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Larry Elmore Profile from Dragon Magazine 107 March 1986

 Here is the text of the Larry Elmore's profile from Dragon Magazine 107. The gruff, bearded, hardened ex-con vowed to change his life when he was released from the Kentucky chain gang. "Ah have paid mah debt to society," said Cool Hand Larry, "and now ah want to devote mahself to mah art." His murder conviction was recently overturned by the Kentucky Supreme Court, Larry set out to become an artist.  "Well, it didn't happen that way," said Larry Elmore, "but it makes a good story. In reality, I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, Aug. 5, 1948, and grew up in Grayson County, in the midwestern part of the state. As a child, I was fascinated by old people telling ghost stories. From them, I became interested in fantasy. "You'd think that people who live nearest to nature would be least scared of it, but the opposite is true. They create mystery about it." As a teenager, Larry was into hot rods and the Beach Boys. "The rur
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A Brief Tour of the 1994-1995 Audio CD Box Sets

Remember when TSR Box sets came with all kinds of fun stuff like posters, miniatures, dice, and player aids? Let's take a look at the line of box sets from 1994 and 1995 that also included a CD!  At the time CDs were new and had a special power that cassette tapes didn't. You could use your device to play a specific track without hunting and rewinding! If the adventure called for a certain track during play, you could choose that track and it would help the DM run the adventure. Most of these sets were set in Mystara. These CD adventures were part of TSRs campaign to get more new people into the game. I haven't played these, in the 1990s we were gaming in Santa Fe New Mexico. Most of us were in the service industry so our budgets didn't allow for new technology. Nobody had a CD player and by the time I had one these sets had faded into obscurity. The first one was First Quest by Richard Baker, David "Zeb" Cook, Flint Dille, and Bruce Nesmith.  Cover art for Fi

Dragonmirth

  Back in the days when Dragon Magazine arrived in our mailbox every month, The first thing I would read was Dragonmirth. Great comics to give your day a chuckle or two. Some of the more famous strips were Wormy and Snarfquest, which were incredible, great stories and art. Here are some of the one panel funnies, as well as some slightly raunchy poems. Follow me for a bit of fun!     It's always nice to have a barbarian in the party, even of social interactions are a bit difficult.   Some GMs think nothing of throwing you out of your nice, safe World War II game and into Twilight 2000.   Players will play.  Wizards have to do more than just teach their apprentices spells. What is he planning, to scare the dragon to death? You're about to run out of dungeon...   Ever wonder who invented the equipment in your gym? Who you gonna call? The things that players try to get away with. One of the reasons I truly enjoy low level characters, every encounter is a challenge.   Wonder if the

Lenard William "Len" Lakofka (January 10, 1944 - October 23, 2020)

Chainmail and Early D&D  Len Lakofka was living in Chicago during the 1960s and was an avid wargamer. He was so interested in Avalon Hill's Diplomacy that he joined the International Federation of Wargamers. In 1968 Gary Gygax had talked the IFW into organizing a one-day wargame convention at the Horticultural Hall in Lake Geneva. By then Len was President. This would be the very first Gen Con. So he traveled to Lake Geneva to set up, run events, and clean up. After the convention ended Gary introduced a new set of miniatures rules to a few people including Lakofka. This game would later be published as Chainmail. Lakofka play-tested and gave advice on balancing the rules. In 1975 he was introduced to the new game developed by Gygax and Dave Arneson called Dungeons & Dragons. As a frequent play tester for both the original version and Advanced Dungeons & Dragon, he was very involved with the creation of the three core books for AD&D. He edited the Players Handbook

Gamma World

  TSR's Science Fantasy Role-Playing Game A retrospective by Kevin Gamma World, Gamma World, Gamma World If you say it three times while looking in the mirror, I understand you may summon a Yexil swarm! W hat's a Yexil, you say? Why, it is a fantastical beast that dwells in the radioactive ruins of a post-apocalyptic hellscape and would be the bane of Leisure Suit Larry.  Who is Larry, you ask? My, my, you are full of questions, aren't you? Well, Larry is the "protagonist" of a salacious vintage computer game series of dubious moral quality. How does Larry fit into Gamma World? Well, he doesn't really except for the fact that he wears polyester leisure suits as he tries, and usually fails, to seduce nubile young ladies. And you see, Yexils survive by eating synthetic materials. Therefore, Larry would be seen as a tasty morsel. Well, at least his suit would be. He'd be discarded as offal. Gamma World is a weird and fantastic trip which is truly odd