Origin
A belligerent Scottish dwarf, Auchter joined a party of three other adventurers – the thief Dexys, mage Nightswift and paladin Reg – on a dungeon crawling quest to retrieve the mystical Sword of Alabron…though, to be honest, Auchter’s real motivation was his desire to fight the dragon that legend claimed was guarding the sword.
Creation
Auchter was created by Ian Williamson and debuted in Imagine Magazine #1, TSR’s UK rpg magazine, in the back-up strip “Sword of Alabron”. The strip ran for the first sixteen issues, but Auchter’s popularity with the readership was sufficient for a sequel to be commissioned, “Auchter’s Axe”, which began in issue 29; unfortunately, TSR’s main US branch pulled the plug on Imagine unexpectedly with issue 30, leaving the story unfinished after only two installments.