We're a Wisconsin-based small business & creative studio focused on serving players with great games. Experience our work
@GiantLands
. ๐ฒ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฝ๏ธ
Earlier this summer we stated that what we were witnessing is very similar to the satanic panic of the 1980s. RPGs, specially
#DnD
, were blamed for suicide, Satanic indoctrination & worse. While we can laugh about it today, it was quite serious then & many on our team were there.
"Fire & Ice" (1983) is a fantasy film created by
@RalphBakshi
& Frank Frazetta, written by Gerry Conway & Roy Thomas, both of whom had written Conan stories for Marvel. It was rotoscoped, a process in which live action is traced. See it in HD free on
@Tubi
It's truly wonderful to see Ernie Gary Gygax Jr back at the table and out of the hospital. If anything, he's a survivor. When we started working with him about 4 years ago now, he had only recently beaten both cancer and the demon that is alcohol. Now he's waiting for a new
"Dad and I [were] watching the The Raven [by Roger Corman & starring Vincent Price] and the next day two new spells were added to our [Dungeons & Dragons] playtest sessions. The
#MagicMissile
and it's counter the Shield spell." - "Ernie" Gary Gygax Jr.
#DnD
Please wish our mentor "Ernie"
#GaryGygax
Jr a Happy Birthday today! He could use your well wishes. Aside from being the heir to a great legacy, & of the best game masters alive, it was because of Ernie that we once had the opportunity to reboot his father's company
#TSR
. He's
James M. Ward loved games and play. He was the 7th fulltime employee of TSR. His presence was always an abundance of joy and positivity even when his health was at its worst. He remained active in the game design scene and continued creating almost to the end. He left this plane
Here's a great picture of our Grand Master Game Designer James M. Ward (in blue), with Tom Wham, Ronald Bearce, & E. Gary Gygax Jr all playing at Don Kaye's old home in the 1970s. Can you identify the board game?
43 years ago this month Gamma World was 1st released. The mother of
#postapocalyptic
#RPG
, it delivered a game based in a future, where nuclear holocaust had left civilization in ruin. Gritty, deadly & sometimes plain gonzo, it's that legacy we proudly serve with our
@GiantLands
.
WARNING: This adventure may kill you. Preorder GL1 "The Broken Road" a James M. Ward
#RPG
adventure module for
@GiantLands
only at Grab a copy before they ship & get credit in the book! Think of it like
#crowdfunding
without all the
#Kickstarter
fuss.
Some folks don't like Larry Elmore's toon style but we dig it, and are happy to feature both his oil painting and his inked pencils in our
@GiantLands
. What do you think? Has it ever inspired you to play?
#RPG
Here's the cover for the second of three booklets in the GiantLands 1st Edition Boxed Set, with art by Larry Elmore, Steve Ince & Stephen Dinehart. Get yours before the sell out. Only at
A great cataclysm has left Earth in ruin, emerging from the destruction is a planet born anew, where giants, mutants, & odd creatures from a multitude of worlds clash in an attempt to reclaim the Earth as their own. Who will you become?
#Scifi
#RPG
"I am the well spring, from which you flow. When I am gone, you will have never been. What would your world be, without me?" - Thulsa Doom, Conan the Barbarian
Ever played "Dangerous Journeys" (1992)? This is a game Gary Gygax Sr made after he was forced out of his own company, TSR Inc. It was riddled with lawsuits from the same company & he ultimately stopped producing it as a result. It was his effort to make a RPG to beat AD&D.
#dnd
Let the games begin! Today we're playing Gary Gygax Jr's Hobby Shop Dungeon campaign, a classic
#dnd
1E campaign he developed to run at the shop while his dad worked upstairs. Grab a membership & stop by to play yourself at
#ttrpg
Any Snarf Quest fans out there? Interestingly enough, this property is still owned by the Larry Elmore. Much like Metamorphosis Alpha, while published by TSR for sometime, the rights remain with the creators.
#RPG
#TTRPG
#OSR
Did you know our Ernest Gary Gygax Jr. was Creative Vice President of the Dungeons & Dragons Cartoons show? If you one of many worldwide that loved this show, you love Ernie's work.
