So, I've been reading Knights of the Dinner Table - Bundle of Trouble Volume 1 (surprisingly readable on my Samsung Galaxy Note 3) and the first strip is "Lair of the Gazebo".
I doubt that this was the first time a "Gazebo" was mistaken for a viable monstrous adversary in the lore of "old school gaming".
Can anyone think of an earlier reference than KotDT Issue #1 circa summer of '94?
That is the 1st time I heard about it. Perhaps ask Jolly Blackburn. He would know.
ReplyDeleteLittle bit older school: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_and_the_Dread_Gazebo
ReplyDeleteHere is the story as told by Arensen himself, it occurred in the 1970's ... http://www.dndadventure.com/html/articles/gaming_stories.html
ReplyDeleteThere was a Phil & Dixie strip, circa 1980, with a Gazebo joke.
ReplyDeleteGazebo was a slang term for goon or thug used in old 1920s-1930s pulp fiction (see The Shadow magazine).
ReplyDeleteSo I can understand someone thinking it might be something besides a non-attached sundeck.
There's a reference in one of the Judges Guild products from the 70's (a Wilderlands book I think) to a burned down gazebo.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_and_the_Dread_Gazebo
ReplyDeletedreadgazebo.com - the story had it's own URL for a while.
I first read it on a Usenet group where someone posted the story as being from Dave Arensen.
ReplyDeleteI've linked the Arensen tale, above, if you wish to read it.
DeleteA large gazebo stands on the grounds of haunted Tegel Manor (1977): Some people believe that this dread edifice was where the tales of a murderous gazebo originated...
ReplyDelete