Showing posts with label Dragonlance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dragonlance. Show all posts

2014/05/08

D&D comics history part 26 - Dragonlance Legends (DDP)

In 2008, DDP started to publish their final series based on D&D universe :

Dragonlance Legends 


Following the books by Weis & Hickman, the plot takes place after the Dragonlance Chronicles. DDP was only able to produced the first 3 issues due to their financial problems. These have been compiled in a TPB version (november 2008) under the same name of the first novel : Time of the Twins.

As for the Chronicles, the apdatation is done by Andrew Dabb.
Pencils by David Cole, colors by Adam Chong & Et Cetera and lettering by Crank! & Charles Pritchett.

When the novel was kinda dark, depicting the events that will lead the Majere brothers to fight eachother to decide the future of their world, I have to say that I was somehow disappointed in the art treatment reserved to such a story. Some pages seem to be colored draft, considering the corpses & faces' proportions or their "flatness" and what to say about the facial expressions... erf... well... it's not a really good graphic novel adaptation according to my tastes...


But on other hand, it's not the worst D&D-licenced graphic novel I read... we could have just hoped that another team would have taken in charge the graphics of the following issues... anyway, that was the last TPB of the D&D adventure that DDP ever published and we can imagine the quality is as good as the time & money they were willing to give to the artists... 

-_-;

2011/05/15

D&D comics history part 25 - The Worlds of D&D (DDP)

In february 2008, Devil's Due started to release a new line of comics based on D&D license :  The Worlds of Dungeons & Dragons

 
 
The serie will ends the same year with the publishing of the 7th issue due to DDP's bad financial management. 
2 TPB will be released. The first one compiles the first 2 volumes of the serie with the single issue Eye of the Wolf and the second tome, the issues 3 to 5.
Issues 6 & 7 will never been compiled in TPB.

The serie in its whole is a melting pot of short novels based on different D&D settings as Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Ravenloft, Eberron or Dark Sun, each story being developped by its own writers and artists.



First story is entitled Dark Mirror and is set in the Forgotten Realms.
Written by famous R.A. Salvatore,  its art is done by Rafael Kayanan.
(adapted by Nick Schley ; colors by Lovern Kindzierski ; letters by Payton Gauldin / Ninja Lettering ; edits by James Lowder & Mike O'Sullivan)
It s been published in 2 parts in the issues 1 & 2.

It s a short story of the ûber-famous drow Drizzt Do'Urden involved in the rescue of kidnapped villagers while he s on his way to Lady Alustriel's. He will then hunt a goblin named Nojheim who fled the fight. Later, he ll discover that the goblin is in fact the slave of Rico, the big guy of the village...

 

Everything in this short is just amazing. The plot, the narrating, the art, all fits perfectly Drizzt's world.

The original story was released in the 1993 anthology Realms of Valor, edited by James Lowder.

The style is dark and sharp as is the story. Artist R. Kayanan, helped by L. Kindzierski for the coloring created a masterpiece here.



In the second story entitled The Legacy and based on Dragonlance setting, published as well in 2 parts in the first 2 issues, we re following Palin Majere, son of Caramon and nephew of the greatest mage Raistlin.

The story is based on a part of the novel The Second Generation by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickmann. The events depicted take place years after the War of the Lance and start the era known as the Fifth Age.
It relates the adventure of Palin at the Palanthas' Tower of High Sorcery where he will travel through the magical portal that leads to the domain of Thakisis, the evil goddess, where his uncle, the archmage Raistlin, is held prisoner...


