Roger Raupp is the Art Director 
for DRAGON, STRATEGY & TACTICS, 
and POLYHEDRON magazines. 

"That means I do layout, keylining, 
graphic design, cartography, 
and some of the art," Roger said.  
"Basically, I handle everything but 
the typesetting."

Roger is a lifelong resident of the
Lake Geneva area. He was born in
nearby Elkhorn, Wis., on Oct. 1, 1963:
“I was into science fiction as a kid,” he
said, “but my parents were quite conservative
and thought I was a little nuts.
They wanted me to work on the farm,
not sit around and read

comic books and watch Godzilla
movies all day.”

He developed an interest in art during his
childhood, and then got his first big break
as a freshman in high school. “I was doing
some art for a student magazine, which
happened to be printed at the same plant
where DRAGON had camera work done.
Tim Kask, who was then the editor of
DRAGON, happened to see some of my science-
fiction and fantasy pieces, and told
my art teacher to have me bring in a portfolio.

“Well, I had no idea what a portfolio was,
but I figured it out in a hurry, and worked
frantically for several weeks putting together
a portfolio of warplanes, science fiction,
fantasy . . . all of it was the sort of
quality I routinely reject these days.

“Dave Sutherland, who was then working
on the original cover for the DMG, reviewed
my samples, gave me a lot of good
advice, and told me to keep working. I did.
A couple of months later, I brought in a new
batch of drawings. And a few months after
that, I got my first assignment, a jungle illustration
that appeared in DRAGON #31.

“I started doing more and more work,
and ended up joining the DRAGON staff on
a part-time basis three years later. I did a little
bit of everything: art, cartography, manual
labor, packing, carpentry, errands. They
called me the ‘utility infielder’ . . . I guess
that was my job title. About a year later, I
became a full-time employee, and slowly
evolved since then into my current job.”

Roger’s current main interest is history,
but he still loves science fiction media in all
its aspects. The hardest part of his job is rejecting
art submissions.

“Even though I know what it’s like to
be a struggling young artist without experience,
I have to reject the work anyway. I
have a great deal of sympathy . . . but no
mercy. It’s the biggest drag to have to be
the one to send young, enthusiastic talent
back to the drawing board, but, unfortunately,
it’s necessary. My advice to young
artists is to become your own worst critic —
it saves rejection.

“Kim Mohan has been very good at
teaching me about how to reject, because
he’s certainly rejected enough of my work
over the years.”

Roger’s other main function at TSR is tormenting
fellow DRAGON staff member
Roger Moore. “You see, when Roger joined
the staff, I decided that I didn’t like sharing
my first name. Since he was unwilling to
change his, what else could I do?” Regular
exchanges of insults and practical jokes followed
— all in fun, of course.

Although one might suspect from reading
his powerful, high-level adventures that
Roger Moore is a mightily thewed barbarian
himself, the reality is that Roger is a calm,
bespectacled, [cheerful, outgoing, trustworthy,
generous, brilliant. . . — RM] man
— except, that is, when armed with a water
pistol. He also wears his hair short. Very
short. This has given rise to a long line of
“Roger Moore’s barber” jokes.

“Because I work with sharp knives,” explained
Roger Raupp, “I have been known
to cut myself, which gave rise to scenes of a
medieval barber shop — bloody rags hang
ing on the walls and all. So, one day I rigged
up a cardboard barber pole and a huge sign
that read, ‘Roger Moore’s Barbershop of
the Macabre,’ with a large picture of Elvira.
right outside the layout office.

Roger’s hobbies include cross-country
skiing, biking, music, and, of course, gaming.
“I did a lot of D&D gaming in high
school, but now I play mostly Traveller,
Doctor Who, and Call of Cthulhu,” he said.