But I actually want to talk about the inside front cover. Check out this ad:
There's a lot to take in here. A photo of Uncle Gary juxtaposed with an awesome Citadel-style illo kinda freaks me out, but in a good way. I don't think I've ever seen that before. And holy crap, who told Gygax to wear that sweater?
I love the pose on this Umber Hulk mini. I imagine him saying "Yo! Scrawny! Hit me with one more magic missile and I'm going to come over there and shove that wand where the sun don't shine!" And the tiny base for each foot makes it look like he's wearing flip-flops.
But now let's zoom in on Gary's right hand:
See the ring? To my eye that ring is displaying a coat of arms, specifically Argent, a Bar Azure, Three Lozenges Gules, a.k.a. three red diamonds on a white field with a blue horizontal stripe. How can I tell the color scheme from a black-and-white photo? How do I know those little dots are actually diamonds? Because I'm guessing we're looking at the same heraldry as seen here:
In the World of Greyhawk three red diamonds on a white field is the arms of the city of Fax, one of the minor city-states along the Wild Coast. Because of this, I always assumed as a kid that the fighter on the DMG cover was a lesser son of the House of Fax. I know the Fax arms because one of the books in the original World of Greyhawk boxed set had a bunch of coats of arms on the interior covers. I always thought that was a neat-o feature. Do any other settings (you know, besides Pendragon) go to the trouble to give you the arms of the various princes and potentates? I bet the heraldry for Encounter Critical knights would look like Chris Sims' family arms. (EC mailing list folk, get crackin'!)Now keep in mind that I could be completely off base on my guess for that ring. All I'm really working with here is a gut reaction to a grainy photo and a lot of supposition. Does anybody recall seeing Gygax wearing a ring with a coat of arms on it?
Man, I'm tempted to do some googling to try and find someone online who sells rings with cute little heraldic shields on them.
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That's some mighty fine detective work there, Mr. Rients. Please keep us appraised of your findings, if any.
ReplyDelete(As for the sweater, it was the 80s. Those things were really popular for some reason. Don't you remember the Cosby Show?)
FWIW Gary confirmed in one of his many ENWorld Q&A threads that the crest on the DMG cover (which also shows up on the 1983 World of Greyhawk box cover) was the Gygax family crest, and that both Sutherland and Easley were deliberately paying tribute to him by including it. Perhaps, if Gary was wearing this ring around as early as 1976, the "Ring of Gaxx" was a joke on it by Brian Blume?
ReplyDeleteA mystery! I am so in! What do I do first? Head to my local library? Ask a professor? Head to Lake Geneva to pound some pavement, knocking on doors?
ReplyDeleteSeriously, this is awesome, man. You need a partner, I'm totally in.
Well, to answer one of your questions, I have seen cool coats of arms in one othyer line of D&D products: the maps that come with Scarred lands books are full of shield heraldry like this, in the border of the maps.
ReplyDeleteWhen I paint, Scarred Lands specific minis, I try to work it in where I can.
You just gained 500 roleplaying xp for discovering that. Very well done.
ReplyDeleteThat's a pretty good issue of the Dwarf too. The AD&D scenario is great, and the Cthulhu one is pretty strong too.
ReplyDeleteOne of my disappointments with the GoO editiosn of Uresia: Grave of Heaven is that GoO removed one of my included (playful) homages to Greyhawk, which was a selection of bread-loaf slash diagrams arranged like a display of heraldic devices ... showing how each of the families in Rogan's Heath could tell their loaves apart in the communal oven.
ReplyDeleteUresia nods often to the Greyhawk folio and/or boxed set, but that one was my favorite (on the other hand, like most of the book's tips of the hat, it's probably one of those things that nobody would have recognized for what it was, so oh well ...) :)
IIRC, several of TSR's Gazetter projects included charges of arms. That was one of the things that "sold" me on the product line as I got into gaming in the very late 1980s/early 1990s.
ReplyDeleteI was a heraldry nut back then. Still am, I suppose, but it's ecclesiastical heraldry that commands my attention these days.
There are companies out there that will make silver or even gold rings, seals, etc. of "your family's arms." They're often associated with the same outfits that will sell you framed paintings, painted plates, mugs, or whatever else you can slap a heraldic design on.
ReplyDeleteThey're useable if you have a specific project in mind (Or at least I think so; they may only accept designs from their own library.) But as a heraldry and history buff I feel I have to give the disclaimer - their advertising is very misleading. A coat of arms does not "come with" a surname, and even if you are descended from the same family only one person has the right to a particular coat of arms at any time.
(You guys probably all know that, but I spent too long on rec.heraldry not to feel I have to say it.)
Oh, and I only know of one other game setting that provides the arms of major figures in the setting - A Game of Thrones. At least, I think I recall seeing heraldic illustrations the one time I flipped through the game. I have been slow to read the books (only the first two so far, though I love them) and don't want to hit any spoilers.
I've done lots of heraldry for my own gameworld. If you ever hit a project for which you need something like that, give me a call and we'll talk.
Harn also provides coats of arms, IIRC.
ReplyDeleteHey, Jeff
ReplyDeleteI wonder - can I translate your post into Polish? It's masterpiece of detective deduction and I think it can be interesting for Polish readers! Pity, not all of them knows English. Of course - I'll place all references, credits and back link to source post at your blog. :)
Thanks in advance & Fight On!
Jarl
Go right ahead, Jarl!
ReplyDelete