RPG Books with the Best Art

This does remind me that the art of Fate of the Norns was also excellent.



as well as Ronja Melin's art for Hjältarnas Tid.

Part of what makes good TTRPG art, IMHO, is its ability to convey the mood, tone, and subject matter of the TTRPG. It does not have to be lavish. It can be simple and restrained.

That said, several ones that I have enjoyed quite well have included, but not limited to...

Dolmenwood (particularly Finnish artist Pauhami Hannuniemi):
This art captures a real sense of European fairytale adventure of the game as well as the art of Eyvind Earle (Disney's Sleeping Beauty). You see the art and your mind subconsciously slips into the mood that the art evokes.


Stonetop (artist Lucie Arnoux):
Lucie's black and white sketch art is nearly exactly how I imagined the iron age "hearth fantasy" setting of Stonetop. There is a rustic and folksy charm to the art while also conveying a wider world of adventure. It even reminds me of the advice found in PbtA games to "leave blanks" in the world and prep work that you create.

The Fateforge series by Studio Agate in France. It's a close adaptation of D&D 5E, with amazing art and layout . . . and world-building!

I'm not normally a huge "Oooh, look at the RPG art!" kind of person, so if a book's art is so demonstrably appealing to me that I'm willing to speak up about it, it's probably pretty good . . . you know, as far as my limited, subjective taste in art goes.

The one where I can clearly remember saying, "Whoah, this art is next level" is Interface Zero 2.0 (Savage Worlds Edition) by Gun Metal Games.

There weren't a ton of full page, full color art pieces, but the ones that were included were really appealing to me and totally enhanced the tone and atmosphere of reading.

One more that is not recent in any way --- I'm replaying Baldur's Gate 2 using the GOG.com enhanced edition . . . and my oh my are all of the hand drawn locations beautiful to look at.

Arilyn said:

A lot of my favourites have been listed, so I'll give a shout out to the art in Brindlewood Bay. The charming illustrations mixing Cozy and Eldritch horror are perfect.

Click to expand...

Oh, good call! Can I add Ryuutama to that?

Marc Radle said:

Just curious … what current RPG book would you list as having the best art?

Current in this context means released in the last couple years.

Best art is of course highly subjective, so maybe what current RPG book would you list as having great / awesome art is a better question.

Any genre

Thanks!!

Click to expand...

There’s so much good stuff out there but one of the most evocative I’ve seen recently is the art from The One Ring 2nd edition. They’re simple black and white sketches but they’re full of character and unmistakably Tolkien-like. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay from Cubicle 7 is also very good.

PrunellaUK said:

The current RuneQuest material is top tier when it comes to art. Startling and gorgeous. And anything by Katrin Dirim is incredibly evocative.

View attachment 389675

Click to expand...

It's cool seeing art like this in a big budget product. Usually companies just "play it safe"

Yeah, the current RuneQuest art is glorious. I suspect it must be very similar to some of what was in Stafford’s mind.

Ironsworn and Starforged have the best photo-manipulation art I’ve ever seen in gaming, with the possible exception of some of Dennis Detwiller’s art. It’s gorgeous and so suitable for the genre of each. Ironsworn in particular shows how much diversity fits into sword & sorcery if you simply decide you want it there.

Internal art: WFRP 1e, Mentzer Basic, Rifts original corebook (sorry not sorry)

Covers: Angus McBride MERP

Lots of Free League books have amazing art. Alien, Vaesen, Dragonbane, and Blade Runner.

Marvel RPGs almost always have great art.

Dolmenwood has some great pieces. As does Shadowdark.

Not quite out yet, but Monty Python’s Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme has some fantastic art.

It’s looking like the Discworld RPG will as well.

I’m very partial to the art in Over the Edge 3E as well.