Very good initiative and producer orientation. The Beholder, and its further imitations, has confirmed the worth of designing a monster for D&D. But we shouldn't forget the artists, all of whom brought the initial Beholder into display: Greg Bell for front page work on the Greyhawk Supplement, Keith Parkinson for his side-viewing Beholder, Simon Todd, the UK artist with a ferocious Beholder, and the First Edition Monster Manual c.1977. Then later on all the products made from D&D fans from throughout the world. And finally, the variant Beholder Maximus designed and produced by Epic Quest Productions. It's all good and wonderful for such a dynamic creature characterization!
Well, thank you, Seth! The legend was expanded upon in several other TSR products. POV and creativity for FRPG provided the catalyst for advanced roleplaying games. (I like the Beholder, also!) 😉
Holy shit. Did not expect to find this legendary nugget buried in the comments. Just wanted to comment on a great video (that got me thinking about how I would’ve played DnD in my um.... wilder days) and find this. Thank you, sir, for the joy you have brought the world.
@@jesnemo2677 Mr. Gygax created D&D from the ground up, along with some assistance from Dave Arneson, in the Advanced D&D, first edition, so that you would play and enjoy the game the way you liked most within a group. There had to be flexibility because of limited resources. Sure, you could purchase modules, Dungeon Master Guides, and all, but a good visual presentation was time consuming to make or handle. You could still have fun, though. Today, RPG products abound. Digital color mapping urban, dungeon, and outdoor areas is a reality, and color too! 3D printing in small quantities is for-real too. It was the initial visuals that the FRPG genre required for play, particularly for young children's visual adaptation. Inkwell Ideas has, for instance, large decks of cards, such as for monsters, so when an adventuring party has an encounter, the Dungeon Master or Game Master only shows that pictorial representation to the adventure party members. Back in the early 1970s, the costs for such game support products were unfounded, prohibited, or just set aside because of production costs. 😃
So many amazing no-context lines in this one! "Photo-negatives of Tolkien's elves meets Kiss," "It's eighty percent eyeball and sixty percent mouth," or "You pooped out your mouth you'd hate the world too, wouldn't ya." Fantastic video, great to see the Gang again!
Re: Mouth-pooping, Larry Niven's Slavers/Thrintun had the same physiological quirk and if their behavior is any indication, yeah, they hated the world. Whole galaxy, really. Speaking of Niven, D&D needs sunflowers that shoot laser beams. :)
@@richmcgee434 Phaerimm. 3rd Ed monster, in Monsters of Faerun. Floating, four armed, spellcasting, hate filled sunflower looking SOB's that are entirely motivated by evil. Not specifically lasers, but they cast as 15-20th level sorcerers, so all kinds of ray spells. I don't think they have butt holes either, so they may be in the same mouth-pooping scenario.
Having played in a game run by Gary G I can confirm that Seth’s impersonation is 100 percent spot on. I hope to see more of Gary in Seth’s future videos.
Same here. Had a couple of friends who were early DnD fans and got a couple of sessions with Gary G themselves. They said he was...intense when the muse was upon him, which it usually was when he had a game going.
Seth, I want you to know that this skit is the greatest skit of any RU-vid channel of all time. I had this on my tv after dinner and both myself and my other half were crying with laughter the whole way through. I'm not even exaggerating! I sure learned a lot about how intense a session with Gygax would have been!!
"Photo-negatives of Tolkien's elves meets KISS" This version of the Drow is something I never would've considered, but this is the version of the Drow that's going in ALL my games!
You can tell it's the 1970s because literally everything has wood paneling. Everything! The walls, your kitchen appliances, the TV, your car, your game console, your cats!
"WHY?", " BECAUSE ITS FANTASY!!!!", its legit , when I was a little kid i played with DMS like that dude and they weren't sniffing, but you could have fooled me....lolol
From what my dad tells me of what it was like to fight a beholder back in the day, it was just a monster designed to be as difficult to kill as possible. Can't sneak up on it, can't use magic on it, can't have anything magic too close to it, floats up too high for melee attacks and is nearly impossible to trap. Additionally, it can inflict most status effects and can render party members unable to be resurrected.
Holy hell, I nearly spit out my Mountain Dew when that rant about why the beholder is filled with hate got going. Gotta give it to Dweebles, this is one hell of a legend.
Until this episode, I never noticed how much your D&D round table skits owe to That 70's Show, but now it's all that I can see. Something about the panelling.
"When you have to choose between the truth and the legend, always choose the legend." Damn bro I really felt that one, idk if you wrote that one up yourself but I don't wanna google it to find out. I'm going to choose the legend.
OMG I've watched this 4 times now and it's funnier everytime; the G.G. character is so hilarious, the whole thing is so thoughtfully done, even the DM screen being just an old binder. Awesome.
I wish I could give this video more than 1 like. This is amazing. I'm literally crying and coughing from laughing so hard! This is by far your best video to date, and that's really saying something. I'll be watching this one again real soon. Maybe right now!
If someone EVER tells me an origin story occurred after ripping a line of nose candy behind a DM screen, you better believe I'm editing every wiki page to ensure this legend becomes FACT. That's how the pilgrims did it.
It was probably an orange and some toothpicks. Cut an eye and mouth into the orange and put some toothpicks in for the tentacles and there you have the Beholder.
I haven't had such a good laugh from a skit in a long time. I just love the manic, coke (?) -fuelled energy the dm has when he's describing the beholder. Excellent portrayal!
Ok, potentially subtle point but love the background. Cheap 1970's faux wood paneling in a basement with the 1960's non-egress basement windows. Screams 1980's teenage gamer. Awesome! Brings back memories. Nice attention to detail. 😁
To be fair... If I was a total newb to the game and was told this was how the Beholder was invented...I would believe it. Somebody would have to be on some pretty intense stuff to come up with something so friggin bizarre.
Great video. As someone who has been playing this game for over 40 years, I can say the beholder may be the most recognizable creature in the game. I have an original Monster Manual from 1978 and on page 4, there is a preface by Gary Gygax. He says, "Terry Kuntz, who was never thanked for his prototypical beholder." I always figured he was the man behind that monster. Just thought that was a good reference for the video. Sorry if I missed it somewhere along the way.
Just now catching this episode. The Gang Presents is a great segment that should definitely be a reoccurring thing. Optionally more 1970s D&D skits would be awesome as well.
