mdr003 wrote in Just heard a rumour about Dave Trampier:I drove down to Carbondale yesterday, and went to see Scott at Castle Perilous. Scott seems like a great guy - he's been running the store for 10-15 years I think. In that time he met Tramp a total of three times - once back in 2008 or so when Valley Games published an updated version of Titan, Dave dropped by the store to take a look at what they did to his game; then he came by again about 6 months ago, and again about a month back.Six months ago he came into the store and asked if he could put up a flyer - he had a few pieces of artwork he wanted to sell. The flyer advertised the DM screen piece, plus some Star Frontiers interiors. He called the store after a week to see if there had been any interest - there had not. But Scott said he'd like to buy a few pieces, and went to Dave's home and bought the SF interiors, and also a painting that was originally slated to be the box cover art for Titan (it was changed out to the minotaur with flail at the last minute).Then a month back, Dave called the store and asked Scott if he was interested in any more art - the DM screen was still available, and he was also planning to sell three Wormy originals plus an abstract piece he had. Scott went to Dave's home again and purchased the DM screen and the three Wormy's. While he was there he invited Dave to attend the local convention that was coming up in mid April - and Dave tentatively agreed to come along and display his art.A week before the convention Scott tried to call Dave to arrange the display for that weekend, but got no answer - and the next day he saw the obituary in the local paper.I talked to Scott for a while - he's a friendly guy, he grew up playing D&D and has a lot of respect for Tramp. He tried to line Dave up with Troll Lord Games to get the Wormy compilation published, but ran out of time. He has spoken to Dave's wife and passed on the TLG details - he says that she seems interested in getting something done, but who knows. Apart from the three Wormy panels that Scott bought (and would make available for any project), the other panels are all safe and in storage.The art itself is as you would expect - fantastically done. The DM screen was done primarily in marker I think, maybe with some acrylics also - it's unbelievable the results he got, it's an amazing piece of art. The Wormy strips are brilliant - superb colouring and attention to detail.Dave didn't talk at all to Scott about his time at TSR, except that he was adamant that any current initiative to publish Wormy today could not use TSR, WotC or any affiliated company. Scott says he didn't seem angry, or bitter - just that he chooses not to have any dealings with those companies.Scott says that Dave arrived in Carbondale aound 1995 or so. He drove a cab for quite some time, until the company he drove for went under a year or two back due to some shady tax practices by the owner. Since then I'm not sure how he made ends meet - I'm guessing that the recent moves to sell some of his art was at least partly necessitated by the need to eat, as well as medical treatment.I took a drive while I was in town, and went by Dave's house, and the old taxi cooperative. Apart from the college, there isn't much else keeping Carbondale on the map. Although I asked Scott where I could get something to eat for lunch, and he recommended a vegetarian place down the street which turned out to be much better than I was expecting - really great food and atmosphere. Since he updated his blog on the Castle Perilous website, Scott has received a couple of offers to buy the artwork - serious money type offers, especially for the DM screen piece. So far he has decided to keep hold of the colour pieces but I think he would be prepared to sell the SF art.I was there for maybe 2-3 hours in all - Carbondale is 350 miles away so a pretty long day by the time I got home. I was really glad I went though, Scott is a great guy and was happy to tell me all he knew about David, and seeing the artwork up close was phenomenal. I hope that Dave's widow is able to connect with a suitable publisher like TLG and work out a deal that would see the Wormy compilation appear 25 years after it should have.I suggested to Scott that if possible, it would be great if he could make the trip up to LG for next year's GaryCon, and put up a display of the artwork he has. He says he will try and get there next year if his schedule allows it.RegardsMike