Besides the good narrating, I am not a great fan of the art by Javier Aranda mixed with the coloring by Chris Summers... Imo, the colors are far too bright and the chara design is a bit childish considering the story.
(adapted by Neil Kleid ; letters by Payton Gauldin / Ninja Lettering ; edits by James Lowder & Mike O'Sullivan)



The third story is entitled Elminster at the Magefair and has been released in 2 parts in issues 3 & 4.
Written by Ed Greenwood and adapted by Jeff Grubb, this adventure of the most famous archmage of the Forgotten Realms has been put on paper by Juanfran Moyano for the lining and Malti Verma for the coloring.
(letters by Crank! & Bernie Lee ; edits by James Lowder & Mike O'Sullivan)


Somehow closed to the spirit of the TSR Limited Editions, we have here a funny adventure of Elminster and his "bodyguard" Storm Silverhand at the magefair (kind of wizardry convention).

As "Dark Mirror", it was originally compiled in the anthology Realms of Valor.

The art is pretty decent and the narrating is just hilarious, as one could expect considering the main character...



4th story is based on Ravenloft setting.
Released in issue 3, it s entitled The Rigor of the Game.

This very short story (only 20 pages... sadly !) is a real masterpiece for a bunch of reasons. It is the first comic adaptation based on Ravenloft setting.

Ravenloft, also known as the Demiplane of Dread, is not a common D&D world.
It exists in parallel with the other worlds and has no definitive frontiers. The border of the world in engulfed in a mystical mist. This mist can appear in any other D&D world to draw any evil character into the demiplane.
Ravenloft is divided into Domains that are ruled by Darklords, who were powerful damned characters in other worlds and who are now imprisoned within, where they suffer their torments for eternity. Most famous Darklords are the vampire Strahd von Zarovich, the lich Azalin and the death knight Lord Soth.

In this story, we re following a certain Arkwright (Oliver), a gambler with an extraordinary luck who will have to play dice against the doomed Lord soth...

Lord Soth, known as the Knight of the Black Rose, great villain of the Dragonlance setting was once Lord Loren Soth of Dargaard Keep. Doomed to undead curse by his last wife he murdered for a presumed infidelity while he should have been saving Krynn from the Cataclysm, he was taken by the mist of Ravenloft during the events of the Blue Lady's War as he was fighting with his servant Caradoc who betrayed him. Once in the Demiplane of Dread, after a stay in the Domain of Barovia ruled by Strahd, he got granted his own domain, Sithicus, the land of spectres.

The plot here takes place in an inn named the Iron Warden.

 

It is adapted from the story of the same name published in the novel anthology The Tales of Ravenloft. It has been written and adapted by James Lowder himself who has written most of the novels featuring Soth.
The artist is the great Tim Seeley and Lizzy John is in charge of the coloring.
(letters by Crank! & Bernie Lee ; edits by James Lowder & Mike O'Sullivan)

The visual render is spectacular, perfectly fitting the dark gothic atmosphere of the setting.



A Stone's Throw Away, 5th story of this anthology, released in 2 parts in issues 4 & 5, depicts the incidents involving the kender Tasslehoff Burrfoot as he got in his possession (heh...) a magical ring and confronted the Magus, a poweful necromancer.

The Story, originally written for Dragon Magazine #85 (1984), set in Dragonlance, is from Roger E. Moore and adapted by Stan!.

Artist is Javier Aranda, assisted by Andrew Elder for the coloring.
(letters by Crank! & Bernie Lee ; edits by James Lowder & Mike O'Sullivan)


As anything involving a kender, and especially Tas, the narrating is hilarious as it becomes more and more Murphy-ish. It reminds me of the lost TSR Limited Edition "The Unity of Ring" as for the plot as for the humor.

About the art, I have to say that if I have been disappointed by J. Aranda on his previous D&D work, this time it s pretty ok. The only remark is about the coloring here. Apparently A. Elder opted for a dominance of red or blue, and imo, it s a bit "too-much"...

But well, in its whole it s a very nice and entertaining work we have here.



