Advanced DnD Monster Manual: Trampier Harpy

The other day I posted a Harpy illustration from the 1977 DnD Monster and Treasure Assortment accessory. Chevski and Spielmeister noted that it appeared to be a David A. Trampier piece. Well, here's further evidence supporting that. The Harpy from the AD&D Monster Manual. It has the same feathered body, hair and shaded wings as the illustration from the M&TA, and is signed with "DAT".



I was visiting The Sentry Box several days ago, and happened upon an old Goodman Games "Dungeon Classics" module, that features Harpies. I will have to pick that up, to see if it is any good.
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And Still More Harpies

I swear, i'm just trying to get Harpies out of my blood.



Here comes another Harpy, this time from the pages of the Dungeons & Dragons Monster & Treasure Assortment, Sets One-Three: Levels One-Nine, published in 1977.


Looking at the M&TA, I came across another Harpy illustration. Perhaps someone can tell me, who is the artist?


According to the tables in the M&TA, Harpies do not appear until Dungeon level 4. That gives players lots of time to find an antidote or protection from the charm ability of Harpies.


Edit: James Chevski and Spielmeister opine that this may be a David A. Trampier piece. I am inclined to agree, although the drooping fingers and the nail on the thumb of the free hand, the over-long arms, the elbows, the dagger hand with its awkward flexion, the wavy dagger ... they all contribute to an unsettling Erol Otus feel to the art.
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Appendix N: The Maker Of Universes

I have a particular fondness for Philip Jose Farmer's The Maker of Universes, and several of the other books in the World of Tiers series.

The Maker of Universes was one of my earliest introductions to adult fantasy literature, as I first read this novel while still in grade school, but just after my introduction to a little game called Dungeons and Dragons.

James “Chevski” over at Grognardia reviewed The Maker of Universes over a year ago. In his review, he described this book as an example of “classic wish-fulfillment fantasy.” While I appreciate James’ take on this novel (and by association, the series), I ascribe to it a slightly more sophisticated message of guilt, restitution and redemption.

I have not read this novel for several years, but I will try to provide an accurate summary. The Maker of Universes tells the story of one Robert Wolff, a WWII amnesia victim, now aging professor, who is viewing a new condominium development with his wife. Hearing music, he opens a closet in the condo to find a magical gate, through which he sees a red-headed youth, in a Garden of Eden setting, and dressed as an American Indian, fighting several hideous humanoids. The youth is blasting notes from a horn, and, seeing Wolff, he laughingly tosses the horn to Wolff before the magical gate closes.

Wolff, who is unhappy in his marriage and is regretting his retirement, returns to the condo and uses the remembered music notes of the horn to re-create the magical gate. The horn, you see, is the equivalent of a master key, allowing access to myriad pocket universes, based on the notes played. Wolff thus enters The World of Tiers, a disc-shaped world make up of levels, each level stacked upon the level below it. It is a pocket universe, with its own physics. It was built by one of the Lords, a member of a race of virtually immortal humans possessing incredible technologies, which include the ability to create pocket universes. Most of those Lords rule over their own universes as cruel despots, creating tricks, traps and weird monsters, and coveting the universes of other Lords.

The lowest level of this particular universe (The World of Tiers) is a veritable Garden of Eden, with unusually beautiful and exotic naked inhabitants, and food and water with apparent restorative powers, reversing the aging process, and returning Wolff to his peak physical condition (that particular feature of the novel may explain why many view this novel as classic wish fulfillment fantasy).

Shortly following Wolff’s appearance in The World of Tiers, the hideous humanoids (Gworls, surprisingly poorly-designed creations of the Lord), return, and make off with both the magical horn and one of the beauties that befriended Wolff. The Gworls are taking the horn, and the beauty, back to the Lord. Wolff decides to pursue the Gworls, initially simply to re-capture the horn so he can return to Earth. As the story progresses, his purpose evolves to that of rescuing the beauty (Chryseis) and defeating the Lord as well, and Wolff climbs up from level to level, in pursuit of his quest.

