David A. Trampier
| David A. Trampier | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1954 (age 59–60) Saint Louis, Missouri, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Pseudonym(s) | Tramp, DAT |
Notable works |
Wormy AD&D Players Handbook Monster Manual |
Dave A. Trampier is a former artist and writer who worked on some of the earliest editions of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, and who was the creator of the Wormy comic strip that ran in Dragon magazine. He signed his work with his initials "DAT" or with "Tramp".
Wormy
Trampier's Wormy comic was a feature of Dragon from issue #9 (September 1977) to issue #132 (April 1988). The strip occupied one to four pages of each issue. The strip's title character was a cigar-chomping, pool hustling, wargaming dragon, who co-starred with a cast of monsters who were his neighbors and friends. The stories were told from the point of view of the antagonists of the Dungeons & Dragons game, and the types of characters that players would be expected to portray (such as wizards and warriors) were presented as unwelcome intruders.
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons artwork
Cover by D. A. Trampier.
Trampier also provided much of the black and white interior art in the original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons adventure modules and manuals, including the original Monster Manual and Deities & Demigods. Trampier also provided the artwork for several covers, including the American first edition of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook and the cover of the 1979 version of the module The Village of Hommlet.
Other works
Trampier painted the cover, and provided some of the interior illustrations, for the first edition of TSR's Gamma World roleplaying game, published in 1978.
Trampier created the mapboard for the original 1979 edition of Divine Right.
He is credited as co-designer, along with Jason McAllister, of the Titan board game self-published by Trampier and McAllister's Gorgonstar Company and later by Avalon Hill in 1982.
Post-gaming career
Wormy suddenly stopped appearing in Dragon after the April 1988 issue (#132), in the middle of a storyline.[1] In issue #136, in response to a reader letter, the Dragon editors wrote, "We regret to announce that 'Wormy' will no longer be appearing in DRAGON Magazine. We are looking into the possibility of adding another graphic series in the future."
Kim Mohan, then editor of Dragon, told Phil Foglio that payments sent to Trampier for Wormy were returned unopened. Foglio explained that "When an artist's checks are returned uncashed, he is presumed dead."[2]
Rumors that he had died have been denied by Tom Wham, Trampier's brother-in-law. Wham stated as recently as 2004 that he believed Trampier "still exists somewhere in Illinois".[3]
A February 15, 2002 article in the online edition of the Daily Egyptian, the student newspaper of Southern Illinois University, featured a taxi driver named David Trampier working in Carbondale, and included a photograph. The article made no mention of a former career in art or gaming.[4]
Wizards of the Coast in 2003 stated that Trampier is "alive and well" but "not currently working in gaming or comics".[5]
Influence
Rich Burlew (creator of The Order of the Stick) has voiced great respect for the place Wormy held as an early D&D comic strip, indicating in an interview that he felt awed at his comic being published on Dragon's back page, where Wormy once ran, adding that he felt he was "not worthy to shine Wormy's feet."[6] In the last issue of Dragon magazine (#359, September 2007), Burlew included in his OOTS comic a number of references to comics that had appeared in the magazine over its long run, including a Wormy-like dragon (complete with hat and cigar) fleeing, before Wizards of the Coast turned the dungeon electronic.
References
- ↑ "Dungeons & Dragons FAQ". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on October 3, 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
- ↑ Adams, Chris (April 3, 1998). "Trampier's Wormy Bootwebbed". Yamara Central. Archived from the original on February 2, 1999. Retrieved March 14, 2007. Foglio related this conversation to Chris Adams at Dexcon 4 in 1995 (Adams 1998)
- ↑ Wham, Tom (November 10, 2004). "Tom Wham's Gangster Game". Retrieved March 14, 2007. "my good friend and brother in law, Dave Trampier (some of you might remember Wormy from the early Dragons). Wormy fans, please note: Dave and I last communicated in 1982, he still exists somewhere in Illinois, I think, but I do not know how to get in touch with him. Sorry."
- ↑ Thompson, Arin (February 15, 2002). "Coffee, cigarettes and speed bumps: A night with a Carbondale cabby". Daily Egyptian online version published 2005-11-17. Retrieved on 2007-03-14
- ↑ Hahn, Joel A; Wizards of the Coast Staff (2003). "Dungeons & Dragons FAQ". Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved April 3, 2007.
- ↑ Geeklabel Radio Podcast: Unedited Interview with Rich Burlew, Geeklabel Radio, October 25, 2006. Retrieved January 16, 2008.
External links
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