MonsterBook

In 1993, a group of Glaswegian friends started a games company, Nightfall Games, to sell the pen and paper role-playing game that they’d created. Although it involved a lot of hard work on the part of a whole group of people, SLA Industries was the brainchild of artist and writer Dave Allsop, with design and further writing by Jared Earle. SLA — it’s pronounced ‘slay‘ by the way, not ‘ess-ell-ay’ — was radically different to almost everything else on the market at the time. It came directly out of the experience of growing up in Glasgow in the 80s, and had a bitterly cynical attitude towards the media, government and corporate interests, and the hollowness of modern life. It was futuristic, dystopian, bleakly urban and very, very dark. SLA had a turbulent history, even being owned by games giant Wizards of the Coast for a while, and is now back in the hands of its creators, published through Cubicle 7 Entertainment.

I was involved for a while, and still love SLA deeply.

So I’m pleased to see that Earle and Allsop have put together a new website, MonsterBook. As they are two of the most deliciously twisted people to ever pen a role-playing game, it will be fascinating to see what appears there. They’ve been running for a mere three days, and have already notched up several bits of Allsop’s art (along with some how-tos), a nod towards the impressively sickening Hello Kitty murder, some excellent horror review information, and a thoughtful piece on ghosts in Japan by David ‘Jimbly’ Boylan, one of the original Nightfallers.

If all of that isn’t enough to tempt you to go and have a look at MonsterBook for yourself, here’s a selection of Dave Allsop’s artwork for your amusement. It speaks for itself.

Grizzled Vets by Dave Allsop

When the Wind Blows by Dave Allsop

Cthulhu by Dave Allsop

Forsaken Priest by Dave Allsop (c) Blizzard

Cemetery Reaper by Dave Allsop (c) Wizards of the Coast