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Trampier manuscripts?
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Post Posted: Sun Feb 23, 2025 8:43 pm 
 

My recollection is that Dave Trampier didn’t leave a lot of manuscripts around after his death.

Does anyone know if such artifacts survive still, or the disposition of his estate?

After reading my piece in Fight On #16 (dedicated to Tramp), some folks were asking Qs about the feasibility of building a map of Wormy’s world (see Fight On! #16 Available on Lulu in Print and PDF! | Original D&D Discussion if you're curious), but I’m not sure we have sufficient info and detail from the published strips alone to really be able to do that.

Your collective thoughts?

Allan.


Allan Grohe (grodog@gmail.com)
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Editor and Project Manager, Black Blade Publishing
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Last edited by grodog on Wed Feb 26, 2025 10:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2025 12:06 pm 
 

You might already be aware, but there have been rumors that Trampier may have destroyed some of his manuscripts and art.  However, this has never been confirmed. Given that possibility, along with the apparent bad blood between him and some at TSR, as well as TSR’s periodic purging of materials, the chances of much of his art and manuscripts surviving seem bleak.

Here's an article I recently came across on him.

The Mysterious Disappearance of D&D's Greatest Artist - Knight's Digest

There are also some additional resources listed at the bottom of the article.

  


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Post Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2025 2:09 pm 
 

Unrelated to TSR, which may be a footnote to some, Trampier was a designer of Titan, which is a game that continues to have lasting influence. It would be interesting to see if there's anything left from its decade-long development.

  

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Post Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2025 2:26 pm 
 

Sea-to-sky-games wrote in Trampier manuscripts?:Unrelated to TSR, which may be a footnote to some, Trampier was a designer of Titan, which is a game that continues to have lasting influence. It would be interesting to see if there's anything left from its decade-long development.

Ah, there's probably a lot better chance of that, since the late Jason McAllister, co-designer of Titan, did happen to keep some of the Titan products.

Stratochamp, possibly a couple of other Acaeum members, might have some of the design notes, early prototypes, or correspondence.

I have one of the first copies of Titan.  It was one of Jason McAllister's personal copies - the one he used at Titan Wars I.  It includes the Battlelands Expansion and a Titan Wars button.  It also has a letter of provenance from him.  Don't have anything else, though.

  


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Post Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2025 10:00 am 
 

Thanks guys!

For reference, the new issue of Fight On! is at DriveThruRPG

Another set of discussions about manuscript finds:

- https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1673cytu5T/
- https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1A7Wk7QDSG/
- https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DfijZ49HF/

Allan.


Allan Grohe (grodog@gmail.com)
Greyhawk, grodog Style

Editor and Project Manager, Black Blade Publishing
https://www.facebook.com/BlackBladePublishing/

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