Obscure TSR art related to B1-B3, part IV

Advertisement in Strategic Review for the first issue of The Dragon

My original Holmes set was one of the last printings, which is not surprising because it was a birthday present in early '82. This set included the second printing of B2, which I still have (with a few missing pages). This printing has an excellent illustration of a dragon on page 6 by David C Sutherland III (DCS III). This alternate "Sutherland Dragon" differs significantly from the on  found on the cover of Holmes Basic in that it has no wings.

Later, when I got a copy of B1, which was the revised version for Moldvay Basic, I noticed this same dragon on page 6 of that module. So I've been familiar with this picture for a long time, and had wondered why it was used despite neither adventure having a dragon. 

Much later via the Acaeum I learned it was used in each case as filler to replace deleted text, described in more detail below, which explained the random usage. What I didn't know was that the original appearance of this art in the last issue of Strategic Review, as noted on DF by paleologos (who also pointed out the previous artwork I have featured under this topic). He further postulates it is a fire lizard from the Blackmoor Supplement, which are described as "of identical appearance to dragons, without wings", and suggests placing it in the Cave of the Unknown in B2!

Here's a summary of the wanderings of this "Wingless Sutherland Dragon":

• Strategic Review #7, Apr '76 (last issue), page 11. Advertisement pictured above, for the first issue of The Dragon, which first appeared in Jun '76.

• Second printing of B2, 1980, page 6. The first and second printings of B2 are for the Holmes rules. The 1st printing is distinguished by a sentence on the cover indicating that the module can be used with AD&D, and pages 5-6 have a small section on "Using this module with AD&D", the text of which I posted here a while back. The second printing deletes the references to AD&D and fills in the space with two illustrations, one of intertwining snakes (by an unknown artist) and one of the Wingless Sutherland Dragon.

• 3rd print of B1, ~1980, page 6. The first three printings of B1 are for the Holmes rules and have a monochrome yellow cover. In the 3rd print, the section titled "Using this module with AD&D" has been removed, and replaced with this Dragon. See this post by Geoffrey on DF.

• 4th-6th prints of B1, 1981+, page 6. Starting with the 4th print, the module was revised for the Moldvay rules and has a brown color cover. This Dragon remains in the same place on page 6.

Previous entries in this blog series: part I, part II, part III 

(Post revised 12/2024)