Illustrations from Middle Earth Role Playing

[Rune Owl]

I have been looking through some old RPG books recently.  Here are some illustrations from Middle Earth Role Playing (MERP), which came out in the late 1980s, around the same time as the Lone Wolf books.  It's like a kind of alternate reality for Gary Chalk's illustrations.  It has me thinking about how much the artwork shapes my idea of the world.

Here are some Giaks by Gary Chalk.

Here are Orcs from MERP.

I would credit these illustrations to the artist if I could.  There are at least five different artists who worked on the internal illustrations and I don't know which work is whose.

[Rune Owl]

Here is a bald merchant (and murderer) by Gary Chalk.

Here is a wizard from MERP.

[Rune Owl]

Here are several illustrations by Angus McBride for the MERP series.

The Witch King on his mount looks a lot like a Helgast on a Kraan.

These orcs are quite a bit like Giaks.

Notice the green cloak in this one.

I am not suggesting that Chalk lifted any of his ideas from Middle Earth Role Playing.  I am saying, of course, that Dever lifted much of Magnamund from Middle Earth.  He might as well have called Giaks and Helgasts "Schmorcs" and "Schmazgûl."  I just find it interesting to see how other illustrators approached the content, and how it's the same or different.

[Rune Owl]

Weapons from MERP.

[rhygar]

May 16, 2021 16:48:20 GMT Rune Owl said:

Weapons from MERP.

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If I didn't know better, I'd have said that those weapons were drawn by Gary C because they are so similar in style. They were not, though, as you say. 

Timings can be key in this. The very first of the MERP gamebooks (Night of the Nazgul) came out in 1985 - ie in the year after Flight from the Dark.

None of this contradicts what you've already said about the influence of Tolkien's Middle Earth on Magnamund. 

[GhostofLandar]

Chalk's gray-green Giaks are absolutely the canonical Giak (same with the photo of them in the net being dropped onto Green Sceptre from Fire on the Water.) Brian Williams gave them a bit of a cruder edge. I think Williams' Giaks look sort of like the MERP ones in that cover art.

There is an almost Daemonak flavor to the ones in that photo above. It's his way of drawing almond-shaped eyes that I like (and that would be consonant with Tolkien's orcs.)

Something to keep in mind is that both Gary and Joe worked on Warhammer material, it's extremely clear how influential Dever was on Warhammer (you can almost count off a developmental cycle from the time Joe had something in Magnamund and when it or something very similar would appear in Warhammer novels or faction.) Chalk was influential as much of the art of the 80s looked like his and he worked on Redwall as well.

[keano83]

since we are on this, i am looking for middle earth gamebooks? any spares :-)

[GhostofLandar]

Jun 24, 2021 7:22:21 GMT keano83 said:

since we are on this, i am looking for middle earth gamebooks? any spares :-)

Unfortunately no and sadly, there was a trove of treasured works of out of print books from fantasy and science fiction RP and magazines that has been lost over successive moves.

[GhostofLandar]

May 16, 2021 16:25:32 GMT Rune Owl said:

Here are several illustrations by Angus McBride for the MERP series.

The Witch King on his mount looks a lot like a Helgast on a Kraan.

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These orcs are quite a bit like Giaks.

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Notice the green cloak in this one.

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I am not suggesting that Chalk lifted any of his ideas from Middle Earth Role Playing.  I am saying, of course, that Dever lifted much of Magnamund from Middle Earth.  He might as well have called Giaks and Helgasts "Schmorcs" and "Schmazgûl."  I just find it interesting to see how other illustrators approached the content, and how it's the same or different.

Well there's inspiration and lifting wholesale. Taking a character and calling it "Tz'arkan" when you are stealing Zorkaan as a name and concept is pretty cheap. Taking the terror of the Nazgul and the black cloaks but then adding the darker ('adult') nature (undead with rotting flesh on their skulls and shape changers instead of wraiths) isn't exactly a theft and the Helghast are so distinctive now that their essential design is known by probably tens or hundreds of thousands of gamers from the Killzone series.

Giaks are Dever's Orcs, that is true, but I always liked how the early art differed from what we've come to associate with orcs and goblins now. They were an orcish/goblinesque race but not trying to duplicate Tolkien entirely. But again, I think it's different to 'lift' from Moorcock or Tolkien vs. steal from your contemporaries, often shamelessly.

I would add that not only artwork but names matter. When I scan the names for a lot of fantasy it boils down to two frames: 1) Earth but not quite (Warhammer fantasy) and direct analog via name and 2) absurdly pretty or lyrical names that sound stereotypical, maybe a little effete or bizarre

Besides some missteps like "Chai" I think Joe manages to have original names that sound fitting but not so close to our world and not so far away as (for instance, many of Moorcock's names.) It's hard to describe but he was great in picking an aesthetic quality that echoed something and anchored it, but not so direct as to roll one's eyes.