Welcome to a stranger corner of old-school D&D - one where you don’t just read the adventure . . . you play it, and you color it too.
This week, we’re cracking open the 1979 Official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Coloring Album - and paging through the ENTIRE BOOK together.
What looks like a simple coloring album reveals itself as an oversized portal to adventure - filled with intricate borders, imaginative linework, and a surprisingly rich D&D story by Gary Gygax himself.
Every page turn feels like delving deeper into the dungeon: rules snippets tucked along the way, a centerfold solo gameboard waiting at the heart of the book, and terrifying old-school monsters attacking at every step.
Come explore with us . . . and try not to wake the lich.
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Not Just a Coloring Book: It’s a Quest
To demonstrate the size of this coloring book!
At 9.75" x 12.5", this coloring album has a solid heft that smacks of fantasy gravitas. A front cover that extends all the way to the back cover showing a line of streaming subterranean adventuring party members battling an angry fire-breathing red dragon protecting its treasure just adds to its awesomeness.
Get ready, for what follows is a complete visual tour through this wonderfully strange relic, page by page.
Even the title page smacks of glorious adventure yet to be beheld.
Oh, and did you catch the text on the back cover?
“Read the exciting story of the adventurer’s quest for hidden gold. Color the illustrations of their monstrous encounters. Play the specially designed game, provided inside, where you become the adventurer!” - from the back cover of “The Official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Coloring Album”
What’s all this talk about “me” becoming the adventurer?
Ahh, I see.
It’s not just a coloring book.
It’s an adventure story.
. . . and a game.
The rules of the game are interspersed below the ongoing story.
As you’re probably beginning to see, this isn’t your ordinary kid’s coloring book.
The story is badass and the illustrations are very impressive.
I like to imagine how much “BADD” members (Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons) lost their minds over panels and text like this! (You think I’m joking, but BADD was a real thing.)
What really stands out is how confident this book is in its imagination.
This “coloring album” reads like a guided crawl - character classes, scene descriptions, stakes, and momentum - like your DM whispering, “You enter the ruins…”
I really appreciate that the adventure text doesn’t talk down to the reader, the classic D&D monsters are unapologetically strange and menacing, and the occult-flavored imagery that once caused so much controversy is presented right up front, without apology.
Probably because this book was released right before that whole controversy with James Dallas Egbert III and the “Satanic Panic” about D&D!
Knowing that the story was written by Gary Gygax himself (the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons) only adds to the mystique and historical weight of this tome.
Looking through it now, it’s easy to imagine how powerful this book could have been as a first gateway into fantasy and D&D - a place where crayons, monsters, dice and curiosity quietly conspired to pull a young reader deeper into the dungeon.
And speaking of “dungeon” . . .
The clever part: the game teaches you as you go. Little rule bites show up page by page, and then - bam - the map/gameboard turns the whole thing into a solo-friendly adventure RPG!
I also love that the art doesn’t feel like typical “kid book” illustrations - it has that underground-comics energy that makes the whole thing feel a little forbidden, a little dangerous, and very era-specific.
Here’s a bit about the artist, Greg Irons, from Grognardia:
And have you noticed how cool Greg’s border is?
That repeating text border is quite a bit of the charm: it frames each scene like a dungeon mural, making every spread feel like a storybook portal to epic adventure.
(And it also reminds me of the borders on the Endless Quest books!)
And now, gird your weapons belts, Adventurers, we approach the final 3 rooms in this dungeon.
Will we be victorious?
Quest complete. Well done!
Ahh, a well-deserved treasure.
(And here are some other fun advertised treasures on the final monster-encrusted-bordered page.)
I think what I love most about this relic is how boldly it treats a kid (or any curious soul) like a real adventurer. It doesn’t wink. It doesn’t simplify the wonder. It just kicks the tavern door wide, points toward the ruins, and says, “Go forth!”
And honestly? If this had landed in my hands as a kid, it would’ve been more than a coloring book. It would’ve been a first key to the dungeon - proof that fantasy wasn’t just something you watched or read . . . it was something you entered.
Until our next rediscovery, keep your torch lit, your map half-unfolded, and your imagination always ready to roll initiative.
Safe travels, Dungeon-Delving Adventurer.
If this coloring album landed on your lap as a kid, would it have pulled you into D&D - or scared you away from it?
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This is a great piece of D&D history and the art work is awesome. I remember family members giving my aunt a hard time about playing due to the satanic panic. By the time I got really interested that had most died down. Also got to say loved seeing my boy David the Gnome in the ad. That show was a major piece of my childhood and my grandmother and I collected the Tom Clark gnomes together. I still have David in my office. Haven't had much luck in finding a good copy of the original book though.
This is a great piece of D&D history and the art work is awesome. I remember family members giving my aunt a hard time about playing due to the satanic panic. By the time I got really interested that had most died down. Also got to say loved seeing my boy David the Gnome in the ad. That show was a major piece of my childhood and my grandmother and I collected the Tom Clark gnomes together. I still have David in my office. Haven't had much luck in finding a good copy of the original book though.
Despite being an OG player from the early days, I hadn’t seen this before either. Very cool, thanks for sharing an exploring it!