Vince Vaughn Wins Jeff Easley Original at Gary Con Charity Auction for $5,000

Actor Vince Vaughn walked away from Gary Con XVIII with a piece of D&D history: the winning bid was made by repeat Gary Con attendee Vince Vaughn for $5,000. The painting, an original by Jeff Easley, had just been revealed that same night as the cover art for the upcoming sourcebook tentatively titled *Melf's Guide to Greyhawk*.

Hot on the heels of the announcement of the Luke Gygax and Dungeons & Dragons collaboration, the cover art was revealed and auctioned off at the Gary Con XVIII charity auction. Luke announced that he commissioned Easley to create a depiction of his classic D&D character, from when he played growing up with his dad Gary as he was designing the game, that actually looked like how he envisioned him: "a grey elf with silver hair and lavender eyes."

The painting leans into Greyhawk's history as the earliest D&D setting, and was done by Easley, the same artist responsible for several iconic AD&D covers. Wargamer described the scene as showing Gygax's original character the way he originally envisioned him, with Melf standing over a recent kill. Other outlets described the image as an elf wielding a rapier in a clearing with a slain monster behind him, and some referenced official D&D artwork showing Melf leaping and casting Melf's Magic Missile at a charging troll. The descriptions vary across sources, and a definitive official image caption from Wizards of the Coast or Gary Con has not been confirmed.

A surprise celebrity benefactor, described by Wargamer as "actor and long-time D&D fan Vince Vaughn," won with a $5,000 bid. Every year, Gary Con holds a charity auction to benefit Extra Life and the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. Last year the auction raised $92,500; this year's final amount hit $120,000.

The painting's reveal came bundled with a larger announcement. The book, currently going by the name *Melf's Guide to Greyhawk*, was announced at Gary Con, with Wizards of the Coast's head of D&D Dan Ayoub revealing that Luke Gygax would be working on the new title. It's not clear if the book will be part of this year's D&D release schedule or will launch later.

The book is meant to further expand Greyhawk as part of D&D 5.5e following the setting's return in the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide, and will include new maps from original Greyhawk cartographer Anna B. Meyer and additional design work from Jay Scott, a longtime contributor to the Greyhawk fan community. TechRaptor frames the sourcebook as part of a new seasonal approach Wizards of the Coast is taking for D&D, releasing dedicated sourcebooks and supplements based on iconic settings from the game's 50-year history, naming Heroes of Faerun and the upcoming *Ravenloft: The Horrors Within* as comparable examples.

Luke Gygax is the son of D&D co-creator Gary Gygax and is best known as one of the few people to playtest D&D in the original Greyhawk campaign. He spent over 30 years in the U.S. Army, but during that time remained actively involved in the D&D fan community, including founding Gary Con in 2009 in honor of his father. Melf, also known as Prince Brightflame, is best known for two iconic spells that bear his name: Melf's Acid Arrow and Melf's Minute Meteors. Those spells have appeared in every edition of the game, which makes the commission something beyond a vanity project. This is Luke finally getting to show the world who Melf actually was, on his own terms, rendered by one of the artists who defined what AD&D looked like on the shelf.

Luke had plenty to say about what he wants to bring to the new official Greyhawk supplements. He loves 5th Edition for expanding the player base but was direct about its limitations, and wants to feature his childhood character Melf "the right way," noting he was never happy with how Melf has been portrayed in either the character art or the fiction.

During the press conference at Gary Con 2026, Luke Gygax noted that the book was originally conceived as a third-party release, likely published on DMsGuild, but after speaking with Wizards of the Coast VP Dan Ayoub it was decided to release it as an official D&D product. Wizards of the Coast has not yet confirmed when the book will be released. The original Easley painting, at least, has found a home.