Little Soldier Games was an American game company that produced role-playing games and game supplements.
In 1975, Ed Konstant and David Perez opened a game store in Rockville, Maryland called The Little Soldier. Konstant and Perez also founded publishing company Little Soldier Games to capitalize on a burgeoning interest in both J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings , and the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons that had just been published by TSR the previous year.
Their first product was a fantasy wargame called The Ringbearer, based on The Lord of the Rings. Little Soldier quickly received a cease and desist letter from United Artists, at the time the owner of the American rights to LotR. [1]
Konstant and Perez then switched to Arthurian legend, publishing the role-playing game Knights of the Round Table in 1976. [2]
The same year, Little Soldier Games also began producing third-party material for Dungeons & Dragons, releasing the first fantasy role-playing bestiary, The Book of Monsters , a 40-page compendium of 100 monsters that predated TSR's Monster Manual by a year. Phil Edgren, who owned a bookstore around the corner from The Little Soldier and who had some knowledge of mythical creatures, wrote the text of the book. The illustrations and cover art were done by Bob Charrette. [3] : 130
This was quickly followed by The Book of Demons (1976), The Book of Sorcery (1977), and The Book of Mystery (1978).
In 1978, Phil Edgren and Dan Bress founded Phoenix Games, and brought Little Soldier Games under the company banner. [3] : 294 Using the Little Soldier imprint, Phoenix produced The Book of Shamans (1978), and the Book of Treasure (1978). [4]
The new company also released a couple of new products, The Book of Fantasy Miniatures and Elementary, Watson. [1] Gamescience paid for the printing costs of both products in exchange for the rights to the entire Little Soldier Games back-catalogue, [3] : 294 and quickly republished condensed versions of all six books under their banner.
Phoenix Games went out of business in 1981, and with it went the Little Soldier Game imprint.
In 1990, Gamescience included the contents of all six The Book of... volumes in The Fantasy Gamers Compendium.
Spelljammer is a campaign setting originally published for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, which features a fantastic outer space environment. Subsequent editions have included Spelljammer content; a Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition setting update was released on August 16, 2022.
The Monstrous Compendium is a series of accessories for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game released from 1989 to 1998. The title was then used for a series of 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons supplements released on D&D Beyond.
An owlbear is a fictional creature originally created for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. An owlbear is depicted as a cross between a bear and an owl, which "hugs" like a bear and attacks with its beak. Inspired by a plastic toy made in Hong Kong, Gary Gygax created the owlbear and introduced the creature to the game in the 1975 Greyhawk supplement; the creature has since appeared in every subsequent edition of the game. Owlbears, or similar beasts, also appear in several other fantasy role-playing games, video games and other media.
The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting is a role-playing game sourcebook first published by TSR in 1987 for the first edition of the fantasy role-playing game Advanced Dungeons & Dragons that describes the campaign setting of the Forgotten Realms. It contains information on characters, locations and history. Various revised and updated editions have been produced over the years.
Judges Guild is a game publisher that has been active since 1976. The company created and sold many role-playing game supplements, periodicals and related materials. During the late 1970s and early 1980s the company was one of the leading publishers of Dungeons & Dragons related materials. Its flagship product, City State of the Invincible Overlord, was the first published RPG supplement to feature a fully developed city environment. The supplement was followed closely by numerous ancillary cities, maps, and other materials published by Judges Guild.
Grenadier Models Inc. of Springfield, Pennsylvania produced lead miniature figures for wargames and role-playing games with fantasy, science fiction and heroic themes between 1975 and 1996. Grenadier Models Inc. is best known for their figures for TSR, Inc.'s Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game, collectible Dragon-of-the-Month and Giants Club figures, and their marketing of paint and miniature sets through traditional retail outlets.
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, goblins are a common and fairly weak race of evil humanoid monsters. Goblins are non-human monsters that low-level player characters often face in combat.
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, a vampire is an undead creature. A humanoid or monstrous humanoid creature can become a vampire, and looks as it did in life, with pale skin, haunting red eyes, and a feral cast to its features. A new vampire is created when another vampire drains the life out of a living creature. Its depiction is related to those in the 1930s and 1940s Hollywood Dracula and monster movies. In writing vampires into the game, as with other creatures arising in folklore, the authors had to consider what elements arising in more recent popular culture should be incorporated into their description and characteristics.
James Michael Ward III was an American game designer and fantasy author who worked for TSR, Inc. for more than 20 years, most notably on the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. He wrote various books relating to Dungeons & Dragons, including guidebooks such as Deities & Demigods, and novels including Pool of Radiance, based on the computer game of the same name.
Swords & Spells is a supplementary rulebook by Gary Gygax for the original edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Its product designation is TSR 2007.
A gamemaster's screen, also called a GM's screen, is a gaming accessory, usually made out of either cardboard or card stock, and is used by the gamemaster to hide all the relevant data related to a tabletop role-playing game session from the players in order to not spoil the plot of the story. It also hides any dice rolls made by the gamemaster that players should not see. In addition, screens often have essential tables and information printed on the inside for the gamemaster to easily reference during play.
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the term monster refers to a variety of creatures, some adapted from folklore and legends and others invented specifically for the game. Included are traditional monsters such as dragons, supernatural creatures such as ghosts, and mundane or fantastic animals. A defining feature of the game is that monsters are typically obstacles that players must overcome to progress through the game. Beginning with the first edition in 1974, a catalog of game monsters (bestiary) was included along with other game manuals, first called Monsters & Treasure and now called the Monster Manual. As an essential part of Dungeons & Dragons, many of its monsters have become iconic and recognizable even outside D&D, becoming influential in video games, fiction, and popular culture.
Phoenix Games was an American game company that produced role-playing games and game supplements.
The Book of Monsters is a supplement for fantasy role-playing games published by Little Soldier Games in 1976.
The Book of Demons is a supplement published by Little Soldier Games in 1976 for fantasy role-playing games.
The Book of Sorcery is a supplement for fantasy role-playing games published by Little Soldier Games in 1977.
Archive Miniatures & Game Systems was one of the first companies to produce fantasy miniature figures following the birth of role-playing games in the 1970s.
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, gnomes are one of the core races available for play as player characters. Some speculate that they are closely related to dwarves; however, gnomes are smaller and more tolerant of other races, nature, and magic. Depending on the setting and subrace, they are often skilled with illusion magic or engineering. Gnomes are small humanoids, standing 3–3.5 feet (91–107 cm) tall.