Am I wasting my time?

[alsih2o]

I have had the same vision since I was 10-12. I want to make a monster book with a difference.

I wish to create a monster book where all the illustrations are sculpted instead of drawn or painted. I have interest form a publisher and have started work.

One question- Am I the only one interested? It seems that my approach allows for BUNCHES of angles and views, I see this as an advantage to the DM who likes ot hold up the picture when the monster makes the scene.

Now, I am gonna make shtuff whether it sells or not. But am I wasting my time trying to publish it? Does this product idea appeal to you?

Maybe a "Buy the PDF get a password for a site with tons of pics of the sculptures" set-up?

Feedback appreciated.

 

[tonym]

Can you post a single, complete monster somewhere as an example of what you're talking about doing?

Tony M

 

[der_kluge]

That's interesting, but with so many monster books on the market, it'd have to be pretty awesome to appeal to me. Would it include numerous pictures of the monster from multiple angles, I guess?

 

[diaglo]

one of the 2edADnD Battlesystem handbooks (iirc the skirmishers one) did something similar with minis. statting them out for minis play.

it too wasn't an original idea. as the whole Chainmail and minis games were based on this from the start.

statting individual minis as individuals instead of as units is how D&D came to be.

 

[alsih2o]

That's interesting, but with so many monster books on the market, it'd have to be pretty awesome to appeal to me. Would it include numerous pictures of the monster from multiple angles, I guess?

Yeah, angles and close-ups.

 

[Nifft]

How about an e-product with VRML illustrations?

Add skeletal structures and some kind of inverse kinematics (or however you call "moving realistically with a skeleton" in CGI lingo), and a few controls that will allow the little dudes to be posed, and you have a tool that GMs might really be able to use.

I can just imagine forcing my players to come up with 3D models of their PCs (using Poser, or what not), and then rendering a really cool looking scene illustrating a fun battle, or something.

Yeah, I'd pay $40-50 for monsters I could do that with.

-- N

 

[Mercule]

I'm still using just the MM, so I may not be the "target audience".

That said, and assuming the actual contents were interesting, I'm not sure of the advantage. I like 3D art and have a couple of statuettes in my house. But, once you render that to a 2D surface, like a photo, you've lost the advantage. In fact, I've always found the books that have photos of minis in them to be some of the less attractive books on the market -- but that may have a lot to do with the minis in question.

Now, if you could do a sculpture of the critter, and have an unbordered watercolor (or some other 2D medium) done of it from, say, three angles, that'd be cool. I just like a background too much. Maybe make each critter take up a whole page (or two, even) with the watercolors scattered around the perimeter.

Something that I might actually buy -- seriously -- is a book that had no stats, just pictures. I love having pictures of critters in the MM, but I hate having to show players the stats/names of monsters along with the pictures. Give me a book with nice artwork (maybe from several angles) of every monster in the MM, put it in a format that I can show a single picture at a time, and you've got a sale. Price-wise, I'm not sure where I'd rate it, but I'd pay at least as much as for the statted MM, probably more.

 

[der_kluge]

Yeah, angles and close-ups.

In all honesty, I just can only imagine that this would look really cheesy. I assume you'd be making clay representations of certain monsters? And then you'd photograph them?

I think you'd end up with that faux-art that the Book of Erotic Fantasy had - with real actors. It just doesn't work in a gaming book, IMO. I can't imagine that this would capture the evocative feeling that, say a Lockwood piece of art can.

I think if you really want to sculpt monsters, you should make prototypes to create a line of monster miniatures.

 

[Arnwyn]

But am I wasting my time trying to publish it?

You are if you're expecting to make any money from this, I think.

Does this product idea appeal to you?

No.

 

[Crothian]

I think the great thing about this is you can host the pictures on a web site for people to use. You could have dozens of pictures of each creature from all sorts of angles. That would be cool.