Another week, another opportunity for a Friday Discussion here at RPG Blog 2! Nothing too serious, nothing too heavy, just gamers talking about the hobby they love.
Today’s question is an artsy one, with bonus points for providing links to your example:
What’s your favorite RPG cover art piece?
I'll look forward to the responses as we enjoy some awesome RPG cover art! Have a great weekend!
23 comments:
I still like the original Rifts cover art. That appealed to my teen psyche like none other.
Another good one is the basic look of the Traveller series. Which I guess is no cover art, but it's distinctive & classy!!
It may seem odd but This Erol Otus back cover piece from B2 is my all time favorite.
Image Link
I attempted (semi-succcessfully)
to reproduce it in tempera paints in 7th grade. Got an A for that....
The cover of the D&D Basic Set—the one with the Erol Otus art (not the later Red Book stuff). It isn't that I prefer Otus to Elmore (quite the opposite, in fact), but Basic was my first game, and it made a big impact. I loved the Expert edition, Otus cover, too—with the mage viewing the cover of the Basic set within a magical 'mist'. To me, this was a very artistic way to show that there is a much larger world 'behind the scenes' of your typical dungeon. Great stuff.
I've always liked that cover for the original Ravenloft module. Very atmospheric.
I really like the cover for B5: Horror on the Hill.
It doesn't give anything away, and gives the right look + feel for the environment of the adventure. It's almost like an establishing shot. :)
It's almost the cliche answer, but I have to go with the Trampy Players Handbook cover.
My favorite's the Larry Elmore cover of the Star Frontiers boxed set.
http://www.xmission.com/~layne/cover.jpg
Really cool, and made me run out and buy the game.
Tough one.
As an artist myself and as someone who has seen the art on foreign RPGs (especially Japanese and German) I've got to say that on the average the quality of most RPG cover art is fair at best. That said, there has been some great stuff over the years.
I agree with Normal that Traveller, while technically art-less, does have a distinctive and classy graphic style. That said...
Champions 4th Edition had a cover by comic book legend George Perez. That's freakin' awesome!
Changeling: The Dreaming 2nd Edition had a beautiful and striking cover graphic.
Faery' Tale Deluxe in my personal opinion had the perfect cover for its intended genre.
I also remember really liking several of the cover of the various editions of Paranoia.
After some thought, FR1 Waterdeep and the North is still my favorite cover on an RPG product.
http://home.flash.net/~brenfrow/fr/fr1.jpg
@Michael Curtis - I have to agree with you. How can you argue with a cover that's been given homage in some way in many other product's cover.
Gotta go with your first love -- from me, another vote for Erol Otus' D&D Basic rules cover, the first RPG I ever played/owned.
I can also speak to loving any of the old Erol Otus art. In many ways, this is still how I see D&D in my head, when I think about it.
Strangely enough though, I would have to say that the cover to the Endless Quest book, Pillars of Pentagarn gets my vote. How many fond memories do I have of reading that over and over again on car trips...
It's gotta be Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, 2nd ed., Revised & Expanded. It's a huge, full color screen shot from "Return of the Jedi" of the Millenium Falcon flying straight at the camera through a horde of TIE fighters. That, more than anything else, captures the "feel" of the pre-prequels SWRPG for me. The current edition of the game doesn't have the same magic.
captcha word: fable
Mike, you took mine!
Elmore's Alpha Dawn cover is a stone classic. The woman looks like the protagonist on the cover of an SF paperback--there's a story in her face.
Defintely love the AD&D PHB and DMG covers - those WERE D&D for me for a long, long time! I also have a lot of love for the Holmes Basic blue book cover.
@PatrickWR - I avoided any game where the cover art is from a known license or non-illustrated source.
Allowing for the first but ignoring the latter I would say two of my all time favorites are the original boxed set of FASA's Star Trek the RPG and WEG's first edition cover for Star Wars the RPG.
I am probably biased, but the original Melstrom cover was always a favourite of mine:
http://www.gamebooks.org/gallery/maelstrom.jpg
Although i comissioned it, i also love the work Chris Waller did on the companion:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/images/667/61370.jpg
Liz Danforth's cover for Tunnels and Trolls.
I love the original Shadowrun cover art. Not sure why - but it just struck me as being very cool - especially when the game first came out.
Matt
Pretty much all of the Jorune stuff. I really loved the cover of "Sun County" for RQ3.
I loved the "Maelstrom" cover too.
I have to say that the Veronica V Jones art for the Spycraft 1.0 line was fantastic. My favorite of the group was either Johnny, on the cover of Most Wanted (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=25527&it=1) or the Titan on the cover of Dark Inheritance (http://www.amazon.com/Inheritance-Modern-Roleplaying-Powered-Spycraft/dp/0972681817)
Gamma World. Or the insane, early Paranoia module covers.
Dragons of Triumpth
http://www.clydecaldwell.com/large_images/dragons_of_triumph.html
and
Rebellion Sourcebook
http://www.travellerbibliography.org/gdw-mt/Rebellion.html
For me RPGs are all about escape...the art is there for me to escape. I remember, I refrained from buying Fading Suns so long when my local gaming store used to keep everything vacuum wrap because the covers were so ugly...who would believe the insides could be so tasty. Same thing with the majority of White Wolf titles. Yet, everytime one brings this up a publisher, it is decried.
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