Tuesday, March 2, 2010

An Illustrated Example of the "Make It Your Own" Philosophy of the OSR

I found this in an old, old issue of White Dwarf and it sums up for me what the "Make It Your Own" attitude of the Old School Renaissance is all about. Pictured below are two mind flayers, but they don't look a single thing like the mind flayers that we've all come to know.


The OSR: where having a squid-headed mind flayer running about plagiarizing the cover of Eldritch Wizardry is expected, not frowned upon.

10 comments:

Aaron E. Steele said...

Absolutely fabulous!

Word Ver: nofugat -- as in "isn't this awesome artwork? Reply: "nofugat!"

James said...

There weren't too many of the old White Dwarf articles, that I was impressed with. But the art beat Dragon all to hell!

Tenkar said...

Old White Dwarfs were classic... not balanced but fun as hell. Then it turned to crap...

Unknown said...

I love the artwork from Fiend Folio, early White Dwarf, and Fighting Fantasy!

Greg Johnston said...

Looks like it should be the Banner art for a blog called "Mind Flayers Playing with Porn Stars" :)

Anonymous said...

Those are the creepiest mind flayers I've ever seen!

Anonymous said...

Mindflayers crossed with seaweed? Very odd tentacles there but fascinating art.

spielmeister said...

I agree with Geoffrey- those flayers are the creepiest. Perfect for gaming inspiration.

Anonymous said...

Okay, that does it - mind flayers are back in my game! And, when I get my hands on Ruins & Ronin, funky mind flayers will be the chief villains of a funky Monkey Magic themed campaign :)

Quibish said...

Awww, look at the poor emo mind flayer in the back.

He says "I don't feel anything anymore, the thrill is gone. It's funny the way you can get use to the tears and the pain. It's hard to know what's wrong when nothing feels right." :-(

That poor guy needs a hug.