Whilst exploring teh interwebs for early advertisements for Dungeons & Dragons, I came across this one from 1977 that I'd never seen before:
What? TSR (short for Tactical Studies Rules, the publisher) used to use sex appeal to sell D&D? I was taken aback, especially considering the stereotypical image of gamers. However, upon further reflection, the above advertisement fits the contemporary zeitgeist: for example, here is the cover for the comedy text adventure game Softporn Adventure (1981), released by On-Line Systems (which was later renamed Sierra On-Line):
The lovely woman on the right is the legendary Roberta Williams, co-founder of Sierra On-Line and designer of the all-time great King's Quest series of graphical adventure games.
Now, if you say that there's no way that the woman in the D&D ad would play RPGs, it turns out that the model was none other than Elise Gygax, eldest daughter of Gary Gygax, co-creator of D&D! Unsurprisingly, Elise was one of the first PCs in the Greyhawk campaign, the second setting developed for Dungeons & Dragons, after co-creator Dave Arneson's Blackmoor campaign.
Yes, folks, this foxy lady:
is the daughter of this guy:
Groovy!
What? TSR (short for Tactical Studies Rules, the publisher) used to use sex appeal to sell D&D? I was taken aback, especially considering the stereotypical image of gamers. However, upon further reflection, the above advertisement fits the contemporary zeitgeist: for example, here is the cover for the comedy text adventure game Softporn Adventure (1981), released by On-Line Systems (which was later renamed Sierra On-Line):
The lovely woman on the right is the legendary Roberta Williams, co-founder of Sierra On-Line and designer of the all-time great King's Quest series of graphical adventure games.
Now, if you say that there's no way that the woman in the D&D ad would play RPGs, it turns out that the model was none other than Elise Gygax, eldest daughter of Gary Gygax, co-creator of D&D! Unsurprisingly, Elise was one of the first PCs in the Greyhawk campaign, the second setting developed for Dungeons & Dragons, after co-creator Dave Arneson's Blackmoor campaign.
Yes, folks, this foxy lady:
is the daughter of this guy:
Groovy!
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