The first article in this series spotlighted homages to the AD&D 1e core rulebook covers. This one moves over to the parallel Basic D&D line of the ’80s and looks at the three major covers for that edition, from 1977, 1981, and 1983. Of them, Erol Otus’ 1981 design is probably the most homaged, but Larry Elmore’s 1983 cover has been the most used and is likely the most famous.
Basic Dungeons & Dragons (1977)
However, it was Dave Sutherland led the way with the cover for the original Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1977), by J. Eric Holmes. He set the standard for Basic D&D cover art with adventurers confronting a dragon.
The Blueholme Prentice Rules (2012) didn’t exactly homage Sutherland’s work when it updated its cover artwork for its second printing (2014), as there generally weren’t homages in the early days of OSR retroclones. But that’s definitely the same dragon sneaking up on the adventurers—and it looks like the same wizard as well. Does only he escape to tell the tale? Stephen Wendell’s Blue Flame, Tiny Stars (2022), a memoir of D&D gaming isn’t exactly an homage either—more of a redrawing of the original.
It should be pointed out that both of the latter-day art pieces are blue because the cover for the actual rulebook contained in the Basic Set box was blue, rather than being full-color like Sutherland’s original.
Overall, there haven’t been a lot of homages of Sutherland’s work (though it’s received a different sort of fame through its inclusion in an art museum exhibit and there were a few other uses such as the 1981 rub-down transfers). However, it’s easy to argue that almost every single Basic D&D set that followed offered variations of the theme that Sutherland originated—with most of the major elements of a dragon, two adventurers, a spellcaster, a fighter, an archway, and piles of coins featuring in most of the coves that followed.
Basic Dungeons & Dragons (1981)
When Erol Otus designed the cover for Tom Moldvay’s 1981 Basic Rules, which were the first part of the B/X edition of the game, he obviously referenced Sutherland’s original work: there are again two adventurers facing a dragon. But he shifted the perspective to a three-quarters view of the dragon and changed the wizard (with torch in left hand and magic in right hand) into a sorceress (with torch in right hand and magic in left hand) and the archer into a spearman. His dragon was also green instead of red and uniquely snakelike.
Otus obviously recognized the power of the piece immediately, because when he painted the cover to the matching Dungeons & Dragons Expert Rules (1981), he iterated his original art by showing a wizard scrying on the previous battle. A set of “Companion Rules” was also intended to be a part of this “B/X” edition of D&D, but it never came about … at least not until Jonanthan Becker produced a B/X Companion (2009) after the rise of the OSR. Though he didn’t keep iterating Otus’ piece, he did revisit the three adventurers with new art by Brian DeClercq.
Erol Otus himself led the way in homaging his Basic D&D cover. Citadel of the Demon Prince (2005) is more a variation of a theme, but it’s hard to argue against a purposeful revisitation of his original when you see a man with a pole-arm and a woman fighting a green monster turned three-quarters from the viewer. Knights of the Dinner Table #134 (2007) and HackMaster Basic (2009) were more precise homages, both produced by Otus for Kenzer & Company.
Homages by other artists have been produced in a mixture of styles. Some are in a more realistic, modern style style that demonstrates the innate power of Otus’ framing. The cover to Pathfinder (2009) may be more familiar to players in the modern day than the original due to the success of that game. In fact, it was itself homaged by Munchkin Pathfinder (2013). Ten Speed Press’ recent Worlds & Realms (2024) offers another example of this more modern take.
Meanwhile, “Your Basic Parody” line from Gaming Honors started off with an Otus parody, for their Dwellings & Driveways: Keep on the Cul-de-Sac! (2020), and it’s kind of modern too, but in a very different way. Finally, the alternative/homage cover to the Legend Fell #2 (2023) comic offers a more cartoony take that also features a more head-on take on the beast.
Shockingly, there’s an homage to the Expert Rules too, a variant cover for the choose-your-own-adventure comic, You Are Deadpool #3 (2018). A number of D&D cover homages actually frame themselves as “Expert Rules”, but curiously they tend to be homages of Basic Rules covers (see below). Go figure.
(The Deadpool run also included variant homage covers for Paranoia, Marvel Super Heroes, and GURPS.)
Two more covers are, again, variations on a theme. The D&D 4e Player’s Handbook (2012) and Dungeon Master’s Guide (2012) play with the brilliant idea of the denizens of one cover scrying on another, but this time it’s the dragon watching the adventures, rather than an adventuring watching a dragon. (Also see the covers of the books in the original Paranoia box for an even more distant variation on the theme.)
