Dragon+ 5 Wallpaper

The Wizards released this wallpaper today taken from the latest issue of "Dragon+", apparently a free app successor to Dragon magazine that you can read here. Click on the web version and the whole issue should show up in your browser.

Naturally I immediately noted some thematic similarities to the Holmes Basic cover by David Sutherland: a blue-robed wizard on the left casting a spell at a centered Red Dragon on a huge pile of gold with an embedded open treasure chest. The warrior has gone missing, though perhaps he's the target of the dragon breath.

Since Dragon+ is free, I took a look at the issue, which has an article about the art on page 9 and an interview with the artist, Todd James. He started playing D&D around 1979/1980 and recently started playing again (5E). The art is taken from a larger piece that is a T-shirt design for Wizards. He writes, "It’s inspired by the D&D logo but is also a slight nod to the old box, with a wizard facing a dragon who’s sitting on a pile of treasure. The references I used from fifth edition were the head shape of the Ampersand logo and red dragons."

See also:

The Tower of Zenopus in Dragon+ Issue 32

Character Creation Worksheet - Revised

Click for a larger view

Above is a revised version of the Character Worksheet for Holmes Basic (the first version is here). Based on feedback from Desert Scribe, I add the Thieves' backstab ability (inadvertently left out of the previous version) and Movement rates. Each was a bit of a formatting challenge as I've been trying to stick with a single sheet. But I think led to an overall improvement. Saving Throws are now listed up in the Class section, which makes sense since they are class specific. Armor Class, the Combat Table and Move are all together in a table after equipment purchase, since they are all dependent on armor worn.

Once I'm reasonably satisfied with a version, the pdf will be posted up on the Holmes Ref page. Also, once the format is stabilized I also plan to make a blank character sheet version, if you want to copy the information over to it.

Update: Also available is a version of this sheet without line shading.