across a rust monster

Rot Grubs. That picture was horrifying. Also Paladin in Hell.

@LibraGamesUnlimited

3 ай бұрын

Oh yeah, I saw that for the first time, with my DM and the look on his face made it even more frightening. It said, "how can I work this into the next game?"

@harold2003

2 ай бұрын

That made me want to play a paladin

@jnlsnfamily8747

2 ай бұрын

@@harold2003 totally!

I believe I am going to have to speak for many of us that David C. Sutherland III's Succubus in the 1st edition Monster Manual is easily in the top 5. Hell, I would put her in the Top 3 as one of the most iconic and memorable art pieces in old school D&D.

@quantus5875

2 ай бұрын

An incredible succubus! Captures the perfect essence of a succubus - Iconic!!

@Anaris10

2 ай бұрын

She was HOT!

@Arnsteel634

2 ай бұрын

Dammmn right

Erol Otus’s art captures the spirit of D&D for me. The Dave Sutherland demonweb map was based on his tea towel.

Always loved the cover of the Players Handbook. The picture told a story; a party of adventures post combat, cleaning their wounds and looting the room with a couple thieves prying out the gemstone eyes on a large statue of some type of demon.

My intro to D&D was as a lonely kid that was about to turn 13 and I bought the (light blue) box. It didn't even have dice, but cardstock counters that could be cut out and dropped into cups to simulate dice rolls. Six months later I bought the dice set from the toy store when they finally got some dice to sell. Those dice were of the cheapest plastic imaginable and came with a wax/grease pen so that you could fill in the numbers on the dice so that you could more easily read them without squinting. Months later that cheap plastic had chips in the edges and corners. The book from the Blue Box was already dog eared. My Keep on the Borderlands was showing wear as the ink it was printed with started to smudge and smear. The pages were all dog eared. When Advanced Dungeons & Dragons arrived, it wasn't long before I had my hands on copies of the main three. I spent my afternoons, evening and weekends pouring over the rules. I had my graph paper and was working on making skillfully drawn dungeons of my own. It all seemed so overwhelming. But the artwork always made me want to push onward to create something. It wasn't the kind of art that had everything defined for me, but the kind of art that made the imagination leap and art that left out a lot of the details...that I had to fill in with my imagination. Eventually I grew up, and D&D became more than I can afford with time or money. I left it behind like it was a childish thing. If only I had known a career could have been made out of it, and if only the Satanic Panic hadn't tread all over an interest in something that still endures to this day. But, I am back, and my drive to create and write and design is back. That fantasy world, yes it is a fantasy and always will be, will always be just out of reach. But, isn't that what authors and screenplay writers construct? Isn't that what takes away from the drugeries and fuels multi-billion dollar industries, just as sports do, and music does? It is all....an art. All of it.

I enjoy all of Diversity & Dragons videos 🎉

It's a shame we don't have iconic art like this today.

@goukeban6197

3 ай бұрын

For the most part, even the 5e PHB had some decent stuff on it, but I just can't stand the pastel colored inoffensive shite that became the norm with the critical-rollification of the hobby.

@roygoodman1077

3 ай бұрын

@goukeban6197 The new art is technically good, but that's all. Like they said, it's meant to provide context, not inspiration, and that the kind of art an rpg needs.

@swirvinbirds1971

2 ай бұрын

It's just not as evocative as the old art even if it is more professionally done.

@quantus5875

2 ай бұрын

What's telling is I can't name a single artist from 5th Edition, when I know almost all the 1st Ed artists. What I loved about 1ed art is if you know the artists a little you can usually tell who drew it just by looking at a piece of art. Each artist had their unique style. All of the 5th Ed -- while technically pretty good -- all looks the same -- if you know what I mean.

@goukeban6197

2 ай бұрын

@@quantus5875 You can tell Clyde Caldwell by the way he draws women. He drew for men of culture.

Dave Trampier's AD&D DM's Screen masterpiece. I have an enlarged version on my wall and it never fails to inspire me.