6th story, based on Eberron setting and entitled The Weight of Water, went out in issue 5. Written by Ed Bolme, adapted by Chad Rebmann. Art by Eric J. and colors by Rob Ruffolo. (letters by Crank! & Bernie Lee ; edits by James Lowder & Mike O'Sullivan)


This is a strange story of a conflict between 2 armies, one from Karrnath (in red), and the other from Aundair (in blue).
The troups of Karrnath, following the orders of some female necromancer, are attacking caravans under the protection of Aundair. A monk from Aundair named Teron is sent with the army to discover why the caravans are disappearing and to solve the problem.

In the end, it s more a fairy tale with some moral of the story. The whole looks like a chess game.

The story first went out in the Eberron anthology The Tales of the Last War, released in 2006.

The art is decent but the style reminds me of late 90's comics.
It s the second time Eberron is adapted into comic but the plot could have been set anywhere else imo...
Note also that this is the last Worlds of D&D story compiled in TPB.



In Raistlin and the Knight of Solamnia, 7th story that appears in issue 6, we re back in Dragonlance.
The artist Javier Aranda and colorist Alejandro Torres give us some decent work on this adaptation by Paul D. Storrie of a novel from writers Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickmann. (letters by Crank! & Bernie Lee ; edits by James Lowder & Mike O'Sullivan)
The original novel was released in the anthology Tales of Dragonlance II, vol. 3 The War of the Lance.
The plot takes place just after Raistlin successfully passed his test to become a mage. Seeking for a job, Raistlin and his brother Caramon are spending a moment in some inn when they got accosted by a Kender named Earwig Lockpicker who claims to be friend of Tasslehoff... Then a knight of Solmania and his family enters the inn...
This will lead the companions and the knight to some haunted ruins they have to uncurse to earn some gold...


Following the principle of having a short story that focus on a specific aspect of the D&D setting (here, the mistrust between Knights and Mages) this story do the job, no more no less. Just another short novel fairly adapted.



The 8th story is far more interesting as it is set in Dark Sun.
Entitled Hunt's End, it s the first comic adaptation ever in this setting.

Adapted by Andrew Dabb, this story, written by Rudy Thauberger, is drawn by Chris Steininger and colored by Joseph Baker.
(letters by Crank! & Bernie Lee ; edits by James Lowder & Mike O'Sullivan)
To my knowledge, R. Thauberger originally wrote it for Dragon Magazine 220 (august 95).

Dark Sun is a setting born in 1991 featuring a post-apocalyptic world name Athas.
Long ago it was a luxuriant planet that has been stripped of its natural richness by the excessive use of the power known as defiling magic. Now, it s mostly a desertic world with oasis here and there and some major cities ruled by the Sorcerer-Kings.
The rarity of metal is so that most of weapons are made of wood, bones or obsidian. Most of the races developped psionist abilities to be able to survive in this deadly environment. Athas also counts unique playable races as the Thri-Kreen (mantis men) or Aarakocra (bird men).

Here, we re following a halfling outcast named Tanok and his two thri-kreen companions K'rt & Rr'k hunting down a caravan of Templars of the Sorcerer-King of Draj, city-state in the northeastern area of the Tyr Region. (Draj is an Aztec-inspired state btw)


Colorist Joseph Baker did a great job here, rendering the impression of dryness by using a nice panel of yellows and browns.
Steininger's "jagged" style fits nicely the raw brutality of the story.
Note that in 2011, IDW Publishing will release a 5 comics story based on Dark Sun.



9th story, The Great Hunt, that went out in nov. 08 in the7th and last issue of The Worlds of D&D is based on the Forgotten Realms setting.
It s been written and adapted by the well-known Elaine Cunningham. The art is by Jose Aviles and coloring by Kenneth Loh. (letters by Crank! & Bernie Lee ; edits by James Lowder & Mike O'Sullivan)


It s another story about a hunt... this time orcs, followers of Malar the Beastlord, hunting elves of Tethyr's forest during the War of Reclamation. But against all odds, the orcs have to fight a powerful enemy, the moon elf and crime lord Elaith Craulnober who s escorting the half-elf princess Arilyn Moonblade. These two will cause difficulties to the hunters...