Basic Dungeons & Dragons (1983)
Frank Mentzer’s Basic Dungeons & Dragons Set (1983), which would form the foundation of the BECMI series, is famous for its shot of a warrior facing a dragon head-on, which seems like it might not have evolved from the cover of the previous two Basic Sets … until you see Larry Elmore’s original pencil sketch, which was most widely revealed in Art & Arcana (2018). That sketch shows both a fighter (with sword now and shield) and a sorceress (with spell and staff) fighting a dragon, while a halfling loots. It’s our classic two adventurers, with some equipment changes! The thing was, Gary Gygax didn’t like it: he asked Elmore to zoom in on the dragon, and make the dragon feel like it was grabbing us (he mimed the grasping claws for Elmore), resulting in one of the most famous images in fantasy roleplaying—albeit one that’s only started to see homages pretty recently.
Much like Otus before him, Elmore recognized the power of matched designs, and so he repeated the same motif throughout the BECMI sequence of covers. They’re not exactly homages, but they show what is likely the same warrior as he grows in his experience and gains armor over the years (until he strips down as an immortal), fighting different dragons until he gains mastery of them.
TSR, Wizards of the Coast, and Ten Speed Press have straight-up reused Elmore’s artwork in the Under Dragon’s Wing (1984) Endless Quest book, the Dungeons & Dragons 4e Starter Set (2010), and Arts & Arcana (2018), respectively. (The Starter Set also includes an original homage by Ralph Horsley for the interior books!)
There’s been tons of other use of the original art including a jigsaw puzzle and a pinball machine. And did you know the dragon has a name? Or rather, two different names, from when the art was reused for the 1991 Trading Cards (1991) and the Spellfire CCG (1994). The first called him Pyrosternia, the second Gib Evets (“Big Steve”). But, both card sets were pretty infamous for making up names for characters in D&D art—even when they had existing names! It’s also interesting to note that the cards didn’t manage to remove the sword like the Endless Quest book did.
There have also been a few definite homages by third parties (and indeed by Wizards of the Coast a few more times), all within the last decade.
That includes at least five comics. Munchkin #18 (June 2016) and two of the many variants of Rick and Morty vs Dungeons & Dragons #1 (2018) led the way. Stranger Things and Dungeons & Dragons #1 (November 2020) offered an homage variant too, and then went back to the well for Stranger Things and Dungeons: The Rise of Hellfire #1 (February 2025). Meanwhile, Dungeons & Dragons Saturday Morning Adventures #1 (2024) offered a variant of its own, albeit with a gaggle of kids rather than a single warrior. Curiously, two of these covers chose to label themselves as “Expert Rules” in the B/X style. Again, go figure. (At least the Stranger Things “Expert Rules” were in blue, but the Saturday Morning Adventures variants came in red or black.)
The original Stranger Things and Dungeons & Dragons cover even had a few more variations on the theme: the poor adventurers solo-fighting other monsters charging at them. (What if the red dragon had been a beholder, orc, or mindflayer?)
Other homages started with the aforementioned interior books for the 2010 Starter Set. Ralph Horsley, the illustrator for those pieces, also did an interior piece of art for Dungeon #210 (January 2013). It’s not quite as precise of a homage, but definitely includes the core elements of grasping red dragon and fighter with sword and shield (and is included here, despite not being a cover, to allow comparison with Horsley’s other pieces). He completed a trilogy with a parody piece for the cover of Dragon+ #37 (April 2021). Wizards’ fourth Elmore homage was the cover for the Stranger Things Starter Set (2019)—a bit further removed than the homages on the the Stranger Things comics, but still recognizable!
Another early homage was the Minecraft-influenced cover for Edge magazine #258 (October 2013), one of 20 different covers for the video game magazine’s twentieth anniversary! More recently, Steve Jackson Gams produced the Munchkin Big Box (2024) and the Dragon’s Dogma 2 video game (2024) released an advertising poster (2024) meant to recall Elmore’s work.
Other Starter Sets (1991-Present)
In 1991, TSR published two final rule sets for the Basic D&D line. One was the Rules Cyclopedia (1991), a compilation of the BECMI ruleset (or at least BECM). The other was The New, Easy to Master Dungeons & Dragons Game (1991), which offered a board-game-like experience for first to fifth level BECMI play. The Basic D&D line fizzled out over the next few years, but was followed by a near-infinite number of board games, Introductions, Fast-Plays, Starter Sets, and Basic Games, all meant to bring new players into the hobby.
Some of them featured adventurers on the cover; many of them featured fighters battling dragons. But a few are worth additional attention because they seemed to homage classic Basic D&D covers: specifically, they reference a red dragon with wide grasping claws. The New Easy to Master Dungeons & Dragons Game (1991), the first printing of The Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game (1994), and Introduction to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Game (1995) offer three variations of the theme. The second printing of The Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game (1994) and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Game: The Complete Starter Set (1996) then reused the artwork from The New Easy to Master Dungeons & Dragons Game in a close-up form.
The International Editions (1977-Present)
There have of course been many international editions of D&D, but the majority of translations have used the original artwork. One of the few exceptions was the Games Workshop edition of the Holmes Basic Set (1977). GW decided to use art more suitable to the UK palette, and so commissioned an original piece of art by John Blanche. It’s interesting because it’s yet another variation of a theme: a fighter and wizard fighting a dragon, but from yet another perspective! The Japanese editions were another notable line because they mixed translations and original books with reprinted covers, repurposed artwork, and even original (often anime-influenced) artwork. Their Rules Cyclopedia (1994) got broken into three books, and the third looks like a purposeful Elmore homage—in the anime style.