@JohnnyD69FG

3 ай бұрын

My favorite as well.

@satturnine7320

3 ай бұрын

Yes! I still look at it every time I use it

I think I would have included Darlene's amazing map of the Flanaess.

@quantus5875

2 ай бұрын

Best map ever!! It's because it was hand drawn -- such a beautiful map!

Some good picks here. I’d add - the dwarves holding torches going down the staircase and encountering the magic mouth on the pillar (PHB) - the tubby halfling running in terror from the shadow demon in the Mentzer Red Basic Players Manual - Clyde Caldwell’s cover art to GAZ3 The Principalities of Glantri And the big daddy: - Easley’s cover art to the 1st Ed DMG. The storyteller opening the door to adventure. Iconic.

I thought I was the only one who would think of that Darlene piece. Good call! Love her succubus at the back of the DMG as well. But don't forget the art in the Holmes Blue Book. Besides Sutherland's beautiful cover - his image of the party holding off the orc horde on the first page and the harpies descending on those surrounded adventurers, just scream classic D&D. This set was my intro to the game in 1979, probably the reason for my affection for the images within.

The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth cover. The pit fiend. The back cover of The Isle of Dread.

@johnedgar7956

3 ай бұрын

THE ISLE OF DREAD!! Yes, great artwork, and probably my favorite old school module of all time. Great choices, here. 🙂

@quantus5875

2 ай бұрын

Love that piece of work by Willingham on the Back of X1. Yeah, the female fighter stabbing the sea serpent. Beautiful!

The Jeff Dee? drawing of the Human fighter kneeling down to talk to the muscular Halfling Fighter & Halfling woman wearing a miniskirt in either the Moldvay/Cook Basic or Expert book. I think it was in the character section of the Basic book. You've never seen more bad ass Halflings.

Take any of the stuff Elmore, Caldwell or Easley painted. That stuff is PEAK fantasy to me and it hurts my soul that art like that is not seen in modern editions. If I was a billionaire, I'd burn my fortune funding movies with that exact aesthetic.

I've always thought it impressive that someone got credit for the artwork for the invisible stalker in the 1e mm.

I would love to see the art from the alternate universe where David Trampier kept going.

My personal favorite early D&D art will always be the original Larry Elmore sketch for the D&D Basic cover Red Dragon. But overall my favorite comes from 2E, the original, not the revised book. And it's Larry Elmores "Dragon Slayers And Proud Of It", it is the quint essential D&D painting if you ask me.

@davidnixon5792

3 ай бұрын

I have a signed print of that piece.

@Taranchule

3 ай бұрын

Dragonslayers is my favorite piece of fantasy art of all time.

@johnedgar7956

3 ай бұрын

@@davidnixon5792 Nice. I'm jealous!

The cover of the Holmes Blue Book. It’s what I started with and seeing it will always bring good memories.

Great list DD! I always thought DAT's Lizardman from Ad&d 1st ED monster manual was great. Its why I added lizardmen as a player race in my game setting.

@blktom

2 ай бұрын

I always loved how the shield looked. Super clean artwork for sure!

My dad started me in the hobby young. I was 8 or 9. We played AD&D 2nd Edition. A lot of my understanding of D&D's aesthetic comes straight from the pages of the Monsterous Manual. Seeing all the creatures in there made my imagination run wild. Off the top of my head I still viscerally remember the Dopelganger, the Death Knight, and the Sprite. It all seemed so magical to me. And who could forget the Terrasque from that book? I still see it whenever I play Fallout.

The mad hermit "Keep on the borderlands" That image is a powerful one in my D&D brain. Great video, thank you. * Your gaming room mural is awesome.

I always loved the Village of Hommlet cover. Gotta love Erol Otus...

For me, it's the cover of the 1e Unearthed Arcana manual. I never owned a physical copy, but man, with that cover, I really wanted it!