#DnD
#animation
#ttrpg
#giantlands
A man only truly lives in play, & "Ernie" Gary Gygax Jr loves sharing his passion for play with everyone. Say some prayers for our
#RPG
elder this week, his health isn't the best. We're proud to carry his name on our
@GiantLands
& are forever grateful to him for showing us what
If you're the praying type, please say a prayer for Ernest Gary Gygax Jr, our friend Ernie. He's pulled through, but could still use some extra cheer to send him back home. We love this guy. He's of the most kind hearted people we've ever known. When he's well again, you really
A man only truly lives in play, & "Ernie" Gary Gygax Jr loves sharing his passion for play with everyone. Say some prayers for our
#RPG
elder this week, his health isn't the best. We're proud to carry his name on our
@GiantLands
& are forever grateful to him for showing us what
We're playing "The Keep on the Borderlands" or B2 by E. Gary Gygax Sr (1979) here in the 1st session of Robert Donald Paiser Con! While made for Generic D&D, we're running it using AD&D1E. Rolling up new characters, with zero backstory, we don't imagine they'll survive the day.
Do you know the works of late American writer Anne McCaffrey? Her Dragon Riders of Pern series remains some of the best
#scifi
ever created.
#WomansDay
#fantasyart
#dragons
Our Game Editor, Penny Williams, used to run the RPGa Network for
#TSR
Hobbies. She began playing
#TTRPG
in the 70s, in college, as a DM. Her 1st campaign focused on time travel & gaming the gods. Still in WI, she's now applying her honed skills onto
@GiantLands
.
#gamedesign
Here's our entry for
@SCIFILONDON
' s 48hr Film Challenge 2024, "Trojan Horse". Our prompt was as follows: "TITLE: TROJAN HORSE PROP: A character shakes a torch/light, pulls it apart and puts it back together again. it still doesn't work DIALOGUE: This is one of the best I have
The Madison Wargaming Convention began in 1968, founded by Nobel Prize Nominee Dr. Robert Reuschlein of the International Federation of Wargaming. He stepped away in 1972, but is back this year for the 50th anniversary! Join us! More details to follow.
As a reminder, we're a small Wisconsin business. We don't have big corporate resources or man power. Your time, purchases & attention help us grow. We appreciate it & each of you! Thank you.
Just in from Larry,
#DnD
dude is definitely a man. Did anyone ever think otherwise? Naturally the dragon is a lady. He also painted our
@Giantlands
cover. Disclaimer:
#RPG
does not discriminate, it's a game of imagination, premised on personal freedom. You can be & do whatever
According to Ernie's better half, Library Park in Lake Geneva Wisconsin has been selected as the site for the Gygax memorial. Congrats to the ever passionate Mr. Paul Stormburg for his steadfast commitment to ensuring the success of this project, here seen with Gary Gygax Jr.
The legendary Clyde Caldwell is having a sale on his online shop. Support the legends that made the games we all still love, and grab some prints today.
#DragonLance
#OSR
#DnD
We're proud of our heritage as indie game makers in the USA. Here's one Charles S. Roberts, founder of Avalon Hill. He birthed the modern
#wargaming
with Tactics (1953). A game he self-published from his home, which contained the 1st Combat results table.
#gamedesign
#indiedev
D&D is really neat, but it's the work of James M. Ward that really gets us excited. That's why we sought out James and made him an offer, way back when, to make a new kind of game rooted in his legacy of creating science fantasy rpgs.
#gammaworld
Happy birthday to the game that started a revolution. Born today, some 49 years ago in a basement in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin USA. From a passion for storytelling and wargames was born a little something we've learned to call "D&D".
50 years ago this week a new game was born in a basement in Lake Geneva Wisconsin, while not exactly the first RPG, nor the last iteration, it was the first that successfully blended
#roleplay
&
#wargaming
to produce something wholly new. Our Creative Supervisor Ernie Gary Gygax
Here's the first and latest version of the cover GL1 โThe Broken Road,โ an adventure we've had in development with game design legend James M. Ward.
