Jolly Randall Blackburn is an American publisher and cartoonist who is best known as the creator of the comic strip and identically titled magazineKnights of the Dinner Table.
As a child, Jolly Blackburn enjoyed playingMonopoly,Life,Sorry and many other board games.[1] At age 15, he was introduced to theAvalon Hill wargameLuftwaffe, and soon owned several other wargames. While perusing wargames at the local games shop, Blackburn was introduced toDungeons & Dragons,[1] and he eventually created his own campaign world called Alderac.
Following high school, Blackburn enteredBall State University[citation needed] where he majored in anthropology, history, and classical cultures.[2]: 120
Jolly married his wife, Barbara after college.[citation needed] Their daughter Amber Kay Blackburn died in 2011 at age 23.[3]
After graduation, Blackburn enlisted in the Army, along with his wife, Barbara under the Married Couples program.[citation needed] Blackburn had always wanted to be a writer,[1] and while he was posted inFort Jackson, South Carolina, he and Barbara launched a gaming magazine titledShadis.[1] He also createdAlderac Entertainment Group, named after hisD&D campaign world.[2] (Shadis was the name of one of the moons that circled Alderac.)[4]: 262
Shadis was a black-and-white digest that featured gaming articles usually written by Blackburn, as well as several fictional works by Blackburn, collectively referred to as the "Alderac Anthology", since they were set in Blackburn's Alderac world.[4]: 262
In the second issue, faced with a blank last page, Blackburn drew a roughly drawn comic strip titledKnights of the Dinner Table that featured a group of gamers seated at a table playing a fictional role-playing game calledHackmaster. As Blackburn toldAllen Varney, "I had been a great fan of J.D. Webster'sFinieous Fingers from the earlyDragon Magazine, and I wanted something similar. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anyone willing to do a strip. Finally I sat down and drew out a very crude cartoon showing a gamemaster and a player sitting around a table arguing over a rules call."[2] Blackburn based the comic strip's players on his gamer friends, and thegamemaster B.A. Felton on himself.[2] Blackburn continued to draw the cartoon for Issues 3 to 5, but in Issue 6, believing that his readers wanted better artwork and a more involved storyline, Blackburn replaced his own comic strip with more professional cartoon strips. However, his readers' outcry convinced him to immediately return toKnights of the Dinner Table in the very next issue.[4]: 262
Blackburn had to put bothShadis andKnights of the Dinner Table on hold for 18 months in 1991–1992. He was still working as a sergeant in the army, and duringOperation: Desert Storm, Blackburn was involved with activating reservists for remedial training prior to deployment, a job that required him to work working seven days a week for up to 16 hours a day.[1] Following the end of the conflict, Blackburn returned to writing.[4]: 262
In 1994, Alderac published aKnights of the Dinner Table comic book, and followed up with two more issues. But by the following year, Blackburn felt that his plans for the future had diverged from his partnersJohn Zinser and David Seay — they wanted to expand Alderac and look for success in thecollectible card game industry while Blackburn wanted to keep the company fun and small and focus onKnights of the Dinner Table.[4]: 263 Blackburn sold his share of Alderac to his partners — keeping the rights toKnights of the Dinner Table — and also soldShadis after Issue 21.
Blackburn believed that he could produce a monthlyKnights of the Dinner Table magazine, and started up KODT Enteractive Facktory with that in mind.[4]: 309
While he was working on getting that new company together, Blackburn received a call from the editor ofTSR'sDragon magazine, asking if theKnights of the Dinner Table strip was now available; although Blackburn originally planned to continue the strip inShadis, he accepted the offer andKnights of the Dinner Table appeared Issue 226 ofDragon (February 1996). Blackburn's comic suddenly reached ten times the audience that it inShadis,[5] and Blackburn was surprised at the overwhelmingly positive response. He later recounted "I think that's when the light bulb went on over my head. I was shocked by the interest and the apparent appetite for more."Knights of the Dinner Table would continue inDragon until Issue 269 (March 2000), when it was replaced by an expandedNodwick strip.[4]: 309
After he and Barbara finally publishedKnights of the Dinner Table #4, Blackburn questioned whether they could make it work on their own. In November 1996 whenDavid Kenzer and some of hisKenzer & Company staff of met Blackburn at a local con, Kenzer asked Blackburn to join his company.[4]: 309 Blackburn decided that Kenzer had the sort of business sense and integrity that he was looking for in a partner, and he agreed to become a shareholder.[1] Kenzer reprinted Issue 4 ofKnights of the Dinner Table that the Blackburns had produced on their own. Starting with Issue 5 (February 1997),Knights of the Dinner Table was the work of the "KoTD Development Team" which consisted of Jolly Blackburn, David Kenzer, Brian Jelke and Steve Johansson.[4]: 310
Knights of the Dinner Table increased in popularity, and Blackburn was invited to be the guest of honor at several conventions, including U Con (November 1998),[2]: 110 Key Con (April 2003)[6] andGencon (August 2004).[7]
In 2022,Knights of the Dinner Table published its 301st issue, becoming the longest comic book series by a single creator (passing the 300 issues ofCerebus the Aardvark created byDavid Sim).[5]
In 2023, Blackburn announced thatKnights of the Dinner Table would be moving to an expanded format, but only once every two months, citing the short turnaround times for a monthly magazine and increased production costs.[5]
As early as 1995, Blackburn toyed with the idea of creating a one-off joke role-playing game calledHackmaster, based on the fictional role-playing game being played inKnights of the Dinner Table. However, Jim Kenzer urged him to wait, believing that it could become a serious product. In 2000, usingWizards of the Coast'sOpen Game License, Blackburn and Kenzer createdHackmaster, based on the rules forD&D.[1]
Several years later, Blackburn made the decision to break away from theD&D game system and create an independent role-playing system forHackmaster. This enabled him to include many items and ideas from theKnights of the Dinner Table comics.[1]
Writing forBlack Gate, John O'Neill noted that the artwork is not what draws readers toKnights of the Dinner Table, commenting, "Jolly has never claimed to be an artist, and in truth the art isn't where this strip shines anyway. Jolly's true gifts are as a writer, and the writing inKoDT is top notch."[8]
Blackburn has received a number of awards forKnights of the Dinner Table, including:
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