Want my copy of this book mailed to you for free? Scroll down to the bottom of the post and find out how!

I’m not usually the kind of gamer who buys art books and history books for our hobby. But this Art & Arcana book showed up in the mail and… gosh… it is pretty.

And when I opened the book at random, it thudded open straight to the Caves of Chaos. It is almost like the book KNEW what would hook me in.

If you are into the old school parts of D&D, this book is full of great bits and pieces of lore and history. Hand drawn maps from the old-timers in the hobby…

The cover studies for the original Chainmail rules…

And multiple comparative studies of monsters through the ages and editions like the beholder here (titled, horribly, “Evilutions”).

It even has the classic OD&D character sheet – in case you really needed a copy. 😉

But it is just crammed with amazing art. So many nostalgic feelings well up as I flip through this book. I still am not a fan of AD&D1e rules wise… but 1e books are just so tied up in youthful memories of delving through the arcane rules and material…

And weirdness. There’s a whole section for Erol Otus.

And this lovely spread of international old school.

A chapter touches on the classic video game translations of D&D…

More evilutions

More beholders

And I’m going to close out this quick flip-through with this very recent and freaking awesome two-page illustration of the lovely and deadly Zuggtmoy.

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Want me to send you my copy of this heavy tome of cool stuff? It can be yours! Just head over to Twitter and retweet this tweet, along with a link to your favourite map from this blog. One retweeter will be chosen at random on Tuesday and I’ll wrap this sucker up and mail it to them!