Howdy -

Everytime I log into the forums, I see everyone's avatars and I wonder about what they are - what is it, where did it come from, why did the user select that particular image?

For a long time, I used the following picture as my avatar -



It's a panel from Tramp's Wormy strip. I can't remember which issue of Dragon it was from, one of the very early ones I think. Some dwarves had come to steal Wormy's gold, but after he squashed most of them one survivor ran off into a complex of caves. He stumbles into a room of ogres (Rudy, Otis etc). They look at each other for a moment and then all leap up as one.

I chose it because I'm a huge fan of Dave Trampier, and those early Wormy strips had some of the best examples of his work. And I felt that the ogres represent what we all feel when rare and unique D&D items turn up on ebay.

After the recent upgrade to the forums, I thought it was a good time to make a change. My new avatar is the logo Tramp used for his short lived company Gorgonstar. I had a crokinole board made up a couple of years ago and had the design painted on. The minotaur is the central image with icons from the counters arranged around the board. Here's a shot of the whole board:



Crokinole is a traditional Canadian game involving disc flicking, and usually beer. There are a few people about who make boards by hand, and I chose someone who uses a local painter who can add custom designs.

There are plenty of avatars in use that I'd be keen to hear more about. So - what's your avatar all about? And why did you chose it for the acaeum forums?

Regards
Mike

I've finally settled on a new one (I think). It's part of the cover art for the early-'80s Apple ][ computer "RPG" Ultima II, by Lord British (the name of one of Garriott's early D&D characters). I played all of these (up to VI) back in the day, and have probably logged almost as many hours on them as I have playing AD&D. The connection to D&D is that Richard Garriott, the author, although he entitled his first computer game "Akalabeth" (a.k.a. Ultima 0) when it went on the market, originally called it "D&D 28b" (evidently he had gone through a number of iterations). The early Ultimas (I - III) all had options to play the usual D&D races and classes.

As you can see from the art, the early games were a mishmash of fantasy and scifi (there are space shuttles, phasors, etc. alongside maces and orcs and dragons), much like early D&D and the other pen-and-paper games it inspired. Ultima II is kind of like Time Bandits meets Expedition to the Barrier Peaks meets Arduin on a cocktail of espresso and Lebanese blonde.

Cover art from Starstone... because it's the best module I've ever read (and a quite nice piece of art too).

Willie the dragon from Snarfquest. I wanted to use Suthaze, but most of the ones I found needed more context to make a modicum of sense. As I get more into the art part of collecting (in the appreciation sense, not the buying sense- down the art collecting road can only lead to divorce or physical harm for me) I might change it. Good idea for a thread, I have been wondering that too.

Zach

A sketch drawn for me (commission) for a PC/NPC (Mage/Thief) I ran for a long while in the 90's through an on-line RPG by message board site.
I have several paper and electronic sketches of that character which were produced through the commission.
They show the PC in various aspects and stages of the PCs life.
Background: Bar girl's illegitimate child, child slave, housekeeper for and eventually...
As a PC: apprentice to a forgetful/clumsy mage, beggar, apprentice thief and disguise artist, and adventurer.
As an NPC: adventurer's supply and general store owner, city council member and leader of the thieves guild.

In the larger version of the sketch you can see the shadowed image of a figure looking down from the rooftop behind the beggar.
It is the beggar's lookout and trainer.
Beggar's lesson one:  always leave a couple of half pennies in the bowl, and grab/hide the larger coins almost before they hit the bowl.

Just some random chick.

The cover from Alternate Reality: The Dungeon, one of the best RPG games ever produced back in the last 1980's. for the Atari and Commodore. Hundreds of happy hours spent solving all the quests. I recently discovered emulators that can turn your PC back into an old Atari allowing you to play these games again, magic!

chrisdeputron wrote:The cover from Alternate Reality: The Dungeon, one of the best RPG games ever produced back in the last 1980's. for the Atari and Commodore. Hundreds of happy hours spent solving all the quests. I recently discovered emulators that can turn your PC back into an old Atari allowing you to play these games again, magic!

Awesome game.  Were you aware that you can get these games for your IPhone/IPad?

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/alternat ... 97622?mt=8

FormCritic wrote:How do I get a picture to post here?  I can't seem to work out how to do it.

Just e-mail your picture to the site admin and ask him nicely to post it for you (that's what I need to do again btw...).