Erol Otus was not the only early Dungeons and Dragons illustrator who was capturing the creepy, unworldly feel of the monsters and situations that so many of us consider representative of the old-school D&D game.David Trampier drew this picture of the Remorhaz. While the Remorhaz never made an appearance in any of the games I refereed, I was a player in a D&D session of Module G2, Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl. As my son would say ... interesting anecdote: in my younger days, I thought Jarl was the name of the Chief of the Frost Giants, rather than his title. His name was actually Grugnur.
Who knew.
I wonder if Grugnur was a tip of the hat to Grignr, hero of the legendarily awful story The Eye of Argon. (A woman is described as having a "lithe, opaque nose").
ReplyDeleteA classic. It might be considered old school heresy but I've always preferred Trampier over Otus.
ReplyDeleteI always preferred Tramp to Otus.
ReplyDeleteAnd I also thought that Jarl was the Chief's name, so you aren't alone there.
I've never noticed before, but the remorhaz kinda has a fu manchu moustache--which only adds to his inscrutable menance. ;)
ReplyDeleteThe original design for the remorhaz was by Otus in The Dragon #2 - see here, for example. The iconic Monster Manual image is thus Tramp's take on an Otus creation.
ReplyDeleteOk, now you need to post the original Otus rendition :) Was it in Dragon Magazine?
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's it. Dragon 2 :)
ReplyDeleteThat would explain why this has such a strong Otus vibe.
ReplyDeleteI'm still pretty confident that Otus (and Tramp) were drawing the Remora from the Conan tale, "Lair of the Ice Worm".
I really like Tramp's work, but I was always Otus first. Nothing says old-school D&D like a picture where EVERYTHING has a sharp point on it...even the hair
ReplyDeleteYou know, I've done the frost giant rift adventure a couple of times, and those were the two only times I used the Rem (I rarely have snowy land adventures). Love the beast. And awesome, fierce art by Tramp. One of the iconic D&D images for me.
ReplyDeletePeople: stop liking Trampier more than Otus, or Otus more than Trampier! It's very upsetting. It's like saying that you like mommy better than daddy, or vice versa.
ReplyDeletePeople: stop liking Trampier more than Otus, or Otus more than Trampier! It's very upsetting. It's like saying that you like mommy better than daddy, or vice versa.
ReplyDeleteSo what does that make some of the others, like Sutherland, Dee, Roslof and Willingham, Darlene Pekul and Will McLean?
:D