The scene: some science fiction convention somewhere in Seattle. Brian Snoddy (a young product illustrator for Egghead Software was wandering around when he bumped into a guy named Jesper Myrfors. Jesper was the art director for a small "out of the garage" company called Wizards of the Coast. Jesper said, "We've got a couple projects we're going to need art for," suggesting that Brian send him samples of his art. "By the way, we've also got the card game coming up. How'd you like to do some cards?" Brian said, "Sure."

He got assigned three cards (Psychic Venom, Spellblast, and Volcanic Island) and before you could say Urza's Maze, Brian was right in the middle of the maelstrom that would become the Magic phenomenon. He did work for other card games, and then one day he got a call from a guy named Matt Wilson, asking him to do cards for a game based on Feudal Japan.

I may be speaking from personal prejudice, but Brian's style really shines when he paints samurai. Of course, it might have something to do with the fact that he has his model standing right beside his palette.

Brian's been collecting swords since he was nineteen. Six years ago, he bought his first suit of armor. Over the years, Brian's managed to add four swords, three suits of armor and a whole slew of tsuba to his collection. Of course, when it came time to assign the Ancestral Armors of the Six Clans (which you'll be able to see very soon in the Emerald Edition), Matt knew exactly who to turn. But Brian's real-life models and vast library of source material were not his only inspiration. Strangely enough, one of the armors was inspired by a Japanese beer.

"I was I looking at a Kirin mug," he told me over the phone (Kirin is a very popular beer in Japan), "and there's this plastic ki- rin head on the top. When you tilt the mug, the beer pours out of the mouth" That little plastic head was the main source of inspiration for the helmet of the Ancestral Armor of the Unicorn.

Two of the most highly sought after cards in L5R bears Brian's art Dairya (otherwise known by his playtest name: The Super Bad-Ass Ronin) was a real accomplishment. We started sending out a copy of Dairya to anyone who sent us a SASE and they flew like hotcakes. The second piece, The Monstrous War Machine of Fu Leng was also in high demand.

Brian's Shadowlands pieces are equally breathtaking. The gruesome Pennaggolan (a flying, vampiric severed head that feeds on the blood of peasants), the ominous When Darkness Draws Close and the painful Tetsubo (ouch!) were just a few of the new pieces Brian's fans can look forward to. But one of Brian's favorites would have to be Hida O- Ushi who had the playtest name The Crab Clan Bully. "I had this idea of doing a really _ cute bad-ass chick in blg armor," he said.

"I told Matt about it, and he told me that he was thinking the same thing. I wanted her to be Crab, because Crab is my favorite Clan. The crab is a very important symbol to the samurai." When he began painting the piece, he said, "I used older armor as a reference because it's bigger ... the shoulder pieces look like Norman kite shields." When the piece came in, it was a surprise to everyone in the office (except Matt, of course). We can't wait to see the players' response.

Of course, we want to talk about Brian's work in L5R, but we should also mention that he does art for some other card games as welt When the art director for Middle Earth: The Wizards asked him what kind of cards he wanted, his response was: "Orcs! Orcs! Orcs! Give me Orcs!" He's also done pieces for The Card Game Formerly Known As Jyhad, and some other game people keep talking about called Magic. He's as prolific as he is talented, and he's also a lot of fun to chat with.

And by the way, we thought we'd help out Brian with one of his pet peeves. The macron over the "o" in Snoddy means that you pronounce his name snow-dee like the white stuff that falls on Christmas Eve. You're welcome, Brian!

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