Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Melee Microgame Counters: Bell-Bottoms Spectacular

Melee has a copyright date of 1977. Coincidentally, that is also the year that the movie, Saturday Night Fever, is released. Quite a few of the characters depicted on the Melee microgame counters seem to be sporting bell-bottoms, but I will let you be the ultimate judge.


Here's a counter for the two-headed giant. Giants in Melee take up three hexes, which allows you to surround him with a greater number of figures. That's a good thing, because a single hit from a Melee giant is enough to kill most single-hex characters. He may be a brute, but this giant has excellent 70's fashion sense. Not only is he wearing some snazzy bell-bottoms, but his belt-buckle is the envy of the disco-hall. My only fear is that he will trip on those bell-bottoms and crush one of my characters.


And here we have four figures, representing an archer, a crossbowman, a pikeman with shield, and a greatswordswoman. For most guys in the Melee universe, going topless seems to be very chic. The ladies are generally wearing pants, but weren't pant-suits cutting edge in the 1970's? I'll have to do a little Mary Tyler Moore research to confirm that for myself.

22 comments:

Jeremy Deram said...

I'm definitely going to have to place some magical bell-bottom pants in the next adventure I run!

Eric R. Wirsing said...

(To the tune of "Bell Bottom Blues" by Derek & the Dominoes):

Bell bottom blues, you made me cry.
I don’t want to lose this combat.
And if I could choose a place to die
Wouldn't be in this dungeon...

Seriously, I never really looked at the counters with a critical eye before. I will certainly never look at them the same way again LOL

ze bulette said...

Hmm, that could almost be a disco ball above that ettin..

Trey said...

Discos & Dragons?

Roger G-S said...

God, I totally forgot about the Melee bellbottoms. Those were simpler days - the fashion inspiration for 3rd ed D&D art was apparently those over-the-top fantasy weapons and armor you can buy in a mall shop.

Anonymous said...

Maybe the artist just sucked at drawing feet.

Jeff Rients said...

I think I'm going to have to have a bell-bottom wearing ettin in my next Encounter Critical game.

BigFella said...

Bellbottoms!

HeeYEAH!

Sean Robson said...

God, I love that two-headed disco giant!

John Matthew Stater said...

"two-headed disco giant" is the single best thing I've read today. Thanks to everyone involved in bringing that phrase to my attention.

Aaron E. Steele said...

Aplus said...
I'm definitely going to have to place some magical bell-bottom pants in the next adventure I run!

Make sure that only the ladies can wear them though.

Aaron E. Steele said...

steelcaress said...
Seriously, I never really looked at the counters with a critical eye before. I will certainly never look at them the same way again LOL

Its interesting what certain people in the OSR are fixated on, isn't it?

:D

Aaron E. Steele said...

ze bulette said...
Hmm, that could almost be a disco ball above that ettin..

A gothic disco ball.

Aaron E. Steele said...

Trey said...
Discos & Dragons?

Thank you for theming my next mega-dungeon sub-level!

Aaron E. Steele said...

Roger the GS said...
God, I totally forgot about the Melee bellbottoms. Those were simpler days.

We were less uptight back then!

Aaron E. Steele said...

Gratuitous Saxon Violence said...
Maybe the artist just sucked at drawing feet.

That's good! No, if anything it might have been simple laziness, though I think it was more likely the style of the time that inspired the funky bell-bottom trousers.

Aaron E. Steele said...

Sean Robson said...
God, I love that two-headed disco giant!

If you like this giant, what til I post the "oops, I crapped my pants" giant.

Aaron E. Steele said...

Matt said...
"two-headed disco giant" is the single best thing I've read today. Thanks to everyone involved in bringing that phrase to my attention.

That, and Trey's "Discos & Dragons" were chuckle-worthy!

Aaron E. Steele said...

Jeff Rients said...
I think I'm going to have to have a bell-bottom wearing ettin in my next Encounter Critical game.

Awesome!

Aaron E. Steele said...

BigFella said...
HeeYEAH!

Great video, thanks for the link!

Liz said...

ROFLMAO! Speaking as the artist who did those now-so-silly bell bottoms, I agree with you all that this is a hoot. Even Steve (Jackson) remarked on it at the time.

I did kinda suck at drawing feet back then, but also it gave a smoothness to the "look" that felt natural (back then) because EVERYONE wore them (sorry guys, it was both genders wearin' em). As was noted on the previous post here, making a clean simple icon for the tiny chits was a challenge.

Two-headed disco giant and "Discos and Dragons" are soooo going into my resume. Who else could possibly make such a claim??? Thanks for the look back.

Aaron E. Steele said...

Appreciate you filling in the details for us. I figured it was most likely simply the style at the time that inspired the bell-bottoms.

This is one of my favorite games of my youth. Thanks for making the art so memorable!