Great list nice to see some love for Holmes basic cover. I always loved Trampiers psuedo dragon and Otis's Lovcraftian deities.🎉

I had never seen the alternate version of the iconic Elmore Red Box art. I liked the other version as well as the one we got. I know a lot of this was probably more 2e era but the art of Elmore, Parkinson, Easley, and Caldwell always really felt like the artists set things up in such as to make teenage me always think about what happened before the image and also what happened after these snapshots of other worlds. Great list overall. I’ve never had the privilege of laying eyes on a lot of 1st edition materials in person. I did play a few campaigns in it because I owned MM1, MM2, and the Fiend Folio which I purchased well before I ever played because the creature art and mythology always fascinated me. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

@quantus5875

2 ай бұрын

The fabulous 4 you mention started in about 1981 and most of their art was for 1st Ed. throughout the 80s. I think Easley had the longest run and did do 2Ed stuff. Of those awesome 4, my two favorites are Elmore and Caldwell.

@surlyunicorn9461

2 ай бұрын

@@quantus5875 You’re correct. I was reaching back several decades to remember. I still have a good deal of my 80’s D&D books on my shelves, but I haven’t thumbed through them in nigh on 20 years. Apparently it’s about time that I do re-familiarize myself with them. lol

instant sub for that Nate Dogg, and Warren G reference! "REGULATORSSSSSSSS, MOUNT UP!" lol

@DiversityDragons

Күн бұрын

All you skirts know what's up with 213.

One that comes to mind for me is the MM2 Cover. I remember looking at that one a few times and enjoying the sense of the combat. I also thought of some Dragon Magazine covers, but instead of pointing to any one in particular I will suggest that to you as another viable list to make a video on.

Here I am wanting a simple poster of the artwork that was on the Magenta Box to hang on my wall, and then you go and show you've got a giant wall mural of the thing! Respect sir.

For me as well, the Erol Otus art captures the spirit of that early era of D&D. And also, Dave Sutherland III - whose cover for the J. Eric Holmes basic set was my gateway drug. So many other great artists and pieces, too. It's good that you chose to revisit so many of these. ⚔🍻

B/X was my jam, but the Larry Elmore covers for BECM are the most iconic D&D images to me. I never even had that version back in the day. Didn't matter. Those covers are amazing. For that matter, his Dragon lance novel covers and the Ravenloft cover are just as iconic.

Red Box forever!!!

"You can almost feel dripping off..."

@hoi-polloi1863

2 ай бұрын

There was a lot of dripping back in those days!

Solid list, Double-D! I absolutely agree with your #1. It's mine as well. At Gary Con 2023, I went full fanboy mode with Erol Otus and let him know that his Basic Set art is THE image that pops into my mind when I think of D&D. D&D has so much great art, but his always tops my list.

Wow! Great video. Thanks so much!

Diversity, your video came up in my feed & after 40 years away from the game, my sons now play & this video was like a walk down memory lane. Thanks so much for all the AD&D artwork which evokes so good memories of schoolboy joy & my dear lifelong friends as we argued over dice rolls & combat moves on the squared papermaps! Sen-bloody-sational!!

Love it. Probably your best video.

For me it’s Paladin in Hell. I always wanted to be a paladin thanks to that art. I also loved the succubus and the death of Sturm were amazing. Also the art in Ravenloft adventure was amazing!

The four panel set of combats near the back of the Dungeon Masters Guide always hooked me.

You got some good ones. Erol Otus, Clyde Caldwell, and Dave Trampier were favorites. I have a soft spot for the 1975 Greyhawk Supplement Beholder. With it's small central eye, eye stalk, and mouth, it is not as blatantly menacing as the one in the 1e Monster Manual, but it makes up for that in bizarre creepyness.

Good call on the I6 Ravenloft map: I lost my mind when I saw that thing!

Worst certainly has to be the Monster Manual picture of the Werewolf! I always liked the Efreeti idol picture being raided. And the black & white picture of a fighter fleeing a flooding crypt as a sword wielding skeleton chases after him.

This was a wonderful video. Thank you ❤

@DiversityDragons

3 ай бұрын

Thank you!

Doooode, that freaking huge spider in mm1!

