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D&D Historian Ben Riggs on TSR's Salaries in the 1990s
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<blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 8491236" data-attributes="member: 18"><p>The original DS includes some unusual elements like two flip-pads on good card stock with colour printing, and is generally produced to a higher standard than the 2nd version, so it's highly possible it was more expensive. I don't buy royalties or him taking a cut unless there's evidence, because that would basically be unheard-of for an artist back then (correct me if I'm wrong), and TSR had already been burned on that sort of thing, so I doubt they'd do it again in 1993.</p><p></p><p>However, the second version just makes a ton of bad aesthetic decisions to the point where it looks a lot more like there was a conscious hand behind them than it being accident or necessity. I feel it likely re-using Brom and Baxa's art would have been cheaper than commissioning a bunch of new art (which doesn't look "cheap" or anything, just nowhere near as sharp, memorable or stylish), and the layout/graphic design choices won't have saved money on the book interior, they're just bad. This is from an era when WotC made quite a number out outright-bad, like objectively-bad graphic design and layout decisions. The most spectacular being the reprint of the PHB, which is absolutely HIDEOUS and whoever was in charge of the graphic design/layout there (and cover choice and some of the interior art choices) should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. The 1st PHB for 2E is a work of art. It's not perfect, but it is extremely attractive. It's just outright pleasant to look at. I've had people who aren't D&D players comment on how it was, particularly the interior - but even cover's colour-dominance complements the interior. It's just good work. Then the second version comes along and it looks like a ogre who works as an accountant designed it whilst in a bad mood.</p><p></p><p>No idea what happened at WotC there. At the same time Planescape stuff is coming out with often-great visual design, but even that began to trail off and get a lot uglier. It wasn't a trend in general in the mid-late 1990s - plenty of other RPGs were highly attractive or even becoming more attractive in that period. Just not AD&D. Not all books were disasters, note, but the 2nd version of the PHB and the 2nd version of Dark Sun were.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ruin Explorer, post: 8491236, member: 18"] The original DS includes some unusual elements like two flip-pads on good card stock with colour printing, and is generally produced to a higher standard than the 2nd version, so it's highly possible it was more expensive. I don't buy royalties or him taking a cut unless there's evidence, because that would basically be unheard-of for an artist back then (correct me if I'm wrong), and TSR had already been burned on that sort of thing, so I doubt they'd do it again in 1993. However, the second version just makes a ton of bad aesthetic decisions to the point where it looks a lot more like there was a conscious hand behind them than it being accident or necessity. I feel it likely re-using Brom and Baxa's art would have been cheaper than commissioning a bunch of new art (which doesn't look "cheap" or anything, just nowhere near as sharp, memorable or stylish), and the layout/graphic design choices won't have saved money on the book interior, they're just bad. This is from an era when WotC made quite a number out outright-bad, like objectively-bad graphic design and layout decisions. The most spectacular being the reprint of the PHB, which is absolutely HIDEOUS and whoever was in charge of the graphic design/layout there (and cover choice and some of the interior art choices) should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. The 1st PHB for 2E is a work of art. It's not perfect, but it is extremely attractive. It's just outright pleasant to look at. I've had people who aren't D&D players comment on how it was, particularly the interior - but even cover's colour-dominance complements the interior. It's just good work. Then the second version comes along and it looks like a ogre who works as an accountant designed it whilst in a bad mood. No idea what happened at WotC there. At the same time Planescape stuff is coming out with often-great visual design, but even that began to trail off and get a lot uglier. It wasn't a trend in general in the mid-late 1990s - plenty of other RPGs were highly attractive or even becoming more attractive in that period. Just not AD&D. Not all books were disasters, note, but the 2nd version of the PHB and the 2nd version of Dark Sun were. [/QUOTE]
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D&D Historian Ben Riggs on TSR's Salaries in the 1990s
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