This incarnation is probably the version of D&D most people around my age remember, the terrible Saturday-morning cartoon. Despite being in high school when it debuted on CBS in 1983, I would make the effort get up and watch it. Ugh. All the horrible, lazy cartoon tropes that were used, namely the unicorn as a mascot making cute noises to aid the rather dumb teenagers. I endured because it would be a long, long time before the numerous creatures and villains of the game would appear in film or TV yet settling for animation in video games.
My sensei Les used to have the PVC figures of them. With the use of Twilight:2000 rules, he made a made game in which the D&D characters fight the Smurfs, another horrible Saturday-morning show rife with dozens of PVC figures you could buy anywhere in the late Seventies. Maybe Les can clue us in on what the game entailed.
I still own those D&D cartoon figures: Eric the Cavalier, Hank the Ranger, Presto the Magician, Sheila the Thief, and Uni the Unicorn. Apparently they never made Bobby the Barbarian (too small?) or Diana the Acrobat (too Black?). I’ve sent you a link to a photo of where my figures reside today.
And not two feet away, diagonally opposite, is my collection of Smurfs, in a sort of pirate ship doll house. (I’ve sent a link to photos of that, as well).
The Smurf collection started with that one guy with the halberd. Set next to a standard 25mm adventurer, he looks like a giant. So I jokingly had him fight my players’ characters in a TFT adventure. Over the years, the collection grew, with a few from toy stores, some from garage sales, and some even from a Christmas store in Germany. Always fantasy oriented. I’ve never been interested in others.
And where the Smurfs and D&D characters met was indeed at Gen Con. Given that the Smurfs are waist high to Eric et al. I called them Smurf goblins. Basically I wanted to demo the miniatures rules potential of T2K with that silly setup, played in deadly earnest. But I’ll confess it was more likely just another example of my innate asinine iconoclasm rearing its head. I got no respect. (“Blood and souls for my Lord Arioch!”)
I do remember that the scenario was a last-minute idea, not play-tested (Gen Con prep was always a last minute thing back then, our quotidian publishing schedules being so hectic), which didn’t really gel, and the players seemed sort of let down.
It probably would have worked better if I had used Warhammer Fantasy Battles rules. That’s what the terrain I used for this came from–the forest green felt blanket, brown felt strips for roads, double-density styrofoam hill sections (which cost me a chunk of change), and pine cones stood on end for trees. I used to play WFB 2e on weekends, my skeleton army vs. Jim Cotton’s goblins, and that was pre-Games Workshop exclusivity, so the 2e rules would support statting anything at all.
Look at that: A comment about three times as long as the original post. And if you include the photos, it’ll be 3-to-1 on that, as well! 😀