This week I’m back with some more vintage ads from the pages of Dragon magazine. This week I’m looking at issue #83, from March of 1984 and featuring cover art by Denis Beauvais.

As I’ve previously mentioned, unless you happened to live in close proximity to a local gaming store, it was likely that you would have never been exposed to many of these products. However, by 1984 Dragon Magazine could readily be found on the shelves of Waldenbooks or B. Dalton locations in almost any suburban mall. This helped to spread the word of diverse offerings in the TTRPG market to more casual fans.

Atlantean War Mastodon

Kicking things off is this striking mini from Ral Partha Enterprises. Ral Partha was a prominent manufacturer of miniatures for TTRPGS and wargames at the time.  This ad showcases the company’s new additions to their range of fantasy miniatures.

It’s not really clear whether the Atlantean War Mastodon was intended for TTRPGs or fantasy wargaming, though I suppose it may have found a home with either. I’ve always been fascinated with the whole wargaming scene but I’ve never had the time (or money) to take a deep dive into the hobby. I will say that back during this time period, it was common to see all manner of miniature wargames represented even at local gaming conventions.

The miniatures of the time were typically made of metal (often lead or a lead alloy) and were sculpted at a scale compatible with most RPGs (often 25mm, as specified in the ad).

Witch Hunt

Next up we have an ad for an RPG titled Witch Hunt, which supposedly allowed players to take on the role of either magistrates or witches (presumably with access to real magic) during the Salem Witch Trials.

I have no recollection of this game or the publisher StatCom Simulations Inc. However, I found some interesting information about it over at Wayne’s Books. If you’re not familiar with his site, it’s worth a look, especially if you like peeking back at some of these old titles.

The main reason I chose to include this ad in particular was to point out what a diverse selection of games were being churned out in the 1980s. There’s just something magical to me when I think about all of these people (at a time when very few people even owned a home computer) creating these games and throwing their hats into the ring.

Villains & Vigilantes  

Of the ads I’ve selected for this post, Villains & Vigilantes probably saw the most mainstream success. It was also the only one of these products that I happened to own at the time. Designed by Jack Herman and Jeff Dee and published by Fantasy Games Unlimited, V&V was one of the earliest TTRPGS to tap into the superhero genre.

As you might expect, the game prompted characters to create their own heroes to adventure with, using easily recognizable powers. The game was available as a boxed set, which included an introductory adventure, a reference screen, and dice. The game stuck around for quite a while and was supported with a number of adventure modules and at least a couple “rogues gallery”-type publications featuring colorful NPCs for use with the game.

As a teen, I was immediately drawn to the Jeff Dee art in all of the products. Jeff also provided art for a number of D&D and AD&D products during this time period.

DM’s Records

Again, just adding this one because I love the entrepreneurial spirit of it all. Here we have an ad for various “DM’s Records” for monster, spell, and party stats, as well as a time record sheet. These were almost certainly created for D&D or AD&D and churned out there, in hopes of them catching on. I love looking back and seeing stuff like this. I hope they sold a bunch.

Game Master

This period of the 1980s saw one of the first big influxes of home computing. While still not commonplace in every household, owning a computer was certainly something that was becoming popular. As you might expect, the crossover between home computer users and TTRPG hobbyists was considerable. Even a couple years prior to this I can recall sitting in a Radio Shack with my buddies and gleefully generating random d20 rolls on a TRS-80. Game Master, the product featured in this ad, was an early application for managing your D&D game.

Conclusion

That’ll do it for this week. Covid knocked me out last week, so I needed to get myself back into the saddle. Have you had any encounters with any of these products? Did reading through these bring back memories of any others? Leave me a note and let me know. Thanks for taking the time to visit. In the meantime, stay warm and good gaming!

For maps & plot hooks, go here.

For my Idea Chest posts, go here.

For some random tables, go here.

Want to help me to compile a list of TTRPG conventions? Click here.

Finally, for a bit about me and some general stuff, this is the spot.