Yuletide's D&Dr

This image might look like it has been taken from a George Martin novel, but it's from a Dragon Magazine. The image is by artist Daniel Horne, who fueled my my brothers' and my imagination (and still does) as he was one of the artists used in the best days of Dungeons & Dragons. I don't think any other artist, except maybe Larry Elmore, does dramatic snowy landscape as medieval fantasy settings like Daniel Horne. In this one, the quiet beauty of a plain on a cold winter day is disturbed by the outburst of evil, in the form of an animated giant skeleton, jumping out of the snow like a jack-in-the-box. The heroine seems vulnerable, but not entirely helpless. Our characters have been in similar situations and they have always come through.

All this to say that this year, I am going to miss the annual Christmas D&Dr games. In a way, it is the right time to skip it, as we ended the campaign last year. Still, I miss playing D&Dr from time to time, but especially around Christmastime, when the season just adds some free atmosphere. And now that our big campaign is over, we can actually spend more time building the atmosphere and enjoying the scenery, letting our imagination run wild. I could so easily imagine our characters walking through these snowy landscapes, building a fire, resting by fir trees... Oh well, it's going to be for next Christmas.