RIP Dave Trampier (1 Viewer)

[S. A. Gaston]

I didn't see a thread on this yet, apologies if I've missed one.

David A. Trampier passed away this week. He made some of the most iconic D&D illustrations, including the 1st ed Player's Handbook Cover and Emirikol the Chaotic, and a ton of monsters from the 1st ed Monster Manual. He was also the cartoonist of Wormy, from Dragon magazine back in the day.

He disappeared suddenly in the late '80s, surfacing in the early 2000s in Carbondale, IL, and apparently wanted nothing at all to do with gaming or illustration or reprinting his cartoons. He passed away this week.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_A._Trampier

http://skylandgames.wordpress.com/2013/02/18/the-strange-case-of-dave-a-trampier/

http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/haroog/archive/Archive.htm

I didn't know the name Dave Trampier as a kid, but his art was incredibly formative on my young mind as an artist and a geek. I'm running a game this weekend, and plan on adding a room with a giant demon statue with some valuable (and trapped) gems as a tribute.

And now, some art:

 

[JoeNotCharles]

This post, by someone who talked to him as recently as a couple of months ago, has some more details about why he split with TSR, which I'd never heard before: http://thecastlesramparts.blogspot.ca/2014/03/dave-trampier-wormy-artist-passes-away.html

Trampier worked as a staff artist for TSR for almost a decade... leaving the company in the late 80s, after he felt the company reneged on an agreement to publish the first volume of a collection of Wormy. I do not know what he did for the next several years, but about 1998, he started driving a cab for Yellow Taxi in Carbondale.

...

During this period, he adamantly refused to have anything to do with the gaming industry, politely rebuffing any inquiries from companies wanting to publish Wormy. He only came into the store once, back about 2008, when Valley Games printed a new edition of Titan, which he co-designed (with Jason McAllister), in order to see a copy of the game.

I next heard from him a couple of months ago, after he had a stroke and Yellow Taxi shut down due to tax problems. He wanted to sell some artwork in order to cover some expenses, so I bought several pieces from him and discussed the possibility of publishing the Wormy collection. He was quite interested in doing so, asking about Kickstarter or companies that might be interested in working with him to bring the book into print. I suggested Troll Lord Games, who had tried contacting him several years ago about re-publishing Wormy and he was interested, though he still harbored hard feelings towards TSR and WOTC, as he wanted to make certain that Troll Lord Games had no connection to either company. He never moved forward any further on that front though, understandable as his doctors detected cancer and his health deteriorated.

 

[S. A. Gaston]

Thanks for that.

 

[Sleeper]

That's a shame. Emirikol the Chaotic is one of the most iconic images from 1st edition, but the cover of the AD&D Players Handbook might just be the single most iconic piece of art in the history of RPGs. It has a few technical flaws, but that in no way impairs its impact.

The reason the cover is so effective is because it perfectly captures the old school experience. The image starts by refusing to take the easy route: It doesn't present a few pretty people staring at the camera, or striking a pose while a monster attacks. Instead, Trampier gives us a scene of the mundane. Greed and violence brought the party to the room, but we don't see the fight, just the moments after a fight. The bodies, the casual chatting, the stretchers, the thieves prying a gem from an idol's eye... it isn't just a scene focused on few figures in the forefront, with a generic background image; it's more like a medieval triptych. Trampier's image wraps from the cover, across the spine, and fills the entire back cover as well. And the whole creates a tableau of consequences, with many characters, interacting and reacting in their own way to the violence that came before.

 

[Cave Bear]

That has to be my favorite Rakshasa illustration ever.

Does anybody know anything about the falling out between Trampier and TSR? What was that all about?

 

[Seroster]

*siiiigh*

Ugh, wanted to post a Wormy comic here, but I can't figure out the spoiler block. AGAIN.

 

[MonsterMash]

He was one of those artists who defined how D&D 'should look' for me all those years ago. Sad news.

 

[Particle_Man]

I like to think of him as having found his way into the new universe that was pictured in the last published Wormy comic.

 

[RecycledGrognard]

This is sad news. I'd hoped for decades to see more Wormy, and now it'll definitively never happen.

 

[Flexi]

His creations inspired my young imagination on playing my first rpg. Sad news indeed.