Dungeons and Dragons is truly one of the most important games I've ever played. It's brought my dearest friends, best stories, and funniest moments. It's a way for me to express my beliefs about the world whilst making jokes about derpy horses and Goblins choosing to play marbles instead of fighting.

With all these stories to tell, and yet to be told, it's important to think of inspiration. Where have these stories come from?

When I'm not here writing about D&D, or playing uncountable card games, or writing about even more card games; I am in one of the coolest spots in all of my native, jolly old England. It's a place full of comics, and manga, and CCGs, and action figures. It's not my house, it's bigger.

That day job of mine has surrounded me with some of my favourite things in the world. As such, I'm equally surrounded by fun ideas, bold stories, and wacky concepts to feed back into my fiction, both written, and tabletop.

I put to you, dear internet traveller, the list of recent comics that have tickled my imagination in very different ways. A series of micro reviews if you will.

Comics and Dragons

A little disclaimer before going in, these will be reviews for ongoing titles for single issue comics. I sincerely hope these will all be collected into graphic novels one day, but it's hard to say what happens in the world of comic production.

A second disclaimer, I am not referencing any titles by the big two companies. Sure, Marvel and DC have set the tone for what western style comic book story telling can be, but when you start to wander off their beaten path, you find some real gems hidden away in the back issue boxes of your local comic book store.

One last little note, I say western style comics deliberately here. There are many excellent, high fantasy Japanese Manga and Korean Manhwa titles that have greatly impacted my own writing. Titles like Ragna Crimson and Demon Slayer come to mind. I even describe healing magic in my own games with blood trickling upwards into the wound, and the wound slowly closing as seen in the anime for Baccano. I think I'll spotlight some of those titles in another article, because the gods have cursed me for my hubris and my work is never finished.

Slumber

Image Comics have come a long way from shamelessly poaching away DC and Marvel's best talents to make their own, half-baked ideas. Nowadays, Image are the bringers of unique and wacky titles about all kinds of media, telling ambitious stories with almost no capes in sight.

Slumber is written by Tyler Burton Smith, illustrated by Vanessa Cardinali, colourised by Simon Robins, and lettered by Steve Wands. The wacky art style makes things feel very dream like and out there, on theme with the subject of dreams.

In Slumber, you the reader follow a small team of investigators tracking a living nightmare that jump between people's dreams causing them to commit horrible acts while they're sleeping.

There's a delicious disparity between the dream like colours and strange scenery alongside the gruesome violence against fantasy creatures and the bad language of the main human characters. The second issue finds what was once a regular, ordinary man brought into the wildness and mystery across the subconscious and is bringing a welcome new thread of conflict to our main character, who's been given a great shred of context.

The visuals of the dreams make for great fuel for somewhere truly bizarre in your games of Dungeons and Dragons. On top of that, I deeply love the contrast of the dream worlds with the mundane browns of our familiar earth. If a Game Master can put into words the contrast they see on the pages of this comic then they have a real shot to articulate it when they narrate their games.

You can find issues 1 and 2 of Slumber in the back issues section of your local comic book store.

Twig

Also by Image, we go from the gritty cops of New York to the strange and peaceable natural world of a fantastical dream land.

Twig is written by Skottie Young (the creator known for everything cute and chibi in the world of Marvel). Art by Kyle Strahm, coloured b Jean-Francois Beaulieu, and letters by Nate Piekos.

Twig follows the eponymous blue friend named Twig, and his yellow blob snail friend named Splat. Their first day as an adventurer, more specifically the Placeling, takes him deep inside a living mountain, talking with miners about a grand red rock, trekking across the realm, and deep into a conspiracy.

The bright colours feel very child friendly, with a lot of room for grown ups to unpack the mystery within. It's rare to see such a story rich enough to enchant all kinds of readers.

It's easy to see where the TTRPG community could be inspired by this comic. The whimsical worlds, colourful characters, and fantastical premises could be filtered into a kids friendly game as well as bringing more nuanced possibilities for all kinds of games.

Find issue #1 out now in the back issues of your store.

Buzzard Bone

Now we go from the wholesome to the gruesome.

Buzzard Bone is a gritty fantasy story written by Nick Philpot, illustrated by Ryan Gutierrez, and Lettered by Lettersquids. It's from Source Point Press, which is a company slowly becoming one of my favourite comic book publishers simply because they only seem to put out alternative science fiction and fantasy comics like these.

Set in the old west, two families of prestigious mages have had an endless blood feud for decades. Very Romeo and Juliet. Out of this turf war, one baby was born, of both families. Buzzard Bone is the story Berkeley Bezoar, and his slow process to become a mage bringing together both sides of his heritage.

Urban Fantasy At Its Finest - Cities of MAgic Cover A by Scout Comics

Throughout, Buzzard Bone treats us to a consistent voice of someone born and raised in our world's Texas. It treats the magic of its setting with uncompromising mastery and understanding. We get a compliment of strange and bizarre visuals as Berk gets his magic through issue two. This one is neither for kids, nor the weak of heart.

For those looking to get setting cues and looks into what gritty fantasy can truly look like, Buzzard Bone is an amazing pick up.

Cities of Magick

Many fantasy writers ask themselves where the rules for their settings come from. Often their worlds are the products of the works of ancient gods that breathed life and conflict into their world.

Sometimes a fantastical story takes place in our own world, which has been irreversibly changed as magic has replaced technology.

This story is a master class in world building. The details they throw into the issue about renaming the familiar into Old York, name dropping key figures and locations, and even the cover art showing a magically refurbished Statue of Liberty is essential flavouring for writers when building a new world. When fleshing out your own setting and stories, it is essential to do the same. An old adage I learned a long time ago: “when telling a story, it's better to leave your reader curious than bored”. The right balance of vague yet showing in your writing is essential to striking this balance.

Quests Aside

Now you can really tell that Quests Aside was written by Dungeons and Dragons fans, for Dungeons and Dragons fans.

Quests Aside (get it, side quest) was written by Brian Chirmer, with art by Elena Gogou and colour by Rebecca Nalty, finally with letters by Andworld Design. Quests Aside features a colourful cast of characters all paying patronage to the Quests Aside, a legendary road house out in the wilderness. The bards outside are musically sparring with each other, and adventurers come and go from their welcoming halls after filling up on mead and food. Just like a familiar D&D road house in our games.

Battle of the Bards? - Quest Aside Page by Vault Comics

The more the reader takes in, the more we see that the proprietors are well versed in the world of adventure and not all is quite as it seems. It makes me very eager to read a later issue.

It's clear to see where this has inspired me. The look at classic fantasy table top role playing games. The look at the reluctant hero trope is fun to unpack in gaming, as well as the look into how to build an authentic setting, whilst being pulled into something unique, like the cast themselves.

Now we want to hear from you. Will you be reading these comics for yourself? What other sources of inspiration have fuelled your table top role playing games? Let us know in our discord server or in the comments below.

Adam Ray contributes much for adventurers here on Apotheosis Studios. As co-founder of fantasticuniverses.com, they write all kinds of gaming press, while they write news about the League of Legends Card Game on RuneterraCCG. On Youtube, they can be found playing PC games on The Hostile Atmosphere, or streaming card games at twitch.tv/IzzetTinkerer. Find where they dwell by climbing their Linktree.

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Read the Guide Path - Fresh Comicbook Inspiration for Your TTRPG