Elaine Cunningham originally wrote this short for issue 246 of Dragon magazine (1998).

It s a nice story, with rare speach bubbles. The style and coloring are pretty ok.
There is no much to say as it s just a "slice of life" in the end...



10th and last story is entitled Definitions of Honor.
Written and adapted by Richard A. Knaak, it has been drawn by Pat Quinn and colored by Joseph Baker. (letters by Crank! & Bernie Lee ; edits by James Lowder & Mike O'Sullivan)


Set in Dragonlance, we re following a young solamnic knight named Torbin seeking for some glory. Arriving at Dragon's Point, a little village of fishers, he s asked to get rid of a minotaur who s terrorizing the inhabitants.
But the minotaur turns out to be not that evil threat he was described as...

The story is taken from the anthology "Kender, Gully Dwarves, and Gnomes" that went out in 1987 and that compiles 10 short stories.

The art is pretty decent. The colors are a bit drab, almost pastel and offer the reader a strange but not unpleasant atmosphere.



In 10 short stories, DDP gives us a nice insight of the different D&D settings.
The parallel with TSR Limited Editions is obvious.
Imo, the redundant feeling that comes out in all these stories is the sense of the absurd in different situations. I tend to think this was the base of reflexion of DDP staff when they had to choose what to adapt.

This anthology is a success. If some of the stories are just so-so, the quality of work in the whole worth it.

°_°

2011/05/01

D&D comics history part 21 - The Legend of Huma (DDP)

Adapted from the novel by Richard A. Knaak, The Legend of Huma (based on D&D's DragonLance settings) released in 6 issues from jan. 2004 to oct. 2005 by Devil's Due Publishing (and compiled in TPB in 2007) depicts the adventures of Huma Dragonbane, young Knight of Solamnia, who will be later known as hero of the Third Dragon War.


The story takes place around 1300 years before the War of the Lance (events depicted in the famous trilogy "The Dragonlance Chronicles").
The comic is not covering the entire novel, ending in midstream and leading the reader to get the book from Knaak to know the denouement.
Interesting way of getting people to reading heh.

A bunch of artists worked on this serie, and uncommon fact (or not ? -> am not comics specialist heh XD) is that even in the same issue pages can be drawn by different pencillers.
Mike S. Miller worked on issues 1 & 2 and the 12 first pages of 3rd issue in collaboration with Rael Lyra (who will also work on the first 8 pages of 4th issue).
Mike Crowell did the pages 14-17 of 3rd issue and Joe Prado p.13 and p.18-22.
Abdul Rashid drew the pages 9 to 15 of issue 4 and Carlos Paul p.16 to 22.
Issue 5 was done entirely by Andrea Di Vito.
6th and last issue by Steve Kurth. (Who will work on the 2 first volumes of the Dragonlance Chronicles).

 Pages from issues 1 & 2 by Miller & Lyra
 
 Issue 3 - by Prado                              Issue 4 - by Paul

Even if the styles of the artists is obviously different from one to another, the reader doesn t suffer a really brutal visual change from a chapter to another, excepting, imo, the last issue which inking is very pastel compared to the rest of the work.

Issue 6 - by Kurth

I believe that the quality of the serie will convince Hasbro to grant DDP the full D&D license who will allow the publisher to start working on other settings as Forgotten Realms, Eberron or even Ravenloft.

Now, I can t stop wondering on the choice of DDP to adapt this D&D novel amongts the hundreds released.
It s an interesting story, no doubt, and very epic in the end... but having read dozens of D&D novels, I would not consider it as a must-to-read compared to the rest. More, only DragonLance fans would have heard of Huma, which is, in term of sales, a risky adventure DDP decided to undertake... The ways of Devil's due are unpredictable heh...

