Incline Good D&D artwork

[nikolokolus]

Good catch. I was wondering if why my memory of the original illustration didn't quite jive with that picture linked above.

 

[JarlFrank]

Emirikol did nothing wrong, GTA D&D is the best D&D.

Our best campaigns have invariably been about a band of amoral assholes trying to get rich and make a name for themselves in a world populated by corrupt and violent sociopaths.

Thief: The RPG, basically?

Someone should make a P&P ruleset in the Thief setting, or convert it to D&D rules. Would be fun.

 

[ProphetSword]

It might be a variation in printing. He isn't as obvious on my copy...though also not as dark as above. He doesn't stand out at all. My cover is not nearly as brightly colored as the picture you posted. Did you take the picture yourself?

Well the actual book doesn't look quite as faded as that image above (which appears to have a shadow gradient applied in the bottom bit) :

Looks fine to me. The warrior is secondary but the focus should be on the monster on a monster book anyway. Easley knows what he's doing. And yeah, the giant can stab with that pointy bit of the halberd just fine.

 

[Melan]

Thief: The RPG, basically?

Someone should make a P&P ruleset in the Thief setting, or convert it to D&D rules. Would be fun.

No, not really, the tone was completely different (although the way I run city adventures or play guard NPCs has obviously been influenced by Thief). We were more inspired by classic Sword&Sorcery, like Jack Vance's Cugel the Clever stories, Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar, Howard's Conan and Kull cycles, Clark Ashton Smith, etc., and later planetary romances and science fantasy, mostly Leigh Brackett. But most of all by Judges Guild's Wilderlands of High Fantasy, still the best D&D campaign world out there. High lethality, not much attempt at balancing encounters (but consistent world simulation), very high player freedom, and thus mostly unpredictable plots, many of them ending with the survivors running for their lives, but a few of them ending with them winning real big. It was a chaotic experience, and a ton of fun. Some of the adventure materials have been published in Fight On! and Knockspell, two fanzines focused on old-school gaming, now both defunct. I think some of the Fight On! issues are free.

 

[JarlFrank]

Planetary Romance and Science Fantasy? Awesome, which settings/rulesets did you use? It's one of my favourite and sadly under-utilized genres :D

 

[Alchemist]

It might be a variation in printing. He isn't as obvious on my copy...though also not as dark as above. He doesn't stand out at all. My cover is not nearly as brightly colored as the picture you posted. Did you take the picture yourself?

You're right the real cover is a bit less contrasty than that one I posted (which I just grabbed from Google). That one must have had some post-processing on it. Still I think the real one works ok though. I suppose he could have highlighted the upper edges of the warrior a little bit to make it more readable at a glance.

 

[Alchemist]

Planetary Romance and Science Fantasy? Awesome, which settings/rulesets did you use? It's one of my favourite and sadly under-utilized genres :D

Be sure to check out Warriors of the Red Planet - which has a new edition coming very soon I think. A planetary romance / Barsoom-inspired game based on the mechanics of original D&D.

Spoiler

 

[Karwelas]

No, not really, the tone was completely different (although the way I run city adventures or play guard NPCs has obviously been influenced by Thief). We were more inspired by classic Sword&Sorcery, like Jack Vance's Cugel the Clever stories, Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar, Howard's Conan and Kull cycles, Clark Ashton Smith, etc., and later planetary romances and science fantasy, mostly Leigh Brackett.

Did I ever told you I have respect for you, Melan? For FMs to Thief alone.

But for knowledge about Lankhmar you have special range for me today, bro. May Grey Mouser and Fahryd guide you, my friend.

Spoiler

Codex D&D skype/forum/whatever session when.

 

[ProphetSword]

All three of these classic covers feature someone fighting a dragon in a cave or indoor structure, possibly the dragon's lair. All of these covers remind me of my youth when I started playing D&D, particularly the one in the middle. Which one do you all prefer in regards to the artwork? Which one screams D&D to you?

 

[Dorateen]

First. I like the artwork better than the second cover. And a single warrior as shown in the third, doesn't invoke the party composition nature of D&D as much as the first two. I also kind of like the bat wings and scales of the first dragon. Even the magic-user's conical hat has its own charm.

 

[Great Deceiver]

Third one because that's what I played. Elmore had some good art.

 

[Neanderthal]

All three of these classic covers feature someone fighting a dragon in a cave or indoor structure, possibly the dragon's lair. All of these covers remind me of my youth when I started playing D&D, particularly the one in the middle. Which one do you all prefer in regards to the artwork? Which one screams D&D to you?

