Jennell was an acquaintance of mine. She was sick for a while, but hoping she'd pull out of it. Now she's gone and it breaks my heart. My condolences to her wife Becky and to the rest of Jennell's family. Thank you for such a kind tribute.
sadly havent heard of her before and now interested to learn about her work and life, especially as she was (as i am) a gay trans woman and that in such industry (even if not out for a long while) is great to hear. RIP Jennell, I wish you had longer.
Jennell actually did some fairly significant civil rights campaigning for transpeople. I'm not totally familiar with all the details, as I'm not personally LGBT+, but the lady had so many different hats and I believe she was really good at every different thing she did over the years. I do remember that she opened up her social media for cisgender folk who had questions about what it is like to be trans at least a couple of times, and I think that probably helped make up a little bit for the fact that people around her age didn't get educated properly about that aspect of life back at school. Hopefully it allowed a few cisgender people to figure out how to continue to be cool around friends who had come out. And hopefully the education system will address this and other normal stuff in the future, so that there is more general awareness in the population and everyone (trans or cis or gay or straight) can figure out who they need to be and have a happy life. She helped lots of people on social media with nerdy questions about D&D, other RPGs and computer games. She treated lots of us like we were her friends. So she definitely would have been friendly to you on social media, if you had reached out. I am totally sure she would have wished you well on your path and would have given you a pointer or two, if you had asked. There are some videos of her talking about RPG stuff (and videos of her and her wife talking about computer game stuff). She also designed some early electronic games. I'm sure there must be at least one video of her talking about LGBT+ issues too, if you are curious about her work in that field. So, while you might not be able to meet her, you can get to know her a bit better.
@@DavidShepheard thanks for the long response. that is nice to hear indeed and i gonna check this out. her wife seems to be an interesting and cool person too. not surprised they found each other.
Thank you very much! I really appreciate the compliment. And, thanks for watching and commenting! I do recall how much you like the Campaign Sourcebook and Catacomb Guide and thought of you when I made my notes for that section of the video.
Really good video. The folks at Goodman Games (publisher of DCC) celebrated her in kind of a big way fairly recently. They have republished some of her adventures. I knew about her before watching your video here, because Goodman Games made a big splash about her: videos, a big feature as part of the republishing of Dark Tower and Caverns of Thracia. Someone at Goodman started using her name as a verb (Jaquasing) for a particular approach to dungeon design that she pioneered long before anyone else got around to it (so, to have a dungeon with multiple entrances and various paths--as opposed to the "single entrance, no branching path" design approach that alot of early published dungeons used, was "to Jaquays" your dungeon).
I still have my copy of Central Casting Heroes of Legend that I use for almost every new character I start for a fantasy game. I started converting the tables to a php/mysql website for myself but of course never finished it. I always wanted the other books in that series. They aren't just for the GMs!
Thank you very much for watching the tribute, and for commenting. Thanks also for watching the bonus content. In general, if an album was originally recorded in mono and then later mastered in stereo, I tend to prefer the mono version, as it was specifically recorded with mono in mind. The Beatles albums come to mind - there are certain musical things that happen when you listen in mono that don't happen the same when when the channels are split and playing out of different speakers. So, specifically to answer your question, for Kind of Blue, I prefer the mono. But I also like having both versions to compare. And interesting thing occurred as stereo became more popular, in that some artists, rather than master their mono recordings in stereo, actually re-recorded the entire album to take advantage of stereo technology. June Christy's "Something Cool" (another favorite album of mine) comes to mind. She and her band originally recorded the tracks in mono between 1953-1955 (originally 7 songs on 10" mono than expanded by 4 songs for a total of 11 on 12" mono). In 1960, she went back into the studio with the same band and re-recorded all 11 tracks from tracks for a stereo release.
@otakuofmine it is an awesome resource, I used when I played dnd alot and drop it into many of my fantasy games It has generated spin off adventures It is a goldmine An as an aside there was a fan made return to Griffin mountain adventure at BRP central if I recall
Another of the "Old Guard" passes. ☹️ I was a huge fan of her Judges Guild stuff. It was one of my earlier influences. This is just my opinion, but the like of the original writers/designers/artists will never be again. I truly consider myself fortunate to have been a part of the "early days." 😊
I'm continually discovering stuff I've loved and enjoyed over the years that she has had a hand in making. Catacombs Guide was an amazing book. I still pull it off the shelf from time to time. Amazing career, and an amazing person. I hope her family knows peace and comfort in their grief.
Yeah, I was also lightly friends with Jennell online, so this particular death definitely hit me hard. Not only was a genius in the industry... and in the video game industry, as well... she was genuinely a sweet person. I was so hoping she would recover from her recent health plights.
Really lovely video for her. Love hearing how much she helped players by not only making fun adventures but also giving needed knowledge that just wasn't being taught at the time. She was very talented with great art, imgination and knowing what would be fun for players. I know not related to the channel but she also was able to do the same for video games as well. Doing some level designs for quake 2 and 3 so was also able to make fun scenarios for a fast past shooter. Rest in peace Jennell.
So much gratitude for this tribute. I didn't have people to game with when young but bought Dragon magazine religiously with my allowance and dreamed up adventures in my head. The art, and classes, monsters, etc were so vibrant and creative an fun to read. Glad to know more about her and her contibution to the hobby. Also, a review of Spellfire might be fun some day. I loved having it, but again no one to play with, I thought it was amazing at the time. Glad I found a gamingl group and now Pathfinder 2e Pathfinder Society which is my current jam.
