Vince Vaughn is apparently a D&D player, and he's putting his money where his dice bag is.
At Gary Con XVIII's charity auction in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, the actor dropped $5,000 on an original painting by legendary D&D artist Jeff Easley depicting the character Melf, a grey elf with silver hair and lavender eyes. Then he gifted it to Luke Gygax, the son of D&D co-creator Gary Gygax and the person who originally played Melf in his father's home games back in the 1970s.
The painting is the cover art for the newly announced Melf's Guide to Greyhawk: The Shield Lands, a collaborative project between Luke Gygax and Wizards of the Coast. The book will expand the Greyhawk setting that returned in 2024's Dungeon Master's Guide, featuring new maps from Greyhawk cartographer Anna B. Meyer. Details on the release date and contents are still thin, but having Easley paint the cover is a strong statement of intent. His art defined the look of AD&D for a generation of players.
The auction was part of Gary Con's annual fundraiser for Extra Life and the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, which pulled in $120,000 this year.
Gary Con XVIII ran March 19-22 at the Grand Geneva Resort, with Wizards of the Coast sending Dan Ayoub and the D&D design team to reconnect with fans at the birthplace of the hobby. If you've never been, it's one of the most intimate conventions on the calendar, and clearly the kind of place where Hollywood actors rub shoulders with grognards.
Sources: Gaming Trend | Wargamer | EN World