@GiantLands
is an original
#RPG
game system he designed, using percentile (2d10 or 1d100) in the spirit of other games he designed
We're proud to inherit the legacy of indie USA game makers. One such is Ernest Gary Gygax Sr. He created a movement from his hobby of wargaming. One day in his basement, where he cobbled shoes on foodstamps, he happened upon a formula for a game he called "Dungeons & Dragons".
A message from our Founder "Today I go to lay a man to rest that quite literally made me. As an elementary school kid running his games in after school programs they were the ultimate escapes for us, to a different time and place where we were free of the burdens of this world. I
This sign alone is a great achievement. A truly defining moment for our movement to preserve & champion our culture. For a long time, on entry to
#LakeGeneva
#Wisconsin
there was not mention of the RPG, D&D,
#Gygax
, Arneson or TSR. One Justin Lanasa changed that in 2020. He
This game could save your life.
Oh & it was required to play the original edition of
#DnD
. Odd to think D&D was more of Chainmail & Outdoor Survival mod in Dave's Braunstein inspired Dungeon. (Presumably with a Dragon.)
#OSR
The team has been working tirelessly to get the
@GiantLands
books ready for manufacturing. Here's a sample of the final layout from two pages of the third booklet in the boxed set, the "5th Age Index".
#rpg
"Gandahar" is a 1987, French animated science-fiction feature film written & directed by Renรฉ Laloux. It is based on Jean-Pierre Andrevon's 1969 novel "The Machine-Men versus Gandahar". Those of us in North America know it as "Lightyears".
#animation
#scifi
This 1983 3rd person action adventure game, with a swords & sorcery spin made by
@DonBluth
, remains adored, regardless of the countless quarters ending in swift death. Part of the beauty of games is that in artificial conflict we may die & live again, inconsequentially.
This book right here. It was pivotal in showing us there was a world beyond D&D. Have you ever read Mary Kirchoff and James M. Ward's "Light on Quests Mountain"?
#gammaworld
#RPG
On this small resort-town corner, in the 1960s, an expert wargamer & entrepreneur would for many years welcome strangers to play in his basement, where he cobbled shoes for spare dollars & made games. It was here that 1st ed. of D&D would be written & 1st assembled in 1974.
Game design legend Mike Carr, the first
#DnD
cleric, setting up his classic Giant Le Man's game, a rare sight even here at
#GaryCon
. Note the
#cosplay
.
The module itself is an 8.5x11 2-column layout made to match our books in that classic B&W style, and with 48 pages of
@GiantLands
1E encounters, traditionally drawn (pencil, ink, & paper) illustrations, maps, tables, creatures and loot!
Simple things that used to seem the norm for table top games, now seem almost revolutionary. Sitting with a group of strangers - at the same table for hours on end; we'll get there again! How have you fed your need to game during the pandemic?
How many heads will the dragon you slay today have?
#TGIF
! Here's "DRAGONS OF TRIUMPH", Clyde Caldwell. 15x15, oil; 1985. (
#Dragonlance
Calendar Interior)
#OSR
#TTPRG
Ever wondered where roleplaying came from? Both the Ds & the Ds? Do Arneson & Gygax mean anything to you? We're giving away a sealed, 1st edition, copy
@Blackmoor_Film
on DVD! Like, RT & follow
@WFDgames
&
@GiantLands
. One random winner to be chosen 6/3/22.
#OSR
#TTRPG
#DnD
#RPG
Happy Birthday to our contractor, mentor, & friend, James Ward! Without James
@GiantLands
simply wouldn't be. His legacy is unmatched, & he opened doors no one else could. He get's a hefty royalty on all
@GiantLands
, if we sold out it would mean the world.
We're just getting started with the first day of Robert Donald Paiser Con, this weekend at Dragonlands in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Gary Gygax Jr. is running his latest adventure using 1E AD&DโThe Ruins of Caer Caeladon: Nester's Folly.
#OSR
#TTRPG
#DnD
Truth is WoTC, like the original TSR, Lucas Film, & Marvel Comics have not been around for any number of years. If not for one James M. Ward we never would have come as close as we have to a reboot. From Dee, to Peggy, Ernie & Larry. They all said yes for one reasonโJames Ward.