David Trampier, artist, game designer, and man of mystery, died Monday at the age of 59 in Carbondale, Illinois. Trampier’s art was all over early versions of Dungeons & Dragons. His cover for the AD&D Players Handbook inspired untold numbers of gamers.
Trampier also co-designed the board game Titan and drew my favorite comic strip of all-time, Wormy.
Unfortunately, Trampier had a falling-out with TSR in the 1980s, after which he separated himself from the game industry and refused all attempts at contact. A thawing of that relationship seemed to be in the works in recent years but that was put on hold when he fell ill.