By 1990, DC Comics had four concurrent Dungeons & Dragons comics running: Dragonlance, Spelljammer, and two Forgotten Realms titles. A TSR Worlds Annual one-shot that year tied all four settings together, while the Forgotten Realms Annual featured a crossover between the two Toril-bound adventuring groups. Meanwhile, the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Annual went for something much smaller, but very fun…

D&D is the original role-playing game, yet the media that ties into it very rarely leans into the “game” aspect of it. That’s natural, since it’s hard to handle that sort of fourth wall breaking without feeling trite. “Players,” the tale told in the 1990 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Annual, manages to subvert that by simultaneously fleshing out our cast of heroes and presenting them as characters in a game. All it takes is a little magic…

Playing Around

Our story opens in Selûne’s Smile, where a group of children are running around and causing a ruckus.

I would complain about kids let loose in a tavern, but this is the Forgotten Realms. Aside from the occasional bar brawl, a tavern is likely the safest place kids could be, what with adventurers sitting around ready to take care of any immediate problems.

The kids run into Parwyyd Hanifar (who was last seen during “The Ostus Legacy“), knocking him down. Parwyyd seems nonplussed by the accident, but suggests that the kids might have more fun playing a different kind of game.

He produces a set of polyhedral gems (very clearly meant to represent dice), which allow the children to live an adventure as someone else. Parwyyd casts the first of the children in the role of a dwarf, and just like that the kids have begun playing roles in a game…

Dwarves’ Night Out

From here, the annual goes into several short tales about our regular heroes, with the kids experiencing the adventures as though they were their own. First up is Onyx, who is once again paired with his companion Timoth on a misadventure.

Onyx and Timoth have just recovered a magic item they had hoped to sell, but which is cursed. As always, Timoth plays the optimist, pointing out that they at least got a few gold for it. Onyx, surly as ever, tells Timoth to buzz off in a quite unkind way before heading off to drink with some dwarves.

Onyx heads to the Underdark, a tavern frequented by short races, including goblinoids. Eager to bolster his reputation, he buys a round for everybody and starts talking himself up.

I guess the item must have sold reasonably well if he’s so flush with cash…

Onyx soon hears that a legendary dwarf named Stormhammer Silverbars is at the tavern, and he rushes to meet him. Stormhammer plays into many of the dwarven stereotypes, including his love of drink.

Stormhammer has grown old and jaded over time. Most of all, he misses the memories of when dwarves were plentiful. At this point in Forgotten Realms history, the dwarven people had been drying off. Although there was a single year that yielded many new births, the old guard was almost entirely gone.

The goblins circle back to Onyx and ask for more beer. Onyx tells them to buzz off, which starts a fight as they try to kill the “new dwarven legend.” Onyx gives a good account for himself, but he’s outnumbered.

Luckily, Silverhammer saves the day by knocking the last goblin out. Before sending Onyx on his way, the old dwarf gives the young upstart advice: “Don’t be a hero. Build a real life. Be more than a glorious story with a messy ending.”

But Onyx is young, impetuous, and “invincible.” So he parts ways with Silverhand and goes back to his friend.

It’s a short, simple piece, but I can’t say that I haven’t spent at least one D&D adventure almost getting my character killed in an unnecessary tavern brawl.

A Slave is a Slave

Next up, one of the young girls experiences an adventure from Vajra’s life. That means a trip back to the slave pits of Manshaka, where a young Vajra witnesses a man named Liber speak out against slavery, only to get whipped for it.

Concerned that Liber’s talk of liberty will influence Vajra, their master Abon Duum has somebody spike his wine before he goes out to fight. They make sure that Vajra sees the fate of anybody who dares to speak out against oppression.

Duum’s prize gladiator Gorda kills Liber before Vajra’s eyes.

For the next ten years, Vajra fights in the arena, all the while looking for a time when she can get revenge for Liber’s death.

The slave master Gorda tries to spike Vajra’s drink as he did Liber’s, but since that day Vajra has made it a policy never to drink before a match. When Gorda tries to restrain her and force her to drink, it goes badly for the guards.

The match goes worse for Gorda, who fails to match Vajra’s speed in the arena.

Enraged, Gorda tries to kill Vajra himself…which he really should have realized was a dumb idea.

