The Art of Dungeons & Dragons.

I played Dungeons & Dragons briefly in elementary school and junior high. I don't think I ever really fully understood how to play the game, but I enjoyed drawing game maps and painting the tiny die-cast figurines. I also liked collecting the different dice, even if I had no clue of their purpose in actual game play.

There were older kids in my neighborhood that really got into D&D. One kid in particular had a mountain of the player manuals in his room. He also had black light posters from bands like Dio, KISS and Rainbow. When you're an aspiring beast, there is nothing cooler than the Frank Frazetta rip-off illustrations used on early metal posters and D&D player guides.

I managed to collect a few of the player guides and monster manuals throughout junior high. I shopped almost exclusively at a place called The Source on Snelling Ave in Saint Paul. It was right next to a Cheapo record store so it was pretty much the perfect place to waste an afternoon as a young hesher.

Dungeons & Dragons stopped being cool when we started playing during our after school art club. There was no way you were going to draw the attention of a girl if you were talking about Cleric and Armor Casting spells. This is where that group of kids started to trend into full-blown dark sider goth, and I was metal and Zeppelin all the way.

Take a look at the cover art and its evolution over the years. One day I imagine that this stuff will be considered period pop art, if the nerds have their way.