Friday, November 23, 2012

JEH Easter Egg

Detail of Sample Dungeon map, annotated

Here's another possible Holmes Basic Easter Egg that I can't believe I never noticed before: the room letters  in the Sample Dungeon vertically spell out the initials of John Eric Holmes. This could be coincidental, but Room J is quite a ways out of sequence with Rooms H, I, K, L and M, making it possible that it was deliberately placed above the Room E (empty room) and H. Below is the full map, annotated:

Click for larger view

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6 comments:

  1. grodogNovember 23, 2012 at 9:14 PM

    That's great Zach---surely an intentional one! :D

    Allan.

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  2. Timrod November 23, 2012 at 10:51 PM

    Sweet!

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  3. Desert ScribeNovember 24, 2012 at 9:07 AM

    Great find, ZA! It was right under our noses; I can't believe no one noticed this until now.

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  4. SteamtunnelNovember 29, 2012 at 10:38 PM

    I agree, its intentional. Note the EEG, DA, and DS patterns on the map. Any other patterns correspond to TSR old guard?

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    Replies
    1. Zenopus ArchivesNovember 30, 2012 at 3:12 PM

      Interesting! Though Gygax's initials are EGG rather than EEG (which is sometimes used for Elder Elemental God).

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  5. MichaelDecember 4, 2019 at 5:49 PM

    It strikes me that your theory is strengthened by virtue of the fact that "C" was omitted. "J" is where you would logically have placed "C," but possibly when he noticed the fortuitous "E" - "H" lineup, he couldn't resist and changed it. (It's also possible that "C" was cut to avoid confusion with "G," but it seems to me that if you were choosing one or the other, you'd keep "C" and cut "G").

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