Finally, Vajra has a final word for Abon Duum before leaving the arena…

This story is a pretty bleak one. We know it would be a while before Vajra finally escaped from Duum, and the people she kills in vengeance were slaves themselves, albeit ones who chose to throw their lot in with their master and turn against their fellow prisoners. But any story about slavery has to be pretty bleak because the practice is so abhorrent and terrible.

I, Conner

The next child takes the role of Conner, who runs into a man named Laysh while cheating at dice. Laysh is at first mistaken for an assassin, but he is actually Baron Norror’s Chief of Torments–a master executioner and torturer. And he’s selected Conner for a job.

Laysh wants to rob the young baron of his valuables for the slight of bringing in an iron maiden to torture victims.

Conner claims that he’s too recognizable for the job, but offers his services as a consultant for the job. He agrees to help steal two valuable urns as punishment to the Baron.

Not long afterward, Conner shows up in Laysh’s bedroom with some forgeries to replace what he’s about to steal. Then he sets Laysh about the theft…

Laysh brings the urns to the Baron’s bedroom, where we discover that they are filled with paint. He then swaps the forgeries out and paints the real urns to disguise their transport.

Mere moments after Laysh has absconded with the stolen property, he hears from a street urchin that the guard is already searching for the missing valuables–and Conner is their prime suspect.

When Conner learns that the watch is out for him, he declares that he’ll have to go underground for a few months before fencing the urns to someone named Balgio. He tells Laysh to lay low and say nothing. Laysh, on the other hand, decides that maybe he should pay Balgio a visit himself.

It turns out that Balgio doesn’t know the price of urns very well. Luckily, he has a friend in the city watch who can help…

With a member of the watch nearby, Laysh freezes and finds himself selling the stolen urns for a mere seven silver pieces. After all, revealing that they are much more valuable would mean alerting the definitely-real and not-impostor guard.

And so Conner gets the best of the torturer. Too bad the guy will just go back to murdering people for a corrupt baron.

The Challenge of Timoth Eyesbright

Our final child gets to take the role of Timoth…which is pretty special, considering that centaurs wouldn’t become an officially playable race until The Complete Book of Humanoids hit the shelves two years after this series got canceled.

Timoth is convinced that he’ll become the new chieftain of his tribe and that the girl of his dreams, Llana, will become his consort. However, she has eyes for Timoth’s friend Darian.

As the competition gets underway, Timoth shows concern for Darian despite being his competitor. Meanwhile, his arrogant rival Bryon makes sure to crow about his superiority every chance he gets.

Timoth observes that Bryon has the virtues of a great warrior but the faults of a tyrant. Determined not to let such a man lead his people, he throws aside his own chance to make sure that Darian wins.

Darian wins the race thanks to Timoth’s help, but the three rivals all tie in an archery contest. The final trial is a question of judgment.

Bryon states that only strength can resolve the issue. And he has a chance to prove it, as he and Timoth are paired up for a final trial by combat.

Timoth overcomes Bryon by using his agility to best the strong but clumsy warrior. Finally, he and Darian face off to determine who will be the chieftain.

And thus Darian becomes chieftain. Timoth, meanwhile, earns the respect of his people, even Bryon.

So it was that Timoth took to wandering, where he eventually met Onyx and had many wonderful adventures.

Never Meet Your Heroes

The game comes to an end, and Parwyyd disappears to let the kids take the reigns and tell their own stories. Again, this reflects the game aspects of D&D well–you typically start off by playing in published adventures, but often decide it’s more fun to tell your own stories.

However, D&D groups don’t typically live in the same world as their characters. These kids do, and they’re quite surprised to see the adventurers come home to the tavern.

They all run off, except for the kid who was playing Onyx. He’s still in character.

Thus we’ve had three different annuals across three different titles: a multi-setting, globe trotting adventure, a crossover between two casts of characters, and this smaller, sillier story. Each of them have their own charms, although I’m always a fan of more personal tales. I also like the nod to the gaming aspects of D&D in this story.

Regardless of which one you prefer, that’s it for our batch of annuals. TSR and DC parted ways before a second round of annuals could happen, ending all these D&D comic lines. But we’re not done yet, and in our next story Onyx faces off against the worst foe imaginable…

_{Images: DC Comics}