Anyway, the comic itself is a great realization and marks the evolution of D&D comics line.

o_O

2011/04/30

D&D comics history part 23 - Dragonlance Chronicles (DDP)

In parallel of the publication of The Legend of Drizzt, DPP started to release in late 2005 the Dragonlance Chronicles. The story, based on the trilogy of the same name by famous writers Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman is adapted here by Andrew Dabb.


An adaptation of the story in comics has been already done in late 80's under the title "The Dragonlance Saga". But when the DC graphic novels covered the 2 first volumes of the trilogy, DDP fully released the whole story in a total of 24 issues. (that went out with 2 different covers according to DDP policy)
DDP will later release 4 TPB for the whole serie :
Dragons of Autumn Twilight (combining 8 issues), Dragons of Winter Night (4 issues), Dragons of Spring Dawning part 1 (6 issues) and part 2 (6 issues also). 

Note that this serie also will be translated into french and published under TPB by Milady.

First volume is mainly done by Steve Kurth (except the 6th issue by Stefano Raffaele), as well as second one. The visual changes in art from a chapter to another come mainly from the inkers' styles imo. 

 by S.Kurth                                             by S.Raffaele

Then S.Kurth abandoned DDP for Marvel and a bunch of artists were recruited to draw the 2 parts-3rd volume of the serie.
Julius M.Gopez will work on issues 1, 2, 5 & 9, Mariano de la Torre on 3rd one, Pere Perez on issues 4, 6, 8, 10, 11 & 12 and Oscar Jimenez on 7th one.

The styles are very different from an issue to another in the last 2 volumes and
the reader could easily get disappointed jumping from a chapter to the next...
This is obviously the result of DDP's catastrophic money management... Kurth was doing a really great job but noone can t bear a grudge against him to have migrated to better horizons...

by M.De La Torre                       by J.M Gopez                       by P.Perez     

But even, imo, the serie in its whole is still a must-to-have.

I personaly just regret that artists Pere Perez and Mariano De La Torre worked on the serie as their styles, bit too simplistic and far too "clean" compared to other ones do not fit the rest of the work... but well... what has been done s been done heh...
At least DDP managed to finish this trilogy and started the following one : Dragonlance Legends.

O_o

2011/01/30

D&D comics history part 10 - Limited Editions (TSR)

 I believe that TSR, after the fail of Dragonstrike was no really willing to come back in comic industry for good.
But in 1996, to promote the sales of its AD&D and affiliated products, TSR was offering a free comic for any 15$ or more purchase.


 Believing the ad, 5 comics were meant to be distributed as limited edition :

Forgotten Realms : The Grand Tour
Birthright : The Serpent's Eye
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons : Labyrinth of Madness
Dragonlance : The Fifth Age
Planescape : The Unity of Rings

In the end, only 4 will be released. The Unity of Rings, which was entirely done, will never be published but WOTC will decide to put it freely online in 2003 on their website.



Understanding the advert, the first one released is The Grand Tour


 Story by Jeff Grubb and art by Todd Fox.
If the graphics are not really great (even mediocre on some pages...) the story is pretty funny and quirky as main characters are Elminster, the most famous mage of the Realms and....... Presto(n) from the D&D cartoon (well years after the cartoon's story tho :P)

These guys took a shot of old heh...

   It s a nice original and nostalgic way of getting the reader involved in the story using a character he surely saw on TV years ago. 
Plot is very simple : Preston is getting his chance to become Elminster's apprentice and this last one decides to take the guy to a tour of the Realms.
Tour during which they ll meet legendary figures of the Forgotten Realms as Marco Volo, Qilué Veladron (who s telling about Drizzt and Lirel...), or even Alias and Dragonbait in famous place as Cormyr, Skullport (hidden city under Waterdeep), or Shadowdale.
Each meeting being an excuse to have a nice synopsis of some aspect of the Realms, its people and history.