The Action Figures
Just as with the AD&D 1e covers, characters from some of these AD&D 2e covers were replicated in action figures from Super7. Erol Otus’ sorceress was part of D&D ReAction Wave 1 (2023), then the Elmore warrior that Super7 called the “Formidable Fighter” appeared in an SDCC special as D&D Reaction Wave 2 (2023), then in a different colorform for D&D Reaction Wave 3 (2024). Both figures also made a return with glow-in-the-dark features for D&D ReAction Wave 4 (2024).
There have also been covered inspired miniatures from the Basic D&D sets. The Icons of the Realms 50th Anniversary included not only the Sutherland Dragon and its “Blue Wizard” and “Green Knight”, but also the BECMI fighter they called the “Red Warrior”—a figure that generated significant controversy for being a woman.
Neither Fish Nor Fowl
The revision of cover artwork from the 1977 Sutherland dragon to at least the 1995 Introduction dragon was evolutionary, especially if you include Elmore’s original sketch for the 1983 BECMI edition: though artists twisted the angles and the backgrounds, it was homages all the way down.
That can make it a little hard to see which artwork is being homaged when newer artists derivate from the precise positioning of the originals, but you can still usually figure out a homage from the specific details.
Is there a red dragon? is its mouth open? Are its claws out? Is it mostly head-on, with a twist in its neck? Is it standing on stones and gold? Is it fighting a lone warrior? Does the warrior have a sword and shield? If so, it’s probably a homage of the Elmore (BECMI) dragon.
Is there a green dragon? Is it turned three-quarters to the side? Is it fighting two adventurers? Are they a warrior and a sorceress? Is the warrior holding a pole arm? Is there a stairway up to a door in the distance? If so, it’s probably an homage of the Otus (BX) dragon.
But sometimes the details vary more from the original, making it difficult to see whether a specific cover is being homaged or if the artist is instead homaging the entire sequence of Basic dragons. The Pathfinder dragon is a good example. The overall composition is clearly a match for Otus’ work, including the sideways facing dragon battling a warrior and a sorceress. But, the dragon is red, not green, and the warrior is a swordsman. The dragon is also holding its arms up, though not quite out. These latter details are all from the Elmore cover. The stairs to the distant doorway are also gone, though not replaced by coins as in Elmore’s work. If just one more detail were changed, say the removal of the sorceress, you might be hard set saying which cover were being homaged.
The Starter Set (2014) for D&D 5e offers an ever more visceral example of this. The original cover is very suggestive of an Elmore homage: a single warrior is facing an open-mouthed dragon that probably has outstretched arms—though it’s hard to see due to the awful cropping of the artwork. But the interior books from the Starter Set revealed there was more to the image. The best version of the full artwork appeared a few years later on the cover of Ten Speed Press’ Lore & Legends (2023), which was a celebration of D&D 5e art. It reveals there’s a sorceress there right next to the warrior! And those draconic arms aren’t really open and outstretched like we thought! That means we also can no longer ignore the fact that the dragon is green. So, Otus homage? Elmore homage? Both?
I’d be remiss if I didn’t end with my own Designers & Dragons books, which had cover illustrations by Andrew Bosley under art direction by Fred Hicks. I’ve never actually seen Fred Hicks’ art order for Designers & Dragons: The ’70s (2013), but my guess is that he offered both Erol Otus’ B/X cover and Larry Elmore’s BECMI cover as references. The orientation of the dragon and the landscape of stones and coins looks more like Elmore’s cover, but it’s two adventurers fighting the dragon, not one … and they’re gender-flipped from Otus’ cover: a male sorcerer and a female fighter.
The other three books in the original series then form a neat set of sequels, as Hicks and Bosley changed out the characters in the original for characters appropriate to each era, from the ’80s to the ’00s, offering variations on the theme just like Otus and Elmore before them …
… a theme dating back to 1977.
Versioning Notes & Credits
v1.0.6 (6/1/25). Added action figures an dmention of miniatures. Moved international editions section.
v1.0.5 (5/30/25). Added links to Sutherland and Elmore dragon uses per Sionainn Mac Innéirghe, including some potential names for the Elmore dragon that appeared Spellfire and Trading Cards. Added You Are Deadpool #3 per Nick Smith. Also added several Stranger Things and Dungeons & Dragons covers and the Under Dragon’s Wing cover.
v1.0.1 (5/27/25). Added Edge #258 and the British Basic Set courtesy of @thekelvingreen.bsky.social. Also added Japanese Rules Cyclopedia.
v1.0.0 (5/27/25). Initial release.
Most box covers courtesy of TSR Archive. Thank you!