D&D General "The Women of Dungeons & Dragons" USC Library Display Case

[Cadence]

The University of South Carolina Thomas Cooper Library currently has a small display on "Women in Science Fiction: From Frankenstein to Dungeons and Dragons." (Click on thumbnails below to see larger versions).

It consists of two upright display cases and three flat ones just inside the doors to the right.




U1: Margaret Cavendish, Mary Shelley, and Jane Webb. (The Frankenstein in the middle is a facsimile)



F1: Pulp Fiction & Women in the Early 20th Century: Francis Stevens, C.L. Moore, Leah Bodine Drake, Naomi Mitchison, and Leigh Brackett.


F2: The Golden Age of Female Science Fiction: Andre Norton, Margaret Atwood, C.J. Cherryh, Joanna Russ, Ursula LeGuin, Charlie Jane Anders, and Octavia E. Butler.


U2: The Women of Dungeons and Dragons (detail below).

F3: Madeleine L'Engle, Lois Lowry, Suzanne Collins, Rainbow Rowell, Erin Entrada Kelly, Nalo Hopkinson, and Namina Forna



Here is the D&D one in detail:

From top shelf to bottom:

• The Vale of the Mage (WG12) by Jean Rabe
• The Demon Hand by Rose Estes
• Quag Keep by Andre Norton
• Isle of Illusion by Madeleine Simon

• Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman
• The Black Wing by Mary Kirchoff
• Stormblade by Nancy Variant Berberick
• The Dark Queen by Michael & Teri Williams

• Death of a Darklord by Laurell K. Hamilton
• Vampire of the Mists by Christie Golden
• I Strahd by P.N. Elrod
• Ravenloft II: The House on Gryphon Hill (I10) by Tracy and Laura Hickman

• The Wyvern's Spur by Kate Novak and Jeff Grubb
• The Radiant Dragon by Elaine Cunningham
• Red Mage by Jean Rabe
• Cinnabar Shadows by Lynn Abbey

 

[Cadence]

I find it odd/interesting that D&D was included given the exhibits title of Science Fiction. (The LeGuin books, for example were two copies of Left Hand of Darkness) although the display case of the early 20th Century had Fantasy in it too, for example.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Neat!

This should probably be in such a display...

 

[Reynard]

Very cool. Thanks!

 

[Cadence]

Neat!

This should probably be in such a display...

View attachment 363246

And now you have me checking what the library has... and that doesn't look like one. But I can't find either of the two modules they do list - or the first paperback I looked for - as being in the searchable catalog either.

 

[jayoungr]

And now you have me checking what the library has... and that doesn't look like one.

It's understandable. Hard copies of the "orange cover" edition of that adventure are incredibly rare and too valuable to just lend out.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Laurell K. Hamilton ...

 

[Yaarel]

I like Andre Norton. I didnt know she did a D&D module. I will check out Quag Keep!

 

[Cadence]

I like Andre Norton. I didnt know she did a D&D module. I will check out Quag Keep!

I have not read it myself, but the reviews of the novel are... not great. The follow-up (Return to Quag Keep) was by Norton and Jean Rabe and finished after Norton's death. It's reviews are also not great.

On the other hand, some of the reviews might describe a lot of D&D games (especially those some of our more pessimistic players play in), in which case maybe it succeeds after all?
"The story of their adventure is somewhat generic fantasy and sadly a little bland, ... the plot is somewhat unsatisfactory."
"a bit linear"
"The characters are two dimensional or less. The story goes from encounter to encounter with no character development. "

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

How very cool! As I've said before, Rose Estes deserves a ton of credit for bringing people into D&D with her Endless Quest books.

I like Andre Norton. I didnt know she did a D&D module. I will check out Quag Keep!

Quag Keep is not a module, but the first piece of official D&D fiction. It is, unfortunately, not one of her better works.