   Also, special wink from Jeff Grubb to authors Ed Greenwood and Julia Martin.
(Who wrote some of the F.R. novels together)

Ed (Greenwood), Marco Volo & Julia (Martin)

 Strange thing is that Khelben Blackstaff, high magus and one of the known lords of Waterdeep (left guy on the cover) is not appearing in the story...
...as well as the cover style differ totally from the comic...
All that in order to puzzle the reader imo... no one would expect to see the guys from D&DC here, heh.



 Second Limited Edition issue seems to be The Serpent's Eye. I base this thinking on the shape of the "logo" in the upper left corner, which is (but the character) similar to The Grand Tour one.


 Story by Ed Stark and art by Dave Gross. Both are average imo.
We re put into some mini-quest involving Jahan, emir of Khourane, his uncle Khalil El-Faran and Marlae baroness of Roesone trying to retrieve the Serpent's eye (A powerful artifact belonging to the mentionned Serpent, an awnsheghlien, monstrous semi-deity)


 Birthright is a rpg-system based on the principle of divine bloodline.
Long ago, on the planet Aebrynis, more especially on the Cerilia continent, a war occured between elves and humans. During the battle on Mount Deismaar, the gods themselves took part of the melee and a bunch of good gods sacrified themselves in order to kick the bad bad god Azrai's ass. This ended in a cataclysmic fight in which all the gods (good and evil) were destroyed.
But the divine core having not been totally wiped out, it infiltrated the blood of the present fighters, the nearest and strongest of them receiving more power.
The most powerful of them became almost gods themselves and developped special divine attributes, making them natural leaders.
Some of them turned aberrations, like the Serpent or the Spider.

 I never had the chance to play Birthright and the few I learnt about this world was what I read in novels. (5 of them have been translated into french years ago)

 This comic story is in the line of the novels, not very funny, not very interesting, with not very charismatic characters... we re far from the richness of worlds as Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance.

 Now, I am sure it s a perfect game system to build some über toon... or for those who like the system of bloodline... but well we cut the head of our aristocracy 2 centuries ago here... froggy talking :P
Anyway, the job has been done with this comic. 
You want a glimpse of B.R. ? Read it.



 In comparaison, Labyrinth of Madness is a really nice issue that fits more in the tone of these Limited Editions.


Writer : Mike Barron         Penciller : Arnie Swekel
 The story, based on an adventure module originally written by Monte Cook, is about adventurers on a quest to rescue their buddy, captive in some hellish trapped dungeon.

The adventure module

 It s somehow very alike the first cartoon ads story. Typical D&D party in some dungeon crawl on which you add a serious amount of comedy.
As characters, we have the captive one... Sorril the Paladin trapped in the deepest level of the labyrinth by the very evil Aerthun, a titan who s some mix between a giant and a cobra...
...and the rescue team composed of its leader and wizard Kirtig, Shardeus a female paladin, the 2 dwarves brothers : Dharveth the fighter and Dwelhach the Cleric and the indispensable and so murphy-ish Jedin, the halfling rogue.

 All the elements of a playable adventure are here... the random encounters, the puzzles, the temptating pathes full of traps, the treasures and the mega-boss at the end. Plus, the story is livened up with a very plesant style of drawing that matches the tone of the narrative.

Labyrinth of Madness - Double page

 In the end it s a really nice way to get an overview of what you can expect on a night spent D&D gaming around a table with your weirdo friends. (you ll never play RPG with only "normal guys"... that can t be :P)

 Take adventures, fights againts incredible monsters, achievements (unbelievable fails too heh)... and some ladles of fun and humour with a grain of salt. Put all that together, add the unlimited possibilities of your imagination and that s it.
You get what AD&D was intended to be imo.

   An online version of this comic can be found on WotC website. 


The fourth and last one ever released is Fifth Age.