So........ She invented the concept of the adventure module?! And this is the first time I've ever heard her name! That is utterly ridiculous. Great video and thanks for the information!
Thank you so much for watching and commenting! I think it was a situation in which (there's a name for this but I can't think of it off the top of my head) a few different people had the same idea at the same time, independently. The folks at Wee Warriors were also thinking of the idea of published adventures, just like Jennell Jaquays was. The Wee Warriors folks published their adventure separately, whereas Jennell wrote hers as part of "The Dungeoneer." While TSR had included "Temple of the Frog" as part of "Blackmoor: Supplement II" in 1975, that was part of a bigger supplement, not a stand-alone adventure. TSR wouldn't publish their first adventure module until 1978 (Steading of the Hill Giant Chief). Before that, TSR didn't think people would want to purchase and run pre-made adventures but assumed DMs would want to create the adventures themselves. The Wee Warriors folks thought differently, as did Jennell Jaquays. Their execution was just different. Judges Guild soon joined the adventure publishing crowd, and TSR figured out that they could make money with "official" published D&D adventures. What Jennell brought to the party that was unique, and sadly something I forgot to mention in the video, is a concept that many folks in the old-school community now refer to as "Jaquays-ing the Dungeon." This is a dungeon with multiple loops that connect various sections of the dungeon and give the PCs different options to approach exploration rather than being essentially a straight line. We probably take it for granted these days, but that idea was a novel approach back at the dawn of the hobby and still influences dungeon design today. Thanks again!
Most of her work was credited as "Paul Jaquays." She got around the industry and designed the Central Casting Hero history books for Catalyst Games. They were awesome.
I really felt it was important to do something to honor her without waiting for too much time to pass. Even though it was a bit rushed on my end to put it together, I'm glad people have found it comforting or informative. Thank you very much for watching and commenting.
Thank you so much for watching and commenting (especially all the way to the end with the bonus content). Nice to meet a fellow Amaro aficionado! Cin cin!
I think that book as well as her iconic cover for Dragon Mountain are probably her two most lasting and best-known works, but it also probably depends on when one entered the hobby. For older folks, it might be Dark Tower and/or Caverns of Thracia. In any event, there is a long and influential history of products to celebrate.
I remember the name Jenell Jaquays from various pieces of D&D gaming materials over the years. I also remember Dragonquest very well - I still have a copy of the rulebook. I was introduced to it in late 1982. An RPG gaming group I was introduced to was using it in place of AD&D. Once TSR bought SPI, they predicted (rightly) that TSR would adopt some of the mechanics from Dragonquest for AD&D - like magic colleges.
I was aware of Dragonquest but never played or read it, and I don't even recall having seen it at any shop I visited back in the day. My main exposure was in the very limited articles written about the game in Dragon. That's cool about the magic colleges!
@@daddyrolleda1 it was not promoted well, and was basically SPI trying to break into the RPG market, but it was too little too late. Nice system, though, which TSR clearly recognized, and good artwork.
I never picked them up myself but I know they were quite popular, especially after I made this video and a few folks such as yourself chimed in. Thank you so much for watching and commenting!
Although not tabletop related, she worked at id Software as a designer for Quake 1, 2, and possibly 3. Then worked at Ensemble Studios on Age of Mythology (Age of Empires series) and Halo Wars.
Thank you so much for this extra information. I've never been a video game player and I tend to forget and/or overlook the video game careers of many of the early TTRPG creators. I appreciate you sharing, and thank you so much for watching and commenting.
It's frustrating because I've talked about the Wee Warriors adventure before and even as I said it during this video, I kind of stumbled over it and was thinking to myself, "I don't think I got that right" but also I didn't want to start the video over. Appreciate the support!
12:10 I remember reading this issue of Dungeon where the main module was an interesting timed plot based around foreign intrigue in a large city. I recall the large dinosaur is a bit of terrorist attack and a MacGuffin in the plot. Nice to see this bit of history and credit to the painter/creator. So Jennel wrote that adventure and/or did the cover art?
Jennell did the cover art for that issue. It sounds like the adventure to which you're referring is "Of Nests and Nations" by Randy Maxwell. Randy wrote quite a few adventures for Dungeon magazine and also worked on "Dungeons of Despair" for 2E and on "The Northern Waste" for ICE's MERP system. "Of Nests and Nations" features intrigue in the city of Specularum in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos and there are dinosaurs and sabre-tooth cats in the adventure. Thank you so much for watching and commenting, and for your support of the channel! I really appreciate it.
Rest in peace Jennell Thank you for this tribute! I didn't know she was involved in so much in making this hobby what it is. That's inspiring! I really want to check out the Dark Tower and Caverns if Thracia! And I'm happy I've held onto my Campaign and Catacomb Guide! Amazing visual art as well. Thanks again for this touching video and thanks to Jennell for her life's work! ❤️
There's a quality in her early work at Judge's Guild, especially from an art perspective, that wouldn't be consistently reflected in the art at TSR for a while thereafter. Really mind-blowing work.
Thanks for this. I didn't know she was an artist too. Quake II is one of my favorite games, brilliant design. And I was a fan of her TSR work before I even knew who she was, which sadly was only recently. The Catacomb guide was among my well-loved books. I'm glad she's finally getting some recognition in the hobby and lived long enough to see it.
