Troll Lord Games

aka Dave Trampier, artist of the Iconic 1E AD&D PH cover, the Wormy comic, and much more....

RIP

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thesou ... ge=10&ln=T

Sad. I suppose we'll never know why he left the RPG business. I suppose we can guess.

Aergraith wrote:Sad. I suppose we'll never know why he left the RPG business. I suppose we can guess.

Its a sad story, that people are not allowed to repeat when they get told. By people who weren't supposed to repeat the story. Tom Wham knows, as do other TSR people. Go to conventions they attend, hang out with them, and eventually you will hear a story...

Man, that sucks. He was just coming back, too.

Emirikol the Chaotic is one of the most iconic D&D art works ever.

AGNKim wrote:Man, that sucks. He was just coming back, too.

Emirikol the Chaotic is one of the most iconic D&D art works ever.

Here is the real life street used as inspiration....

Treebore wrote:

Aergraith wrote:Sad. I suppose we'll never know why he left the RPG business. I suppose we can guess.

Its a sad story, that people are not allowed to repeat when they get told. By people who weren't supposed to repeat the story. Tom Wham knows, as do other TSR people. Go to conventions they attend, hang out with them, and eventually you will hear a story...

Its not that big of a secret, is it? I just heard it was some poor treatment & disagreements, so he would not return to do rpg art, Wormy, etc.
Any way, a sad shame. I loved Wormy. Did it ever have a real end? Emirikol the Chaotic is just awesome, a true rpg icon.

If I recall, Wormy ended in media res. Author Existence Failure ensures there will never be an end.

BLOOD AXE wrote:

Treebore wrote:

Aergraith wrote:Sad. I suppose we'll never know why he left the RPG business. I suppose we can guess.

Its a sad story, that people are not allowed to repeat when they get told. By people who weren't supposed to repeat the story. Tom Wham knows, as do other TSR people. Go to conventions they attend, hang out with them, and eventually you will hear a story...

Its not that big of a secret, is it? I just heard it was some poor treatment & disagreements, so he would not return to do rpg art, Wormy, etc.
Any way, a sad shame. I loved Wormy. Did it ever have a real end? Emirikol the Chaotic is just awesome, a true rpg icon.

Sure, we can go with that. It covers it in broad brush strokes, which is all we really need to know anyways.

RIP. We're losing all these guys.

Fiffergrund wrote:RIP. We're losing all these guys.

No kidding. The Boomers are dropping like flies. Creative but, short lived generation.

Treebore wrote:aka Dave Trampier, artist of the Iconic 1E AD&D PH cover, the Wormy comic, and much more....

RIP

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thesou ... ge=10&ln=T

Updated link as he rolled off the page.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thesou ... &fhid=8429

I've heard stories from 3 or 4 sources. I do recall that he drove a cab and/or dispatched in Carbondale, Illinois. He may have been doing this even recently, but I don't know for sure. I frequent a game store over there (12-13 years about an hour and 15 away from where I live). That's one of the first times I heard that Trampier lived there. Also, True Dungeon is based out Carbondale. Randomly met two of their volunteers at a Steak n' Shake a year or two ago. We discussed Trampier, as well. Briefly spoke with Tom Wham about Trampier (at Game Hole). I didn't ask about specifics. It was mainly me praising his contributions to D&D. Tom, I think, was relted by marriage at one point. Anyway, one of my earlier sources may have indicated what they heard regarding him leaving TSR and his art altogether. If true, it's not some sort of earth-shattering juicy gossip or anything like that. I don't wish to divulge what I was told because it might not be true, and more importantly, the man's personal life is private. *disclaimer* As I said earlier, it wasn't anything shocking, controversial, or otherwise. I think castleperilous.com has a blog regarding trampier. They're in Carbondale, too. Anyway, I hope David's post-TSR years were good for him. I was occasionally tempted to look him up while visiting Carbondale (6-10 times a year), but I assumed he probably wanted to be left alone. Either way, I'm saddened by this news, just as I was by the loss of Gygax, Arneson, Moldvay, Rosloff, Sutherland III, Allston, among others.

The only thing I ever heard about DAT's leaving the business was an offhand comment by Wham or Mentzer about religious beliefs. Is it true? Who knows. It is sad that his is gone but so goes life.

Additional links are at this post on The Acaeum: http://www.acaeum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14230

After a quick skim of the Castle Perilous blog (on a non-smart phone), did I read correctly that Dave was to be a guest at the upcoming Egypt Wars in Carbondale, Illinois?? Wow. As always, TLG was going to be in attendance. What an honor it would have been for me to have met him. I was completely surprised that we were mentioned, and that he was going to be there. I talked to the con organizer less than a week ago, and had no clue. This gathering is usually under 200 people, and would have been an intimate setting for meeting guests. I knew Stephen had sent some material to Mr. Trampier sometime back. Heard part of the story at GenCon this year. Didn't know that Scott (of Castle Perilous Games) was involved, and what "maybe" could have been after this year's Egypt Wars next month. I need to go by Castle Perilous when I'm traveling through Illinois tomorrow night. Want to see the original dm screen art on display. I bet some of the really serious TSR collectors and Mr. Mentzer (involved with many auctions) will be keeping an eye on this. I guess the holy grail would be the original art for the 77-83 phb. I digress, it's still a huge loss for gaming enthusiasts and his friends and loved ones.

Dammit. Way too young!

And sad, given his decision to be a cab driver rather than what he really was ~ an excellent artist.