Remember this guy from the cover of OD&D Supplement I: Greyhawk? Well, I guess he survived this encounter with a beholder, as it looks like he later fights a dragon in the pages of the original edition of Advanced Melee for The Fantasy Trip.
I assume he has his dragon-killin' sword out, which he brought special for this fight, and his regular day-to-day killing sword is the extra one at his side.
Tracing other peoples' work is an old tradition in the RPG industry, just look at Judges' Guild products and you'll find plenty of examples. Pretty sure TSR ripped Joe off from the cover of an old Edgar Rice Burroughs novel, or perhaps one of his many imitators. Myself, I'm particularly fond of Avalon Hill's egregious Frazetta swipes in their ill-fated Powers & Perils line.
ReplyDeleteA few Marvel comics swipes in OD&D too. I'd love to see the original of this one.
ReplyDeleteWell, Joe seems more confident with the dragon. He's not leaning backwards and his shield is a bit lowered. That, or he's being careless; maybe this is the reason we don't see him ever again?
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