Spoiler

First one reminds me o Tolkien's drawings o Smaug on first copy o Hobbit I ever read, second one I just like that weird artstyle reminds me of The Worm Ouroboros' illustrations, and third is classic that everyone knows. I think they're all great, and a lot better than most o modern stuff i've seen, maybe not technically but in spirit o pieces.

 

[Alchemist]

Third for me but probably for entirely nostalgia reasons, as it was my first set. And maybe there was a party but the rest of them got eaten.

The second one with the Erol Otus art has really grown on me in recent years. All three of them have a particular charm though.

 

[Melan]

Planetary Romance and Science Fantasy? Awesome, which settings/rulesets did you use? It's one of my favourite and sadly under-utilized genres :D

I simply used my streamlined, old school d20 house system; nothing about it is particularly focused on planetary romance, but it did the job. A very brief translation is available on my site (the original game, intended as an introduction to old-school gaming, consists of three 64-page booklets, and has extensive adventure support - it enjoyed some popularity between 2008 and 2012, and some people still play it). Much of the flavour came from the adventures and the campaign world, a dying planet of Hellenic city-states, fallen utopias, assholish and petty gods, and lots of plain weirdness. Swords, sorcery and rayguns, basically.

Codex D&D skype/forum/whatever session when.

Alas, I never got into that new-fangled stuff, although apparently, Google+ has (or had) a very active gaming scene.

All three of these classic covers feature someone fighting a dragon in a cave or indoor structure, possibly the dragon's lair. All of these covers remind me of my youth when I started playing D&D, particularly the one in the middle. Which one do you all prefer in regards to the artwork? Which one screams D&D to you?

All of them are D&D of some kind. 12-years-old me would have preferred Elmore. Today, I put Erol Otus above everything else (his pastel tones in this picture are amazing), but have a soft spot for the honesty of the David Sutherland piece. It is a drawing that says "I know a friend of a friend who can draw really well", and that's all right because D&D is about personal creativity and doing it yourself.

Also, because this thread is about art, here is the real magical stuff:

Now that's my D&D.

 

[agris]

While not quite AD&D, the retroclone Hackmaster 4e has a great series of images for their Hacklopedias of Beasts (monster manuals). The series of books depicts a party of adventurers slowly getting killed by monsters.. until the last surviving member, a halfling, escapes on the front of 7 only to be accosted by his undead group mates on the front of 8, and finally killed on the matrix cover. I like this art style, it reminds me of a colored version of some drawings in the original 1E books. The artist is George Vrbanic.

Melan your links are dead, upload the images to imgur instead of leeching.

credit to Hack & Slash for alerting me to this

 

[Cyberarmy]

I like how the previous dead characters return from the dead and chase that halfling.
Last cover is even better

 

[ProphetSword]

So if I understand what I'm seeing correctly: The halfling narrowly escapes death every time, only to be confronted by the undead party he was traveling with, who then chase him until he is simultaneously attacked and killed by all the monsters that killed them while they watch? Wow...that is all kinds of screwed up. I love it.

 

[agris]

That's Hackmaster. The game's writing and systems emphasize a very.. adversarial relationship between the GM and players.

I love it.

 

[Alex]

Some of the monster names on the cover really convey the idea of the system as well.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

The party encounters a bulette and a dragon and escapes with just one death from each, only to be finished off by kobolds, a mummy, giant rats, and a snake? Implausible.

It probably isn't a coincidence that the inside cover of the AD&D original Monster Manual features a bulette.

 

[Shadenuat]

That's Hackmaster. The game's writing and systems emphasize a very.. adversarial relationship between the GM and players.

It's like an AntiSawyer bible.
Penalize females with lower Strength! Do not allow demiraces to pick more classes than humans!

And dwarven women have beards because they do.

I think if you show Sawyer this book he would hiss and retreat back into his coffin to restore his Balance.

 

[Alex]

The party encounters a bulette and a dragon and escapes with just one death from each, only to be finished off by kobolds, a mummy, giant rats, and a snake? Implausible.

It probably isn't a coincidence that the inside cover of the AD&D original Monster Manual features a bulette.

Maybe they weren't all the same level?

That's Hackmaster. The game's writing and systems emphasize a very.. adversarial relationship between the GM and players.

It's like an AntiSawyer bible.
Penalize females with lower Strength! Do not allow demiraces to pick more classes than humans!

And dwarven women have beards because they do.

I think if you show Sawyer this book he would hiss and retreat back into his coffin to restore his Balance.

That stuff is mostly taken from D&D though. Which is a pity, because I really thought the fifth edition of Hackmaster to be lacking in charm and substance (they couldn't use D&D's rules in the new edition anymore).