Homage: 2022
The completed cartoon homage to Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse
There are two legends of D&D on the cover to Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse. The first it the titular wizard, Mordenkainen, who is a central figure in the lore of the world of Greyhawk, and whose name has been attached to several quintessential spells in D&D throughout the editions. The other is the astral dreadnought that looms in the background of the cover painting. Originally introduced to D&D players on the cover of the 1987 Manual of the Planes (although it wasn’t given a full write-up and game stats until the 1995 Planescape Monstrous Compendium II).
Oh yeah, and there’s also kirin. (Unlucky for that creature from Japanese folklore to get third billing, but that’s what happens when you play in the big leagues.)
It’s no mean feat meant to convey a sense of scale that ranges from a single human to a gargantuan monstrosity to the infinite possibility of the planes of existence, but Greg Rutkowski pulled it off beautifully. I’m not sure my cartoon homage is quite as successful in that regard, but I think it puts in a good effort.
Begun during my interview with Chris Perkins in Episode 53 of the show, the homage is now complete and brings me one step closer to completing the initial goal of this project—doing one drawing to celebrate each year of D&D’s history. But since I'm keeping the series going anyway, one of these days I’ll have to try my hand at doing an interpretation of the original Manual of the Planes cover, too. Then I can have dueling astral dreadnoughts … and how cool would THAT be?!?
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