Jolly Randall Blackburn is an American publisher and cartoonist who is best known as the creator of the comic strip and identically titled magazine Knights of the Dinner Table.
While perusing wargames at the local games shop, Blackburn was introduced to Dungeons & Dragons,[1] and he eventually created his own campaign world called Alderac.
Following high school, Blackburn entered Ball State University[citation needed] where he majored in anthropology, history, and classical cultures.
[citation needed] Blackburn had always wanted to be a writer,[1] and while he was posted in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, he and Barbara launched a gaming magazine titled Shadis.
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.
Blackburn believed that he could produce a monthly Knights of the Dinner Table magazine, and started up KODT Enteractive Facktory with that in mind.
[3]: 309 While he was working on getting that new company together, Blackburn received a call from the editor of TSR's Dragon magazine, asking if the Knights of the Dinner Table strip was now available; although Blackburn originally planned to continue the strip in Shadis, he accepted the offer and Knights of the Dinner Table appeared Issue 226 of Dragon (February 1996).
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.
[1] Writing for Black Gate, John O'Neill noted that the artwork is not what draws readers to Knights 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.