Cover Art for D&D v3.5 Reprint

Argyle King · Jul 23, 2012

Almacov said:
As much as I like 3.5 and have plenty of supplements for it, these would have to contain some strikingly significant errata between their covers for me to want to pay for any of them.
The cover art is not, in my opinion, an improvement. As busy as the Higgenbotham covers were originally, at least they had a coherent vision.
These look like quick photoshop jobs that sample bits and bobs from the originals and awkwardly template in a decorative border around the centrepieces. They just look cheap and off-kilter to me.

I'd much sooner buy a Pathfinder Core book than a PHB or DMG reprint - it would have more content, and cost less than either.
Maybe my perspective would be different if my 3.5 books weren't still in quite decent condition, but... I don't think so.

I'll be impressed and pleasantly surprised if the previews for these reprints change my mind though.

I'm pretty lenient when it comes to art, but I have to agree. Maybe I have a more stringent eye because of some previous time spent working in a copy & print shop.

I'm curious... how much errata would there have been between the later printing of the 3.5 PHB (the soft cover one) and these?

Liquidsabre · Jul 23, 2012

Is there actually a market for these? You can still pick up used ones for half price on ebay or at a used bookstore.

frankthedm · Jul 23, 2012

mach1.9pants said:
IMO the Rules Cyclopaedia would be a hot seller, that is one awesome book that goes for 100$NZ here; not sure what it goes for in the US.

Auctions often come close to $50. BIN have been bought as high as $79 of recent. rules cyclopedia | eBay

Warunsun · Jul 23, 2012

Johnny3D3D said:
I'm curious... how much errata would there have been between the later printing of the 3.5 PHB (the soft cover one) and these?

I don't believe that any errata was included in the softcover PHB. I am pretty sure it had the same content including the mistakes. Only difference was a soft cover.

Warunsun · Jul 23, 2012

Stormonu said:
Makes me curious if they will reprint the 2E books, or if that version will just be left in the cold.

Well, Second Edition was in print for a very long time and TSR had previously done a premium second release: the one with the improved artwork and black covers. Also, Second Edition was also somewhat included in the Hackmaster RPG.

Stormonu · Jul 23, 2012

Warunsun said:
I don't believe that any errata was included in the softcover PHB. I am pretty sure it had the same content including the mistakes. Only difference was a soft cover.

Actually, there was some errata incorporated into the softcover, which later rolled into the next printing of the hardcover - just before the leatherbound 3E versions came out (which I think had even MORE errata in it, but not all).

Which also brings me to my next point; 3.5E already had the black leatherbound gold-gilted tomes printed back in its heyday; can't we get a little 2E love too?

Plageman · Jul 23, 2012

I don't like these covers: the borders are too thick and I feel that the pseudo-realistic approach to cover design look a bit dated by now.

I'm not even sure why WotC decided to reprint these books. Most of the 3.x crowd already have these books and/or have switched over to PF.

So while I understand the idea behind the reprint of the 1st ed books, I think that republishing the 3.5 books without a clear communication about their intention is a bad move for WotC.

Should they have unveiled a project to republish all core rulebooks from AD&D 1st edition to D&D 3.5 in an anniversary line, it may have been better received imho.

Argyle King · Jul 23, 2012

Warunsun said:
I don't believe that any errata was included in the softcover PHB. I am pretty sure it had the same content including the mistakes. Only difference was a soft cover.

I believe it did have some errata. I have a few copies of the soft cover one as well as the original hard cover printing, and there are a few differences between the two versions that I have. The differences are minor, but there. I'd need to sit down with them again to know exactly what those differences are since I have not played 3.5 in quite a while, but I recall there being some differences.

WiredNerve · Jul 24, 2012

Nice, but I don't play this edition anymore -- so it does not really matter to me.

Jeff Carlsen · Jul 24, 2012

I liked the covers of the 3.0 books. The 3.5 books overdid it and looked gaudy. These continue in that direction. But if the borders were removed, they'd look great.