Troll Devotional Art / Clark Ashton Smith

[scott-martin]

Since Troll Gods has been open today I was struck by the little decorative ornaments in the layout. They always worked really well for me to convey a sense of an elder underworld culture's expression of the sacred: archaic, inscrutable, maybe a little brutal. Alien:

   

This time around I know exactly where I've seen them before. They're Clark Ashton Smith rock carvings:

How great is that? My guess is that somebody had a copy of The Fantastic Art of Clark Ashton Smith around and ran off a few stencils. Since I only have the Avalon Hill box I can't say if they showed up then (how wild would it be if they were a Dobyski idea) or (more likely) were inherited from the Chaosium side. What's especially exciting is that there's a lot more of this stuff extant so if you like this vision of gnawed troll fetishes, treat yourself. 

And then there's this character, who I haven't been able to track back to a klarkashtonian source yet and may actually be original: 

  
 

[M Helsdon]

It is getting very pricey (I purchased a copy when it came out) but In the Realms of Mystery and Wonder: The Prose Poems and Artwork of Clark Ashton Smith is a more recent appraisal of his art and well worth a look.

[Brootse]

Damn nice pics! I also liked the word 'kygerlith' for stone carvings of the Kyger Litor that was used in the guide.

[Bohemond]

That middle one looks like a very cheery butt plug.