David S. LaForce

David "Diesel" S. LaForce is an American artist who worked on Dungeons & Dragons adventures published by TSR. His artwork and cartography appeared in many TSR products produced from 1979 to 1984 including the classic adventures Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits, A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity, and B2 Keep on the Borderlands (the most published roleplaying adventure of all time). LaForce became known for his meticulous and creative approach to adventure maps, and eventually became TSR's staff cartographer. He continued to produce maps for many TSR publications until he left the company in 1997 following its takeover by Wizards of the Coast.

Before TSR David LaForce grew up in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin at the time when Gary Gygax was co-developing the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). LaForce's circle of friends included Gygax's son Ernie, Skip Williams, and Rob Kuntz. Kuntz was one of the first people after Gygax to run a D&D game, and LaForce, who was rooming with Kuntz, became a regular player in Kuntz's game.

TSR Shipping department In 1978, TSR had outgrown their original headquarters, and the company's managers decided to move into a larger building. LaForce's best friend Ken Reek had a job in the shipping department, and LaForce, who was unemployed, volunteered to help Reek during the move. Company president Kevin Blume was impressed by LaForce's initiative, and hired him to work in the shipping department.

Art department By this time, several of TSR's first generation of artists were leaving, and artistic director David Sutherland was looking for replacements. Hearing that LaForce drew pictures in his spare time, Sutherland asked him to create some art for the new Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide. LaForce produced three sketches, and Sutherland bought two of them for $35 each. Both sketches subsequently appeared in the new publication. LaForce was moved to the art department. His first assignment there was to produce some artwork for a booklet included with the adventure C1: The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan. Jim Bambra, writing a generally favourable review for the British RPG magazine White Dwarf, noted that "the accompanying booklet of black and white illustrations enhance the atmosphere even more."

He was subsequently assigned to produce artwork for other new projects. It was during this time that Mike Carr gave LaForce his nickname "Diesel", based on LaForce's initials "DSL", which he used as his artistic signature.

As part of his staff activities, LaForce became one of the organizers of the Gen Con art show in 1979, and continued to be involved even after he left TSR.

Staff cartographer

One of the tasks that most of the staff artists disliked was drawing maps for the adventures. LaForce had taken a drafting class in high school,

By 1984, most of LaForce's output was map-related, LaForce left the company and stayed in Lake Geneva. After unsuccessfully trying to make a living as a freelance artist, he turned to manual labour, becoming a groundsman for a drilling crew.

Select bibliography As contributing illustrator Ghost Tower of Inverness (1979) Keep on the Borderlands (1979) The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan (1980) Queen of the Demonweb Pits (1980) Slave Pits of the Undercity (1980) ) Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (1980) Deities and Demigods (1980) The Rogues Gallery (1980) The World of Greyhawk (1980) Palace of the Silver Princess (1981, original orange edition) D&D Basic Rulebook