Jeff Easley's cover for Greyhawk Adventures. It's moody, it's turbulent, it's evocative. It deserves a place in the top 25 of all time.

You should do this for each: 1E, 2E, 3E and top 40 for becmi

So much great art featured here. Thanks for the blasts from the past. Such great memories. I miss this style of art in the current fantasy rpg offerings.

A lot of my favs as well.

Hell yeah to the Wild Hunt! I also liked the sense of motion on the cover of White Plume Mountain, with everyone trying to dodge the manticore. Of course, given that I was a teenager during the mid-80s, I was keenly (if secretly) interested in the ... "pinup" aspects of the artwork. Had a crush on the sorceress on the cover of Secret of Bone Hill for ages, yo. And the sleeping warrior woman under Tsojcanth.

I had players jump into the mouth in Tomb of Horrors. And YES! FINALLY someone who says the name, "Asmodeus" correctly!!!

A favorite piece of mine is in the 1st edition DMG- a simple, cartoonish scene of fleeing kobolds radiating outward from a slightly annoyed red dragon. The master of the hunt from Deities and Demigods will always be one of my favorite drawings. Erol Otus has (I hope it's Has, not Had) an amazing style that evokes fantasy at its purest. Great choices, Double D.

Great list Double D. Definitely agree on most of those. There's a few not on your list that I would certainly include. All 3 Dragonlance chronicles covers, the original rust monster, the cover art for the companion set, and the art for the original Modrons will always hold a place in my heart.

@DiversityDragons

3 ай бұрын

Yea, it's those ones that grab you personally that stick!

Ed Greenwood probably didn't like FF was because the monsters and art mostly didn't fit into his own (now) Done To Death Realms. #5 non-human rider in front of a sea - looks to have been done on scratch board, which is white clay covered with a black ink. The white is revealed by scratching away the top ink layer. A very popular art medium for magazine print works for decades because the presses could easily recreate the purely B&W art with a single printing plate. The 'Emerikol the Chaotic' was my favorite art in the early books.

One I always thought was cool was the fighter on the cover of the Men & Magic booklet from the White Box set. Double fisting blades with that killer mustache? Baller.

I didn't get into TTRPGs until '95, when a friend at high school introduced me to AD&D 2nd Edition and Al-Qadim, and his transfer a year later led me to crash-course as DM for almost 10 players. That said, I do remember that my last AD&D 2nd Ed campaign (circa 2001-2002) included a short adventure with a large statue sporting two different gems for eyes (one a sapphire, one a ruby). The PCs were there specifically to get one of them (I forget which), and the party's most curious character, roleplayed to the hilt, just HAD to know what would happen if he took the other. Several minutes of in-character debating later, he still went through with it, and the party had to escape from now-collapsing ruin. As it's been over 20 years since that game, I can't remember some details, but man do I remember that argument between the players as they desperately tried to convince him NOT to give into his curiosity. He was playing a homebrew race that I created that was shamelessly and heavily inspired by Zidane Tribal, the main protagonist in Final Fantasy 9, where the entire race had that flaw of curiosity (moreso than Halflings and Kender, in some cases). I don't remember if any of us ever owned a copy of that original book with the statue cover art, but there were a few 1st Edition D&D books floating around the group, so that one may have been one of them. If not then, then I may have first seen the art in the Silver Anniversary Box Set that my mom got me as a graduation present. Either way, I'm pretty sure that piece of art inspired that particular scene in that adventure a couple of years later.

The Hecuva, the Eye of Fire and Ice, and the Succubus from the original Fend Folio. Also the Githyanki.

Diversity & Dragons, I loved this video so much, I had to hit the like button!

For me, I would have put the Elmore red box cover art higher. That was my first D&D book (and best Christmas present ever). I was in the fourth grade, and it blew me away right from the start. Even more than the cover, the interior art for that set (and to a lesser extent the rest of the BECMI interior art) really established how I saw D&D as a child. The fighter with his lantern and sword just outside of the dungeon entrance had a profound impact. I'd also throw in the Easley covers of the AD&D DM's Guide and Unearthed Arcana.

