[En Sabah Nerd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by deecee4

In the Shady Dragon Inn module from around that time Zarak is a half-Orc NPC...all those characters from the LJN line were NPCs actually. I think TSR were going for some kind of synergy between the toyline and gameplay material...intending for people to use the figures in their games. But didnt quite work out that way.

Like I said I wasn't into the LJN line but I did some research into it recently enough (because of NECA's Warduke) and it seems like an interesting story that is probably missing some pieces. So far as I found every LJN toy was an original concept except for Warduke, who did not have a name before the toys but showed up in magazines for DnD, and they were pretty much all conceived as toys before trying to fit them all in to the DnD formula. Warduke was the only one who really stuck though, apparently most of the others were too similar to existing NPCs so players didn't see the appeal to having basically two of the same character. Recently-ish some of them were used in the 5e adventure 'Wild Beyond the Witchlight' and some are included in a DnD themed mobile-game, but most recently they got a bit of a heavier presence. The 2024 Player's Handbook features Strongheart, Mercion, and Elkhorn in key art (including the front cover and 'classes' title page) but I have no clue if any are mentioned by name anywhere within.