Bad art is curing my Scarred Lands addiction!

[Pants]

For me, good art is important for game books. Be it color or B&W, as long as it's good quality, then I'm happy. I am partial to color illustrations, but not everyone can afford it (I'd think S&S should, them being part of WW and all...) so that's not really that important.

 

[Aulayan]

After seeing lots of old Werewolf products from White Wolf...I end up ignoring bad art. Cause nothing can be as bad as SKARs attempts.

:Shudders:

 

[Scorpio]

Unfortunately, it seems that it is mostly a cost-cutting measure. There are too many good and great artists available for there to be any other excuse.
Yes, good art makes a difference.

 

[Trickstergod]

All told, while I've read but the Player's Guide to Wizards, Sorcerers and Bards, I was, all around, simply not impressed, particularly for the amount of advertising that went into them, which surpassed most if not all their other books. At least, it seemed they were being advertised more. Particularly the entire "Useful beyond the Scarred Lands" schtick - though I suppose that's debatable.

Anyway, the art..well, it very much isn't SCAR. Beyond that, I actually like Mark Smylie's stuff quite a bit. While conceptually, the idea of breasplate/plate-mail clad Wizards and Bards strikes me as a bit out of place, I think the artwork itself looks damn good. That guy, in my opinion, can draw armor. I particularly liked the picture of the crafter and that imposing suit of armor behind him on page 72.

Beyond him, though...eh. You're right. The artwork ain't so hot. Maybe it's just me, but even the covers really aren't so great. Meerlah's made out to be one ugly looking bard. Still, that's the least of it. Other than Smylie (Who I honestly really like), the rest of the stuff inside the Wizards, Bards and Sorcerer's guide really could use some polishing.

But, the question, are you being an art snob...?

Sort of.

However, I look at it this way: If there's two books, both more or less equally appealing content wise, and both are essentially worth the price of their content (which isn't to say nearly the same price), which one are you going to go for? Well, if one has better artwork than the other, I think that is a valid part of the decision.

But, as Nightfall said, it's the content which matters most. I can unfortunately add nothing in regards to the Cleric and Druids book, but then again, after reading the Wizards, Bards and Sorcerers book, I've little desire to bother with the rest of them.

In regards to Voadam, editing in which way? Grammar and spelling-wise, I found, in regards to the Player's Guide to Wizards, Bards and Sorcerers at least, it is essentially fine. Rules and numbers wise, I found it had a number of holes (Being that much of it was made for the original 3rd edition, its conversion over to the revised 3rd edition was less than complete).

 

[Nightfall]

To each his own Trick. I personally enjoyed the second book more than the first, even though I felt the Wizard and Bard sections were deftly handled. The Sorcerers sections were very good but I won't say impressive as some others. That said, I like both books and I am adding the rest to my collection.

Of course everyone is entitled to their opinion. I would hope though you all would take a look at PG: Rangers and Rogues as I and the other authors worked very hard on the material in there.

 

[2d6]

So the question to myself is : Am I an art snob, or just over exposed to SL?

Anyone else feel the same way? Or not? Why?

If I'm buying a $5-$10 PDF, it could have stickfigure art for all I care as long as the material is good.

When I pick up a book at the LGS or order one online for $25+ I expect good art along with good content.

 

[Dark Jezter]

If I'm buying a $5-$10 PDF, it could have stickfigure art for all I care as long as the material is good.

When I pick up a book at the LGS or order one online for $25+ I expect good art along with good content.

Yeah, that pretty much sums up the way I feel as well. If I'm gonna dish out $20-$40 for a gaming book, it had better be eye-pleasing in addition to having good material.

The single worst purchase I've made in the last couple of years was the Living Greyhawk Gazeteer: a softcover suppliment with bad artwork and descriptive text as dry as a college textbook. It would be a lousy purchase as a $10 PDF, let alone a $27 book.

 

[johnsemlak]

Yeah, that pretty much sums up the way I feel as well. If I'm gonna dish out $20-$40 for a gaming book, it had better be eye-pleasing in addition to having good material.

The single worst purchase I've made in the last couple of years was the Living Greyhawk Gazeteer: a softcover suppliment with bad artwork and descriptive text as dry as a college textbook. It would be a lousy purchase as a $10 PDF, let alone a $27 book.

I like the LGG, and it seems to get reasonalble praise (It's highly rated at EN World, I believe.) It contains a lot of descriptive text to regions of Oerth. It's only useful if you play in Greyhawk, granted, I've read some greyhawk posters say it's the best WoG sourcebook ever.

 

[Duncan Haldane]

I like the LGG, and it seems to get reasonalble praise (It's highly rated at EN World, I believe.) It contains a lot of descriptive text to regions of Oerth. It's only useful if you play in Greyhawk, granted, I've read some greyhawk posters say it's the best WoG sourcebook ever.

Well, as someone who DMs Living Greyhawk games, but doesn't know a huge amount about Greyhawk, the LGG is severely limited in use because of lack of indices. I would like to see an index of city names, as well as countries (counties, kingdoms, whatever).

I've seen people spend too much time trying to identify where they are in the LG game they are playing in because of this.

Duncan

 

[philreed]

If I'm buying a $5-$10 PDF, it could have stickfigure art for all I care as long as the material is good.

Why are you willing to accept bad artwork in a PDF but not a printed book? Do you just generally feel that PDFs are low quality products? I would think it's best to demand high quality no matter the delivery method.

I put a lot of work into creating PDFs that have good art and design. Is that work wasted?