@sorenandersen6832

3 ай бұрын

The first book I had was the Holmes Basic and I love the DSIII cover and his interior B&W drawings. But the Basic Red Box with Elmore’s cover and Elmore and Jeff Easley’s interior black and whites are all great and formed the foundation of how we played D&D in our formative years. Asides from 5E, I think that Red Box with Elmore’s art sold more than any other version of the game. That’s in no small part due to the Elmore cover.

I enjoy the mysterious archer that Elmore drew shooting at orcs.

I ran the new Tomb of Horrors for some friends and one of the players decided it would be smart for his character to stick his head in the devil's mouth! This was after sticking the lit end of a torch in it and having that end not come back out!

Thanks to all the art in Magic: the Gathering, I have been exposed to so much fantasy art over the last 30 years that I was really having a hard time trying to focus on what D&D art. As I wrote this, I recalled a simple black and white art of a spell casting minotaur, it stuck out to me as meaningful art because it was an example of how characters can be multi dimensional, not just big brutes. I also recall a pair of hot drow woman on the cover of Dragon magazine, I think they were jumping away from a castle they conducted an commando mission on. Dragon magazine & the sister publication Dungeon Magazine had some really incredible art. My first paper issue was 246 and it had spectacular art. I NIW feel motivated to use that art for my next character or at least an NPC encounter. I missed issue 247 & 249 but beginning with 250, I picked up every print issue after, I really disliked how they decided to stop printing the 2 magazines. I might have been more enthusiastic for 4th edition if they kept printing.

As someone who sacked off D&D around 4 years ago I still have strong nostalgia for the art. I love all the BW art in Blue Box Expert; the wizard casting wall of stone & the female wizard flying with her dagger drawn = straight back to age 14 on a Sunday. The GM's ma would do us all a superb Sunday roast dinner then back to the game. Timeless.

4:26 that cover may have had an influence for when people read the books opening bit about what it's like to play D&D, engaging the readers imagination by describing the diving attack of a roaring dragon. :)

Love Larry Elmore art

Great overview! Impossible to get ‘em all-but you have made excellent selections and provided a good defense of every choice.

The Demon Idol will somehow appear in my next game. Also, great video, all of these arts are beautiful. Love 'em! ❤️

This is probably corny but The AD&D original players handbook cover (not the one with the black outline) Will always be my personal favorite. Second edition was the one I started with as a kid and I can't help but love that cover.

Trampier wins because of most pieces in the list!

I loved the Cover of whiteplume mountain

@DiversityDragons

2 ай бұрын

It's a classic too!

Anything by Trampier gets a thumbs-up. One of my favorites is the cover to module S4 by Erol Otus of the Behir bringing the smack-down on a doomed party of adventurers: so much action and imminent tragedy crammed into that small frame.

Hehehe. I always had a soft spot for Anthraxus myself. One of the few monsters in either guide with Godlike intelligence.

I played just a little bit of DnD from 78-82, so I have always felt a little "DnD Adjacent" if that makes sense but, surprisingly, to me, I recognized having seen at least half of the images selected. Nice list!

The statue on the PHB got into a campaign in mine (unfortunately the players flocked over to 5E) as a subversion. Local warlord had been beaten back to an underground lair, where he and his men discovered a sttue of Orcus, with two gem eyes. Each gem had a curse; the one they pried out ended up beginning a Romero zombie plague amongst some of the men while others died from other causes to rise as different undead. To insure the curse did not expand to the surface, the goal is to retrieve the gem and replace it in the statue.

The two pieces that I would have included would be page 20 of the Moldvay Basic rulebook, with the female fighter in chainmail, and the Magic Mouth in the Advanced Player's Handbook. Of course, that succubus, but hey.

@DiversityDragons

2 ай бұрын

Yes, that Magic Mouth almost made my cut!

Red Box..... And yes.... The succubus....

@DiversityDragons

3 ай бұрын

Not included...but in the thumbnail. See how I did that?! 😉

DL1's cover is spectacular!

