DUNGEON MASTERS

ImagineFX marks the milestone 50th anniversary of the launch of Dungeons & Dragons with a look at its rich tradition of illustration

The young protectors of an alien visitor played it in the movie ET: The Extra-Terrestrial, and the young friends who venture into the Upside Downplayed it in the first season of Stranger Things.

Dungeons & Dragons, conceived by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, has become enshrined in pop culture over the five decades since it launched as a new kind of game in the early 1970s.

Its vividly realised game mechanics and high-fantasy setting contributed to an ever-growing mainstream interest in fantasy that took flight half a century ago, building on an American fascination with the work of J.R.R. Tolkien that had flourished in the counterculture of the late 1960s. In turn, that moment impacted on the wider pop culture and fantasy storytelling space that developed in the 1970s.

Another decade on with the arrival of the 1980s, the excitement around Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) rested not just on its gameplay, but also on its increasingly sophisticated illustration and image material.

That body of work has become key to the game's legacy, heritage and delight. Over the decades, the artists whose work has enriched the game includes Keith Parkinson, Clyde Caldwell, Tony DiTerlizzi, David C. Sutherland III and Daniel R. Horne.

THE ORIGINS OF A LEGEND

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of D&D, and the journey of its creators Gygax and Arneson to make the game a reality is charted in the recently published, immense and hugely detailed book The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons: 19701977. It's a vast trove that offers a journey through the earliest documentation and artwork created for the game all the way back in the early 1970s.