Each level has it’s own theme, such as a Garden of Eden level, American Indian level (replete with Indian tribes and Centaurs), Medieval European level (with Dragons and Castles), Meso-American level, and a Mesopotamian level. Wolff has many adventures, and meets and travels with the initially-encountered red-headed youth, Kickaha (another Earth-man, Paul Janus Finnegan by name, also trapped on The World of Tiers), encounters Podarge (a harpy, created as a result of one of the Lord’s experiments of transferring human brains into monstrous bodies) and befriends several other interesting characters who help him along the way.

Wolff ultimately confronts and overthrows the Lord, and in the process discovers the horrifying truth behind the authorship of The World of Tiers.

Unsurprisingly, The Maker of Universes informs my views on Dungeons and Dragons. The existence of a long-extinct race of super-powerful humans, who created and shaped the worlds that the players now inhabit. Items created by those Lords which have super-technological ie. magical properties. Sophisticated tricks and traps to protect the castles, towers, dungeons and homes of these powerful Lords. Bizarre experiments, creating different types of monsters that are now encountered. Magical gates, with their own special keys for activation. The disappearance of those Lords, due to the wars caused by their paranoia and covetousness.

The first four books of this series, The Maker of Universes, The Gates of Creation, A Private Cosmos, and Behind the Walls of Terra, are well-worth reading, if you are looking for the kind of inspiration that I am mentioning above. I recommend stopping after The Walls of Terra though, as feel that Farmer lost his way in his last two books, The Lavalite World, and More Than Fire.

The World of Tiers novel-series definitely deserves to appear in your own personal Appendix N.Source URL: https://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/harpies
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Original D&D - Blackmoor Harpy

I'm not sure why we never used Harpies as opponents in any of our D&D games. We certainly never lacked for artwork to inspire us. The Harpy image (above) comes from the Original D&D Blackmoor Supplement II. She has her own distinct look in this artwork, quite apart from the later more hideous harpy images that populated the D&D rule and monster manuals, including the one from the Holmes basic set which I posted earlier. I think the image above is perhaps the one and only time that the D&D Harpy truly received favorable treatment. She seems to be swimming rather than flying though. Even today, with 4E (the latest version of D&D) the Harpy is relegated to ugly sister of the Siren. Perhaps that is justified, based on their greek mythological origins, although it is odd that they are substantially the same creatures.Source URL: https://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/harpies
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Otherworld Miniatures - Old School Eye Candy

I was visiting my FLGS on the weekend, hoping that my Otherworld Miniatures Orcs had arrived. Sadly, they had not. Do you feel my pain?

I mentioned yesterday that I was sorting through some of my old Dungeons and Dragons materials. Flipping through the pages of the Holmes Basic rulebook, I came across the above illustration, of a trio of Harpies threatening a party of adventurers.

I really like this old artwork, despite its apparent lack of sophistication. Others in the OS community have made similar remarks, particularly in relation to humourous art in Dungeons and Dragons. The old rulebooks included some classic humorous panels, such as the adventurers wearing mickey mouse noses and ears, as they attempt to invade the shrine of a rat god.

I'm not sure how to describe the feel of that early black and white art, other than to say that it suggests numerous possibilities, rather than proscribing and limiting them. It could be because each of the artists had their own style, or maybe just because everything about D&D was so new at that point. Certainly the old artwork strikes an emotional chord for me, that D&D players, who did not grow up with that art, may not share.

But I digress. The Harpies seemed familiar, and it was due to more than just the fact that I had seen them long ago in the Holmes Basic rulebook. Heading over to the Otherworld miniatures site, I re-discovered, again, why their miniatures are so appealing to me ... if i'm not mistaken, Paul Muller must have used the above artwork as his inspiration for the pair of Harpies he sculpted for Otherworld.



Otherworld Miniatures is going to put me in the poorhouse if they keep on producing such excellent miniatures.Source URL: https://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/harpies
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