CONAN: Shadizar map debacle?

[Emirikol]

Let's just say that there's probably a reason why my bookmark for http://www.morningstarillustration.com/ doesn't work anymore...
Which, as several people have mentioned, is a shame, since he did produce some outstanding maps.

No doubt! I just can believe that they would think to be able to get away with something like that! I don't blame the editor for not knowing that the map was a forgery, but ick, I wouldn't want to have been there when they found out....

jh

 

[Turjan]

Well, for starters, canals are not appropriate to Howards work on the subject (or any other pastiche, comic, or fanboy version ever put out about Shadizar). That would have been a dead give away and maybe a big "No, this doesn't work for us..try another approach."

Okay, I agree with that point. I'm not sure about the guidelines the artist got, though. If it was something along the lines "Draw us a map of a desert city situated next to a river" they cannot really complain about this. Maybe, they'll give out more specific guidelines next time.

 

[Rasyr]

Not having seen the product, just out of curiosity, does anybody have a link to the map on the WotC website?

 

[TheAuldGrump]

That's okay, but in this case nothing in the verbal description of the city gives the slightest hint on the existence of canals. And if you look at the map, this would be a feature that's so prominent nobody would be able to neglect it.

Interesting typo, btw .

And alas a common one... worse still I was eating a snack cake while typing that.

It has been a while since I read Conan (in the original Klingon), but I do not recall Howard spending much time describing the place beyond words like 'opulent', 'decadant', 'towered', and similar terms. Such vagueries leave a lot of room...

The Auld Grump

 

[twofalls]

As much fun as it might be, you cannot really blame Mongoose for the map issue. There is no real way that an editor could search the web to see if an illustration is original or not. And apparently, that is what that artist was counting on.

Same thing actually happened to WotC for Unearthed Arcana, though on a much smaller scale (i.e. the image was not integral to the product - it was a filler piece). On page 43 of UA there is a picture of a map/scroll. The map depicted is the western half of the continent of Emer from ICE's Shadow World setting, turned sideways and photoshpped a little bit (some of the markings on the image are from the original b&w map it was taken from).

As you can see, this sort of thing can happen to even the largest of companies...

Perhaps Rasyr, however Mongoose has already laid a bed of coals for itself to walk over, so they are ripe to receive fire like this. I've not been poking holes at them over it, but thats because they are already so riddled with them that one more wouldn't be noticed.

 

[Emirikol]

I can't argue with that

 

[Turjan]

Same thing actually happened to WotC for Unearthed Arcana, though on a much smaller scale (i.e. the image was not integral to the product - it was a filler piece). On page 43 of UA there is a picture of a map/scroll. The map depicted is the western half of the continent of Emer from ICE's Shadow World setting, turned sideways and photoshpped a little bit (some of the markings on the image are from the original b&w map it was taken from).

Interesting tidbit . I'm sure there are many more examples out there that go unnoticed.

I just imagine that I use one of my atlantes, even one of the specialty ones, which have all been published in a different country by companies that don't publish here, take a map, turn it by 90 degrees, and I'd be pretty sure nobody would notice.

 

[Turjan]

It has been a while since I read Conan (in the original Klingon), but I do not recall Howard spending much time describing the place beyond words like 'opulent', 'decadant', 'towered', and similar terms. Such vagueries leave a lot of room...

That's right, Howard never fleshed the city out. The problem seems to be that the canals aren't mentioned in the boxed set, either .

 

[Turjan]

Not having seen the product, just out of curiosity, does anybody have a link to the map on the WotC website?

Look at my post #10 .

Edit: Here is the direct link .

 

[GentleGiant]

Not having seen the product, just out of curiosity, does anybody have a link to the map on the WotC website?

Turjan's post above (#10) has the link to the WotC map

Edit: Curses, foiled by Turjan himself