Writers : Tom & Mary Bierbaum        Penciller : Arnie Swekel

 Inspired by the novel Dragons of a Summer Flame by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman, the story depicts the moment when Palin, son of Caramon and Tika Majere discovers the "new magic" while elves of Qualinesti are under the domination of Beryllinthranox, the great green dragon.
After the War of the Lance followed by the Chaos War, ancient gods are gone as well as the three moons. There is no more magic of good, neutral and evil. The reign of great wirms has come and the people of Krynn are in desperate needs of power to fight them.

 Palin, sorcerer apprentice and nephew of the legendary doomed Archmage Raistlin Majere, was told by ancient god of good, Paladine, that he was the one who will find the new source of magic.

 The story is pretty serious in comparaison of other limited edition issues. I do believe Dragonlance is more a world of legends than one of adventures. The War of the Lance is somehow very similar to Tolkien's Lord of the Ring. If the 2 stories have different plots, their tones is pretty serious in the end.

 That explains, imo, that this limited issue was not written to be lighthearted.
It is a nice introduction to the new campaign setting of Dragonlance.
The quality of the graphics as well as the narration are pretty correct. (even if find that Beryl's design is a bit childish, reminding me of the 1982 animated movie "The Flight of Dragons"...ok, I admit I am maybe going too far here... :P)

 It also seems that artist Arnie Swekel has some speciality in the use of double page spreads... requiring the reader to turn the comic to continue his reading...

Fifth Age - Double page

 If I ve read the Dragonlance Chronicles novels with delight years ago, I am not an expert concerning the Fifth Age. So I can t say if this little story and the novels are well matched or not and at which degree of accuracy. But at first sight, it seems pretty correct to me.

 As well as all the other limited editions issues, besides the story itself, the comic is full of chosen ads about Dragonlance materials as upcoming novels or modules. Which is pretty coherent considering they were AD&D's campaign settings dedicated promotional goodies... (QED... or not XD)

   An online version of this comic can be found on WotC website. 

  This Limited Edition line is a must-to-have for any D&D comics collector in the meaning it gives,  in  only 4 issues (5 if you count the lost planescape comic...), a very large panel of what was AD&D in late 90's.

O_oV

2011/01/05

Dungeons & Dragons vintage treasures - part 5

And now, Ladies and Gentlemen... tududududu (drums beats... XD)... back from the 90's (or before... well in the end of the XXth century ! :P), here it is... tududududu (...XD²)... the legendary, the unique...

...Al Qadim Campaign cloth patch !!

Ouch... isn t it.

I am missing words to describe this sooo unique item...

    As for the baseball cap... I d never had the idea to get this "masterpiece" into my collection if I hadn t been mesmerised by this damn ebay XD... But you know the drill... it s always the same... you were looking for something in particular and... tadaaaam... the thing was there in the search list, just in front of your exhausted eyes... and curiosity is a powerful vice... so (?!) you click on details... and the thing is getting huge on your screen... shiny... attractive... almost whispering :

"just a few bucks dude... so few... I ll be your precious... hurry ! they re all after me !" o____O

   And you clicked that damn "BUY NOW" button before ya even had the idea to resist the call...  T____T
...and some days after...a bubble-wrapped letter arrives at yours... you open it... Et voila... a cloth patch in your hand, 2 in fact, I got a TSR logo one too... O_oV
Totally useless, not so shiny... and of course quickly dumped on some shelf...

*sigh*


   After some searches on the net it appears other D&D licensed logos have been adapted into cloth patches. Also exist the TSR, D&D, AD&D 2nd, Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Spelljammer, Ravenloft, DarkSun and Dragonlance ones. (cf Tome of Treasures database)


And within all these, imo, for sure Al Qadim logo is the worst... I mean why did they add this "CAMPAIGN" under the logo ?!?

Young collector, of your own compulsive click, distrust you have to... :P

EDIT (Nov.2018) : Of course (gah! XD), in the past decade, I did found some other ones to add to my collection. I then managed to get the Forgotten Realms, SpellJammer, AD&D 2nd Ed. and Dragonlance ones (this last one remaining unlisted at Tome of Treasure btw).