Morley the Wizard - Should This Early TSR Mascot Make a Comeback?

 

Back in the 1970s TSR created an iconic character that we don't see around much these days. Morley the Wizard was an early Mascot of D&D. He appeared in commercials aimed at children and younger gamers. He also appeared on the cover of the Fantasy Forest Board Game (1st printing). According to Screen Rant, the character may have been created in order to shift perceptions away from all the negative press given to D&D during the "Satanic Panic". 

Frank Mentzer told me that the character was created by Dave Dimery. Dimery was Vice President of Marketing at TSR at the time. "[Dimery was an]  old friend of Gary's (since childhood Chicago)" Frank told me. The image of Morley even appeared on some RPGA material during the time when Mentzer was in charge of that project. 

With WotC bringing back the cartoon characters as well as LJN toy characters like Warduke and Strongheart, will Morley be next?

Huge thanks to Frank Mentzer for providing additional information, images and documents for this article. 

-Havard

DaveCon 2025 Special Guests

Next year's DaveCon is still many months away, but we are already learning more details about the event. 

Vic Dorso seems to have clarified that the convention is not just about Dave Arneson, but that "Davecon isn't just about one Dave, its about all the Daves that made RPG gaming great !" 

The 2025 convention will include the following:

Original Blackmoor Players: 

David Megarry , David Wesely, Mike Carr,  Bill Hoyt, Ross Maker

Arneson Alumni: 

Ken Fletcher, Kevin McColl, 

Other Guests of Honor: 

Justin Alexander and Mark Rein-Hagen, Bob World Builder, Baron De Rupp, Grace the World Destroyer,  Heidi Gygax, Eric Garland, Greg Gillespie, Andy Thomas, David Yaeger, David "DJ" Johnson.

Furthermore, DaveCon, via their Facebook page, has offered a discount code for tickets: 

 20% Discount code is good till September 15th only is DiceBreaker.

You can buy the tickets at this site. 

Read more about DaveCon at the official website. 

If you feel like DaveCon is too far into the future, there is always ArneCon happening next month.

Are you going to DaveCon? What are your thoughts about this news? Let me know!

More about DaveCon 2025 at The Comeback Inn Forum

Disclaimers: This blog is not associated with DaveCon or any other commercial endeavour. This is a non-commercial fan site promoting and discussing anything we feel our readers might be interested in learning more about.

-Havard