Nice list! Really like that you highlighted a lot of Trampier's great work. To your list, you mentioned the Willingham minotaur from B2 -- I'd also add the Willingham cover of L1 - Secret of Bone Hill.

I remember playing tomb of horrors, and a player saying; " I'm sticking my head inside the hole of the demon mouth and looking around" lol

@DiversityDragons

2 ай бұрын

😅😅😅

Jeff Dee would easily cover the top 20. Now as far as the next 20, sure you got some good choices 👍🏻😎

...when I was a teenager I knew a person who played a character who did drop his pants at the Tomb of Horror's Devil Mouth exactly as you suggested, and he died almost immediately of blood loss afterward...

I love this kind of video! Any DSIII pig-faced orc would make my list, plus Jeff Easley’s cover of the 2E DMG with the mage and dragon.

@DiversityDragons

3 ай бұрын

Thank you! I noticed since yesterday this video is getting some more traction, which is always nice to see.

ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS ! WELL DONE MY FRIEND !

I loved the old art. One of the reasons I actually read books especially Dragonlance. Todays art leaves something to be desired

Many of the monsters in the FF are next to useless, because we have no idea how they were used originally, and why they were created, but many including the Gith, Slaadi, Death Knight, and others are frigging iconic in their own right, thanks to Mr Stross for contributing them.

Additional pieces: The covers of the DMG and the DDG. The sequence of illustrations at the bottoms of some pages of the DMG, showing a party progressing over time. The giant spider in the MM, about to leap onto an unsuspecting party. Bonus: the humorous one-panel comics from the DMG.

Great video especially some of the artwork inspiring us to look at adventures from first edition were definitely going to have to run what is a spider Queen of the demonweb pits!

Moldvay Box Cover: that is my favorite! That image IS Dungeons & Dragons, no matter what edition I play.

Great picks

I’m really fond of the splash/surround illustration near the back of Fiend Folio, of Crabmen fighting some adventurers who are desperately trying to get the captured damsel back. The design of the Crabmen wasn’t really there, but you can see the motives of both teams and it isn’t one sided like most illustrations of this type, with both sides claiming victories. The monster redesign in the 2e manual wasn’t perfect, but it was certainly more fearsome; I think it needed a head…

I always had a memory of the shirtless 1e thief mugging a dude

For me it's anything done by Larry Elmore and anything from the Dragon Lance stuff

Paladin in Hell hands down! Love you channel you guys rock!!!

Awesome!!! #MoreOfThisPlease

the cover of I11 (thats I eleven) Needle the cover of I10 Ravenloft II: house on gryphon hill the cover of B9 Castle Caldwell and beyond the cover of Dark sun the shattered lands the cover of queen of the spiders, the image of a dragon atop of a hoard of treasure I recall from a comic book add selling D&D. I don't know which book they took it from for the add. the frenzied berserker from 3.5's complete warrior anything from the usual suspects, you know Clyde Caldwell, Frank Frazetta etc

I don't know if these AD&D books outside the range of what you were looking at but I got these books well into the years of 3.5 because of their cover art. The Unearthed Arcana, The Dungeon Master's Guide, & The Monster Manual. All 3 of those books just called to me to buy them from the cover.

The AD&D DMG.

Great picks. Green Box cover. And I have to mention the Lolth art on the first page of Pit (may be getting the module wrong but I think people will know which one). Some of the dragon magazine covers are fantastic as well. Especially some of the model ones. 6:12 one of my PCs got lobotomised by the green devil face.

Paladin in hell is my favorite. Nothing better than a paladin fighting to the bitter end taking as many hell spawn with him.

I liked the Beholder and several of the Chromatic Dragons of Monster Manual version 1

17:25 finally. that is the closest approximation to what I've loosely imagined for my high elf sorceress. add some sleeves, toss on some gold edging and you pretty much got it. Weird how no AI tool I've used managed to produce anything like that. Edit; STRICTLY a comment on the robes. not a comment on body or situation.