Homage: 1997
Here, after a bit of a delay, is the cartoon homage to King of the Giantdowns, begun during Episode 25.
While I was talking with Thomas M. Reid during Episode 25, I started working on a cartoon homage to Tony Szczudlo’s cover painting for the Birthright adventure King of the Giantdowns (written by Ed Stark, who was a guest in Episode 4).
Birthright was the last of the big campaign settings for AD&D 2E, launched in 1995, so it only had a little more than a year on the market before the collapse of TSR began. It never really had a chance to find its footing, which is a real shame. In some ways it was the setting that was truest to D&D’s medieval roots, and the furthest from the game’s usual style of plan. The PCs were nobles from the courts of various kingdoms and had responsibilities and powers tied to their homelands. It was a game of quests and intrigue, but still had ancient ruins for the PCs to explore and legendary monsters for them to fight.
Birthright products had an appropriately distinctive style, with most featuring cover paintings by Tony Szczudlo. They gave the people of Cerilia a sense of verisimilitude—the armor, furs, and even weapons felt like items you would actually find in a real world museum—even in an image like the one above, featuring a spectral king rising and attacking a group of adventurers that includes an elf.
That kind of realism is beyond my artistic skills, but I did have a good time trying to capturing the air of high adventure, and classical construction of the characters, their clothing, and the architecture of this scene.
As a subscriber to this newsletter, you’re seeing this art before it is released for general consumption. You also have the option to buy an art print of this or any of the cartoon homages (and if you’re a paid subscriber, you get a discount on those purchases).
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